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Fear, Anger, and the Meaning of Survival | Thich Nhat Hanh (short teaching video) - YouTube
Channel: Plum Village App
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The question we would
like to pose to ask
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is...
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Do we want survival,
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or do we want happiness?
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And the second question is,
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happiness and survival,
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can these two things go together?
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Because...
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while struggling to survive,
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we have to destroy, to kill.
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And the motivation, deep motivation
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inside,
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is...
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not only to survive
but to have pleasure.
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And looking deeply
into the present situation,
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we can see that very clearly.
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People are killing each other.
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And many believe that the others...
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are the obstacles
on their way to survival
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and to sensual pleasures.
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On one hand we try to fight
in order to survive,
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and on the other hand
we try our best in order to...
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get the pleasure,
the sensual pleasures.
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And both kinds of action are
bringing a lot of suffering
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to us,
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and to our victims.
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And we can see that...
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the one who has to perish
in the cycle,
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of course they suffer.
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But the one who wins
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also suffers.
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And that habit, that seed...
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is so deep in us --
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The drive to survive,
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the drive to get as much
sensual pleasure as possible.
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When we look into
the teaching of the Buddha,
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you can see a way out.
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The Buddha does not speak
about survival...
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does not...
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encourage us the path
of seeking sensual pleasure.
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And his message is centered...
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on how to cope with our suffering,
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how to transform our suffering.
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When we...
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when we get angry, we suffer.
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And we make the people around us suffer.
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And the Buddha would like us
to learn how to recognize
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the suffering caused by anger,
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and by the kind of action
that is the result of anger.
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And the Buddha encourages us
to look deeply into anger
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as the cause of suffering,
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and find ways to transform
that anger into something else
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like compassion, loving-kindness.
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Because, while anger makes
us and people around suffer,
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understanding and compassion
bring relief.
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And he also advices us to look,
to recognize our fear.
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Because fear also brings a lot of suffering.
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And out of fear
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we can act in a very destructive way.
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We try to kill them
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before they have a chance to kill us.
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And we cannot sleep well,
always afraid:
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"The terrorists are everywhere,
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and we can die at any moment."
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So we are pushed by our fear
to do something,
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to kill the terrorist
before they can kill us.
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In the process of trying to kill them
and to get safety,
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we kill so many innocent people.
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The Buddha advised us to look deeply
into the nature of our fear,
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and to see whether there is a way
to transform our fear
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into understanding and compassion
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because understanding and compassion
will help us
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and help people around us.
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He advised us to look at our delusion.
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We are confused.
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Our confusion.
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We are confused: we don't know
where to go, what to do.
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We don't have a path.
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We are lost.
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And confusion,
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confusion lets us to be angry,
to be fearful,
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to be desperate.
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Caught in a state of being angry,
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desperate,
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desperate and fearful,
we can destroy ourselves.
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We can destroy our health,
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and we can cause a lot of suffering
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to many other people, confusion.
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And then the Buddha also advised us
to look at our craving,
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the nature of craving.
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Because craving also pushes us
in the direction of...
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wrong action.
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And when craving is there,
we don't have peace;
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we don't have happiness.
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And these things are...
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described in Buddhist teaching
as poisons.
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Poisons.
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And when we get the poison in us,
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we suffer,
and we make other people suffer.
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Already having poisons in us,
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we continue to get more poison
from the outside
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from in our environment.
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We get more fear, more anger,
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more confusion, more craving.
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And that makes the situation
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more and more difficult.
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Looking deeply we can see that
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in terms of survival,
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only just in terms of survival,
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the practice to help us...
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transform our anger, our fear, our confusion,
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and our craving,
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help us to suffer less.
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helps us to bring...
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help us to heal,
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helps us to have a better health,
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for ourselves.
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And also helps us
to change the environment.
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And with that,
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the chance to survive is better.
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Now looking in the situation of the world,
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we see that how much confusion,
fear and anger destroy us,
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and destroy the people around us.
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And that goes in the line of evolution.
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[You may] think
evolution is for survival,
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but it is not.
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It is creating a lot of suffering.
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And survival cannot be
something very sure,
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because if we continue like that,
no one will survive in the future.
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And that is why we have to bring in...
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the dimension of "spiritual evolution,"
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"cultural evolution,"
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and understand the word "survival"
in another way,
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with another meaning.
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There are those of us who have...
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a serious illness,
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and the doctors say
that we can not live very long.
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We'll die in a year or two,
or in six months,
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and because of that we have a lot of fear.
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We have a lot of despair,
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and anger also.
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And that fear, that anger, that despair,
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will make the situation worse.
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But when we bring in...
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the teaching and the practice
of the Buddha,
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we can change the situation.
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Because the teaching and
the practice can help us
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deal with the anger, the fear, and the despair.
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And we learn how to live
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peacefully and happily,
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Even if we accept that our lives will...
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the time left for us to live
is shorter than...
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than for other people.
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When you have learned
to live peacefully, deeply,
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enjoying every moment
of your daily life,
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you learn how to smile, how to relax,
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how to nourish yourself with...
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refreshing and healing
elements of life.
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Then these poisons do not
harm you anymore.
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And many of us, thanks to the practice,
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have been able to
live much, much longer
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than predicted.
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There was a young man in Canada,
and his doctor told him that...
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he had only three months to live.
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He was sitting next to me
in a tea meditation.
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And he told us about his situation.
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And I said, "It's ok,
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it may be true that
you will die in three months
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but are you capable of drinking
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this cup of tea with me in peace?"
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I challenged him.
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"Because this moment is
a very wonderful moment.
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You are surrounded by friends.
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Today is a beautiful day and we have tea.
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Are you are capable of enjoying your tea
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in the presence of the people
sitting around you?"
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I challenged him.
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"What is the use of
having 100 years to live
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if you are not capable of
drinking your tea with peace?"
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he was challenged.
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And tried to drink his tea.
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And after that he...
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he received the teachings
on how to enjoy walking, sitting,
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drinking tea,
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breathing.
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He took the Fourteen Precepts,
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and got the Dharma name...
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"True Birth."
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True Birth (or True Life).
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And he was able to live...
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11 years after that.
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So that is also survival.
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But survival not by killing,
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by destroying the people
or species around,
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but by bringing in the practice
of transformation and healing.
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