Friday, August 19, 2016

Wake Up Me

Watch the following Dharma talk by Thầy Pháp Đăng.


The followings are the key phrases excerpted from the video.

< Key phrases >

We come here not only to learn but to truly experience the practice.

The title of this retreat is Wake Up Earth but for me, Wake Up Me. ... Then you feel the earth that wakes up you. The earth is calling you.

There is a place like that (true home, inner peace, inner joy) within. ... That place is within you, in the depth of your consciousness. And the only way to go in there, is through concentration (samadhi). 

I met Thay in 1984. And this is 4 years after I left Vietnam. ... He spoke about how to be alive. He spoke about walking meditation. He spoke about holding your loved one and taking a walk. He spoke about how to be yourself, how to come back (to yourself), how to come home. Because my mind is not home. My mind is lost in darkness. 

Mindfulness is like a light. ... There is a zone of peace, there is a sanctuary, a peace down there. ... Mindful life is just like you holding the torch, you holding the sun and you walking in the tunnel. ... And in order for you to belong to the Wake Up Society, you need the sun of mindfulness, the sun of wakefulness. ... Just one breath, you have that light. If you really do well, just one in-breath, one out-breath, you have the torch, you have the sun in your hand. 

So, we invest ourselves in doing it, not just talking about it. ... Talking about mindfulness sometimes, it is dangerous because you thought you got it. Like talking about enlightenment, it's dangerous. ... Because enlightenment is the process of awareness, you know moment to moment awareness of what's going on, it's like dip of light just lit up all the time. So, at the end you see the enlightenment. The end of a long ladder, there is a zone of enlightenment. So, enlightenment is not a place. Enlightenment is light within. You experience, or you don't experience. ... You have to practice enlightenment. You have to live with enlightenment. ... You can not talk about enlightenment. You can not think about enlightenment. Because that is not enlightenment. ... So, mindfulness, feel it, experience it, live with it.

(My commentary)
I understand that Thầy Pháp Đăng is fully enlightened. I entirely agree with him. I have nothing to add.

(Cf.) http://www.amazon.com/dp/B014NYEP04

Thích Nhất Hạnh and Thầy Pháp Đăng