No Sameness, No Otherness － Reconciliation with our Parents | Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, 2014.06.12

No sameness. No otherness. That is the nature of all that is.

The retreat theme is "What happens when we die?" at Plum Village, France. This is a 26-minute portion of the talk offered from the Stillwater Meditation Hall at Upper Hamlet on June 12, 2014.

In this talk we return to many common teachings of no-birth, no-death as illustrated by the corn seed and the corn plant, the cloud and the cup of tea, and seeing ourselves as a 5-year old child. We are reminded that we carry all our ancestors in our body. When we walk, our ancestors walk with us at the same time. We don’t just walk for ourselves, but we also walk for our ancestors. The same is with our spiritual ancestors - we are the continuation of these ancestors too. The teaching also reminds us how to work with our more difficult ancestors in order to discover healing and transformation. We can turn our anger into compassion.

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Help us caption & translate this video!

[tomasvanverrewegen]

I was translating this video, and all the while I was crying. From joy. From sorrow. What a lovely bittersweet feeling!

Dear sweet Thay, thank you for bringing so much wisdom and peace into this world, into this me. Although I have never met you in person, and I never will, I feel that you have touched my heart, deeply, profoundly. Thank you for all the kind words you offer to everyone who needs them. Thank you for being truly alive.

[alexdepilarez]

Thua Kinh Thay,
Thank you for your continuation of your eternal presence.
Thank you for your timeless teachings and thank you to the sangha for these videos for the continuation of Thay’s teachings and gentle reminders of the practice that is always accessible when we go back to our breathing in the present moment…
“A Cloud Never Dies “ TNH
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽❤️

[trikaruniaaji]

Just in time, I'm grateful for this video, thank you so much! ❤

[TheDoerfer]

Very timely, my wife's sister just passed away. Played this for her so she could have the sense that she is still with her.

[brycec.]

Beautiful teachings, love and gratitude!

[jarotem]

No fear, more insight!
Thank you dear Thay!

[TheArchangel]

Thank you so much! This is something that i will practice. I so very needed to hear this message on this very night. I am truly humble and so very grateful for your teachings. Liz :)

[funktion]

If u take a cutting from a plant an place it in another pot to grow, u could send the cutting to your friend who lives in another country an there would be one single plant be flourishing on 2 different sides of the world, if for some reason the conditions for the plant which the cutting was taken from became insufficient an the plant withered into the soil, you may think it has died as you would no longer be able to see it anymore but the one single plant would still be very much alive an well sitting in a pot resting peacefully in the sun on the other side of the world making your friend very happy every time they take care of it look at it

When the time is right an all the conditions are perfect the cutting will produce lots of seeds, these seeds haven’t been added to the plant, they literally are the plant where the cutting was taken from on the other side of the world, your friend will be able to send one of the seeds to u so u can plant it in the same pot where the cutting come from, in the soil that is now well nourished from all the goodness from where the one single plant withered away, so the one single plant is nourishing it’s self an very healthy

Your friend may plant the rest of the seeds an when they manifest she could decide that she wants all her friends an family to get the same enjoyment an pleasure from this one single plant an send it to all of them, now there could be one plant sitting on her grandmas window seal in Scotland, on her brothers doorstep in London, in a hanging basket in her cousins garden in Australia etc. So how could the plant where the cutting was taken from possibly be dead?

We are the one single flower, we all started from the same single seed as the flower, the whole universe is that single flower, even the hyperphetical one that I just used I am using here because this is a continuation of the one single seed 🙏🏻

[DSmith-qzbr]

wonderful teachings.. i was thinking about all that coughing in the background and i noticed in me and i have noticed in others when i start talking about forgiveness i get very similar reactions..

[taichiwithrobin]

This is such a powerful teaching and one that has touched me deeply. Does anyone know which book of Thay's explains this teaching on "no birth, no death" most thoroughly?