TRÁCH VỤ TĂNG NI ĐỐI VỚI CƯ SĨ

Nói thế, hình như tôi tước quyền truyền bá Phật giáo của Tăng Ni đặt hết gánh nặng lên vai cư sĩ. Sự thật không phải thế, Tăng Ni có nhiệm vụ giáo hóa quần chúng phần lý thuyết. Lý thuyết chỉ có khả năng hướng dẫn lý trí khiến người ta cảm mến Phật giáo nhưng thực tế sống động phải là hình dáng cư sĩ thường sinh hoạt bên cạnh họ. Hoàn cảnh, nếp sống Tăng Ni, là hình ảnh cao đẹp nhưng rất xa xôi chỉ để làm mục tiêu siêu thoát cho hàng Phật tử hướng về.Quần chúng bao giờ cũng tránh khổ tìm vui, Phật giáo lúc nào cũng ban vui cứu khổ nên rất thích hợp nhu cầu cùng khổ. Vui có chia ba thứ: vui hiện tại, vui vị lai, vui giải thoát. Cứu giúp người khỏi cái khổ đói rách v.v... là ban vui hiện tại. Khuyên người bỏ ác tu thiện làm những điều phước đức để đời sau hưởng quả báo an lạc là ban vui vị lai. Chỉ dạy người tu hành đạt được chân lý Tứ Đế, Thập Nhị Nhân Duyên v.v... siêu thoát vòng trầm luân sanh tử là ban vui giải thoát. Vui hiện tại, vui vị lai, hàng Phật tử có thể ban bố được. Vui giải thoát chỉ dành riêng giới xuất gia hướng dẫn. Mục đích chính của Phật giáo là cứu người khỏi cái khổ trầm luân, ban cái vui giải thoát. Ban cái vui hiện tại, vui vị lai chỉ là bước đầu hướng người vào cửa đạo. Chư vị Bồ-tát ra tế độ chúng sanh trước cái vui hiện tại sau mới đưa đến cái vui giải thoát. Hai phái Phật tử xuất gia và tại gia chung sức tiếp độ chúng sanh, kẻ ban vui hiện tại, người hướng dẫn đến vui giải thoát, có thế mới đạt được mục đích chung cục của Phật giáo và mới phổ biến khắp cả chúng sanh.Tăng Ni bao giờ cũng giữ hình ảnh giải thoát. Hình ảnh giải thoát không có nghĩa là cái đầu hay chiếc áo mà phải là chất vị thấm nhuần trong con người của tăng Ni. Những lời nói những cử chỉ của Tăng Ni đều biểu lộ hình ảnh giải thoát. Những lúc sống lăn lộn với trần tục đã mệt mỏi trở về chưa nhìn thấy hình ảnh giải thoát, cảm nhận đức tính Từ Bi, hòa nhã, nghe những lý thuyết cao siêu của Tăng Ni, người cư sĩ nghe lòng nhẹ nhàng an ổn. Cho nên Tăng Ni phải giữ nguyên chất vị giải thoát, thể hiện đức hạnh Từ Bi, hòa nhã và thông đạt giáo lý. Đừng bao giờ Tăng Ni bước sang lãnh vực cư sĩ, cũng như lãnh vực cư sĩ bước lầm vào lãnh vực Tăng Ni.


H.T THÍCH THANH TỪ

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Nữ hoàng truyền thông Mỹ Oprah phỏng vấn thiền sư Thích Nhất Hạnh

Oprah: What is happiness?

Nhat Hanh: Happiness is the cessation of suffering. Well-being. For instance, when I practice this exercise of breathing in, I'm aware of my eyes; breathing out, I smile to my eyes and realize that they are still in good condition. There is a paradise of form and colors in the world. And because you have eyes still in good condition, you can get in touch with the paradise. So when I become aware of my eyes, I touch one of the conditions of happiness. And when I touch it, happiness comes.

Oprah: And you could do that with every part of your body.

Nhat Hanh: Yes. Breathing in, I am aware of my heart. Breathing out, I smile to my heart and know that my heart still functions normally. I feel grateful for my heart.

Oprah: So it's about being aware of and grateful for what we have.

Nhat Hanh: Yes.

Oprah: And not just the material things, but the fact that we have our breath.

Nhat Hanh: Yes. You need the practice of mindfulness to bring your mind back to the body and establish yourself in the moment. If you are fully present, you need only make a step or take a breath in order to enter the kingdom of God. And once you have the kingdom, you don't need to run after objects of your craving, like power, fame, sensual pleasure, and so on. Peace is possible. Happiness is possible. And this practice is simple enough for everyone to do.

Oprah: Tell me how we do it.

Nhat Hanh: Suppose you are drinking a cup of tea. When you hold your cup, you may like to breathe in, to bring your mind back to your body, and you become fully present. And when you are truly there, something else is also there—life, represented by the cup of tea. In that moment you are real, and the cup of tea is real. You are not lost in the past, in the future, in your projects, in your worries. You are free from all of these afflictions. And in that state of being free, you enjoy your tea. That is the moment of happiness, and of peace. When you brush your teeth, you may have just two minutes, but according to this practice, it is possible to produce freedom and joy during that time, because you are established in the here and now. If you are capable of brushing your teeth in mindfulness, then you will be able to enjoy the time when you take a shower, cook your breakfast, sip your tea.
Oprah: So from this point of view, there are endless conditions of happiness.

Nhat Hanh: Yes. Mindfulness helps you go home to the present. And every time you go there and recognize a condition of happiness that you have, happiness comes.

Oprah: With you, the tea is real.

Nhat Hanh: I am real, and the tea is real. I am in the present. I don't think of the past. I don't think of the future. There is a real encounter between me and the tea, and peace, happiness and joy are possible during the time I drink.

Oprah: I never had that much thought about a cup of tea.

Nhat Hanh: We have the practice of tea meditation. We sit down, enjoy a cup of tea and our brotherhood, sisterhood. It takes one hour to just enjoy a cup of tea.

Oprah: A cup of tea, like this? [ Holds up her cup. ]

Nhat Hanh: Yes.

Oprah: One hour.

Nhat Hanh: Every moment is a moment of happiness. And during the hour of tea meditation, you cultivate joy, brotherhood, sisterhood, dwelling in the here and the now.

On how community played a crucial role during his 39-year exile

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Nữ hoàng truyền thông Mỹ Oprah phỏng vấn thiền sư Thích Nhất Hạnh

Oprah: Thank you for the honor of talking to you. Just being in your presence, I feel less stressed than when the day started. You have such a peaceful aura. Are you always this content?

Nhat Hanh: This is my training, this is my practice. And I try to live every moment like that, to keep the peace in myself.

Oprah: Because you can't give it to others if you don't have it in yourself.

Nhat Hanh: Right.

Oprah: I see. I know that you were born in Vietnam in 1926. Is there any wonderful memory of your childhood that you can share?

Nhat Hanh: The day I saw a picture of the Buddha in a magazine.

Oprah: How old were you?

Nhat Hanh: I was 7, 8. He was sitting on the grass, very peaceful, smiling. I was impressed. Around me, people were not like that, so I had the desire to be like him. And I nourished that desire until the age of 16, when I had the permission of my parents to go and ordain as a monk.

Oprah: Did your parents encourage you?

Nhat Hanh: In the beginning, they were reluctant because they thought that the life of a monk is difficult.

Oprah: At 16, did you understand what the life would be?

Nhat Hanh: Not a lot. There was only the very strong desire. The feeling that I would not be happy if I could not become a monk. They call it the beginner's mind—the deep intention, the deepest desire that a person may have. And I can say that until this day, this beginner's mind is still alive in me.

Oprah: That's what a lot of people refer to as passion. It's the way I feel about my work most days. When you're passionate about your work, it feels like you would do it even if no one were paying you.

Nhat Hanh: And you enjoy it.

Oprah: You enjoy it. Let's talk about when you first arrived in America. You were a student at Princeton. Was it challenging as a Buddhist monk to form friendships with other students? Were you lonely?

Nhat Hanh: Well, Princeton University was like a monastery. There were only male students at that time. And there were not many Vietnamese living in the United States. During the first six months, I did not speak Vietnamese. But the campus was very beautiful. And everything was new—the trees and the birds and the food. My first snow was in Princeton, and the first time I used a radiator. The first fall was in Princeton.

Oprah: When the leaves are changing.

Nhat Hanh: In Vietnam we did not see things like that.

Oprah: At the time, were you wearing your monk robes?

Nhat Hanh: Yes.

Oprah: Never have to worry about buying clothes, do you? Always just the robe.

Nhat Hanh: Yes.

Oprah: Do you have different robes for different occasions?

Nhat Hanh: You have a ceremonial robe, saffron color. That's all. I feel comfortable wearing this kind of robe. And it happily reminds us that we are monks.

Oprah: What does it mean to be a monk?

Nhat Hanh: To be a monk is to have time to practice for your transformation and healing. And after that to help with the transformation and healing of other people.

Oprah: Are most monks enlightened, or seeking enlightenment?

Nhat Hanh: Enlightenment is always there. Small enlightenment will bring great enlightenment. If you breathe in and are aware that you are alive—that you can touch the miracle of being alive—then that is a kind of enlightenment. Many people are alive but don't touch the miracle of being alive.

Oprah: I'm sure you see all around you—I'm guilty of it myself—that we're just trying to get through the next thing. In our country, people are so busy. Even the children are busy. I get the impression very few of us are doing what you just said—touching the miracle that you are alive.

Nhat Hanh: That is the environment people live in. But with a practice, we can always remain alive in the present moment. With mindfulness, you can establish yourself in the present in order to touch the wonders of life that are available in that moment. It is possible to live happily in the here and the now. So many conditions of happiness are available—more than enough for you to be happy right now. You don't have to run into the future in order to get more.

Thich Nhat Hanh defines happiness and reveals how to achieve it

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Oprah Talks to Thich Nhat Hanh

Photo: Rob Howard

The O Exclusive Interview

He's been a Buddhist monk for more than 60 years, as well as a teacher, writer, and vocal opponent of war—a stance that left him exiled from his native Vietnam for four decades. Now the man Martin Luther King Jr. called "an apostle of peace and nonviolence" reflects on the beauty of the present moment, being grateful for every breath, and the freedom and happiness to be found in a simple cup of tea.

The moment I meet Thich Nhat Hanh at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan, I feel his sense of calm. A deeply tranquil presence seems to surround the Zen Buddhist master.

But beneath Nhat Hanh's serene demeanor is a courageous warrior. The 83-year-old native of Vietnam, who joined the monastery when he was 16, valiantly opposed his own government during the Vietnam War. Even as he embraced the contemplative life of a monk, the war confronted him with a choice: Should he remain hidden away in the monastery tending to matters of the spirit, or go out and help the villagers who were suffering? Nhat Hanh's decision to do both is what gave birth to "Engaged Buddhism"—a movement that involves peaceful activism for the purpose of social reform. It's also what led Martin Luther King Jr. to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1967.

As part of his denunciation of the violence inflicted on his countrymen, Nhat Hanh founded a relief organization that rebuilt bombed Vietnamese villages, set up schools and medical centers, and resettled homeless families. Nhat Hanh also created a Buddhist university, a publishing house, and a peace activist magazine—all of which led the Vietnamese government to forbid him, in 1966, to return home after he'd left the country on a peace mission. He remained in exile for 39 years.

Before his exile, Nhat Hanh had spent time in the West (studying at Princeton and teaching at Columbia University in the early 1960s), and it was to the West that he now returned. Seeing an opportunity to spread Buddhist thought and encourage peaceful activism, he led the Buddhist Peace Delegation to the Paris Peace Talks in 1969, established the Unified Buddhist Church in France, and went on to write more than 100 books, including the 1995 best-seller Living Buddha, Living Christ —a volume that never leaves my nightstand.

Nhat Hanh eventually settled in Southern France and founded Plum Village, the Buddhist meditation practice center and monastery where he still lives. Thousands of people travel there each year to join him in exploring the tenets of Buddhism—including mindfulness (intentionally tuning in to the present moment), the development of a practice (a regular activity, such as mindful walking, that redirects you toward right thinking), and enlightenment (the liberation from suffering that comes when you wake up to the true nature of reality). These principles were introduced to the world more than 2,000 years ago by Siddhartha Gautama, or the Buddha, the Indian-born prince who left a life of ease and indulgence in order to seek enlightenment—and founded a religion along the way.

Thich Nhat Hanh—or, as his students call him, Thây, the Vietnamese word for "teacher"—brings along a group of Plum Village monks and nuns to listen in on our conversation. In some spiritual traditions, there is a concept called "holding the space"—or showing up as a compassionate listener. Thây's friends are the space holders who have traveled with him from France, and as we take a photograph together just before our chat, they usher in a peaceful mood by collectively singing a Buddhist song: "We are all the leaves of one tree; we are all the waves of one sea; the time has come for all to live as one."

Start reading Oprah's interview with Thich Nhat Hanh

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