Original subtitles

Edited at https://subtitletools.com

[birds cooing]

[male narrator] I know what it is to get angry,

and! know the pleasure of being praised.

I’m often on the verge of tears or laughter.

But beneath all these emotions,

what else is there?

How can I touch it?

If there isn’t anything...

why would! be so certain that there is?

[birds chirping]

[chirping continues]

[rustling]

[bird cries]

[bird cries]

[bird crying]

[drum banging]

Is it okay if you bang the drum with the stick wrapped like that?

Well, each stick will make a different sound.

Try it.

Should we unwrap the other one?

[bell bongs]

[bell bongs]

[singing in Vietnamese]

[sniffles]

[singing continues]

[bell bongs]

[Thich Nhat Hanh] Shedding my hair completely...

Shedding my hair completely...

| make the great vow today...

| make the great vow today...

to transform all my afflictions...

to transform all my afflictions...

and to help all living beings.

and to help all living beings.

[singing in Vietnamese]

[others singing]

[bell bongs]

[singing in Vietnamese]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[singing continues]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[bell chimes]

[camera shutter clicking]

[bell bongs]

[narrator] When icy winter comes,

it is unforgiving to all things young, tender and insecure.

One must grow beyond youthful uncertainty to survive.

Maturity and determination are necessary.

Seeing the courageous, solid way

that trees prepare for winter

helps me appreciate the lessons I’ve learned.

You need to remove that word here.

What‘s going on here?

I‘m not high enough here.

No, that‘s not it.

Yes, there‘s always that problem.

When the garden is fully weeded...

[fl/Ping]

the flowers, symbol of enlightenment...

-[typing continues] -have the opportunity

to continue to grow.

You need com post...

to have flowers...

and you need to have suffering...

to be awakened.

-Ful| stop. -[typing continues]

Suffering is the com post.

The food of awakening.

Full stop.

You have to look for enlightenment in the suffering.

This is why we have the expression...

“Suffering is enlightenment.“

And:

“Finding Nirvana in birth and death.“

[ticking]

[writing]

-[woman speaking Vietnamese] -[c|ock chiming]

[chiming continues]

[chiming stops]

[bonging]

Here is the first precept.

You cannot have sexual intercourse.

If a Shikshamana has sexual intercourse,

she can no longer remain a Shikshamana.

She can no longer be called a nun, a daughter ofthe Buddha.

If she has not had sexual intercourse

but has touched the body of someone else out of sexual desire,

although she‘s still a nun,

she has not kept the Shikshamana precepts.

She has to confess and take the precepts again.

This is the first ofthe six Shikshamana precepts.

Is your precepts body clear?

Do you understand this verse?

“Listening to the dharma in the ultimate dimension...

| see the autumn leaves fall...

occupying the whole sky.

| see the autumn moon...

in every— on every path— all path.

But the dharma is neitherfull nor empty.“

And the hermit sleeps in here.

[laughs]

[narrator] At first, it seemed like a passing cloud.

But after several hours,

I begin to feel my body turning to smoke

and floating away.

I became a faint wisp of a cloud.

I had always thought of myself as a solid entity.

And suddenly! saw that! am not solid at all.

I saw that the entity! had taken to be me

was really a fabrication.

My true nature, I realized,

was much more real,

both uglier and more beautiful than! could ever have imagined.

The other day | asked Sister Cam Nghiem if she felt happy.

“Am I happy?“ she said.

“It‘s hard. I don‘t know if I‘m happy.“

And thenl asked if she felt...

if she felt... satisfied

and she said, “Yes.“

Yeah, you just keep cooking all the time, and it can be enjoyable.

But when you run out of ideas, you get sick of it.

Maybe for others it‘s different...

but ifl clothe same thing for too long, I get bored.

If it‘s your responsibility, you just do it.

As for liking it? | just don‘t like repetitive tasks.

[man] There are times I do things out of love for our teacher.

That helps with the boredom.

But sometimes I have to get out of here.

Then when I come back | feel fresh again for him.

We‘re close to our teacher. That‘s why we sometimes feel bored.

The younger ones who don‘t get as much time with our teacher

are probably very happy to spend every moment they can with him.

[woman] Okay, it‘s ready.

[man] Ready? Wow, you‘re good!

[woman] Are you going to put the napkin on the right?

[man] No, it goes on the left.

[bell chiming]

[thunder rumbling]

[narrator] Friends want you to appear in the familiar form they know.

But that is impossible.

How could we continue to live if we were changeless?

To live...

we must die every instant.

We must perish again and again

in the storms that make life possible.

[woman singing in Vietnamese]

[songs]

[singing continues]

[singing continues]

[bell gongs]

[songs]

[bell gonging]

[gonging stops]

[narrator] I became a battlefield,

and! couldn’t know until the storm was over if I would survive.

Not in the sense of my physical life,

but in the deeper sense of my core self.

I experienced distraction upon distraction

and felt a tremendous longing for the presence of those! love.

Even though I knew that if they were present,

I would have to chase them away

or run away myself.

[insects buzzing]

[chattering]

-I took out 500. -0kay.

So, um...

0r| could do the first week and then... whichever.

-That‘s fine. -|s that fine to do? First week?

[man] Children find other children.

So in your case,

going in ayoung adults group won‘t work because you have children.

Ah, okay, I understand.

That‘s fine.

[clock chiming]

You knowthe score with the clock chiming, right? You‘ve heard about this?

Yes, someone told me about it. Isn‘t it every 15 minutes?

-That clock chimes every 15 minutes. -0kay.

But generally in Plum Village,

every time we hear a bell, we stop what we are doing.

And that‘s all about coming back to the present moment,

because we often find ourselves on autopilot,

and the idea is to get out ofthat.

It‘s difficult and requires a lot oftraining,

but here we train together.

[bell bongs]

[music begins]

[music continues]

[singing in Vietnamese]

[singing continues]

[bell bongs]

[singing continues]

[crying]

[bell bongs]

[crying continues]

[men vocalizing]

[chattering]

[chattering]

[bell bongs]

[chattering stops]

[bell bongs]

[baby whines]

[laug hter]

l have a doggy,

and this doggy died, and l was very sad,

sol don‘t know how to be not so sad.

[Hanh] This is a very difficult question.

[laug hter]

Suppose, uh, you look, uh, intothe sky—

Look up into the sky and you see a beautiful cloud.

And you like the cloud so much.

And suddenly the cloud is no longerthere.

And you think that the cloud has passed away.

Where is my beloved cloud now?

So if you have time to reflect,

to look,

you‘ll seethat the cloud has not died,

has not passed away.

The cloud has becomethe rain.

And when you look at the rain,

you see your cloud.

And when you drink yourtea mindfully,

you can see the rain in yourtea and your cloud in your tea.

And you can say, “Hello, my cloud.

I know you have not died.

You are still alive in a newform.“

So doggy is the same.

And if you look very deeply, you can see doggy in its newform.

[narrator] When the storm finally passed,

layers of inner mortal lay crumbled.

On the now-deserted battlefield,

a few sunbeams peeked through the horizon,

too weak to offer any warmth to my weary soul.

I was full of wounds,

yet experienced an almost thrilling sense of aloneness.

No one would recognize me in my new manifestation.

No one close to me would know it was I.

[bell gongs]

[bell gongs]

[bell gongs]

[chattering]

[ringing]

Hieu, you have given me so much happiness.

When yourfather left, you gave me energy

so thatl could continue to go to work and live with you.

l knowthat what‘s happened is my fault.

My job is so stressful, and I don‘t know howto control it.

That‘s why sometimes when Mom comes home late,

I don‘t have space to think or breathe, and l yell at you, my child.

I promise that I will do better

and that I will breathe like our teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh, has taught us.

ljust want to say that Mom loves you a lot.

Breathing in...

I enjoy my in-breath.

Breathing out...

I let go ofthe out-breath.

ln-breath.

Out-breath.

[ringing]

[bell bongs]

[bell bongs]

[Hanh] There is a song that we like to sing in Plum Village.

“l have arrive, I am home.“

This is a song of practice...

because the practice of mindfulness is to always arrive.

Arrive in the here and the now.

We have been running a lot...

but we have not arrived.

We are always looking for something,

searching for something, longing for something.

And we have not found it.

And we continue to run.

And we don‘t know how long...

how much more we have to run

and look for what we are looking for.

Maybe you are looking for some conditions of happiness

that we believe we don‘t have.

And running, searching has become a habit.

And life and all the wonders of life

are available only in the present moment.

Because the past is no longer there,

the future is not yet there.

There‘s only the present moment.

So the practice of mindfulness help us...

to go home to the here and the now

in order for us to learn how to live our life deeply.

That way we will not waste our life.

[bell rings]

[bell rings]

[chattering]

[piano playing]

[piano continues]

[bell gonging]

[man vocalizing]

[gonging]

[vocalizing continues]

[chattering]

[thunder rumbling]

[narrator] Mountains and rivers,

Earth and sun

all lie within the heart of consciousness.

When that realization arises,

time and space dissolve.

Cause and effect,

birth and death all vanish.

Though I dwell a hundred thousand light-years from a star,

I can cross that distance in a flash.

[woman speaking on PA]

[toy frog laughing]

[laughing]

-[man] Oh, that feels good. -[|aughter]

Let the teamaster take care ofthe cups, please.

Are there any more cups?

Phap Luu has very long legs, so he can reach you from there.

[chattering]

[sirens blaring]

[man] Christ can save you!

And the word of God has shown in its...

Buddha cannot save you.

Muhammad cannot save you.

Krishna cannot save you.

Charles DanNin cannot save you,

and you cannot save yourself!

I cannot save myself!

[bell chimes]

The devil, Satan, is real!

God is real!

God is real!

If you are not with Jehovah God,

if you are not with Jesus Christ...

you are against him.

I didn‘t say it. He said it.

So why would you follow a dead end to Buddha,

when you can believe in Jesus and have eternal life?

-[man] Praise the Lord! -[man 1] You don‘t knowthat for a fact!

-Jesus said it! -What about what Jesus said

about loving everyone and turning the other cheek?

What l‘m teaching here—

[woman] Why won‘t you listen to the dialogue?

Because you‘re afraid that I‘m telling the truth?

You‘re so afraid I‘m telling the truth you don‘t want to get to the dialogue?

-[man] Hallelujah! -You are attempting vile gossip.

I‘m not angry. You‘re the one who‘s angry, sir.

Notice you don‘t— Notice you don‘t put down the Buddhists.

You‘re the only one here putting down the Buddhists.

Nobody else here is putting anyone down. You‘re the only one condemning people.

Jesus said love everyone. He never said anything aboutjudging people.

Jesus Christ. That‘s it.

-Hey! -The Savior.

[chattering]

-[bel| rings] -Walk a little faster.

Almost like a normal pace.

-[bel| rings] -Walk a little faster.

-[bel| rings] -Wa|k really, really fast.

-[bel| rings] -Wa|k really, really fast.

Pay attention to your foot while you‘re doing this.

-[bel| rings] -Nowyou can stop.

-Stop. -[bel| rings]

[monk] You guys ever seen any monks or nuns before?

[woman] In movies.

[all talking at once, laughing]

-Where do you guys sleep at? -[monk] Where?

We have— We usually share a room.

So there‘d be like four people in a room.

And, um, I think at the beginning,

our monastery was really simple.

There was nothing there. They had no beds.

They didn‘t have money to buy beds.

Because we take a vow to not have any personal possessions.

So we don‘t have money. We don‘t have a bank account. We don‘t have a credit card.

We don‘t have a personal card or, you know, like a—

-Cell phone. -Cell phone.

We don‘t have— We don‘t have money.

We don‘t get paid at all.

-[|aug hter] -[monk] We get pocket money,

but we getjust like, uh—

It‘s about $40 a month.

-[woman] I can‘t survive. I can‘t survive. -[|aug hter]

[monk] You know, when you have a house and you have a car

and you have all that stuff, actually you kind of worry about it.

It‘s not just, uh...

You think it‘s going to be—

You think you‘ll be happy when you get all that stuff,

but when you get it, maybe you‘re not happy.

Have you ever had that?

You really think you‘re gonna be happy when you get something.

And when you get it, actually you‘re not happy.

[woman] Yeah.

And if you break one ofthe rules, what happens?

Well, there‘s different kinds of rules.

Say you start dating and then smoking and stuff, what happens?

Then you‘re not a monk anymore.

Are you guys single? Married?

We are single. We‘re not married.

Because we choose to live the life that doesn‘t involve sex

or a partner or anybody else.

[woman] And you have to live like that. No sex?

-And we live happily like that. -[woman] I was just making sure.

Is your life controlled by someone else higher than yourself?

[nun] There‘s no master.

We have a teacher.

[woman] I call it a master.

Some people— Some people call him master.

‘Cause he‘s very, you know, kind of like, um—

You knowYoda in Star Wars?

He‘s a little bit like that.

Everybody ready? I don‘t wanna lose nobody.

I don‘t wanna lose nobody.

[violin tuning]

[tuning continues]

Now, let‘s have the brothers sing “Ahh.“

[monks] J‘ Ahh J‘

And the sisters...

J‘EehJ‘

That‘s almost in tune.

-lt‘s much nicer, okay? -[monk] Almost in tune.

[man on PA] ...a guided meditation on the stage

in about five or six minutes,

so you’ve been asked to come upstairs for that.

[bell bongs]

[bell ringing]

[bell chimes]

[narrator] I knew early on

that finding truth is not the same as finding happiness.

You aspire to see the truth.

But once you have seen it,

you cannot avoid suffering.

Otherwise, you have seen nothing at all.

[nun] I‘ve seen him.

| only get over here once every other year

‘causel live in France in a monastery.

And sol only have the opportunity

to see my dad and my family here in the States every other year.

-[woman] Well, I‘m glad you‘re here. -Yeah.

| feel very lucky, ‘cause some of my monastic brothers and sisters

don‘t get to see their relatives that often.

[woman] Stay to your left.

To your left.

To your left.

[nun] This is my dad.

Hey, baby doll.

Dang.

[crying]

He cries— He cries every time he‘s happy.

[crying continues]

Bless you, Lord. Bless you, Lord.

[kisses]

Give me a hug, man. You can lean on me.

-You can lean on me. -[crying continues]

Oh, Lord.

It must have been— That‘s rig ht.

It‘s been more than a month of Sundays.

Surprise, surprise.

Surprise. You look like you‘re 19 years old.

lam 19.

lam 19.

Is that right? You look good.

[father] You shave?

l shave just like you shave.

l shave every couple— well, about three weeks or so.

Is that right? You look good.

[woman] Well, you know, I cut my hair back every year.

[woman 2] Take your hat off, Daddy. Let me see your head.

How‘s your head? 0h!

0h!

Look at you. He got a haircut too, huh, man?

Look at that.

My head gettin‘ cold.

-0kay. -No, l was just kiddin‘.

-Yeah. -It looks good there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-[woman] You wanna sit up a little better? -Yeah, you all right?

-You all slouched down. -No. I got this right and tall.

-You good nomf? -|‘m good.

Yeah. Yeah.

-| get to sit here and hold your hand. -That‘s right.

Huh?

[woman] Look what! brought you.

-Trick or treat. -[woman] Trick or treat.

-[nun] Yeah, the trick ortreat. -[woman] Trick or treat.

[nurse] Jacqui, do some of your breathing with your dad.

[Jacqui] Okay, man.

Just breathe. Reconnect with your body.

Breathing in and breathing out with a lot of gratitude.

-Breathing in. -[g runts]

Breathing out withjoy.

-Breathing in. {crying}

Yeah.

-[crying continues] -|t‘s all right.

It‘s all right.

Breathing out and release all thatjoy.

It‘s been pent up for how many years?

Let all thatjoy come out.

-Praise the Lord. -That‘s right. Yeah.

Thank you, Lord.

That‘s great.

Praise the Lord.

The last couple oftimes I‘ve come that there hasn‘t been that smile.

Breathe out.

Breathing in

and breathing out

and releasing the tension.

Breathing in.

Releasing.

That‘s good.

You can rememberto come back to your body like this

every time you get a little ovenNhelmed, huh?

Even though when it‘s happy.

Lord, have mercy.

Say “thank you.“

Thank you, Lord.

We‘re lucky too, you know. It‘s not just you.

We‘re lucky that we still got you around.

Yes.

Lord, have mercy— mercy on my soul.

On my soul.

Happy moment, huh? Is this a happy moment?

-A happy moment. -|s this a happy moment or what?

-Yes, it is. -Huh?

'HaPPII-u -|s this a happy moment or what?

-Lord, have mercy on my soul. -Or what?

Yep.

Lord, have mercy on my soul.

This is the kingdom of heaven rig ht here now. Isn‘t it?

Who says you have to go anywhere?

Heaven is rig ht here, isn‘t it?

Huh? Right here.

It‘s right here, isn‘t it?

Mm-hmm.

Rig ht here.

Rig ht here with all of us.

-[father] All of us. -All of us.

-[father] Thank the Lord. -Mm-hmm.

And they‘re on their cell phones.

[laughing]

Yeah.

[Jacqui] Okay.

Mmm.

[chuckles]

[chattering]

[chattering]

[camera shutter clicking]

-[thud] -Oop.

-Hold still. -There you go.

[laughing]

-Okay? -Yeah.

I‘ll help you get out the door.

[man] You working up a sweat?

[monk] Do you work this hard when you‘re on your own at home?

Ah! I‘m retired.

One ofthe beauties of being retired.

You don‘t have to work as hard.

So this is the way you used to work.

More or less, yeah.

We didn‘t have you singing the song with us at the beginning.

It goes in the workplace—

It goes...

J‘ In, outJ‘

J‘ Deep, slow I

We got to slowyou down.

You know, you remind me of somebody and I don‘t know why.

-Are you from St. Paul or Minneapolis? -Yeah.

What was your name before?

Well, when I was a priest, it was FatherAdrian Stier.

-When I was in— -Ade? Dave Gere.

I‘ll be...

I thought you died.

I thought you died.

Oh, wow.

Dave Gere.

How about this?

You‘re a miracle.

-You‘re looking good. -Yeah?

Last I heard, you were very sick,

and thenl didn‘t hear anything for a while.

-Twenty years ago I had cancer. -Yeah.

-And I was in deep chemotherapy. -Uh-huh.

At which time was I first tapped into this program.

[Dave] Okay.

And when I was in chemotherapy,

I happened to read my partner‘s copy of The Miracle of Mindfulness.

[Dave] Yeah. Yeah.

How about this?

We worked together in the Hampton County Court Services.

-Yeah. Yeah. Probation. -Yeah.

-Yeah. -Working with criminals.

[laughing]

You just looked— There was something about yourface.

I said, “I know who he is, but! can‘t put a name to it.“

[laughing]

-Good seeing you. -Good seeing you, Dave.

Wow. This is wonderful.

We shall visit more in this week here.

-Okay. Okay. -Good.

[chattering]

-I have a question. -Yes?

I‘m with a sound therapy organization.

My question really was:

If silence is the pathway

to mindfulness and awakening,

what is the purpose of sound?

And what is sacred sound?

Well, silence can be thunderous.

Yeah. True.

You knowthat— Just like a black color

is the absorption of all colors,

so silence can absorb all sounds.

It‘s a great sound— sacred sound.

So in our practice, we practice that deep silence within,

ofthe mind, of all the perceptions,

the thoughts and also the quietness of the body,

so there‘s solidity, stability.

Spaciousness is the foundation,

and that‘s where other sounds can arise.

If we are always in chaos or moving around, those are just noise.

That‘s not sacred sound.

So how would you define sacred sound?

What would sacred sound be? Orwhat is a sacred sound?

-|fthere is one. -I just did.

When you take a step and you‘re completely in oneness with Mother Earth

and you don‘t have the division between you and Mother Earth,

nature and all that is,

that is very deep sound.

And there‘s no limitation to it.

And from there it can spring a song,

a poem, a smile.

Asmile can be a beautiful sound.

Ah.

[speaking Vietnamese]

[chuckles]

-Hello. -Ah, hey.

Have a hug.

Ah, good to see Mummy.

[grunts]

-Well... -Interesting home.

[laughing]

I thought you said all the furniture was gone.

[man] Huh?

I thought you said all the furniture was gone.

-[man] No, some. -[mother] Yeah, it‘s all gone.

Garden is still there.

Garden.

This is my rock garden.

I knowthere‘s not much to see today,

but in a month‘s time, all the plants will come up.

See?

Oh, to...

Is this my journal?

It‘s amazing.

Just—Justyourdrawing book.

That‘s my— That‘s my journal.

I showthis part, this picture part.

The maps. Rig ht?

Map of Davis‘s life.

[laughing]

Cool, huh?

Isn‘t it amazing though?

[Davis] Oh, my gosh.

This is really... detailed.

“Birth. Seven years old.

Make friends. Be cool.

Join the drama club and be good at all sports.

Thirteen years old— apply to high school.

Student class president.

Get accepted to all high schools.

In college everyone loves me.

Good student. Founder of three clubs.

Parents proud.

Accepted to Ivy League college with full scholarship.

Twenty years old— buy $30,000 car.

Twenty-one— get the perfect girlfriend.

Twenty-one— get the perfect...

Twenty-four— graduate with an MBA.

Get a $300,000 job.

Twenty-six— get married. Buy a million-dollar home.“

I wondered who planted that idea.

-[man] I don‘t know. You did. -Oh, that‘s really inspired.

-[mother laughing] -“Thirty— pop out a few children.

Parents super happy.

40-plus— have everything go directly as planned.

Become vice president of company.

Everyone is happy and loving.

Seventy— obtain enlightenment. “

How are you going to get there with all that?

It‘s a busy life.

Everything obviously goes directly as planned, so...

—Okay, we‘re gonna sing you a song. -Oh, you don‘t have to.

-No, no, no. It‘s okay. -It goes Iikethis.

J‘ Happiness is here and now I

J‘ I have drowned my worries J‘

I Know wherever you go I

J‘ You bring to you I

J‘ No longer in a hurry J‘

J‘ Happiness is here and now I

Really, it‘s okay. I got it.

J‘ I have drowned my worries J‘

J‘ No place to go I

J‘ Something to do I

I But! don’t need I

I To hurry J‘

Thank you.

-Thank you. -That‘s okay.

-This has been very good. -Thank you very much.

Glad you enjoyed it. Have a good day.

Thank you!

-This tops it, man. -[nun] Thank you so much.

I haven‘t done this in 60-some years.

[man] Really?

Have a good day.

[imitating bird cawing]

[imitating bird trilling]

[bird cawing]

-[imitating trilling] -[whist|ing]

Wow!

[imitating cawing]

-[birds cawing] -[whist|ing]

They‘re coming for your food.

Oh, that‘s beautiful.

Look at that.

[whistling]

[animals howling, hooting]

[narrator] At that moment, I felt perfectly at peace.

Not one sad or anxious thought entered my mind.

Ideas of past, present and future dissolved.

And I was standing at the luminous threshold

of a reality that transcends time,

space and action.

I arose and sat in meditation the rest of the night.

All that remained was a deeply rooted peace.

I sat like a mountain...

and! smiled.

[bell gongs]

[bell gongs]