Love Is the Answer: An Interview with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (Episode #47)

The Way Out Is In

Plum Village

Education, Religion & Spirituality, Buddhism, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Mental Health

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🗓️ 23 March 2023

⏱️ 90 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Welcome to episode 47 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives. This special episode features a precious recording of Thich Nhat Hanh which was previously thought lost. Dating from 2012, it documents an interview journalist Jo Confino conducted with the Zen master in Plum Village’s Toadskin Hut. (Though since remastered, be aware that some background noise remains.) The conversation covers a wide range of absorbing topics, from the environment, climate change, and civilizational collapse to consumerism, the simple life, 70 years of practicing mindfulness, new Buddhism, passing on, and sangha as continuation. The recording is introduced by Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and Jo Confino, who provide details about the context of the interview and the significance of certain places, people, and events which are mentioned.“Thay is relaxed, insightful, open, and being Thay at his very best.”Enjoy! Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/ And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/ With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/ List of resources ‘The Toadskin Hut and Paths of Legend’https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/letters/the-toadskin-hut-and-paths-of-legend/ ‘Our Hamlets’https://plumvillage.org/about/plum-village/hamlet/ Outrage + Optimismhttps://www.outrageandoptimism.org/ Brother Phap Linhhttps://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/brother-phap-linh/ Brother Phap Laihttps://plumvillage.org/people/dharma-teachers/br-phap-lai/ ‘Bat Nha: The Indestructible Seed of Awakening’https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/letters/bat-nha-the-seed-of-awakening/ Rains Retreat 2023-24https://plumvillage.org/retreats/info/rains-retreat-2023/ Plum Village International Center in Thailandhttps://plumvillage.org/practice-centre/plum-village-thailand/ ‘New Contemplations before Eating’https://plumvillage.org/articles/news/new-contemplations-before-eating/ Mahatma Gandhihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi Hurricane Sandyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy Stupashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupa Marahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mara_(demon) ‘The Five Mindfulness Trainings’https://plumvillage.org/mindfulness/the-5-mindfulness-trainings/ 40 Years of Plum Village: ‘Dharma Lamp Transmission during the 40 Years of Plum Village Retreat (June 11-12, 2022)’https://plumvillage.org/articles/dharma-lamp-transmission-during-the-40-years-of-plum-village-retreat-june-11-12-2022/ Shambhala Sun/Lion’s Roarhttps://www.lionsroar.com/shambhala-sun-is-changing-its-name-to-lions-roar-2/ ‘Plum Village Practice in Vietnam – Some Background’https://plumvillage.org/articles/blog/monastic/plum-village-vietnam-background/ Quotes “Love has no frontier.” “When you are grateful, you are happy.” “Why should they have the courage to think about the suffering of the Earth or the environment? They try not to think about it, like a camel who doesn’t want to realize that there’s a lion ahead, so they’re just looking to the sand in order to see only the sand. So that is the attitude of men; we are afraid, we don’t want to see the truth.” “Thay sent a message to the root temple [Tu Hieu Temple] saying, ‘You should not build a stupa for Thay, because Thay is continued out here.’ One person has already built a temple for Thay in Hanoi, so I reminded them to make the inscription outside, on the front: ‘I am not in here.’ And then if people don’t understand, you add a second sentence: ‘I’m not ou

Transcript

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0:00.0	And the on the way out of the way out of the way out to the in.
0:39.6	I am Joe Confino and I am Brother Fabu. And Brother Fabu, this is just to put some context around this episode. So I did a number of recordings with Thai when I was at The Guardian and unfortunately my the IT department
0:58.9	wiped my computer before backing it up so I thought I had lost them all but it turns out that there was one that has
1:07.6	re-emerged which is the last interview I did with Ty, which was in what was called his toad skin hut down in the small
1:20.8	hamlet of Shonha, which is very close to upper hamlet. And at the time it was very
1:27.6	very difficult to listen to it and the reason is because we had a very sensitive mic and we put the mic on the table in front of
1:36.9	in front of Thai but just before we started Thai got up because it made us tea and he went up to get us some
1:44.0	biscuits and he put the biscuits down next to the microphone. And there was a fly in the
1:50.2	room and the fly kept on coming to the biscuits and flying off and coming kept on coming back and back and it didn't seem to be making much sense it was fine but then afterwards, basically throughout the recording, it's zzzzzz of the fly coming back and forth.
2:10.8	And actually just to hear at that time because this was
2:14.0	10 years ago so this was on the 30th anniversary of Plum Village it was very very
2:19.9	difficult to even transcribe it. But now, thanks to technology and
2:26.2	particular thanks to our Podfather producer Clay, who has works for global optimism does all the outrasion optimism
2:36.3	Podcast and also producers all ours. So Clay thank you to your wizardry
2:42.1	We have been able to clean up this recording
2:45.0	and are able to bring it to you our listeners
2:49.0	because it's the first time,
2:51.0	it was a couple of weeks ago, it was the first time I had actually heard it for 10 years and in a way that I could understand it all.
2:58.8	And for me personally it feels like a very precious recording.
3:03.6	It's, Ty was very relaxed.
3:05.9	He actually what I love about it, he just,
3:07.9	he chuckles the whole way through.
	...

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