The Heart Of Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy and Liberation 

Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh brings his gift of clear and poetic expression to an explanation of the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and other basic Buddhist teachings. Thich Nhat Hanh's extraordinary contribution to Buddhism and to life is the way he makes these teachings and practices accessible to everyone, showing us how the very suffering that is holding us down can be the path to our liberation.

Book Description

A popular book of Buddhist teachings by one of the most popular Zen masters alive today. (19990319)

About the Author

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist Zen Master, poet, scholar and peace activist. During the war in Vietnam, he worked tirelessly for reconciliation between North and South Vietnam and his courageous efforts moved Martin Luther King to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. During the war, he founded the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon and the School of Youth for Social Service. Forced into exile because of his efforts to negotiate peace in Vietnam, he continued his activism, rescuing boat people and helping to resettle Vietnamese refugees abroad. Today he lives in Plum Village, his meditation centre in France, and travels widely, leading retreats on the art of mindful living.

The best book on Buddhism I have ever read. Thich Nhat Hanh presents the essential teachings of Buddhism in a way that really makes it come alive. The way he presents the four noble truths and eight-fold path are written with a minimum of fuss and jargon. He points out the mutations Buddhism experienced in its oral transmission over the centuries. His argument for critical thinking while reading Buddhist texts is very important reminder that errors in transmission do exist. The material displays not only his intellectual ability as a scholar but also his incredible compassion. He doesn't just write about Buddhism, he lives it.

This is the most wonderful spiritual book I've ever read. A true heart-opener!
It's only necessary to read a few lines at a time, and your whole being is enlightened by Tich Nhat Hanh's profound words, again and again. And it doesn't matter if you are a buddhist, christian, muslim, hindu, humanistic ethicist or belong to any other religion or philosophy. The book is above any religion, and brings peace and awareness to the reader.


 

My Vow

Sunday, 17 March 2013 at 12:56

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• If you wish to continue then you must agree to follow the path you've now stepped upon...with courage and determination. I in turn will formally make myself your teacher, your Sensei, and this bond will never be broken until the hour of our death.
• 
  
  12:47
  Chrissy Newbury
  
  
  I will answer with my vow to you, my teacher.
  I do.
• 
  
  12:47
  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  
  
  Then please repeat the words I now type either aloud or in your mind:
  I take refuge in the Buddha, the supreme teacher of all teachers and who has laid out the pat which will enable to awaken within me my supreme WILL.
  I take refuge in the Dharma, may I dedicate myself to mastering this teaching and pursue enlightenment for benefit of all that lives and will yet live.
  I take refuge in Sangha...the community of all students of the Dharma...and labor to live in a life of harmony in a spirit of universal brotherhood and sisterhood freed from the bonds of selfishness.
  Lastly:
  Even though ages of myriads of Kalpas it is rare and difficult to hear such a profound and powerful teaching which now I receive...now I hear it.

• I do.
• 
  
  12:47
  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  
  
  Then please repeat the words I now type either aloud or in your mind:
  I take refuge in the Buddha, the supreme teacher of all teachers and who has laid out the pat which will enable to awaken within me my supreme WILL.
  I take refuge in the Dharma, may I dedicate myself to mastering this teaching and pursue enlightenment for benefit of all that lives and will yet live.
  I take refuge in Sangha...the community of all students of the Dharma...and labor to live in a life of harmony in a spirit of universal brotherhood and sisterhood freed from the bonds of selfishness.
  Lastly:
  Even though ages of myriads of Kalpas it is rare and difficult to hear such a profound and powerful teaching which now I receive...now I hear it.
  Did you say them?
• 
  
  12:54
  Chrissy Newbury
  
  
  yes.
  and when next we speak personally, I shall say them to you that you may hear the truth in my voice. 
• 
  
  12:55
  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  
  
  From this moment on you are a student of the Buddha, his teachings, and the truth upon which they rest.
  You are a Buddhist, Chrissy.
• 
  
  12:55
  Chrissy Newbury
  
  
  Wow... I feel breathless..
• 
  
  12:57
  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  
  
  As do I. I am not a perfect teacher....but I will strive to be worthy of your devotion to the Dharma. This I swear to you in the name of all Buddhas, all Bodhisattvas and all sentient beings in all strata of reality.
• 
  
  12:57
  Chrissy Newbury
  
  
  You are worthy. Never doubt yourself.
  And I will be your devoted student.
• 
  
  12:58
  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  
  
  You are worthy. Never doubt yourself.
  I know you will be...I see it in all you say and do.
• 
  
  12:59
  Chrissy Newbury
  
  
  Then together we shall know peace as well as love.
• 
  
  13:00
  Dan Hettmannsperger III
  
  
  I must tell you that this is no small commitment between us. It is deeper than a man and his wife in many ways.
• 
  
  13:01
  Chrissy Newbury
  
  
  I understood that before I gave my answer.
  Instinctively.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  My Teacher.