Original Vietnamese title: “Thực tập thế nào khi buồn chán, lo âu – Trích Pháp thoại Sư Ông 13/04/2000”

Talk given: April 13, 2000, Plum Village France

Originally posted by: TCT Phượng Trần (Sakura-Lotus Sangha) https://youtu.be/jHS-Ujw02mg

Length: 38 minutes 29 seconds

This is a 38-minute excerpt from a Dharma talk given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh on April 13, 2000 in Plum Village France.

---

Transcript

[Bell]

[Bell]

[Bell]

[Thay bowing in]

Dear Sangha, today is April 13th, 2000. We are currently at Từ Nghiêm Temple, New Hamlet, in Plum Village Monastery, in the Spring Retreat 2000. Today marks the New Year’s day in Thailand (Songkran) and Cambodia (Sangkranta). We wish the Thai royals and Cambodian royals, as well as all ethnic groups in Thailand and Cambodia, a new year filled with happiness, and peace, and well-being. At lunch today, we’ll be eating Thai food. And probably we’ll be enjoying some Thai songs and dances performed by sisters from New Hamlet, under the instruction of Sister Linh Nghiêm.

There are days when the sky is clear, without a single streak of cloud. And looking up, we see that the blue color of the sky is very peaceful and quiet, very majestic. It’s like the sky’s blue is always there for us. We know that though there are rainy days or stormy days, clouds overcasting the sky, we still know with certainty that blue color of the sky is still somewhere up there. And we are reassured. We know that certainly, the sky’s blue will show up again. French people said, “Après la pluie, le beau temps.” After the rain, the sky is always beautiful.

There are times when our mood is so good — bright and clear. Just as the sky is not being streaked with a single cloud, we feel so happy. Going for a mindful walk with elder brothers, younger siblings, and elder sisters, we feel life is very happy. Our heart and mind are peaceful and quiet, and open. There’s a lot of space. Free like the open blue sky. We all have had moments like that deep in our souls. At those moments, we feel light-hearted and at peace. We smile. We’re nice to everyone. We make ourselves happy. And we make everyone happy.

If we practice mindfulness on days like that, our happiness will progress three times, ten times, or a hundred times, faster. Our happiness will be greater. And the happiness of those around us will also be greater. For that reason, make the best of the days and the times when our mood is bright and clear like a blue sky without a single streak of cloud, in order to practice increasing our happiness. It’s like, when it’s sunny, we often bring wet wash out, we bring paddy rice out, or we bring wet books or notebooks out, to dry them up.

But there are times when our mood is not so bright and clear. It’s not so peaceful. Our mood is like a cloudy sky. Like the weather today. We have anxieties. We have sorrows. We have sadness and self-pity. And our mood is like a sky full of clouds. Now, the sky’s blue is nowhere to be seen. All there is to see are clouds. Clouds in the west. Clouds in the east. Clouds in the north. And clouds in the south. The blue horizon… That blue color of the sky doesn’t show up for us. The same with our soul. Sometimes it’s full of clouds.

Sometimes, it’s not really anger. It’s not really anger or hate. It’s not really despair. It’s just a very normal state. Meaning, the absence of happiness. It’s just being a bit anxious, a bit down. Sometimes, we’re not sure if it’s anxiety, or sadness. Not sure if it’s suffering. We can be very certain it’s definitely not happiness, but it’s not really suffering. That’s just how our mood is. It just feels normal. Bored-ish. It’s not really bright and clear. It’s not really happy. Sometimes, it just feels a little bit anxious. It feels a little bit down.

Like poet Xuân Diệu wrote, “Today the weather lets up a bit. I’m feeling down, not really knowing why.” You’re just feeling down for no obvious reason. The soul is not really bright and clear. The weather letting up a bit can already put you in such a mood. Not to mention when the weather deteriorates, dampening the mood.

So, when our mind and our heart are like that, how should we practice?

At those moments, we are not in high spirits, or feeling lighthearted. At those moments, our mood is gloomy-ish. We’re feeling sad-ish. We’re feeling bored-ish. And we know that a day passing by with this slight sadness or slight boredom is such a big waste. And we want to escape that state of dispiritedness, to reach the blue sky of the days when it’s sunny, pleasant, and dry.

Then what should we do when we get into a state that, though not painful, is not really happy?

It’s just a bit anxious. A bit down. A bit annoyed. Not really painful. We have enough intelligence, we have enough wisdom, to know that at moments when our mood is gloomy like that, that state will certainly have to pass. And the blue color will find its way back to the sky of the soul. But we still feel a bit regret. We still wonder why this gloominess, this slight sadness, this slight annoyance, this slight anxiety, is still following us. So, we go outside to practice mindful walking.

#1.  CHANGE THE PEG

In us, there is a wish. That is to brush away these gloomy clouds asap, so the blue color of the sky can show up vividly again. In the sutra, the Buddha taught us the method of “changing peg”. Whenever a mental formation that we don’t like manifests, we can replace it with another mental formation.

Just as a carpenter sees a peg — which connects one timber beam with another, he sees that the peg has already been rotten. Because of that, he uses another peg, hammers it into the hole, which pushes the old peg out and drives the new peg into the old peg’s place to firmly secure the two timber beams. That is called “changing peg.”

It’s the same with our mental formations. When we have a mental formation like feeling down, we can “change the peg.” It means we bring forth another mental formation which is more joyful and fresh. You can do it. It’s because, this mental formation of dispiritedness manifests because the more joyful and fresh mental formation hasn’t manifested yet. It doesn’t manifest. Now, we practice in such a way that this joyful and fresh mental formation can manifest taking the place of the low mood.

So, in our way of practice, we can do this on our own. Or an elder brother in the Dharma can help us do this. Or a younger sibling, or an elder sister in the Dharma can also help us do this. That person goes to us and lifts us out of that pessimistic, pensive mood. That person is happy like a bird. Early in the morning, that person comes to us, holds our hand, and drags us out of that gloomy state of mind.

And all of a sudden, thanks to the collective energy of the sangha, thanks to the presence of a co-practitioner, we can get out of that dark state of mind. Or we can practice on our own. It’s possible that we can practice “changing peg” on our own. Because we have chanting texts. We have short stories, poems, and the practices that help us make manifest the mental formations that are positive from within.

So, that is called the method of “changing peg.” “Changing peg.” P-E-G. Peg. Meaning “chốt” in Vietnamese.

It’s like when people watch television. They see that there is a terrible TV channel. And they cannot stand it. They stand up. They press a button to switch to a new channel. That is called “changing peg.” In our mind, it’s the same — there are a lot of channels. There are up to 51 channels in our souls. And if we don’t like one channel, we can change to another. It’s just a matter of practice.

Now, they already invent… They already produce something called remote control. People don’t have to stand up to change the channel. They just need to sit or lie wherever they are. And with just one press of a button, one channel disappears, and another appears.

As a mindfulness practitioner, we don’t really have to use a remote control. As a mindfulness practitioner, we know that our mind is always there. And we can go straight to our mind through the breath. And we can also practice “changing peg” like those who change the channel. Those who change the TV channel.

I’d like to remind that we can totally do this on our own, or we can ask a friend, a co-practitioner, to help us do this. Both ways work.

#2.  LET IT BE

However, today Thay want to talk about another aspect of the practice. Which is instead of trying to change the channel, instead of finding ways to change the peg, we just leave it there. Let the channel be. Because the wish — the fervent wish, to immediately change the channel can sometimes do more harm than good. Thay suggest practicing this method. When we have a mental formation like sadness or boredom, anxieties, not feeling happy, let us embrace that feeling of sadness and boredom, that feeling of anxiety.

Don’t be in such a hurry to shoo it away, or change it. Instead, embrace it. We ask,

“My dear little mental formation, are you my suffering? And are you my enemy? Are you my suffering? Are you my enemy, my little mental formation?”

Ask questions like that. Let us not treat it like an enemy. Don’t be in such a hurry to exile it. Instead, embrace it. We invite it to stay.

Dear my sadness and boredom, I know you are there. Please hang around with me for some time. Are you really my suffering?

We now see it from a different perspective. We see that, if in our heart there is sadness, boredom, anxieties, or worry, that is something very normal. It’s like the sky. Sometimes the sky is blue and clear. But sometimes, the sky is cloudy. That is very normal. Why do we have to be overly concerned about the weather? Because if in nature we have weather, in our heart and in our mind, there is also weather. When the weather changes so fast, people say the weather is ‘moody.’ Like people. And some people complain that people change their minds all the time. Fact is, the weather, the sky, is the same.

That’s what poet Nguyễn Bính said, “Rainy afternoon, sunny morning, they said, ‘Even the God of the sky changes his mind.’ ” The sky is as moody as people are. So if the weather is sometimes fair, sometimes foul, why don’t we allow ourselves to be sometimes fair, sometimes foul? For that reason, feeling a bit down, a bit bored, or a bit anxious, is something very obvious. We have to accept we’re living with it, and we smile to it.

My little sadness and boredom, I know you are there. It’s OK.

And we have to learn to live happily with that mood in our soul. At this point, it’s true although that feeling is really there — that feeling of slight sadness, anxiety, or boredom is there, there is also something else. Which is our practice, our new state of mind, our fresh new attitude, towards it. We embrace it. We befriend it. We get close to it. All of a sudden, it becomes very pleasant. It’s a little bit of pain, a little bit of sadness, a little bit of anxiety. And it turns out to be very pleasant.

This is something very important. Don’t think that happiness… Don’t think that true happiness is the total absence of pain and suffering. If we understand it this way, we don’t really understand what happiness is. We do not have to exile all of our pain and suffering from our person in order to be truly happy. No. We can still have happiness actually even if pain and suffering are still there in us.

Like when we garden or farm. If we are a good gardener or a good farmer who does it biologically, we know the garden will certainly have flowers and, at the same time, organic waste, or garbage. Because where there’s flower, there’s garbage. A good gardener or farmer never brings garbage out to burn, or drop them somewhere else. A good gardener or farmer always keeps that garbage to turn it into compost. And that compost will improve the flowering and fruiting in the garden, making it thrive. The same with us.

As a practitioner, we are, at the same time, a gardener or a farmer. And mental formations like sadness, boredom, anxiety, and annoyance, manifest as a matter of course. We want greens, fruits, and tubers, but we don’t want garbage — that’s impossible. When we pick luffa gourds, or tomatoes, or bean pods; when we pick the lettuce, or “xà lách” in Vietnamese, certainly we are left with roots, or yellow leaves. Those roots and those yellow leaves can be re-used, and turned into compost, enriching future flowering and fruiting.

[Touching the bell once]

[Bell]

So we — as a practitioner, are like a gardener, or a farmer. We know that the garden or the farm is our heart and mind. And that, in the heart and mind, there are mental formations. There are mental formations that are positive and pleasant. And, at the same time, there are mental formations that are negative and unpleasant. And as a good gardener, or a good farmer, we have to have a big heart, and great understanding. We can come to accept both the flower part and the garbage part in the garden of our heart and mind. Whenever we see garbage, we’re not annoyed, we’re not upset. Because we know garbage will eventually become flowers.

For that reason, the fervent wish to be in such a hurry to transform that mental formation, to exile that mental formation, to “change the peg” asap, doesn’t always do us good. For that reason, this morning, Thay suggest that we practice this method whenever our mood is foul, like the sky when the weather is not fair. Well, we should instead extend our warm hospitality, come back to that mental formation, and befriend it.

My dear little mental formation, are you my suffering? Are you my enemy? I know you are my friend. You were my friend in the past. You are my friend in the present. And you’ll be my friend in the future.

For that reason, we should learn to live with one another in peace, happiness, harmony — and especially with a non-dualistic attitude. Wanting flowers and, at the same time, not wanting garbage, is unthinkable. Wanting happiness and, at the same time, not wanting suffering, is also unthinkable.

It is thanks to moments of deep pain and suffering, do we know the value of happy moments. It is thanks to the days when it’s rainy — with gloomy weather for days on end, when the sun’s up and the sky’s clear again, can we see all the beauties, all the miracles, of the clear blue sky. For that reason, accepting rainy days is very important.

So when it rains, we are not upset, we do not suffer. We have our own ways of dealing with rainy days. If it rains, we don’t go outside and eat lunch outside. On the contrary, we close all doors and windows carefully to keep the rain and wind out. And we light a fire in the fireplace. There’s warmth inside. If it’s sunny, we open the windows and doors, and we go outside, sit on the grass, drink our tea, and eat our lunch.

The same with our mental formations. When the sky of our mind is clear, we do one thing. And when the sky of our mind is clouded, we do another. We’re not at all anxious and afraid. Just let it be — whether it’s glorious or gloomy. We’re not at all afraid. We don’t resist. And that is the attitude of a mindfulness practitioner. After sitting with our gloomy mental formation with all our hospitality, compassion, and trust, we will get to understand it better.

We’ll say, “My dear gloomy mental formation, you are very essential for me. — it is thanks to you can I learn to recognize the presence, the value, of wholesome mental formations in me. And I don’t want to exile you at all. You are not at all my enemy. I know you are very essential for the manifesting and growing of the mental formations that are positive.“

When we can hold the hand of our gloomy mental formation and walk mindfully with it, all of a sudden, the situation becomes extremely pleasant. There’s no intention or wish whatsoever to chase it away. There’s only the wish to hold its hand, look it in the eye, and extend our hospitality to it. All of a sudden, the situation becomes extremely pleasant. And we can accept a rainy day, or a stormy day, very easily. And we can have happiness right away even on that rainy and stormy day. That is Thay’s practice.

This practice is based on a kind of awareness called “non-dual awareness.”

One day, Thay asked a very small, very young novice nun, “Has your mood ever been foul and gloomy like the weather today?”

And she responded, “Yes, it has, dear Thay.”

She’s still very young, but she can already have days when she’s in low spirits. Then, Thay went on, “In such situations, what do you do, could you share with Thay?”

In this story, she proved that she was not at all anxious or afraid. Because she, though young, has already experienced the days when her mood is bad or black. In the past, it always passed to give ways to mental formations that are pure and gentle. And, even when we do nothing about it, that mental formation still passes. Even if we don’t practice, it still passes. That’s what she thinks, and that’s what she sees, so she’s not at all worried about her feeling dull and dispirited.

All of a sudden, joy comes to her because in her, there are seeds of joy. And elder sisters and elder brothers also have seeds of joy. So when touched, their seeds of joy are watered. They get to be touched, and they manifest. And so, that dark, sorrowful mental formation vanishes.

Yet, on that occasion, Thay didn’t have the chance to teach her the method of holding the hand of that gloomy mood, that feeling of dispiritedness, taking it for a mindful walk, extending our hospitality, expressing our gratitude to it. We’re grateful for the flowers, and at the same time, we’re grateful for the garbage. Because it’s thanks to the garbage, there are flowers. And because there are flowers, eventually there’ll be garbage. And we accept that as a reality.

A famed venerable nun from Vietnam’s Ly dynasty — Venerable Nun Diệu Nhân, composed a very beautiful stanza. She said,

“Birth, old age, sickness, death are facts of life. Why do we have to wish to free ourselves from them? Being in such a big hurry to search for a way out of birth, old age, sickness and death, we end up getting bound up with them.”

It goes,

“Birth, old age, sickness, death,
Are obvious facts of life.
The more you wish to escape,
The tighter these bind you up”

(“Sinh lão bệnh tử, Lý chi thường nhiên. Dục cầu giải thoát, Giải phược thiêm triền.” — You can read this poem, available in both Vietnamese and Chinese languages, here.)

That’s from a venerable nun from the Ly dynasty.

If we hold the hands of birth, old age, sickness, death, smile to them, play with them, it’s fine. But if we purposely want to chase away, exile, or eliminate them, we will get bound up with them. Because in that attitude, there’s a… In that attitude of fighting or running away from them, there is a dualistic view. And that’s why we get bound up.

Therefore, the method that we speak about this morning is don’t bring this dualistic attitude into our daily practice. And we should learn to look at our own negative mental formations with the eyes of non-dualism, with a lot of compassion and trust. And we befriend it. So, if we… if our friends are currently in pain and suffering, don’t be in such a big hurry, don’t be too eager, don’t be too enthusiastic to ward off, to fight off, to exile, and to run away from those pains and sufferings.

On the contrary, we should learn to invite that pain, that suffering, to sit down with us. We should ask, “My dear pain, my dear suffering, what is your true nature? Are you my enemy?” Ask that kind of question. And we’ll hold our pain’s hand, we’ll hold our suffering’s hand, and take them for a mindful walk or a seated meditation.

We know that this very pain, this very suffering, will help us see what’s going right, our peace, happiness, freedom, and well-being. We should express our gratitude to that pain and that suffering. Because if we don’t have pains and sufferings, there’s no way for us to grow up, and to be able to receive the joy of liberation, of peace and happiness. Thus, running away, fighting off, bringing down, or exiling our pains and sufferings is not at all a wise attitude.

One time, while practicing mindful walking, Thay embraced that mood, that feeling, asking, “My dear mood, are you really my suffering?” And Thay realized it was not really suffering. It’s just something very normal. Like if there are days when it’s sunny, there’ll be days when it’s rainy. Sunlight makes rains possible. And rains make sunlight possible. And Thay see very clearly there’s no need to exile it.

“I don’t need to get rid of you. I accept you as you are. I can be happy with you.”

With that, all of a sudden, it no longer is a threat or a source of pain for us. And we live with it as a matter of course. Very wonderful.

“You are natural. Your presence is natural. I accept you as you are.”

So the sangha is invited to practice to see for yourself how wonderful this practice method is.

[Touching the bell once]

[Bell]

🌻

Enjoy the song “Hello Sadness,” from the album “Healing Songs” on Plum Village app (web version)

https://web.plumvillage.app/item/hello-sadness

---

Relevant Dharma talks that may interest you

1. Transforming the Fears Inside (February 04, 1993) – Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh: https://tnhtalks.wordpress.com/2022/08/09/transforming-the-fears-inside/
2. Is our heart too small? – Excerpted from a Dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh on July 26, 2010: https://tnhtalks.wordpress.com/2022/04/22/is-our-heart-too-small/
3. Accepting yourself as you are – Practicing the Sixth Mantra [The basics of Plum Village practice] – Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh: https://tnhtalks.wordpress.com/2021/12/06/accepting-yourself-as-you-are/

---

References

1. Wikipedia, n.d., “Xuan Dieu,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xu%C3%A2n_Di%E1%BB%87u
2. Wikipedia, n.d., “Songkran (Thailand),” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songkran_(Thailand)
3. Wikipedia, n.d., “Cambodian New Year,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_New_Year
4. Wikipedia, n.d., “Remote control,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_control
5. Jack Kornfield, n.d., “The Mind and the Heart,” https://jackkornfield.com/mind-heart/
6. Nguyễn Bính, n.d., “Trời Mưa Ở Huế” (Rainy weather in Hue), retrieved from https://isach.info/poem.php?poem=troi_mua_o_hue__nguyen_binh
7. Encyclopedia, n.d., “Organic Waste,” https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/organic-waste
8. Wikipedia, n.d., “Compost,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost
9. Wikipedia, n.d., “Nondualism,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondualism
10. Wikipedia, n.d., “Diệu Nhân,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Di%E1%BB%87u_Nh%C3%A2n
11. Vanachi, 2006, “Thị tịch kệ – Sinh lão bệnh tử,” retrieved from Thi Vien, https://www.thivien.net/Di%E1%BB%87u-Nh%C3%A2n-ni-s%C6%B0/Th%E1%BB%8B-t%E1%BB%8Bch-k%E1%BB%87-Sinh-l%C3%A3o-b%E1%BB%87nh-t%E1%BB%AD/poem-umr1zCoeDON3g_27FG2Wvw
12. Lâm Linh, n.d., “Ni sư Diệu Nhân: Tổ Sư Ni tiêu biểu nhất của Phật giáo Việt Nam,” retrieved from Vẻ Đẹp Phật Giáo, https://vedepphatgiao.com/ni-su-dieu-nhan-to-su-ni-tieu-bieu-nhat-cua-phat-giao-viet-nam/
13. Wikipedia, n.d., “Lý dynasty,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BD_dynasty
14. Liz Walter, 2022, “Rhyme, rhythm and verse: talking about poetry,” retrieved from Cambridge Dictionary, https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2022/03/16/rhyme-rhythm-and-verse-talking-about-poetry/
15. Wikipedia, n.d., “Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary,” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_vocabulary
16. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/thesaurus/articles/pleasant-dry-and-sunny
17. https://writing.wisc.edu/handbook/style/transitions/#4
18. https://ozdic.com/collocation/mood
19. https://ozdic.com/collocation/spirit
20. https://ozdic.com/collocation/sky
21. https://ozdic.com/collocation/weather
22. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heart
23. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/be+upon
24. https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/be+up