Original Vietnamese title: “Bài Kệ Vô Thường [CPNĐSNC 13A] | TS Thích Nhất Hạnh(18-01-1998, Xóm Thượng, Làng Mai)”

Originally posted by: by Làng Mai (Plum Village’s Vietnamese YouTube channel), https://youtu.be/xw0dJRUumZo, on April 20, 2023

Talk given: January 18, 1998, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France

Length: 12 minutes 05 seconds

This is a teaching on the Gatha On Impermanence which is part 13A of the Dharma talk series “Daily training gets the thousand-petalled lotus to burst open,” given by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh during a Winter Retreat between 1997-1999 in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France, on January 18, 1998.

Note: This Dharma talk series were given by the Zen master during the 1997-1999 period. Due to technological limitations in this period, audiovisual quality is not very good. The Plum Village Editorial Team hopes for your kind understanding.

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Transcript

Dear Sangha, today’s January 18, 1998. We’re currently in the Upper Hamlet, during the Winter Retreat 1997-1998.

Today, we’re studying the Gatha On Impermanence, on page 34 of the book Daily Chants of Zen Buddhist Tradition (Nhật Tụng Thiền Môn).

The Gatha On Impermanence is usually recited near the end of the evening liturgy to remind ourselves of the nature of impermanence, change, and decay of all phenomena. Typically, the Gatha On Impermanence is chanted aloud by only one person instead of by the whole sangha.

The day has now ended or is about to end. And the remaining time of my life has been shortened.

How have we spent the twenty-four hours of today? Because twenty-four hours of a day are a very precious gift that life has given us. Perhaps in the past, out of unskillfulness, out of silliness, out of anger and resentment, we ruined our day.

And today, we want to see whether we’ve appreciated deeply and lived our day deeply or not, or whether we’ve done better than yesterday or the day before. This is a chance to look deeply.

What have I done for myself? What have I done for those around me? What’s another step further have I gone on the path of practice?

So we have to chant this gatha really slowly. We should leave enough time and space for the sangha to meditate and contemplate. Don’t chant aloud one word right after another, leaving everyone no chance to pause and look deeply.

In the original version recited in Sino-Vietnamese liturgies in the old days, they compare it with the image of a fish living in a pond that’s drying up day by day — she/he/they can’t find any joy or happiness living in it.

“Như thiểu thủy ngư,
Tư hữu hà lạc.”

“Như thiểu thủy ngư” means “(I’m) like a fish living in a place where there’s very little water.” “Tư hữu hà lạc” means “There’s only angst and worry — no point being joyful & happy.”

That image isn’t used in this new gatha because in our tradition, we practice “dwelling happily in the present moment.” And the insight that our practice is based upon is the insight of interbeing. That’s why we don’t use that line from the traditional gatha, “(I’m) like a fish living in a pond that’s drying up. There’s no point being joyful and happy.”

Because… Would we want to feel sad and disconsolate from early till late?

When we remind ourselves of the reality that another day has neared its end but we haven’t lived our life the best we can, haven’t had enough happiness in our heart, and haven’t practiced mindfulness and meditation well enough, naturally, it gives rise to the mental formation of repentance or regret. And that mental formation of repentance and regret can be used as an energy that motivates us to resolve to live our life practicing better tomorrow.

You know,

That’s the truth.

Poet Vũ Hoàng Chương has a poem called “What have I done with my life?” Every day, we should ask ourselves that question. “What have I done with my day?” because twenty-four hours are extremely precious.

We are the architect, we are the engineer, of our own life. That’s why we have to be wholly responsible for the value of a day of our life. We shouldn’t complain, putting the blame on someone else or society. We are the architect of our own life. We have to manage it carefully ourselves and we have to be master of our own destiny.

And when we chant aloud “Look deeply, ‘What have I done?’” we should pause. We pause for a moment so the sangha can contemplate.

Thay remember in the old days, every time the line “Like a fish living in a pond that’s drying up, There’s no point being joyful and happy” was chanted aloud, it felt seriously unhappy.

Every time this last line was chanted, it always felt like there’s no point being happy. Because of this, in the revised gatha we never use that image of the fish living in the pond with little water left.

Then we invite the bell to sound once. We invite the bell once so the sangha can stop and look deeply. If we’re to do it in English, we should write down the equivalent English lines beforehand so we can chant accordingly.

Then, invite the bell so that everyone can take one or two breaths. Then we go,

That’s the conclusion. In case we’ve already ruined our day, now is the chance for us to begin anew. We make a vow to live our life practicing better tomorrow.

Note the word “deeply.” Without mindfulness, we can never live deeply and wholeheartedly. Without mindfulness, we live our life very lackadaisically, half-heartedly, absentmindedly.

“Free from afflictions” means not getting caught up, or entangled, in anything. Not getting caught up, or entangled, in anything means happiness is already present.

“Nhớ” here is synonymous with “niệm” (i.e. to be mindful of something over and over.) “Nhớ vô thường” means to always maintain the mindfulness of impermanence in us, never letting that mindfulness of impermanence to scatter, because mindfulness of impermanence reminds us that everything will pass by quickly.

If we fail to appreciate them, they will slip through our fingers before we know it. The same with our day. The same with our beloveds. And the same with the marvels of life around us. Everything will slip through our fingers like water.

That’s why if we don’t have right concentration on impermanence and right mindfulness of impermanence, we’ll never come to appreciate deeply all that is currently available to us.

A majestic sunset only lasts five minutes. After five minutes, the spectacular sunset is no longer there. So the whole time the sun is setting so majestically, we should be truly there. We have to live deeply to feel the beauty of the sunset.

We should do the same with other miracles of life. Everything will go by very quickly, so if we’re not truly present in the moment, if we fail to come in touch with the beauties of those miracles, our life means nothing. We haven’t lived happily, deeply, and free from afflictions.

“Live deeply” to get in touch with things in an authentic way. “Free from afflictions” means not getting caught up, or entangled, in anything.

Although miracles of life are there and although we resolve to live deeply to receive those miracles fully as they are, we have freedom — we don’t get caught in or attached to those miracles. It’s because one miracle will give way to another miracle. And with that, our life is a chain of miracles. We walk by those miracles with our mindful awareness of impermanence.

Many people — who out of silliness have never been in touch with and lived deeply the miracles of life available for them — find themselves in deep regret later on. For that reason, living in mindfulness and awareness is the only way to go.

Mindfulness of impermanence helps us live deeply and in freedom.

Among us, some have already let months and days slip by meaninglessly. And others are letting months and days go by meaninglessly. There are those who can never dwell peacefully, who can never feel happy and content in the present moment. They sit as if on a heap of burning charcoals. They sit here but they’re not happy because they believe that only being somewhere else, can they be happy. Some among us are like this. Such people, even when having already reached “somewhere else,” will still behave in exactly the same way.

That’s why it’s a matter of practicing “an trú.” “An trú” means “happy dwelling,” “happy living in the present moment.” Then we invite the bell once again.

[Bell]

[Bell]

So dear Sangha, please practice chanting this gatha this way.

🌼

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Relevant learning material

Plum Village App’s The Way Out Is In podcast “Lessons in Impermanence: How to Handle Life when Everything Changes | TWOII | Episode #2” (2021): https://youtu.be/fEfGe_O4EGI

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References

1. Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching the Earth (revised edition), Chapter 5 “Impermanence and Interbeing”, California, USA: Parallax Press, page 21.
2. Plum Village, 2011, Chanting from the heart, “Discourse on transforming violence and fears,” page 193
3. Plum Village, 2013, 51 Mental Formations, https://plumvillage.org/transcriptions/51-mental-formation/ (downloadable PDF)
4. Asian Institute of Applied Buddhism (AIAB) Hong Kong, n.d., “Five Rememberances & Gatha on Impermanence,” https://www.appliedbuddhism.org/en/mindfulness-practices/practices-from-the-heart/44-five-rememberances-gatha-on-impermanence
5. Làng Mai, n.d., “Nhật Tụng Thiền Môn,” https://langmai.org/phat-duong/thien-mon-nhat-tung/
6. Thích Thông Huệ, 2009, “Vô Thường”, https://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/phat-phap/giao-phap/vo-thuong-kho-vo-nga/3223-vo-thuong.html
7. Phật Ân Temple, 2016, “NGHI THỨC MÔNG SƠN THÍ THỰC”, “THỊ NHỰT” [Sino-Vietnamese name of gatha on impermanence], https://phatan.org/a693/nghi-thuc-mong-son-thi-thuc
8. Definition of “biến hoại”, n.d., retrieved from Online Buddhism Dictionary, https://phatgiao.org.vn/tu-dien-phat-hoc-online/bien-hoai-k46697.html
9. Definition of “hay sao”, https://vtudien.com/viet-viet/dictionary/nghia-cua-tu-hay%20sao
10. Definition of “nào”, https://vi.wiktionary.org/wiki/n%C3%A0o#Ti%E1%BA%BFng_Vi%E1%BB%87t