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{{Infobox book
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| name = ''The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching''
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| author = Thich Nhat Hanh
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| language = English
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| subject = Philosophy, religion
| genre = Buddhism
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'''''The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching''''' is a book by Thich Nhat Hanh.<ref>[https://www.dwms.org/uploads/8/7/8/7/87873912/thich_nhat_hanh_-_the_heart_of_buddhas_teaching.pdf ''The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching'']</ref>

An outline of the book is given below.<ref>[http://bookoutlines.pbworks.com/w/page/27310104/The%20Heart%20of%20the%20Buddha%E2%80%99s%20Teaching ''The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching''] in The Book Outlines Wiki.</ref>

==Part One: The Four Noble Truths==

===01. Entering the Heart of the Buddha===

*Buddha was not a god.
*Suffering helps one grow.
*Suffering = Holy Truth

===02. The First Dharma Talk===

Discourse on Turning the Wheel of the Dharma (Dhamma Cakka Pavattana Sutta – Samyutta Nikaya V, 420)

Three points:

*The Middle Way (madhyama pratipad)
*The Four Noble Truths (chatvari arya satyani)
*Engagement in the world

===03. The Four Noble Truths===

*Suffering (dukkha)
*Origin of suffering (samudaya)
*Cessation of creating suffering (nirodha)
*Path to freedom from suffering (marga)

Figure 1: The Four Noble Truths

===04. Understanding the Buddha's Teachings===

*Having an open mind and open heart for the dharma

Brief history of Buddhism

*Mahasanghika (majority)
*Sthaviravada (school of elders)
**Sarvastivada (school that proclaims everything is) -> Sarvastivada texts / Northern transmissions
**Vibhajyavada (school that discriminates)
***Tamrashatiya (wearers of copper-colored robes) -> Theravada Pali Canon / Southern transmissions

Schools of Buddhism

*Source Buddhism
*Many-Schools Buddhism
*Mahayana Buddhism

Understanding Buddhist teachings

*All teachings are one, like a “necklace of precious jewels.”
*Teachings are only a guide, like a “finger pointing to the moon.”

===05. Is Everything Suffering?===

Three Kinds of Suffering (NOT a teaching of the Buddha)

*The suffering of suffering (dukkha dukkhata)
*The suffering of composite things (samskara dukkhata)
*The suffering of things associated with change (viparinama dukkhata)

List of afflictions (kleshas)

*Craving (raga)
*Anger (pratigha)
*Ignorance (avidya)
*Suspicion (vichikitsa)
*Arrogance (mana)
*Wrong views (drishti)

Dwelling happily in things as they are (drishta dharma sukha viharin)

===06. Stopping, Calming, Resting, Healing===

*Stopping (shamatha)
*Looking deeply (vipashyana)

===Stopping (shamatha)===

*Mindfulness vs. Forgetfulness
*Habit energies (vashana) are obstacles

Calming – five stages:

*Recognition
*Acceptance
*Embracing
*Looking deeply
*Insight

Resting -> Healing

===07. Touching Our Suffering===

Figure 2: The Twelve Turnings of the Wheel

===Four Nutriments===

*Edible food
*Sense impressions
**contact (sparsha) with sense objects (ayatanas)
*Intention
*Consciousness

First and Second Holy Truths

===08. Realizing Well-Being===

Third and Fourth Holy Truths

Interconnectedness of the Four Holy Truths

*Understanding things as they are (yatha bhuta jnana)
*Four Noble Truths are one

Renumbering:

*Well-Being (#3)
*Noble Eightfold Path that Leads to Well-Being (#4)
*Suffering (#1)
*Ignoble Eightfold Path that Leads to Suffering (#2)

==Part Two: The Noble Eightfold Path==

Arya ashtangika marga (a noble path of eight limbs)

*Right View (samyag drishti)
*Right Thinking (samyak samkalpa)
*Right Mindfulness (samyak smriti)
*Right Speech (samyag vac)
*Right Action (samyak karmanta)
*Right Diligence (samyak pradhana)
*Right Concentration (samyak samadhi)
*Right Livelihood (samyag ajiva)

===09. Right View===

*Right View (samyag drishti)
*Right view - ability to distinguish:
**Wholesome roots (kushala mula)
**Unwholesome roots (akushala mula)
*Base of our views - perceptions (samjna)
**Chinese = xiang3
**Object of our perception = our consciousness
*Non-conception - go beyond ideas
**Chinese = wu2 nian4
**All views are wrong views
*Mother of All Buddhas (prajna paramita)
**Practice of Right Mindfulness (seeing the seed of Buddhahood everywhere)
*Figure 3: The Interbeing of the Eight Elements of the Path

===10. Right Thinking===

*Right Thinking (samyak samkalpa)
*Wrong thinking -> upside-down way (viparyasa)

Two parts of thinking:

*Initial thought (vitarka)
*Developing thought (vichara)

Four practices:

*“Are you sure?”
*“”What am I doing?”
*“Hello, habit energy (vashana).”
*“Bodhichitta” – mind of love

Other phrases:

*“Changing the peg”
*“Think non-thinking”

===11. Right Mindfulness===

*Right Mindfulness (samyak smriti)
*Chinese = nian4
*Buddhist psychology = super dharma (abhidharma)
**Trait attention (manaskara) is universal
***May be appropriate (yoniso) or inappropriate (ayoniso)

====Seven Miracles of Mindfulness====

*Be present
*Make others be present also
*Nourish the object of your attention
*Relieve the other's suffering
*Looking deeply
*Understanding
*Transformation

====Four Establishments of Mindfulness (smriti upasthana)====

*Mindfulness of the body (kaya) in the body
**Note the body's positions and movements
**Recognize all body parts
**See the four great elements (mahabhuta) of the body (earth, water, fire, air)
***Air - mindful breathing: in/out; counting
*Mindfulness of the feelings (vedana) in the feelings
*Mindfulness of mind (chitta) in the mind
*Mindfulness of phenomena (dharma) in phenomena
**Counting the breath
**Observing interdependent arising
**Observing impurity
**Observing with love and compassion
**Observing the different realms
***Six elements: earth, water, fire, air, space, consciousness
***Six realms: happiness (sukha), suffering (dukkha), joy (mudita), anxiety (domanassa), letting go (upeksha), ignorance (avidya)
***Six realms: craving (kama), freedom from craving (nekkhama), anger (vyapada), absence of anger (avyapada), harming (vihimsa), non-harming (avihimsa, ahimsa)
***Three realms: desire realm (karma dhatu), form realm (rupa dhatu), formless realm (arupa dhatu)
***Realm of the conditioned (samskrita)
***Realm of the unconditioned (asamskrita)

===12. Right Speech===

*Right Speech (samyag vac)

Explanation of right speech:

*Speaking truthfully
*Not speaking with a forked tongue
*Not speaking cruelly
*Not exaggerating or embellishing

Sources of right speech:

*Right thinking
*Right listening

===13. Right Action===

*Right Action (samyak karmanta)

Five Mindfulness Trainings (pancha shila)

*Reverence for life
*Generosity
*Sexual responsibility
*Right speech
*Responsible eating, drinking, consuming

===14. Right Diligence===

*Right Diligence (samyak pradhana)

Fourfold Right Diligence

*Preventing unwholesome store consciousness seeds from rising
*Helping sprouted unwholesome seeds to return to store consciousness
*Finding ways to water wholesome seeds in store consciousness
*Nourishing the sprouted wholesome seeds

===15. Right Concentration===

*Right Concentration (samyak samadhi)

Two forms of concentration:

*Active
*Selective

Nine levels of meditation (dhyana):

*Four Dhyanas – form realm
**1. First dhyana (prathama dhyana)
**2. Second dhyana (dvitiya dhyana)
**3. Third dhyana (trtiya dhyana)
**4. Fourth dhyana (caturtha dhyana)
*Four Dhyanas – formless realm
**5. Limitless space
**6. Limitless consciousness (manovijnana)
**7. Nothingness (manas = mind)
**8. Neither perception nor non-perception (alaya = store)
*9. Cessation

Practicing samadhi (concentration / absorption):

*Realm of desires (karma dhatu) -> realm of forms (rupa dhatu) -> formless realm (arupa dhatu)

===16. Right Livelihood===

*Right Livelihood (samyag ajiva)
*Not needing to transgress the Five Mindfulness Trainings
*Practicing the Noble Eightfold Path

==Part Three: Other Basic Buddhist Teachings==

*The Two Truths
*The Three Dharma Seals
*The Three Doors of Liberation
*The Three Bodies of Buddha
*The Three Jewels
*The Four Immeasurable Minds
*The Five Aggregates
*The Five Powers
*The Six Paramitas
*The Seven Factors of Awakening
*The Twelve Links of Interdependent Co-Arising
*Touching the Buddha Within

===17. The Two Truths===

*Relative, or worldly, truth (samvriti satya)
*Absolute truth (paramartha satya)

Five Remembrances:

*Old Age
*Illness
*Death
*Impermanence and inseparation of all that is dear
*Actions are the only true belongings

===18. The Three Dharma Seals===

*Three Dharma Seals (dharma mudra)
**Impermanence (anitya)
**Non-self (anatman)
**Nirvana
**Eight Concepts
***Birth
***Death
***Permanence
***Dissolution
***Coming
***Going
***One
***Many
**Opposites
***Impermanence
***Non-self
***Interdependent co-arising
***The middle way
**Drishtadharma nirvana (nirvana in this very life)
**Four Dharma Seals
***Impermanence
***Non-self
***Nirvana
***Suffering
**Two Dharma Seals
***Suffering
***Nirvana
**One Dharma Seal
***The Seal of the True Mark
**Two Relevances
***Relevance to the Essence
***Relevance to the Circumstance
**Four Standards of Truth (siddhanta)
***The worldly
***The person
***Healing
***The absolute
**Four Reliances
***Rely on the teaching, not the person
***Rely on the absolute truth, not the relative truth
***Rely on the meaning, not the words
***Rely on the insight of looking deeply (jnana), not on differentiation and discrimination (vijnana)

===19. The Three Doors of Liberation===

*Emptiness (shunyata)
*Signlessness (animita)
*Aimlessness (apranihita)

Four signs

*Self
*Person
*Living being
*Lifespan

===20. The Three Bodies of Buddha===

Three Bodies (trikaya) of Buddha

*Dharmakaya (body of bliss / enjoyment)
*Nirmanakaya (historical embodiment)
*Sambhogakaya (transformation bodies)

===21. The Three Jewels===

Faith (shraddha) in the Three Jewels (triratna)

*Buddha (shows the way in this life)
*Dharma (the way of understanding and love)
*Sangha (community that lives in harmony and awareness)

===22. The Four Immeasurable Minds===

Four Immeasurable Minds (brahmaviharas)

*Love (maitri)
*Compassion (karuna)
*Joy (mudita)
*Equanamity (upeksha)

===23. The Five Aggregates===

Five aggregates (skandhas)

*Form (rupa)
*Feelings (vedana)
*Perceptions (samjna)
*Mental formations (samskara)
*Consciousness (vijnana)

===24. The Five Powers===

Five Faculties / Bases (indriyani) -> Five Powers (balani)

*Faith (shraddha)
*Energy (virya)
*Mindfulness (smriti)
*Concentration (samadhi)
*Insight (prajna)
*[Capacity / Inclusiveness (kshanti)]

Three Kinds of Pride

*Better than others
*Worse than others
*Just as good as others

Bodhisattva Never-Despising

*“I do not dare to underestimate you. You are a future Buddha.”
*Practicing joy
*Living in the present moment

Good time to start watering positive seeds in store consciousness when the following are dormant:

*Internal formations (samyojana)
*Suffering (dukkha)

===25. The Six Paramitas===

Meaning:

*Paramita: “perfection,” “perfect realization”
*Chinese = du4
*Figure 4: The Six Paramitas

The Six Paramitas:

*Giving (dana paramita)
*Mindfulness trainings (shila paramita)
*Inclusiveness (kshanti paramita)
*Diligence (virya paramita)
*Meditation (dhyana paramita)
*Understanding (prajna paramita)

====Giving (dana paramita)====

*Our true presence
*Our stability
*Our freedom
*Our freshness
*Peace
*Space
*Understanding

====Mindfulness trainings (shila paramita)====

*Five Mindfulness Trainings

====Inclusiveness (kshanti paramita)====

*Love (maitri)
*Compassion (karuna)
*Joy (mudita)
*Equanamity (upeksha)

====Diligence (virya paramita)====

Four practices (Fourfold Right Diligence):

*Refrain from watering the negative seeds in us
*Return already risen negative seeds to store consciousness
*Touch positive seeds in store consciousness -> manifest in mind consciousness
*Maintain the wholesome seed

Figure 5: Seeds of Mindfulness

====Meditation (dhyana paramita)====

Two aspects:

*Stopping (shamatha)
*Looking deeply (vipashyana)

====Understanding (prajna paramita)====

*Wave metaphor

===26. The Seven Factors of Awakening===

Seven Factors of Awakening / Seven Limbs of Enlightenment (sapta bodhyanga)

*Mindfulness (smriti)
*Investigation of phenomena (dharma-pravicharya)
*Energy, effort, diligence, perseverance (virya)
*Ease (prashabdhih)
*Joy (priti) – as opposed to happiness (sukha)
*Concentration (samadhi)
*Equanamity (upeksha)

===27. The Twelve Links of Interdependent Co-Arising===

Twelve Links of Interdependent Co-Arising (pratitya samutpada)

*Cause = en1
*Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Twenty-four conditions (paccaya)

Four kinds of conditions (pratyaya)

*Cause / seed / root condition (hetu-pratyaya)
*Condition for development (adhipati-pratyaya)
*Condition of continuity (samanantara-pratyaya)
*Object as condition (alambana-pratyaya)
*Motivating / creative force (karana-hetu)
*Concurrent condition (sahabhu-hetu)
*Seed condition of the same kind (sabhaga-hetu)
*Associated condition (samprayukta-hetu)
*Universal condition (sarvatraga-hetu)
*Ripening condition (vipaka-hetu)

===28. Touching the Buddha Within===

*Seeking meaning for our life
*Looking deeply in the Five Aggregates
*Finding places for practicing mindfulness and concentration
*Seeking world peace and universal compassion

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:Books]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Buddhism]]
[[Category:Mysticism]]

The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching - Revision history

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