Thich Nhat Hanh - Under the Rose Apple Tree

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Table of Contents

Listen, listen,

This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.

INTRODUCTION BY THICH NHAT HANH

When I was nine, I saw an image of the Buddha sitting peacefully on the grass on the cover of a magazine. Right away I knew that I wanted to be peaceful and happy like that too. Two years later five of us boys were sitting together talking about what we wanted to be when we grew up. We explored many different fields; one boy said he wanted to be a doctor, another said an engineer, and so on. But after a while, we found that nothing really appealed to us.

Then my brother Nho said, I want to become a monk. This was a novel idea, but I knew I also wanted to become a monk. In part it was because of the picture on the magazine.

Then one boy said, Why dont we all become monks? It was childrens talk, but in fact all five of us did become monks. One boy became a Catholic monk, and the other four of us became Buddhist monks. And to this day, three of us are still monks.

The seed of becoming a monk was planted deeply in me after that discussion. I really wanted to become a monk, but I knew for my parents it would be difficult to accept because the life of a monk is a very modest one, and they wanted their children to enjoy the good things in life. I knew that I had to carefully prepare them.

I kept a diary and from time to time I wrote about my aspiration to become a monk. One day I asked my mother to read my diary to my father so that they would get accustomed to the idea. It was too hard for me to do it directly by myself. In that way, going slowly, step by step, I won the approval of my parents and was allowed to go to the temple. I became a novice at the age of sixteen.

Thich Nhat Hanh, also known affectionately as Thy (teacher), is a Zen Buddhist monk who has taught four generations of monks and nuns in Vietnam and in the West, as well as thousands of lay practitioners.

YOU ARE A BUDDHA-TO-BE

The name Buddha comes from the word bud, like a flower bud. Bud means to awaken, to understand, and to know. Buddha is one who is awake, who is aware of everything that happens in the present moment. The depth of his or her understanding and love is very great. Anybody can become a Buddha. We are all Buddhas-to-be. We are all future Buddhas, capable of having deep understanding and a great ability to love and relieve the suffering of others.

Friends of the Buddha usually greet each other by joining their hands to make a lotus. The lotus is a beautiful flower that looks like a magnolia. We put our palms together while breathing in and silently saying, A lotus for you. Then we bow, breathe out, and silently say, A Buddha-to-be. We offer this gesture as a gift.

The Buddha said that there are many other Buddhas everywhere who are teaching, trying to bring love and compassion into everyday life. The Buddha said, All of you are Buddhas-to-be. He was right, because in each of us there are seeds of understanding, love, and compassion. When we cultivate love and understanding, we water those seeds, and they will blossom and bear fruit. If we practice according to the teachings of the Buddha, we will become Buddhas.

Each of us is a Buddha-to-be. That is why we want to live in a way that allows the Buddha in us to blossom. When we know how to breathe, how to walk, how to smile, how to treat people, plants, animals, and minerals, we become real Buddhas.

TOUCHING THE BUDDHA INSIDE

In Buddhist texts, called sutras, the most important message is that everyone has the capacity to be a Buddha the capacity to love, understand, and be enlightened. This is the most important message from all the sutras.

The practice I would like to show you is called Recollection of the Buddha, and it is taught in every school of Buddhism. You touch the Buddha inside you and all the qualities of the Buddha, and you know that the Buddha is absolutely real not an idea, not a notion, but a reality. Our task, our life, our practice is to nourish the Buddha in us and in the people we love.

You may like to spend three or four minutes on this practice, either alone or together with a few friends. Sit down quietly, breathe in and out for a few minutes to calm yourself, and then ask, Little Buddha, are you there? Ask the question very deeply and quietly. My little Buddha, are you there? In the beginning, you might not hear an answer. There is always an answer, but if you are not calm enough, you wont hear it. Anyone there? Little Buddha, are you there? And then you will hear the voice of your little Buddha answering, Yes, my dear, of course. I am always here for you.

Hearing this, you smile. I know, little Buddha, you are my calm. I know you are always there, and I need you to help me be calm. Often, I am not as calm as Id like to be. I scream, I act as if I do not have the Buddha in me. But because I know you are there, I know I am capable of being calm. Thank you, little Buddha, I need you to be there. And the little Buddha says, Of course Ill be here for you all the time. Just come and visit me whenever you need to. That is the practice of touching the Buddha inside. Its a very important practice for all of us.

I love to sit close to children because of their freshness. Every time I hold the hand of a child and practice walking meditation, I always benefit from his or her freshness. I might be able to offer the child my stability, but I always benefit from his or her freshness. If you lose your peace and joy, remember that you have been fresh many times in the past. And if you touch the Buddha, the freshness in you will continue to grow. You can say to the Buddha inside of you, Dear little Buddha, you are my freshness. Thank you for being there.

Dear little Buddha, you are my tenderness. Tenderness is what all of us need.

Dear little Buddha, you are my mindfulness. And that is true, because a Buddha is someone who is made of the energy of mindfulness. To be mindful means to be aware of what is happening, and that is only possible when you are really there, one hundred percent there. Whenever you act mindfully drinking a glass of milk, walking, or breathing mindfully you are touching Buddhahood, you are touching your Buddha nature.

Dear Buddha, you are my understanding. Understanding is so crucial. If you dont understand someone, you cannot love him or her. The Buddha is the power of understanding. When you are mindful and aware of everything that is going on inside you and around you, you understand things and people very easily. So you can say, Little Buddha, you are my understanding. I need you very much because I know that understanding is the foundation of love.

Dear little Buddha, you are my love. You are the capacity of loving. You, too, have the capacity to love. If you touch that capacity every day, your love will grow, your capacity to love will grow, and you will be on your way to fully realizing the Buddha within yourself.

Every time you visit the Buddha, the Buddha in you benefits. The Buddha in you will have more space and air to breathe. During the day, you may have suffered, you may have been very angry, and that deprives the Buddha inside you of fresh air to breathe. Your little Buddha may be suffocating. But every time you practice touching the Buddha, you bring in a lot of space and air, and the Buddha within you has a chance to grow. Its very important.

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