Thich Nhat Hanh - Enjoying the Ultimate: Commentary on the Nirvana Chapter of the Chinese Dharmapada

Published by Palm Leaves Press

an imprint of Parallax Press

Parallax Press

P.O. Box 7355

Berkeley, California 94707

parallax.org

Parallax Press is the publishing division of

Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism, Inc.

Copyright 2021 by Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

Originally published in Vietnam as Rong Chi Tri Phng Ngoi by Nh Sch Phng Nam in 2014.

Cover and text design by Katie Eberle

Composition by Maureen Forys

Non-English words are in Sanskrit unless otherwise indicated or made clear by the context.

ISBN: 978-1-946764-82-9

E-book ISBN: 978-1-946764-83-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nht Hnh, Thch, author. | Laity, Annabel, translator.

Title: Enjoying the ultimate : commentary on the Nirvana Chapter of the

Chinese Dharmapada / Nhat Hanh Thich, Annabel Chan Duc Laity.

Other titles: Rong chi tri phng ngoi. English | Tipiaka.

Suttapiaka. Khuddakanikya. Dhammapada Selections. English.

Description: Berkeley, California : Palm Leaves Press, an imprint of

Parallax Press, [2021] | Summary: The Nirvana Chapter of the Vietnamese translation of Chinese Dharmapada translated into English for the first time, with commentary by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021010038 | ISBN 9781946764829 | ISBN 9781946764836 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Tipiaka. Suttapiaka. Khuddakanikya.

DhammapadaCommentaries.

Classification: LCC BQ1377 .N5313 2021 | DDC 294.3/82dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021010038

Nirva can be realized

right here and right now

in this very life.

In this book we have the first English translation of Chapter Thirty-Six of the Chinese Dharmapada . This Chapter is called The Chapter on Nirva . The Pali Dhammapada , which is much better known than the Chinese, does not have this chapter. However, some of the verses can be found in the Sanskrit Udnavarga . The translation of Zen Master Thch Nht Hnh of the Chinese into Vietnamese makes a very complex and terse Chinese easy to understand. I have done my best to render the Vietnamese into English. Thch Nht Hnh s translation from Chinese is not a literal word for word translation, and expands the very terse Chinese so as to make it comprehensible and accessible to the modern reader. This is also the purpose of the commentary, which was taught to an audience of lay and monastic practitioners, including Dharma teachers and some novices in the practice.

The title Enjoying the Ultimate was suggested by Thch Nht Hnh . He was inspired by a lay Vietnamese Zen master of the thirteenth century, Tu Trung Thng S, who having realized nirva , wrote a poem about enjoying roaming freely in the ultimate dimension. This means that Tu Trung Thng S had experienced in this very life the liberation that is associated with nirva .

Thch Nht Hnh reminds each of us again and again of our ability to experience nirva for ourselves. He shows us that the Buddha has taught this also, and evidence can be found in the early stras : the Udna , Itivutthaka , and Sutta Nipta in particular. The value of these teachings is that they help us apply the Buddhist way of understanding and love in our daily lives. On a broader scope, Thch Nht Hnh helps us to see that the teachings on nirva can and have been applied by practitioners of the theistic religions.

Many people think that nirva is a place of happiness where people who are enlightened go when they die. No idea could be more misleading. The Buddha taught many times about the nirva that can be realized right here and now, in this very life (dadharma-nirva). Nirva means liberation and freedom. If we are able to free ourselves from our afflictions such as attachment, hatred, and jealousy, and we can free ourselves from wrong views like our ideas about birth and death, being and nonbeing, coming and going, and so on, we can be in touch with nirva in the present moment.

Affliction is a translation of the Sanskrit word klea, which refers to the unskillful actions of body, speech, and mind that cause suffering.

If we step on a thorn, as long as the thorn is still under our skin, well feel very uncomfortable. When the thorn is removed, well feel relieved and at ease. That feeling of being at ease is a kind of liberation and freedom; we do not have to die to feel liberation and freedom. Our afflictions of attachment and hatred, the misunderstandings and fears which we presently have, make us feel very uncomfortable; we suffer and feel oppressed. Afflictions and wrong views are like the thorns we havent yet been able to remove. For each thorn that we remove, well have an additional feeling of ease, and that feeling of ease is nirva .

There are two barriers that stop us from being in touch with nirva . They are the obstacle of the afflictions and the obstacle of the knowable. The obstacle of the afflictions is made of craving, hatred, and jealousy. They are like flames that burn us. The obstacle of the knowable is made of discriminative, dogmatic, and dualistic habits of thinking and of wrong views like the belief in a separate self and that things exist outside of each other. Very often we take our wrong view to be the truth, but in reality it tends to cover up and veil the truth of things. When we can transcend wrong views, we feel immense space around us and within us. The flames that were burning us have been put out. Nirva means the extinction of the flames of the afflictions and extinction of the obstacle of the knowable. It is a state of calm, coolness, security, and freedom. It is the daily abode of the people we call sages or holy ones. In the Nirva Chapter, there is the verse:

Jeyvaraa (Sanskrit)this means we are obstructed by what we think we know.

The deer take refuge in the countryside,

The birds in the sky.

The holy ones spend their time in nirva .

There is a path of practice, a noble way of living called the Noble Eightfold Path, which begins with Right View. Right View is the view that transcends all prejudice and dogmatism, all dualistic ways of thinking, all ideas of being and nonbeing, birth and death. Based on Right View, there is Right Thinking, Right Speech, and Right Action. These practices help us gradually to remove the obstacle of the afflictions and the obstacle of the knowable. To the extent that we practice them, we have nirva .

The Noble Eightfold Path: Right View, Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Diligence, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

We do not have to remove one hundred percent of the obstacle of the afflictions and the obstacle of the knowable to have nirva . If we can transform ten percent of the afflictions and the obstacle of the knowable, we shall have ten percent nirva . If we can transform ninety percent, we shall have ninety percent nirva . The afflictions and the obstacle of the knowable that remain are called the residue. The kind of nirva that is not one hundred percent is called nirva with residue. When the remaining afflictions and obstacle of the knowable have been transformed, the practitioner realizes the ultimate nirva , called nirva without residue. The Buddhas and bodhisattvas , while they are living on the earth, are able to abide in this nirva without residue. That is the teaching found in Source Buddhism .