Mindfulness of Breathing (2)

　　by Thich Nhat Hanh

　　Dharma Talk given on July 26, 1998 in Plum Village, France.

　　(Three bells)

　　Dear Sangha, today is the 26th of July, 1998. We are in the Lower Hamlet, during the Summer Retreat. All of us can live for seventy, eighty or ninety years, or if we do very well, for one hundred years. As far as little children are concerned, one year is a long time, maybe like a hundred years, but as far as adults are concerned, one year is not very long. As soon as we”ve had the New Year, and rest a little bit, then there”s another New Year come along. So one year isn”t very long to the adults. But the children have to wait a long, long time after New Year”s ceremony until the next New Year”s ceremony. Now what I”m going to tell you happened one thousand five hundred years ago.

　　In China, in a temple, there were more than a hundred monks practicing together; and among them there was one Indian monk, and that monk was sick. He wasn”t able to go to get water to wash his face, or to bathe on his own. The other monks had to help him. His name was Kaniska. Poor, poor monk—he could not walk, and therefore the other monks had to get water and bring it to him so that he could wash, and they had to change his clothes for him. There were many monks who wanted to help him, but no one was able to help him for very long. In the temple there was a young man of about twenty years old. He was a very good monk, and when the other monks had given up on helping the sick monk, he continued to wash clothes, to wash the monk himself, and to wipe the body of the Indian monk. Five years passed like that, and the young monk did not ever lose his will to do this work.

　　One day the Indian monk said, "You don”t have to worry about me any more; I”m about to leave." The young monk said, "Where are you going

　　 Like this, you can”t go anywhere. Stay here with us so I can look after you, because I am young. I am only twenty-five years old." The other monk was sixty or seventy years old. That young monk was a very lovable monk. He really had a future, and he said, "I think I have good energy, and I can help you." The old monk suddenly stood up and started to walk. The young monk was very surprised, because up till then he hadn”t been able to do anything for himself; he couldn”t even put on his own clothes. The name of the young monk was Tri Huyen. His name meant that he was able to know wonderful things. He saw that he was soon going to say goodbye to the old monk. He had been looking after him for a long time, and had grown very close to him. "I know that when you go, I will miss you, and we won”t know when we”re going to meet again. After we say goodbye today, we may never see each other again." And the Indian monk said, "I think we will meet again at least once more. There is something I want to tell you."

　　"You are still young, you are a very good monk, and you are very intelligent. You will give very good Dharma talks in the future, and you will realize your practice in a wonderful way. Many people will respect you, and in this country everyone will hear about you; therefore, maybe four or five years from now, you will be famous. So you must take great care, because fame is very dangerous for the person who is famous. As far as I can see into the future, you will have a very dangerous accident, and it will make you suffer a great deal. At that time, nobody will be helping you, so try to find me. I will help you at that time, because you have already expressed your love and your compassion by looking after me for five years. When in the future you have a misfortune, an accident, remember to come and look for me, and I will be able to help you."

　　The monk Tri Huyen thought: "This monk is just guessing. I think I”ll be lucky, …

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