Dharma Talks / Reverence is the Nature of Our Revolution

Br Phap Dung teaches on community living and reverence in our life and in our practice.
Br Phap Dung encourages us to give 100% of our being to the practice, much like a newly ordained novice.
The Plum Village community is a community of resistance, a radical, non-violent, 2,500 year old resistance movement, dating back to the time of the Buddha’s sangha. Our teacher’s vision of a renewed and engaged Buddhism is one where we participate fully in life. It is an applied practice with contemplation. A practitioner is a revolutionary, one who is working toward liberation from one’s afflictions and other mind-binding activities. It is a revolution of how we look at our suffering and how we can be free of our fear of suffering.
Br Phap Dung encourages us cherish our life in the present moment, to look at where our suffering comes from, our ideas, our need to plan for the future. What is the nature of our suffering?
Time is needed to develop respect and love. The more we understand ourselves and other beings, the more reverence we have. Reverence is also not just for beings, but also for the things we produce, such as clothing, electricity and clean water. Material things also have spirit and a cost to someone. Can we bow to our trash bin?
Those taking part in the environmental movement need to instill an awareness of reverence in their actions. Seeing interbeing prevents us from falling into dualism which creates toxins in our mind and causes burn-out. As humans we have foresight and can predict the future but this ability may become a source of fear and anxiety. Perhaps we will need to mourn for the ending of our civilization, but after caring for the grief, our actions still need to come from a place of reverence and love