Darma, Color and Culture. New Voices in Western Buddhism. edited by Hilda Gutierrez Baldoquin

The Nobility of Suffering. Thich Nhat Hanh

• ill-being is suffering
• thanks to suffering you have a chance to cultivate your understanding and your compassion.
• ill-being can be described in terms of violence, discrimination, hate, jealousy, anger, craving, and especially ignorance.
• wisdom of interbeing
• suffering and happiness are also organic
• if you know this you can transform suffering into well-being. This is the Buddha's teaching of non-duality.
• by touching suffering, understanding it, you can have a chance to understand people and their suffering.
• You are not anyone's victim
• Craving and anger are born from ignorance
• you are noble not because of your race, but because of your way of thinking, your way of speaking, and your way of acting.
• whose way of thinking is full of understanding and humanity, whose way of speaking is full of hope and confidence, and whose way of acting is full of compassion.
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• Nutriments:
• 1st: edible food: urges to consume only items that bring about lightness, healing, and nourishment in our body and in our mind.

• 2nd: sensory impression: watch out for seeds of craving and violence, and if they are being watered. (like a invasive species, need to be mindful of cultivating)
• Being aware and mindful of what we are seeing can help protect us.
• when you drive through the city, be aware of what you are consuming, even when you don't want to, you are forced to it.
• Even conversations may be highly toxic. What the other person says may be full of hate or despair, and after one an hour of listening, you may feel paralyzed by the toxins in the conversation.
• The practice of therapy should include hours of walking, sitting, and getting in touch with the wonder of life.
• Don't try to do more than you your limit. you will burn out.
• Practice of self protection. so that you do not bring "toxins" in you. Six doors to guard: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind. mindful consumption.

• 3rd: Volition: the deepest desire that motivates a person's life. What is our purpose in living? live simply and relate easily to others.

• 4th: Consciousness as food: "everything comes from consciousness". when wrong perceptions have been removed, consciousness becomes wisdom.

• "Not many people help us to understand our fear, our anger.
• Not many people help us embrace them and look deeply into their nature.
• and our gov't has acted on the foundation of that collective fear and anger. It is very dangerous."
• I do not underestimate. You are a Buddha-to-be. "Everyone has Buddha nature" or any other Deity nature.
• Security guards in the airport do not look for your Buddha nature, they are looking at you as a potential terrorist.
• when a culture goes like that, they are going in the wrong direction!

• i walked slowly so i could enjoy the cold, fragrant air, so it could nourish me and heal me.
• then a car pulled up to me, opened the door and yelled " This is America, not China."
• Maybe he thought....
• But i was not angry, i thought it was funny.
• if he paused for a moment, I would tell him "I agree with you one hundred percent. this is America, not China. What you say is very correct. I agree with you, buy why do you have to shout at me."
• The oppressed and and the oppressors are inside of us. Our practice is to reach to their wisdom of nondiscrimination.
• I want these people to be happy and to have freedom. The are all my beloved ones.
• "We iter-are; that is the fact. YOu are in me and i am in you. it's silly to discriminate against each other. It is ignorant to think that you are superior to me or that i am superior to you."

• You cannot compare. (according to the Buddha). the right hand and the left hand don't have separate selves.
• superiority is a sickness that lies as an illusion of a self that is better.
• Both sides are trying to punish the other and prove that they are superior. This is unnecessary.
• the complex of superiority, inferiority, and equality brings suffering. IF you are a magnolia, be a magnolia. If you are a reed, be a reed. There is no need to compare. "When you think there is a self then you compare and compete. When you remove the notion of self you are free from these kinds of complexes."
• A "one-way" of thinking, is a habitual way that imprisons yourself in a framework of culture and behavior. one way of behaving, confined to the limits. There must be diversity and understanding of the multitude of ways.
• With conflict or misunderstanding, we must find out all the sufferings and difficulties of the person or group, all their wrong perceptions and ask and find out why they come to feel as they do.
• Conflicts can take place within ourselves. We must reconcile with ourselves. First and foremost, then move outward. We must cast love and gentleness on ourselves.
• Conflicts between people can be solved with good communication, deep listening and loving speech. We can help each other remove wrong perceptions .
• Why do we think about hatred and punishment, when we can liberate and help remove wrong perceptions. Motivation by fear or anger can be masks for craving. Craving for acknowledgment or affirmation. Craving for power, which again is simply the child in the human asking for love and understanding.
• WE have to find out the motivation, the foundation of action from people, especially when it comes from a place of attack or violence.
• To listen compassionately and ask deep questions requires a lot of courage. We must lower our shields, release a bit of our egos to hear someone else clearly. To see them as ourselves is a practice of ages. We must begin now.
• If we detect elements of wrong perception in them, then we know that later on we can release the information they need to correct their wrong perceptions.
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