Two Hands Clapping

Summary

The talk was delivered in the context of a winter retreat at Lower Hamlet on December 9, 2012, and it centered on the spiritual meaning of home, especially as Christmas and the New Year approached. The speaker framed Christmas as a time of reunion and warmth, comparing it to Vietnamese Lunar New Year, and used this seasonal setting to reflect on the deeper human need for a true home. That home was described not as a physical location or nationality, but as an inner refuge where one feels safe, relaxed, peaceful, and fulfilled. A major theme was the contrast between outer belonging and inner belonging. The speaker noted that many people, even when surrounded by family, wealth, or national identity, still do not feel at home because of unrest, lack of warmth, or absence of peace. Jesus Christ was presented as someone who also lacked an earthly home: he was born into displacement, lived as a refugee, and said that the birds and animals have nests and dens, but the son of man has no place to lay his head. Siddhartha, the historical Buddha, was described in a similar way: although born into a royal family with wealth, a wife, and a son, he still did not feel at home in the palace. These examples were used to show that true home is not found in status, possessions, or social identity. The speaker then developed the Buddhist teaching of the “island within oneself,” identifying it as the true home. This inner island was described as a place of refuge where one can touch one’s ancestors—genetic and spiritual—and find peace, safety, and stillness. The Buddha’s final instructions to his disciples were emphasized: they should take refuge in themselves, in their practice, and in the Dharma, rather than in external authorities. The image of the island was linked to the idea that one can remain unshaken even amid the “big waves” of suffering and uncertainty. A central practice in the talk was mindfulness of breathing. The speaker insisted that home is not far away but is available in every in-breath and out-breath. By dwelling peacefully in breathing, one becomes concentrated, less dispersed, and more able to touch the present moment. In this way, the practitioner becomes home rather than trying to reach home as a distant destination. The speaker summarized this with the teaching that “there is no way home; home is the way,” and connected it to the Buddhist saying that “there is no way to Nirvana; Nirvana is the way.” Every step, if taken in mindfulness, is already a step in home and in Nirvana. The talk also explored several core Buddhist doctrines in a highly interpretive way. The speaker discussed the Four Noble Truths, the Five Mindfulness Trainings, the Middle Way, non-self, aimlessness, and the distinction between conventional truth and ultimate truth. The argument was that the aim and the means are not separate: the path already contains the destination. Receiving the Five Mindfulness Trainings was described as an immediate source of happiness, not something whose benefit appears only later. Likewise, Nirvana was presented not as annihilation or nihilism, but as the extinction of discrimination, fear, and the false notion of a separate self. A substantial portion of the talk focused on correcting misunderstandings of dependent origination and the Twelve Links. The speaker argued that these teachings are often presented too linearly, as if ignorance mechanically produces formations, consciousness, body-and-mind, and so on in a chain. Instead, the speaker insisted that the Buddha’s teaching should be understood in a more circular, interdependent, and nondual way. The emphasis was on interbeing: each phenomenon contains the others, and nothing exists independently. The speaker also discussed the six sense bases, six consciousnesses, and eighteen realms, using the example of eye contact with form to show that there is seeing but no separate seer. This was used to support the doctrine of non-self and to challenge the idea of an eternal soul moving from life to life. The talk repeatedly contrasted conventional reality with ultimate reality. In the conventional dimension, there are distinctions such as birth and death, self and other, good and bad, and subject and object. In the ultimate dimension, these oppositions are seen as interdependent and empty of separate essence. The speaker connected this to scientific ideas such as conservation of energy and transformation, suggesting that nothing is truly lost, only transformed. However, the main point remained spiritual: one must not cling to existence or non-existence, becoming or non-becoming, because the right view transcends both extremes. Overall, the talk was a sustained meditation on how to live in peace through mindfulness, breathing, and non-discriminative awareness. It presented Christmas as an opportunity to remember the inner island, to practice being home in each step, and to realize that peace in oneself can extend to family, nation, and the world.