I Have Arrived. I am Home.

Summary

This Dharma talk, delivered on July 13, 2014 in the Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall at Lower Hamlet in Plum Village during the summer opening, centers on the practice of mindfulness as the art of arriving fully in the present moment. The speaker explains that people often spend their lives running, searching, longing, and chasing conditions they believe will bring happiness, yet this habitual movement keeps them from truly living. In contrast, mindfulness is presented as a way to stop, come home to the here and now, and encounter the wonders of life directly. The talk repeatedly emphasizes that the present moment is the only time in which life is fully available, and that missing it means missing one’s appointment with life itself. A major theme is the use of gathas, short verses recited with the breath to support mindfulness in daily activities. The speaker recalls receiving classical Chinese verses as a novice monk and describes how they were used upon waking, with each line synchronized to breathing in and out. One example begins with waking in the morning and smiling because one is alive and has 24 precious hours to live. The verse continues with a vow to live those hours fully and to look at others with compassion and love. The speaker explains that such verses are not merely poetic; they are practical tools for awakening joy, awareness, and gratitude in ordinary moments. He encourages practitioners to use verses while brushing teeth, opening a water tap, putting on shoes, riding a bicycle, boarding a plane, or making a phone call. He also mentions that these verses exist in multiple languages and can be found in Plum Village chanting books, while also inviting people to compose new ones. The talk gives special attention to mindful walking as a central practice. The speaker describes walking in such a way that every step brings peace, joy, freedom, and healing. He teaches that the mind can wander in thousands of directions, but on the path of walking meditation, the mind becomes peaceful and each step can make a lotus bloom or bring a fresh breeze. He advises practitioners to train themselves to walk from one place to another in Plum Village—between dormitory, meditation hall, kitchen, and dining hall—with full awareness. Walking is framed not as a mechanical exercise but as a way to generate solidity, concentration, and freedom. The speaker insists that one should not be satisfied with partial arrival; if one has not truly arrived, one should stop and breathe until arrival is complete. He presents the phrase “I have arrived, I am home” as a realization rather than a statement, and suggests that even a single step combined with one breath can be enough to touch peace. Another key theme is the relationship between mindfulness and the sacred. The speaker identifies the here and now as the true home where the Kingdom of God, Nirvana, Buddha nature, compassion, understanding, and joy are all accessible. He says that one does not need to die to enter the Kingdom of God; rather, one must be fully alive and present. Trees, sunshine, birds, flowers, and the body itself are described as wonders belonging to this kingdom. The body is called a masterpiece and something to be treated with reverence. Mindfulness allows practitioners to see this reality, while those without practice may overlook it. The talk also links the Christian phrase “resting in God” with the Buddhist understanding of touching one’s cosmic body and ultimate nature. Toward the end, the speaker develops the image of the cosmic body, explaining that human beings are not only physical bodies but also expressions of the cosmos. He uses the metaphors of a wave and a cloud to show that each phenomenon has an ocean body or cosmic foundation and is never separate from the larger whole. This insight helps dissolve fear of death and non-being, because one can rest in the ultimate dimension, where there is no birth and no death. The speaker concludes by encouraging the community to walk together after a period of rest, using the shared practice of mindful walking to nourish both individual practitioners and the collective Sangha. Throughout the talk, the message remains consistent: by breathing and walking mindfully, one can arrive in the present moment, live deeply, and touch peace, freedom, and the sacred in everyday life.