What should we do when we feel overwhelmed by despair, despair coming from inside of us, and despair about the situation of the world? How can we find the energy, the strength to do something about it?
Speaking in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village on Thursday 30th June, Thay uses the example of the Buddha’s own life to encourage all of us, especially those of us who are young, to nourish ourselves with the joyful energy of brotherhood and sisterhood, and the strength of a clear aspiration to do something to help.
All of us feel very much the same: our planet is in danger, so much violence, so much suffering, is going on in the world, if we feel helpless we’ll go insane. We want to do something…. But alone you cannot do much. You have to be a sangha in order to do something ….. when we come together as a sangha, we have a collective aspriation – the kind of energy that helps us realise what we want to realise.
-Thich Nhat Hanh, speaking in this film
Click to see the full hour-long talk over at the Plum Village Online Monastery
