There is Action but no Actor

June 10, 2012. 102-minute dharma talk by Thich Nhat Hanh from Lower Hamlet in Plum Village during the 21-Day Retreat with the theme The Science of the Buddha. The talk is given in English and this is the seventh dharma talk (of 15).

We begin with two chants: Les Vision Profond (French) and Hien Tien Thanh Tinh (We are Truly Present). Interbeing of the entire cosmos. The flower is interacting with the entire cosmos.

Topics

• Suffering and happiness
• Being and non-being
• Fourth Mindfulness Training – deep listening

Readings

From The Discourse on Emptiness in its Ultimate Meaning

Monks, when the eye arises, there is no place from which it comes; when it  ceases, there is no place to which it goes. Thus, the eye, without any real substance,  arises; having arisen it will finally have to cease. It is a result of some action but  there is no actor at all.

And from The Paramartha Gathas of Asanga Gathas on the Absolute Truth

5. All conditioned things undergo change at every instant. Their abiding is not something real, much less their function. All we can say is that their arising is their function and their arising is also the agent.

6-7. Eyes cannot see form, ears cannot hear sound, the nose does not smell scent,  the tongue does not taste an object, the body does not feel touch, the mind  does not recognize objects of mind. However in the organs and objects of  sense there is no one who maintains or begins the perception.