Welcome to episode 60 of The Way Out Is In: The Zen Art of Living, a podcast series mirroring Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s deep teachings of Buddhist philosophy: a simple yet profound methodology for dealing with our suffering, and for creating more happiness and joy in our lives.



In this episode, Zen Buddhist monk Brother Phap Huu and leadership coach and journalist Jo Confino are sharing 32 words of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh that can transform your relationships in ways that can deal with suffering and also create happiness. ‘The Four Mantras’, Thay’s beloved teaching, are meant to help create healthy relationships by allowing conversations and enabling people to be truly present for each other. 



The discussion touches upon generating presence; setting up intentional practices; being a refuge for people; building two-way communication; calligraphy as a way ‘to change the energy’, and so much more. Brother Phap Huu shares about the origins of mantras and helps introduce each mantra with practical tips, real stories from his life, and that of the monastic community, as well as insights from Thay’s practice and creation of the mantras. And can you guess which is Thay’s favorite mantra?



The episode ends with a mindful recap of the discussed mantras. 







Co-produced by the Plum Village App:https://plumvillage.app/



And Global Optimism:https://globaloptimism.com/ 



With support from the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation:https://thichnhathanhfoundation.org/







List of resources 



Rains Retreathttps://plumvillage.org/retreats/info/rains-retreat-2023 



Historical Vedic religionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_Vedic_religion 



Vedashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedas 



Mahayanahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana



New Heart Sutra translation by Thich Nhat Hanh https://plumvillage.org/about/thich-nhat-hanh/letters/thich-nhat-hanh-new-heart-sutra-translation 



Interbeinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbeing 



Sister Chan Khonghttps://plumvillage.org/about/sister-chan-khong 



Dharma Talk: ‘The Six Mantas’https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/the-six-mantras-2 



Plum Village Mantras and How to Be the Sum of Your Acts https://tnhaudio.org/2012/07/30/plum-village-mantras-and-how-to-be-the-sum-of-your-acts/



The Four Dharma Seals of Plum Villagehttps://plumvillage.org/articles/the-four-dharma-seals-of-plum-village Dharma Talks: ‘True Love and the Four Noble Truths’https://plumvillage.org/library/dharma-talks/true-love-and-the-four-noble-truths 







Quotes



“Thay created these mantras which are very practical, it even sounds very simple, but if done with right mindfulness, it has such impact. And the first mantra is the essence of the practice of mindfulness, which is when we practice mindfulness, it is to generate the energy of awareness so that we can offer ourselves a presence so we can know what is going on inside of us and around us. And with that mindfulness, we are in control. We have agency of the present moment.”



“When we’re close to someone we take each other for granted. We stop noticing the little things. We stop noticing what it is someone is doing that is generous. What someone’s doing that is making them happy. We just stop noticing.” 



“The first Dharma seal of Plum Village is ‘I have arrived, I am home.’ What does it mean to arrive and be home? It is to say, I am safe here. I can show up as myself and I know that I will be held.”



“We forget how precious things are right in front of us and we forget to be present for the ones we truly love. So the first mantra is ‘I am here for you.’ It is as simple as that. But in the word present, when we want to give somebody a present, our natural tendency is to think about buying something, to consume in order to offer something that we feel will make them feel loved. And what we’ve learned in true love is to be loved is to be seen. To be loved is to be recognized, is to be heard.”



“The real practice of true love, firs