On this fascinating seven-hour advanced retreat recorded at Plum Village Monastery in France, Thich Nhat Hanh focuses on some of the major themes of two of Buddhism's most sacred texts: the Avatamsaka Sutra and the Lotus Sutra. Beyond the historical dimension of time, space, and form is the ultimate dimension of complete freedom, peace, and joy known as nirvana. The energy of mindfulness, according to Thich Nhat Hahn, helps us be aware of what is happening in the present moment. Through this practice of deep looking and deep touching, we enter into a whole new way of living. When we walk, we just walk; when we eat, we really eat; and when we read, we are totally absorbed in the experience.

This kind of Buddhist psychology is quite different from therapy as it is practiced in the West. The Western approach asks the client "What is wrong?" and the session includes an examination of experiences that have produced anxiety, fear, or other bad habits. The Buddhist alternative involves "touching what is not wrong." If Thich Nhat Hanh were the therapist, he would suggest the client take a walking meditation and experience the joy of touching the earth, smelling the trees, and looking at the blue sky.

Thich Nhat Hanh explores impermanence, non-self, and nirvana as they are explained in the Avatamaska Sutra. He gives the example of the miracle of touching a flower deeply and at the same time appreciating the sun, the clouds, and the garbage which the flower is soon to become. The teaching of inter-being brings us to an appreciation of the way in which everything contains everything else.

Another practice is to use the Five Remembrances (acknowledging our fears of old age, sickness, death, being separated from people and things that we love, and facing the fact that we are formed as a result of our actions) to transform our everyday anxieties into peace. The teachings on these six CDs will change how you approach the experiences, people, and things in your everyday life.