The Power of Teaching

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When you think of the Buddha, you think of the young man who was born in Kapilvastu, who practiced many years in the forest and who went around India to live the teaching. But that is only a portion of the Buddha, because the moment when the Buddha began to build the sangha, he begin to transfer himself to the sangha and many disciples, monastic and lay, they continue the Buddha. You have to see the Buddha in the sangha. You have to be able to see the Buddha in the dharma (teaching). If you have not seen the dharma and the sangha, you have not seen the Buddha. The dharma is available in the here and the now. The sangha is also available in the here and the now. You do not have to go to India in order to see the Buddha. If you believe that Buddha is a god, and can bestow on us the things we want, then that is not the Buddha. 


The Buddha is a human being who has a deep capacity of understanding and of loving and of having maha karuna, great compassion, maha maitri, great love, maha prajna, great understanding. He can perform miracles. 


Understanding people is a miracle, and it is described that the Buddha is one who understands the world well. Lukadidu, it means understanding the world. Because he understands the world deeply, that is why he can offer the kind of teaching that can help heal the world. The miracle of understanding and the miracle of teaching are very important miracles that the Buddha can perform.

When you give a teaching that can transform people who heal you, that is a miracle. The Buddha described it as the greatest miracle of all miracles. And there were disciples of the Buddha who were capable of doing that during the time of the Buddha. They already continued the Buddha in the time of the Buddha. And in our time, there are those of us who can do the same. By their practice, by their teaching, they can heal; they can help people liberate themselves from their suffering. So the miracle continues. 


From a talk by Thich Nhat Hanh. 

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