Spirituality in the 21st Century: Part 1

"It has been said that the twenty-first century will be a century of spirituality, and I think it must be a century of spirituality if we are to survive. There has been so much violence, so much suffering, so much despair, confusion, and fear. So it must be a century of spirituality, or no century at all.

Spirituality is something we can cultivate. To be spiritual means to be solid, calm, and peaceful, and to be able to look deeply inside and around us. It means having the capacity to handle our afflictions - our anger, craving, despair, and discrimination, It is being able to see the nature of interbeing between people, nations, races, and all forms of life. Spirituality is not a luxury anymore; we need to be spiritual in order to overcome the difficulties of our time.

Alone we are vulnerable, but with brothers and sisters to work with, we can support each other. We cannot go to the ocean as a drop of water - we would evaporate before reaching our destination. But if we become a river, if we go as a Sangha, we are sure to arrive at the ocean. Taking refuge in a Sangha will allow the Sangha to carry us, to transport us, and we will suffer less."

(From transcriptions of talks given by TNH in Plum Village, December 2001.)