Just finished listening to an audio recording of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Dharma Talk on True Love (May 2012 – Plum Village.) A deeply moving explanation of the four elements of True Love. Thay also introduces two new dimensions to consider …

Timeline:

00 – Bell and Chanting

09 min 30 sec – First Element of True Love : Loving Kindness

18 min 20 sec – Loving Kindness directed to oneself

22 min 10 sec – Second Element of True Love : Compassion

27 min – Third Element of True Love : Joy

32 min 45 sec – Fourth Element of True Love : Equanimity

41 min 30 sec – Equanimity as explained in the Diamond Sutra

1 hr 3 min – Equanimity when bowing to the Buddha (or Jesus)

1 hr 8 min – Additional Elements of True Love – Trust, Reverence

What this means to me: I found this talk while searching for what equanimity means in the context of love. Thay uses the example of the fingers of a hand – working together, sharing pain and joy together, without any notions of one finger being superior, inferior or even the same as any other finger. I will reflect on how this might be expressed in my day to day life. I can certainly recommend finding the time to listen to this talk as an act of self love.