Dharma Talk: “Free from All Inner Enemies” Delivered by Most Thích Giác Đăng at the 109th Seven-Day Retreat.

On the third day of the retreat, September 4, 2026, Most Thích Giác Đăng, Abbot of Ngoc Trung Tang ashram (HCMC), delivered a Dharma talk entitled “Free from All Inner Enemies.” 

By skillfully reiterating the Buddha’s fundamental teachings on dependent origination, the functions of karma, the Four Noble Truths, and the law of cause and effect, the preacher helps practitioners recognize and transform the "enemy" residing within their own minds.

 

Life operates through an interplay between our actions upon the external world and the world’s reciprocal impact on us. The lecturer clarified that the "enemy" is not someone who harms our lives; rather, it is the anger and resentment within our own hearts that inflict so much suffering upon us.

 

With a correct understanding of cause-effect and the nature of dependent origination, practitioners learn to adapt to every circumstance with equanimity. Instead of striving to eliminate those who dislike them, they focus on their own spiritual practice to eradicate the hatred they harbor toward others, thereby severing the knots of resentment. When the mind remains at peace, one’s life is free from the shadow of enemies—a truth the Buddha taught in the Dhammapada (The Path of Dhamma), specifically in the "Peace" chapter (Verse 197):

 

“We the unhating live

Happily midst the haters,

among the hating humans

from hatred dwell we free.”

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