A Cloud Never Dies

‘Walk With Me ’ is a meditative film about a community of Zen Buddhist monks and nuns who have dedicated their lives to mastering the art of mindfulness with their world-famous teacher Thích Nhât Hanh .

This clip from the documentary shows a young girl whose dog has died and who is telling him about it.

“I had a doggy and my doggy died and I was very sad,” she said. “So I don’t know how to be not so sad.”

Thích Nhât Hanh looked at her with great compassion and he said, “This is a very difficult question. Suppose you look up into the sky and you see a beautiful cloud, and you like the cloud so much, and suddenly the cloud is no longer there.” He added, “And you think that the cloud has passed away. Where is my beloved cloud now?”

But he then offered, “So if you have time to reflect, to look, you’ll see that the cloud has not died, has not passed away. The cloud has become the rain. And when you look at the rain you see your cloud.”

And he continued, “And when you drink your tea mindfully, you can see the rain in your tea, and your cloud in your tea, and you can say ‘Hello, my cloud! I know you have not died. You are still alive in a new form.”

“So doggy is the same,” he said as he looked to her. “And if you look really deeply, you can see doggy in its new form.”

He words were met with an understanding smile from the girl. You could tell she really got what he had said.