Transcript
[0:08] [The bell sounds.]
[0:15] [The bell sounds.]
[0:22] [The bell sounds.]
[1:02] Good morning, dear Sangha.
[1:05] Today is Thursday, the 11th of October,
[1:11] in the year 2012, and we are in the
[1:14] Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall,
[1:17] Lower Hamlet, Plum Village.
[1:20] This is our Autumn Retreat.
[1:29] The Buddha reminded his disciples
[1:36] that his teaching is about suffering
[1:40] and the transformation of suffering.
[1:46] And he repeated that several times,
[1:50] because many students tend to ask him
[1:54] philosophical questions, like
[2:00] "Is the world finite or infinite?"
[2:09] And he said that
[2:11] all this philosophical speculation will
[2:22] take all our time
[2:26] and we won't have time left in order to
[2:29] practice transformation and healing.
[2:32] So, he encouraged his disciples not to
[2:35] engage in philosophical speculations.
[2:41] There were many questions
[2:43] that he refused to answer.
[2:46] It's not because he did not know how
[2:48] to answer, but he did not want to
[2:51] encourage his disciples in that direction.
[3:00] Many European scholars in the field
[3:05] of Indianism have studied Buddhism
[3:08] in the last 100 years.
[3:14] And many of them are, were
[3:21] very well versed in Sanskrit, Pali,
[3:26] Tibetan, Chinese, and so on.
[3:34] But most of them misunderstood the Buddha,
[3:39] because they had that intention to find out
[3:44] what is the philosophy,
[3:48] the ideas of the Buddha, in order for
[3:53] them to compare with the thinking,
[3:56] the philosophical thought of the West.
[4:02] They used their intellect only
[4:04] to study Buddhism.
[4:10] They never tried the practice.
[4:24] And although they know that the Buddha
[4:27] discouraged metaphysical speculation,
[4:33] but they didn't follow that advice.
[4:38] They didn't try mindful breathing,
[4:41] mindful walking, practice of mindfulness,
[4:45] practising the five precepts, ten precepts.
[4:51] They didn't do these things.
[4:55] And if they do not do these things,
[4:58] how could they understand Buddhism?
[5:01] Because Buddhism is practical.
[5:05] It's not theory.
[5:15] In Kosambi, one day the Buddha came back
[5:22] from a walking meditation, and he held in
[5:29] his hands a handful of simsapa leaves
[5:35] he picked up from the forest.
[5:37] He showed it to his monks, and he said,
[5:39] "Dear Friends,
[5:41] do you see these simsapa leaves?"
[5:45] "Yes, we do, Teacher."
[5:47] "Do you think that the leaves
[5:49] I have in my hand
[5:57] are more numerous than the
[6:01] leaves of simsapa in the forest?"
[6:08] The monks said that "Dear Teacher,
[6:10] well, you only have a handful of them.
[6:12] In the forest, there are
[6:14] tons and tons of leaves."
[6:18] The Buddha said, "This is true.
[6:21] I know many things,
[6:22] but I only teach you a few things,
[6:26] because these few things are very crucial
[6:29] for your transformation and healing."
[6:37] That is the story of the Simsapa Leaf.
[6:45] There was a time when a disciple of his,
[6:51] whose name is Malunkyaputta,
[6:56] came and asked him philosophical questions.
[7:00] Teacher, you should tell me whether
[7:03] the world is finite or infinite,
[7:07] who has created this world,
[7:09] and if the world is going to
[7:12] be destroyed or not.
[7:16] Is the soul the same thing as the body?
[7:19] Or the body is something different
[7:22] and the soul something different?
[7:25] When a person dies, does he continue
[7:28] or does he not continue?
[7:31] And things like that.
[7:38] Teacher, if you don't answer these questions,
[7:41] I'm not satisfied.
[7:42] I will have to leave the Order,
[7:45] because I am curious about these things.
[7:48] I want to find out.
[7:51] Philosophically minded people.
[7:57] The Buddha has told him,
[8:00] Malunkyaputta, when you first came here,
[8:04] and practised as an aspirant for monk,
[8:09] did I promise you that if you become a monk,
[8:12] I will teach you these kind of things?
[8:18] No, Teacher, you did not promise.
[8:23] That's right. I don't promise anyone
[8:29] to teach them philosophy and solve
[8:32] these metaphysical enigmas.
[8:36] Because what I want is to offer you
[8:41] concrete methods and teachings that
[8:43] help you transform suffering and heal.
[8:57] Suppose someone is hit by an arrow.
[9:03] With poisons.
[9:09] And the doctor came and said,
[9:11] "Let me pull out that arrow,
[9:16] and try to get the blood in that space
[9:21] out, as quickly as possible."
[9:25] And the wounded person said,
[9:27] No, no. Don't do that. You should tell
[9:29] me first, who has shot the arrow?
[9:35] What is his name?
[9:37] To what caste does he belong?
[9:41] Why did he hit me like that?
[9:44] What intention did he have?
[9:49] Malunkyaputta, if he waits until
[9:53] these questions are solved, he will die.
[9:57] He will have died already.
[10:01] So, your questions are like that.
[10:04] They are not important.
[10:06] If you spend your time trying to answer
[10:08] these questions, you will die before
[10:10] you can transform and heal.
[10:13] That is why.
[10:15] Listen to my teaching,
[10:18] and put it into practise right away,
[10:21] in order to heal and to transform.
[10:24] That is the story of Malunkyaputta.
[10:34] And many scholars,
[10:37] many monks of other schools,
[10:41] come to the Buddha and ask these questions
[10:45] also, and he always remained silent.
[10:51] Because he did not encourage people to
[10:54] indulge themselves in this kind of
[10:57] metaphysical speculation.
[11:13] We come to the Buddha because we have
[11:18] ill-being in ourselves, ill-being.
[11:22] We don't feel well in our body;
[11:25] we don't feel well in our heart.
[11:27] We suffer.
[11:30] And we want to know how to transform
[11:34] the suffering in us
[11:36] and to heal the suffering in us.
[11:40] And that is exactly what the Buddha
[11:42] wants to do -- helping people to practise
[11:49] in order to heal and to transform.
[11:57] That is why a real, a true, disciple
[12:01] of the Buddha should know
[12:06] how to handle a painful feeling,
[12:12] how to handle a strong emotion.
[12:19] They should learn that, first!
[12:24] The question whether the world is
[12:28] finite or infinite is not so important.
[12:36] The real practionner has to know how to
[12:41] generate a feeling of joy, of peace,
[12:45] of happiness, for her nourishment and healing.
[12:57] And the time is for that,
[13:02] not to discuss about metaphysical problems.
[13:08] So somehow, we can say that Buddhism is
[13:10] hostile to philosophy.
[13:14] But that does not mean that
[13:16] in Buddhism there is no philosophy.
[13:19] It is very deep.
[13:23] Because when you practise mindfulness,
[13:29] concentration, insight, you have a very
[13:32] deep view of the world.
[13:36] And you may express your view
[13:41] of the world. It's very deep.
[13:47] But not in terms of speculation.
[13:50] That is only an expression
[13:53] called right view, right view. Insight.
[13:59] That insight can help with
[14:03] transformation and healing.
[14:06] So, it's not true that in Buddhism
[14:08] there is no philosophy.
[14:11] But that is a philosophy that is a kind
[14:14] of insight, that has the power to help
[14:21] with healing and transformation,
[14:25] and not for speculation.
[14:34] One of the insights that belongs to that
[14:44] category is that suffering and happiness,
[14:53] they have a deep connection
[14:56] with each other.
[15:02] That is a deep vision, the right view.
[15:09] The insight that we need in order to
[15:13] be able truly to practise
[15:23] transformation and healing.
[15:27] And that insight is called "interbeing".
[15:35] Sometimes it's called "non-self"
[15:39] or "emptiness".
[15:44] But "interbeing" may be the easiest way
[15:48] to understand that kind of insight.
[15:51] Interbeing means
[15:54] you cannot be by yourself alone.
[15:58] You have to co-be,
[16:03] interbe,
[16:05] with everything else.
[16:08] It's like this sheet of paper.
[16:18] This sheet of paper cannot be
[16:19] by herself alone.
[16:24] When you look into it,
[16:25] you see elements that are not paper.
[16:33] And without these elements,
[16:35] a sheet of paper cannot be there.
[16:37] Like a tree.
[16:41] Looking at the sheet of paper,
[16:43] you don't see a tree.
[16:45] But there is a tree inside.
[16:47] Without a tree, you cannot make paper paste.
[16:56] You see the paper mill.
[17:00] You see the forest.
[17:02] You see the rain that
[17:04] allows the trees to grow.
[17:07] You see the sunshine,
[17:09] that helps the trees to grow.
[17:11] You see the logger.
[17:13] You see everything in the sheet of paper
[17:17] So this paper,
[17:19] without these non-paper elements,
[17:21] can never be there.
[17:25] So, the paper cannot be by itself alone.
[17:30] It has to interbe with the tree,
[17:33] with the sunshine, with the cloud,
[17:34] with the rain, and so on.
[17:36] That's called interbeing.
[17:44] So, the word "to be" that we use
[17:47] in everyday, can be very misleading.
[17:54] When we say "I am there",
[18:01] you think that you are there,
[18:05] but you cannot be there without us,
[18:10] without the trees, without the air,
[18:13] without the sunshine.
[18:18] It's better to say "we are there",
[18:21] because you carry all of us inside of you.
[18:24] You carry Mother Earth;
[18:26] you carry the sunshine;
[18:28] you carry the rain, everything.
[18:30] So this is not a me, this is a we.
[18:33] We are there.
[18:38] We interare.
[18:41] If we remove the element of parents,
[18:44] ancestors, food, education, air, water,
[18:50] there is no us left.
[18:54] So we means the whole cosmos.
[19:01] And suppose you look at the sheet of paper,
[19:06] you turn it over and you see that
[19:10] it has two sides, the left and the right.
[19:21] The recto and the verso.
[19:27] And think about the being of the left side.
[19:35] The left side cannot be by itself alone.
[19:41] Without the right side.
[19:48] The left cannot be by itself alone.
[19:50] The left has to interbe at the same time
[19:53] with the right.
[19:56] You cannot take the left out of the right.
[20:00] I cannot ask you to come and bring
[20:02] the left to Paris.
[20:05] And I cannot ask her to come and
[20:08] bring the right to Rome.
[20:15] Because they interare;
[20:18] the left and the right,
[20:21] they cannot be by themselves.
[20:25] So "the left is", that's not correct.
[20:29] The left cannot be by itself.
[20:31] The left must interbe with the right.
[20:35] Wherever the left is, the right is also.
[20:42] So if politically, you are on the left,
[20:48] don't wish for the right to disappear,
[20:51] because if the right disappears,
[20:52] the left disappears at the same time.
[20:55] That is the teaching of interbeing.
[20:58] That is a kind of philosophy.
[21:03] But not for the sake of speculation,
[21:06] this is a seeing by deep observation,
[21:10] by meditation.
[21:14] And in this case,
[21:15] we know that suffering and happiness,
[21:19] they are the same.
[21:21] One cannot be without the other.
[21:28] So if you have a wish that you
[21:32] only want to retain happiness.
[21:37] You don't want any suffering.
[21:40] That is not possible.
[21:47] And our idea of paradise,
[21:51] our idea of the Kingdom of God,
[21:54] is very naive.
[21:56] We think, over there, up there,
[22:01] there is no suffering,
[22:02] there is only happiness.
[22:05] It's like, well, there is a sheet of paper
[22:07] that has only the right side;
[22:11] there is no left side. It's not possible.
[22:16] It is with suffering,
[22:20] the element of suffering,
[22:21] that we can make happiness.
[22:24] It is like the mud and the lotus,
[22:30] and if you have insight,
[22:33] and then looking into the lotus flower,
[22:34] you see the mud inside.
[22:37] Like when you look at the sheet of paper,
[22:39] you see the tree inside.
[22:42] The tree is not apparent, but it is there.
[22:46] If you remove the tree from the paper,
[22:49] the paper will collapse.
[22:54] That's interbeing.
[22:56] That's philosophy also, but practical,
[23:00] very deep, very useful.
[23:07] So it's not true to say that there is
[23:09] no philosophy in Buddhism.
[23:11] Philosophy in Buddhism,
[23:13] that is the insight, the deep vision
[23:16] that you get with meditation.
[23:20] And that is called "Prajna".
[23:24] Prajna is insight that you obtain from the
[23:29] practice of mindfulness and concentration.
[23:33] Mindfulness, concentration bring insight.
[23:37] And insight has the power to liberate you
[23:39] from ignorance.
[23:43] When you say, "In Paradise,
[23:48] in the Kingdom of God,
[23:49] there is no suffering",
[23:51] that is ignorance.
[23:55] That is naive, because
[23:56] happiness can never be by itself alone.
[24:04] Like a lotus flower cannot be by
[24:07] herself alone.
[24:09] There should be the mud
[24:11] in order for a lotus to be.
[24:16] So I have a better definition of
[24:20] paradise, of the Kingdom of God.
[24:23] In Buddhism, we don't speak of God
[24:26] and the Kingdom of God.
[24:29] That does not mean that we deny God,
[24:31] and we deny the Kingdom of God.
[24:36] In Buddhism, we speak of the
[24:44] Pure Land of the Buddha.
[24:49] The land of bliss.
[25:04] We know that true happinesss
[25:13] is made of understanding and love.
[25:21] Imagine a person that does not
[25:24] have understanding.
[25:28] He does not understand anything.
[25:33] How can he love?
[25:38] When you don't understand yourself,
[25:43] when you don't understand the other person,
[25:47] how can you love yourself
[25:49] and love him or her?
[25:55] Every one of us needs to be understood.
[26:00] There are those of us who complain that
[26:02] no one in this world understands him or her.
[26:06] Very lonely.
[26:10] So if we have a chance to meet a person
[26:13] who can understand you deeply,
[26:15] you are a lucky person.
[26:21] And you feel grateful to him or to her,
[26:23] because that is a person who has the
[26:25] capacity to understand you.
[26:33] I know a young man in California.
[26:40] He lives with his mother.
[26:44] He graduated from a very famous university,
[26:50] very intelligent, very handsome.
[26:54] He has a good job, a good salary.
[27:01] He had so many girlfriends.
[27:04] Many of them very pretty.
[27:09] And his mother observed and saw him
[27:15] especially interested in one of these
[27:21] girlfriends, but for her,
[27:23] that is not the most beautiful lady.
[27:39] And he spent time more with her,
[27:44] and he seemed to be appreciating her
[27:46] very much.
[27:49] And his mother was surprised, she thought
[27:52] that that young lady, she is not the best,
[27:56] judging on the aspect of beauty and so on.
[28:09] So one day, she could not resist.
[28:12] She said, "My son, I see that you have
[28:15] so many pretty friends, but why
[28:18] are you interested only in that one.
[28:24] That one to me is not the best."
[28:30] And the young man at first
[28:36] did not know how to answer.
[28:42] But when she asked it for the second time,
[28:44] he found an answer.
[28:46] He said, "Mother,
[28:47] because she understands me.
[28:56] Because she understands me.
[28:59] I am a scientist,
[29:01] and I love to write poetry.
[29:04] But when I read my poetry, all the other girls
[29:06] did not seem to be interested very much.
[29:11] But she listened very deeply, and
[29:14] she knows how to appreciate my poetry.
[29:19] And when I say something,
[29:20] she listens with all her attention.
[29:25] I say one thing,
[29:26] she understands two things.
[29:28] [laughter]
[29:33] So, all of us need to be understood.
[29:39] And those who understand us,
[29:43] we are grateful for them.
[29:49] Especially when someone understands
[29:51] your suffering.
[29:54] Every one of us has suffering inside.
[29:58] And if someone understands, recognizes,
[30:01] suffering in us and knows how to help us
[30:03] to suffer less, we are very, very grateful
[30:07] to him or to her. We feel [we are]
[30:10] being loved by that person.
[30:18] A person who has no understanding
[30:25] cannot love, cannot love.
[30:34] They may have passion, craving,
[30:38] but not love.
[30:41] Love is made of understanding.
[30:56] So if in the world you have one person
[31:01] who can understand you,
[31:04] especially your suffering,
[31:06] your difficulties, your despair,
[31:10] then you are a very lucky person already.
[31:14] There are those of us who go and look for
[31:17] search for, such a person,
[31:19] and never meet (them).
[31:26] But as we practise and observe,
[31:28] we see that if you understand
[31:30] your own suffering,
[31:39] then you look at your suffering,
[31:42] and you know how to hold your suffering,
[31:47] and listen to it, and look deeply into it,
[31:54] you'll find out the roots,
[31:57] the nature of your suffering,
[31:59] and that kind of understanding
[32:01] brings the relief right away.
[32:09] And when you have understood your suffering,
[32:11] you suffer much less.
[32:15] Because the understanding of suffering
[32:17] shows you the way
[32:21] to transform that suffering.
[32:23] If you do not understand suffering,
[32:26] you don't know how to transform it.
[32:28] It's like a doctor.
[32:31] Before the doctor sees
[32:34] the nature of the illness in the patient,
[32:37] he cannot do anything to help him.
[32:40] So understanding the disease,
[32:42] the cause of the disease,
[32:44] is crucial for the doctor to prescribe a
[32:49] kind of practice or medicine that can heal.
[32:54] The same thing is true here.
[32:57] If you have a chance to go back
[33:01] to yourself and listen to the suffering
[33:05] inside, and try to understand the nature
[33:09] of that suffering,
[33:13] suddenly you see
[33:17] the way out.
[33:20] And just to see the way out,
[33:21] we suffer less right away.
[33:25] You see the path that leads to
[33:27] the transformation and cessation
[33:33] of the suffering.
[33:37] You suffer less right away,
[33:40] even before you practise.
[33:43] Just see the path, see the way,
[33:47] makes you suffer (less) because
[33:51] you are lucky if you see the path.
[33:55] The spiritual path that leads you
[34:00] to the cessation of your suffering,
[34:02] that leads you the transformation
[34:05] of suffering.
[34:08] We suffer because we are in the dark.
[34:11] We suffer, but we don't know why we suffer
[34:15] and the nature of suffering.
[34:19] So if we know how to understand,
[34:22] to listen to our suffering,
[34:24] the path will be revealed to us.
[34:29] And at that moment, we suffer less,
[34:33] right away, much less.
[34:36] Even if you have not taken the first
[34:39] step on that path.
[34:42] And when you have understood
[34:43] your own suffering, it's much easier
[34:48] to see and understand the suffering
[34:51] of the other person.
[35:01] It means that
[35:03] before you can understand someone else,
[35:05] you have to understand yourself.
[35:08] That insight is not confined to Buddhism,
[35:15] to the Buddha.
[35:16] Many sages, many wise people in the world
[35:21] know that: "connais toi toi même",
[35:24] understand yourself,
[35:28] Understand yourself --- first of all,
[35:30] understand your suffering.
[35:33] Because your suffering carries within it
[35:36] the suffering of your father.
[35:39] Your suffering is also
[35:40] the suffering of your father.
[35:43] Your father had that suffering,
[35:45] but he did not know how to transform it,
[35:48] so he transmitted it to you.
[35:52] Your suffering carries within itself
[35:54] the suffering of your mother,
[35:56] of your ancestors.
[36:01] So understand your own suffering,
[36:03] you understand the suffering
[36:05] of your father, your mother, your ancestors.
[36:08] That is the teaching of the Buddha.
[36:11] And your suffering also reflects the
[36:13] suffering of your partner, of the world.
[36:20] So understanding suffering is
[36:22] the first step.
[36:24] And that is why the first Dharma talk
[36:26] given by the Buddha is about
[36:31] the Four Noble Truths.
[36:34] The first one is suffering,
[36:37] and the second one is the nature,
[36:41] the roots, of our suffering.
[36:44] It's very practical.
[36:48] Right away in the first Dharma Talk.
[36:53] Dukka is suffering; dukka is ill-being.
[37:19] In Chinese, the word suffering also
[37:22] means bitterness.
[37:40] And the Second Noble Truth is
[37:47] the making of suffering,
[37:52] how suffering has come to be.
[38:04] The roots of suffering,
[38:06] the nature of suffering.
[38:09] Suppose you have a depression.
[38:15] A depression is the first Noble Truth.
[38:21] If you have a depression,
[38:24] you should recognize that
[38:28] there is a depression.
[38:32] You cannot say,
[38:33] "I do not have a depression."
[38:36] when you do have a depression,
[38:38] when you have an illness,
[38:41] you have ill-being, suffering, in you.
[38:44] The first thing you should do is
[38:47] to recognize, to admit, that you
[38:49] have the suffering.
[38:51] You have to know that
[38:53] "I have a depression."
[38:55] A depression has come to be in me.
[39:02] Accepting the first Truth is the first step.
[39:11] If you suffer, and you try to say that,
[39:15] "No, I have no suffering",
[39:18] you have no chance in order to transform.
[39:21] So the first thing is to acknowledge
[39:22] the fact that you have suffering.
[39:27] And who amoung us does not have suffering?
[39:36] So we have to confirm the existence,
[39:42] the presence of suffering in us.
[39:45] Suppose there is a depression.
[39:47] We have to say, "There is a depression.
[39:50] A depression has come to settle in."
[39:55] That is the first step of the practice.
[39:58] The second step of the practice
[40:00] is to have the courage
[40:09] to look, to listen, to embrace it.
[40:20] The courage is to recognize it
[40:24] as something existing.
[40:28] The courage is to go back to it
[40:36] and take care of it, and listen to it,
[40:40] and embrace it, in order to understand
[40:48] the nature of that suffering.
[40:53] Because everything has causes.
[40:59] What has come to be
[41:05] should have been brought by something.
[41:09] So looking deeply into the nature of
[41:14] the depression, we see the roots,
[41:22] the cause, the kind of nutriments that
[41:25] we have used in order to feed, to nourish,
[41:30] our depression.
[41:32] The Buddha said this:
[41:34] "Nothing can survive without food."
[41:40] It's very clear.
[41:42] Your happiness, your love, needs food
[41:46] in order to survive.
[41:49] Your love may be beautiful.
[41:52] But if you don't know how to feed it,
[41:54] it will die.
[41:57] It may last 6 months, or one year,
[41:59] and then it turns to be something else.
[42:06] So love needs food in order to survive.
[42:17] And those who love each other should know
[42:21] how to feed their love, the kind of food
[42:27] that can help that love last long,
[42:33] longer and longer.
[42:41] The thought that you produce,
[42:44] a word that you say,
[42:45] an action that you do,
[42:48] may be the kind of nutriment
[42:50] in order to help your love grow and last.
[42:56] Or may cause your love to get thinner.
[43:08] to diminish.
[43:13] So suffering is the same.
[43:20] If your suffering is increasing every day,
[43:25] it's because you keep feeding them
[43:28] by your way of living, daily living.
[43:33] If your depression refuses to go,
[43:36] it's because you
[43:37] keep feeding your depression.
[43:40] Everything you see, everything you listen to,
[43:45] everything you consume in your daily life,
[43:50] may be feeding your depression.
[43:57] So look into your depression,
[43:58] and find out the roots and the nutriments,
[44:06] the food that you have used to feed it.
[44:10] And when you have identified
[44:12] the kind of food that you have used
[44:15] to feed your depression,
[44:18] you have enlightenment.
[44:21] And you need only to cut off the source
[44:24] of nutriment.
[44:26] You deprive your depression of food,
[44:29] and your depression will have to die
[44:30] in a few weeks.
[44:33] Nothing can survive without food.
[44:36] That is the statement made by the Buddha.
[44:40] And the second Noble Truth can be
[44:43] described in terms of food,
[44:48] in terms of nutriment.
[44:52] If your relationship has become difficult,
[44:59] impossible, because you have not nourished
[45:06] your relationship with
[45:09] the right kind of food.
[45:13] You have used poisons in order to
[45:15] nourish that relationship,
[45:17] with the kind of thoughts you produce,
[45:20] the kind of words you utter,
[45:22] the kind of action you perform.
[45:27] So, meditation is to look into the nature
[45:31] of your suffering to find out the
[45:34] source of nutriment that has brought it
[45:38] to you so that you can see the path that
[45:44] leads to the cessation of the suffering.
[45:52] [The bell is awoken.]
[45:56] [The bell is invited to sound.]
[46:10] So this is the roots of ill-being.
[46:21] The making, the accumulation,
[46:34] the making of suffering.
[46:46] But many of us do not want to practise
[46:49] the second Noble Truth.
[46:54] We think that we don't like to do so.
[46:59] We don't want to come home to us,
[47:02] and get in touch with the suffering
[47:04] and listen to it, and look into it to
[47:08] find out how and why it has come to us.
[47:15] Because we don't think of it
[47:18] as something pleasant.
[47:23] So most of us do the opposite;
[47:26] we try to run away from our suffering.
[47:30] We make it sound like we don't suffer.
[47:38] And you try run away.
[47:42] You don't want to go home
[47:44] and encounter the suffering inside,
[47:49] because you are afraid that
[47:52] if you come home and touch the suffering,
[47:55] it will overwhelm you.
[47:59] And that is why most of us in society try
[48:02] to run away.
[48:10] And to cover up,
[48:14] to dissimulate, to pretend that
[48:17] it's not there.
[48:21] There is no suffering.
[48:23] We pretend that everything is alright.
[48:29] We try to deceive us, and
[48:32] we try to deceive other people
[48:35] that we are OK.
[48:37] There is nothing wrong in us.
[48:39] But in fact, there may be a very deep
[48:41] block of suffering inside.
[48:44] So the Buddha recommend that
[48:46] we should not practise that.
[48:50] Because many of us try to cover up the
[48:53] suffering by the way of consumption.
[48:59] If you turn on the television,
[49:03] it's not exactly because there is
[49:05] an interesting program that you can watch,
[49:08] and you can enjoy, and you can learn.
[49:15] Sometimes the TV program is
[49:18] not good at all,
[49:20] and yet you don't have the courage to
[49:22] turn it off, because if you turn it off,
[49:24] you have to go back to yourself.
[49:30] And many of us who are not hungry,
[49:36] who do not have the need to eat,
[49:41] and yet we go and open the refrigerator,
[49:47] and take out something to eat.
[49:50] We eat not because we are hungry.
[49:53] We eat because we want to use eating
[49:58] in order to forget that something
[50:01] is painful in here.
[50:08] And we take our car and go out,
[50:10] we talk on the telephone,
[50:14] we do everything in order not to have to
[50:16] go back to ourselves, in order to touch
[50:22] the suffering inside.
[50:24] This is the opposite of the practice.
[50:27] Because you are afraid of
[50:30] being in touch with your suffering.
[50:35] And the method of the Buddha is that
[50:37] you should train yourself in the practice
[50:41] of mindfulness of breathing, of sitting,
[50:46] of walking.
[50:52] of driving.
[50:55] Because when you practise mindful breathing,
[50:57] mindful walking, you generate an energy.
[51:03] The energy that can help you be strong.
[51:10] And when you go back to yourself with that
[51:13] energy, you are stronger, because that
[51:17] energy help you to recognize your suffering,
[51:20] help you to embrace your suffering,
[51:23] and to listen to it.
[51:26] Without mindfulness, you are only a
[51:35] passive..You are only a passive entity.
[51:42] You'll be overwhelmed.
[51:45] You'll be a victim of the suffering.
[51:48] But with mindfulness,
[51:49] with the energy of mindfulness,
[51:52] you can be active.
[51:58] Because with mindfulness,
[52:01] you have the strength to recognize
[52:04] suffering.
[52:09] "Hello there, my despair.
[52:13] I know you are there.
[52:15] I will take care of you.
[52:19] I am back for you.
[52:22] I am here for you."
[52:24] That is the voice of mindfulness.
[52:26] "Hello, there. I know you are there."
[52:29] "Hello, my little anger, my little despair,
[52:36] I know you are there.
[52:38] I am coming back to you and
[52:40] taking care of you."
[52:41] That is the work of mindfulness.
[52:45] And if you don't practise mindful walking,
[52:48] mindful sitting, mindful breathing,
[52:53] you don't have that energy.
[52:56] That is why Buddhist meditation begins
[52:58] with mindfulness.
[53:00] And mindfulness is the kind of energy
[53:02] that everyone can generate by the practice.
[53:07] When you walk,
[53:10] from your living quarter
[53:13] to the meditation hall,
[53:17] walk in such a way that
[53:18] every step helps generate
[53:22] the energy of mindfulness,
[53:23] mindfulness of walking.
[53:25] When you wash your dishes,
[53:27] don't think of anything else,
[53:29] just focus your attention
[53:31] on dish washing, enjoy dish washing
[53:37] and breathing generating the
[53:40] energy of mindfulness.
[53:43] And in Plum Village, we do like that.
[53:48] We do everything in mindfulness.
[53:51] We eat in mindfulness.
[53:54] We cook in mindfulness.
[53:56] We clean in mindfulness.
[53:59] Because that energy of mindfulness is
[54:04] the energy that can heal.
[54:07] that can transform.
[54:09] So with mindfulness, you can go home
[54:11] to yourself without fear.
[54:15] With mindfulness, you can say
[54:17] "Hello, my despair. Hello, my anger.
[54:21] I know you are there.
[54:23] I will take good care of you."
[54:26] And with that same energy of mindfulness,
[54:29] you can embrace tenderly your pain,
[54:35] your sorrow, and listen to it.
[54:40] It's like a mother holding her ailing baby
[54:45] and listen to the baby, why the baby
[54:49] suffer like that?
[54:52] So your suffering is your baby.
[55:05] When the mother does not know
[55:06] what is wrong with the baby yet,
[55:10] but the fact that she's holding the baby
[55:12] with tenderness, can help the baby
[55:15] suffer less right away.
[55:18] So with mindfulness, you are holding
[55:20] your suffering. You have not seen
[55:23] really the roots of that suffering,
[55:27] but the fact that you are there for
[55:29] your suffering, holding it tenderly,
[55:33] not trying to run away from it,
[55:36] can already bring some relief
[55:38] and you suffer less.
[55:41] Sitting or walking and embracing tenderly
[55:45] your suffering, can already bring relief.
[55:53] And if you are sitting in a group of people,
[55:59] who are capable of generating
[56:01] mindfulness, you can make good use
[56:05] of that collective energy of mindfulness
[56:09] in order to recognize and embrace
[56:13] the pain in you.
[56:17] It's like a drop of water in a river.
[56:21] She allows the whole river to embrace her,
[56:27] to carry her, to guide her.
[56:33] So sitting in a Sangha, in a group of
[56:37] brothers and sisters in the practice,
[56:39] you say, "Dear brothers and sisters,
[56:43] here is my pain. Here is my despair.
[56:48] Help me embrace this because I am only
[56:53] a beginner in the practice."
[56:56] So you open your heart, and allow
[56:58] the collective energy of the Sangha
[57:02] to recognize and embrace your pain.
[57:05] And if you do that, in a few minutes,
[57:07] you suffer less.
[57:09] You get relief.
[57:11] And that is what we call taking refuge
[57:14] in the Sangha, trust the Sangha,
[57:16] like a drop of water trusting the river.
[57:23] It's easier to practise with a community.
[57:27] The community is a jewel,
[57:30] one of the three jewels.
[57:33] Buddha is a jewel; Dharma is a jewel;
[57:35] Sangha is a jewel.
[57:38] And Sangha is very concrete.
[57:41] The Sangha is made of practionners.
[57:44] Members of the Sangha are capable of generating
[57:47] mindfulness, concentration and insight.
[57:51] So Sangha is carrying also the Dharma.
[57:58] A true Sangha has the true Dharma in it.
[58:07] And where there is the Dharma,
[58:09] the Buddha is there also.
[58:12] So the Sangha carries within herself
[58:17] the Dharma and the Buddha.
[58:21] Don't look for the Buddha
[58:23] in the temple or in the sky.
[58:26] The Buddha is in the Sangha action.
[58:31] Because the Sangha knows how to generate
[58:33] mindfulness, concentration and insight.
[58:36] A Buddha is someone inhabited by
[58:39] these kind of energies.
[58:43] And we are all capable of generating
[58:47] these three kinds of energies.
[58:49] We are a Buddha to be.
[59:00] [The bell is awoken.]
[59:04] [The bell is invited to sound.]
[59:41] Mindfulness also carries within itself
[59:47] the energy of concentration.
[59:52] Together mindfulness and concentration
[59:54] can bring insight,
[59:57] that has the power to bring relief.
[1:00:06] The practice of concentration can be
[1:00:09] very powerful.
[1:00:11] It can allow us to gain
[1:00:16] the kind of insight that can liberate us.
[1:00:25] We don't need to change the environment
[1:00:30] in order to be happy
[1:00:34] If we get an insight, we have
[1:00:37] another way of looking.
[1:00:42] and we don't suffer anymore.
[1:00:45] So please don't think that unless you
[1:00:47] change the environment,
[1:00:49] you change the partner,
[1:00:55] you cannot be happy.
[1:00:56] Don't think like that!
[1:00:59] You suffer because of your way of looking
[1:01:02] at things.
[1:01:05] You suffer because you do not have
[1:01:06] enough insight.
[1:01:10] And insight is obtained by the
[1:01:13] practice of mindfulness and concentration.
[1:01:18] And insight is something very concrete.
[1:01:22] It's like the left side of a
[1:01:26] sheet of paper and the right side.
[1:01:30] The left cannot be without the right.
[1:01:36] If you think that happiness is
[1:01:41] an individual matter, you are wrong.
[1:01:48] The father cannot be truly happy
[1:01:50] if the son suffers deeply.
[1:01:54] The son cannot look for individual
[1:01:57] happiness when his father suffers deeply.
[1:02:03] So happiness is not an individual thing.
[1:02:06] If you can make your father suffer less,
[1:02:09] you suffer less.
[1:02:12] So that is the insight of interbeing.
[1:02:17] The insight of interbeing is that
[1:02:19] you are in your father.
[1:02:22] And your father is in you.
[1:02:26] And there are young people who say,
[1:02:30] who are so angry at their father,
[1:02:35] and who say,
[1:02:37] "I don't want to have anything to do
[1:02:40] with that person!", namely their father.
[1:02:48] It's nonsense. Because looking into
[1:02:52] the son, you see the father.
[1:02:56] His father is there in every cell
[1:02:58] of his body.
[1:03:00] And how can he say, "I don't want to
[1:03:02] have anything to do with him anymore"?
[1:03:08] You cannot take your father out of you.
[1:03:12] It's like you cannot take the tree out
[1:03:14] of the sheet of paper.
[1:03:23] So when the father see him in the son,
[1:03:27] and the son sees him in the father,
[1:03:30] they got the insight of interbeing.
[1:03:32] They know that making each other suffer
[1:03:40] is something stupid.
[1:03:43] Helping him to suffer less,
[1:03:45] you suffer less.
[1:03:49] Anything you do for yourself to suffer less,
[1:03:52] you do for him.
[1:03:55] So that is the insight you get by
[1:03:58] mindfulness and concentration.
[1:04:02] So many of us believe that unless
[1:04:05] we divorce, unless we change the
[1:04:09] environment, we cannot be happy.
[1:04:12] Unless we go to another place...
[1:04:21] we cannot be happy.
[1:04:27] But in this teaching, you only need to
[1:04:29] change your way of seeing things,
[1:04:36] by getting the insight.
[1:04:41] And when you get the insight,
[1:04:45] you don't suffer anymore.
[1:04:48] This is salvation not by grace,
[1:04:58] but by insight.
[1:05:10] In the beginning of this talk,
[1:05:14] Thay has said that,
[1:05:16] he said that,
[1:05:19] when you have understood your own
[1:05:21] suffering and suffer less,
[1:05:25] you are capable of seeing the suffering
[1:05:28] in the other person much more easily.
[1:05:37] Before that, you believe that you are the
[1:05:40] only one who suffers.
[1:05:42] That person only makes you suffer.
[1:05:44] He does not suffer.
[1:05:47] But now since you have mindfulness
[1:05:50] and concentration that help you to
[1:05:52] understand your own suffering,
[1:05:56] you know that suffering is made
[1:05:57] mainly by ourselves.
[1:06:00] And you see the other person,
[1:06:02] you see the suffering in him,
[1:06:04] the difficulties in him,
[1:06:05] the despair in him.
[1:06:07] You see that that person has so much
[1:06:09] suffering in him and he does not know
[1:06:13] how to handle the suffering,
[1:06:15] to transform the suffering,
[1:06:16] so he continues to be victim
[1:06:19] of that suffering.
[1:06:22] And since he does not know
[1:06:24] how to handle suffering,
[1:06:26] he continues to suffer and
[1:06:28] he continues to make
[1:06:32] people around him suffer.
[1:06:34] His suffering is spilling over around him.
[1:06:39] He is the first victim of his suffering,
[1:06:42] and you are only a second victim.
[1:06:47] And maybe he did not want you to suffer.
[1:06:52] He has no intention to make you suffer.
[1:06:55] because he does not know how to handle
[1:06:58] suffering, and that is why
[1:07:00] you have to suffer with him.
[1:07:03] So that is the kind of insight you get
[1:07:08] when you look at the other person.
[1:07:11] And when you have seen that that person
[1:07:13] has a lot of suffering, of difficulties,
[1:07:17] unable to handle the suffering and
[1:07:19] difficulties, then you know that that
[1:07:22] person needs help,
[1:07:24] and does not need punishment.
[1:07:27] And you may think that you can help
[1:07:29] him or her.
[1:07:32] You want to say something
[1:07:33] or to do something
[1:07:35] to help him suffer less.
[1:07:38] It means that you have understood,
[1:07:43] and the understanding has given rise
[1:07:45] to compassion.
[1:07:50] So the same person,
[1:07:53] and you don't suffer anymore.
[1:07:56] You don't deal with that person with anger
[1:07:58] and despair anymore.
[1:08:01] But you see hope, you see love.
[1:08:09] You think that if you divorce, and
[1:08:11] then the problem will no longer be there.
[1:08:15] That's not true.
[1:08:18] You have been with him or with her
[1:08:21] quite a few years already,
[1:08:23] and now he is in you,
[1:08:26] even if the paper has been signed.
[1:08:31] You cannot get him out of you.
[1:08:34] He will be with you for all your life.
[1:08:37] She will be with you for all your life.
[1:08:43] So the only way is to practise in order to
[1:08:46] transform you and transform him in you.
[1:08:51] And if you are transformed,
[1:08:54] if you get light, liberated, you can help
[1:08:58] the other person transform and get light.
[1:09:05] And you don't have to change anything.
[1:09:07] You don't have to change partners,
[1:09:10] you don't have to change environment.
[1:09:14] You have to change
[1:09:15] your way of looking at things.
[1:09:17] And you do that only
[1:09:18] when you have insight.
[1:09:20] Insight is gotten by the practice of
[1:09:23] mindfulness, concentration.
[1:09:26] [A bird cawing loudly.]
[1:09:32] And since you have suffered,
[1:09:38] you have the mud.
[1:09:42] And if you know how to make good use
[1:09:44] of the mud, you can grow beautiful
[1:09:45] lotus flowers.
[1:09:48] So suffering plays a certain role
[1:09:52] in making happiness.
[1:10:04] If there is no suffering,
[1:10:08] how can understanding arise,
[1:10:15] and how can compassion arise?
[1:10:20] And understanding and compasssion
[1:10:22] are the foundation of happiness.
[1:10:28] And you know that in order to create
[1:10:30] understanding and compassion,
[1:10:35] you need a substance, that is suffering.
[1:10:41] So to practise, a good practionner is
[1:10:45] someone who knows how to make
[1:10:50] good use use of suffering in order to
[1:10:53] create understanding and compassion.
[1:11:00] And you don't have to
[1:11:01] produce more suffering.
[1:11:03] There is enough,
[1:11:05] more than enough suffering already.
[1:11:07] So the problem is how make good use of it.
[1:11:10] [A bird is cawing in the background.]
[1:11:15] She (the bird) agrees with me.
[1:11:17] [laughter]
[1:11:22] So my definition of the Kingdom of God
[1:11:24] is not a place where there is no suffering.
[1:11:28] The Kingdom of God is a place where people
[1:11:31] know how to make good use of suffering
[1:11:33] in order to create understanding and
[1:11:38] compassion and love.
[1:11:42] I am sure, I am
[1:11:49] more than convinced.
[1:11:52] I see very clearly that there is suffering
[1:11:54] in the Kingdom of God.
[1:11:58] If there is no suffering,
[1:12:01] you have no way to create
[1:12:03] understanding and compassion.
[1:12:07] Suffering is very useful,
[1:12:11] and we can speak about
[1:12:13] the "goodness of suffering",
[1:12:17] "les bienfaits de la souffrance".
[1:12:29] If you don't have the mud,
[1:12:31] you can never make lotus flowers.
[1:12:34] If you have no suffering
[1:12:36] you can never create happiness and joy.
[1:12:41] And that is the insight of interbeing.
[1:12:47] So in the beginning of the talk,
[1:12:49] Thầy has said that a good practionner
[1:12:51] is someone who knows how to generate
[1:12:55] joy and happiness.
[1:12:58] And someone who knows how to handle
[1:13:03] and transform suffering.
[1:13:06] And these two things together,
[1:13:08] go together.
[1:13:12] And this practice helps the other practice.
[1:13:16] If you know how to handle suffering,
[1:13:18] it's easier for you to produce
[1:13:20] joy and happiness. If you know how
[1:13:22] to produce joy and happiness,
[1:13:25] it's easier for you to handle suffering.
[1:13:33] The right and left, they lean on
[1:13:38] each other, they support each other,
[1:13:42] they are not enemies.
[1:13:44] Suffering is not an enemy.
[1:13:45] It may be your ally.
[1:13:52] So the fifth exercise of mindfulness
[1:13:55] of breathing is to generate joy.
[1:14:08] And the sixth is to generate happiness.
[1:14:20] And if we are a practionner,
[1:14:26] we should learn how to do that.
[1:14:29] A good practionner can generate
[1:14:31] a feeling of joy, a feeling of happiness,
[1:14:35] whenever she wants.
[1:14:41] For them and for the other person.
[1:14:49] But the how is very clear.
[1:14:55] The practice of mindfulness helps us
[1:14:58] to bring our mind home to our body.
[1:15:04] Remember the last Dharma talk?
[1:15:09] And when mind and body are together,
[1:15:12] you are fully present in
[1:15:14] the here and the now.
[1:15:16] In our daily lives, your mind and your body
[1:15:20] are very often apart.
[1:15:25] Remember the computer.
[1:15:27] You spend two hours with your computer.
[1:15:31] You let your body... you forget that
[1:15:33] you have a body.
[1:15:40] So when mind and body are together,
[1:15:44] you enjoy breathing in, breathing out.
[1:15:47] You are established in the here and the now.
[1:15:50] You see your body as a wonder.
[1:15:53] You see the sunshine, the rain, the trees,
[1:15:59] the hills, as wonders.
[1:16:01] You know that you are healthy enough.
[1:16:06] Your eyes are still clear,
[1:16:09] in good condition.
[1:16:11] Your heart is still pumping the blood well.
[1:16:16] You have feet strong enough to walk, to run.
[1:16:22] You have the good air, to breathe.
[1:16:26] There are so many conditions of happiness
[1:16:28] that are available in the here and the now.
[1:16:33] So, getting in touch with these elements
[1:16:36] of happiness.... elements that are
[1:16:43] refreshing and healing and nourishing,
[1:16:52] you generate a feeling of joy.
[1:16:57] Many of us have plenty of
[1:16:59] conditions of happiness,
[1:17:03] available in the here and the now.
[1:17:05] But we are carried away by a feeling of
[1:17:08] anger, of fear, and we ignore everything.
[1:17:11] We step on these conditions of happiness.
[1:17:14] We are wasting ...
[1:17:18] So mindfulness helps us to recognize
[1:17:21] these conditions of happiness.
[1:17:25] And when we are in touch,
[1:17:28] a feeling of joy, a feeling of happiness,
[1:17:30] arises very easily.
[1:17:33] Last time Thầy talked about
[1:17:38] opening the water tap with mindfulness.
[1:17:42] With mindfulness, you see that the water
[1:17:45] has come from up in the mountain,
[1:17:49] down on the earth, come to your kitchen.
[1:17:55] And (to) allow this fresh water to flow
[1:18:03] on your fingers can be a happy,
[1:18:05] can be a happy moment. It's a wonder.
[1:18:09] There are people in the world who have
[1:18:11] to go 5 kilometers to fetch some water,
[1:18:15] and not of a good quality.
[1:18:18] We are very lucky.
[1:18:20] Even if we have just lost our job,
[1:18:25] but we are still much luckier than
[1:18:28] so many people.
[1:18:30] So, recognizing that we are lucky,
[1:18:33] that we still have plenty of conditions
[1:18:35] of happiness, that can give rise to
[1:18:38] a joyful feeling, a feeling of gratitude,
[1:18:44] a feeling of happiness.
[1:18:47] You remind yourself with mindfulness,
[1:18:51] and you remind the other person,
[1:18:55] that both of you are lucky.
[1:19:00] Before eating your breakfast,
[1:19:05] look at the other person and say,
[1:19:07] "Darling, don't you think we are lucky?
[1:19:13] We have a roof to live under,
[1:19:16] we have something for breakfast,
[1:19:17] we are still together."
[1:19:21] Remind ourselves and remind others,
[1:19:25] "There is no war going on around here!"
[1:19:34] And if you have suffered in the past,
[1:19:38] bring the suffering back into the
[1:19:39] present moment in order to compare.
[1:19:43] And against the background of suffering,
[1:19:45] happiness will stand out very clearly.
[1:19:52] You know that during the war in Vietnam,
[1:19:55] you hear the sound of the guns,
[1:20:00] day and night, and your wish is that
[1:20:06] you can sleep better
[1:20:09] without the sound of the guns.
[1:20:12] But here, there is no sound of guns
[1:20:16] at night.
[1:20:17] You have peace.
[1:20:22] Our workers in the School of
[1:20:24] Youth for Social Service in Vietnam,
[1:20:31] young monks and nuns and laypeople,
[1:20:35] we have rebuilt many villages that
[1:20:38] have been destroyed by the bombing.
[1:20:49] The war in Vietnam lasted 30 years.
[1:20:58] The first part of it was waged by the
[1:21:04] French Army, from 1945,
[1:21:15] And then, long after that, the French
[1:21:17] did not have enough money to continue
[1:21:19] the war, so Americans were financing
[1:21:23] the war in Vietnam,
[1:21:28] out of fear of communism,
[1:21:32] and thinking that if Vietnam fall
[1:21:34] into communism, and then
[1:21:36] all the countries of Southeast Asia
[1:21:39] will follow, in the theory of dominoes.
[1:21:46] So fear is under, is the foundation
[1:21:51] of the action.
[1:21:52] So millions of people were killed.
[1:21:56] Many French soldiers died in Vietnam.
[1:22:00] Many American soldiers died in Vietnam.
[1:22:02] And we lost about 6 million people in the war.
[1:22:10] And our social workers worked
[1:22:12] in that difficult situation.
[1:22:16] There was a village that was bombarded
[1:22:19] by the Americans.
[1:22:25] That village is situated near the
[1:22:28] demilitarized zone in the village,
[1:22:30] in Trà Lộc.
[1:22:34] That zone separated
[1:22:36] the North and the South.
[1:22:39] And our workers received the order
[1:22:42] to rebuild that village.
[1:22:47] And then, it was
[1:22:49] bombarded again, for the second time.
[1:22:57] And local workers, monks, nuns and others,
[1:23:03] asked whether they should rebuild
[1:23:05] the village of Trà Lộc.
[1:23:08] We said, "Yes, we have to rebuild!"
[1:23:17] In the province of Quảng Trị,
[1:23:22] near the 17th parallel,
[1:23:26] Trà Lộc.
[1:23:40] Then it was bombarded for the third time.
[1:23:52] And we met at the headquarters of
[1:23:56] the School of Youth for Social Service,
[1:23:59] and after debate, we said,
[1:24:01] "Rebuild it again!" Third time.
[1:24:08] And it was bombarded again,
[1:24:11] for the fourth time.
[1:24:20] The problem is not the materials in
[1:24:23] order to rebuild. The problem is
[1:24:28] whether we have to give up or to continue.
[1:24:35] What is the use of building
[1:24:37] in order to be destroyed?
[1:24:41] That is the question asked by many people.
[1:24:47] But psychologically, if you give up
[1:24:51] then despair will overwhelm.
[1:24:56] And despair is the worst thing
[1:24:58] that can happen to a human being.
[1:25:03] So if we gave the order to build it
[1:25:06] for the fourth time,
[1:25:08] you know, we rebuild it 5 times.
[1:25:15] We rebuild it because we don't want
[1:25:18] people to be victims of despair.
[1:25:25] Not because we .. we...we.. we
[1:25:34] we have enough materials and money
[1:25:37] in order to do that.
[1:25:38] That is a psychological problem.
[1:25:44] And when people are
[1:25:46] overwhelmed with despair,
[1:25:50] that is the form of suffering that is
[1:25:59] the most difficult, the kind of suffering
[1:26:01] that is most difficult to bear.
[1:26:04] I remember, many young people came to me,
[1:26:07] and asked, "Thầy, do you think that
[1:26:10] that the war is going to end soon?"
[1:26:17] That was about 20 years after
[1:26:20] the war had started.
[1:26:23] People died every day, every night.
[1:26:29] And in our School of Youth for Social Service,
[1:26:32] we went to rescue people,
[1:26:38] to help the wounded people,
[1:26:42] to bring relief,
[1:26:44] to organize refugee camps,
[1:27:01] war refugee camps.
[1:27:07] And many of us, including monastics, died
[1:27:10] during the operation.
[1:27:19] "Dear Thầy" -- it was a group of students
[1:27:24] from many faculties of the University
[1:27:27] of Saigon who came and asked Thầy --
[1:27:30] "do you think that the war will end soon?
[1:27:33] Is there is any hope? "
[1:27:36] More than 20 years already.
[1:27:39] It is very difficult question to answer.
[1:27:44] Thầy did not see any hope.
[1:27:54] There is no light at the end of the tunnel.
[1:28:03] But how can Thầy say there is no hope?
[1:28:08] That will destroy them.
[1:28:12] That will crush them, the young people.
[1:28:17] So after having breathed in and out
[1:28:20] a few times, then Thầy said,
[1:28:22] "My dear friends, the Buddha said
[1:28:25] everything is impermanent.
[1:28:28] The war also should be impermanent.
[1:28:31] The war has to end some day.
[1:28:35] So let us continue."
[1:28:47] So as far as the global warming in concerned,
[1:28:57] many of us are about to fall into despair.
[1:29:01] We have not seen any sign of the..
[1:29:06] But if we allow ourselves to be
[1:29:08] overwhelmed by despair,
[1:29:10] we lose our lucidity, we lose our hope,
[1:29:15] and we get the situation worse,
[1:29:18] very quickly.
[1:29:20] That is why we have to practice
[1:29:22] in order to get the kind of insight that
[1:29:27] can help us prevent despair to descend,
[1:29:33] to allow us to continue with clarity
[1:29:41] and non-fear.
[1:29:52] So, generating joy and happiness is
[1:29:59] what the Buddha says that we should do,
[1:30:04] using mindfulness in order to create
[1:30:08] a feeling of joy and happiness.
[1:30:11] Because all of us need
[1:30:17] to be nourished.
[1:30:23] And joy and happiness can be possible
[1:30:28] in a difficult situation also.
[1:30:32] And that is why during the war,
[1:30:33] our workers continue the practice.
[1:30:40] The practice of mindfulness allows us to
[1:30:43] get in touch with the good things,
[1:30:47] so that we can get the nourishment and
[1:30:50] the healing to continue.
[1:30:53] We have to invent joy and happiness
[1:30:56] in order to survive.
[1:31:02] Suppose you have a beautiful garden,
[1:31:06] where you have 30 beautiful trees.
[1:31:12] And if 5 of the trees in your garden
[1:31:18] just fall down.
[1:31:22] Very beautiful trees.
[1:31:27] And you are sad, and you may be possessed
[1:31:32] by that kind of sadness that you are
[1:31:34] no longer able to enjoy your garden.
[1:31:38] But in the garden there are another twenty
[1:31:40] trees that are still beautiful, vigorous.
[1:31:49] So it's not because a number of trees have
[1:31:51] died that you stop enjoying the trees.
[1:31:58] So suffering and happiness happen
[1:32:00] at the same time, in every one of us.
[1:32:03] It's not because you have some suffering
[1:32:06] that we do not have the capacity to enjoy
[1:32:09] the other part that is not suffering.
[1:32:13] And that is why even in the most
[1:32:15] desperate situation,
[1:32:18] you have to preserve yourself
[1:32:22] by generating moments of
[1:32:24] joy and happiness together.
[1:32:34] Suppose you are having, you have something,
[1:32:43] you are having lunch.
[1:32:50] On the table, there is an orange, there is
[1:32:58] a squash, with the rice,
[1:33:02] with the vegetables.
[1:33:05] And even if, if we just get some,
[1:33:11] some bad news,
[1:33:15] we should try to eat our lunch in
[1:33:17] such a way that we can get the nourishment
[1:33:24] and healing during eating.
[1:33:30] It is possible to pick up a fruit,
[1:33:38] a vegetable, and see that this is a gift
[1:33:42] of Mother Earth.
[1:33:45] We still have love.
[1:33:50] So if you are able to enjoy your lunch,
[1:33:55] your eating with mindfulness,
[1:33:59] if you can appreciate the fact that
[1:34:01] you are still together,
[1:34:04] you are still a family,
[1:34:07] you have still a chance to
[1:34:11] share a lunch together,
[1:34:14] that is the positive things.
[1:34:18] Even in a difficult situation,
[1:34:21] we still have to be able to
[1:34:23] generate a feeling of gratitude, of joy,
[1:34:27] of happiness, to nourish us.
[1:34:33] And then if you are nourished like that,
[1:34:35] you are stronger in order to handle
[1:34:40] the situation of suffering.
[1:34:45] So in order to transform and heal,
[1:34:53] you need nourishment.
[1:34:57] It's like a person who is about to
[1:35:00] undergo surgery.
[1:35:03] And if a doctor judges that this person is
[1:35:06] too weak, in order to go to the operation,
[1:35:12] and then he will give the order to
[1:35:15] postpone the surgery and to help
[1:35:20] that person get a little bit stronger,
[1:35:26] in order to be able to resist, to stand,
[1:35:30] the surgery.
[1:35:32] So it's the same.
[1:35:35] We have a block of pain.
[1:35:38] We may think that unless I
[1:35:42] take out this block of pain,
[1:35:44] I cannot enjoy life.
[1:35:49] And that is not the best way of thinking.
[1:35:53] Even if there are trees that have died,
[1:35:56] there are still many trees that are alive.
[1:35:59] And you should be able to sit under the
[1:36:01] beautiful trees and say that
[1:36:03] "We still have beautiful trees."
[1:36:06] And if you know how to enjoy the
[1:36:07] beautiful trees, you have more strength
[1:36:10] in order to rebuild, re-plant the other trees.
[1:36:15] So the practice of generating joy
[1:36:18] and happiness helps you in the process
[1:36:23] of handling suffering.
[1:36:26] So a good practionner should know how to
[1:36:29] generate a feeling of joy and happiness
[1:36:32] by touching the good things, the positive
[1:36:35] things, the things that are nourishing and
[1:36:38] healing us, that are still available.
[1:36:42] And that is the work of mindfulness.
[1:36:44] Mindfulness allows us to recognize
[1:36:46] these things as available.
[1:36:50] And mindfulness helps you to remind
[1:36:53] the other person, "Dear one, we are still
[1:36:57] very lucky. Let us be thankful, so that
[1:37:02] we are strong enough in order to handle
[1:37:06] the difficulties that we have had."
[1:37:15] And the seventh exercise of
[1:37:20] mindful breathing is to...
[1:37:25] is to recognize
[1:37:31] pain. Ill-being.
[1:37:38] Have the courage!
[1:37:41] to acknowledge the fact that
[1:37:45] there is suffering in me.
[1:37:49] To come home with mindfulness
[1:37:53] in order to recognize and to embrace,
[1:37:56] not to suppress.
[1:37:59] The mother doesn't suppress her baby.
[1:38:03] The mother acknowledges the baby,
[1:38:08] sees the suffering of the baby,
[1:38:10] picks up the baby and holds the baby
[1:38:14] in tenderness.
[1:38:15] That is what a good practionner will do.
[1:38:19] Go home to your baby, your suffering baby.
[1:38:22] Be there for your baby.
[1:38:25] Embrace it tenderly, and get a relief.
[1:38:37] You cannot do this unless you have
[1:38:40] the energy of mindfulness.
[1:38:43] That is why when walking from your tent to
[1:38:46] the meditation hall, don't talk!
[1:38:54] Don't think.
[1:38:57] Walk in such a way that every step
[1:38:59] generates mindfulness,
[1:39:02] every step brings the joy,
[1:39:09] brings the happiness, of being alive,
[1:39:12] touching the wonders of life.
[1:39:14] That helps the healing.
[1:39:16] You nourish yourself by that.
[1:39:20] So in our walking meditation,
[1:39:23] we stop the thinking. The thinking
[1:39:25] takes us away from the here and the now.
[1:39:29] We just feel.
[1:39:31] We just touch, feel the contact between
[1:39:35] our feet and Mother Earth.
[1:39:40] Allow Mother Earth to heal you.
[1:39:42] Allow the wonders of life
[1:39:47] to penetrate
[1:39:50] your body, and trust.
[1:39:52] Trust Mother Earth as source of healing.
[1:39:58] You breathe in the air;
[1:40:00] the air can be healing.
[1:40:06] You get, you allow the beautiful
[1:40:13] green colour to penetrate into your mind
[1:40:17] or body. That is healing.
[1:40:20] Every step can be healing,
[1:40:21] Every breath can be healing.
[1:40:25] And Mother Earth is not only around you.
[1:40:28] She is inside of you.
[1:40:31] Allow her to heal you.
[1:40:37] Because Mother Earth is a
[1:40:42] a most beautiful Bodhisattva,
[1:40:48] beautiful Mother, of all of us.
[1:40:52] Mother of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Saints.
[1:41:00] She has brought us to life,
[1:41:02] and she will receive us back.
[1:41:06] And bring us to life again and again.
[1:41:12] We have to trust.
[1:41:16] Mother Earth is not the environment.
[1:41:19] Mother Earth is us, is a being,
[1:41:29] a great being, Mahasattva.
[1:41:38] And the eighth exercise of
[1:41:42] mindful breathing is calming,
[1:41:47] calming the pain.
[1:41:56] Whether that pain is a painful feeling,
[1:42:01] a difficult, unpleasant feeling or a
[1:42:12] strong emotion like fear, anger, despair.
[1:42:17] We have to go home and take care of that.
[1:42:22] And with the energy of mindfulness.
[1:42:26] So in our daily life, everything we do,
[1:42:31] every minute we live, can be used in order
[1:42:34] to generate the energy of mindfulness.
[1:42:40] Even when you brush your teeth, brush them
[1:42:43] in mindfulness and enjoy the time of
[1:42:46] tooth brushing;
[1:42:48] it can bring you happiness.
[1:42:58] [The bell is invited.]
[1:43:19] There are many ways of generating
[1:43:21] joy and happiness
[1:43:25] with mindfulness,
[1:43:28] including the practice of
[1:43:30] selective watering.
[1:43:35] You have a seed joy,
[1:43:39] memory of happiness,
[1:43:42] and a seed of love,
[1:43:46] and a seed of understanding in you.
[1:43:53] And the other person also has many good
[1:43:55] seeds in him or in her.
[1:44:00] She has talents; she has tolerance;
[1:44:11] she is capable of forgiving.
[1:44:16] And you also have these good things.
[1:44:20] So recognize these things,
[1:44:22] and allow them to manifest.
[1:44:28] Say something, listen to something
[1:44:33] in order to allow the good things in us
[1:44:36] to manifest.
[1:44:39] When you listen to a Dharma Talk,
[1:44:44] the Dharma Talk is a kind of rain
[1:44:47] penetrating into the soil
[1:44:49] of your consciousness.
[1:44:52] In the soil in your consciousness,
[1:44:54] there is a seed of love.
[1:44:56] There's a seed of understanding;
[1:45:00] there's a seed of mindfulness;
[1:45:02] there's a seed of peace;
[1:45:03] there's a seed of compassion.
[1:45:06] And if we allow the rain of the Dharma Talk
[1:45:10] to penetrate deep into the
[1:45:13] soil of your consciousness,
[1:45:20] and then these seeds will sprout,
[1:45:23] and that gives you joy and happiness.
[1:45:31] You can read a book.
[1:45:35] You can listen to a good conversation,
[1:45:40] that has the power to recognize and
[1:45:46] water the good seeds
[1:45:48] so that they can come up.
[1:45:51] And joy and happiness become a reality.
[1:45:55] And you can water the soil of mind
[1:45:59] of the other person.
[1:46:01] He/She has many good things.
[1:46:04] Don't water the seed of anger, fear,
[1:46:07] jealousy in him or in her.
[1:46:12] Water the seed of understanding,
[1:46:13] compassion, joy,
[1:46:16] and you see that that person
[1:46:21] can be joyful and happy, right away.
[1:46:25] It does not take much time; very quick.
[1:46:29] That is the practice of selective watering.
[1:46:33] You water only the good seeds in you
[1:46:36] and in the other person.
[1:46:39] You acknowledge the talents, the virtues
[1:46:43] of that person.
[1:46:44] You say that you are grateful for them.
[1:46:48] You create happiness and joy right away.
[1:46:52] There are many ways of producing
[1:46:56] joy and happiness.
[1:46:58] And there are also many ways of ...
[1:47:03] to handle the pain.
[1:47:09] Maybe the first is to just
[1:47:11] recognize the pain and not exaggerate.
[1:47:18] Because sometimes you have something
[1:47:23] that disturbs you, in your body or
[1:47:27] in your mind, and you suffer.
[1:47:32] In that moment, you allow suffering
[1:47:36] to overwhelm you.
[1:47:38] You forget all about the good things.
[1:47:45] And that is not a good thing to do.
[1:47:49] Recognizing that there are a number of
[1:47:51] trees that are dying,
[1:47:53] but you remember there are many things
[1:47:55] that are still alive and beautiful.
[1:47:59] That is the truth.
[1:48:04] And then, do not exaggerate.
[1:48:08] If you have something that seems to be
[1:48:12] wrong in your body, don't panic,
[1:48:16] don't think that you are going to die
[1:48:18] very soon.
[1:48:23] And this the Buddha taught us.
[1:48:30] If you have a pain in your body,
[1:48:32] if you have some pain in your mind,
[1:48:35] just recognize it as it is,
[1:48:39] and do not exaggerate.
[1:48:48] And he gave the example of someone
[1:48:51] who is struck by an arrow.
[1:48:55] You are struck by an arrow, and you suffer.
[1:48:58] But if a second arrow comes and strikes
[1:49:01] you exactly at the same spot,
[1:49:04] the pain will not only be double but
[1:49:07] maybe 10 times more painful.
[1:49:13] So if you allow
[1:49:15] your anger, your despair, your fear,
[1:49:18] to come
[1:49:21] just because of that minor pain
[1:49:24] in your body and in your mind,
[1:49:29] then you suffer 10 times, 100 times more.
[1:49:35] So, that is the practice of
[1:49:38] simple recognition, mere recognition.
[1:49:43] If there is a minor pain, you know that
[1:49:45] there is a minor pain.
[1:49:48] If needed, you need a doctor,
[1:49:51] you need a friend, to look with you
[1:49:57] so that you can recognize
[1:50:01] the pain as it is and do not exaggerate.
[1:50:05] If you exaggerate by...
[1:50:07] you amplify the pain by...
[1:50:11] by imagination, you think you are going
[1:50:15] to die very soon.
[1:50:19] You think that is a cancer.
[1:50:26] If you get angry at it,
[1:50:33] if you worry too much,
[1:50:35] and then you amplify the suffering.
[1:50:38] So the first thing the Buddha recognized
[1:50:41] is to... the Buddha said is to recognize
[1:50:45] the pain as it is and do not exaggerate.
[1:50:49] It means, do not allow
[1:50:52] the second arrow to come.
[1:50:58] And sometimes the second arrow
[1:50:59] comes from another person.
[1:51:03] He or she worries too much,
[1:51:06] and that makes you worry also.
[1:51:21] [The bell is awoken.]
[1:51:29] Subtitles by the Amara.org community
