WEBVTT 00:00:20.446 --> 00:00:23.458 Good morning, dear Sangha. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:23.458 --> 00:00:28.019 Welcome to the Summer Opening in Plum Village. 00:00:28.206 --> 00:00:31.333 Today is the 6th of July, 2014 00:00:31.333 --> 00:00:36.521 and we are in the Assembly of Stars meditation hall 00:00:36.521 --> 00:00:42.379 in the Lower Hamlet, Plum Village. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:42.419 --> 00:00:46.848 Mindfulness is a kind of energy 00:00:47.158 --> 00:00:51.883 that we can generate. 00:00:53.358 --> 00:00:56.004 Everyone has the capacity to generate 00:00:56.004 --> 00:00:59.697 the energy of mindfulness. 00:01:00.881 --> 00:01:08.033 That energy allows us to be aware of what is going on. 00:01:10.172 --> 00:01:13.328 Going on in our body, 00:01:13.846 --> 00:01:16.356 going on in our feelings, 00:01:20.804 --> 00:01:25.595 going on in our perceptions, in our mind, 00:01:26.439 --> 00:01:31.916 and going on around us, in the world. 00:01:31.916 --> 00:01:35.769 So mindfulness, you can define it as the kind of energy 00:01:36.234 --> 00:01:39.241 that allows us to be aware of what is 00:01:39.659 --> 00:01:42.785 happening in the here and the now. 00:01:43.049 --> 00:01:46.183 In our body, in our feelings, in our mind, 00:01:46.532 --> 00:01:50.527 and in the world, which is the object of our mind. NOTE Paragraph 00:01:51.269 --> 00:01:54.420 In the Buddhist tradition 00:01:55.121 --> 00:01:58.467 we always try to remember that the world 00:01:58.770 --> 00:02:01.916 is the object of our mind. 00:02:02.983 --> 00:02:08.347 Our mind and the world form perception, 00:02:08.780 --> 00:02:13.955 subject of perception and object of perception. 00:02:22.535 --> 00:02:26.066 And mindfulness is the kind of energy 00:02:26.066 --> 00:02:31.796 that allows us to be in the here and the now. 00:02:33.546 --> 00:02:34.973 If you are not in the here and the now 00:02:35.003 --> 00:02:39.114 you cannot know what is happening in the here and the now. 00:02:40.809 --> 00:02:44.402 So mindfulness is also the capacity to help us 00:02:44.402 --> 00:02:52.280 to be established in the here and the now. 00:02:56.441 --> 00:03:02.161 And we know that life and all the wonders of life 00:03:02.346 --> 00:03:07.201 are available only in the here and the now. 00:03:07.558 --> 00:03:11.675 And mindfulness helps us to go home to the here and the now 00:03:11.675 --> 00:03:14.984 and get in touch with life, with the wonders of life 00:03:14.984 --> 00:03:17.428 that are available in the here and the now. 00:03:17.428 --> 00:03:20.006 It's so simple. 00:03:20.795 --> 00:03:26.600 So we have an appointment with life. 00:03:28.867 --> 00:03:33.543 J'avais un rendez-vous avec la vie. 00:03:34.866 --> 00:03:40.480 And that appointment takes place in the present moment. 00:03:44.456 --> 00:03:48.646 And if you miss the present moment, 00:03:48.706 --> 00:03:50.932 you miss your appointment with life, 00:03:50.932 --> 00:03:53.832 which is very serious. 00:03:57.586 --> 00:04:03.577 So next time when someone asks you whether you have time, 00:04:06.526 --> 00:04:09.405 you may say I have an appointment, 00:04:09.405 --> 00:04:12.224 and with whom? With life. 00:04:12.923 --> 00:04:15.511 I don't want to miss that appointment with life, 00:04:15.511 --> 00:04:17.860 that is why I always try to be home 00:04:17.860 --> 00:04:20.261 in the here and the now. 00:04:23.058 --> 00:04:26.430 In the here and the now I get in touch with nature, 00:04:31.210 --> 00:04:34.854 with the refreshing and healing elements 00:04:34.854 --> 00:04:39.883 of nature that are in me and around me. 00:04:40.222 --> 00:04:43.517 Because I need nourishment and healing. 00:04:45.165 --> 00:04:48.704 So I have to go home to the 00:04:48.822 --> 00:04:51.567 here and the now in order to get the 00:04:51.567 --> 00:04:54.302 nourishment and healing that I need, 00:04:54.302 --> 00:04:56.962 because I have been running all my life 00:04:56.962 --> 00:04:59.554 looking for something in the future, 00:04:59.554 --> 00:05:06.010 elsewhere, and I have missed my appointment with life. 00:05:07.555 --> 00:05:10.002 Because of that I have become sick. 00:05:10.002 --> 00:05:13.218 I suffer, that is why I have to learn to 00:05:13.218 --> 00:05:16.512 go home to the here and the now and get in 00:05:16.512 --> 00:05:21.547 touch with the elements of life that can be 00:05:21.737 --> 00:05:24.665 healing and nourishing. And mindfulness 00:05:24.665 --> 00:05:27.997 helps me to go home to the here and the now 00:05:27.997 --> 00:05:32.444 and get in touch with the wonders of life. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:35.123 --> 00:05:40.339 Mindfulness is always mindfulness of something. 00:05:42.822 --> 00:05:48.679 When you drink you tea, and if you are 00:05:48.679 --> 00:05:51.750 aware that you are alive and you are drinking 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:55.662 your tea, that is mindfulness of drinking. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:05:59.490 And you might choose to drink your tea 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:03.150 always in mindfulness, if you want. 00:06:04.021 --> 00:06:08.048 Because drinking like that, you are very alive. 00:06:08.048 --> 00:06:10.524 You are living deeply that moment of life 00:06:10.524 --> 00:06:14.678 given to you to live. 00:06:15.324 --> 00:06:23.247 So I like to make a commitment to drink my tea mindfully. 00:06:26.312 --> 00:06:34.372 And when I drink my tea mindfully, I am concentrated in my tea. 00:06:35.684 --> 00:06:39.115 So the energy of mindfulness carries 00:06:39.115 --> 00:06:42.817 within itself the energy of concentration. 00:06:43.151 --> 00:06:45.683 When you are very aware of something, 00:06:45.683 --> 00:06:48.363 you are concentrated on it. 00:06:49.121 --> 00:06:53.701 And if you are concentrated you begin to see things deeply. 00:06:57.447 --> 00:07:09.207 Suppose I hold my cup mindfully. And because 00:07:09.666 --> 00:07:19.065 I am holding my cup mindfully I am truly here 00:07:19.065 --> 00:07:22.561 and established in the present moment. 00:07:23.516 --> 00:07:29.253 And suppose I pour the hot water 00:07:33.466 --> 00:07:35.836 in my pot 00:07:37.166 --> 00:07:38.577 In my teapot 00:07:38.577 --> 00:07:40.626 mindfully 00:07:40.626 --> 00:07:44.155 I have concentration, 00:07:44.155 --> 00:07:46.927 and that concentration allows me to see many things. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:48.534 --> 00:07:53.055 I see that this water has come from deep 00:07:53.425 --> 00:07:56.575 up in the mountain, deep in the earth. 00:07:57.019 --> 00:08:00.524 It has come to me 00:08:01.794 --> 00:08:03.784 in this bottle 00:08:06.571 --> 00:08:10.622 And as I pour the tea mindfully, 00:08:14.272 --> 00:08:17.685 with concentration, 00:08:18.255 --> 00:08:24.749 I can see many things that people who are not mindful cannot see. 00:08:25.047 --> 00:08:27.715 I can see that there is a cloud in my tea. 00:08:29.475 --> 00:08:32.085 Yesterday it was a cloud floating in the sky. 00:08:34.400 --> 00:08:39.545 Now it is the tea. 00:08:40.657 --> 00:08:43.643 And that is why when I drink my tea, 00:08:43.920 --> 00:08:47.950 I see that I am drinking my cloud, 00:08:48.442 --> 00:08:52.715 and the cloud has not died, even if it is 00:08:52.715 --> 00:08:57.264 no longer in the sky, but it has not died, 00:08:57.264 --> 00:09:06.260 because it is here, in it's new form of manifestation. 00:09:06.829 --> 00:09:13.545 I can listen to my tea, to my cloud. 00:09:14.297 --> 00:09:19.959 And if my concentration is very strong 00:09:19.959 --> 00:09:24.767 I can discover the nature of no birth and no death 00:09:24.767 --> 00:09:30.034 of my cloud. I know that it is impossible 00:09:30.034 --> 00:09:33.656 for a cloud to die, because to die means 00:09:33.656 --> 00:09:39.081 from someone you suddenly become noone, 00:09:39.081 --> 00:09:43.216 from something you suddenly become nothing, 00:09:43.216 --> 00:09:48.093 and that is what we mean by dying. 00:09:48.483 --> 00:09:55.798 But if I am mindful, concentrated, I'd be full of insight. 00:09:56.116 --> 00:10:01.057 I can see that my cloud can never die. 00:10:01.515 --> 00:10:07.122 It can become snow or rain or ice, but it 00:10:07.122 --> 00:10:10.766 can never become nothing. 00:10:10.766 --> 00:10:16.315 So I touch the nature of no birth and no death of the cloud. 00:10:16.780 --> 00:10:22.306 And if I continue, I can see myself having 00:10:22.306 --> 00:10:26.837 that nature of no birth and no death. 00:10:26.837 --> 00:10:30.894 If the true nature of the cloud is no birth and no death, 00:10:30.894 --> 00:10:35.929 then my own nature is the nature of no birth and no death 00:10:37.304 --> 00:10:41.307 And if I can touch deeply the nature of 00:10:41.307 --> 00:10:45.874 no birth and no death in me, I am free from fear. 00:10:45.874 --> 00:10:52.219 Fear of dying, fear of becoming nothing. 00:10:52.443 --> 00:10:59.158 So mindfulness carries within itself that 00:10:59.158 --> 00:11:05.621 energy of concentration, and it carries 00:11:05.621 --> 00:11:11.789 within itself also the energy of insight. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:11.789 --> 00:11:15.097 Mindfulness, concentration, insight, 00:11:15.097 --> 00:11:18.111 that are three kinds of energies that we 00:11:18.111 --> 00:11:21.864 can generate. And these three kinds of 00:11:21.864 --> 00:11:27.587 energies have the power to help us suffer less, 00:11:27.587 --> 00:11:36.472 and help us to generate feelings of joy and happiness. 00:11:36.803 --> 00:11:39.513 And all of us are capable of generating these 00:11:39.825 --> 00:11:43.218 three kinds of energies. 00:11:43.614 --> 00:11:46.455 And to practice meditation, Buddhist meditation, 00:11:46.593 --> 00:11:51.037 is to generate these three kinds of energies. 00:11:51.243 --> 00:11:56.380 And everyone can do, and right in the beginning of the practice. 00:11:56.517 --> 00:11:59.480 You can learn to drink your tea mindfully. 00:11:59.550 --> 00:12:04.423 You can learn how to walk mindfully. 00:12:09.186 --> 00:12:12.164 You can learn how to breathe mindfully. 00:12:14.685 --> 00:12:17.534 And when mindfulness is there, 00:12:17.534 --> 00:12:22.021 concentration is there, and insight will be there. 00:12:22.548 --> 00:12:25.744 And with mindfulness, concentration, and insight, 00:12:25.744 --> 00:12:30.295 I can live very deeply every moment 00:12:30.295 --> 00:12:34.422 of my daily life. I do not waste my life. 00:12:34.422 --> 00:12:38.295 I feel alive in every moment. 00:12:38.295 --> 00:12:42.241 And I will not regret later on that I have 00:12:42.241 --> 00:12:46.733 wasted my life running after fame, power, 00:12:46.733 --> 00:12:51.149 wealth, sensual pleasure. Because I feel 00:12:51.149 --> 00:12:56.582 joy, happiness every moment of my daily life. 00:12:56.582 --> 00:13:00.704 That is thanks to the power of mindfulness, 00:13:00.704 --> 00:13:05.507 the power of concentration and insight. 00:13:07.058 --> 00:13:10.780 So the first energy is mindfulness. 00:13:12.341 --> 00:13:16.793 It's written in Chinese like this. 00:13:19.330 --> 00:13:21.382 The upper part of the word, the character 00:13:22.789 --> 00:13:29.280 it means now. Now, the present moment. 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:36.070 And the later, the lower part is "tâm" 00:13:36.767 --> 00:13:42.261 and it means mind. When you bring your mind home 00:13:42.261 --> 00:13:46.330 to the present moment, you are mindful. 00:13:46.330 --> 00:13:52.242 So mindfulness is to bring your mind back 00:13:52.242 --> 00:13:56.129 to the present moment. When you begin to 00:13:56.129 --> 00:14:05.080 breathe in mindfully, you bring your mind 00:14:05.080 --> 00:14:10.832 home to your body. NOTE Paragraph 00:14:11.952 --> 00:14:17.222 The opposite of mindfulness is dispersion, 00:14:17.606 --> 00:14:25.077 forgetfulness. 'Thất niệm." 00:14:26.070 --> 00:14:29.919 And there are those of us who drink our tea 00:14:29.919 --> 00:14:32.536 and do not know that we are drinking our tea. 00:14:33.592 --> 00:14:37.276 There are those of us who walk but do not know that they are walking. 00:14:38.152 --> 00:14:40.175 Those of us who have a body, 00:14:40.485 --> 00:14:41.896 all of us have a body, 00:14:41.896 --> 00:14:46.360 but we forget that we have a body. 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:50.346 When you spend two hours with your computer 00:14:50.346 --> 00:14:53.896 you might forget completely that you have a body. 00:14:53.896 --> 00:14:57.899 Your mind is caught in the computer, 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:01.659 and you leave your body alone. 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:06.286 In that moment body and mind are not together. 00:15:06.286 --> 00:15:10.798 And if body and mind are not together you are truly not alive. 00:15:10.798 --> 00:15:18.323 You are truly alive only when your mind is with your body. 00:15:21.202 --> 00:15:24.917 Usually in our daily life our body is there 00:15:24.917 --> 00:15:27.604 but our mind is elsewhere. 00:15:28.171 --> 00:15:33.444 Our mind is caught in the suffering concerning the past, 00:15:33.513 --> 00:15:39.394 or the worries concerning the future, in our projects. 00:15:40.568 --> 00:15:45.409 And therefore, body one place and mind in another place. 00:15:45.409 --> 00:15:49.707 In that case there is no mindfulness. 00:15:49.735 --> 00:15:51.525 And you are not truly alive. 00:15:51.525 --> 00:15:54.856 You are not truly there in the here and the now. 00:15:55.396 --> 00:15:58.278 So if you know the practice of mindful breathing 00:15:58.278 --> 00:16:00.964 you begin to breathe in mindfully. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:00.964 --> 00:16:05.000 Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. 00:16:05.307 --> 00:16:10.095 And it may take two or three seconds for 00:16:10.095 --> 00:16:13.223 you to breathe in mindfully. And by 00:16:13.223 --> 00:16:15.944 breathing in mindfully you bring your mind 00:16:15.944 --> 00:16:19.529 home to your body. And when mind and body 00:16:19.529 --> 00:16:21.374 are together, you are established in the 00:16:21.374 --> 00:16:24.801 here and the now. You are fully alive. 00:16:24.801 --> 00:16:29.896 You are fully present, and that makes true life possible. 00:16:35.795 --> 00:16:39.970 And sitting, walking, eating, washing, 00:16:40.434 --> 00:16:45.592 live deeply every moment of your daily life, 00:16:45.959 --> 00:16:50.199 and you do not waste your life. 00:16:53.156 --> 00:16:55.528 So mindfulness is the energy that helps 00:16:55.528 --> 00:16:59.787 us to bring our mind home to our body 00:16:59.787 --> 00:17:04.615 so that we can be established well in the here and the now 00:17:04.615 --> 00:17:10.032 and get in touch with the wonders of life 00:17:10.032 --> 00:17:13.609 that help us to heal and to nourish, 00:17:13.860 --> 00:17:20.882 to be nourished. "Chánh niệm." 00:17:25.815 --> 00:17:28.526 Smrti. 00:17:33.988 --> 00:17:41.814 And when you are mindful you are concentrated. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:42.427 --> 00:17:49.682 "Định" means concentration. Samadhi. 00:17:52.669 --> 00:17:57.272 They are not two separate energies. 00:17:57.534 --> 00:18:03.501 If you are mindful, there is some concentration already in here. 00:18:07.769 --> 00:18:18.024 So we can say that concentration is already there in mindfulness. 00:18:18.629 --> 00:18:27.613 And when concentration and mindfulness are powerful enough 00:18:27.613 --> 00:18:31.377 then you can see manifested insight. 00:18:31.544 --> 00:18:34.609 "Tuệ." 00:18:38.275 --> 00:18:43.133 Prajna. 00:18:48.609 --> 00:18:57.486 So in mindfulness you have concentration and insight. 00:18:57.486 --> 00:19:00.599 In concentration you have mindfulness and insight. 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:03.493 If you look into one you can recognize the 00:19:03.493 --> 00:19:08.816 two other energies. And Buddhist practitioners they know 00:19:08.816 --> 00:19:12.857 how to generate these three kinds of energies 00:19:12.857 --> 00:19:16.949 so that they can be alive. They can be fully alive, 00:19:16.979 --> 00:19:21.294 fully present in order to live their life deeply. 00:19:26.154 --> 00:19:28.705 And if you practice 00:19:29.424 --> 00:19:31.679 for a week 00:19:32.609 --> 00:19:34.999 the practice of mindful breathing, 00:19:36.329 --> 00:19:37.784 mindful walking, 00:19:37.784 --> 00:19:39.794 mindful eating, 00:19:41.254 --> 00:19:45.226 and then you can notice that the amount of 00:19:45.793 --> 00:19:50.616 mindfulness, concentration, and insight in you 00:19:50.616 --> 00:19:58.016 have grown much more stronger. 00:19:58.245 --> 00:20:00.683 And it is these three kinds of energies 00:20:00.683 --> 00:20:03.185 that can help us suffer less and help us 00:20:03.185 --> 00:20:08.465 generate more joy and happiness. 00:20:08.465 --> 00:20:15.888 With these three kinds of energies 00:20:15.888 --> 00:20:19.077 we can do many things. 00:20:19.536 --> 00:20:23.057 With mindfulness, concentration and insight 00:20:23.057 --> 00:20:29.702 we can generate a feeling of joy 00:20:34.401 --> 00:20:40.848 and generate a feeling of happiness 00:20:42.911 --> 00:20:45.773 "Hỷ" 00:20:47.096 --> 00:20:50.078 and "Lạc" NOTE Paragraph 00:20:53.752 --> 00:21:00.168 So the practitioner of Buddhist meditation 00:21:00.168 --> 00:21:06.126 is capable of generating a feeling of joy 00:21:08.488 --> 00:21:14.304 or a feeling of happiness whenever she wants to. 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:23.328 And with the energy of mindfulness, concentration and insight, 00:21:27.965 --> 00:21:30.581 a practitioner of Buddhist meditation 00:21:30.581 --> 00:21:35.273 should be able to bring in a feeling of joy 00:21:35.273 --> 00:21:39.634 a feeling of happiness whenever we want. 00:21:39.634 --> 00:21:45.327 And that is done with the energy of mindfulness 00:21:45.327 --> 00:21:48.030 concentration and insight that we generate 00:21:48.030 --> 00:21:53.337 with the breathing, with the walking, and so on. 00:21:53.337 --> 00:21:58.929 And the principle, the mechanism is very simple. 00:21:58.929 --> 00:22:04.085 How to create a feeling of joy for ourselves, 00:22:05.732 --> 00:22:09.760 and to be nourished by that feeling of joy. 00:22:10.139 --> 00:22:13.229 Mindfulness. 00:22:14.207 --> 00:22:16.192 Mindfulness is born from, 00:22:16.657 --> 00:22:21.358 ah, joy is born from mindfulness. 00:22:22.216 --> 00:22:29.605 This is a sentence well known in the Buddhist literature. 00:22:33.059 --> 00:22:40.929 "Niệm sinh hỷ" 00:22:45.788 --> 00:22:53.184 Joy born from mindfulness. 00:22:58.405 --> 00:23:05.732 And joy born from mindfulness, and joy 00:23:06.169 --> 00:23:12.219 can be born also from concentration, "định" 00:23:12.219 --> 00:23:19.350 and from insight, "tuệ" 00:23:26.292 --> 00:23:33.004 The mechanism is simple. When you breathe in mindfully, 00:23:36.614 --> 00:23:39.371 breathing in I know I am breathing in. 00:23:39.573 --> 00:23:44.030 I focus my attention on my in-breath. 00:23:44.030 --> 00:23:47.989 I stop the thinking. I just become aware 00:23:47.989 --> 00:23:50.873 of my in-breath. My in-breath is the only 00:23:50.873 --> 00:23:56.229 object of my mind. I focus all my attention 00:23:56.229 --> 00:24:00.761 on my in-breath. I am concentrated. 00:24:00.761 --> 00:24:06.080 I allow mindfulness and concentration to be present. 00:24:06.080 --> 00:24:10.599 And suddenly I discover I'm alive. 00:24:10.599 --> 00:24:15.148 That is insight. It's very clear. 00:24:15.148 --> 00:24:20.451 When you breathe in mindfully you know that you are alive 00:24:20.451 --> 00:24:27.243 because someone who is already dead does not breathe in anymore. 00:24:27.243 --> 00:24:30.371 So just breathing in mindfully you get the 00:24:30.371 --> 00:24:34.170 insight that you are alive. And you know something? 00:24:34.170 --> 00:24:39.571 To be alive is the most wonderful thing. 00:24:40.258 --> 00:24:43.699 To be alive. To be still alive is the most 00:24:43.699 --> 00:24:49.688 wonderful thing. That is the miracle. 00:24:49.688 --> 00:24:53.069 So breathing in I know I am alive. 00:24:53.069 --> 00:25:00.082 That is insight born from mindfulness of breathing. 00:25:00.082 --> 00:25:05.986 I feel I am alive. I have a body and I can 00:25:05.986 --> 00:25:08.989 get in touch with the many wonders of life 00:25:08.989 --> 00:25:15.870 like the sunshine, the rain, the vegetation, 00:25:15.870 --> 00:25:23.524 the flowers, the river, the people. 00:25:23.524 --> 00:25:25.135 So that kind of awareness, that kind of insight 00:25:25.135 --> 00:25:32.304 can help you to generate a feeling of joy right away. 00:25:32.304 --> 00:25:37.941 Joy is born from mindfulness, concentration and insight. 00:25:37.941 --> 00:25:42.571 When you come home to the here and the now 00:25:42.571 --> 00:25:44.176 you recognize the fact that there are 00:25:44.176 --> 00:25:46.148 so many conditions of happiness that are 00:25:46.148 --> 00:25:50.757 already available. More than enough for 00:25:50.757 --> 00:25:56.413 you to be joyful and happy. NOTE Paragraph 00:25:56.413 --> 00:26:01.550 If you take a piece, a sheet of paper, and 00:26:01.550 --> 00:26:08.528 try to write down the conditions of happiness that you already have. 00:26:10.708 --> 00:26:13.441 That is an exercise. 00:26:14.766 --> 00:26:17.639 Sitting at the foot of the plum tree 00:26:17.639 --> 00:26:23.755 you write down all the conditions of happiness that you already have. 00:26:23.755 --> 00:26:26.718 I don't think that one page is enough. 00:26:26.718 --> 00:26:29.956 I don't think that two pages are enough. 00:26:29.956 --> 00:26:32.645 Three pages are not enough either. 00:26:32.865 --> 00:26:34.278 You have more conditions to be happy, 00:26:34.278 --> 00:26:38.639 more than enough conditions in order to be 00:26:38.639 --> 00:26:41.242 joyful and happy. And mindfulness helps 00:26:41.242 --> 00:26:44.620 you to recognize these conditions. 00:26:44.620 --> 00:26:50.025 And happiness can be born right away, joy also. 00:26:50.302 --> 00:26:53.688 And that is the mechanism of joy and happiness. 00:26:53.688 --> 00:26:55.503 Mindfulness, awareness of the conditions 00:26:55.503 --> 00:27:01.021 of happiness that are already available. 00:27:01.021 --> 00:27:05.150 It's very clear. Suppose you say you practice, 00:27:05.150 --> 00:27:09.206 breathing in I am aware of my eyes. 00:27:10.348 --> 00:27:16.393 So the object of your mind, your mindfulness is your eyes. 00:27:17.874 --> 00:27:22.097 Breathing in, you focus your attention on your eyes 00:27:22.097 --> 00:27:28.811 and you discover that your eyes are still in good condition. 00:27:28.811 --> 00:27:31.284 There are those of us who have lost our eyesight 00:27:31.284 --> 00:27:35.531 and they cannot see anything anymore. 00:27:35.531 --> 00:27:40.363 And you are, you still have eyes in good condition. 00:27:40.363 --> 00:27:45.152 That is a big condition of happiness. 00:27:45.152 --> 00:27:49.594 Because you have eyes still in good condition 00:27:50.284 --> 00:27:53.903 you need only to open your eyes and then 00:27:53.903 --> 00:28:00.605 a paradise of forms and colors become available. NOTE Paragraph 00:28:00.605 --> 00:28:07.896 Nature is so beautiful. The stars, the galaxies are so beautiful. 00:28:07.896 --> 00:28:12.842 Imagine you are an oyster living in the depth of the ocean. 00:28:13.443 --> 00:28:19.383 You never have a chance to see the stars in the sky 00:28:19.383 --> 00:28:22.612 and the beautiful waves on the surface of the ocean. 00:28:22.612 --> 00:28:27.595 Because you have eyes still in good condition, 00:28:27.595 --> 00:28:29.941 you only need to open them and then 00:28:31.871 --> 00:28:37.795 the beautiful cosmos is available to you. 00:28:38.542 --> 00:28:41.625 There is a paradise of forms and colors 00:28:41.625 --> 00:28:45.447 available in the here and the now. 00:28:45.447 --> 00:28:47.766 And you can get in touch because you have 00:28:47.766 --> 00:28:52.593 eyes still in good condition. 00:28:52.593 --> 00:28:56.583 And your eyes is only one of these conditions of happiness. 00:28:56.583 --> 00:28:59.702 You will discover 00:29:00.792 --> 00:29:02.552 thousands and thousands 00:29:02.702 --> 00:29:07.660 of conditions like that, in your body and around you. 00:29:09.612 --> 00:29:13.815 The French have a song about this. 00:29:13.815 --> 00:29:15.925 Qu'es qu'on attend pour etre heureux. 00:29:16.426 --> 00:29:18.397 Why do you have to wait in order to be happy? 00:29:18.397 --> 00:29:21.008 You can be happy right now. 00:29:21.008 --> 00:29:24.279 Qu'es qu'on attend pour faire la fete. 00:29:24.279 --> 00:29:27.378 There is a lot of wisdom in that song. 00:29:27.378 --> 00:29:30.002 We can celebrate life. 00:29:30.010 --> 00:29:33.544 We can make happiness possible right now because 00:29:35.144 --> 00:29:36.603 the conditions of happiness 00:29:36.603 --> 00:29:40.299 are more than enough for you to enjoy. NOTE Paragraph 00:29:40.617 --> 00:29:42.772 You do not have to run into the future 00:29:42.772 --> 00:29:49.035 and look for some more conditions of happiness. 00:29:49.035 --> 00:29:53.652 So that is the mechanism of the practice of joy and happiness. 00:29:53.652 --> 00:29:55.698 Going home to the here and the now. 00:29:55.698 --> 00:30:01.121 Recognize the presence of the wonders of life available. 00:30:01.121 --> 00:30:05.464 Recognize the fact that the Kingdome of God 00:30:07.772 --> 00:30:10.117 is available in the here and the now. 00:30:13.393 --> 00:30:17.979 And suddenly joy and happiness are born. 00:30:18.335 --> 00:30:22.420 That is the art of happiness. You can create 00:30:22.420 --> 00:30:24.716 joy and happiness using the energy of 00:30:24.716 --> 00:30:30.324 mindfulness, concentration and insight. 00:30:30.324 --> 00:30:35.091 You can do it. It takes some training. 00:30:35.091 --> 00:30:38.006 And that you can learn the habit of being happy, 00:30:40.226 --> 00:30:41.732 of being joyful. 00:30:44.737 --> 00:30:46.363 You are so lucky. 00:30:46.653 --> 00:30:50.973 You are so wealthy and you think that you are poor. 00:30:53.057 --> 00:30:58.798 You have to go and beg for some happiness 00:30:58.798 --> 00:31:02.249 elsewhere in the future. 00:31:02.628 --> 00:31:08.134 Buit in fact, you are very wealthy. 00:31:09.860 --> 00:31:13.481 You are a treasure of happiness available in the here and the now. NOTE Paragraph 00:31:13.568 --> 00:31:15.759 Even the Kingdom of God is available to you 00:31:16.018 --> 00:31:18.426 in the here and the now. 00:31:18.926 --> 00:31:21.718 For those of us who practice mindfulness, 00:31:21.718 --> 00:31:24.155 the Kingdom is available, 00:31:27.612 --> 00:31:32.472 And if you do not enjoy the Kingdom of 00:31:32.472 --> 00:31:34.144 God in the here and the now, 00:31:34.144 --> 00:31:38.414 because you have not made yourself available to the Kingdom. 00:31:40.090 --> 00:31:43.101 And to make yourself available to the Kingdom, 00:31:43.101 --> 00:31:45.549 it's not so difficult. Just breathe in 00:31:45.549 --> 00:31:49.737 mindfully and bring your mind home to your body 00:31:50.864 --> 00:31:54.206 and you can recognize the Kingdom of God in every pebble, 00:31:54.206 --> 00:31:58.858 in every flower, in every child. 00:31:58.858 --> 00:32:00.946 With mindfulness, concentration and insight, 00:32:00.946 --> 00:32:08.049 you can touch the Kingdom of God in every moment. 00:32:08.248 --> 00:32:11.774 And that is the art of happiness using 00:32:11.774 --> 00:32:16.248 mindfulness, concentration and insight. 00:32:16.248 --> 00:32:22.793 The other side of the practice is with 00:32:22.793 --> 00:32:27.443 mindfulness, concentration and insight you can handle suffering. 00:32:28.063 --> 00:32:31.685 There is anger, fear, despair in you, 00:32:31.968 --> 00:32:34.037 and if you know how to make good use 00:32:34.037 --> 00:32:36.417 of mindfulness, concentration and insight 00:32:38.481 --> 00:32:43.404 you can recognize the pain, the suffering. 00:32:43.404 --> 00:32:49.057 You can embrace it tenderly. 00:32:50.507 --> 00:32:53.437 You can allow compassion to be born. 00:32:53.437 --> 00:32:55.602 And then you suffer less. 00:32:56.161 --> 00:32:59.173 Right away. NOTE Paragraph 00:33:03.097 --> 00:33:05.970 There is a way to suffer. 00:33:06.760 --> 00:33:09.989 The Buddha knows how to suffer. 00:33:09.989 --> 00:33:14.064 That is why he suffers very little. 00:33:16.794 --> 00:33:19.780 And we can learn his art of suffering. 00:33:20.106 --> 00:33:25.106 If you know how to suffer, you suffer much less. 00:33:25.443 --> 00:33:29.742 How? With the energy of mindfulness, 00:33:29.742 --> 00:33:35.790 concentration and insight, you suffer much less than other people. 00:33:36.066 --> 00:33:39.202 Learn the art of going home to yourself. 00:33:39.202 --> 00:33:42.083 Recognize the suffering. Embrace it tenderly 00:33:42.083 --> 00:33:44.730 with mindfulness and concentration and insight 00:33:44.730 --> 00:33:47.540 and you suffer much less. 00:33:47.540 --> 00:33:49.755 Especially when you know how to make good use 00:33:49.755 --> 00:33:58.118 of the collective energy of compassion generated by the sangha. 00:34:01.207 --> 00:34:04.445 With mindfulness, concentration and insight 00:34:04.605 --> 00:34:07.338 you suffer less. Much less. 00:34:07.851 --> 00:34:10.792 And you can even go further. 00:34:13.007 --> 00:34:16.156 You can make good use of suffering 00:34:16.346 --> 00:34:20.128 because suffering is useful. 00:34:20.329 --> 00:34:26.047 It's like when you grow lotus flowers you need the mud. 00:34:28.434 --> 00:34:32.134 Without the mud you cannot grow lotus flowers. NOTE Paragraph 00:34:34.690 --> 00:34:38.140 If you know how to handle suffering. 00:34:38.492 --> 00:34:46.017 If you can handle fear, anger, despair. 00:34:46.017 --> 00:34:49.123 If you know how to make good use of the suffering 00:34:49.123 --> 00:34:57.587 then you can produce many beautiful lotus of happiness. 00:34:57.587 --> 00:35:01.315 So a good practitioner is someone who knows 00:35:01.315 --> 00:35:04.159 how to make good use of suffering in order 00:35:04.159 --> 00:35:10.596 to create understanding, compassion, and happiness. 00:35:10.596 --> 00:35:14.686 And that is why we can speak of the goodness of suffering. 00:35:14.686 --> 00:35:18.566 The usefulness of suffering. 00:35:18.566 --> 00:35:26.271 It's like the mud. You should not be afraid of the mud. 00:35:26.271 --> 00:35:28.107 You know how to make good use of the mud 00:35:28.107 --> 00:35:32.808 in order to produce beautiful lotuses. 00:35:32.808 --> 00:35:35.992 So the practictioner does the same. 00:35:35.992 --> 00:35:37.777 The good practitioner does the same. 00:35:37.777 --> 00:35:40.425 He knows how to make good use of suffering 00:35:40.425 --> 00:35:43.768 and create understanding, compassion, 00:35:43.768 --> 00:35:50.921 transformation, healing, happiness. 00:35:50.921 --> 00:35:55.432 So on the one hand there is the art of happiness. 00:35:55.432 --> 00:35:57.330 How to be happy. 00:35:57.330 --> 00:36:00.878 On the other hand there is the art of suffering. 00:36:00.878 --> 00:36:05.702 And we learn that if we know how to suffer we suffer much less. 00:36:05.702 --> 00:36:07.294 And you can make good use of suffering 00:36:07.294 --> 00:36:16.069 in order to create compassion, understanding, and happiness. 00:36:16.069 --> 00:36:19.530 And practicing with brothers and sisters in the community 00:36:19.530 --> 00:36:25.457 you learn from their experience how to do these things. NOTE Paragraph 00:36:25.457 --> 00:36:32.331 On one hand, you learn how to produce 00:36:32.331 --> 00:36:36.179 a feeling of joy and happiness to nourish 00:36:36.179 --> 00:36:39.499 yourself and help nourish the other person. 00:36:39.499 --> 00:36:42.748 On the other hand, you learn how to suffer 00:36:42.748 --> 00:36:44.848 so that you suffer less, and you can 00:36:44.848 --> 00:36:49.632 create happiness out of your suffering. 00:36:49.632 --> 00:36:55.412 We continue tomorrow in French.