Daffodil Festival Dharma Talk — Sun 10 Mar 2013

This is the talk of Thay given on the Daffodil Festival Day of Mindfulness in the Dharma Cloud Temple of Plum Village, France.

Good morning, Dear Sangha. Today we speak English.

Today is March the 10th, 2013,

and we are in the Still-water Meditation Hall,
Upper Hamlet, Plum Village.

How many will listen to Thay directly in English?

The majority.

There will be about 600 people
coming for the French Retreat in a few days.

And Sr. Hai Nghiem has proposed

some subjects, themes, of teaching and practice.

First is

"Le bonheur est possible", "Happiness is Possible".

The second is "La guèrison c'est possible",
"Healing is Possible".

Because many people need healing.

Most of the people who come here need healing.

And then, "Vivre en profondeur",
"How to Live More Deeply our Life".

Then another idea is
"Revenir à la maison", "Coming Home".

Do not wander anymore. Go home.

That is also an important issue.

Practice.

And then,

"La rivière de la sangha", "Go as a River".

Not as a drop of water.

This is very important for the practice.

We cannot practice unless we have a Sangha.

And with a Sangha we have to go as a river.

So not only the people
who come for the retreat need that,

but we also, who stay permanently in Plum Village,

we also need this practice.

And the friends who are going to come,
who are coming,

they will also participate in arranging the retreat.

They will help with the cooking,
the washing, the cleaning, and everything.

So, many people love to

share the work of the Sangha during the retreat.

So, we should be able to show them
how to cook, to clean, to wash, peacefully, happily,

because that is a part of the practice, of the learning.

And we should set an example,

because we are
permanent residents in a practice center.

Thay will give three Dharma talks in French.

And maybe one of them will be Questions & Answers.

So there will be three times
when we gather altogether in one hamlet.

And, on the other days, we stay in our own hamlets

with our separate Dharma talks
and discussions and so on.

And after the French Retreat,

Thay and a number of monastics
will have to fly to Asia.

We have a tight schedule
in South Korea, in Hong Kong.

And in Thailand.

Because people over there
they want to make the most of the visit.

We know that the practice of Plum Village

can be seen in two points.

The first point is how to recognize the suffering,

and embrace it

and transform it. And that is an art.

Because life involves suffering, and happiness.

We cannot avoid suffering.

So we have to accept suffering.
We have to learn how to suffer.

If we know how to suffer, we will suffer less, much less.

And we will learn a lot from our suffering.

And we know how to make use,
make good use of the suffering

in order to create happiness.

Like the way we grow lotus flowers.

In order to grow lotus flowers we need mud.

So suffering is a kind of mud that we need

in order to generate the feeling of joy and happiness.

So the first point, the first aspect of the practice is
how to recognize suffering

and to embrace it,

and to transform it.

And we speak of the art of suffering.

It seems that his Holiness the Dalai Lama

has written a book with the title,
"The Art of Happiness".

We need a book, "The Art of Suffering".
We need, we have to learn how to suffer

because we know that
if we know how to suffer, we suffer much less.

And we can learn from that suffering.
And make good use of our suffering.

As true practitioners, we know that,

and we have our own experiences as how to suffer.

We have to learn how to suffer. That is an art.

We have to be able to smile to our suffering

with peace,

like we smile to the mud

when we know that
we have to make good use of the mud to

grow lotus flowers.

There are big blocks of suffering,

"la souffrance masse".

But there are what we call "les petites misères"

the little sufferings.

How to handle the little sufferings.

And if we know how to handle the little sufferings
we don't have to suffer.

They are daily things,

"les petites misères de la vie quotidienne".

And we know how to handle
these little moments of suffering.

And we should be able
to share our practice with the people who come

to us.

So we are not afraid of these little miseries, little sufferings, because we know how to handle them.

They are part of our daily life.

And then when suffering has become a block,

we should know how to recognize it, how to embrace it.

And especially how to make good use
of the collective energy of the Sangha

in order to embrace it.

As a new practitioner,

as a new person in the practice

we may not be able to embrace our suffering,

because our mindfulness is not yet

vigorous enough, powerful enough.

So with the Sangha we can borrow
the collective energy of mindfulness

of the Sangha

in order to recognize and embrace
the block of suffering in us.

That suffering
may have been transmitted to us by our father

our mother, our ancestors.

And, if we know how to recognize,
embrace and transform it,

we do it for our father, our mother, our ancestors.

It's very kind of us to be able to do that
for our parents, for our ancestors,

and not to transmit it to our children, and their children.

The end of samsara.

Many people who have read
about the practice of Plum Village

and hear about the peace,
the energy of brotherhood, sisterhood,

and when they come to Plum Village
and at least sit with us and walk with us

they feel that that energy, the collective energy,
is something very real

and not just something people talk about.

When you allow yourself to be embraced

by that collective energy of mindfulness and peace,

you feel much better.

You feel that your suffering
is beginning to transform.

So, taking refuge in the Sangha
is a very crucial practice.

Monks, nuns, lay practitioners, sitting together

they come in peace,
and their energy of mindfulness can be powerful.

If we know how to sit among them,

how to allow the collective energy of mindfulness
to embrace our suffering

then we are like a drop of water flowing in a river,
and we feel much better.

We may not have to do anything,

we just allow ourselves to be embraced.

Allowed our suffering to be embraced
by the collective energy of the Sangha.

And that is the greatest gift that the Sangha can make
to the people who come.

Of course, we have to prepare many things

for a retreat.

We can do many things.

We can clean, we can wash,

we can cook, we can do many things for the retreat.

We can serve the people.

We can help them.

But the best thing we can give them,

the most precious thing we can give them,

is not our labor,

our hard work.

The best thing we can provide them

is our collective energy of mindfulness and peace.

That is why during sitting meditation,
walking meditation,

we should try our best to be present.

Because that collective energy
will help calm them down,

help embrace their suffering

so that they can walk, they can sit,
they can breathe also.

Because many of them just cannot breathe,

just cannot walk, just cannot sit.

And with that collective energy
of mindfulness and peace

that we have as a Sangha,

we can give them a chance

so that they can breathe,

they can walk and they can sit.

This is the best thing we can offer them as a Sangha.

So it is not hard labor

that is the best thing we can provide,

but that energy of peace and joy and brotherhood.

The people who are coming they are lucky,

because they are capable of arranging so
that they have a week

to spend with us.

Many other people they like it, they want it,

but they cannot arrange,

they do not have time, they do not have money.

So those who can come this time,

they are lucky enough

to have seven days to be with the Sangha.

We should be aware of that.

We should try our best in order to

give them a chance for transformation and healing.

Thay is going to tell them

in the first retreat (day),

that healing is possible

right in the retreat.

Not after the retreat but right during the retreat.

Because if they follow the instructions

to breathe, to sit and to walk,

and healing is possible with every step,

healing is possible with every breath.

And this is the truth.

There is no way to healing, healing is the way.

We should tell them
that in order to heal, they have to stop.

Il faut relâcher pour pouvoir guérir.

If they don't stop, there is no hope to heal.

They have not healed because they have not stopped.

So the five mindfulness trainings
is a very important teaching.

The five mindfulness trainings is to stop

the kind of action, the kind of thinking, that can create

ill-being,

sickness.

The five mindfulness trainings
are also the kind of thinking and acting

that have the power to heal.

So without the five mindfulness trainings
healing is not possible.

Stopping is very important.

Stop and heal.

That is also the theme that we offer,
the teaching, in South Korea.

If we know how to stop,
healing can take place right away.

With every step.

Every breath, and so on.

So we should be able to convince them

to stop.

To stop whatever they are doing

that can lead

to suffering,

to anger, to despair.

They will know what to stop

in order to heal.

We will tell them

how have we been able to stop

and to start healing.

We have to share our experience with us.

The moment when you decide to stop
you feel very light.

You feel the healing taking place right away.

That is a great moment.

The determination to stop.

And then, we will tell them

that it is possible
to create moments of happiness in our daily life.

There are

small

happinesses

that we can create at any moment of our daily life.

That is an art, also.

The art

of happiness.

Whether you drink a cup of tea,

or take a walk, or just sit down and look,

you can create happiness during that time.

A little bit, the ingredients that you need
in order to create a moment of happiness

can be recognized.

We know that mindfulness
is a source of joy, a source of happiness.

People complain that

they do not have happiness.

We should be able to tell them

that they have conditions to be happy.

And help them to recognize
this conditions of happiness that they do have.

The cherry blossoms are there,

but they are not capable of

contemplating, enjoying the cherry blossoms.

The sunshine is there,

spring is coming, all this things

are wonders of life.

And yet, they are caught in something.

They are not capable of

recognizing this

conditions of happiness.

They have a body.

And yet they do not have access to their body.

It's funny. You have a body,
but you don't have access to your body.

You cannot go home to your body.

You cannot touch your body and say:

this is my body.

Because they don't have mindfulness.

When they spend three hours with their computer,

they completely forget that they have a body.

They stay in a

world of

unreal world.

And that is why in Plum Village

our brothers and sisters

like to program a bell of mindfulness in the computer,

so that from time to time we are reminded

to stop and go back to our body

and breathe in

using the mindfulness of breathing in order to

recognize our body and get in touch with it.

Maybe our body is calling us

but we don't hear.

Our body need us, but we don't hear.

If we can get in touch with our body

we can get in touch with our feelings also.

There are many feelings calling us.

Suffering is like a child calling us,
a suffering child is calling us.

But we ignore the voice of the child within.

Because every feeling is a child.

So mindfulness help us to get in touch

not only only with the suffering,
in order for us to embrace and transform,

mindfulness also help us to

to touch the wonders of life, including our body.

Breathing in can be

can be a delight.

Breathing out can be a delight.

You enjoy your breathing.

Just visualize a monk sitting on the grass.

He does not do anything.
He just breath in and enjoy his in-breath. He is free.

He is free from worries,

from anger,

from craving.

He is capable of getting in touch with his body

and the blue sky,

the green color, with the spring coming.

So we should be able to do that
in order to remind the people who are coming

that they can also create moments of happiness.

Les petits bonheurs de chaque jour.

Learn how to enjoy.

Learn how to savor the little happinesses

in our daily life.

And that is possible.

There are many talented people.

They can get a diploma.

They can get invent a new machine.

They can do many things.

We will ask them:

Can you create a moment of happiness?

Can you make use of your body,

can you make use of your in-breath,

can you make use of your mindfulness

in order to create a moment of happiness?

A feeling of happiness?

The way we

make a soup.

In order to make a soup we need some water,
some vegetables, some tofu and so on.

Most of us are able to make a good soup.

Un petit bonheur, a little happiness
is like that, is like a soup.

And with some ingredients
we are capable of making

a moment of happiness for us and for the other person.

You can offer some of your soup to the other person.

If you know how to invent,
to create a moment of happiness

you can enjoy that happiness
and you can offer that to the other person.

So that is an art.

The art of happiness.

You have to learn to enjoy.

And to fabricate

this feelings of joy and happiness in our daily life.

Il faut apprendre à savourer les petits bonheurs.

To learn how to savor

the little happinesses in our daily life.

And to create them.

And we know

how to stop

the Non Stop Thinking radio, NST,

in order to do so.

If you allow the radio inside to continue,

then you cannot do anything.

Because there is always that mental discourse
going on day and night in your head.

You think of the past, you invoke the past,

you are afraid of the future,

and the thinking goes on.

And it takes away all space in you.

You have no time to live your life.

It is very important

to stop the radio inside,

the non stop NST, Non Stop Thinking.

Because that is the practice of

rumination.

We eat and we chew again and again

our suffering,

our worries, and that is not good for your health.

So we should be able to help them

not to continue to eat their own consciousness.

That is about

the fourth nutriment.

Consciousness as food.

In our consciousness there are suffering,

regret, sorrow.

We have the habit of bringing them up again

from the depth of our consciousness
and chew and eat them again and again and again.

That is not healthy,

a healthy kind of food.

So stopping

the mental discourse is very important in the practice.

It's funny that

in Plum Village not only we don't drink alcohol,

eat meat, but we advice not to talk and not to think.

Because while walking if we talk or think,

we allow that radio to continue

and you are victim,

you are victim of the past, of the future, of worries.

We are not living our life.

In order to be able to live our life
we have to stop the radio inside.

Le discours intérieur.

And then, how can you enjoy your steps

if you allow the radio to continue?

That is why it is very important to stop the radio inside.

To feel,

rather than to think.

When we touch the ground with our foot

we should be able to feel.

And the feeling can bring insight.

We are concentrated on that feeling.

I am touching mother Earth

with my left foot.

And in no time at all
you touch all the wonders of life

that are available

during the time you touch the ground with your left foot.

And you have the feeling,

a wonderful feeling of joy,

of well-being.

And by doing so, you can stop the thinking.

Stop the thinking in order to do that,
to do that in order to stop the thinking.

So to feel rather than to think is our practice.

To feel your body.

To be aware of each feeling.

To embrace them.

That is our practice.

And the healing is possible.

And we provide ourselves with a kind of healthy food.

We do not chew again and again
our sorrow, our fear, our anger,

which is not good for our health.

But we begin to get
the kind of healthy, sane food that we deserve.

And the Sangha around us

is there to remind us of our practice.

So we learn

how to walk joyfully and happily.

Walking meditation is not a hard labor.

Is not a duty that we have to perform.

That is an opportunity

to create moments of happiness.

That is a good opportunity
to create moments of happiness

and to heal.

Walking meditation.

Whether you walk with a Sangha or you walk alone.

Walking with a Sangha you inherit,

you profit from the collective energy of the Sangha.

And walking alone

you radiate the energy of peace and mindfulness

and you remind people

to walk like you.

Any moment of practice

can heal and help heal other people.

Not only you yourself, but to help heal other people.

It's very pleasant to see a brother or a sister
walking mindfully and happily

on a campus.

That is very nourishing and healing.

So whether you walk with a Sangha or you walk alone

your steps are very important for us.

And the people who come to us,
when they see us walking like that

they have faith in the practice, in the Dharma.

When we have lunch, when we eat,

there must be a way of eating

in order for every moment of the meal
can be healing, can be nourishing.

We do not only get the nutriment from the food,

but from the Sangha.

Because together, sitting together and eating

we generate energy of mindfulness,
collective energy of mindfulness and brotherhood.

And that is very healthy, that is very healing.

So eating like that you stop the thinking.

And you became aware of
the members of the Sangha around you.

Everyone is generating
the energy of peace, brotherhood.

That is healing, that is good food.

So eating together is a practice.

Is not hard labor, is not a duty to perform.

Also,

sitting meditation.

Sitting meditation is

an opportunity to heal,

to create moments of joy also.

And not a moment when you have to be there

waiting for the bell to sound
announcing the end of the sitting.

No. That would be a waste.

C'est du gaspillage.

It is very

very rare, very precious moments.

People in the world, they don't have
the time to sit and do nothing like that.

They consider it to be uneconomic.

A luxury.

Time is money.

But we know that sitting

can be very healing.

So we have to learn how to enjoy
every moment of our sitting.

How to breath, how to sit,
so that every moment of sitting

can be nourishing and healing.

And if we know that

that schedule is made by ourselves

and not imposed on us by a political party,

or by the King.

It is the Sangha who has created the schedule

so that we can make good use of the schedule

for our transformation and healing.

The schedule is not imposed on us
by anyone, including Thay.

The schedule has been designed by the whole Sangha

so that everyone has equal chance

to transform and to heal.

So we should not complain

that the schedule is too tight.

Only beginners need a tight schedule.

That is the raison-d'être

of a practitioner, to have a schedule.

And we know that doing with a Sangha,

doing together with a Sangha,

is better, is easier, is more pleasant.

So the bell and the Sangha coming to the sitting

is helping us.

Is a great help that everyone is going to the sitting

so we are going to the sitting.
That is something very natural.

We don't have to make any effort.

It is said in many sutras

that the Dharma

is lovely, is pleasant,

in the beginning, in the middle, at the end.

So every minute of the practice
should be pleasant, should be healing

and transforming.