2014-10-27 Francophone Educators' Retreat

Sister Dao Nghiem,
are you comfortable?

- Very comfortable, Thây.

And you, sister Jina?
- Me too, Thây.

Can we start?

Very good.

Welcome dear friends,

welcome dear colleagues

welcome to this Francophone retreat
for teachers and educators.

Me too, I am a teacher.

And I love my job!

And I know very well that
you love your job too.

You want to form
young men and women...

to be healthy, happy,
capable of being happy

and capable of making
those around them happy.

Our mission is not just
to transmit knowledge,

but to form men, to construct
a worthy, beautiful,

human race,

in order to take care
of our precious planet.

I am very fortunate

because the people
- especially the young people -

who have come here,
have the same ideal.

They want to learn
in order to transform themselves,

in order to live happily and
help others live happily too.

So every time I walk into
my classroom, there is happiness.

Every time!

There is some sort of mutual understanding
between teacher and student.

There is also...

a sort of brotherhood.

which makes the work of teaching
and studying much easier.

I always inform myself about...

the life of my students.

I tell them my difficulties,
my hopes and things like that.

So communication
is always possible.

We know that the children,
the students of today

have a lot of suffering in them.

This is because their parents suffer.

Their parents cannot
communicate with each other.

And it is not easy to communicate
between parents and child.

So there is some sort of
loneliness, a kind of vacuum,

a kind of emptiness in the child.

And the child tries to fill up
this emptiness in him with videogames

and things like that.

You know this all too well.

So there is an enormous amount
of suffering in young people.

That makes the work of teaching
a lot more difficult.

And then we ourselves,
we have difficulties too.

We try our very best

but the environment, our family
and the colleagues we work with

have a lot of difficulties in them.

So, it is hard.

And if teachers, colleagues
are not happy

how can we make the children happy?

This is a major issue!

And we do not have enough
patience, enough understanding,

enough freshness and compassion

to be able to confront all of that.

So there is...

a certain spiritual dimension we need

to help us to transform

and to begin to help people
around us to transform,

beginning with our
family members and our partner.

And then...

if we succeed in this practice,

we become more pleasant,
more smiling and compassionate.

So we will be able to help
our colleagues to do the same.

And we will bring
this practice into our class.

So the first step is to
come back,

to come back to yourself.

The way out!

We are looking for a way out.

But the way out begins with the way in.

Can you draw something,
brother Pháp Linh?

There it is!

It is the coming back
to yourself

in order to be able to
take care of yourself,

in order to be able to handle
the difficulties you have.

And here we have
the practice methods.

And we can practice together joyfully.

Through mindful breathing, we can
bring our mind back to our body

and take care of our body first.

There is tension,
there is pain in our body.

And with this practice
you can come back to your body

and recognize the tension and
suffering which is present in the body

and breathe in such a way
that we can let go of this suffering.

And one hour of practice
can already change a lot.

An exercise proposed by the Buddha:

"Breathing in, I am aware of my body."

I have come back to my body
and my body is a wonder,

but it does not have
enough peace right now.

And if there is no peace in the body

it will be more difficult
to obtain peace in the mind

Body and mind are always together.

So we have to begin with the body.

In the sitting position, walking
standing or lying down,

we can very well practice
to relax the body.

That is the main thing.

Sitting on the bus,

or in the car,
you can do it too.

While preparing breakfast,
you can do it too.

While washing the dishes,
you can do it too.

So we have a lot of time to do this.

Relaxing the body is very important.

And there are exercises

that help us recognize

the wonders of life,
the beauty of nature

that are available
in the present moment.

It is easy.

When you breathe in

and if you bring your attention
completely to your in breath

then you can already stop all thinking.

We think a lot, but our thoughts
are not productive.

We get more and more
confused while thinking.

I think, therefore
I am not really there.

I think, therefore
I am lost in my thinking.

So...

if you bring your attention
only to your in breath

- even if the in breath lasts
only two or three seconds -

you stop thinking,

and you are free from the past,
the future and free from your projects.

And your in breath can be pleasant.

For a practitioner an in breath
can be very pleasant.

You are alive.

You are taking an in breath.

It is a miracle!

He or she who is already dead
cannot take an in breath.

I breathe in,
therefore I am alive.

And being alive is a wonder,
the greatest wonder of the world!

So it gives you pleasure
when you take an in breath.

And...

when you are taking this in breath
you bring your mind back to your body,

because in every day life

the body is often there

while the mind is elsewhere,

caught in the past, in the future
in your projects or in your anger.

So body and mind are not together.

And when the situation presents itself
like that, you are not really alive.

The mind has to be with the body

in order for you to be there
and to live this moment deeply,

every moment of your life.

And when body and mind are together
you are completely alive and present

and you will recognize all
the wonders of life that are there:

the sun, the trees, the birds.

The Kingdom of God is available
right here and right now.

It is the mere and simple recognition
of the beauty of the wonders of life.

And you can also become aware that

you are very fortunate,

more than others.

You have the chance to live
happily in the here and now.

If you have the time you can...

write down on a piece of paper, all
the conditions of happiness that

you already have and not have
to look for in the future.

I can assure you: one page
will not be enough.

Two pages will not be enough.

Nor three or four pages!

You are so fortunate. You have
so many conditions of happiness.

And happiness is possible here and now.

And that is the teaching of the Buddha.

The French have a song about this:

"What are we waiting for to be happy?"

So there is an exercise that
helps us recognize this,

the wonders of life,
the Kingdom of God,

the conditions of happiness
that are available.

And you can generate a feeling of joy,

a feeling of happiness,
no matter where, no matter when.

A real practitioner of mindfulness

is able to...

generate a feeling of joy
and happiness no matter when.

It is the art of happiness.

It is simple.

It is easy.

Anyone can do it.

And then there are two exercises.

When a painful feeling begins to rise up,

when a painful emotion begins to rise up,

you can breathe in such a way that
you can generate the energy of mindfulness

in order to recognize
this feeling, this emotion.

and embrace it tenderly.

And you bring relief
after a couple of minutes of practice.

It is very important.

We have to listen to...

our own suffering...

in our body, in our feelings and emotions.

The other person also has this.

He has suffering in him.

So he talks, he acts
in such a way that makes us suffer,

He does not do it because
he has the intention to make us suffer,

but because he cannot
handle this suffering in him.

And us, practitioners, we know
how to handle suffering.

Handling suffering is an art!

We can talk about the art of happiness
and we can talk about the art of suffering.

We have to learn how to suffer.

He who knows how to suffer,
suffers much less than the other people.

Believe me.

The person who knows how to suffer
suffers much less than other people.

It is a fact.

And if you are capable of
seeing this suffering in him

you no longer suffer.

Poor guy, poor friend, poor colleague!

He has so much suffering in him.

He does not know how
to handle this suffering.

He does that and suffers
and makes other people suffer.

So when you react like that,
there is compassion in your eyes.

And when you look
at people with compassion

you do not suffer.

Compassion is an antidote to anger.

And it is very easy to generate
the energy of compassion,

very easy to recognize
the enormous suffering in him or her.

And you have compassion
with him, with her.

And you can always smile
gently and compassionately.

She will be surprised:

"How do you do that?

Other people would react
with anger in a situation like that.

But you, you are relaxed,
you smile, you have compassion."

And like this we can help other people.

So...

making a comeback is the first step.

And after that, you can continue to help

your partner and
the members of your family.

Because the other person has witnessed
this transformation in you

and because he believes you

he can succeed just like you
if he acts the same

and the reconciliation, the restoration
of communication will be possible,

because loving speech and
compassionate listening always help

to restore communication
and bring about reconciliation.

"Dear friend, I know you have
suffered a lot in the years passed.

I have not been able to help you.

I reacted in such a way that I made
the situation more complicated.

Dear friend, it is not my intention
to make you suffer.

I did it because I did not see and
understand the huge suffering in you.

You have to help me, my friend.

You have to tell me
everything that is in your heart:

your difficulties, your suffering.

I am convinced that I will not react
the way I did in the past anymore

if I only knew your suffering.

And you have to help me, my friend,
you have to tell me what is on your heart."

That is loving speech!

And that is the key the can open
the door to someone's heart.

It is very effective!

Even after five years of difficulties
he will tell you what is on his heart.

And now you can practice
like Avalokiteshvara:

listening with compassion,
just listening.

Compassionate listening...

serves one single purpose:
helping the other person empty his heart

so he will suffer less.

So, even if he says
things that are incorrect,

you can not interrupt him.

You have to let him talk,

talk and talk.

Maybe later you will have the time
to offer some information

that helps him to correct his perception.

But not now!

Very effective!

Restoring communication and
bringing about reconciliation.

And...

with the collaboration between
teacher, his partner and his family

we can make another...step:

We can do something about
our work environment

including our colleagues and our students.

We know that the majority
of our colleaugues

has suffering in him.

If we have understanding
and compassion inside

we already suffer much less

when those things,
when those people explode.

So we have to dream about
building a Sangha, a community

among your colleagues,
among the personnel of the institution.

There have to be
two, three or four people

with whom you can
communicate better, right?

So you have to talk with them first
about the state of things.

And those people have seen
your transformation and healing.

And you are fresh,
compassionate and smiling.

So you can talk with them.

You have to build a Sangha.

You have to get together more often
to be able to continue the practice,

not only on your own or as a family
but as a community.

Building a Sangha is something...

absolutely necessary!

You can very well do
walking meditation together.

You can drink tea together.

You can do a session of
total relaxation together.

And you can create a small community
consisting of happy teachers.

Happy teachers will change the world!

And with this little Sangha
you will be able change

the whole community
of the institution.

You can write a letter, saying:

"We are a group of people.

We have done this and that
and accomplished a lot of change

in our lives, in our work
and in our class.

We think that if you could join us,
that would be wonderful

And your other colleagues
will start to taste

this sort of peace,
brotherhood and relaxation.

We cannot go on like this.

If teachers are unhappy,

if they do not have harmony
and peace among each other,

how will we help young people

to suffer less and
to succeed in their work?"

So building a Sangha is
something absolutely necessary.

And every teacher
has to be a Sangha builder.

Did you know that the first thing
the Buddha thought after his enlightenment

was building a Sangha?

He knew very well that without a Sangha

he could not succeed
in the career of a Buddha.

The teacher also has a noble,
beautiful and respectable job.

So without a Sangha
we cannot do much.

Therefore building a Sangha
is something absolutely necessary.

So dear friends, we are having a retreat,
which is a wonderful thing.

And we have the time and the opportunity
to practice all of that together

I wish you a good and happy retreat!

Thank you.