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(Bell)

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(Bell)

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Dear Thay, dear sangha,
with my practice, I have been realizing

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how deep and how strong
were the ideologies I built as a child

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to protect myself
from the instability of my environment,

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and how important for my inner balance
it became, to be first at school,

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and how I unconsciously took the habit
of always looking at myself as the first,

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to hide my fear,

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and to give me illusory confidence.

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I know that this coming school year
will be academically very challenging.

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So I'd like to have some advice
on how to practice

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in order to go through this year,
while these ideologies,

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which were the ground I stood on,
are falling down.


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(SisterTrue Dedication
repeats the question)

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Dear Thay, dear sangha,
our friend shared that,

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since she was a young girl,

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she had a lot of ideologies
that became part of her,

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including the need
to be number one at school.

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Being number one at school

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helped her to overcome her fear,

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and gave her confidence,
striving to be number one.

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But since she has been here,

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she sees this ideology, this need,
begin to fall apart,

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and it's as though the ground
on which she stood

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is falling apart underneath her.

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But she still has a coming school year.

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So she's asking Thay for some guidance,

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how to go forward in this year to come.

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This is the concern of many people.

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In the military, in the business circles,

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people want to be number one,
because they believe that

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to be number one
is a basic condition for happiness.

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And that is a kind of view.

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It has been transmitted to us,
maybe by our ancestors,

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and maybe by collective thinking,

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and because of that we have to strive
day and night,

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and tire ourself out,
so that view is very costly.

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We have to pay with our whole life.

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And we may not experience joy,
happiness, relaxation,

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because we hold that kind of view.

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Maybe we ourselves 
do not want to have that view,

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but that view has been transmitted to us,

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and our parents are trying
to force it on us,

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and also society is encouraging
the same kind of view.

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It's based on the wrong view of self.

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Wrong view of self leads to
the wrong view to be number one,

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because if there is no self,
there will be no number one.

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(LAUGHTER)

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So meditation is an act of looking deeply.


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And when you look deeply,
you have a right view.

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Why do I have to be number one?

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Is it a necessary condition for happiness?

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Why do my ancestors, my parents,
want me to be number one?

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We can find many answers.

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Maybe our ancestors wanted
to be number one,

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but they could not,
so they want us to do it for them.

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So we have meditated on that.

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Every time we come up and chant, we say:
'Let us breathe as one body,'

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'chant as one body,
and listen as one body,'

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'going like a river,'

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'and transcend the illusion
of a separate self,'

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'overcoming the superiority complex,
the inferiority complex,'

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'and the equality complex.'

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That is to help us to see we have to 
abandon the wrong view of a self.

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With the wrong view of the self gone,

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the wrong view that number one
is the only condition for you to be happy

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will be gone also.

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Sometimes we don't want to be number one,

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but it happens that
we have to be number one.

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And very often we want to be number one,
but we do not become number one.

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We think that the president
of a big country,

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like Barack Obama,
is a number one,

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the most powerful person in the country.

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But I think Mr. Obama knows better,
that he is not powerful enough.

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He does not have enough power.

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He feels very powerless.

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There are many things he wants to do,
but he cannot do it.

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So if he does not have enough power,
how can we have enough power?

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And, is the number one happy?

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That is our meditation.

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So what do we want: to be number one,
or to be happy?

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So when we are able to transform our view,

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from wrong view to right view,

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not only do we help ourself
to be liberated,

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but we liberate our ancestors,

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and we liberate the world
from the wrong view

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that if you don't become number one,
you cannot be truly happy.

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When you are a student,

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if you study only to become number one,

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you are not a happy student.

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To study can be a very wonderful thing.

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There is a need to learn, to understand.

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We have two basic needs:

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we want to understand the world,
we want to understand life,

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and then the second basic desire
is to love, and to be loved.

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So the two basic needs are
to understand, and to love.

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To be a student,
you have a chance to learn.

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You are curious about things.

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And as you study,

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you satisfy your first need: 
to understand.

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So to study is very fulfilling.

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A good teacher is also someone
who studies all the time,

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because he knows that he knows many things
but he can know more.

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So both teacher and students
get a lot of happiness

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while trying to find out 
more about reality


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and to understand more.

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So if we study like that,
our academic year will be wonderful.

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But if we study just because
we want to get a diploma,

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to be number one, we will suffer
for the whole academic year.

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So, up to you to decide.

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And if you change your view
into a right view,

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you are making a revolution.

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(LAUGHTER)

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Yes!

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And many young people, 
if they see you happy -

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and to be happy does not mean
that you don't study well -

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but you are happier.

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You study better, and even if 
you don't want to be number one,

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you must be the number one!

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(LAUGHTER)

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You see?

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That is why there are those of us
who do not want to be number one,

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but it just happens like that!

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(LAUGHTER)

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That is a by-product only.

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(LAUGHTER)

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The first product is happiness.

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So I think we have to tell
our friends in school,

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both teachers and students,

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that our aim is to be happy,
and not to be number one.

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Our happiness can be recognized
by other people,

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and we can set an example
for other students,

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and also for our teachers.

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Good luck!

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(LAUGHTER)

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(HALF BELL)

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(BELL)