WEBVTT

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And if you are a good practitioner

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you have enough mindfulness in order to

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handle

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whatever

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needs to be handled.

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Suppose anger is coming up

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in you, as an energy.

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As a practitioner, you don't allow anger to be alone

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in you,

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because if you let anger be alone in you,

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anger will cause a lot of damage

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in your body, in your mind

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and maybe around you.

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And that is why you practise mindfulness of anger.

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Breathing in, I know anger is in me.

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Breathing out,

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I smile at my anger.

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I embrace my anger.

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You have a seed of anger

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deep within yourself,

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but you also have a seed of mindfulness deep within yourself.

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You have a seed of compassion within yourself.

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When anger is touched,

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when the seed of anger is touched

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it manifests

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into

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a kind of energy called "anger".

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Suppose this is your consciousness.

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It has two layers.

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The lower layer is called

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Store Consciousness

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and the upper layer is called

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Mind Consciousness.

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You have a seed of anger here.

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You also have a seed of joy

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of mindfulness, of compassion,

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of non-discrimination.

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You have a seed of anger, of despair

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of jealousy, of discrimination

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in the depths of your consciousness.

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But when the seed of anger

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is left alone there

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in the Store Consciousness,

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you don't water it, no one comes and touches it, you are OK.

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You can laugh, and you may have a good time.

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But that does not mean you do not have the seed of anger in you.

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As soon as you hear someone saying something

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or doing something, the seed of anger in you is touched

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and it becomes a zone of energy

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in the realm of Mind Consciousness.

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in Buddhism

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we call it a Mental Formation.

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Anger is a Mental Formation.

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In my tradition, we speak of

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51 categories of Mental Formations.

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We have the seed of discrimination in us.

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We have a seed of

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non-discrimination in us.

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That is true.

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If the seed of discrimination is watered every day

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it becomes very important

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and

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it doesn't allow the seed of non-discrimination to manifest.

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If the seed of anger

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becomes stronger and stronger every day

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the seed of compassion

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has less chance...

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And that is why

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every time a negative seed is touched

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and manifests

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we have to take care of it.

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That is why

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I spoke about mindfulness of anger.

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When...

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Mindfulness is the capacity

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of knowing what is happening. What is happening is

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anger has manifested.

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So as a practitioner, you ask

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the seed of mindfulness to manifest at the same time.

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And if you are

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a diligent practitioner

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the seed of mindfulness in you is strong enough

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and it's very easy for you

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to touch

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and invite it

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to come up;

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and it will come up and become a zone of energy.

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Suppose anger

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is energy 1,

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mindfulness is energy 2.

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Mindfulness is mindfulness of something

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and here

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mindfulness of anger.

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Mindfulness here has

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The following function: recognizing.

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Recognizing

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anger as anger.

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Mindfulness of breathing...

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Breathing in, I know this is my in-breath.

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Breathing out, I know this is my out-breath.

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Recognizing in-breath as in-breath.

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Recognizing out-breath as out-breath.

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Recognizing drinking as drinking,

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recognizing walking as walking. That's the nature,

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the function of mindfulness.

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So the energy of mindfulness generated by your breathing,

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your walking,

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has the capacity of recognizing

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anger as anger.

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Breathing in

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I know the anger is in me.

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Breathing out

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I take good care of my anger.

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Recognizing anger and embracing anger,

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this is an art,

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this is a practice. This is no fighting.

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Mindfulness is generated

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not to fight anger

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but to recognize anger and to hold anger

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very tenderly.

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That is Buddhist practice.

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You do not transform yourself into a battlefield... The good fighting the evil, that's not Buddhism;

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because you have mindfulness, but you have also anger.

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And mindfulness plays the role of an older sister,

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holding

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the angry, suffering younger sister

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and help her to transform.

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A mother

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is working in the kitchen

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and she hears her baby crying

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and she's very much careful of her baby;

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so she stops

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her work in the kitchen, she puts down

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whatever she is holding and she goes

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to the room of the baby and the first thing she does

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is to pick up the baby and hold the baby tenderly in her arms.

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That's the mother. She does not know what is wrong with the baby yet,

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but

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the first thing she does is to pick up the baby

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and hold him mindfully.

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We do the same thing, as practitioners.

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Every time anger, or despair comes up

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we generate

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the energy of mindfulness

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in order to recognize and to embrace tenderly,

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tenderly.

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And if we know how to practise

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mindful walking, or mindful breathing,

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we continue to generate mindfulness

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and we have that energy, in order to recognize and to embrace

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and we can bring relief;

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because mindfulness as an energy

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is embracing anger as another source of energy

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tenderly. Big brother, younger brother.

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Although the mother has not

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realized what is wrong with the baby,

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the fact that she is holding the baby tenderly

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can already bring a relief to the baby, and the baby

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may stop crying;

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and if the mother continues

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to hold the baby tenderly with mindfulness

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she will find out what is wrong.

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The baby might be hungry,

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The baby may have a fever

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or the diaper may be too tight.

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As a mother

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she can find it out very quickly.

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As a practitioner

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you can

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find out very easily

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why this anger [is there];

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and you can see the roots of that anger.

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You will find the nature of that anger,

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the root of the anger.

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If the mother finds out what is wrong

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with the baby, she can fix the situation

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very quickly. If the baby is hungry

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she can give her son some milk.

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If the diaper is too tight, she can just

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undo it and do it again.

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So after having embraced

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tenderly

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your anger

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you might like to continue

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the practice of mindful breathing,

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the practice of mindful walking

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and look deeply into the nature

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of your anger, and find out

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what is the root of your anger.

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Recognizing, embracing and looking deeply.

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Because mindfulness

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is the kind of energy

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that carries with her

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the energy of concentration.

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Wherever mindfulness is

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concentration is [there] also.

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When you are mindful of your in-breath

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you are concentrated on your in-breath.

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When you are mindful of your tea

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you concentrate on your tea.

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And that is why

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the more powerful mindfulness is

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the more concentration you get;

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and with that mindfulness and concentration

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you practise looking deeply and you will get an insight.

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And that insight is going to liberate you,

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transform your anger.

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There is a story

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of a young boy

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who used to come to Plum Village every summer

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with his younger sister,

NOTE Paragraph

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and they practise mindfulness

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as children.

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The boy had difficulties with his father,

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he blamed his father.

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Every time he fell down and got hurt

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his father always shouted at him

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instead of coming and help him.

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So his relationship with his father

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was difficult,

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and he vowed when he grows up he would not be

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like his father;

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if he had children and then if

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his child fell down and got hurt

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he would not shout at him; instead he would come and try to help.

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That was

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his determination.

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One day he was playing

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in the lower hamlet, at Plum Village,

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and his sister

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while playing with another little girl on a hammock

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fell down and got hurt,

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and blood

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was coming out. Suddenly

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he found himself very angry;

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he wanted to shout "Stupid!

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How could you

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do something like that?"

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And because he had been practising

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mindfulness, he was able

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to refrain from shouting

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and he recognized

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that he was exactly like his father.

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Instead of trying

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to come and help

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his sister,

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he had the tendency to shout at her.

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He hated

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what he had within himself.

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So when he practised

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mindful breathing

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he knew that this is the continuation

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of his father inside of him;

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he is not different from his father

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and with that insight

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he turned around and practised slow walking,

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when he had seen someone coming to help his sister;

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and during slow walking

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he recognized that

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he is the continuation of his father. The energy of anger

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has been transmitted by his father

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and if he does not practise

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he is going to become exactly like his father

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and he will treat

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his children, in the future, in the same way.

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That is called Samsara,

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continuation.

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And suddenly he had a desire,

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that he had to go home and tell his father that

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he has exactly the same kind of energy

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and he would invite his father to practise with him.

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And when that intention was born in him

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his anger and resentment towards his father

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began to dissolve.

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What kind of insight

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did he get?

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He got the insight that

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he is exactly like his father,

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he has the same kind of habit energy.

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And that is why he wanted to practise.

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And he saw himself as a victim of that energy,

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a victim of the transmission

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of that habit energy;

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and he saw that his father also was a victim

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of that transmission too. His father

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might have got it from

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his own father.

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And when he had that insight, his anger

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vis-à-vis his father just

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stopped.

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He got a transformation. I think

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for a young man of 12

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that is a remarkable

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achievement.

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It is insight that transforms our afflictions;

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and mindfulness has the power

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of recognizing, embracing, looking deeply,

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getting the insight that transforms you,

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that makes you free.

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Transformation, healing, freedom.

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And when the young man was liberated, the father in him was liberated; and the ancestors in him were liberated

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and [so was] the circle, the realm of the samsara.