Dear respected teacher
Dear beloved community
Today is the 10th of March in the year 2022
and we are gathered together in the Stillwater Hall
of the Upper Hamlet at Plum Village, France,
as well as
in many places all around the world.
for this retreat.
So let us
start just by enjoying three sounds of the bell
as we settle into this moment. Into our bodies,
into our feelings,
into our breath.
Just allow your mind to be
guided back to the present moment
with the sound of the bell.
(Waking the bell - muted ring)
(Deep bell sounds)
Dear respected Thay.
Dear friends.
We have come together
in this three or four day online retreat,
three and a half day online retreat
to honor our teacher
and our beloved abbot Thay Phap Huu.
And Thay Phap Trien and Sister Lang Nghiem
just returned from Vietnam a few days ago
bearing the ashes of our teacher's body.
They made that trip specially just to
to welcome Thay's ashes back
to Plum Village.
And on Sunday we'll have a ceremony to
receive his ashes here in this hall
and then to take them to
to spread them
in the beautiful grounds of Upper Hamlet that Thay loved so much.
Where the daffodils are currently
smiling,
and I know they will welcome Thay
back to the earth.
So we've gathered together
maybe more than 500 of us
online and offline
to honor our teacher
And yet . . .
at the same time, we know that there is a war going on
And that people are dying
People are being buried under piles of rubble
and many thousands of people
are dying.
Millions are fleeing
their homes
trying to find shelter somewhere else
and there's a lot of suffering.
And so . . .
I have been asking myself the last few days
how can we
continue with this retreat when we know
the suffering that is going on.
And part of me was feeling
Thay would know what to do.
Thay would know how to respond to this moment,
to this terrible and challenging moment.
And a . . .
I think that when Thay passed away
a month and a half ago
many of us felt
a kind of a . . . a need to
to step up.
A sense of responsibility,
because now who will play that role?
Who will be able to guide the sangha
in these challenging moments?
Who will be able to respond
to the suffering of the world as Thay would do?
And . . .
It's very difficult to know what to do
(Whispering instructions)
So as I reflected on this
I realized that we have an opportunity in this retreat
to a . . .
to make sure that Thay is very alive.
Because we know he would know what to do.
He does know what to do.
So our job is just to make sure that he's very alive
in us and in the whole community.
And I think we know how to do that.
I look into my feelings and my perceptions
around the passing of our teacher, and
I can't really say that he's gone,
and I can't really say that he's dead,
or that he's not there.
If anything he feels more there,
much more.
Very present, very alive.
So if we want to know what to do, we can ask Thay.
But first we have to help him to be very present with us.
And a . . .
then we will know what to do.
And what not to do.
What to say
and what not to say.
Because we want to, we want to help.
Of course, we want to help.
But we also know that if we
if we don't have peace, if we are not at peace
then when we try to help we may make the situation worse.
And a . . .
And we want to know that we are really helping,
helping in the right way.
So Thay said many times and he wrote beautiful calligraphy
"Peace in oneself, peace in the world."
And when I first saw that calligraphy
I struggled with it a little bit, if I'm honest.
I . . .
I sort of wasn't convinced.
I thought, Thay, it's not going to be enough
if, you know, I can be at peace, sure, but
there are still terrible things happening in the world.
It doesn't seem to make much difference.
But as I reflected more
on that statement
my feeling about it started to change.
So first of all I looked at the inverse statement.
So if there's no peace in me
then there's definitely not peace in the world
because I'm in the world.
I'm part of the world.
So that is true.
If there's no peace in us
then how can there be peace in the world?
And then I asked myself
how do I know
that it's not true? You know, that if there's peace in me
there would be peace in the world.
I haven't even really tried.
I think it's a . . .
I'm a little bit arrogant to think that I know
what peace in me would be.
Have I really committed myself
to peace?
In my life, in my actions
in my way of consuming,
my way of speaking.
And do I risk to underestimate
peace?
Real peace.
So I think it's worth checking.
To ask ourselves
Have we really tried yet?
Thay always liked to say
that in Plum Village we don't
our intention is not to
give you more ideas about peace.
Because we already have a lot of ideas about peace.
We don't need any more.
But our intention is to
learn to be peace.
It's not to talk about it,
but to be it.
And we have a way to do that.
And . . .
Then we can
we can see
for ourselves what is the effect
of that peace in the world.
Of course, we know that the seeds of the current war
were sown a long time ago.
And so . . .
we may not be able to stop
the current destruction
the loss of life, the suffering.
But, we also know that we
don't want to continue to sow the seeds of war now,
for future wars.
And we have confidence that if we
truly sow the seeds of peace,
in ourselves, in our own hearts,
in our communities,
then perhaps we can avoid
other wars in the future.
Towards the beginning of the war
I saw somebody posted online
something like this. It said,
When will we learn
to love our neighbors as ourselves?
This is from Jesus' commandments to us.
To love thy neighbor as thyself.
It's known as the golden rule.
Do to others as you would be done by.
And it seems simple.
It seems that if we could just
love others as we love ourselves then
that would already be a much more beautiful society.
A much more beautiful world.
But . . .
I'm not sure
that I
know even how to love myself, really.
So even if I did love my neighbor as I love myself
would I really love them,
if I can't yet love myself?
So it seems to me this is a good place to start.
And it's a way to act.
To really take care of ourselves
is action,
is engagement,
it's not turning away.
It is a real contribution.
So . . . we know that we have a physical body
and we can ask ourselves,
if we've really been taking good care of our body.
Have we allowed
tension and stress to accumulate in our body.
Have we put pressure on ourselves
to be a certain way
to work late into the night.
Have we pushed our body too hard?
And are we really even paying attention
to our body.
This is the first practice
just to bring the mind back
to the sensations in the body right now, in this moment.
And . . .
it's not always easy because if we have
allowed some tension to accumulate, then when we bring our minds back
to the body it isn't necessarily pleasant.
There may be some pain,
some tension.
There may be
traces of past suffering accumulated in our body.
The body might not feel
totally safe to take refuge in.
It might not feel like a refuge.
There may be feelings of discomfort.
So if we
if we bring our mind back to our body, and if we find
some painful feelings,
some uncomfortable feelings,
then we need to know how to
take care of those feelings.
To embrace those feelings with all of our love,
tenderness,
and to give our body a chance
to relax.
To release some of that accumulated tension,
and to heal.
Our body knows very well how to heal if we give it the chance.
So, we can do this multiple times a day,
in any position we happen to find ourselves we can do a body scan.
Whether we're sitting, standing lying down, even while we're walking.
We can just scan the different parts of our body and
give them permission to
to relax any tension that might have accumulated.
We have to be careful not to
make more pressure.
"You have to relax!"
"Why are you so tense?"
We have a kind of conditioning to
tend to want to do everything perfectly.
To do,
to be good at relaxing,
to do it well,
that we may unconsciously put more pressure on ourselves
and create more tension.
So, it's very nice just to
just to give ourselves permission,
to give our body permission
to release, just as much as as it would like to release
without any expectation.
So, I like to do this
many times a day.
I might start with
with my jaw,
and just check in and say "hello."
"Hello" my jaw.
Have I allowed some tension to build up here?
Is my jaw locked?
If you want to, you can just release
as much as you would like to release.
Ah . . .
It feels better already.
I can check in with my tongue,
the palate of my mouth,
the gums, even the teeth.
The whole mouth, and the lips.
Just check.
See how it feels right now.
I just let my mouth and my jaw know
it's ok to let go of
whatever you'd like to let go of.
And check my nose, the sinuses,
the nostrils,
the eyes.
And all the little muscles around the eyes.
We make our eyes work so hard.
Reading and looking at screens.
So it's very nice just to give them a chance to
to become soft.
Give them permission to rest.
This is a kind of love, already,
that we can offer ourselves.
Kindness, compassion.
"It's ok, my two eyes,
you can rest now."
My forehead may have accumulated a lot of
intensity, or thinking energy.
I can just let my forehead know
"Hmm, now it's ok
just to be soft."
I can check in with my ears,
my scalp,
my hands,
thumbs and fingers.
Is there any feeling of
tension in my fingers.
Just say "hello" to my two hands.
Hello.
You can let go now.
Nothing to hold on to.
Nothing to grasp.
You can rest.
I can say hello to my arms,
my shoulders.
Maybe there's a little tension in the shoulders,
or even a little pain.
And say "Hello, my two shoulders, thank you,
for holding everything you've been holding, and now
you can release what ever you'd like to release.
Don't worry.
My arms won't fall off.
You can get back
how ever much of my arms
that you've been holding up.
Just let them hang.
Maybe arms feel a little heavier,
a little more loose.
Maybe the breath comes a little easier.
Be aware of the movement of the chest,
aware of any tightness that may be there.
Just give it permission to soften.
And feel the belly rising with the inbreath.
Falling with the outbreath.
Hello, my abdomen.
Is there anything you've been holding on to?
If you want to
you can just release it now.
We can feel our two legs, our feet,
and just give them permission to rest.
You're not going anywhere, not doing anything.
It's so nice.
Just to rest,
to allow ourselves to sink a little deeper
into our contact with the ground,
the cushion or the chair.
Feel ourselves resting on Mother Earth,
and to entrust ourselves to Mother Earth.
And maybe . . .
our body feels a little sense of relief.
(Exhales)
And we can smile,
and feel the smile embracing our whole body.
It's very nice to be
just aware of the sensations in the body.
And we know our mind is in the present moment
because those sensations are only in the present moment.
It's a wonderful way to take care
of our body.
And then, in the body we may notice some feelings.
There may be a feeling of
pressure,
anxiety, tension.
Some kind of unease or discomfort.
We can say hello to those feelings as well.
And know that we are more than those feelings.
That we are vast.
That there is a quality of love
and stability in us that is capable
of embracing whatever is there
with tenderness.
And those feelings, they like to be held.
You don't need to do much.
Just to allow any feelings of discomfort or uneasiness to
to take a bath of mindfulness.
To be bathed in the energy of mindfulness.
And that means just listening to those feelings.
Being there for them.
Taking the time to be fully present
for whatever is there.
It's very nice to do that.
And we may find that we have some emotions as well.
Maybe there's some anger in our heart,
or despair or anxiety,
or fear.
And those feelings might have been pushing us to act,
to consume,
to speak.
And somehow, when we're pushed by those feelings we
we lose a little of our freedom.
We lose our sovereignty.
We're not ourselves.
So it's very nice also to
to create the time, to take the time
to say hello to those feelings,
which may have been there a long time.
To offer them our love, our presence.
Our presence is very powerful
when we're not distracted
by the telephone.
So we learn, in this retreat how to handle
our emotions.
And if we are to handle them, first we have the recognize them,
that they are there.
And be humble and honest.
And taken together,
the tension in our body,
the tension in our feelings, in our emotions,
they form a kind of
background
inclination of our mind
that may have a tendency to push us.
And this inclination of mind might have been transmitted to us
over many generations.
We may recognize our ancestors in it.
Maybe there's a . . .
just a . . . it's like a subtle filter
over everything.
It influences our perceptions
of everything.
Maybe it's a kind of subtle cynicism
that things will not work out.
Things won't turn out well.
(Whispers) I just know it.
Maybe there's just a feeling that
it won't go well for me.
No matter what I do.
I'm going to suffer.
Maybe it's a tendency to feel like
ultimately, we will let people down
no matter what, in the end
I will let you down.
Maybe it's a feeling, unconscious,
that in the end, will be betrayed.
That love isn't really something that we can rely on.
Something that we can trust.
These may be
the kind of attitudes that have been
transmitted over many generations.
And conditioned by real suffering,
by real betrayal,
by real disappointment,
by real pain.
But now, maybe we just have
the attitude.
And it's worth having a deep conversation with our ancestors
to see if we can update that attitude.
Invite them to look again, check.
I like to talk to my grandfather.
My grandfather was very sure that
ultimately, things wouldn't go well.
There would just be pain.
And he
caused people to suffer
in our family,
caused himself to suffer.
And so he had lots of evidence.
So I like to check in with him and say
Hello.
Look, in this moment
we're not harming anyone.
In this moment, we're not harming ourselves.
In this moment
we're taking good care of ourselves.
In this moment, we're doing exactly the thing
that we always wanted to do.
In this moment, we're realizing
our deepest aspiration.
To love,
to cultivate awareness,
to wake up.
And it's like a magic formula.
It's a . . .
It's an instant source of happiness.
To recognize that in this very moment
we're doing exactly
what we wanted to do all along.
Because we need to know how to generate a feeling of happiness.
Generating a feeling of happiness is
a powerful way to act in the world.
It's a way to
help take care of our pain,
of our painful feelings.
A feeling of happiness will
already help to embrace our painful feelings.
And it's wonderful when we are already practicing
just to notice, oh, I'm practicing.
Wow.
That's a source of happiness.
That mindfulness is a source of happiness.
Taking care of our suffering
is a source of happiness.
Now we need to let our ancestors know
and invite them to participate
and gradually, the inclination of our minds
starts to change.
Maybe we have a chance to see things anew.
And maybe our perceptions change.
Because our perceptions are the ground of our action.
And if we have a lot of wrong perceptions
about each other and about ourselves
then it will be very hard to act
with wisdom.
So . . .
when we are able to
to take care of our body,
to relax our body, to allow our body to relax,
to take care of our feelings,
to take care of our emotions,
the fundamental attitude of our mind,
then we can start to
to be peace.
And then we can really help.
(Waking the bell - soft bell)
(Bell sounds)
So we want Thay to be very alive in us,
and in our community
in these four days.
So I suggest
that we live for these next few days
like Thay.
Thay had a lot of confidence
in his students.
Thay would always say
Thay is in you.
When often people would come and ask Thay a question
about starting an initiative somewhere,
"I want to start a program
for mindfulness in hospitals" or something
and Thay would just say, "Thay is in you."
Go ahead. Do it.
He had a lot of confidence in us.
And he gave himself to us. His whole self, he held nothing back.
And I think, when we practice
we can feel that it's true. That Thay is in us
when we practice.
So . . .
if we want to live like Thay
for these few days,
to make sure that Thay is really alive
in the community, in us,
I think it's very easy.
We just have to do the things that Thay likes to do.
And not do the things that would hurt Thay in us.
And I think we know what they are.
I think we can tell the difference.
That Thay is very sensitive.
And some things that we might have a tendency to do, that
he would not do.
So we can ask ourselves,
or let him guide us.
That's very easy. In the morning when we wake up
we can smile.
It's a real practice.
Waking up, this morning
I smiled.
It's not always easy.
And I need to remember 24 brand new hours are before me.
And to make the vow to live each moment
in mindfulness like Thay.
It's not easy
to really do it.
And to look at all beings
with the eyes of compassion,
like Thay.
Even Vladimir Putin.
Even the Russian soldiers
that are bombing civilians.
Thay didn't have enemies.
He didn't hate.
And that doesn't mean that we condone the actions.
But if we don't want to contribute to future wars, then
we cannot hate.
And we have to be very careful in our way of consuming
the media.
Right now there's a lot in the media
of videos being shared of
Russian tanks being destroyed
by missiles.
And they're shared like it's
something to celebrate,
a victory.
Like it's in a video game.
And you see what people are commenting, what they post on social media.
It's very hard to know
how to handle that.
Because of course
we . . .
we know that sometimes
the use of force is necessary.
Thay once said that
sometimes non-violence is violence.
If we could avoid the loss of life,
if we could protect civilians,
by the use of force, then
sometimes, we should.
And that is true non-violence.
But it's very hard.
And to do that we have to have compassion in our hearts.
And we have to know that there are
young Russian men in those tanks,
who have been misled
and . . .
have been fed with a lot of propaganda
and they're dying too.
So, whatever we look at
let us be careful, how we consume it and
to always keep compassion alive in our hearts.
To look at all beings with the eyes of compassion,
even though they hold a gun.
And when we make tea
maybe while the water is boiling
my hand starts to twitch and there's and impulse to
turn on the phone, check the news.
Would Thay do that?
I don't think so.
So we can notice the impulse,
the habit, that we've trained,
see it coming up,
and we don't have to act.
We can say, No, thank you.
I'm making my tea.
I'm going to enjoy my tea.
Like Thay.
And it's very interesting when you resist
an impulse, that you've trained
like checking your e-mail,
or looking at the news.
Because there may initially be a feeling of discomfort,
it's unsatisfying.
You want to check and
now you're not allowing yourself to check.
It's kind of uncomfortable, a little.
So it's very interesting to notice that feeling in the body.
To allow it to be there,
to embrace it,
to smile to it,
to allow it to soften.
And actually, we can also cultivate
a feeling of profound joy.
Just by realizing that in that moment
I was not pushed.
I was able to say No.
No, thank you,
to this push.
And that is a feeling of triumph.
That is a feeling of joy.
A success in the practice.
To be able to stop
and take care of what ever feeling of discomfort was
pushing us to act.
And then you can make your tea in freedom.
And that is happiness.
When is the last time
you really savored a sip of tea
in total freedom.
When was the last time you allowed a drop of tea
to roll on your tongue and you could feel the cloud in your tea.
And enjoy the magic, the mystery,
the wonder of tea.
Water, the fragrance.
The coming together of all the causes and conditions.
It's magical.
And Thay has taught us very well how to enjoy a cup of tea.
We know exactly how to do it. And yet,
maybe we don't always do it.
So in these four days
let's see if we can.
We can become absorbed in the tea.
And then we go to join the sitting meditation
and we know that Thay loved to breathe.
Thay knew exactly how to enjoy his breathing.
So we can sit there, and say
Let Thay breathe.
I don't need to breathe.
And it's true.
Thay is breathing.
I just enjoy the breathing.
Thay knows how to breathe very well.
Thay is the breathing.
I am the breathing.
There is only breathing.
There is no 'breather.'
Peace,
while breathing.
Peace is the breathing.
This is something possible.
You can allow Thay to breathe for us.
And he can continue to teach us
how to enter concentration,
stillness.
How to be peace.
And then when we go to make our breakfast
we can make our breakfast, like Thay.
Thay loved to make his breakfast.
And he wasn't in a hurry.
He didn't have to multi-task.
He didn't have to listen to a podcast
whilst making breakfast.
He didn't have to check his e-mail
whilst making breakfast.
So let's try, and do it like Thay.
Let's just do one thing at a time,
with ease, with freedom,
with joy.
And when we eat our breakfast
before putting the food in your mouth you can
look at it.
Recognize it.
This is porridge.
Or this is a piece of apple.
Then we can touch gratitude.
We have food to eat.
Not everybody does.
It's already a wonder,
to have something in our bowl.
And when we take a spoonful of
porridge or cereal
and we can put our spoon down
and chew.
And wait until we have swallowed
before picking up our spoon.
It's a real practice.
And we invite Thay to have breakfast with us.
It's a great honor to eat breakfast with Thay.
And we can all do it.
It's wonderful.
There's plenty of Thay to go around.
There's no shortage.
Now we can listen to the dharma talk
with Thay's ears, and I know that Thay
will be so happy
to listen to Thay Phap Huu tomorrow,
and Sister Chan Duc on Saturday.
Thay will be so proud
to hear his students sharing the dharma.
And so we can listen with Thay's ears,
with Thay's heart,
with Thay's breath,
with Thay's concentration and stillness.
And then we can walk.
Hopefully each of us has
somewhere we can go to practice walking meditation.
Whether it's in our yard, or
maybe just along the street,
or in a park,
or even just in our home.
And Thay taught us so well
how to walk.
How to walk in freedom.
How to arrive with every step.
Not to hurry towards our destination,
but to know that our true destination is
this moment.
This step.
Now we can do that where ever we have to walk
in our house, even from the bathroom
to the living room, or
as we walk around the kitchen.
We can take steps in freedom.
This is something possible.
And I know if we all do this together
it generates a powerful collective energy
and we support each other.
It's much easier to do it together
than alone.
We may have the impulse to check the news
many times, coming up in the
spaces in between activities.
It's like, oh, I have some time
before the dharma sharing.
Let me just check the news.
And you can, if you want to.
But try to read the news like Thay would read the news.
And we can ask ourselves
how much is enough?
How much do we need to take in?
And, can we give ourselves a break
for these few days.
It's up to you. Each of us can make a decision.
But you may like to set a timer on your phone.
To give yourself ten minutes.
If you really need to know,
I think ten minutes is enough. Just to check in.
And then, when you turn off the phone
it's very interesting to ask
What did I learn?
How do I feel?
Did it help?
Was it important?
What will I now do, as a result
of knowing this?
Is there anything I can do?
Was it important?
Really.
It's very interesting,
if you need to check, check, but then,
ask yourself afterwards
What did you learn?
Was it important?
And how do you feel?
How do you feel in your body?
And how often do you want to do that?
You may like to install a bell of mindfulness
on your computer or your phone.
We have the wonderful Plum Village app.
You can set a bell to sound
every hour or every half hour
how ever often you want
and that is a practice that Thay really enjoyed.
Stopping . . .
coming back to the present moment.
We can let the sound of the bell
be the voice
of Thay calling us back.
"Hello."
Would you like to breathe with me?
Would you like to rest,
to relax,
to take care of yourself in this moment.
To greet any stress or tension
or discomfort that may have arisen
with love and tenderness.
It's amazing, in one sound of the bell
you can do a complete body scan if you want.
Just check. How does your body feel?
Has any tension gathered anywhere?
It's very nice.
And when you brush your teeth you can smile.
If you like, you can use the gatha.
Brushing my teeth
and rinsing my mouth
I vow to speak purely, lovingly.
When my mouth is purified,
is fragrant with loving speech
a flower blooms in the garden of my heart.
It's very interesting to check
if that's true.
I sometimes use that gatha to check
in that day, how was my speech?
Was it skillful?
Did I allow myself to be
aggressive or cynical?
Did I use humor to put someone down?
Did I lie? Did I distort the truth?
Just to check; it's very interesting.
Once a day, or twice a day; to check
How is my speech?
And to notice that, when my speech
really was mindful and kind,
(breathing in) wow, yes.
I can feel
a flower blooms in my heart.
It's very wonderful to notice
when we haven't been unkind,
when we haven't been unfair,
when we haven't taken advantage of anyone.
When we've been generous.
When we've been loving.
And it's also, kind of letting our ancestors know,
"Yeah, look! We're doing ok."
"It's good."
So we know that Thay
loved life.
He loved to do all these things.
And so it's very easy, if we want to
live like Thay.
We just do the things that Thay loved.
You may like to stare at the moon.
And just become absorbed in the moon.
I remember one time
I was Thay's attendant just for a few days, and
I was carrying Thay's bag during the walking meditation.
And it was in a big retreat there, many hundreds of people.
But he stopped,
and he turned to me with this huge grin
and he pointed at the trunk of a tree.
He said, "It's so green!"
Because there was moss,
there was like beautiful emerald moss.
It was so green.
And Thay was just completely
absorbed with this moss.
And there were hundreds of people there
kind of like, what's Thay doing?
(Whispering) Why have we stopped? Where?
What's happening?
And Thay's just like, "Look! It's so green!"
(Laughs)
So you can do that too.
You can fall in love with the moss.
You can say hello to every tiny flower
that crosses your way.
You can look at the blue sky as if it's the first time.
And I think if we can do that
then . . .
Thay will be with us.
Thay will be alive.
And we will know what to do.
What not to do.
What to say,
and what not to say.
(Wake the bell - soft ring)
(Deep bell sound)
(Wake the mini-bell)
(Mini bell rings)