WEBVTT
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Dear respected Thay,
dear community,
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today is today's day.
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It's not old and it's not gonna be new.
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We give it a date,
just to have fun with it and celebrate.
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In Plum Village, we celebrate everything,
including today's day.
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Today's day, Thay loves to celebrate that.
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The thirty-first,
the 31st of December.
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We'll be reflecting a little bit
on our calendar, our dates,
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our watches,
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these things that we make up
so that we can work together.
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It's kind of artificial,
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especially when you have to change time,
the seasons,
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I think it's functional,
but it's a little bit annoying.
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Here in Plum Village,
we follow the bell.
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When you hear the bell,
just gather, and go.
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The monks and the nuns,
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we sometimes forget what time it is,
what date it is,
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and sometimes even the year.
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Well, some of us do.
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We live according to the leaves,
autumn leaves, grass,
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coldness, the warmth,
the moon,
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We tell our time based a little bit
on what happens in nature.
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The moss starts to be different,
the color, the leaves,
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the animals, the different birds,
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come around late spring,
you hear a cuckoo bird,
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[sounds of cuckoo]
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and you know, you don't even have to
call what season,
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you just know, "Ah, that's a....."
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and we also see the farmers,
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so we keep time a little bit based
on the actual vines, the grape vines,
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the cycle of making wine.
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and it's quite quick.
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Now, as the new year comes,
they will start to come out,
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and start to clip,
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and soon, it will [phuip],
and then leave 1, and then...
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and all of a sudden, spring,
and then summer,
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so we actually, instead of
looking at a calendar,
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we look at the grape vines,
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as we drive back and forth
between New Hamlet and Lower Hamlet.
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And also the sunflowers,
the wheat,
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So it's a kind of rhythm
that we find here when we live here,
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year-round and many years.
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It's a very natural rhythm
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So every time we have to do this
'changing the clock',
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it just feels very,
"gosh, who made this up?"
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We also have retreat-seasons,
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summer is where we have our
festival-season,
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children come
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and many, many people
from many countries come.
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We have spring and autumn,
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when the monks and nuns
fly away like birds
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they go to different countries,
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and they share the practice
with many people around the world.
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And then, winter time.
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We copy the trees,
we let go of our leaves
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and we come back to what is most essential
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so we watch nature,
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and we, in a way,
mimick nature.
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Not just the time but --
it's a habit
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It's a lot of wisdom.
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You live around nature
and you pay attention
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even a little flower pot,
we take care of it.
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Year round, you begin to understand
something about that flower
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These are the kind of rhythms
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that we are used to in Plum Village.
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So, when it comes New Year,
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we do kind of pretend
"ok, let's call it New Year"
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we even have a
non-alcoholic kind of...
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and we celebrate you and..,
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but luckily we don't have a hang-over
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The monks, we celebrate,
we go in a brother's room,
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and we gather and we drink,
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yes, we do drink.
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But it's so nice, we get all the brothers,
and we're aware of each other,
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and we're aware of our happiness,
we're not lost in some kind of
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mental confusion.
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But we do laugh a lot,
and we do celebrate,
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so it does look like we're drunk,
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I call it 'Dharma drunk'
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So I share with you a little bit
about some of the things that happen here,
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and it's nice,
it's nice to celebrate,
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to make a moment special,
and call it 'New Year' and get together
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and we celebrate our life together.
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And we're very happy that
you've come to join us
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and support and be with us
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to gather this energy
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When I lived in Deer Park Monastery,
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we also celebrate Christmas and New Year's
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and sometimes we get news
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of all the tragedy that happens
around this holiday season
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It's quite sad to find this kind of news
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especially when people celebrating
the New Year, their life, their family
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accidents because of alcohol
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as well as people become very violent
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so this is something for you,
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to come here to generate the peace
and calm and compassion,
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it's wonderful for the world.
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You're not just coming here to take refuge
from all the craziness,
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but you're also here
to send that energy out
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for those people who are unfortunate
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I know there are many teachers here,
gathered with us this week,
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I just want to acknowledge
and thank you for being teachers.
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Our teacher loves teachers,
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he even wrote a calligraphy
that has teachers on it.
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He doesn't write 'happy businessmen
can change the world'
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He writes
'happy teachers change the world'
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He doesn't write
'happy monks change the world'
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Not that we're jealous or envy you,
but, I have to say,
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our teacher understands the importance
of what you're doing,
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your dedication,
although you might not feel that
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from society and from other people,
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but how you affect the student, is..
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you're in such a position
to really transmit compassion,
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love, peace,
patience, kindness.
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We're also aware of this.
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In a way, monks and nuns,
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we're also in the role of
having to hold a class
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or hold an audience,
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so, how we emit ourselves is important.
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So, for you to dedicate yourself
for one week, to come here,
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to take care of yourself,
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so that you can take care of your student,
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I know it's tough,
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I have a brother and a sister-in-law
who are teachers,
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and it's very hard.
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They sometimes want
to change careers or something,
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because it's so difficult,
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but luckily, they continue to affect.
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My brother's very patient, very kind,
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so I keep encouraging him,
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and I'm very grateful that he's a teacher.
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So today I teach a little bit
surrounding the theme of renewal
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I think there's a kind of tradition
around New Year's
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to have an aspiration.
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People make fun of it,
they say you have an aspiration,
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but the rest of the year
you don't remember it.
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That's what I remember
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For me, when it comes
to this time of year
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or the season of winter,
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it's a comtemplation I like to touch,
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a practice I like to touch,
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it's a renewal,
I have to renew my practice.
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So this is the wisdom of nature,
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it knows how to renew itself.
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You look at any living thing,
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a plant,
grass,
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it has a cycle renewal
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and we, as human beings,
as animals,
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we also are part of that natural system.
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So we need to find a way
to renew ourselves.
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This is something we've lost touch with
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as we've become very organized
and very civilized
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We have many things
that try to keep us very ...
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I was telling my brother
about the alarm clock,
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it's such an artificial thing.
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It wakes you up, it yells at you,
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and you wake up..
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so we train ourselves
with these kind of rhythms.
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You live around the monastery
long enough...,
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some of us can find a rhythm,
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and we wake up naturally
with the earth and with the day.
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So this is the subject of renewal
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When we look at our society,
I think, many of you are here,
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and you might agree that the way
we've organized our society
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is a little bit off.
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I don't know,
maybe that's why you're here
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this is kind of like a refuge.
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Many of you are stressed,
at lunch time on arrival day
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and the lay friends who just came,
stand up to share why they're here
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the monks,
we love to hear it,
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because we say
"wow, we're in the right place"
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So you remind us every time
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the way we organize our society is,
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we have to re-look at it.
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We've separated our families
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every one is living in little pockets,
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there's no community.
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So we isolate ourselves,
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as well as the busy-ness,
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the scheduling of our society.
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I come home and visit,
and I see the families now
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they organize even the weekend
for their children,
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you know, they have soccer,
piano, ballet,
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extra reading.
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Even the weekend, the mother
has to drive the child to this place,
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and the father drives
the other child to that place.
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So even when they're little,
4 or 6 years old, they're already....
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you know, very quick.
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So our life,
the way we've organized is quite..
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we're always in a rush,
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and we feel like
we don't have enough time.
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I remember when I was working
in the city of Los Angeles,
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and I would see a friend,
a colleague at the grocery store,
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and we don't talk to each other,
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but we say "email me"
or "see you later",
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"I'll catch you later!"
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And I never forget that,
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it's a habit,
you see someone in the street,
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you say "I love to get ahold of"
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"let's, let's have a ...."
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You make an appointment, later,
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rather than actually meeting them.
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Do you know this? Yeah.
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That's the city...
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You feel like you don't have enough time,
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it's like "I don't have time for you
right now, but let's email each other",
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or now, "let's text".
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So the energy is quite..,
we feel like we don't have enough time,
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and this is a real tragedy,
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to go very quick
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and you'll be in your '60s
and '70s and '80s,
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so this is something we need to look at.
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I'm not saying to change it now,
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I'm just reflecting.
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We have to look deeply
where we're at, as a society
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and not just to accept it.
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So this is a kind of suffering
and we need to look at it.
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We also have to look at the way we...
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.. kind of lost touch with
a kind of spiritual life.
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Most of our year, we schedule it
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towards means of making a living, working,
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even going on vacation,
it's a kind of work, it's busy
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and you don't even find relief
or relaxation from that.
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I see this in families, even in vacation.
00:17:30.386 --> 00:17:34.835
So, coming to Plum Village,
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you're able to touch something different,
a different order,
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a different way of organizing.
00:17:44.847 --> 00:17:49.439
This is something that Thay envisioned
for Plum Village,
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a refuge for people,
to come and to renew themselves.
00:17:56.900 --> 00:18:00.484
First he envisioned it
for the social workers
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that were helping him
during the time of war.
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He envisioned a place he called
not Plum Village, but "Persimmon Village".
00:18:14.385 --> 00:18:18.992
He knew that you needed to come back
and to take care of your spirit
00:18:22.350 --> 00:18:26.657
The church used to do that,
and the temples used to do that,
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and we need to renew this,
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so that it becomes a place
where people can find peace,
00:18:35.022 --> 00:18:38.165
find compassion,
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so that they can take care
of their suffering
00:18:42.187 --> 00:18:43.604
This dimension in us,
00:18:44.263 --> 00:18:48.438
because we've become too,
kind of, religious
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even in the Buddhist temple.
00:18:52.043 --> 00:18:55.723
I grew up, young, in my youth,
I went to the temple,
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but it was just like Sunday temple,
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like Sunday church,
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you go,
you do your thing,
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and then, you know,
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you're a good Buddhist,
00:19:09.102 --> 00:19:12.769
and then you go eat
in a restaurant
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I only went because my parents said
00:19:16.537 --> 00:19:18.658
"I'll take you to a restaurant afterwards"
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And we ate beef stew, you know.
00:19:27.116 --> 00:19:31.608
So that's for me,
as a young man I didn't understand
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what the temple was helping because..
00:19:39.252 --> 00:19:42.862
it was not helping my mother,
it was not helping my father get along.
00:19:44.317 --> 00:19:49.755
It was not helping them
touch a deeper cause,
00:19:49.896 --> 00:19:51.394
a deeper meaning in their life,
00:19:51.764 --> 00:19:54.179
and how to actually deal
with each other, too.
00:19:56.581 --> 00:20:00.699
So the role of a spiritual guide,
a spiritual community
00:20:00.987 --> 00:20:03.938
has lost its place in our society.
00:20:06.819 --> 00:20:09.002
Now we have therapists,
00:20:10.658 --> 00:20:13.161
we have practice centers.
00:20:13.455 --> 00:20:16.163
Luckily, now we're beginning
to have practice centers.
00:20:17.041 --> 00:20:20.696
I don't know much about the Jewish
or the Christian tradition,
00:20:20.696 --> 00:20:23.881
whether they have practice centers,
I imagine they do,
00:20:25.766 --> 00:20:30.302
but at least I'm aware of places
where people can go and retreat,
00:20:31.776 --> 00:20:35.627
and find their spirit, their heart again,
00:20:36.637 --> 00:20:38.718
renew themselves.
00:20:39.014 --> 00:20:40.706
Renew their spirit.
00:20:48.258 --> 00:20:51.419
So the way we have divided
00:20:52.927 --> 00:20:57.009
the spiritual practice
and our other pursuits,
00:20:58.077 --> 00:20:59.531
is a kind of tragedy.
00:20:59.968 --> 00:21:02.768
You hear the word 'secular',
secularizing things,
00:21:03.946 --> 00:21:05.729
or separating things,
00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:11.236
and we have to look at this
00:21:12.566 --> 00:21:17.082
We have to find a way
to touch a deeper spirituality
00:21:17.096 --> 00:21:18.913
that is not religious.
00:21:21.081 --> 00:21:24.964
I think you know what I mean
if you read some of Thay's books.
00:21:25.779 --> 00:21:27.731
And this is Thay's whole life,
00:21:28.348 --> 00:21:31.868
trying to extract
from the Buddhist teaching
00:21:33.419 --> 00:21:39.149
and bring out the practices
and the teachings that can help people.
00:21:40.350 --> 00:21:43.398
No matter what background you come from.
00:21:45.323 --> 00:21:49.488
And when I found Thay,
he helped me find my heart,
00:21:50.355 --> 00:21:52.733
my spirit,
find my roots,
00:21:54.465 --> 00:21:59.160
and I would say,
Thay saved me from being lost,
00:22:00.824 --> 00:22:04.262
being a "hungry ghost", they call it,
00:22:05.107 --> 00:22:07.114
always looking for things,
00:22:07.493 --> 00:22:09.978
sensual pleasure, looking for fame,
00:22:10.334 --> 00:22:16.251
looking for things, cds,
computers, laptops, gadgets...,
00:22:17.828 --> 00:22:21.066
partnerships, relationships,
00:22:22.566 --> 00:22:23.416
praise,
00:22:23.606 --> 00:22:28.387
these things don't fill the heart
of a hungry ghost.
00:22:30.924 --> 00:22:36.442
So when I found Thay's teachings,
he taught me the practice of coming back,
00:22:36.442 --> 00:22:38.668
and touching our suffering.
00:22:38.955 --> 00:22:41.674
Breathing,
being with our suffering.
00:22:43.413 --> 00:22:49.575
He's the one that helped me stop,
recognize and accept my suffering.
00:22:51.844 --> 00:22:54.036
I remember crying,
00:22:54.045 --> 00:22:57.379
many of you probably remember
yourself crying, too
00:22:57.379 --> 00:22:59.808
and don't know why,
but it just keeps coming
00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:03.399
As a young man,
it was the first time I cried
00:23:03.494 --> 00:23:06.134
because I hold it too long, you know..?
00:23:08.989 --> 00:23:13.204
I think it's something
many of us have touched
00:23:17.747 --> 00:23:21.055
I think many of you here,
you've touched that.
00:23:21.747 --> 00:23:23.547
This is something wonderful.
00:23:30.097 --> 00:23:34.885
In the theme of renewal,
we also need to renew our practice.
00:23:36.807 --> 00:23:41.233
So now that we're here and have come
to the Sangha, to the Dharma,
00:23:41.615 --> 00:23:45.627
to the practice, through a Youtube-video,
a book or something,
00:23:46.426 --> 00:23:48.678
we have touched a little bit
of the practice
00:23:49.714 --> 00:23:51.497
But we need to continue,
00:23:52.891 --> 00:23:54.889
this is very important,
00:23:56.002 --> 00:23:58.979
because everything is impermanent,
00:23:59.049 --> 00:24:01.037
your practice is impermanent.
00:24:03.350 --> 00:24:06.758
We have many new monks and nuns,
just ordained,
00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:10.865
you look into their faces,
they're very bright,
00:24:10.885 --> 00:24:12.595
they're like a new flower.
00:24:13.431 --> 00:24:15.363
They're just - open.
00:24:16.283 --> 00:24:19.903
Hasn't fully bloomed and is ready to wilt,
but is just...
00:24:21.491 --> 00:24:23.774
that is the beginner's mind.
00:24:24.809 --> 00:24:29.188
That is the mind of love,
that is the mind of freshness.
00:24:30.170 --> 00:24:33.129
And as a practitioner,
when you've first read that book,
00:24:33.206 --> 00:24:35.583
or that chapter,
or you saw that video,
00:24:38.515 --> 00:24:41.316
it's that kind of ..,,
very invigoring,
00:24:41.522 --> 00:24:43.254
very fresh and it gives you, "wow",
00:24:44.996 --> 00:24:47.140
Or when you've found relief
from your suffering
00:24:48.122 --> 00:24:51.966
it lightens your shoulder
and you feel more open to your loved ones
00:24:52.441 --> 00:24:54.129
to your father, to your mother,
00:24:56.484 --> 00:25:00.392
that is the beginner's mind,
that's the mind of love.
00:25:02.125 --> 00:25:04.641
And that also is impermanent
00:25:06.393 --> 00:25:11.299
So the practice is to learn from nature
and learn how to renew it
00:25:15.476 --> 00:25:21.021
So, the breathing is one way
we can renew our practice
00:25:22.383 --> 00:25:23.722
We take a breath.
00:25:25.797 --> 00:25:30.525
You see, in the very moment
we can refresh
00:25:30.742 --> 00:25:34.967
Let's just take one breath right now
in mindfulness
00:25:36.989 --> 00:25:39.540
and you see the effect on your mind.
00:25:41.433 --> 00:25:43.006
One deep breath,
00:25:44.693 --> 00:25:46.593
we take a moment,
00:26:18.106 --> 00:26:22.154
So, when we come to the monastery,
we learn a practice
00:26:22.189 --> 00:26:24.739
and we learn how to renew
our practice.
00:26:28.272 --> 00:26:33.675
Walking meditation is another way
for us to renew our practice,
00:26:36.198 --> 00:26:37.540
how to....
00:26:38.618 --> 00:26:44.439
as we practice, as the years go by,
you need to refresh it,
00:26:46.429 --> 00:26:50.400
and you have to find ways
to make it fresh again,
00:26:51.556 --> 00:26:55.174
very important,
we say "make it novel,"
00:26:55.405 --> 00:26:57.362
Thay is the master,
00:26:57.693 --> 00:27:02.833
he'd always surprise the monks
by changing a little bit of this or that.
00:27:03.963 --> 00:27:06.270
So we need to remember that.
00:27:06.826 --> 00:27:09.736
So if you already have
some sitting practice,
00:27:09.743 --> 00:27:13.974
don't do it just out of routine.
00:27:14.155 --> 00:27:18.155
When you sit, have clear intentions,
sit, and bring freshness,
00:27:19.093 --> 00:27:21.780
bring the mind of a beginner again.
00:27:22.731 --> 00:27:25.141
We have to find ways like that,
00:27:25.263 --> 00:27:27.449
with breathing, with walking
00:27:30.685 --> 00:27:36.216
and our body, we need to find ways
to renew our body,
00:27:37.235 --> 00:27:40.780
to pay attention to the rhythms
of our body,
00:27:41.302 --> 00:27:43.342
so mindfulness, aware of your body,
00:27:43.581 --> 00:27:45.784
when you're sitting or meditating,
00:27:46.124 --> 00:27:49.562
but also, aware of the rhythms of it,
00:27:51.288 --> 00:27:55.932
when it's in stress,
when is it in stress?
00:27:56.835 --> 00:27:59.563
when are you rushing?
00:28:00.265 --> 00:28:02.629
Our society has trained us so,
00:28:03.594 --> 00:28:07.000
that we've become disconnected
from our body.
00:28:10.502 --> 00:28:12.701
Some of you, who stay here long,
00:28:13.090 --> 00:28:16.775
you see, you can tell newcomers
to Plum Village,
00:28:17.717 --> 00:28:19.539
just by the way they move.
00:28:21.778 --> 00:28:23.255
The way they open the door,
00:28:23.632 --> 00:28:26.112
the way they put the cup down
in the tearoom,
00:28:29.055 --> 00:28:33.742
or the way they actually plug in
their headphones,
00:28:40.371 --> 00:28:43.971
because we have an energy in our body.
00:28:45.060 --> 00:28:47.198
So learning how to be in your body,
00:28:52.786 --> 00:28:57.034
when you're working on your computer,
when you're walking,
00:28:59.377 --> 00:29:01.388
when you're making a cup of tea,
00:29:03.585 --> 00:29:08.142
be aware, are you relaxed?
Are you tight?
00:29:11.359 --> 00:29:12.989
Another way of looking at it,
00:29:13.015 --> 00:29:15.397
are you spending more energy
than you need to?
00:29:16.710 --> 00:29:20.916
That question right there
has guided my practice.
00:29:22.159 --> 00:29:24.696
Now, when I'm washing something,
00:29:24.696 --> 00:29:27.393
I mean, do you need
to use all that energy?
00:29:29.630 --> 00:29:31.745
Do you know what I'm talking about?
00:29:34.292 --> 00:29:37.382
One I love to share is,
when you brush your teeth.
00:29:39.821 --> 00:29:42.371
I mean, there's only a few teeth,
and they're so small.
00:29:43.833 --> 00:29:47.814
And your brush is this small,
but you use enough energy
00:29:47.892 --> 00:29:50.074
to drive a crane, you know?
00:29:51.617 --> 00:29:55.514
So ask yourself, am I using
more energy than I need to?
00:29:56.649 --> 00:29:58.687
I hear some people walk...
00:29:59.344 --> 00:30:01.302
listen to their footsteps.
00:30:01.907 --> 00:30:03.830
Do you need to use that much energy?
00:30:04.834 --> 00:30:07.696
[crugh, crugh, crugh, crugh, crugh, crugh]
00:30:09.659 --> 00:30:11.464
sorry, I have special effects!
00:30:16.840 --> 00:30:21.210
I say this, because
I've wasted a lot of energy,
00:30:22.750 --> 00:30:25.434
Especially walking, and...
00:30:27.437 --> 00:30:29.806
and you get a back ache
and you get bone problems
00:30:29.844 --> 00:30:32.035
because of your posture
and the way you walk.
00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:38.423
So the practice of mindfulness
can help us be aware of our body
00:30:38.543 --> 00:30:41.203
and when it moves,
ask yourself:
00:30:42.801 --> 00:30:45.597
"Do I need to use all this energy?"
00:30:48.381 --> 00:30:52.447
That's a wonderful way of guiding it,
because we love to be efficient,
00:30:52.966 --> 00:30:57.589
so I'm making it so that
you have more motivation
00:30:58.191 --> 00:30:59.907
You don't want to waste energy,
00:30:59.919 --> 00:31:01.855
especially when you're a teacher, right?
00:31:01.956 --> 00:31:05.289
You know, when you're correcting something
you don't have to go phuit
00:31:06.819 --> 00:31:11.520
You just use 10%,
you don't have to use 80%!
00:31:13.689 --> 00:31:17.970
So I'm watering,
I'm challenging your efficiency
00:31:18.809 --> 00:31:20.743
Humans love to be efficient
00:31:23.607 --> 00:31:26.767
Mindfulness helps us not to waste energy.
00:31:29.503 --> 00:31:31.432
So, slowing down helps.
00:31:32.159 --> 00:31:35.365
Slowing down is not
the perfect and right way
00:31:35.767 --> 00:31:37.637
but slowing down helps.
00:31:38.208 --> 00:31:41.909
Because our society has pushed us
and we run
00:31:43.924 --> 00:31:46.742
Not just with our body but with our minds.
00:31:46.915 --> 00:31:48.936
So when we come here and we walk,
00:31:49.438 --> 00:31:52.477
when we do something,
just slow it down first.
00:31:53.720 --> 00:31:57.065
And when you begin to have
more awareness and concentration,
00:31:57.377 --> 00:31:59.657
then you do fast, slow,
00:32:00.564 --> 00:32:02.563
you don't waste energy.
00:32:03.940 --> 00:32:05.770
So this is another way of saying,
00:32:05.839 --> 00:32:07.269
just relax!
00:32:09.432 --> 00:32:11.448
You don't need to try so hard.
00:32:12.550 --> 00:32:15.079
So this is a body-practice
00:32:26.145 --> 00:32:28.262
One thing we also need to,
00:32:28.528 --> 00:32:31.757
these are habits we need to relook at
00:32:33.604 --> 00:32:37.716
One practice I like to look at
is my habits.
00:32:39.889 --> 00:32:42.140
We are, they say, creatures of habits.
00:32:42.977 --> 00:32:44.804
That's great, because it's true.
00:32:45.951 --> 00:32:48.572
So we have to look at
what kind of habits do we have?
00:32:50.246 --> 00:32:52.640
and when we look at other people's habits,
00:32:53.361 --> 00:32:55.252
we begin to see mine too.
00:32:57.118 --> 00:33:00.699
So we have a habit of
non-stop thinking,
00:33:00.699 --> 00:33:03.709
Thay would say NST,
Non-Stop Thinking.
00:33:03.709 --> 00:33:06.207
Thay made a radio show out of it.
00:33:07.530 --> 00:33:10.316
He said:"Turn off your NST radio",
00:33:13.263 --> 00:33:17.485
it is constantly emitting radio-waves,
thinking.
00:33:19.038 --> 00:33:20.893
So when we come to the practice center,
00:33:21.548 --> 00:33:25.316
the practice helps us
to just rest our thinking.
00:33:26.590 --> 00:33:29.760
This is another area
where we waste a lot of our energy.
00:33:31.588 --> 00:33:34.628
Thinking is ok, but there's a time for it
00:33:35.090 --> 00:33:37.636
and there's a time to just be..
00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:44.919
so we're so much trained
to always be thinking about something,
00:33:46.908 --> 00:33:49.556
so when we meditate, when we walk,
when we sit,
00:33:49.736 --> 00:33:51.870
when we enjoy a cup of tea,
00:33:52.274 --> 00:33:55.427
just be present with it
and don't think about it.
00:33:56.488 --> 00:33:59.758
You know, "where is this from,
what kind of, oh, you know like,
00:34:00.081 --> 00:34:04.421
what kind of ingredients,
is this bio, it comes from where?
00:34:10.673 --> 00:34:14.168
It's nice to be aware, but sometimes
that's just a habit.
00:34:14.401 --> 00:34:17.111
You know, everything you look at,
you have to know exactly
00:34:17.355 --> 00:34:20.796
where everything is, and you have to,
to constantly...
00:34:20.898 --> 00:34:22.818
that's a habit that we have.
00:34:24.081 --> 00:34:25.592
It's useful sometimes,
00:34:25.637 --> 00:34:28.444
but most of the time
it wastes a lot of energy.
00:34:30.552 --> 00:34:36.068
So renewing, reviving that habit.
00:34:39.256 --> 00:34:41.685
Being aware of these habits.
00:34:43.450 --> 00:34:45.973
We have a habit of reacting
00:34:48.220 --> 00:34:52.413
The practice,
mindfulness can help us react
00:34:54.424 --> 00:34:57.489
Someone drops something
in the dining-hall,
00:34:57.630 --> 00:34:58.952
maybe tonight,
00:35:00.028 --> 00:35:01.581
follow your breathing
00:35:05.724 --> 00:35:07.383
and then you can see your thinking mind
00:35:07.695 --> 00:35:10.606
"ah, I'm gonna find out who, what family,
who is that?"
00:35:17.862 --> 00:35:21.630
But what happens when you close your eyes
and you follow your breathing...
00:35:23.304 --> 00:35:25.728
you're free from having to think.
00:35:26.720 --> 00:35:29.542
And so, you know,
"oh, it's that woman again, jeez"
00:35:32.581 --> 00:35:36.186
you see? waste of energy.
React!
00:35:36.646 --> 00:35:41.802
This is a good place to train to react
because you get all kinds of people here.
00:35:42.825 --> 00:35:44.674
And they come from different cultures,
00:35:44.750 --> 00:35:46.629
and they have a different approach,
00:35:46.713 --> 00:35:50.084
so this is the U.N. of Mindfulness.
00:35:51.847 --> 00:35:53.356
This is a very...
00:35:54.652 --> 00:35:57.719
"you might like to do it that way,
but watch out!"
00:35:59.443 --> 00:36:01.228
So, when you hear the bell,
00:36:01.608 --> 00:36:04.039
it helps us stop and follow our breathing
00:36:05.323 --> 00:36:08.087
It's to help us train to not react.
00:36:10.188 --> 00:36:12.759
Come back,
enjoy the freedom
00:36:13.723 --> 00:36:15.402
of not having to look..
00:36:18.403 --> 00:36:19.671
wow!
00:36:21.672 --> 00:36:24.214
That is a freedom that you have
00:36:25.312 --> 00:36:27.173
we don't have to react
00:36:31.255 --> 00:36:35.027
We hear a sound,
we don't have to think
00:36:37.549 --> 00:36:39.521
that is a freedom.
00:36:41.797 --> 00:36:43.757
This is something that can be trained,
00:36:44.110 --> 00:36:47.118
that can be your tool.
00:36:49.093 --> 00:36:52.445
And as teachers, you need to train this.
00:36:53.078 --> 00:36:56.126
You need to come to a monastery
many, many times,
00:36:57.774 --> 00:37:00.400
or train at home with friends,
00:37:00.891 --> 00:37:03.440
because as a teacher
you're under a lot of stress,
00:37:03.774 --> 00:37:06.413
not just as teachers, but as human beings
00:37:07.201 --> 00:37:11.568
whether you're a mother or a father,
any field you're in
00:37:12.732 --> 00:37:15.763
I want to have a meditation one day,
00:37:16.206 --> 00:37:20.757
to have people gather around a table,
in a circle,
00:37:21.086 --> 00:37:23.624
and then you have a cup of orange juice,
00:37:24.607 --> 00:37:26.660
and everyone looking
at the cup of orange juice,
00:37:26.907 --> 00:37:29.059
and the table has to be really clean,
00:37:30.488 --> 00:37:33.042
and then I knock the orange cup over.
00:37:34.390 --> 00:37:36.163
And everyone just breathes...
00:37:40.111 --> 00:37:42.076
Wouldn't that be a great meditation?
00:37:42.140 --> 00:37:44.051
a kind of new, guided meditation?
00:37:51.058 --> 00:37:53.584
Because I learned that here, actually.
00:37:54.306 --> 00:37:57.898
I've never been to a place where
when someone drops a bowl of food,
00:37:58.888 --> 00:38:02.922
and the monks say
"Voilà! A flower!"
00:38:03.158 --> 00:38:07.344
First time I see that, I was like,
"What is wrong with this monk?"
00:38:09.572 --> 00:38:13.037
I was like, "Oh, they're just pretending,
they're really angry inside",
00:38:14.882 --> 00:38:17.640
but you see, it's true,
many people have this habit here,
00:38:17.724 --> 00:38:20.009
they celebrate when something goes wrong
00:38:22.563 --> 00:38:26.076
and so I want to make it
become a guided meditation.
00:38:27.775 --> 00:38:29.702
When something goes wrong,
00:38:32.037 --> 00:38:34.114
this is our society,
00:38:35.943 --> 00:38:38.282
they train us to react.
00:38:38.877 --> 00:38:41.818
You know, if you drive,
you're getting trained
00:38:42.616 --> 00:38:45.113
to be reactive, and to be judgmental,
00:38:46.013 --> 00:38:47.542
and to fight.
00:38:50.433 --> 00:38:52.900
I grew up in Los Angeles,
I know all about that.
00:38:55.270 --> 00:38:59.952
I had to make a game out of surviving
without being mean
00:39:01.291 --> 00:39:04.234
because the freeway makes you
become really mean.
00:39:06.370 --> 00:39:08.342
See how our society is great,
00:39:08.993 --> 00:39:12.527
it's better than the rat-experiment,
that's terrible.
00:39:14.471 --> 00:39:17.078
Sorry, I'm an architect,
I get to say that,
00:39:17.427 --> 00:39:19.565
I designed cities!
00:39:25.495 --> 00:39:28.027
Aware of this, we are very fortunate
00:39:28.529 --> 00:39:31.120
we have an opportunity.
00:39:36.432 --> 00:39:37.850
Routines, habits,
00:39:39.215 --> 00:39:41.854
routines, be careful of your routines,
00:39:44.628 --> 00:39:47.189
the clocks, the watches,
00:39:47.476 --> 00:39:53.128
calendars, the new, flick, touches,
00:39:54.714 --> 00:39:56.339
smart phones.
00:39:58.901 --> 00:40:01.282
They are taking over your life,
00:40:01.774 --> 00:40:03.613
and I just got one, so...
00:40:10.283 --> 00:40:16.257
I confess, the Sangha trusts me enough now
to see how I do that
00:40:17.775 --> 00:40:19.948
It stays right next to my bed
00:40:20.461 --> 00:40:23.029
and I'm learning
to become friends with it.
00:40:24.546 --> 00:40:27.505
But I see, it's slowly thinking
"come on...
00:40:29.575 --> 00:40:30.985
..come on!"
00:40:33.117 --> 00:40:34.291
It's great
00:40:36.738 --> 00:40:39.087
But you know
what I'm talking about, right?
00:40:39.693 --> 00:40:42.443
yeah, okay,
so I don't need to talk about that
00:40:46.010 --> 00:40:51.044
We're so organized, we're so efficient,
this is gonna be a good year
00:40:56.902 --> 00:41:00.597
(speaks Vietnamese)
00:41:03.807 --> 00:41:06.807
I'm just seeing what time I have to cook
00:41:12.550 --> 00:41:14.820
Another area we need to renew
00:41:15.512 --> 00:41:18.829
and to revisit and to reflect
is our stories,
00:41:20.239 --> 00:41:21.463
very important.
00:41:22.805 --> 00:41:25.070
The stories we tell our children,
00:41:25.509 --> 00:41:28.108
the stories we tell our students,
00:41:28.184 --> 00:41:30.305
the stories we tell ourselves.
00:41:32.508 --> 00:41:37.380
We are creatures of habits,
but we are also creatures of stories.
00:41:38.208 --> 00:41:42.275
We love "Who are you?"
and we tell a story.
00:41:44.951 --> 00:41:47.289
Be careful of our stories
00:41:51.639 --> 00:41:53.656
I grew up and
00:41:54.792 --> 00:41:56.924
I had a story I told about my family
00:41:57.372 --> 00:41:59.761
and my father and my mother,
00:42:01.126 --> 00:42:05.524
and my place in America,
American society,
00:42:06.161 --> 00:42:08.930
that caused me a lot of suffering
as a young man
00:42:10.340 --> 00:42:14.067
and I didn't know how to tell
a different story.
00:42:17.097 --> 00:42:20.647
So the practice of meditation,
sitting down,
00:42:22.220 --> 00:42:25.698
and breathing, and just clearing our mind,
00:42:27.484 --> 00:42:30.254
we begin to hear that story.
00:42:31.659 --> 00:42:34.476
You begin to hear it again and again,
00:42:36.739 --> 00:42:40.281
and you touch that suffering.
00:42:42.536 --> 00:42:45.450
And you begin to understand
where it comes from
00:42:47.033 --> 00:42:49.545
It comes because we won't let go,
00:42:51.326 --> 00:42:53.430
We won't let go of that story.
00:42:56.405 --> 00:42:59.251
We cause a lot of suffering
to those we love,
00:43:02.445 --> 00:43:08.264
so we need to relook at
how we can tell a different story
00:43:10.751 --> 00:43:12.909
a story that can open our heart,
00:43:14.156 --> 00:43:15.857
that can accept.
00:43:20.321 --> 00:43:22.105
I think, maybe you are here
00:43:22.548 --> 00:43:25.578
because you want to find
a new story for your life.
00:43:26.490 --> 00:43:29.121
Yes, things have happened in the past,
00:43:29.698 --> 00:43:32.816
yes, they might be like that,
00:43:34.645 --> 00:43:38.161
but when we can stop and
see the other person
00:43:39.196 --> 00:43:41.917
as someone who also suffers,
00:43:44.108 --> 00:43:47.847
we can begin to tell a different story
about them.
00:43:50.142 --> 00:43:53.069
Nobody wants to make another person suffer
00:43:54.707 --> 00:43:59.313
It's only because they suffer,
that they cause others to suffer.
00:44:02.287 --> 00:44:04.816
And when we can retell a story like that,
00:44:05.961 --> 00:44:08.009
the way we look at our past
00:44:08.571 --> 00:44:09.929
changes.
00:44:11.624 --> 00:44:15.889
This is the beauty I found
in Thay's teaching.
00:44:17.735 --> 00:44:20.762
You think the past cannot be changed?
00:44:22.759 --> 00:44:24.966
The past, we make up.
00:44:25.400 --> 00:44:27.030
You know your history books?
00:44:27.742 --> 00:44:29.649
It's all made up.
00:44:34.832 --> 00:44:40.758
So, find a way in the present moment
00:44:42.020 --> 00:44:44.634
to look at suffering,
00:44:45.471 --> 00:44:47.595
and to understand the root of it.
00:44:48.211 --> 00:44:50.967
That will free you from that story.
00:44:51.551 --> 00:44:55.647
This is something that helped me
become happier,
00:44:57.697 --> 00:45:02.298
less judgmental,
more kind,
00:45:03.888 --> 00:45:07.722
and more accepting of people
who are suffering.
00:45:09.757 --> 00:45:14.033
These are personal stories
with your loved ones,
00:45:15.579 --> 00:45:19.275
but they can also be stories
with other people.
00:45:22.152 --> 00:45:26.968
This is very important for people
who are in education,
00:45:27.798 --> 00:45:30.799
in media,
especially media now.
00:45:31.684 --> 00:45:36.480
Those of you who are in media,
please tell a different story.
00:45:37.795 --> 00:45:41.723
Stop watering the seed of discrimination,
00:45:42.093 --> 00:45:46.601
hatred,
other, us.
00:45:48.103 --> 00:45:51.149
You can write what happened,
but write in a way
00:45:51.424 --> 00:45:55.292
that waters the seed of understanding,
of compassion in people.
00:45:58.862 --> 00:46:04.382
Yes, there was terror,
there was injustice,
00:46:06.785 --> 00:46:10.938
but write that in a way that can open up
00:46:11.285 --> 00:46:14.710
and try to bring people together.
00:46:15.890 --> 00:46:20.753
Encourage them to look more deeply,
to listen more deeply.
00:46:23.396 --> 00:46:26.987
The news now is quite toxic,
00:46:27.111 --> 00:46:30.780
so we need to be very careful
when we open our internet.
00:46:33.019 --> 00:46:37.110
It could be something all around the world
that has nothing to do with us,
00:46:37.575 --> 00:46:44.043
but this morning it makes us frown,
hate, fear,
00:46:46.258 --> 00:46:48.489
and we move through our day like that
00:46:49.351 --> 00:46:53.545
So this is an area, media,
and in school as well.
00:46:55.232 --> 00:47:00.856
This is Thay's vision for relooking
at education and its purpose.
00:47:02.844 --> 00:47:06.922
You look at that textbook,
the history books, it's all about war
00:47:08.183 --> 00:47:11.452
about competition,
and this group and...
00:47:12.070 --> 00:47:15.389
we need to revisit,
we need to retell
00:47:15.692 --> 00:47:17.289
and teach different things:
00:47:17.331 --> 00:47:21.738
our relationship to Mother Earth,
to other cultures,
00:47:22.654 --> 00:47:24.255
we need to celebrate.
00:47:26.355 --> 00:47:29.533
We need to tell a different story
about our nation.
00:47:30.269 --> 00:47:32.317
Let's get rid of that!
00:47:33.081 --> 00:47:35.966
I know it helps to have things organized,
00:47:38.277 --> 00:47:42.686
but because we tell ourselves
we are from here, this group,
00:47:42.735 --> 00:47:44.172
from this nation,
00:47:44.858 --> 00:47:48.950
we're causing a lot of suffering.
00:47:51.898 --> 00:47:58.359
So this is something for the New Year
and for the time to come.
00:47:59.528 --> 00:48:03.743
If you're in that position,
of affecting other people,
00:48:04.349 --> 00:48:05.831
tell a different story.
00:48:05.894 --> 00:48:08.997
Even on a subway.
Something happened?
00:48:10.451 --> 00:48:14.763
You can, by the way you describe
these people around you,
00:48:16.075 --> 00:48:18.328
it can water the seed of understanding,
00:48:19.183 --> 00:48:21.228
and water the seed of kindness.
00:48:22.525 --> 00:48:24.182
So don't add to it,
00:48:24.787 --> 00:48:30.379
don't add to the separation
and discrimination,
00:48:32.785 --> 00:48:33.890
the fear.
00:48:35.386 --> 00:48:39.777
As a practitioner, this is our mission.
00:48:40.974 --> 00:48:42.393
We need to become..
00:48:44.410 --> 00:48:46.217
a different kind of storyteller.
00:48:47.325 --> 00:48:51.296
For ourselves, and for those
we come in contact with.
00:48:52.821 --> 00:48:59.523
There's is a Bodhisattva
who is, what he does,
00:49:01.899 --> 00:49:04.229
goes around thanking people.
00:49:04.530 --> 00:49:06.789
Thank you, you know,
you are very beautiful,
00:49:07.315 --> 00:49:09.652
you are a Buddha, you know that?
00:49:10.166 --> 00:49:12.127
You're the most wonderful person.
00:49:14.018 --> 00:49:15.655
And people don't accept it.
00:49:16.410 --> 00:49:19.289
They say "what are you talking about?
Get out of here! Are you crazy?"
00:49:22.125 --> 00:49:26.647
So we need that kind of Bodhisattva
in the world.
00:49:27.305 --> 00:49:33.775
Please tell people that they're ok,
they're accepted, just as they are.
00:49:35.386 --> 00:49:37.664
Tell them to accept themselves.
00:49:39.012 --> 00:49:41.813
This is our work as practitioners.
00:49:42.170 --> 00:49:45.847
When we practice, we find healing
for ourselves.
00:49:48.012 --> 00:49:52.773
When we waste less energy,
thinking and trying too hard
00:49:52.994 --> 00:49:54.840
and we have energy,
00:49:55.935 --> 00:49:58.374
we can be a refuge for others,
00:49:58.992 --> 00:50:00.575
our loved ones, our friends.
00:50:07.546 --> 00:50:10.134
As a society, we also need to renew
00:50:11.991 --> 00:50:16.903
and reflect, and change a little bit
our purpose, our dreams,
00:50:17.917 --> 00:50:21.369
this is the root of a lot of problems.
00:50:27.220 --> 00:50:29.015
Our family, we....
00:50:33.046 --> 00:50:37.342
we had to leave Vietnam
because of war,
00:50:38.544 --> 00:50:40.571
because of ideology,
00:50:41.030 --> 00:50:43.852
communists,
democracy,
00:50:47.816 --> 00:50:50.431
In a way I like to describe
my family like this:
00:50:50.680 --> 00:50:53.860
my father, he is Chinese,
he had to escape China
00:50:54.900 --> 00:50:57.847
because of war, revolution,
00:50:59.824 --> 00:51:03.020
and then he had to escape Vietnam,
00:51:05.350 --> 00:51:07.380
another war,
00:51:08.548 --> 00:51:10.158
and then he came to America
00:51:11.236 --> 00:51:14.460
and now I continue,
I escaped to France.
00:51:18.103 --> 00:51:20.062
But it's a different kind of war.
00:51:21.648 --> 00:51:24.113
Politically speaking, it's kind of funny,
00:51:24.113 --> 00:51:26.201
because my dad escaped China
for communists,
00:51:26.360 --> 00:51:29.499
and then another communist system,
00:51:29.741 --> 00:51:32.105
so a lot of ideas, you know.
00:51:34.074 --> 00:51:39.003
But in America, my family came
and we were very poor,
00:51:39.807 --> 00:51:43.319
they didn't have anything.
We had to leave everything behind.
00:51:44.897 --> 00:51:48.026
And I remember, growing up in America,
00:51:48.289 --> 00:51:51.758
there's the American Dream.
00:51:54.500 --> 00:51:57.968
"Leave it to Beaver", I grew up with
this black&white show.
00:51:58.698 --> 00:52:01.218
"Leave it to Beaver",
and there's all these shows,
00:52:01.241 --> 00:52:06.556
that shows you family,
and it's like, it's great,
00:52:09.680 --> 00:52:11.787
happy, happy family
00:52:11.836 --> 00:52:13.716
you have everything.
00:52:14.356 --> 00:52:19.629
And then, as I grew up,
I learned the dream of having a house,
00:52:20.048 --> 00:52:24.321
a garage, actually two garages,
and a car.
00:52:27.781 --> 00:52:31.833
So these kind of dreams,
these kind of desires,
00:52:33.251 --> 00:52:38.143
we have to relook at them,
because our planet needs it,
00:52:39.173 --> 00:52:44.483
and other countries need for us
to renew our dream.
00:52:45.396 --> 00:52:51.120
It's not gonna work, sorry,
for us to have everything,
00:52:51.700 --> 00:52:54.480
and for everyone to have what we have,
00:52:54.836 --> 00:52:56.000
it's not gonna work.
00:52:56.329 --> 00:52:58.978
It's already hitting a limit.
00:53:01.033 --> 00:53:04.281
Having many things,
and being able to buy many things,
00:53:04.774 --> 00:53:08.276
having a bank account,
retirement plan,
00:53:09.782 --> 00:53:15.150
and all these things that,
as a monk, we have left,
00:53:16.669 --> 00:53:18.946
this is something we need to look at.
00:53:19.449 --> 00:53:22.977
And it's difficult, I know that
some of the things I'm bringing up,
00:53:23.314 --> 00:53:26.513
is hard, because you live in a society,
you have a family,
00:53:26.705 --> 00:53:28.055
you have to pay your bills,
00:53:29.354 --> 00:53:31.652
but I just invite you to look again,
00:53:32.989 --> 00:53:36.588
minimizing or moderating
a little bit
00:53:36.832 --> 00:53:39.422
of the material things we have.
00:53:39.655 --> 00:53:42.065
And Christmas is a great time
to look at that,
00:53:42.467 --> 00:53:46.759
Christmas and holiday,
they always have sales
00:53:47.635 --> 00:53:50.785
I told Dah Young,
don't we have some sales in the books?
00:53:51.490 --> 00:53:53.168
You know, a "buy one, get one free"?
00:53:54.677 --> 00:53:56.500
And he said "No, we don't have that".
00:53:59.376 --> 00:54:01.760
It was just my habit from Los Angeles,
00:54:01.983 --> 00:54:03.770
when it's holiday, it's about buying,
00:54:03.970 --> 00:54:09.311
it's not about coming in touch
with spiritual practice.
00:54:11.475 --> 00:54:15.490
So our culture of buying,
a culture of having many things,
00:54:16.797 --> 00:54:19.967
buying things and they're no longer useful
00:54:20.149 --> 00:54:21.813
or there's a new model
00:54:24.469 --> 00:54:28.257
Like, "there's a new model of this",
a new car,
00:54:30.947 --> 00:54:33.760
it doesn't work,
it's not working.
00:54:35.712 --> 00:54:41.086
So if you're a businessperson,
please help us with this aspect.
00:54:43.084 --> 00:54:50.335
And also, money. Our culture is so linked
with the value of things, money.
00:54:53.254 --> 00:54:57.907
We put prices on things,
and when we work, we get money,
00:54:57.969 --> 00:55:00.240
therefore we buy something,
then it's ours.
00:55:01.068 --> 00:55:06.218
Somehow this is not filling
the spiritual dimension,
00:55:06.298 --> 00:55:10.410
the spiritual dimension of your heart.
00:55:11.860 --> 00:55:16.726
This I share with you, having grown up
in the city and having worked,
00:55:17.902 --> 00:55:20.402
and this is one of my sufferings:
00:55:21.945 --> 00:55:25.482
getting a lot of things,
but really still feeling empty.
00:55:26.008 --> 00:55:29.142
In fact there's a relationship between
the more things you have,
00:55:30.269 --> 00:55:33.148
the more depression you'll get.
00:55:34.847 --> 00:55:36.518
That's weird, isn't it?
00:55:38.730 --> 00:55:41.671
Just think about it, having t-shirts.
00:55:42.082 --> 00:55:46.254
Have you had two t-shirts?
Or do you have two shoes?
00:55:47.960 --> 00:55:49.711
Or do you have one shoe?
00:55:50.841 --> 00:55:54.458
You're so happy.
And you do everything to...
00:55:56.021 --> 00:55:58.525
and you get another shoe,
and another shoe.
00:55:58.575 --> 00:56:00.657
Or another t-shirt, you get ten t-shirts,
00:56:01.824 --> 00:56:03.701
do you ever feel that?
00:56:03.989 --> 00:56:07.310
I had this experience, you...
just another shirt
00:56:09.661 --> 00:56:14.678
So there is a relationship,
this is just a very minor exemple,
00:56:15.544 --> 00:56:18.408
but you have to expand that.
This is our culture.
00:56:20.202 --> 00:56:22.368
Our materialistic culture.
00:56:22.705 --> 00:56:25.845
This is something we have to revisit.
00:56:30.182 --> 00:56:35.291
Wearing something out.
Or using something to its end.
00:56:36.792 --> 00:56:40.838
And valueing it for helping you,
so something very...
00:56:45.290 --> 00:56:48.839
That relationship you can look at.
00:56:50.461 --> 00:56:53.422
But I know that culture
is very hard to resist.
00:56:58.510 --> 00:57:03.454
Sometimes it helps us to have new things,
00:57:04.206 --> 00:57:10.599
so I want to say, don't become an ascetic
and become asteer and so on,
00:57:11.126 --> 00:57:17.358
but relook at it, in your life,
and see how that is playing out,
00:57:17.844 --> 00:57:19.230
it could be just habit.
00:57:19.880 --> 00:57:24.053
You're used to it, and society says it,
so you do it.
00:57:25.373 --> 00:57:29.105
A lot of advertisement,
they stimulate us to do these things.
00:57:30.592 --> 00:57:35.921
So this dream of having
material possessions,
00:57:37.999 --> 00:57:40.500
I think we have to teach young people
00:57:40.996 --> 00:57:46.369
to find different ways
to satisfy their lives.
00:58:29.424 --> 00:58:34.345
Another area we can look at to renew
00:58:36.304 --> 00:58:37.892
is our way of living.
00:58:39.088 --> 00:58:43.176
Our society is very isolating.
00:58:44.510 --> 00:58:48.550
I just met someone
whose son is in one country,
00:58:49.198 --> 00:58:51.446
and whose daughter is
in another country,
00:58:51.749 --> 00:58:54.250
and, as a grandmother,
she has to fly around now.
00:58:56.286 --> 00:59:01.298
We no longer live close,
we no longer live with support
00:59:04.396 --> 00:59:09.656
I think Thay's vision is
to restructure a little bit
00:59:10.260 --> 00:59:12.524
our family, our community,
00:59:12.829 --> 00:59:15.220
so even if you don't live
with your loved ones,
00:59:15.821 --> 00:59:18.578
you can find like-minded groups.
00:59:18.908 --> 00:59:22.546
Join a community,
a spiritual community to find support.
00:59:24.111 --> 00:59:30.525
This is something that can help us
stay on the path, stay sane,
00:59:31.985 --> 00:59:32.805
stay..
00:59:34.294 --> 00:59:35.921
stay free.
00:59:38.191 --> 00:59:42.427
It's Thay's vision to have
a practice community
00:59:43.339 --> 00:59:48.802
in every city. It's his life's work,
he built Plum Village,
00:59:50.030 --> 00:59:53.472
and this is a model for a role center,
00:59:55.971 --> 00:59:59.949
and because of Thay's virtue and practice
and compassion in his life,
01:00:01.462 --> 01:00:03.747
we've come and gathered here,
01:00:05.356 --> 01:00:10.204
and Thay now encourages us
to build a sangha,
01:00:10.660 --> 01:00:14.148
to build a community
wherever we go back to.
01:00:16.531 --> 01:00:20.476
So our practice is no longer
just for ourselves.
01:00:21.281 --> 01:00:23.269
Coming together, we support each other
01:00:23.556 --> 01:00:27.455
and that community becomes
a support group for others
01:00:28.214 --> 01:00:29.552
in the city.
01:00:30.826 --> 01:00:33.684
And I think, this is a way forward for us,
01:00:34.318 --> 01:00:36.467
to come together.
01:00:42.588 --> 01:00:48.115
How many of you are therapists?
Mental therapists, or
01:00:49.396 --> 01:00:53.552
psychotherapists?
Other therapists?
01:00:54.281 --> 01:00:55.932
Yoga-instructors?
01:00:56.725 --> 01:00:59.170
Wonderful.
So that's the body.
01:01:00.263 --> 01:01:02.673
How many of you are
fitness-trainers?
01:01:03.417 --> 01:01:05.596
You? Wonderful.
01:01:07.987 --> 01:01:10.632
There's also... Now they
have leadership trainings, right?
01:01:11.205 --> 01:01:13.408
How many of you are
in leadership training?
01:01:13.791 --> 01:01:16.387
You can admit it, come on.
One, allright.
01:01:17.068 --> 01:01:20.571
Wonderful.
How to succeed, yes.
01:01:21.797 --> 01:01:24.660
We need that, we need good leaders.
01:01:27.766 --> 01:01:30.820
I see more and more,
we need more therapists...
01:01:31.231 --> 01:01:34.865
we need more yoga-instructors,
we need more...
01:01:36.149 --> 01:01:37.556
places...
01:01:41.055 --> 01:01:42.192
and so
01:01:42.461 --> 01:01:49.746
The vision here is you can create
a community to play that role.
01:01:51.589 --> 01:01:53.624
To become the therapist.
01:01:57.634 --> 01:02:02.835
We had a psychiatrist come here,
make a presentation about what he does
01:02:04.369 --> 01:02:05.823
and he divided up:
01:02:06.572 --> 01:02:11.325
he said, behavior therapy, that has to do
with your behavior, your habits,
01:02:11.818 --> 01:02:16.072
and then, cognitive therapy, about the way
your mind thinks,
01:02:17.372 --> 01:02:19.609
and the new thing now is
01:02:20.253 --> 01:02:24.531
mindfulness based therapy.
01:02:26.206 --> 01:02:29.866
Mindfulness based cognitive therapy.
01:02:30.665 --> 01:02:33.501
That's great.
Some of you are in that program?
01:02:34.429 --> 01:02:35.440
Anyone?
01:02:37.986 --> 01:02:41.005
I think, Thay would add one to that,
01:02:41.495 --> 01:02:44.113
that's community based therapy.
01:02:46.218 --> 01:02:47.935
Do you see the vision?
01:02:48.584 --> 01:02:51.289
It's not just the psychiatrist
sitting there, saying:
01:02:51.494 --> 01:02:57.648
"Ok, tell me your story.
Yes, all of it, don't hide anything",
01:03:00.291 --> 01:03:02.002
one on one, right?
01:03:02.230 --> 01:03:06.230
Sorry, I've never been to a..
I don't mean to a...
01:03:06.723 --> 01:03:10.913
I hope it's not offending,
and I don't know the image now,
01:03:11.614 --> 01:03:13.913
how they do it, but it's one on one right,
01:03:14.744 --> 01:03:19.199
and it's private, closed door
and it's confidential
01:03:22.058 --> 01:03:26.204
In community based therapy,
there's no confidentiality.
01:03:28.295 --> 01:03:32.172
You sit here, you cry?
Everyone knows you're suffering!
01:03:41.963 --> 01:03:43.576
Thank you for laughing.
01:03:48.846 --> 01:03:52.746
I have to apologize, sometimes
I hope I'm not offending anyone.
01:03:53.971 --> 01:03:59.013
I have a side in me that likes to poke
fun at things, that's my habit.
01:04:02.560 --> 01:04:06.292
But community based therapy
is wonderful,
01:04:07.356 --> 01:04:09.326
this is what I'm learning here,
01:04:10.694 --> 01:04:15.478
and this is the power of
the collective healing,
01:04:16.352 --> 01:04:18.921
even without discussion.
01:04:19.715 --> 01:04:22.033
I don't need to know your history.
01:04:24.032 --> 01:04:26.311
The community doesn't need to know.
01:04:27.965 --> 01:04:31.296
But because you're here,
you practise within the community,
01:04:32.058 --> 01:04:34.345
the energy,
the collective energy
01:04:35.961 --> 01:04:37.531
is very powerful
01:04:37.837 --> 01:04:39.673
And you will become your therapist.
01:04:40.819 --> 01:04:42.729
That is the miracle.
01:04:44.456 --> 01:04:46.148
The practise of mindfulness
01:04:46.334 --> 01:04:48.391
can help you become your own therapist.
01:04:51.562 --> 01:04:53.271
You begin to understand yourself,
01:04:53.498 --> 01:04:55.518
you begin to have insight about yourself,
01:04:55.839 --> 01:04:58.104
that YOU light up.
01:05:00.056 --> 01:05:03.549
This is the power of the sangha.
01:05:06.015 --> 01:05:10.367
Being in the sangha, I've learned
many things about others,
01:05:10.862 --> 01:05:12.790
but a lot, I learned more about myself.
01:05:15.208 --> 01:05:19.102
And you can ask all the one year-
long termers here if it's true.
01:05:24.056 --> 01:05:29.125
Cause here, after a week you're still,
"Plum Village is great, you know,
01:05:29.844 --> 01:05:31.377
it's heaven", yeah?
01:05:33.719 --> 01:05:36.663
Oh-oh, some of you know what I mean, yeah?
01:05:38.431 --> 01:05:42.674
You stay for a month, "now we move you
to a room with four people,
01:05:42.918 --> 01:05:44.139
ten people", wow.
01:05:46.162 --> 01:05:48.198
Now the practise really begins.
01:05:49.068 --> 01:05:51.695
Therapy. The therapy begins.
01:05:54.735 --> 01:05:56.772
It's nice. You come here for a week
and you go home
01:05:56.953 --> 01:06:00.208
and you have such a beautiful memory
of Plum Village, oh!
01:06:01.732 --> 01:06:03.810
So you see where I'm talking
about therapy now?
01:06:04.145 --> 01:06:05.927
Community based therapy, yes.
01:06:08.762 --> 01:06:12.796
But there's a reward to that suffering.
01:06:14.456 --> 01:06:17.292
Living in a community,
being together,
01:06:18.517 --> 01:06:21.167
your suffering,
seeing other people suffer,
01:06:22.039 --> 01:06:23.359
seeing their breakthrough,
01:06:24.661 --> 01:06:27.398
feeling an opening
in another person,
01:06:28.486 --> 01:06:32.003
wow! You benefit from that.
01:06:33.944 --> 01:06:36.960
You know, when you see someone,
as monks and nuns,
01:06:38.050 --> 01:06:40.617
we love it when a practitioner
kind of like --
01:06:43.113 --> 01:06:44.728
they are free, you know?
01:06:45.024 --> 01:06:46.542
All of a sudden,
you can see it,
01:06:47.069 --> 01:06:49.799
in the way they walk,
the way they say hi to you,
01:06:50.569 --> 01:06:52.179
something they let go of.
01:06:53.815 --> 01:06:56.255
It's a knot, you know,
we call it 'internal knots'
01:06:57.387 --> 01:06:59.163
You come here,
and you're carrying a knot?
01:07:00.357 --> 01:07:01.719
We can smell it.
01:07:03.628 --> 01:07:06.792
Yeah. Of course, we're compassionate,
yes, sure,
01:07:14.816 --> 01:07:18.443
but we give you space,
we give you time
01:07:20.242 --> 01:07:22.232
but it is because we've been through that
01:07:22.840 --> 01:07:24.507
and it needs time, it needs space
01:07:25.349 --> 01:07:28.971
and this is the beauty of doing it
as a community.
01:07:30.167 --> 01:07:33.085
It's a miracle we cannot...
Just like the chanting.
01:07:35.023 --> 01:07:37.235
Chanting has nothing to do with thinking,
01:07:37.601 --> 01:07:40.619
storytelling or analyzing your history.
01:07:41.688 --> 01:07:42.740
It's energy.
01:07:44.040 --> 01:07:48.086
And this is the power
of the true mindfulness
01:07:49.029 --> 01:07:53.324
It's not about
psycho-analyzing you to death,
01:07:53.945 --> 01:07:57.230
it is for you to..
01:07:59.516 --> 01:08:03.357
so the basic practise of breathing,
walking, eating,
01:08:04.278 --> 01:08:06.580
laying down, opening the door,
01:08:08.255 --> 01:08:11.022
listening, being present,
01:08:11.813 --> 01:08:13.379
not reacting
01:08:13.874 --> 01:08:16.143
These are all opportunities for you to ...
01:08:17.886 --> 01:08:19.406
have an insight.
01:08:20.250 --> 01:08:22.243
When you wait in line, later tonight,
01:08:23.935 --> 01:08:25.393
it's an opportunity
01:08:26.413 --> 01:08:27.825
to be in a crowd,
01:08:28.677 --> 01:08:30.387
to be where there's a lot of people
01:08:31.275 --> 01:08:32.692
and feel safe.
01:08:33.223 --> 01:08:34.763
You feel, this is your family
01:08:34.959 --> 01:08:38.119
Everyone who comes here?
They have a little of suffering.
01:08:42.572 --> 01:08:45.213
But they're learning to be with it.
01:08:46.620 --> 01:08:48.363
So with your awareness,
01:08:49.778 --> 01:08:51.933
slowly, your fear, your anxiety,
01:08:53.204 --> 01:08:55.286
slowly, it melts.
01:08:57.128 --> 01:08:58.480
It can fall off
01:09:00.171 --> 01:09:06.660
This is the power of
community based therapy.
01:09:08.753 --> 01:09:10.713
So when we are aware of our steps,
01:09:13.728 --> 01:09:16.163
and people walking by, rushing,
01:09:17.398 --> 01:09:20.502
and we can walk and be free,
01:09:23.004 --> 01:09:25.159
and something happens.
01:09:26.506 --> 01:09:28.442
This is a very healing energy.
01:09:29.894 --> 01:09:31.564
Nobody gave it to you.
01:09:33.017 --> 01:09:34.727
You generate it yourself,
01:09:36.150 --> 01:09:38.526
and this is what we can train
01:09:39.063 --> 01:09:41.957
to do, to practise.
01:09:47.480 --> 01:09:49.834
So, as a society,
01:09:52.154 --> 01:09:54.774
we stress so much on competition.
01:09:56.274 --> 01:09:57.835
On competing.
01:10:01.168 --> 01:10:04.221
We're always comparing,
even when we're little, in school,
01:10:04.576 --> 01:10:07.617
A, A+, B, C,
D...
01:10:10.002 --> 01:10:12.344
we're already trained, right?
01:10:12.831 --> 01:10:18.470
In society, "how much do you make?
Oh.., oh...
01:10:24.270 --> 01:10:27.912
We look at your badge,
"PHD, oh! Wow!"
01:10:30.031 --> 01:10:32.177
We train like that, very...
01:10:33.976 --> 01:10:36.546
well, I trained like that, sorry
01:10:41.200 --> 01:10:44.224
So when we come together,
we learn a different way
01:10:44.947 --> 01:10:48.040
of working together,
cooperating,
01:10:51.104 --> 01:10:53.144
And helping another person
01:10:55.204 --> 01:10:57.294
is something wonderful.
01:10:57.864 --> 01:11:01.814
I know of a woman that came one time
to our monastery
01:11:02.961 --> 01:11:03.927
in Deer Park
01:11:05.875 --> 01:11:09.209
and in Dharma sharing, she said:
01:11:11.195 --> 01:11:15.224
"My great happiness, I have to say,
it's nothing much and please don't laugh..
01:11:16.235 --> 01:11:19.612
is when I was peeling the carrots
for the community,
01:11:21.000 --> 01:11:23.928
I realized I've never done anything
01:11:24.179 --> 01:11:25.383
for anyone
01:11:26.029 --> 01:11:28.001
without wanting recognition.
01:11:29.048 --> 01:11:32.515
And here I am, peeling a carrot,
and I don't know who's gonna eat it,
01:11:33.027 --> 01:11:34.335
but they're gonna be happy,
01:11:34.656 --> 01:11:36.842
and I'm so happy
to peel the carrots for them."
01:11:39.153 --> 01:11:41.518
And I was so, like, "really?"
01:11:43.575 --> 01:11:46.973
But she got her enlightenment
from peeling a carrot,
01:11:49.307 --> 01:11:51.910
because for the first time in her life
she did something,
01:11:53.004 --> 01:11:55.277
she shared that in her family life
01:11:56.239 --> 01:11:58.151
you always get a reward for something,
01:11:58.795 --> 01:12:00.534
and you have to be recognized.
01:12:01.041 --> 01:12:02.993
And when you do something,
everyone should know.
01:12:04.640 --> 01:12:07.418
It was something like that,
she was describing her childhood.
01:12:08.502 --> 01:12:11.599
So we're so trained
to, like, do something, and then
01:12:12.136 --> 01:12:13.579
"you guys see what I just did??"
01:12:16.074 --> 01:12:18.876
In community,
nobody cares.
01:12:27.203 --> 01:12:30.372
They do,
but if you care about it too much,
01:12:31.419 --> 01:12:32.737
you have to be careful.
01:12:33.817 --> 01:12:35.262
This is my training here,
01:12:35.917 --> 01:12:38.532
I washed the pots,
I shared this before,
01:12:38.725 --> 01:12:42.259
I was like, "you see, brother,
how much I cleaned the pots?
01:12:42.315 --> 01:12:44.004
They're all clean, you know?"
01:12:44.211 --> 01:12:46.545
And he was like,
"oh, you're wasting your energy,
01:12:46.633 --> 01:12:48.116
why do you do that?"
01:12:49.613 --> 01:12:51.922
And I was very angry for
a week or two.
01:12:53.646 --> 01:12:56.171
So, not all monks and nuns
are like that, actually,
01:12:56.517 --> 01:12:58.833
they're much more compassionate.
01:13:00.810 --> 01:13:02.772
But when we practise in a community,
01:13:02.954 --> 01:13:08.081
we get an opportunity to be kind
for kindness-sick.
01:13:10.065 --> 01:13:12.596
People share this all the time
when they come here.
01:13:13.255 --> 01:13:14.606
They do little things,
01:13:15.494 --> 01:13:18.821
like, someone went
and collected all the cups,
01:13:21.001 --> 01:13:22.571
and put them back,
and he shared,
01:13:23.723 --> 01:13:25.384
at the end of our gathering here,
01:13:27.097 --> 01:13:30.459
how much happiness that was
for him to just do that.
01:13:32.291 --> 01:13:34.624
So in the community
01:13:36.700 --> 01:13:38.958
we learn again our habits.
01:13:40.947 --> 01:13:43.277
We learn to train new ways of looking.
01:13:46.633 --> 01:13:49.256
But it's not all success,
01:13:50.290 --> 01:13:51.996
there's also challenges,
01:13:53.575 --> 01:13:59.208
this is where transformation
for the healing is possible.
01:14:01.265 --> 01:14:04.440
From the community,
we also learn to exchange
01:14:04.949 --> 01:14:07.384
and harmonize ideas, views.
01:14:08.377 --> 01:14:10.088
So we learn to live
01:14:11.619 --> 01:14:12.952
in harmony.
01:14:13.829 --> 01:14:15.870
Even with different viewpoints,
01:14:17.037 --> 01:14:20.016
and this is what's wonderful
about sangha.
01:14:22.742 --> 01:14:26.247
Because the spiritual practise
helps us to let go.
01:14:29.041 --> 01:14:32.172
Because we see those who don't let go,
01:14:32.268 --> 01:14:36.480
and we see ourselves
when we don't let go of our viewpoints,
01:14:38.427 --> 01:14:40.743
the suffering we cause to other people,
01:14:40.836 --> 01:14:43.014
and the suffering we cause to ourselves.
01:14:45.343 --> 01:14:47.373
Taking refuge in the community,
01:14:47.584 --> 01:14:50.363
we need to renew it
over and over again.
01:14:52.380 --> 01:14:54.332
Not just every New Year,
01:14:57.127 --> 01:14:59.212
but every day, every week.
01:14:59.477 --> 01:15:02.598
Every moment
is an opportunity for us
01:15:05.131 --> 01:15:07.268
so making the practise...
01:15:07.547 --> 01:15:09.694
you know, when we first came here,
"wow!"
01:15:10.810 --> 01:15:12.188
Some of us who stay here long,
01:15:15.134 --> 01:15:16.421
they can deteriorate
01:15:17.030 --> 01:15:20.733
and I speak this for those of us
who stay here long:
01:15:22.721 --> 01:15:27.086
please find ways
to renew your practise,
01:15:28.466 --> 01:15:31.044
to renew your refuge in the community.
01:15:38.489 --> 01:15:41.763
And the renewal,
and what is an obstacle,
01:15:42.817 --> 01:15:46.066
I recognize this
because we hold on to something.
01:15:46.829 --> 01:15:49.455
It's permanent,
but we don't let it flow.
01:15:51.116 --> 01:15:54.683
You know, our mind is composed
of our feelings, our perceptions,
01:15:55.322 --> 01:15:57.756
our thoughts and ideas,
01:15:59.674 --> 01:16:02.406
and many times when we don't let it flow,
01:16:03.198 --> 01:16:06.982
we cannot renew,
it's because we hold on to it.
01:16:08.141 --> 01:16:09.749
Again that internal knot.
01:16:12.828 --> 01:16:15.783
This is very important in our practise.
01:16:18.781 --> 01:16:20.411
In Plum Village here,
01:16:24.195 --> 01:16:27.307
we have many opportunities
01:16:29.125 --> 01:16:32.371
for you to come and take refuge
for a week.
01:16:34.004 --> 01:16:38.093
We also make opportunities
for young people to stay here long term
01:16:39.919 --> 01:16:43.689
It's so that they can touch
something deeper and deeper
01:16:44.225 --> 01:16:47.725
beyond just the one week
honeymoon-mindfulness.
01:16:49.742 --> 01:16:51.627
There's also a mature mindfulness,
01:16:52.435 --> 01:16:55.560
and you in relationships,
you know what I mean, you know.
01:16:56.109 --> 01:16:59.003
After the honeymoon,
there is the maturity,
01:17:00.913 --> 01:17:02.505
the ripening, right?
01:17:02.816 --> 01:17:05.345
The challenges, the suffering,
and overcoming it.
01:17:06.227 --> 01:17:07.819
It's the same with a community.
01:17:09.407 --> 01:17:12.842
We have to find ways to refresh
our way of looking at each other
01:17:14.843 --> 01:17:16.420
refresh our practise.
01:17:22.220 --> 01:17:24.596
So I'll end here with this
01:17:25.563 --> 01:17:29.474
encouraging us all
to go home and
01:17:29.968 --> 01:17:31.915
build community.
01:17:34.330 --> 01:17:39.090
A community that has a spiritual practise
as the base.
01:17:41.060 --> 01:17:45.034
There's a lot of intentional communities
and good causes,
01:17:46.026 --> 01:17:47.935
that come together for good causes,
01:17:48.631 --> 01:17:52.361
but without a spiritual practise
as a foundation,
01:17:54.363 --> 01:17:55.590
it's very difficult.
01:17:56.215 --> 01:17:58.617
And when I say spiritual foundation,
it's not religious.
01:18:00.814 --> 01:18:03.479
Spirituality here
is the mindfulness practise
01:18:04.487 --> 01:18:08.328
of coming back to oneself
and touching our suffering.
01:18:09.856 --> 01:18:11.701
recognizing the suffering in others,
01:18:12.698 --> 01:18:15.018
practise of letting go of our ideas,
01:18:16.630 --> 01:18:19.255
letting go of our ego, our self.
01:18:20.168 --> 01:18:24.694
Spirituality is not like, you know...
Buddha, or God,
01:18:25.035 --> 01:18:29.401
spirituality here is the virtuous practise
01:18:30.984 --> 01:18:33.093
patience, kindness,
01:18:33.547 --> 01:18:35.410
especially, letting go.
01:18:38.350 --> 01:18:45.438
This is one of the precious stages
of the practise,
01:18:45.660 --> 01:18:47.450
the letting go.
01:18:48.576 --> 01:18:52.219
Even the most important, because....
01:18:53.878 --> 01:18:55.161
and it frees you.
01:18:59.123 --> 01:19:02.190
There are many sanghas around the world,
01:19:02.839 --> 01:19:05.263
and there's also Wake Up community,
01:19:05.951 --> 01:19:07.974
for young people to take refuge in.
01:19:09.641 --> 01:19:15.159
We encourage the teachers to find ways
to build community in your own school.
01:19:16.318 --> 01:19:18.847
And you don't have to call it by any name.
01:19:20.659 --> 01:19:24.982
If you come more and more often
to our center,
01:19:25.282 --> 01:19:27.425
you begin to see what is the essence,
01:19:30.116 --> 01:19:32.020
"what are they doing here?"
01:19:32.853 --> 01:19:35.335
Mindfulness practise, stopping,
01:19:35.707 --> 01:19:37.222
coming back to one's self,
01:19:39.053 --> 01:19:40.860
brotherhood and sisterhood,
01:19:42.095 --> 01:19:44.072
you recognize schedules,
01:19:45.568 --> 01:19:48.455
and also very important is
the mindfulness training
01:19:49.511 --> 01:19:52.672
Mindfulness training,
a kind of a guideline
01:19:53.530 --> 01:19:55.487
to guide the community.
01:19:59.098 --> 01:20:04.124
These are ethical guidelines
to keep us balanced.
01:20:07.841 --> 01:20:11.656
with the way the society encourages us.
01:20:12.072 --> 01:20:13.654
It's a kind of balance,
01:20:15.010 --> 01:20:16.186
to protect life,
01:20:20.910 --> 01:20:24.257
to help us touch true happiness,
true love.
01:20:30.089 --> 01:20:34.933
I just want a plug-in there for us
to those out there who can help us,
01:20:36.474 --> 01:20:38.871
I think for the next level
of sangha building,
01:20:39.793 --> 01:20:41.861
how many of you belong to a Sangha?
01:20:44.405 --> 01:20:45.507
Wonderful.
01:20:47.682 --> 01:20:52.019
I just want to encourage you
to continue that,
01:20:54.928 --> 01:21:01.386
and Thay envisioned a sangha
as a mindfulness practice center
01:21:02.686 --> 01:21:07.981
that is not 'buddhist'-framed,
01:21:10.629 --> 01:21:12.650
more universal
01:21:14.560 --> 01:21:18.527
and to create that place
in an urban environment.
01:21:19.282 --> 01:21:21.863
This is something I just want to share,
01:21:24.282 --> 01:21:29.873
to share kind of my wish,
a little bit, a desire
01:21:30.389 --> 01:21:35.148
to have in every city,
an urban practice center.
01:21:35.787 --> 01:21:37.879
So young people can take refuge.
01:21:38.085 --> 01:21:42.595
Because not everyone can afford
to go out,
01:21:44.510 --> 01:21:51.058
and having a place for regular meetings,
regular gatherings,
01:21:52.426 --> 01:21:56.512
right in the city, accessible
for the young people and for everyone
01:22:01.339 --> 01:22:05.214
and how to make it
so a sangha becomes your right livelihood.
01:22:08.263 --> 01:22:12.649
How do you say, make it so
you don't have to hold another job.
01:22:13.027 --> 01:22:17.723
What if sangha, and running the sangha,
and organizing the sangha
01:22:18.920 --> 01:22:20.385
is your life?
01:22:23.449 --> 01:22:26.264
You don't have to work a job
that you don't like
01:22:27.666 --> 01:22:30.033
so if you're a yoga-instructor,
01:22:32.838 --> 01:22:35.240
a health-something therapist,
01:22:35.634 --> 01:22:38.810
get together and make it
become a center.
01:22:41.268 --> 01:22:44.221
And then financially sustainable as well.
01:22:45.272 --> 01:22:46.910
With simple living of course,
01:22:47.442 --> 01:22:51.318
you don't want to be driving Lexus
and having...
01:22:52.339 --> 01:22:54.852
just living a simple life.
01:22:55.426 --> 01:22:58.268
And if you like to live in the urban city,
great.
01:23:00.452 --> 01:23:03.985
So the vision is, having a center there,
01:23:04.476 --> 01:23:08.381
and it's a full-time sangha community
living there.
01:23:09.862 --> 01:23:12.689
Like ten people running the place,
01:23:13.543 --> 01:23:17.250
having places for the young people
to take refuge in.
01:23:18.440 --> 01:23:21.940
Every weekend, free,
anyone can come,
01:23:22.703 --> 01:23:24.640
offering workshop, meditation,
01:23:26.231 --> 01:23:30.045
so we're gonna put out of business
all the therapists,
01:23:30.643 --> 01:23:33.055
community based therapists, yeah?
01:23:33.640 --> 01:23:35.668
In fact, all the therapists should do this
01:23:37.715 --> 01:23:40.053
because people are wasting too much,
01:23:42.238 --> 01:23:45.168
it costs a lot, right, to get therapy,
01:23:45.904 --> 01:23:48.208
I hear people pay lots of money
to go to therapy
01:23:49.650 --> 01:23:53.188
so we have a sangha,
and we have workshops,
01:23:54.556 --> 01:23:56.081
wouldn't that be wonderful?
01:23:57.302 --> 01:24:01.966
That's Thay's vision for the MPC,
the Mindfulness Practice Center.
01:24:03.809 --> 01:24:08.842
Because some of us, I mean,
I might go to temples now,
01:24:10.165 --> 01:24:13.078
but I wouldn't have gone to a temple
as a young person.
01:24:14.142 --> 01:24:16.547
And maybe some of us
might not go to churches,
01:24:17.410 --> 01:24:23.173
so I encourage for us to find this,
01:24:23.681 --> 01:24:26.179
because this is
what will bring balance back,
01:24:27.324 --> 01:24:29.006
to have a spiritual dimension,
01:24:29.325 --> 01:24:33.570
to have a way to keep us reminded
01:24:34.139 --> 01:24:37.801
of what life, what our heart is about.
01:24:40.445 --> 01:24:46.740
Those of you who are efficient,
intelligent, skillful,
01:24:48.520 --> 01:24:51.574
please,
I send that out there,
01:24:52.374 --> 01:24:56.116
and hopefully some of you
can have the condition
01:24:57.176 --> 01:25:02.555
and the fortune to help build
a mindfulness practice center
01:25:03.605 --> 01:25:08.544
and make it viable,
for your people to do it full-time.
01:25:10.267 --> 01:25:14.386
so they don't have to waste their lives
working for a --- you know, something,
01:25:15.400 --> 01:25:17.909
and that could be very community serviced,
01:25:18.230 --> 01:25:20.369
that can help support the community
01:25:20.835 --> 01:25:23.186
go to troubled youth-centers.
01:25:24.232 --> 01:25:26.374
It could become a community service.
01:25:28.164 --> 01:25:31.001
So as teachers as well,
you can do that in the school.
01:25:31.588 --> 01:25:33.044
After school-activities,
01:25:33.684 --> 01:25:38.431
create a place for the children,
for the students, for their parents,
01:25:39.595 --> 01:25:41.262
after-school activities,
01:25:43.406 --> 01:25:50.568
so please continue
Thay's volition, his deep desire,
01:25:51.223 --> 01:25:53.104
to find, where's the balance.
01:25:54.438 --> 01:25:59.259
Some of the difficulties,
the social ills I see,
01:26:00.885 --> 01:26:05.183
many young people now are depressed,
have mental disorder,
01:26:07.429 --> 01:26:10.101
the suicide rates, you hear,
keep increasing,
01:26:11.754 --> 01:26:13.225
so we need...
01:26:14.445 --> 01:26:17.684
we don't need a big bank account,
you know.
01:26:18.312 --> 01:26:22.487
Just use that, to help change our world.
01:26:25.016 --> 01:26:27.111
You cannot take it with you
01:26:27.935 --> 01:26:30.798
so please help the young people,
the Wake Up-group,
01:26:31.579 --> 01:26:34.414
who want to find a different way.
01:26:36.803 --> 01:26:42.957
We have the Happy Farm-initiative,
and many young people are coming
01:26:43.684 --> 01:26:47.280
and working with their hands,
and finding healing.
01:26:47.573 --> 01:26:49.085
They stay for one year,
01:26:49.489 --> 01:26:51.751
and we like to make this
available in the city,
01:26:53.221 --> 01:26:55.309
have a lot become a garden
01:26:57.878 --> 01:27:01.682
And I'm sure you have many other visions.
01:27:02.855 --> 01:27:08.220
Please go back to your sangha
and discuss with your sangha
01:27:08.818 --> 01:27:12.155
how to open up
so that more young people,
01:27:12.433 --> 01:27:14.596
more people suffering,
can take refuge.
01:27:16.210 --> 01:27:20.201
This is, everyone knows,
this is Thay's deepest wish.
01:27:22.142 --> 01:27:25.720
Thank you for coming,
for listening.