WEBVTT

00:00:08.976 --> 00:00:12.779
Breathing in, breathing out,

00:00:14.162 --> 00:00:17.927
Breathing in, breathing out,

00:00:19.828 --> 00:00:23.295
I am blooming as a flower,

00:00:25.008 --> 00:00:29.726
I am fresh as the dew,

00:00:30.159 --> 00:00:34.310
I am solid as a mountain,

00:00:34.910 --> 00:00:38.878
I am firm as the earth,

00:00:39.177 --> 00:00:45.109
I am free

00:00:46.230 --> 00:00:49.511
I am Joanna Macy

00:00:49.511 --> 00:00:51.562
and I want to introduce

00:00:51.562 --> 00:00:54.110
four people tonight

00:00:54.110 --> 00:00:55.660
I want to introduce a fighter,

00:00:55.660 --> 00:00:57.860
a poet, a philosopher,

00:00:57.860 --> 00:01:00.278
and a teacher brother.

00:01:00.278 --> 00:01:03.893
Actually, it was the fighter

00:01:03.893 --> 00:01:05.744
that I met first

00:01:05.744 --> 00:01:07.741
before I ever saw him.

00:01:07.741 --> 00:01:11.176
I was anguished and desperate

00:01:11.176 --> 00:01:15.092
working in the anti Vietnam war movement

00:01:15.092 --> 00:01:19.879
in the late sixties and seventies.

00:01:19.879 --> 00:01:23.029
And a book came into my hand

00:01:23.029 --> 00:01:26.290
Vietnam, a Lotus in a Sea of Fire

00:01:26.290 --> 00:01:29.077
and everything was there.

00:01:29.077 --> 00:01:31.676
The passion and the insight,

00:01:31.676 --> 00:01:34.029
and such tremendous courage.

00:01:34.029 --> 00:01:38.529
The next one I met was the poet

00:01:38.529 --> 00:01:41.093
and that was when I saw him face to face.

00:01:41.093 --> 00:01:43.194
It was June 1982 and

00:01:43.194 --> 00:01:45.860
a special session on disarmament

00:01:45.860 --> 00:01:49.043
at the United Nations.

00:01:49.043 --> 00:01:51.407
There was a pre-conference

00:01:51.407 --> 00:01:54.043
on the religious bases for

00:01:54.043 --> 00:01:56.074
peace in this time

00:01:56.074 --> 00:01:58.007
and disarmament

00:01:58.007 --> 00:02:00.109
and there were many religious leaders

00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:02.210
and church leaders there.

00:02:02.210 --> 00:02:04.644
And you can kind of imagine

00:02:04.644 --> 00:02:06.512
what that was like.

00:02:06.512 --> 00:02:08.412
And what did I see, but this guy,

00:02:08.412 --> 00:02:10.395
come in in a brown coat,

00:02:10.395 --> 00:02:12.327
and he, he just stood there.

00:02:12.327 --> 00:02:14.576
He didn't have sheafs of paper.

00:02:14.576 --> 00:02:15.929
You remember that, Thay?

00:02:15.929 --> 00:02:17.642
You just stood there.

00:02:17.642 --> 00:02:19.612
And then reached into pockets, and said,

00:02:19.612 --> 00:02:23.593
"Well, many important things have been said here.

00:02:23.593 --> 00:02:26.016
"I don't think I can add anything,

00:02:26.016 --> 00:02:29.129
"but I did write a poem on my way here."

00:02:29.129 --> 00:02:33.911
And then he read it.

00:02:33.911 --> 00:02:37.676
"Call me by my true names"

00:02:37.676 --> 00:02:41.024
That's all he did.

00:02:41.024 --> 00:02:43.227
And so I bow to the scholar

00:02:43.227 --> 00:02:47.146
who teaches the mind,

00:02:47.146 --> 00:02:50.077
helps us to look deeply.

00:02:50.077 --> 00:02:52.927
And lastly, of the four, of course,

00:02:52.927 --> 00:02:54.975
there is the teacher,

00:02:54.975 --> 00:02:56.460
the meditation teacher,

00:02:56.460 --> 00:02:58.627
and I think maybe most of you

00:02:58.627 --> 00:03:00.627
have met him or know him

00:03:00.627 --> 00:03:02.329
in that guise. In that role.

00:03:02.329 --> 00:03:06.962
Maybe it was the first time you spoke

00:03:06.962 --> 00:03:11.444
in Berkeley. I had prepared things to say

00:03:11.444 --> 00:03:14.160
about you, and you said,

00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:16.163
"Don't introduce me. Introduce the people

00:03:16.163 --> 00:03:21.615
"and the audience to me." So I did.

00:03:21.615 --> 00:03:26.112
I said, "Thay, these are my American

00:03:26.112 --> 00:03:28.859
"brothers and sisters that live

00:03:28.859 --> 00:03:32.029
"where I live, in Berkeley, California".

00:03:32.029 --> 00:03:36.060
And I spoke of their concerns with their

00:03:36.060 --> 00:03:38.678
moral responsibilities and with the

00:03:38.678 --> 00:03:42.228
quality of their coffee in the morning.

00:03:42.228 --> 00:03:47.245
[Laughter]

00:03:47.245 --> 00:03:51.329
Since that time, you've come so often.

00:03:51.329 --> 00:03:54.277
You have met so many of my brothers

00:03:54.277 --> 00:03:56.894
and sisters that I think you maybe

00:03:56.894 --> 00:03:59.176
know them better than I do.

00:03:59.176 --> 00:04:01.126
And you've come, and not only have you

00:04:01.126 --> 00:04:04.695
seen us and known us,

00:04:04.695 --> 00:04:09.960
but you've helped us to see ourself.

00:04:09.960 --> 00:04:12.560
To see reaches in us that we didn't

00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:14.845
maybe know were there.

00:04:14.845 --> 00:04:16.910
And all coming from something so simple,

00:04:16.910 --> 00:04:20.828
The great gift of the miracle of life,

00:04:20.828 --> 00:04:26.975
that we can pay attention.

00:04:26.975 --> 00:04:33.061
Breathing in, I see you, Thich Nhat Hanh,

00:04:33.061 --> 00:04:36.344
Breathing out, I smile.

00:04:37.428 --> 00:04:42.596
Thank you Joanna.

00:04:42.596 --> 00:04:46.546
My dear friends, I like to describe my practice,

00:04:46.546 --> 00:04:51.641
my teaching, as the practice of arriving,

00:04:52.192 --> 00:04:55.563
of going home.

00:04:55.563 --> 00:04:59.130
There is a beautiful poem that we use

00:04:59.130 --> 00:05:02.528
to practice arriving and going home.

00:05:02.528 --> 00:05:04.928
It is like this.

00:05:04.928 --> 00:05:10.244
I have arrived. I am home,

00:05:10.244 --> 00:05:14.292
in the here and the now.

00:05:14.292 --> 00:05:17.959
I feel solid. I feel free.

00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:21.877
In the ultimate I dwell.

00:05:21.877 --> 00:05:24.675
And of course, in my practice

00:05:24.675 --> 00:05:26.776
mindful breathing with that poem.

00:05:26.776 --> 00:05:31.176
When you breathe in, you practice arriving

00:05:31.176 --> 00:05:33.711
I have arrived.

00:05:33.711 --> 00:05:38.094
And when you breathe out,

00:05:38.094 --> 00:05:41.009
you practice being at home.

00:05:41.009 --> 00:05:44.841
I am home.

00:05:44.841 --> 00:05:47.244
You may enjoy doing that several times,

00:05:47.244 --> 00:05:49.760
and then you switch into

00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:53.211
"in the here and the now".

00:05:53.211 --> 00:05:56.027
It means, "I have arrived in the here.

00:05:56.027 --> 00:06:02.044
"I am home in the now."

00:06:02.044 --> 00:06:07.127
"I feel solid." That is when you breathe in.

00:06:07.127 --> 00:06:11.461
"I feel free." That is while you 
breathe out

00:06:11.461 --> 00:06:13.244
At first you may feel

00:06:13.244 --> 00:06:15.573
that you are not so solid.

00:06:15.573 --> 00:06:18.327
But if you continue the practice

00:06:18.327 --> 00:06:21.363
you get more solid.

00:06:21.363 --> 00:06:24.926
And you get freer.

00:06:24.926 --> 00:06:27.262
And then the last line is,

00:06:27.262 --> 00:06:32.128
"In the ultimate I dwell."

00:06:32.128 --> 00:06:37.012
To me, it is very important to go home,

00:06:37.012 --> 00:06:40.446
to arrive.

00:06:40.446 --> 00:06:43.029
In order to make peace with ourselves,

00:06:43.029 --> 00:06:45.727
with our society,

00:06:45.727 --> 00:06:48.509
and with the people we love.

00:06:48.509 --> 00:06:51.660
Sometimes we suffer a little bit too much,

00:06:51.660 --> 00:06:53.962
and we want to go away,

00:06:53.962 --> 00:06:57.127
to run away from home.

00:06:57.127 --> 00:06:59.578
We have the impression that at home

00:06:59.578 --> 00:07:06.075
there is only pain and suffering,

00:07:06.075 --> 00:07:10.011
deception

00:07:10.011 --> 00:07:11.877
and we go and take refuge

00:07:11.877 --> 00:07:13.726
in something else.

00:07:13.726 --> 00:07:16.477
Maybe in the past or the future,

00:07:16.477 --> 00:07:20.030
or in our projects.

00:07:20.030 --> 00:07:24.911
Even projects for social change.

00:07:24.911 --> 00:07:27.514
Learning to go home, to arrive,

00:07:27.514 --> 00:07:32.144
is important.

00:07:32.144 --> 00:07:34.959
We go home to the present moment.

00:07:34.959 --> 00:07:46.139
We go home to the here and the now.

00:07:46.139 --> 00:07:48.680
Sometime we don't want to go home

00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:50.994
because we have the impression

00:07:50.994 --> 00:07:56.161
that it is not pleasant.

00:07:59.210 --> 00:08:04.026
Back home there is things like violence,

00:08:04.026 --> 00:08:09.461
fear.

00:08:09.909 --> 00:08:13.761
Back home there is things like Haiti,

00:08:13.761 --> 00:08:19.228
Somalia. We won't forget.

00:08:24.033 --> 00:08:28.315
Going home, we are afraid 
of touching our fear

00:08:28.315 --> 00:08:32.711
of touching the war within.

00:08:32.711 --> 00:08:38.328
Sometime we find ourselves

00:08:38.328 --> 00:08:41.193
at war with another person.

00:08:41.193 --> 00:08:43.160
Maybe with our family,

00:08:43.160 --> 00:08:46.411
with our society,

00:08:46.411 --> 00:08:51.161
with our traditions.

00:08:51.161 --> 00:08:53.156
But we may learn that

00:08:53.156 --> 00:08:55.061
when we are at war with someone else,

00:08:55.061 --> 00:08:57.862
there may be war within us.

00:08:57.862 --> 00:08:59.196
And that is why

00:08:59.196 --> 00:09:03.478
we don't want to go home.

00:09:03.478 --> 00:09:06.278
Of course, there is war

00:09:06.278 --> 00:09:08.507
within and around us.

00:09:08.507 --> 00:09:10.494
But there is something else.

00:09:10.494 --> 00:09:12.862
There is also peace and joy.

00:09:12.862 --> 00:09:15.545
And you should learn to go home

00:09:15.545 --> 00:09:18.496
in order to touch the joy and the peace

00:09:18.496 --> 00:09:21.976
within us and around us.

00:09:21.976 --> 00:09:23.546
And this is very important.

00:09:23.546 --> 00:09:26.627
Because all of us need to be nourished

00:09:26.627 --> 00:09:30.377
to be stable,

00:09:30.377 --> 00:09:36.093
in order to be able to go further

00:09:36.093 --> 00:09:41.543
to do something for the people around us.

00:09:43.076 --> 00:09:46.661
I know many of you are very dedicated

00:09:46.661 --> 00:09:50.910
to the cause of peace, of social justice,

00:09:50.910 --> 00:09:58.727
but many of us feel, at times, lost,

00:09:58.727 --> 00:10:03.863
angry, despair.

00:10:03.863 --> 00:10:07.078
We are overwhelmed by the tremendous

00:10:07.078 --> 00:10:10.711
suffering that is there around us

00:10:10.711 --> 00:10:16.313
and even inside of us.

00:10:16.313 --> 00:10:18.794
We need a source of energy,

00:10:18.794 --> 00:10:20.627
a source of peace, of joy

00:10:20.627 --> 00:10:23.110
in order to counterbalance

00:10:23.110 --> 00:10:26.226
because we know that

00:10:26.226 --> 00:10:28.679
if we do not have some amount

00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:31.425
of peace, of joy, of happiness,

00:10:31.425 --> 00:10:33.228
then we can't do anything.

00:10:33.228 --> 00:10:36.627
We cannot continue.

00:10:36.627 --> 00:10:39.362
The practice of arriving helps us

00:10:39.362 --> 00:10:44.160
to touch the peace and the joy within

00:10:44.160 --> 00:10:48.477
in order to get nourished.

00:10:49.143 --> 00:10:52.461
And that practice will help us to generate

00:10:52.461 --> 00:10:55.328
the energy of mindfulness

00:10:55.328 --> 00:10:57.130
that will help us to touch the war

00:10:57.130 --> 00:11:00.611
within and around us.

00:11:00.611 --> 00:11:06.677
Because touching the war without strength,

00:11:06.677 --> 00:11:10.360
without the energy of mindfulness,

00:11:10.360 --> 00:11:13.225
may be dangerous.

00:11:13.225 --> 00:11:15.744
We will be overwhelmed by it.

00:11:15.744 --> 00:11:19.461
We will be shocked by it.

00:11:19.461 --> 00:11:22.576
And therefore, before we learn to touch

00:11:22.576 --> 00:11:25.239
the war within and around us

00:11:25.239 --> 00:11:26.977
we should cultivate

00:11:26.977 --> 00:11:29.625
the energy of mindfulness.

00:11:29.625 --> 00:11:33.094
And that kind of cultivation

00:11:33.094 --> 00:11:34.611
could be realised when

00:11:34.611 --> 00:11:36.678
we learn to go home

00:11:36.678 --> 00:11:38.511
and touch the peace and the joy in us.

00:11:38.511 --> 00:11:45.944
[Bell]

00:11:59.094 --> 00:12:00.861
In the Buddhist tradition

00:12:00.861 --> 00:12:03.659
we usually talk about our consciousness

00:12:03.659 --> 00:12:06.442
in terms of seeds,

00:12:06.442 --> 00:12:12.543
in terms of bijas. 'Bijas' means 'seeds'.

00:12:12.543 --> 00:12:14.146
We have seeds of peace,

00:12:14.146 --> 00:12:16.726
of joy, of happiness.

00:12:16.726 --> 00:12:18.396
There are seeds of war,

00:12:18.396 --> 00:12:24.911
of anger, of despair, right within us.

00:12:24.911 --> 00:12:27.274
There are seeds of peace and joy

00:12:27.274 --> 00:12:30.576
and loving kindness within us

00:12:30.576 --> 00:12:34.259
that need to be touched.

00:12:34.259 --> 00:12:38.226
We should learn to touch them by ourselves

00:12:38.226 --> 00:12:43.979
We should need our friends to come

00:12:43.979 --> 00:12:46.261
and help touching them.

00:12:46.261 --> 00:12:49.343
This is the practice.

00:12:49.343 --> 00:12:51.274
I always encourage my friends

00:12:51.274 --> 00:12:55.977
to begin the practice by touching peace.

00:12:55.977 --> 00:12:59.773
Touching the positive seeds within us

00:12:59.773 --> 00:13:02.276
and touching the positive seeds within

00:13:02.276 --> 00:13:04.563
the other person.

00:13:04.563 --> 00:13:06.392
It's pleasant.

00:13:06.392 --> 00:13:11.330
It helps nourish each other.

00:13:11.330 --> 00:13:14.010
And we know that touching,

00:13:14.010 --> 00:13:16.459
the deepest kind of touching,

00:13:16.459 --> 00:13:19.145
is with the energy of mindfulness.

00:13:19.145 --> 00:13:21.360
And in Buddhist meditation,

00:13:21.360 --> 00:13:24.113
to generate the energy of mindfulness

00:13:24.113 --> 00:13:28.592
to touch peace is very crucial.

00:13:28.592 --> 00:13:30.144
We are encouraged

00:13:30.144 --> 00:13:33.228
not to touch the war first.

00:13:33.228 --> 00:13:35.573
We are encouraged not to touch the pain

00:13:35.573 --> 00:13:43.325
the despair, the suffering first.

00:13:43.325 --> 00:13:45.493
And touching peace, we can do

00:13:45.493 --> 00:13:47.543
as individuals

00:13:47.543 --> 00:13:52.244
we can do as a community,

00:13:52.244 --> 00:13:55.711
we can do as a nation.

00:13:55.711 --> 00:14:01.710
And it is pleasant.

00:14:01.710 --> 00:14:05.776
I may like to touch my eye

00:14:05.776 --> 00:14:10.008
with the energy of mindfulness.

00:14:10.008 --> 00:14:12.261
I have the energy of mindfulness

00:14:12.261 --> 00:14:14.860
which is generated by

00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:20.627
the practice of mindful breathing.

00:14:20.627 --> 00:14:25.062
Breathing in, I know I am breathing in.

00:14:25.062 --> 00:14:28.311
Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.

NOTE Paragraph

00:14:28.311 --> 00:14:31.910
That is the practice of touching your 
breath

00:14:31.910 --> 00:14:36.108
and that practice is called
'mindfulness of breathing'.

00:14:36.108 --> 00:14:42.744
Now I use that energy of mindfulness
to touch my eye.

00:14:42.744 --> 00:14:56.242
Breathing in, I am aware of my eyes
Breathing out, I smile to my eyes.

00:14:57.143 --> 00:15:01.380
When I touch my eyes with the energy
of mindfulness like that,

00:15:01.380 --> 00:15:07.377
I find out that my eyes are still 
in good condition.

00:15:07.377 --> 00:15:12.027
If I touch my eyes deeply, I realise

00:15:12.027 --> 00:15:18.663
that having eyes in good condition
is wonderful too.

00:15:18.663 --> 00:15:24.893
Without my eyes, without the ability
to look and see things,

00:15:24.893 --> 00:15:28.127
I would suffer very much.

00:15:28.127 --> 00:15:30.726
You only need to open your eyes and look

00:15:30.726 --> 00:15:36.677
and you see many wonders of life 
around us.

00:15:36.677 --> 00:15:39.643
The blue sky, the beautiful sunset

00:15:39.643 --> 00:15:47.126
the face, the eyes, the smile
of your beloved ones.

00:15:47.126 --> 00:15:52.227
You touch these things,
these people, with mindfulness

00:15:52.227 --> 00:16:00.776
And you realise that to be alive,
to be able to look at them deeply

00:16:00.776 --> 00:16:04.441
is happiness.

00:16:04.441 --> 00:16:07.505
Happiness is something simple.

00:16:07.505 --> 00:16:18.100
When you have mindfulness and you get 
nourished by that kind of touching,

00:16:18.106 --> 00:16:20.804
when you touch the eyes with mindfulness

00:16:20.804 --> 00:16:25.453
you know that your eyes are 
the condition of peace and happiness

00:16:25.453 --> 00:16:27.219
and joy for you.

00:16:27.219 --> 00:16:29.048
You know peace is there.

00:16:29.048 --> 00:16:43.369
When you notice that there are trees dying
you know that it is a negative thing.

00:16:43.369 --> 00:16:50.017
Touching these things, you suffer.

00:16:50.017 --> 00:16:54.284
But when you touch beautiful trees
that are still alive, healthy,

00:16:54.284 --> 00:17:06.169
you realise how wonderful to still
have them around us.

00:17:06.169 --> 00:17:10.902
When you touch these beautiful trees,
you get nourished.

00:17:10.902 --> 00:17:14.036
And you make the vow to do
whatever you can,

00:17:14.036 --> 00:17:18.719
in order to protect them,
to keep them alive.

00:17:18.719 --> 00:17:24.385
So touching peace
is to give peace a chance.

00:17:24.385 --> 00:17:30.602
Let us practice this exercise
of touching together.

00:17:30.602 --> 00:17:32.251
Let us touch our heart.

00:17:32.251 --> 00:17:38.621
Breathing in, I am aware of my heart.

00:17:38.621 --> 00:17:50.535
Breathing out, I smile to my heart.

00:17:59.969 --> 00:18:06.935
When I touch my heart deeply like that
I know that my heart is there,

00:18:06.935 --> 00:18:12.935
and it is a good news.

00:18:12.935 --> 00:18:19.922
My heart is a condition of peace
and well being and joy for me.

00:18:19.922 --> 00:18:26.769
But if I don't touch,
I may cause harm to my heart,

00:18:26.769 --> 00:18:29.333
and I don't get happy.

00:18:29.333 --> 00:18:36.753
My heart has been working hard
day and night to keep me alive,

00:18:36.753 --> 00:18:39.621
to give me well-being,

00:18:39.621 --> 00:18:50.602
to pump the blood
to irrigate every cell of my body.

00:18:50.602 --> 00:18:55.368
And when I touch it deeply like that
I feel thankful to my heart

00:18:55.368 --> 00:18:57.819
My heart is a living thing.

00:18:57.819 --> 00:19:06.035
And when I touch it with my mindfulness,
my loving kindness, my heart will feel it.

00:19:06.035 --> 00:19:12.652
It feels very comforted by my touching.

00:19:12.652 --> 00:19:15.820
And if we touch our heart deeply like that
we would know what to do

00:19:15.820 --> 00:19:22.249
and what not to do
in order to support our heart.

00:19:22.249 --> 00:19:26.003
We would know what to eat,
what not to eat.

00:19:26.003 --> 00:19:29.070
what to drink and what not to drink
in our daily life

00:19:29.070 --> 00:19:34.687
in order to be of support to our heart.

00:19:34.687 --> 00:19:39.153
We find out that smoking
is not a very friendly act

00:19:39.153 --> 00:19:42.470
directed to our heart.

00:19:42.470 --> 00:19:50.835
We know that drinking alcohol is not
a friendly act directed to our heart.

00:19:50.835 --> 00:19:59.351
And if we continue touching like that
we stop smoking, drinking alcohol,

00:19:59.351 --> 00:20:09.319
and we protect the peace, the well being,
and the joy within us.

00:20:09.319 --> 00:20:14.050
We may spend a lot of time thinking 
of other things.

00:20:14.050 --> 00:20:20.135
We may not have enough opportunity
to go back

00:20:20.135 --> 00:20:27.031
and touch the conditions of peace
and well being inside.

00:20:27.031 --> 00:20:29.135
We live in forgetfulness.

00:20:29.135 --> 00:20:33.153
Forgetfulness is the opposite of 
mindfulness.

00:20:33.153 --> 00:20:39.084
We live our daily life in such a way that
we destroy the peace, the stability,

00:20:39.084 --> 00:20:41.852
the joy in our body.

00:20:41.852 --> 00:20:49.921
We bring elements of war
into our body.

00:20:52.735 --> 00:21:01.705
Mindfulness is the capacity to be aware of
what is happening in the present moment.

00:21:01.705 --> 00:21:05.204
If we eat mindfully, 
if we drink mindfully,

00:21:05.204 --> 00:21:17.618
if we do things mindfully so they are
under the light of mindfulness,

00:21:17.618 --> 00:21:22.869
we know what to do in order to bring
the elements of peace and joy

00:21:22.869 --> 00:21:26.408
to our body and to our feelings.

00:21:26.408 --> 00:21:35.954
We know what not to ingest in order to 
prevent the toxins, the poisons

00:21:35.954 --> 00:21:43.203
to enter our body and our consciousness.

00:21:43.669 --> 00:21:47.136
And it is possible that we practice that 
together.

00:21:47.136 --> 00:21:52.637
"If you love me, please help me to be
mindful, and please help to touch

00:21:52.637 --> 00:21:59.648
"the positive, healing and refreshing
elements within me.

00:21:59.648 --> 00:22:05.352
"Touch my peace and joy, my seed of joy.

00:22:05.352 --> 00:22:10.901
"Touch the seed of loving kindness in me.

00:22:10.901 --> 00:22:13.051
"Touch the seed of happiness in me.

00:22:13.051 --> 00:22:16.018
"Please do not touch the seed of anger 
in me.

00:22:16.018 --> 00:22:25.854
"Please do not touch the seed of despair
and violence in me.

00:22:25.854 --> 00:22:31.819
"I will suffer, and you will suffer too."

00:22:32.886 --> 00:22:37.616
So if we might like to practise together.

00:22:39.934 --> 00:22:44.187
Sometime we suffer a little too much
and we blame the other person

00:22:44.187 --> 00:22:50.953
as the cause of our suffering.

00:22:50.953 --> 00:22:59.987
Our partner. Our son. Our daughter.
Our parents.

00:22:59.987 --> 00:23:08.152
We blame them. We consider them to be
the cause of our suffering.

00:23:08.152 --> 00:23:13.371
In fact, they do suffer like us too.

00:23:13.371 --> 00:23:18.052
And our enemy is not the other person.

00:23:18.052 --> 00:23:29.121
Our enemy is the seed of despair, anger,
frustration, fear, in every one of us.

00:23:29.121 --> 00:23:34.385
You are not my enemy.

00:23:34.385 --> 00:23:41.787
I want you to practice with me in order to
transform the seeds of suffering

00:23:41.787 --> 00:23:43.414
in me and in you.

00:23:43.414 --> 00:23:48.187
Because we all suffer the same thing.

00:23:48.988 --> 00:23:55.785
But if partners suffer, we should try not
to look at the other person

00:23:55.785 --> 00:24:00.933
as the cause of our suffering.

00:24:00.933 --> 00:24:05.799
We should bring together our intelligence,

00:24:05.799 --> 00:24:10.452
our talent, our mindfulness,
in order to work for the transformation

00:24:10.452 --> 00:24:16.748
of the negative things
in both of us.

00:24:16.748 --> 00:24:25.419
The tension that exists within us
prevents us from helping each other.

00:24:25.466 --> 00:24:30.203
Since we know that we are victims
of the same kind of suffering,

00:24:30.203 --> 00:24:35.578
why don't we come together?

00:24:35.903 --> 00:24:39.920
And my ideal practice is that when
we come together,

00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:45.083
we practice touching the positive
things first

00:24:48.018 --> 00:24:52.234
We practice looking deeply in order to
see the seeds of peace, of joy,

00:24:52.234 --> 00:24:59.035
of talent, of happiness in ourselves
and in the other person.

00:24:59.035 --> 00:25:09.033
We recognise each other's value because
everyone has his or her own talent

00:25:09.033 --> 00:25:16.944
and strength and positive values.

00:25:16.944 --> 00:25:22.070
Everyone has jewels within himself or
herself.

00:25:22.070 --> 00:25:27.186
Looking deeply into the other person,
in order to recognise these jewels,

00:25:27.186 --> 00:25:35.724
and tell him, and tell her. Appreciating 
these values is a very wonderful practice.

00:25:35.724 --> 00:25:45.286
[Bell]

00:25:58.221 --> 00:26:02.337
Maybe we can do this exercise.

00:26:02.337 --> 00:26:05.953
We sit and practise breathing in and out

00:26:05.953 --> 00:26:15.070
and identify the positive seeds
in the other person.

00:26:15.070 --> 00:26:20.501
And then to tell the other person
that we have seen them.

00:26:20.501 --> 00:26:26.022
We appreciate them. And we would like to
help watering these seeds

00:26:26.022 --> 00:26:30.869
so that they become more important.

00:26:31.302 --> 00:26:36.821
And that is the kind of practice
that you should begin first.

00:26:38.037 --> 00:26:45.454
After some time,
the flowers in us will grow.

00:26:45.454 --> 00:26:50.671
And the garbage in us
will diminish.

00:26:54.033 --> 00:27:01.016
When the two warring parties
come to a peace conference,

00:27:01.016 --> 00:27:12.120
they always begin by accusing each other,

00:27:12.120 --> 00:27:17.766
touching the negative things 
in each other first.

00:27:17.766 --> 00:27:24.820
They could make the tension 
more important.

00:27:24.820 --> 00:27:30.252
I suggest that a third party 
should be there

00:27:30.252 --> 00:27:36.720
and practice what we would call,
in Buddhist tradition, 'flower watering'.

00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:42.703
A third party may be presiding over
the first meeting,

00:27:42.703 --> 00:27:50.636
and begin to talk about 
the positive things of each side,

00:27:50.636 --> 00:27:57.619
the values, the jewels, and the tradition
of both sides,

00:27:57.619 --> 00:28:02.420
so that the other side will 
be aware of them

00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:07.304
and it will have more respect,
more appreciation of the other side.

00:28:07.304 --> 00:28:12.650
We have the tendency to believe
that the other side is worth nothing.

00:28:12.650 --> 00:28:17.337
It is only bandits.

00:28:17.337 --> 00:28:26.203
Let us imagine that the PLO and the state
of Israel coming together

00:28:26.203 --> 00:28:29.352
and practice that.

00:28:29.352 --> 00:28:37.350
Because each nation, each tradition
has values, has jewels within it.

00:28:37.350 --> 00:28:42.121
That even the people within the group
do not want to touch

00:28:42.121 --> 00:28:46.036
because they are so angry,
they are so busy.

00:28:46.036 --> 00:28:55.922
And that is why there is war
even in the inside of each party.

00:28:55.922 --> 00:28:59.482
Each side.

00:28:59.482 --> 00:29:03.753
It's true that in the PLO, many people
don't agree with each other

00:29:03.753 --> 00:29:06.899
as to how to handle the problem.

00:29:06.899 --> 00:29:12.236
The same thing is true with
the people in Israel.

00:29:12.236 --> 00:29:18.053
People may have different kinds of ideas
and they force each other.

00:29:18.053 --> 00:29:25.085
The practice I offer is that each side
go back to their own roots and values

00:29:25.085 --> 00:29:31.418
and practice touching these beautiful
healing, refreshing elements

00:29:31.418 --> 00:29:36.836
within their tradition, their culture.

00:29:38.104 --> 00:29:42.820
And after that, each side will restore
the balance

00:29:42.820 --> 00:29:49.369
will breathe more easily,
will have more harmony within.

00:29:49.369 --> 00:29:56.583
And then it will be much easier
to talk with the other side.

00:29:56.583 --> 00:30:00.333
The same thing is true with two persons.

00:30:00.333 --> 00:30:06.253
When two persons are in a conflict

00:30:06.253 --> 00:30:10.986
the fear, the frustration is too big.

00:30:10.986 --> 00:30:16.701
It's difficult for them to reconcile,
to make peace.

00:30:16.701 --> 00:30:22.302
The practice of touching peace,
touching the positive elements within us

00:30:22.302 --> 00:30:25.567
will be very helpful.

00:30:25.567 --> 00:30:29.219
There are many seeds, positive, wonderful,

00:30:29.219 --> 00:30:34.953
that have been transmitted to us
by our ancestors.

00:30:34.953 --> 00:30:39.601
It may be that during our lifetime

00:30:39.601 --> 00:30:43.135
we are not capable of touching
these beautiful seeds.

00:30:43.135 --> 00:30:51.852
We only allow people to water
the negative seeds in us.

00:30:51.852 --> 00:30:56.302
And that is why it is so important
to go back to our roots,

00:30:56.302 --> 00:31:04.167
to go back to ourselves,
and touch these beautiful seeds.

00:31:04.167 --> 00:31:10.485
And then we may do it together.
We may help each other.

00:31:10.485 --> 00:31:22.284
[Bell]

00:31:22.284 --> 00:31:27.684
In the realm of our feelings
there may be also a war on.

00:31:27.684 --> 00:31:33.083
Feelings opposing each other.

00:31:33.083 --> 00:31:37.352
We suffer. We don't want to go home.

00:31:37.352 --> 00:31:40.859
But each feeling is a manifestation 
of a seed in us,

00:31:40.859 --> 00:31:48.485
the seed of anger, the seed of fear,
the seed of distrust.

00:31:48.485 --> 00:31:52.886
But there are other seeds in us
that are more positive.

00:31:52.886 --> 00:31:57.703
It is very important for us to practise
touching these seeds

00:31:57.703 --> 00:32:02.269
so they will produce wonderful,
refreshing feelings

00:32:02.269 --> 00:32:07.185
in order for us to be nourished.

00:32:07.185 --> 00:32:14.338
In the teaching of Buddhism,

00:32:14.338 --> 00:32:19.820
we have all kinds of seeds
deep in our consciousness.

00:32:19.820 --> 00:32:25.419
And when these seeds are watered,
are touched,

00:32:25.419 --> 00:32:30.019
they will bloom in the upper level
of our consciousness

00:32:30.019 --> 00:32:33.354
as mental formations.

00:32:33.354 --> 00:32:37.100
Fear is a mental formation.

00:32:37.100 --> 00:32:39.786
Joy is a mental formation.

00:32:39.786 --> 00:32:42.868
Mindfulness is a mental formation.

00:32:42.868 --> 00:32:48.605
Despair is a mental formation.
Hope is a mental formation.

00:32:48.605 --> 00:32:52.354
Loving-kindness is a mental formation.

00:32:52.354 --> 00:32:57.969
In forgetfulness, we don't know
how to touch these positive seeds.

00:32:57.969 --> 00:33:01.915
We allow ourselves and the people
around us

00:33:01.915 --> 00:33:05.434
to touch our negative seeds.

00:33:05.434 --> 00:33:15.700
Then our mental formations
will be of negative nature.

00:33:15.700 --> 00:33:20.387
And they will destroy us.

00:33:20.387 --> 00:33:24.965
Because when a negative seed
manifests itself

00:33:24.965 --> 00:33:29.217
on the upper level
of our consciousness,

00:33:29.217 --> 00:33:33.265
the seed will be strengthened
at the base.

00:33:33.265 --> 00:33:38.000
If we get angry for two hours,
during these hours

00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:48.152
the seed of anger keeps growing
to be more important.

00:33:48.152 --> 00:33:54.786
And therefore it will be very important
to learn how to touch the positive seeds.

00:33:54.786 --> 00:34:01.686
Seeds of joy and peace.

00:34:01.686 --> 00:34:12.419
Suppose you have a sister who has
the talent of flower arrangement.

00:34:12.419 --> 00:34:19.584
And if your sister is not so happy
you may try to touch the seed

00:34:19.584 --> 00:34:24.365
of flower arrangement within her.

00:34:24.365 --> 00:34:34.103
You say, "My sister, it has been a long
time you did not offer us a

00:34:34.103 --> 00:34:36.787
"flower arrangement. You know, every time
you arrange flowers,

00:34:36.787 --> 00:34:40.185
"you make the whole family happy.

00:34:40.185 --> 00:34:45.305
"How wonderful to have a pot of flowers
arranged by you!"

00:34:45.305 --> 00:34:50.286
That is flower-watering practice.

00:34:50.286 --> 00:34:57.568
You tell the truth, because you realise
that that seed is in her.

00:34:57.568 --> 00:35:01.385
First she may not have a reaction.

00:35:01.385 --> 00:35:05.867
But maybe, half an hour later,
she will take a pair of scissors

00:35:05.867 --> 00:35:13.285
and she will go to the garden and
try to find a beautiful branch of flowers.

00:35:13.285 --> 00:35:17.852
And during the time she goes around
like that, she waters by herself

00:35:17.852 --> 00:35:22.570
the seed of flower arrangement,
the seed of happiness in her.

00:35:22.570 --> 00:35:26.984
And if she spends half an hour
arranging the pot of flowers,

00:35:26.984 --> 00:35:37.937
she also continues to practice
watering her seed of happiness.

00:35:37.937 --> 00:35:43.136
It is not so difficult.

00:35:43.136 --> 00:35:48.377
We practice watering the positive seeds
by ourselves.

00:35:48.377 --> 00:35:56.768
And we will help water the positive seeds
in the other person.

00:35:56.768 --> 00:36:02.988
And she will help also to do the same
kind of thing.

00:36:02.988 --> 00:36:06.351
In a relationship
we should learn that practice.

00:36:06.351 --> 00:36:15.065
It's easy. It's pleasant.
It's very healing.

00:36:15.065 --> 00:36:19.253
After having practised for a few weeks

00:36:19.253 --> 00:36:26.402
touching the positive things
with your energy of mindfulness,

00:36:26.402 --> 00:36:29.864
your mindfulness has become
more important.

00:36:29.864 --> 00:36:33.384
And with that energy
you might begin touching

00:36:33.384 --> 00:36:41.685
the unpleasant things within you
and in the other person.

00:36:41.685 --> 00:36:47.566
Suppose someone comes and says
something that makes me angry.

00:36:47.566 --> 00:36:53.999
I know now how to practise
taking good care of my anger.

00:36:53.999 --> 00:36:57.368
I wouldn't say anything or 
do anything yet.

00:36:57.368 --> 00:37:02.702
I know that the most important thing now
is to take good care of my anger.

00:37:02.702 --> 00:37:06.220
Breathing in, I touch my anger.

00:37:06.220 --> 00:37:10.451
Breathing out,
I am taking good care of my anger.

00:37:10.451 --> 00:37:14.585
My anger is an energy.

00:37:14.585 --> 00:37:18.269
My mindfulness is another kind
of energy.

00:37:18.269 --> 00:37:22.417
The energy of mindfulness
is embracing the energy of anger

00:37:22.417 --> 00:37:25.902
in a most tender way.

00:37:25.902 --> 00:37:30.819
That is a practice called, 
"mindfulness of anger".

00:37:30.819 --> 00:37:37.703
We don't try to suppress our anger.

00:37:37.703 --> 00:37:44.186
We practise embracing our anger.
We know that our anger is us.

00:37:44.186 --> 00:37:49.884
Mindfulness holding anger
like a mother holding a baby.

00:37:49.884 --> 00:37:56.236
And if you know of mindful breathing

00:37:56.236 --> 00:38:01.818
you can nourish the energy of mindfulness
to be there

00:38:01.818 --> 00:38:06.320
in order to take good care of your anger.

00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:15.204
If your mindfulness is not strong enough,
a friend of yours can help you.

00:38:15.204 --> 00:38:21.803
One friend, two friends
who know the practice

00:38:21.803 --> 00:38:25.535
may like to sit close to you
hold your hand,

00:38:25.535 --> 00:38:31.555
breathe in and out mindfully
and help you to touch your anger

00:38:31.555 --> 00:38:34.232
with her or his mindfulness.

00:38:34.232 --> 00:38:41.600
You feel stronger in the presence
of someone like that.

00:38:41.600 --> 00:38:50.482
You know that when your little boy
or little girl is agitated,

00:38:50.482 --> 00:38:56.604
if you hold his or her hand
and you breathe in and out calmly

00:38:56.604 --> 00:39:00.787
and if you ask him or her
to breathe calmly

00:39:00.787 --> 00:39:04.768
the two kinds of energy will
be combined.

00:39:04.768 --> 00:39:12.535
And you'll be able to calm,
to stabilise the child very easily.

00:39:12.535 --> 00:39:18.784
So when we practise touching the 
negative things in us,

00:39:18.784 --> 00:39:24.967
the despair, the anger,
the frustration,

00:39:24.967 --> 00:39:29.119
if we feel that our energy of mindfulness
is not strong enough,

00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:38.652
and then we ask a friend,
the one who we trust,

00:39:38.652 --> 00:39:42.252
to sit close to us,
and we practise together.

00:39:42.252 --> 00:39:47.320
That is what we call
practising in a sangha.

00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:53.048
Sangha means a community of practice.

00:39:53.048 --> 00:39:56.769
If you practise alone,
it will be more difficult.

00:39:56.769 --> 00:40:01.867
But if you practise among other people,
who practise the same

00:40:01.867 --> 00:40:04.334
you get the support.

00:40:04.334 --> 00:40:09.503
You help your brothers and sisters
when they need you,

00:40:09.503 --> 00:40:15.169
and they will help you
when you need them.

00:40:15.169 --> 00:40:33.802
[Bell]

00:40:33.802 --> 00:40:40.653
In the Buddhist tradition we always
consider the community of practice

00:40:40.653 --> 00:40:42.485
as a jewel.

00:40:42.485 --> 00:40:46.952
I take refuge in my sangha.

00:40:46.952 --> 00:40:52.935
Sangha means the community of practice.

00:40:56.235 --> 00:41:05.851
Sometime you lose your practice
but the sangha will always rescue you,

00:41:05.851 --> 00:41:13.133
help you to restore your practice,
until your practice becomes strong

00:41:13.133 --> 00:41:17.203
so that you can help other people also.

00:41:17.203 --> 00:41:22.720
Taking refuge in the sangha
is not a matter of belief.

00:41:22.720 --> 00:41:27.202
It is a matter of practice.

00:41:27.202 --> 00:41:35.834
And you might like to transform
your partner, your parents,

00:41:35.834 --> 00:41:42.751
your son, your daughter
into your sangha.

00:41:43.268 --> 00:41:48.151
It is possible to do so if you practice
well enough.

00:41:48.151 --> 00:41:57.252
You become more pleasant, more smiley
and you'll be able to convince him or her.

00:41:57.252 --> 00:42:04.334
You may give a book or a tape on the 
practice.

00:42:04.334 --> 00:42:16.299
And if you are able to convince a friend
or a partner to the practice,

00:42:16.299 --> 00:42:22.902
you get supported by that person.

00:42:24.452 --> 00:42:27.152
Anyone of us would need a sangha.

00:42:27.152 --> 00:42:30.651
If you are a social worker,
if you are a doctor,

00:42:30.651 --> 00:42:35.254
if you are a therapist,
if you are a politician,

00:42:35.254 --> 00:42:38.770
if you are a teacher, well,
you all need a sangha

00:42:38.770 --> 00:42:42.486
to get supported.

00:42:42.486 --> 00:42:49.452
Sangha building is very crucial
for our survival.

00:42:50.518 --> 00:42:55.933
I have arrived. That's what you practice
when you breathe in.

00:42:55.933 --> 00:42:59.451
Whether in a position of sitting
or walking.

00:42:59.451 --> 00:43:06.454
Make a step, breathe in, and say,
"I have arrived."

00:43:06.454 --> 00:43:09.422
Don't be afraid of going home.

00:43:09.422 --> 00:43:18.735
Because, going home, you learn touching
the most beautiful things at home.

00:43:18.735 --> 00:43:22.285
Home is in the present moment.

00:43:22.285 --> 00:43:25.733
"I have arrived. I am home."

00:43:25.733 --> 00:43:29.236
"In the here and the now."

00:43:29.236 --> 00:43:35.052
Because it is only in the here and the now
that you can touch life.

00:43:35.052 --> 00:43:39.886
Of course, life, there is suffering 
in life.

00:43:39.886 --> 00:43:44.935
But there are many wonders in life.

00:43:44.935 --> 00:43:47.535
If you do not go back to the 
present moment,

00:43:47.535 --> 00:43:49.971
how could you touch
the beautiful sky,

00:43:49.971 --> 00:43:52.472
or the beautiful sunset,

00:43:52.472 --> 00:43:57.885
or the beautiful face of your child?

00:43:57.885 --> 00:44:01.368
If you do not go home,
how could you touch your heart,

00:44:01.368 --> 00:44:11.868
your lungs, your liver, your eyes,
in order to give them a chance?

00:44:11.868 --> 00:44:18.038
Going home, you will be able
to touch the wonders of life,

00:44:18.038 --> 00:44:22.719
the elements that are refreshing,
healing and beautiful.

00:44:22.719 --> 00:44:27.034
That is very important.

00:44:27.034 --> 00:44:31.020
When you practice sitting meditation,
you practice arriving

00:44:31.020 --> 00:44:35.835
in order to touch many wonderful things.

00:44:35.835 --> 00:44:39.535
First of all, the fact that you are alive.

00:44:39.535 --> 00:44:45.334
The fact that you are alive is a miracle.

00:44:45.334 --> 00:44:52.336
"Breathing in, I know I am alive."

00:44:52.336 --> 00:44:59.919
"Breathing out, I know I do not miss
my appointment with life."

00:44:59.919 --> 00:45:05.270
Your appointment with life is
in the present moment.

00:45:05.270 --> 00:45:10.121
And if you don't learn how to arrive,
to go back to the here and now,

00:45:10.121 --> 00:45:12.285
you miss life.

00:45:12.285 --> 00:45:22.036
Everything that is wonderful
must be touched in the present moment.

00:45:22.036 --> 00:45:27.969
In a discourse called, "The Discourse on 
the Better Way to Live Alone",

00:45:27.969 --> 00:45:35.634
the Buddha taught us that 
we should not get lost in the past.

00:45:35.634 --> 00:45:37.737
We should not get lost in the future.

00:45:37.737 --> 00:45:41.552
We have to go back to the present moment,

00:45:41.552 --> 00:45:49.666
and observe, and live deeply,
life in the present moment.

00:45:49.666 --> 00:45:58.001
That is the most ancient text on 
how to live in the present moment.

00:45:59.187 --> 00:46:02.520
The present moment contains the past.

00:46:02.520 --> 00:46:06.882
The present moment is made of the past.

00:46:06.882 --> 00:46:09.885
And if you touch deeply the present moment

00:46:09.885 --> 00:46:11.420
you touch the past.

00:46:11.420 --> 00:46:15.070
The past is still available.

00:46:15.070 --> 00:46:21.069
And the damage that was caused in the past
can be repaired also

00:46:21.069 --> 00:46:26.021
because the past is there, 
deep in the present moment.

00:46:26.021 --> 00:46:32.703
If I touch the present moment deeply,
I touch also the past

00:46:32.703 --> 00:46:39.155
and I can transform it.

00:46:40.486 --> 00:46:45.002
The future will be made of
the present moment.

00:46:45.002 --> 00:46:47.969
There's no use worrying about the future.

00:46:47.969 --> 00:46:56.485
The best way to take care of the future
is to take good care of the present moment

00:46:56.901 --> 00:47:01.436
If you do your best to handle the 
present moment,

00:47:01.436 --> 00:47:05.669
you have done everything for the future.

00:47:08.203 --> 00:47:16.419
That is why, to practice arriving home
in the here and the now is very important.

00:47:16.419 --> 00:47:24.070
Maybe, in the beginning you might have
the impression that home is not so sweet.

00:47:25.302 --> 00:47:33.804
But with the energy of mindfulness,
you will find your home sweet.

00:47:33.804 --> 00:47:40.719
And if it happens that you have to touch
the unpleasant things at home,

00:47:40.719 --> 00:47:48.019
you know that touching them with
mindfulness will help to transform them.

00:47:48.019 --> 00:47:52.732
Our despair, our anger, our irritation,

00:47:52.732 --> 00:47:58.552
when touched with the energy
of mindfulness,

00:47:58.552 --> 00:48:02.152
will be transformed.

00:48:02.152 --> 00:48:07.718
And that is why touching 
the positive things

00:48:07.718 --> 00:48:10.421
in order to get nourished

00:48:10.421 --> 00:48:13.681
and to cultivate the energy
of mindfulness

00:48:13.681 --> 00:48:18.119
is very crucial in the beginning.

00:48:18.119 --> 00:48:22.185
After that, our energy of mindfulness
will be strong enough

00:48:22.185 --> 00:48:27.617
to allow us to touch the more,
the negative elements

00:48:27.617 --> 00:48:29.801
within and around us.

00:48:29.801 --> 00:48:33.468
And we do it together also.

00:48:34.307 --> 00:48:44.615
[Bell]

00:48:52.749 --> 00:49:01.385
In the practice of Buddhist meditation,
we learn to touch our body as a river.

00:49:01.385 --> 00:49:06.136
Because our body always changes.

00:49:06.136 --> 00:49:13.852
We learn to touch our feelings as a river.

00:49:13.852 --> 00:49:21.234
And we learn to touch our perceptions
as a river too.

00:49:21.234 --> 00:49:29.520
The Buddha taught us that most of our
suffering comes from our wrong perceptions

00:49:29.520 --> 00:49:34.985
It's very important to use the energy of 
mindfulness

00:49:34.985 --> 00:49:41.119
and touch deeply our perceptions.

00:49:41.787 --> 00:49:47.686
Our perceptions are very often wrong.

00:49:47.686 --> 00:49:50.753
And because of that,
we accuse the other person.

00:49:50.753 --> 00:49:59.301
We accuse other people
as the origin of our pain,

00:49:59.301 --> 00:50:01.088
our suffering.

00:50:01.088 --> 00:50:08.619
In fact, our wrong perceptions
are the cause of our pain.

00:50:08.619 --> 00:50:18.733
Walking in the twilight, we may
mistake a piece of rope as a snake.

00:50:18.733 --> 00:50:23.453
And we scream, we run off.

00:50:23.453 --> 00:50:26.250
That is a wrong perception.

00:50:26.250 --> 00:50:33.067
That kind of perception 
is very usual in our daily lives.

00:50:33.067 --> 00:50:38.651
That is why it is so important 
to practice and generate

00:50:38.651 --> 00:50:42.600
the energy of mindfulness,
in order to go back

00:50:42.600 --> 00:50:46.318
and touch our perceptions.

00:50:46.318 --> 00:50:52.402
The Buddha said, most of our
perceptions are wrong.

00:50:52.402 --> 00:50:58.969
At least, they have elements that
are wrong in our own perceptions.

00:50:58.969 --> 00:51:05.235
The purpose of Buddhist meditation
is described as the practice of calming,

00:51:05.235 --> 00:51:14.838
stopping, concentrating, in order to
look deeply into the heart of things.

00:51:14.838 --> 00:51:24.598
If you don't stop, if you don't calm,
if you don't concentrate,

00:51:24.598 --> 00:51:32.085
you have no energy for looking deeply.

00:51:32.085 --> 00:51:39.169
The first part of the practice is called
samatha. Stopping, calming, concentrating.

00:51:39.169 --> 00:51:45.069
And that can be done with sitting, 
breathing mindfully.

00:51:45.069 --> 00:51:52.401
The second part of the practice is called
vipashyana. It means deep looking.

00:51:52.401 --> 00:51:57.336
And these aspects of the practice
help you to discover

00:51:57.336 --> 00:52:02.418
the true nature of what is.

00:52:02.418 --> 00:52:10.968
And the insight you get will be able
to liberate you from your own suffering.

00:52:10.968 --> 00:52:15.784
So misunderstanding is the root of our
suffering.

00:52:15.784 --> 00:52:20.070
And when we misunderstand,
we accuse the other person

00:52:20.070 --> 00:52:23.218
as the root of our suffering.

00:52:23.218 --> 00:52:27.720
The practice, according to the practice
you have to help each other.

00:52:27.720 --> 00:52:32.585
You have to come together and
deal with your real enemy,

00:52:32.585 --> 00:52:36.155
wrong perceptions.

00:52:41.416 --> 00:52:53.431
And in each of us there is a habit
that is the cause of so much difficulties.

00:52:53.431 --> 00:52:59.502
I know of a French lady
who left home at the age of seventeen,

00:52:59.502 --> 00:53:07.002
who went to England and lived
because she was so angry at her mother.

00:53:07.002 --> 00:53:11.819
She wanted to forget France,
to forget her mother.

00:53:11.819 --> 00:53:20.219
But thirty years later,
she touched a book on Buddhism,

00:53:20.219 --> 00:53:25.815
and she had the desire to go home,
and reconcile with her mother.

00:53:25.815 --> 00:53:33.667
The desire to go back and reconcile
was very strong in her.

00:53:33.667 --> 00:53:40.388
And that desire, that willingness,
is strong also in the person of the mother

00:53:40.388 --> 00:53:45.754
So both sides wanted to reconcile
and to make peace.

00:53:45.754 --> 00:53:53.017
But every time they met, there was
an explosion of anger on both sides.

00:53:53.017 --> 00:53:57.636
Because the seed of suffering had been
cultivated for a long time.

00:53:57.636 --> 00:54:06.917
It has become a kind of habit energy
that dictate both of them.

00:54:07.649 --> 00:54:12.502
The willingness to reconcile 
is not enough.

00:54:12.502 --> 00:54:15.345
The willingness to make peace
is not enough.

00:54:15.345 --> 00:54:17.449
We need to practice.

00:54:17.449 --> 00:54:22.652
So I asked her to come to stay in 
Plum Village for a few - where I stay

00:54:22.652 --> 00:54:29.303
and practice - to come to Plum Village and 
stay for two months for the practice.

00:54:29.303 --> 00:54:33.604
She practiced walking meditation,
sitting and breathing,

00:54:33.604 --> 00:54:37.586
eating in mindfulness, 
drinking tea in mindfulness,

00:54:37.586 --> 00:54:40.235
flower watering.

00:54:40.235 --> 00:54:45.883
The energy of mindfulness
cultivated by that daily practice,

00:54:45.883 --> 00:54:50.268
she used to touch the seeds of anger

00:54:50.268 --> 00:54:54.654
and to touch the habit energy
of reacting like a machine

00:54:54.654 --> 00:54:59.186
every time the seed of anger
is watered.

00:54:59.186 --> 00:55:04.586
And I advised her to write a letter
of reconciliation

00:55:04.586 --> 00:55:08.520
from time to time, 
to her mother.

00:55:08.520 --> 00:55:15.120
Write it in mindfulness.

00:55:15.120 --> 00:55:19.586
During the time of writing that letter,
her seed of suffering and anger

00:55:19.586 --> 00:55:21.066
was not watered by her mother.

00:55:21.066 --> 00:55:25.318
Her mother was not there,
so it was much easier to write

00:55:25.318 --> 00:55:28.335
a letter of reconciliation.

00:55:28.335 --> 00:55:33.470
And to write such a letter
is also to practice deep looking

00:55:33.470 --> 00:55:41.169
into herself, and into the person
of her mother.

00:55:41.169 --> 00:55:47.668
A number of months later,
she was transformed.

00:55:47.668 --> 00:55:53.335
And the letter that she wrote,
her mother read, one after one.

00:55:53.335 --> 00:55:57.267
And during the time reading this letter,

00:55:57.267 --> 00:56:00.436
she got the effect of flower arrangement,

00:56:00.436 --> 00:56:03.602
her values were recognised.

00:56:03.602 --> 00:56:06.134
She restored the balance.

00:56:06.134 --> 00:56:09.817
These things, you can do.

00:56:09.817 --> 00:56:13.920
We all can do.

00:56:13.920 --> 00:56:30.268
[Bell]

00:56:35.001 --> 00:56:41.351
Before I continue, I would like to invite 
you to breathe in and out a few times,

00:56:41.351 --> 00:56:51.569
and then tell you how to stretch,
imitating a palm tree.

00:57:16.419 --> 00:57:25.102
[Bell]

00:57:35.804 --> 00:57:45.386
[Bell]

00:57:52.051 --> 00:58:02.536
[Bell]

00:58:08.935 --> 00:58:16.003
In our daily life, we are often
distracted.

00:58:16.003 --> 00:58:20.738
Our body may be there but
our mind is not there.

00:58:20.738 --> 00:58:25.304
So we are not really present.

00:58:25.304 --> 00:58:31.354
Our beautiful child may be coming,
our beautiful little boy or girl,

00:58:31.354 --> 00:58:35.799
may be coming,
smiling her beautiful smile.

00:58:35.799 --> 00:58:39.987
She wants to get some of 
our attention.

00:58:39.987 --> 00:58:42.698
But since we are caught in the future,

00:58:42.698 --> 00:58:49.634
in our projects, or in our regrets,

00:58:50.101 --> 00:58:52.617
we are not available to our child.

00:58:52.617 --> 00:58:55.786
And our child is not available to us.

00:58:55.786 --> 00:58:58.703
Life is not possible.

00:58:58.703 --> 00:59:05.885
That is why, a few mindful breathing
may help us to go back

00:59:05.885 --> 00:59:13.218
and to become available to our child,
to life.

00:59:13.218 --> 00:59:22.668
And mindfulness of breathing may help you
to be present in order to encounter life.

00:59:26.652 --> 00:59:32.865
If you love someone, the greatest gift
that you can make to him or her

00:59:32.865 --> 00:59:36.170
is your presence.

00:59:36.170 --> 00:59:40.619
If you are not there, how could you love?

00:59:40.619 --> 00:59:46.669
And therefore, the most meaningful
declaration, when you are in love, is this

00:59:46.669 --> 00:59:51.588
"Darling, I am there for you."

00:59:51.588 --> 01:00:00.471
Your presence is very important
for him or for her.

01:00:00.471 --> 01:00:04.735
And that cannot be bought with money.

01:00:04.735 --> 01:00:10.819
That could only be practiced
by mindfulness.

01:00:10.819 --> 01:00:16.003
So breathe in and breathe out mindfully,
and make yourself available

01:00:16.003 --> 01:00:19.703
to your beloved one.

01:00:19.703 --> 01:00:23.286
That is a practice of mindfulness.

01:00:23.286 --> 01:00:29.418
"Darling, I am there for you."

01:00:29.418 --> 01:00:34.605
When you are there,
the energy of mindfulness is there,

01:00:34.605 --> 01:00:40.986
and that energy helps you to recognise
the presence of the other.

01:00:40.986 --> 01:00:46.851
If you are not there, how can you 
recognise her presence? Or his presence?

01:00:46.851 --> 01:00:54.185
That is why mindfulness is the energy that
helps you to recognise the presence

01:00:54.185 --> 01:01:00.135
of the other. "Darling, I know that you 
are there, and I am happy."

01:01:00.135 --> 01:01:04.851
So you embrace the person you love
with the energy of mindfulness.

01:01:04.851 --> 01:01:09.752
That is the most nourishing thing
for him or for her.

01:01:09.752 --> 01:01:14.502
Otherwise she will die slowly.

01:01:14.502 --> 01:01:17.919
You are there,
but you are not really there.

01:01:17.919 --> 01:01:24.005
Your presence is not true, not real
because you are not mindful.

01:01:24.005 --> 01:01:27.235
If the person you love
does not get your attention,

01:01:27.235 --> 01:01:32.785
your mindfulness,
she dies slowly.

01:01:32.785 --> 01:01:38.369
Especially when 
the person you love suffers,

01:01:38.369 --> 01:01:42.502
your presence is most important
to her, or to him.

01:01:42.502 --> 01:01:47.568
That is why, when you see
the person you love suffer

01:01:47.568 --> 01:01:50.697
you have to make yourself available
right away.

01:01:50.697 --> 01:01:55.051
"Darling, I know that you suffer."

01:01:55.051 --> 01:02:01.870
"I know that you suffer, and that is why
I am there for you."

01:02:02.234 --> 01:02:04.554
That is the practice of mindfulness.

01:02:04.554 --> 01:02:07.034
And you know how to do it.

01:02:07.034 --> 01:02:12.417
You might use sitting, walking, breathing.

01:02:13.052 --> 01:02:20.471
All these practices aim
at making you available, present.

01:02:21.137 --> 01:02:25.902
And if you yourself suffer,
you have to do the same thing.

01:02:25.902 --> 01:02:30.685
You have to practice being there,
by breathing in and out,

01:02:30.685 --> 01:02:34.583
holding your suffering
with your mindfulness.

01:02:34.583 --> 01:02:41.248
Then you go to the person you love
and trust and tell her, tell him,

01:02:41.248 --> 01:02:46.837
"Darling, I suffer. Please help."

01:02:46.837 --> 01:02:54.403
These are very simple words to say.

01:02:54.403 --> 01:03:02.351
If your love is true, you should be able
to tell him or tell her that you suffer

01:03:02.351 --> 01:03:07.051
and that you need her help, or his help.

01:03:07.051 --> 01:03:12.816
If you cannot go to him or her,
and say that something is wrong

01:03:12.816 --> 01:03:19.818
in your relationship, your love is not
true enough.

01:03:19.818 --> 01:03:27.003
In true love, pride does not have a place.

01:03:27.003 --> 01:03:30.500
Pride should not prevent you
from going to him or to her

01:03:30.500 --> 01:03:39.552
and to tell him or her that you suffer
and you need him or her to help.

01:03:45.069 --> 01:03:48.852
We are rooted in each other.

01:03:48.852 --> 01:03:52.936
I need you in order to survive.

01:03:52.936 --> 01:03:58.186
One day, in the Upper Hamlet 
of Plum Village,

01:03:58.186 --> 01:04:04.086
I happened to see
a young lady walking alone.

01:04:04.086 --> 01:04:09.418
And I had the feeling 
that she is not a human being.

01:04:09.418 --> 01:04:13.085
She was like a ghost.

01:04:13.085 --> 01:04:21.351
I knew right away that she was one
of the hungry ghosts of our society.

01:04:21.351 --> 01:04:25.486
Coming from a broken family,
coming from a society

01:04:25.486 --> 01:04:33.352
that does not recognise you,
that has made you suffer.

01:04:33.352 --> 01:04:42.699
Coming from a tradition that
is not capable of nourishing you,

01:04:42.699 --> 01:04:46.520
communicate to you.

01:04:46.520 --> 01:04:55.768
In the past twelve years, I have met
several hungry ghosts like that.

01:04:55.768 --> 01:05:01.903
They are without any root.

01:05:01.903 --> 01:05:04.566
They don't believe in their family.

01:05:04.566 --> 01:05:07.634
They get angry at their parents.

01:05:07.634 --> 01:05:12.203
They get angry at their society.

01:05:12.203 --> 01:05:14.234
They get angry at their traditions.

01:05:14.234 --> 01:05:17.620
They want to leave everything behind.

01:05:17.620 --> 01:05:22.552
And they go around
looking for something to belong to.

01:05:22.552 --> 01:05:25.317
Looking for something beautiful.

01:05:25.317 --> 01:05:31.168
Something rooted,
something true to believe in.

01:05:31.168 --> 01:05:38.151
Many of them have come to
practice centres like Plum Village.

01:05:38.151 --> 01:05:41.134
It's very difficult to help these people.

01:05:41.134 --> 01:05:44.751
They have no roots. It's very difficult for 
them to absorb the teaching

01:05:44.751 --> 01:05:52.881
because they don't trust easily.

01:05:52.881 --> 01:06:04.131
You have to do your best in order to
earn their trust before you can help.

01:06:10.018 --> 01:06:14.952
Our society is organised in such a way 
that we produce tens of thousands

01:06:14.952 --> 01:06:18.234
of hungry ghosts everyday.

01:06:18.234 --> 01:06:23.804
They have not received love from
their parents, their society,

01:06:23.804 --> 01:06:26.752
their tradition.

01:06:26.752 --> 01:06:31.536
Nobody has understood them.
That is why they are very hungry

01:06:31.536 --> 01:06:35.935
of love and understanding.

01:06:35.935 --> 01:06:41.669
And they are looking for something
to believe in.

01:06:41.669 --> 01:06:45.768
And hungry ghosts, even if they have
a big belly like this,

01:06:45.768 --> 01:06:49.636
they have a very tiny throat,

01:06:49.636 --> 01:06:55.933
as small as a needle, it is described
in the sacred text.

01:06:55.933 --> 01:07:01.170
Hungry ghosts have a throat
that is as small as a needle.

01:07:01.170 --> 01:07:04.553
So even if you have a lot to offer,

01:07:04.553 --> 01:07:11.702
it is very difficult for them to absorb.

01:07:11.702 --> 01:07:19.451
Even if you have plenty of food,
plenty of water, plenty of love,

01:07:19.451 --> 01:07:22.568
to offer, it is difficult for them
to absorb

01:07:22.568 --> 01:07:27.818
because nobody has understood them,
nobody has loved them,

01:07:27.818 --> 01:07:35.651
they suspect everything,
they suspect everyone.

01:07:35.651 --> 01:07:41.017
We have helped a certain number
of hungry ghosts like that.

01:07:41.017 --> 01:07:45.234
We know that it is difficult.

01:07:45.234 --> 01:07:49.968
We know that we need each other
in order to help.

01:07:49.968 --> 01:07:53.268
We have to recognise our society
in such a way that we

01:07:53.268 --> 01:07:56.801
stop producing more hungry ghosts.

01:07:56.801 --> 01:07:59.485
It is very important.

01:07:59.485 --> 01:08:03.899
We should practice looking deeply
in order to be able to understand

01:08:03.899 --> 01:08:09.467
these hungry ghosts, and not 
to continue to blame them.

01:08:09.467 --> 01:08:13.351
Because they have not received
any understanding,

01:08:13.351 --> 01:08:19.619
and therefore, any love.

01:08:19.619 --> 01:08:32.752
[Bell]

01:08:38.035 --> 01:08:43.319
Each person, in order to be happy
and stable

01:08:43.319 --> 01:08:46.819
should have at least two families.

01:08:46.819 --> 01:08:53.405
The first is the blood family

01:08:53.405 --> 01:09:04.701
in which father and mother represent
the youngest generation of ancestors.

01:09:04.701 --> 01:09:08.901
If your parents are happy with each other,

01:09:08.901 --> 01:09:17.418
they'll be able to transmit to you
the values of your ancestors.

01:09:17.418 --> 01:09:24.736
The love and trust that are in them
in the form of seeds.

01:09:24.736 --> 01:09:28.584
And you have roots in your blood family.

01:09:28.584 --> 01:09:34.668
If you are on good terms with your parents
you are connected with your ancestors

01:09:34.668 --> 01:09:37.086
through your parents.

01:09:37.086 --> 01:09:40.734
But if you are not on good terms with your
parents, you get disconnected

01:09:40.734 --> 01:09:42.667
with all your ancestors.

01:09:42.667 --> 01:09:45.854
You become a person without roots.

01:09:45.854 --> 01:09:52.101
And you can become very easily
a hungry ghost.

01:09:52.101 --> 01:09:56.539
The other family is the spiritual family.

01:09:56.539 --> 01:09:59.534
You also have ancestors.

01:09:59.534 --> 01:10:07.803
And if the people who represent
your traditions are not happy enough,

01:10:07.803 --> 01:10:14.119
if they have not been lucky enough
in order to receive the jewels

01:10:14.119 --> 01:10:17.018
of your tradition,

01:10:17.018 --> 01:10:21.135
they would not be able
to transmit them to you.

01:10:21.135 --> 01:10:24.701
They could not be able to understand you
and your needs.

01:10:24.701 --> 01:10:29.087
They could impose on you
things you don't like.

01:10:29.087 --> 01:10:33.720
Communication between them and you
is not possible.

01:10:33.720 --> 01:10:41.509
You suffer, and you want to get away
from your own traditions.

01:10:41.509 --> 01:10:52.603
And if you are in bad terms 
with your rabbi, with your pastor,

01:10:52.603 --> 01:11:00.651
with your priest, you get disconnected
with your spiritual ancestors.

01:11:00.651 --> 01:11:05.170
And you become a hungry ghost.

01:11:05.170 --> 01:11:10.104
And having so much suffering 
within yourself,

01:11:10.104 --> 01:11:12.438
you make the person you love suffer.

01:11:12.438 --> 01:11:17.850
And if you have children,
you make them suffer also.

01:11:17.850 --> 01:11:21.486
And they too will become hungry ghosts.

01:11:21.486 --> 01:11:27.786
That is why it is so important to practise
looking deeply

01:11:27.786 --> 01:11:32.502
to find out what is wrong with our family.

01:11:32.502 --> 01:11:36.202
What is wrong within our blood family.

01:11:36.202 --> 01:11:43.935
What is wrong within our spiritual family.

01:11:43.935 --> 01:11:51.202
The practice of mindful looking
may be very helpful

01:11:51.202 --> 01:11:55.718
in order for you to understand 
your parents

01:11:55.718 --> 01:12:00.719
and the people who represent
your tradition.

01:12:00.719 --> 01:12:09.235
If your parents cannot embody
the values of your ancestors,

01:12:09.235 --> 01:12:16.101
if your priest, your rabbi, your pastor
cannot embody the values

01:12:16.101 --> 01:12:22.117
of your tradition, 
there must be causes.

01:12:22.117 --> 01:12:24.567
We have to look deeply.

01:12:24.567 --> 01:12:30.719
And when we are capable of looking deeply,

01:12:30.719 --> 01:12:39.534
the insight will come,
and that will help us to accept,

01:12:39.534 --> 01:12:41.935
to have compassion.

01:12:41.935 --> 01:12:46.603
And going back home to help our parents.

01:12:46.603 --> 01:12:49.902
To help our rabbi, our priest, our pastor,

01:12:49.902 --> 01:12:53.368
will become possible.

01:12:53.368 --> 01:12:58.435
There is a young American
who came to Plum Village

01:12:58.435 --> 01:13:07.866
and told me that he was so angry at his 
father, to the point that even after his

01:13:07.866 --> 01:13:16.736
father's passing away, he still
could not reconcile with him.

01:13:16.736 --> 01:13:29.884
And I helped him, by the teaching of
the emptiness of transmission.

01:13:29.884 --> 01:13:35.300
Emptiness of transmission is a way of
looking deeply in order to recognise

01:13:35.300 --> 01:13:38.319
that you are one with your parents.

01:13:38.319 --> 01:13:41.519
You are only a continuation
of your parents.

01:13:41.519 --> 01:13:47.669
Getting angry at your parents is
to get angry at yourself.

01:13:47.669 --> 01:13:50.851
When we talk about transmission,

01:13:50.851 --> 01:13:54.102
we talk about the one who transmits,

01:13:54.102 --> 01:13:56.884
we talk about the object transmitted,

01:13:56.884 --> 01:14:02.635
and we talk about the receiver
of the transmission, three things.

01:14:02.635 --> 01:14:06.351
When you have a chance to take a shower,

01:14:06.351 --> 01:14:10.102
when you take a shower, you have 
a chance to look at your body

01:14:10.102 --> 01:14:14.901
as the object of transmission.

01:14:14.901 --> 01:14:20.102
And you think of your parents as
the transmitters.

01:14:20.102 --> 01:14:25.184
Your body, your consciousness,
as the object transmitted.

01:14:25.184 --> 01:14:31.885
And you are the receiver
of the transmission.

01:14:31.885 --> 01:14:36.520
But looking deeply, we see that
three of them are empty

01:14:36.520 --> 01:14:39.485
of a separate self.

01:14:39.485 --> 01:14:46.918
The question we ask is,
what did your parents transmit?

01:14:46.918 --> 01:14:49.585
And if you practice looking deeply,
you see that

01:14:49.585 --> 01:14:55.668
your parents transmit themselves to you.

01:14:55.668 --> 01:15:01.152
Your body, and all the seeds that you
carry within your consciousness,

01:15:01.152 --> 01:15:06.235
are your parents.

01:15:06.235 --> 01:15:11.787
They did not transmit anything less
than themselves.

01:15:11.787 --> 01:15:16.135
All the seeds of suffering,
all the seeds of happiness and talent

01:15:16.135 --> 01:15:23.053
they received from the ancestors,
they have transmitted everything to you.

01:15:23.053 --> 01:15:30.571
So the transmitters and the
transmitted one and you are also one

01:15:30.571 --> 01:15:34.485
with the object transmitted.

01:15:34.485 --> 01:15:40.818
So you cannot escape the fact
that you are only the continuation

01:15:40.818 --> 01:15:46.586
of your father. You are your father.

01:15:46.586 --> 01:15:51.085
And to reconcile with your father,
is to reconcile with yourself.

01:15:51.085 --> 01:15:53.983
There is no other way.

01:15:53.983 --> 01:16:00.352
That young man, he put a picture
of his father on his desk.

01:16:00.352 --> 01:16:08.834
And put a little lamp.
Every time he goes to his desk,

01:16:08.834 --> 01:16:18.299
he would look in the eyes of his father,
and practise breathing in and out.

01:16:18.299 --> 01:16:23.505
And to touch the fact
that he is his father.

01:16:23.505 --> 01:16:30.854
He is only a continuation
of his father.

01:16:30.854 --> 01:16:37.469
And he realised the fact that his father
was not capable of transmitting to him

01:16:37.469 --> 01:16:44.084
the seeds of love and trust
that lie deep in his consciousness.

01:16:44.084 --> 01:16:48.721
Because he did not have the 
capacity to do so.

01:16:48.721 --> 01:16:53.186
He was not helped by anyone
to touch these seeds

01:16:53.186 --> 01:16:56.968
in order to get nourishment.

01:16:56.968 --> 01:17:03.018
And of course, the seed of trust and love
in him was covered up by

01:17:03.018 --> 01:17:08.884
so many layers of suffering.

01:17:08.884 --> 01:17:13.435
And when you have become
aware of that, you can forgive

01:17:13.435 --> 01:17:17.836
you can understand.

01:17:17.836 --> 01:17:22.351
There is a wonderful guided meditation
on the five year old boy

01:17:22.351 --> 01:17:27.570
that we used to offer to hungry ghosts
who come to Plum Village.

01:17:27.570 --> 01:17:34.752
"Breathing in, I see myself as a five 
year old boy. Or girl.

01:17:34.752 --> 01:17:41.452
"Breathing out, I smile to that five
year old boy or girl, who is me."

01:17:41.452 --> 01:17:48.882
And that you practise for one or two
weeks.

01:17:48.882 --> 01:17:56.203
A five year old boy or girl
is always very vulnerable.

01:17:56.203 --> 01:17:59.403
Very fragile.

01:17:59.403 --> 01:18:03.504
A stern look may already 
hurt him or her.

01:18:03.504 --> 01:18:07.734
A shout may already 
hurt him or her.

01:18:07.734 --> 01:18:12.451
That is why we are very fragile
when we are five.

01:18:12.451 --> 01:18:16.219
And if you see yourself as a 
five year old boy like that,

01:18:16.219 --> 01:18:18.900
And if you breathe out and smile to you

01:18:18.900 --> 01:18:22.154
the smile will be the smile of compassion.

01:18:22.154 --> 01:18:24.154
Understanding.

01:18:24.154 --> 01:18:32.987
I suffer because, as a five year old 
boy, I was deeply wounded.

01:18:32.987 --> 01:18:39.584
And two weeks later, I could give him
the other half of that practice.

01:18:39.584 --> 01:18:45.133
"Breathing in, I see my father
as a five year old boy.

01:18:45.133 --> 01:18:53.302
"Breathing out, I smile to the
five year old boy that was my father."

01:18:53.302 --> 01:19:03.485
Maybe you have not imagined
that your father could be

01:19:03.485 --> 01:19:07.540
a five year old boy, but he was
a five year old boy.

01:19:07.540 --> 01:19:11.317
He had been a five year old boy.

01:19:11.317 --> 01:19:14.235
And if you are capable of breathing in
and seeing your father

01:19:14.235 --> 01:19:16.618
as a five year old boy,

01:19:16.618 --> 01:19:20.468
you would see that he is also fragile.

01:19:20.468 --> 01:19:22.253
Vulnerable.

01:19:22.253 --> 01:19:24.582
Easily to get hurt.

01:19:24.582 --> 01:19:33.285
And he may be like you, the victim
of your grandpa.

01:19:33.285 --> 01:19:36.018
And practise like that.

01:19:36.018 --> 01:19:40.999
Smiling to that five year old boy
with compassion.

01:19:40.999 --> 01:19:46.385
One day you will understand
that your father is also a victim.

01:19:46.385 --> 01:19:50.052
That is why he was not capable
of nourishing himself

01:19:50.052 --> 01:19:54.849
with the seed of love and trust.

01:19:54.849 --> 01:20:00.218
And if you don't practise,
that seed of love and trust in you

01:20:00.218 --> 01:20:03.707
will remain very small.

01:20:03.707 --> 01:20:07.620
And tomorrow, when you have a child

01:20:07.620 --> 01:20:12.518
you will do exactly like your father.

01:20:12.518 --> 01:20:18.672
The wheel of samsara.

01:20:18.672 --> 01:20:23.616
And many have profited
from that exercise.

01:20:23.616 --> 01:20:28.735
They have gone back
to help their own parents.

01:20:28.735 --> 01:20:33.083
And through their parents,
they get connected again

01:20:33.083 --> 01:20:38.216
with their ancestors.

01:20:38.216 --> 01:20:41.702
And the same practice can be directed
to your tradition.

01:20:41.702 --> 01:20:45.150
Your spiritual family.

01:20:45.150 --> 01:20:51.019
If you understand, by the practice
of mindfulness,

01:20:51.019 --> 01:20:57.147
you may discover that there are values
in your own tradition.

01:20:57.147 --> 01:21:03.218
I always tell my students that the
equivalent of mindfulness

01:21:03.218 --> 01:21:10.484
could be seen in the tradition of
Judaism and Christianity.

01:21:10.484 --> 01:21:15.186
And when you have practised mindfulness
in a Buddhist centre,

01:21:15.186 --> 01:21:21.217
you may discover that these jewels
are also in your own tradition.

01:21:21.217 --> 01:21:25.250
And you are urged to go back 
in order to help out,

01:21:25.250 --> 01:21:31.216
to rediscover these values
for your own nourishment

01:21:31.216 --> 01:21:36.468
and the nourishment
of your children.

01:21:36.468 --> 01:21:43.568
Because, a person without roots
cannot be a happy person.

01:21:43.568 --> 01:21:51.316
Getting back and touch our roots
and rediscover the positive seeds

01:21:51.316 --> 01:21:56.935
the jewels within our tradition,
blood or spiritual,

01:21:56.935 --> 01:21:59.302
is a very important practice.

01:21:59.302 --> 01:22:06.503
And the practice of mindfulness can help.

01:22:07.105 --> 01:22:21.153
[Bell]

01:22:21.153 --> 01:22:23.735
My dear friends, it's 9.30.

01:22:23.735 --> 01:22:26.736
I like to ask Sister Chan Khong,
True Emptiness

01:22:26.736 --> 01:22:30.103
to offer you a song on
mindfulness practice.

01:22:30.103 --> 01:22:39.534
Thank you for being there,
mindful.

01:22:39.534 --> 01:26:26.430
[singing in Vietnamese]