WEBVTT

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(Half bell)

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(Bell)

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(FRENCH)
I would like to say

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that certain people were not ok
to play a game called 'Werewolves'.

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There are adults who say
that it is a bad game.

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You should not play it here,
because you play with death.

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You cannot do that.

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And other people say it is very good,
because it's a game and you play together.

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So the question is: Is it good or not?

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What teaching can you
give on this argument?

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(ENGLISH)
Dear Thay,

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our friend is saying
that there is a certain game.

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Some of the young people
like to play it.

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It is called 'Loups-Garous',
'Werewolves.'

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Some of the adults said that
they should not play this game,

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because it has something
to do with death.

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And other people say that
it can be a good game to play.

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So how can they resolve this question?

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And what kind of teaching can be helpful
to make them understand about this?

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Do you want to say
more about the game?

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(Mumbling)

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It is just a simple game.

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You have to choose at the end of a round
whom you want to kill.

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There are some
special characters like witches.

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And there is a vote and
that vote decides who is a werewolf.

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So you have to keep the people
and hopefully kill the werewolf.

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So that is why some people
who have children say

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they have to kill, to choose
whom they want to kill.

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And you have to defend yourself saying:

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"I am not the werewolf.
Please don't kill me!"

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And all the children
together have to say:

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"I think this one is the werewolf.
We should kill him."

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But maybe he is innocent.

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And the object of this game is that

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the werewolves win when
they kill all the normal people.

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Or the normal people win
when they kill all the werewolves.

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Sister Hai Nghiem, can you
help answer that question for Thay?

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(Crowd laughs)

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Maybe Thay Phap Luu also.

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Do you kill or pretend to kill?

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Do you really want to kill?

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Microphone for sister Hai Nghiem.

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Dear Thay, dear Sangha

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I have played this game
in the past (laughs).

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So I feel I know the spirit
of the game a little bit.

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What is inspiring for me when I play
this game for children or young people...

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is that you play roles.

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Either we are an innocent villager,
or we are a werewolf,

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or we are a witch
or we are a little girl.

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Obviously in these roles
there is the good and the evil.

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The innocent people,
they represent the good.

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They want to save their lives.

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The werewolves in this game
represent the evil.

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They want to make victims.

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There are also some roles in this game where
people actually save other people's lives

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or you can...

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or you can act in such a way that will
kill more people at the same time.

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Of course you pretend this,
you don't have to actually make victims.

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It is just a way of speaking.

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But some people get
animated by the game.

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In this game there
has to be a lot of talking

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to convince the others that you
are not a werewolf

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and you should not be killed.

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Sometimes you are a werewolf
and people want to kill you.

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Then you lie, because you say:
"No no, I am not a werewolf."

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So...

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I think that sometimes
you sort of play with fire in this game:

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You lie or...

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or you try to kill someone
that is innocent.

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I think that something we can learn
from a game like this is that...

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that we can have roles together
when we are in a community,

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but it does not have to...

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it does not have to
become...so violent.

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Maybe the children could think of
a game which is similar to 'Werewolves',

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where you have to discuss together
and you also have roles,

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but maybe you won't
have to kill people.

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Maybe instead of killing...

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we can make projects or...

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we can gain some wisdom together

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or save the...weaker, the needy.

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I hope that Thay will
contribute something more.

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(Crowd laughs)

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I think the children can sit down
and discuss about this

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and come to a conclusion.

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If a...

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If a game is not approved by
a number of people,

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then we can change the way of playing
so that everyone can accept it.

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You know, I came from a country where
killing took place every day, every night

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and many people died.

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One side was the communist.

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And one side was the anticommunist.

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And they kill each other
every day, every night,

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because they think
of the other side as evil.

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And the suffering went on
for many, many years.

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That is a game,
a horrible game.

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So our thinking about
good and evil is very important.

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Do not...

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Do not try to say: "This is evil!

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And if something
is evil we have to kill it."

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Do not think like that.

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Suppose someone is sick.

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He has a kind of virus or bacteria
that makes him very sick.

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And we want to...

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We want to help him or her.

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We have to kill the disease, the sickness
in him or in her and not kill her, right?

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You have to kill the virus, the bacteria
and not the person, right?

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So when someone is violent
because someone is injust,

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when someone is a criminal,

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we should not try to kill him or her,
but we try to kill the violence,

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the anger in him or in her.

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Do not kill.

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That is why during the war
in Vietnam Thay wrote a song.

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And he asked the young people
to sing it on the street.

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"Our enemies are not men.

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If we kill men, with whom shall we live?"

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It became a folk song.

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That is why our principle is no killing.

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We do not kill any people, any person,
even if he is a terrorist or a criminal.

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We want to kill the wrong perception,

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and...

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and the ignorance, the hate,
the fear, the violence in him or in her.

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We don't want to kill him or her.

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That is why you have
to create a kind of game

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where we don't kill the person
but we kill the evil in that person.

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That evil is violence, anger and hate.

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But you have to be very skillful to
kill the violence, the hate in a person.

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And with the practice of
mindful talking, mindful listening

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you can help a person remove
anger and violence in him or in her.

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You cannot do that with guns.

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That is the first thing we have to learn:
never kill a man, a woman.

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Only kill the evil in him or in her.

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But you do not need weapons
in order to kill.

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You need the practice
of compassion of listening.

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That is the first part of the answer.
The second part of the answer is deeper.

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Because you know that
nothing is born and nothing dies

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that is why you cannot even kill anger.

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You transform anger into something else.

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You cannot kill a cloud,
you can help a cloud to become rain.

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So there is a way
to transform anger and violence

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into something else
that is more pleasant,

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like compassion, understanding
and reconciliation.

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And that you can do
with the practice of meditation.

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That is what we learn here.

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We do not even kill...

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We do not even want to kill
anger or hate

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because we know that nothing dies.

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But we know we can transform
anger and hate into something positive

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like understanding and love.

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And in Plum Village we learn
how to transform anger into compassion.

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We learn how to transform
violence into gentleness.

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And the children can learn.

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And when they go
back to school, this September,

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they know how to deal with

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the children who are violent
and have a lot of anger in them.

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We don't want to punish them or hit them.

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But we want to help them to be
less violent, less angry.

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And you can learn that in Plum Village.

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And you can help
your fellow students in the class.

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Ask your mentors
here in Plum Village how to do that.

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And create a kind of game
that can help us to learn.

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This person, this guy,
is supposed to be evil.

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And people say that we have to kill him.

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Can we kill a person?

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No!

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We have to help him or her
not to be violent, not to be angry.

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But how?

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So we can create many kinds of games.

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There are plenty of games,
beautiful games.

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Why don't we spend our time playing
in such a way that we can learn more.

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Thank you!

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(Half bell)

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(Bell)