(The Plum Village Online Monastery)

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# May the day be well
and the night be well.

# May the midday hour
bring happiness, too.

# In every minute and every second,

# may the day and night be well.

# By the blessing of the Triple Gem,

# may all things be protected and safe.

# May all beings born
in each of the four ways

# live in a land of purity.

# May all in the Three Realms
be born upon Lotus Thrones.

# May countless wandering souls

# realize the three virtuous positions
of the Bodhisattva Path.

# May all living beings,
with grace and ease,

# fulfill the Bodhisattva Stages.

# The countenance
of the World-Honored One,

# like the full moon,
or like the orb of the sun,

# shines with the light of clarity.

# A halo of wisdom
spreads in every direction,

enveloping all with love and compassion,
joy and equanimity.

# Namo Shakyamunaye Buddhaya,

# Namo Shakyamunaye Buddhaya,

# Namo Shakyamunaye Buddhaya. #

(Bell)

#From the depths of understanding,

# a flower of great eloquence blooms:

# The Bodhisattva stands majestically

# upon the waves of birth and death,
free from all afflictions.

# Her great compassion
eliminates all sickness,

# even that once thought of as incurable.

# Her wondrous light sweeps away
all obstacles and dangers.

# Her willow branch, once waved,
reveals countless Buddha Lands.

# Her lotus flower blossoms
a multitude of practice centers.

# We bow to her.

# We see her true presence
in the here and the now.

# We offer her
the incense of our hearts.

# May the Bodhisattva of Deep Listening
embrace us all with Great Compassion.

# Namo 'valokiteshvaraya,

# Namo 'valokiteshvaraya,

# Namo 'valokiteshvaraya. #

(Bell)

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(Bell)

Good morning, dear friends.

I hope everyone can hear clearly enough.

I began the practice of mindfulness
at the age of 16.

I was ordained as a novice monk
at the age of 16.

And the first book, 
text of mindfulness,

contains a number of verses.

Each verse has 4 lines.

And each line has 5 words.

It was written in classical Chinese.

When I woke up in the morning,

I was supposed to read
the first line of a verse

and then breathe.

When I breathed in,

I read the first line

silently, inside.

When I breathed out,

I read the second line.

Then, one in-breath for the third line

and one in-breath for the fourth line.

That is a verse that helps me
to be mindful when I wake up.

The first gatha, the fist verse,
goes like this:

"Waking up in the morning, I smile".

The first thing you do in the morning
is to smile.

"Waking up in the morning, I smile."

You breathe in and you smile.

Then, when you breathe out
you read the second line:

"I have 24 brand new hours to live."

That is a gift of life.

24 brand new hours to live!

That is a lot.

Then, when I breathe in again
I read the third line:

"I vow to live these 24 hours deeply."

Each hour deeply,
I will not waste them.

I don't allow anger, fear and jealousy

to prevent me from living deeply
these 24 hours given to me.

And the last line is:

"I make the vow to learn
to look at the people around me

with the eyes of compassion."

That is the first verse.

A novice has to memorize
all these verses

in order to practice mindfulness.

"Waking up in the morning, I smile.

I have 24 brand new hours to live.

I vow to live them deeply

and learn to look at the people around me
with the eyes of compassion."

There is no thinking,
just breathing

and remembering to live in such a way

that you will not waste your life.

When you brush your teeth,

there is one verse for you
to brush your teeth.

So while you are brushing your teeth
you can be happy,

you can be mindful.

You appreciate the water,

you appreciate the time that you have
in order to brush your teeth.

When you put on your robe,

there is one verse for you to practice.

When you sit down,

there is a verse for you to sit down.

A novice, before he sits down,
he breathes and reads a verse.

You don't hear anything,

but a novice is supposed to practice

mindfulness of breathing
while sitting down.

It goes like this:

"Sitting down here is like
sitting at the foot of the Bodhi tree

and wake up like a Buddha."

I am sitting down
and allow myself to be free,

not to be bound by afflictions
like anger and fear.

I sit down as a free person.

So there are about 50 verses like that
for a novice to learn by heart

so that he or she can practice
mindfulness throughout the day

and enjoy every moment of his daily life.

We have translated these verses
into English, French and so on.

You may like to use them

in order to practice
mindfulness of breathing

so that you improve the quality
of your daily life.

We have invented new verses,

like "Riding a Bicycle",

because the text is very ancient,

there is no verse
for riding a bicycle.

(Laughter)

So I invented a verse to ride a bicycle.

It may be interesting for you to know

that I am one of the first Buddhists monks
in Vietnam to ride on a bicycle.

(Laughter)

That is very modern.

(Laughter)

Now people drive a car,

use scooters,

but at that time,
for a monk to ride on a bicycle

was something very new.

Now, we have also a verse

for you to use when you are about
to make a phone call,

called "telephone meditation".

(Laughter)

You are holding the phone,

and you want to call him or her.

So you breathe in with one line,

and breathe out with the second line,

and breathe in with the third line

and breathe out with the fourth line.

And you are calm after that.

The quality of the talk will be better.

"Words can travel thousands of kilometers,

they can build more
understanding and love.

I vow that what I am going to say

will promote
mutual understanding and love.

Every word I say will be beautiful
like flowers or embroideries."

So before you compose the number,

you hold the telephone

and you enjoy breathing in and out
two times reading that.

And you are fresh enough
to make the telephone call.

And when you hear the sound
on the other end of the line,

you know that the other person
is not answering you right away,

because she is practicing breathing also.

(Laughter)

Yes, in Plum Village,
when you hear the telephone

you are not supposed to answer right away.

The sound of the telephone
is considered to be

a bell of mindfulness.

Because if you don't practice,

the sound of the telephone
may disturb you a little bit.

Who is calling?
Good news or bad news?

But if you are a practitioner
of the telephone meditation,

then, you stay where you are

you listen to the sound of the telephone

and you breathe in and out,
you calm yourself.

So next time,
when you call to Plum Village,

if you don't get an answer right away...

(Laughter)

you know that
they are breathing in and out!

(Laughter)

If you know that
they are breathing in and out,

you tell yourself:

"They are breathing in and out.
Why not me?"

(Laughter)

So you don't wait.

You just enjoy
breathing in and out again

until the other person
answers the phone.

That is called telephone meditation.

There is a lay Dharma teacher
in India, Shantum.

His mother was
the president of the Supreme Court.

When we visited her,
we talked about telephone meditation.

She found it very helpful.

So she uses the practice
of telephone meditation.

Imagine, in the city of Barcelona,

everyone practicing
telephone meditation.

There will be
much more peace, happiness,

mutual understanding and love,

because we have the time
to refresh ourselves,

to improve the quality of our talking.

By talking you can promote
more understanding, love and so on.

In the Plum Village's Chanting Book

you can find a few dozens
of verses like that.

If you want, you can memorize them

and enjoy practicing them
in your daily life.

"Sitting Down", "Beginning to Walk".

There is one for you
to wash your dishes.

Because it may be pleasant
to do the dishes.

You can enjoy washing the dishes,

breathing and using a gatha.

Everything done in mindfulness
can bring you joy and happiness.

Including starting a car.

There is one for you to start your car.

Of course, when an unpleasant feeling
is coming up,

you have a gatha in order to practice

to take care of the painful feeling
that is going up.

These verses are very helpful
for the life of a practitioner.

The practice of mindfulness
can be very concrete.

There are five areas
of practicing mindfulness.

The first is to protect life.

Protecting life.

Because life is so precious!

You have to protect your own life.

Protect yourself.

Protect the life
of the people you love.

And protect the lives
of other living beings,

including animals, plants and minerals.

And to protect the planet Earth.

That is the first mindfulness training.

Reverence for life,
protecting life.

(1. Protecting LIFE)

There are many young people

who kill themselves every day.

Because they do not know
how to handle a strong emotion.

The practice of mindfulness
can help them

not to destroy themselves like that.

I think that
if schoolteachers and parents

know the practice,

they can transmit it
to the young people.

In countries like Japan,

every year, about 30.000
people commit suicide.

30.000!
That is a lot.

In Hong Kong,
in the UK, in America,

everywhere, young people
are killing themselves

because they don't know
how to handle a strong emotion.

The practice of mindful breathing,
mindful walking,

can help us
to handle a strong emotion.

We should know how to do it

and tell the young people
how to do it.

We would save their life.

When a strong emotion is coming,

we know it is coming.

We are aware that it is coming.

So we stop doing things

and we stop thinking.

Because if we continue to think,
the emotion becomes stronger.

We go back to the practice
of mindful breathing right away.

Whether you are in a sitting position
or you are in a lying position,

you practice mindful deep breathing.

Bring your mind down

to the level of the stomach.

Focus your attention on the rising
and falling of the stomach.

Breathing in, I know it is rising.

Breathing out, I know it is falling.

If you are in a lying position,

you may like to put
your hand on your stomach

and breathing in you feel
that your stomach is rising,

breathing out you feel
that your stomach is falling.

Try to breathe as deeply as possible

and focus your attention only
on the rising and falling of the stomach.

You maintain this insight:

that a strong emotion

is something that comes,

stays for a while and goes.

It is impermanent.

You are much more than an emotion.

An emotion is just a tiny thing.

But you are much more
than an emotion.

You are made of body,
feelings, perceptions,

mental formations, consciousness.

The territory of your being is large,

and an emotion is just
a little bit of you.

Why do you have to die
because of one emotion?

An emotion is like a storm.

If you know how to handle a storm,
you survive very well.

That kind of insight
should be maintained alive

during the time you handle the emotion.

(Bell)

(Bell)

The practice is easy enough:

stop the thinking,

bring your attention down
to the level of the navel,

practice breathing in and out

and become aware of the rising
and falling of your abdomen.

Maintain that insight alive:

an emotion is just an emotion.

I don't have to die
just because of one emotion.

It comes and it will go away.

If you focus your attention
only on the in-breath and out-breath,

the rising and falling of the abdomen,

you are safe.

Mindfulness is protecting you.

There is no thinking.

There is only
the breathing and the calming.

5 minutes later, or 8,
it will go away

and you will survive the emotion.

Next time,
when the emotion comes,

you are no longer afraid.

"I know how to handle it.
I'm not afraid."

But we should not wait
until a strong emotion comes

in order to begin the practice,

because, naturally,
we will forget to practice.

And you allow yourself
to be carried away by the strong emotion.

We have to practice
mindful breathing every day.

The practice of deep breathing,

belly breathing, abdomen breathing,

a few minutes a day.

In a few weeks it will become a habit,

and when a strong emotion,
a painful feeling comes,

we will remember to practice.

We will be able
to survive the emotion very well.

Your little boy, your little girl,
may get into a crisis

with a strong emotion.

You may like
to hold his hand and say:

"Darling, breathe in with mummy.

Don't you see that when we breathe in,
our stomach is rising?

And when we breathe out
our stomach is falling?"

So you do
a guided meditation for the child.

As you have the energy of mindfulness,

you transmit it
to the little boy, to the little girl.

You train your little boy or little girl
to breathe in and out

and to take care of the strong emotion.

This is possible.

Later on,

the boy, the girl,
can do it by himself.

As schoolteachers,

we may like to do that
for our students who are in trouble,

who have been carried away
by a strong emotion.

We can also ask other children,
other students, to help.

Suppose in the class
there is a boy who is in crisis.

It does not seem
that we can calm him down.

So we ask the whole class
to practice to support the boy.

You can prepare so that
you and your students

can practice mindful breathing,

generating that collective
energy of mindfulness and peace

and help the boy that is in crisis.

He is aware of the love, the compassion
of the whole group, the whole class,

and he will suffer less.

So parents and teachers
should master the practice

and transmit the practice
of deep abdomen breathing

to the young people.
It is very important.

That is something
that should be taught in school.

The second realm of the practice

is the realm of true happiness.

Practicing True Happiness.

I think a discussion on true happiness
should be taken up

as a topic.

Because so many people believe

that happiness is made
of fame, power, money

and sensual pleasures.

We know that there are many people
who have plenty of these things

and they suffer very deeply.

Many of them
commit suicide also.

So we should try
to help the young people

to see that true happiness
is made of understanding and love.

In fact, love is born
from understanding.

If you do not understand someone,
you cannot love him or her,

or make him or her happy.

So it may be helpful
to ask the other person:

"Darling, do you think
that I understand you?

Do you think that
I have understood you enough?

If not, please, help me."

We know that understanding ourselves

will help to understand
the other person.

We need to understand our own suffering,

our own difficulties,

before we can understand

the suffering and difficulties
of the other person.

When you feel understood,
you feel loved.

So what you can offer
to the person you love

is understanding.

Understanding is something
that can grow every day.

In true love, understanding
is growing every day.

You have to feed your love
with understanding.

You have try to understand
the other person.

Specially the difficulties,
the suffering in him or in her.

And if needed, you can
ask that person to help.

A father may be motivated
by making his son happy,

but if the father does not understand

the suffering
and the difficulties of the son,

the more he tries,

the more he makes his son suffer.

Because understanding
is very important.

That is why the father
should ask the son:

"My son, do you think
I understand your problems,

I understand your difficulties?"

And the son,
in order to be able to love his father,

should do the same:

"Father, do you think
that I understand you,

your suffering, your difficulties?

Please, tell me."

So understanding is a practice.

Last night we have talked

about the practice of deep listening
and loving speech

that can help us
to understand the suffering

and to restore communication.

So to love means to understand.

Understanding
is the other word for love.

If you don't understand someone

you cannot love him or her.

Cultivating understanding

and creating love and compassion,

that is the true element of happiness.

A person without understanding and love
cannot be a happy person.

With plenty of understanding and love,

even if you don't have
a lot of money, fame, profit,

you are a happy person anyway.

That is why

mindfulness is a kind of practice
that can help us to understand

what is true happiness.

True happiness is not made
with the objects of craving,

like fame,

power, wealth and sensual pleasures,

but with understanding
and compassion.

The Kingdom of God is a place

where there is
a lot of understanding and love.

We can contribute into generating
more understanding and love

and make the place
a real Kingdom for all of us.

The third area of practice of mindfulness

is the practice of True Love.

(3. Practicing True Love)

We learn

that sexual desire is not true love.

People mix up the two,
love and sexual desire.

Sexual desires very often destroy love,

and create a lot of suffering.

Most young people
don't know what is true love.

As schoolteachers, as parents,
we have to help them.

Girls and boys in high school,

they suffer a lot.

Because they do not know
what is true love.

They are losing the most precious thing
within themselves.

They continue to suffer
for all their lives,

because they do not know
exactly what is true love.

A boy asked his girlfriend

to send him a picture of her nude.

And the girl did not want to do it.

But she was afraid

that the boy would abandon her.

So she had to send him her picture,

taken with her own telephone.

And the boy
showed that picture to his friends.

Small things like that
happen everywhere

and make the young people
suffer very deeply.

That is what is going on
with the younger generation.

They don't know exactly
what is true love.

That is why

teaching True Love to the young people
is very important.

Tell them that sexual desire is not love.

Tell them that true love
is made of compassion,

loving kindness, joy
and non discrimination.

Maitri is the Sanskrit word
for loving kindness.

(maitri: loving kindness)

It is very much like friendship.

Maitri is the first element of true love.

That is friendship,
brotherhood, sisterhood.

It has the power
to offer happiness.

You can generate joy and happiness,

you can help generate

a feeling of joy and happiness
in him or in her.

That is maitri.

True love should offer happiness.

Not the intention to offer happiness.

Because you may have a lot of intention
to make someone happy,

but the way you do it
makes him or her suffer.

So it is not the intention to love,
but the capacity to make someone happy.

If you practice
mindful breathing, mindful walking,

and restore your freshness,

your beauty, your calm,

you can offer
these elements to him, to her.

That is maitri.

You are so pleasant,

you are so fresh,

so pleasant to be with,

you can generate
joy, happiness and peace

and you can help him or her
to generate joy, happiness and peace.

That is maitri.

That is true love.

And that is a practice,

that is possible as a practice.

The young people can do it.

The second element
of true love is karuna,

which is compassion.

(karuna: compassion)

Karuna is the capacity
to help someone to suffer less,

to remove the suffering in him or her,

to transform the suffering
in him or in her.

We know that the practice
of compassionate listening

can make a person suffer less.

You understand
the suffering in him or in her,

you help him or her
to empty his heart

and suffer less.

If you know how to help
a person to suffer less,

you have the element
of karuna in your love.

True love should have karuna.

The capacity to help someone
to suffer less.

With the energy of mindfulness
and compassion in you,

you can do a lot of things.

You can help a person to suffer less

just by sitting close to him or her,

or just saying something
full of compassion and understanding.

Just show her the way
to restore joy and happiness.

We can do many things

in order to help a person
to suffer less.

The third element is mudita,

which is joy.

(mudita: joy)

If when loving someone
you make him or her suffer

and cry every day,

that is not true love.

True love should offer joy.

Joy is a mark of true love.

True love should generate joy,

for yourself and for him, for her.

If you make him or her cry and suffer,

that is not true love.

The joy is of both of you.

The fourth element
of true love is upeksa.

Upeksa is
non discrimination, inclusiveness.

Equanimity.

(upeksa: equanimity)

In true love,
there is no longer any frontier

between you and her, and him.

Your suffering is his suffering.

Her happiness is your happiness.

You cannot say:
"Darling, that is your problem."

No.

Your problem is my problem, darling.

In true love
there is no longer discrimination

between the lover and the beloved one.

Your happiness is her happiness.

Your suffering is his suffering.

No discrimination.
You include everyone.

You include each other.

If it is true love,

it continues to grow every day.

The moment when love stops growing,

it begins to die.

We have witnessed
the death of love several times.

Love turning into hate and anger

because you don't know
how to feed your love.

The Buddha said that
nothing can survive without food.

Our depression also.

If our depression continues,

it is because we keep
feeding our depression.

If we know how to
stop feeding our depression,

our depression will have to die,

it will go away.

The same thing is true with our love.

If we do not know
how to feed our love daily,

it will stop growing,

it will die, slowly.

That is why

to practice in order to help our love
to grow every day

is to guarantee happiness,
continued happiness.

With the practice
of upeksa, inclusiveness,

your love continues to grow every day.

It begins with two persons,

but as you are happy 
in that true love,

your love very soon
includes a third, a fourth person.

You don't discriminate anymore.

You don't love a person

just because she comes
from the same country,

because she follows
the same religious belief.

There is no discrimination whatsoever
in true love.

Everyone will be
included in your love.

Your love continues to grow
and embraces everyone,

not only humans,

but also animals, plants and minerals.

That is the love of a great being.

Including everything,
that is upeksa.

The practice of true love
has to be taught in school.

Schoolteachers should embody true love.

(4. Practicing Loving Speech
and Deep Listening)

The fourth area of the practice

is the practice of loving speech

and deep listening.

This is the fourth mindfulness training.

Yesterday we spoke a little
about that practice already.

If we know how to use loving speech,

if we can talk lovingly
and compassionately to another person,

that person will open her heart

and tell us about the suffering,
the difficulties that she has.

If you know how to
listen with compassion,

then you can restore communication

and bring about reconciliation.

In the case of schoolteachers,

this practice should be done
with the people in the family first.

When we have succeeded
with the members of our family,

we can bring the practice to the school.

If we have difficulties
with our colleagues,

then we can
restore communication and reconcile.

Finally, we can bring that
into our school.

Without these practices,

teachers can make students suffer

and students can make
teachers suffer.

There is a gap
between the two generations.

We can imagine

teachers and students sitting together,

talking to each other about
the suffering they have gone through.

Teachers have to be able
to tell the students:

"I know you have suffered.

I know you may have
difficulties in your family."

And so on.

"If you don't make
much progress in your studies,

it is due to these difficulties.

So please, tell me, tell us."

The whole class can sit
and listen with compassion.

That will transform the students.

Because other students
may have the same kind of suffering.

It would be lovely

if schoolteachers can sit down

and listen to the suffering
of their own students.

We should have the time to do it.

Last week, in a retreat at Madrid,

during a session
of questions and answers,

a boy of 11 came up
and asked a question.

He suffered, he begins to have
difficulties in sleeping.

He blamed everything on his mother.

I believe that all mothers want
their sons and daughters to be happy.

They have a plan,

they have ideas as how their sons
and daughters can be happy.

They just deliver that kind of message.

The boy suffered,

even when his mother
said goodnight.

Why do you suffer
when your mother says goodnight?

Because your mother
may mean by "Goodnight":

"Don't stay up late,

don't play electronic games!"

There is a blaming
in that kind of things.

The relationship between mother and son
has become difficult.

So he came up,

and in front of 600 people
he asked the question:

"Dear Thay,

I start having difficulties in sleeping.

My mother is always like that,

imposing things on me."

And so on.

The mother believes that
she is acting out of love.

She is prescribing the right thing
for his son to do.

Like a teacher.

But the way she does it,

did not work.

Because she does not feel
well in herself.

So I answered the boy:

"You know that mothers have
their own difficulties and suffering.

You believe that
you are the only one who suffers.

But you don't know

that your mother
has difficulties and suffering also.

You have not had the time

to think about the difficulties
and suffering of your mother.

You have not helped
your mother to suffer less.

In fact,
you have reacted in such a way

that makes your mother suffer more.

Please, think about her, her suffering,

and not just your suffering.

You should go and ask your mother

what kind of suffering
she is undergoing,

what kind of difficulties
she has in herself.

Maybe she does not know

how to handle the suffering in herself.

That is why,

the way she tells you
what to do and not to do

makes you irritated."

Why I was giving that answer
to the young men?

Many mothers down there were crying.

Because we, mothers,
we also have our own suffering.

And our sons and daughters
do not know that we suffer.

They just blame us.

Your students, they suffer.

They have difficulties
with their mother,

their father and so on.

Talking to them
showing them the practice,

can help them to suffer less.

And you can do better.

Because these young people,

when they have overcome the difficulties,

when they have understood
the suffering of their parents,

they go back and help their parents.

We have organized retreats
of mindfulness for young people.

In Europe, in America, in Asia.

And many young people

get transformation and healing
during the retreat.

When they went home,
they helped their parents

and they were able to restore
communication with their parents,

and many of them are able
to invite their parents to join a retreat.

Schoolteachers can do the same.

We can help students to suffer less,

to understand,

to suffer less.

And that student can go home

and help his parents
to suffer less also.

This has been possible
with the practice of mindfulness.

(Bell)

(Bell)

(Bell)

A retreat of mindfulness
usually lasts 6 days.

Our retreat has only 2 days and a half.

During the first 3, 4 days

we learn how to water the seeds
of understanding and compassion in us.

We learn how to calm down
our emotions and feelings.

We try to touch the wonders of life,
refreshing and healing,

to heal ourselves.

And that is why

on the 5th day
we can put into practice

the teaching of
deep listening and loving speech.

The miracle of reconciliation
always takes place in our retreats.

If the other person is in the retreat

that will be easy.

Because he or she has been exposed
to the teachings and the practice.

The seeds of understanding and compassion
have been watered

by the Dharma talks,

by the practice of mindful breathing
and looking deeply.

But if the other person
is not in the retreat

you can use your
portable telephone to practice.

Usually, we encourage
the people to do it

before the end of the retreat.

They have until midnight of the 5th day
in order to do it.

Many people have used the telephone

and it works very well.

Many people report
on the last day of the retreat

that the night before have telephoned
their parents, their partner,

using the techniques of
compassionate listening and loving speech,

restore communication and reconcile.

So the miracle of reconciliation
always takes place in our retreats.

And this can be done in the classroom.

I believe that, as schoolteachers,

we have to tell our students

about our difficulties
and our suffering.

Schoolteachers do suffer

and we have the right
to tell our students about that.

We can begin our class by saying

that in order to improve the quality
of the teaching and the learning,

so that the teachers
enjoy teaching

and the students enjoy learning,

we have to do something.

Otherwise, both sides will suffer.

So would you agree that we do something

in order for the schoolteachers
enjoy the teaching

and the students enjoy the learning?

Because the suffering in us
prevents us from doing so.

So I should tell you
my suffering, my difficulties

and you should also tell me
your difficulties, your suffering.

We should understand each other.

And after we have mutual understanding,

we don't blame each other any more,

we don't make it difficult
for each other any more,

and we can go more easily and quickly

on the path of teaching and learning.

There are many things
that we can do in the classroom

in order to help students
to suffer less.

Like schoolteachers leading sessions
of total, deep relaxation.

Because the young people have tension
in their body and in their feelings also.

A good student can also learn

how to lead a session of
total relaxation for the whole class,

lying on the grass

and so on.

If you notice

that a boy or a girl
suffers in the class,

she seems to be very upset,
her mind is not there,

how can she learn?

So we can address her

and ask what is wrong.

And she may say:

"My mother
was hospitalized this morning,

and I don't know
if she can survive or not."

With that kind of feeling,
how can she learn?

You cannot impose
your will on her.

So the teacher can address
the whole class and say:

"We have a student
whose mother is hospitalized

and she worries much about that.

Shall we, the whole class,

practice breathing together, mindfully?

We will send this energy
of mindfulness and compassion

to her mother."

Using that kind of
collective energy of mindfulness

generated by the breathing
done by teachers and other students,

you can help calm down that student

and she may be able to follow the class.

There are things like that

that schoolteachers can do.

There are
difficult elements in the class.

If we look deeply,

we will see why
that young man, young woman

behaves in that way.

If we have enough compassion to inquire,

we find out

and the whole class
may come and help.

So listening to each other

and understanding
the suffering of each other

we can calm down
the feelings, the emotions.

We can promote mutual understanding

and we don't make
each other suffer any more.

We make it easier for everyone

in the task of teaching and learning.

Henri, who was a
professor of mathematics

in the French school of Toronto,

after having spent
three weeks in Plum Village,

he went back to his school

and practiced mindfulness
with his students.

He walks slowly
and mindfully into the class.

He begins to erase what is
on the blackboard mindfully

and they say:

"Dear teacher,
are you sick?"

(Laughter)

He says: "No, I am not sick.

I just practice mindful walking,

mindful...

I enjoy that.

I feel a lot of peace.

I am very relaxed
because I have learned mindfulness.

Would you like me
to tell you what I did in Plum Village?"

And they listened.

They agreed that every 15 minutes,

a boy would clap his hands,

because they did not have
a bell of mindfulness,

and every one,
including the teacher,

would practice
mindful breathing and relax.

Stop the thinking.

And that helped
very much in the learning.

In the beginning,
it was like a play,

but finally it worked very well.

Transformation and healing took place

and the class made a lot of progress.

Other classes followed their example.

And when he came
to the age of retirement,

the administration asked him
to stay for a few more years.

He was able to bring the practice
of mindfulness into the school

and improve the quality
of teaching and learning in the school.

So the practice of loving speech
and deep listening

should create an atmosphere
of mutual understanding in the class

and the students will not
make it difficult for teachers.

The quality of teaching
and learning will be improved.

Mindfulness can be practiced
in the realm

of mindful consumption.

(5. Practicing Mindful Consumption)

Our society is a society of consumption.

We believe that happiness
is to have enough money

to buy whatever you want to buy.

That is an idea about happiness.

But we already know

that true happiness
is made of understanding and love.

You cannot buy understanding
and love in the supermarket.

You have to generate these two things
by the practice.

This, again,
should be taught in the school.

The first...

The kind of...

In the Buddhist tradition,

we speak about
the four kinds of nutriments.

Four kinds of food.

Four kinds of consumption.

First of all,

there is the edible food.

(edible food)

That is the kind of food

that we consume by the way of the mouth.

Your health depends very much
on what you eat.

We should eat in such a way

that can preserve
compassion in our heart,

helps living beings
to suffer less,

and helps to protect our planet.

The consumption of meat and alcohol

has destroyed much of
our environment and our health.

We have learned that eating meat
is more polluting than driving a car.

The meat and alcohol industries
have caused a lot of damage

to our environment.

We have learned that
the amount of grain used to make alcohol

and feed the livestock is huge.

Tens of thousands of people die every day

because of the lack of food.

The Buddha told
the story of a young couple

who tried to flee from their country

to take refuge in another country.

They brought their little boy with them.

They had to cross a desert

in order to go to the other country
to take political asylum.

But they did not calculate well.

Half way to the desert,
they ran out of food.

They knew that
the three of them were going to die.

So finally they made a terrible decision:

to kill the little boy
and eat the flesh to survive,

hoping to get out of the desert.

So after having killed the boy,
they ate one morsel of that flesh

and preserved the rest
on their shoulder, to dry.

Every time after having eaten
a piece of that flesh

they asked: "Where is now
our beloved little boy?"

They pulled their hair,
they beat their chest,

they suffered quite a lot.

But finally they got out of the desert
and were accepted as refugees.

The Buddha must have heard that story
directly from that couple.

He told the people listening to him:

"Dear friends,

do you think that the couple

enjoyed eating the flesh
of their little boy?"

And they said: "No, dear teacher.

It is impossible for you to enjoy
eating the flesh of your own boy."

The Buddha then said:

"In that case, my friends,

let us eat in such a way

that we will not eat the flesh
of our sons and daughters."

The 40.000 children who die every day
because of the lack of food and nutrition,

who are they?

They are our sons and daughters.

The amount of grain that is used
to make alcohol and meat

should have been used
to save the lives of these children.

So practicing eating
and drinking mindfully

we can preserve our compassion,
protect life.

If there is no compassion in our heart

we cannot be a happy person.

Our students can understand this.

We learn that
if we can reduce the eating of meat

and the drinking of alcohol
in the developed countries,

we can already transform
the situation of the Earth.

So stopping eating meat,
stopping drinking alcohol,

or reducing it significantly,

we can save our planet,
we can save lives,

we can preserve our compassion.

That is the first source of nutriment:

edible food.

(senses impressions)

The second source of nutriment
is the sense impressions.

You consume not only with your mouth,

but with your eyes, ears,
nose, body, mind.

When you read a newspaper,
you consume.

When you watch television, you consume.

When you listen to a conversation,
to music, you consume.

And what you consume every day

may contain a lot of poisons, toxins.

That is not good for your health.

Our children consume television
several hours a day.

Many boys and girls spend
5 hours or more with electronic games.

There is a lot of violence, craving
fear and anger

in what they consume.

So consuming that amount
of toxins and poisons

will not be good
for our physical and mental health.

Even psychotherapists,
they are supposed to help patients.

But they spend a lot of time
listening to stories of suffering,

a lot of despair, hate and sorrow.

If psychotherapists
don't know how to practice

generating joy, happiness,
compassion,

they will lose their balance

and they will get sick.

We should know our limits

so that we can continue for a long time

in our efforts to help others.

A conversation can also be highly toxic.

What the other person tells you

may be full of anger,
despair, violence.

During the hour
you are listening to him or to her.

you consume.

That is not healthy for you.

The young people are consuming
a lot of poisons and toxins

including violence, fear,
despair and anger.

That is why,

in the family and in the classroom

we have to discuss about the practice
of the fifth mindfulness training:

mindful consumption.

Mindful consumption is the way out.

To ensure a physical and mental health

you have to practice
mindfulness of consumption.

When you watch a film,

they stop the film
from time to time for advertisement.

You consume advertisements.

They want you to buy.

That touches
the seed of craving in you.

You don't need to buy,

but they urge you to buy.

And they think
that if you don't buy it,

you don't have happiness.

They make you believe

that happiness is possible
when you have money to buy things.

But that is not
a right view about happiness.

True happiness is made of
understanding and love.

Our students, our children
have to learn about true happiness.

We should sit down
as a family, as a classroom,

to discuss about
right, mindful consumption.

There are articles
in the magazines, in the newspapers,

that are full of anger, fear, violence.

And journalists don't report enough
about the healthy things,

like this retreat.

(Laughter)

It is not sensational
the breathing in and out,

walking peacefully.

The stories they cover
and the stories that we read

always contain a lot of anger,
despair, violence and so on.

That day was the day to commemorate
the death of Mahatma Gandhi.

I was in New Delhi,

and a newspaper,
The Times of India,

invited me to be 
guess editor of that day.

A peace edition.

So we brought
a number of monastics

to come to the headquarters
of The Times of India

and prepared a peace edition.

That morning bad news came.

There was a bombing in a city nearby.

We and other editors
of The Times of India

were sitting around a big table.

They asked:

"Dear Thay, what journalists
should do on a morning like this?

Terrorist attacks, bombing."

I advised everyone
to practice mindful breathing

and calm down.

We should not say something right away.

We have to say it with calm inside.

After a few minutes
of mindful breathing, I said:

"Of course, we have to report the news.

But we have to report in such a way,

that we will not water
the seeds of anger, fear and violence.

That would be destructive.

We report about the truth,

but help people to understand

why people do things like these.

They are victims of misunderstanding.

They are motivated by anger, fear

and the desire to punish.

They don't see

that people do not need punishment.

They need help.

We should report.

But there is a way of reporting

that can water the seeds
of understanding and compassion

in the heart of the readers.

So in that day,

we tried to write a report
on the terrorist attack in such a way

that helped people to know

why people have done 
such a thing to their own countrymen.

When you read it you can see

that we water understanding
and compassion in you.

If we consume without mindfulness,

we get a lot of toxins and poisons

and we get sick.

Our family will get sick,
our city gets sick,

our country gets sick.

And we can easily
involve ourselves into a war.

(volition)

The third kind of nutriment
is volition.

It means our aspiration,
our deepest desire.

Each one of us wants to do
something with his life.

Each one of us should have
the time to sit down

and ask himself:

What do I want to do with my life?

What is my deepest aspiration?

Because there are those who think

that their deepest desire
is to have a lot of money,

to be number one

in their business.

To have a lot of power, fame, and sex,

sensual pleasures.

But running after
these objects of craving

can bring destruction
to our body and mind.

So that is not
my deepest aspiration.

The terrorists,

what they want to do most
is to punish.

They may believe that they do so
in the name of justice, of God.

But it is motivated
by the desire to punish,

to destroy.

That is not good food.

When you are motivated by anger,

by the desire to punish,

your nutriment is not healthy.

But if you are motivated

by the desire to help
young people to suffer less,

that is good nutriment.

If your desire is to change the world
in a better direction,

that is good food.

If your desire is
to help people to suffer less,

to know how to practice true love,

to promote mutual
understanding and reconciliation

that is good food.

When you have
that block of energy in you,

you are strong enough

to overcome
whatever obstacles on your path.

So the third kind of nutriment

is... (Vietnamese)

The third kind of nutriment
is a source of energy.

We have to find it out.

If our deepest desire
is to protect the environment,

to protect Mother Earth,

that is a good desire,
that is good food.

You have a good motivation.

What you want to do with your life

is the third nutriment,
volition.

We have to help the young people

to have a good aspiration,

finding the meaning of life,

making their lives meaningful,

giving them a lot of energy

so that they have something meaningful
to do with their lives.

If schoolteachers have it,

have that source
of energy in themselves,

they can transmit it
to their students.

I am also a teacher.

Every day I transmit to my students,

monastic and lay people,

that kind of energy.

My students

have a very simple life,

specially the monastics.

No one of them

have a bank account.

No one of them have a salary.

No one of them have
a private home, private car.

And yet,
they are happy people.

They spend time
building brotherhood, sisterhood,

a community of practice.

They have organized retreats
to help people to suffer less.

We operate not as individuals,

but as a community.

Joy, happiness, compassion,

are possible with a simple life,

provided that you have
a source of aspiration.

That is the third nutriment:

the ideal to serve and
to help people to suffer less.

So teachers should,
first of all,

have that kind of aspiration.

And then, they can
transmit to their students

the same kind of energy.

When the students
have that kind of energy,

they suffer less.

They know where to go.

In what direction to go

and not to destroy their body and mind

looking for sensual pleasures and so on.

The last source of nutriment
is consciousness.

(consciousness)

We consume our own consciousness.

There are good things
in our consciousness to consume.

In our consciousness there is a Hell.

There is also a Paradise,
the Kingdom of God.

In Buddhism,
we speak about consciousness

in terms of seeds.

(seeds)

There is a seed of love.

There is a seed of compassion,

the seed of joy, of happiness,

the seed of brotherhood, sisterhood,

forgiveness,

there are many good things
in our consciousness.

If we know how to water
the seeds every day,

they will grow.

The Paradise,

the Kingdom of God
will be for us to consume.

When you listen to a talk like this,

when you have a discussion
about compassion,

how to help people
to suffer less,

you water the good seeds in you.

It means that the Paradise,

the Kingdom of God
is in you.

You help it to manifest

for yourself and for your beloved ones.

But there is also Hell inside.

The suffering transmitted to us

by our parents and ancestors.

Suffering that has not been understood,

that has not been transformed

and that has been transmitted to you,

to us.

If we know the practice,

we can transform them.

Otherwise,

they are always there,
in our consciousness.

The sufferings of our ancestors
are still there, in us.

We continue to suffer
the suffering of our ancestors.

Their frustration,
their anger, their fear,

are still in us.

Also during our childhood
we may have suffered.

We may have been abused

with violence.

Many of us tend to go back

to that dark corner
in our consciousness

and experience again
the suffering of the past.

We know that life
in the present moment is wonderful.

The blue sky,

the beautiful trees.

Flowers, children.

But we are not capable

of being established
in the present moment.

Because we have a painful past.

Many of us are drawn back
to that dark corner of the past

and watch again and again

the projections
of the films of the past

in order to experience again
the suffering of the past.

That is a kind of prison.

If the other person,

if your partner uses to do that,

you have to help him or her to get out.

"Darling,

life is beautiful out here
in the present moment.

Why do you go always back
to that dark place?

That is only the past.

The past is already gone."

With mindfulness, with joy

you can help bring him or her

out of that dark corner
of consciousness.

Because there is a Paradise,

there is a Kingdom of God
in the present moment

for you to enjoy.

Why do you have
to go back to the past,

to that corner?

Of course,

psychotherapists are trying
to help us to do the same.

But if psychotherapists
can do it by themselves,

then they can help
their patients to do the same.

Then,

there is the collective consciousness.

As food.

We know that there are
very angry groups of people.

Full of despair, and violence,

and anger.

There are neighborhoods like that,

where children are born and grow.

Everyone in that neighborhood
is generating hate, anger,

fear, despair and violence every day.

And as you are born and grown in that,

you consume every day.

You cannot be a happy person

if you consume that collective energy
of hate, anger, violence.

If you happen to live
in that neighborhood,

you should wake up

and know that this is not
a healthy environment.

You have to pull out
as soon as possible

and look for
a healthier environment

to heal yourself
and help heal your children.

Because you do not want to consume

that collective energy
of anger and hate.

After having practiced
and healed ourselves

we can come back
as a community to help.

But not before.

I think that as a minister of environment,

a minister of education,

taking care of urbanism,

we have to meditate on these matters.

How to transform
these violent neighborhoods,

full of fear and anger.

What kind of practice
can help to heal.

This is a very important issue.

To create a community

where there is brotherhood, 
sisterhood and joy,

is to create a healthy environment.

That is the most wonderful thing.

If you put yourself in that atmosphere,

if your children have the opportunity
to live in such a healthy atmosphere,

they will grow up as happy people.

So community building
is very important.

Belonging to a group of people,

we try to practice in such a way

that shows the people how to consume.

We should not allow ourselves

to consume the collective
energy of anger.

That is not good for our health,

for the health of our nation.

We should have compassion
and understanding.

That will heal us

and help heal the people
whom we think to be our enemies.

We know that if we have
enough peace, joy and compassion,

we can serve many people.

We don't need

to think of divorce,
separation, anymore.

We don't need to establish
a separate country anymore.

Because there is enough compassion,
understanding and happiness.

If we are thinking
of divorcing, separating,

setting up a separate nation,

it is because we do not have
enough compassion,

understanding,
brotherhood and sisterhood,

joy and happiness.

With the practice of mindfulness
we will have enough of these things

and we don't have
to think about other things.

So the five mindfulness trainings

are the very concrete expression

of the practice of mindfulness.

If we ourselves,
and the young people

live according to
the five practices of mindfulness,

then happiness is possible,
compassion is possible,

healing is possible.

A schoolteacher should embody

that kind of mindful living,

that kind of compassion
and understanding.

They will help
the young generation tremendously

in their transformation and healing.

We will continue tomorrow.

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