0:00:33.328,0:00:38.197 My question is: [br]Why human beings have different karma? 0:00:41.617,0:00:42.640 Thank you. 0:00:44.568,0:00:48.919 Our friend is asking why [br]each human being has a different karma? 0:00:56.360,0:00:58.509 Are you sure? 0:00:58.509,0:01:00.928 (Laughter) 0:01:00.928,0:01:06.746 Are you sure that every human being [br]has a different karma? 0:01:09.796,0:01:12.564 (Laughter) 0:01:12.564,0:01:20.206 I was quite sure but now.... 0:01:20.206,0:01:28.718 (Laughter) 0:01:32.008,0:01:38.100 Karma is action, [br]the word karma means action 0:01:40.857,0:01:46.224 My name Nhat Hanh means one action only. 0:01:47.064,0:01:57.399 Nhat means one, Hanh means action, [br]and I don't know what action it is. 0:01:57.399,0:02:01.414 (Laughter) 0:02:05.914,0:02:11.972 Karma may be cause or may be effect. 0:02:12.412,0:02:24.804 Karma hetu is action as a cause and [br]karma-phala is karma as a fruit. 0:02:25.104,0:02:31.286 And cause and effect they are together. 0:02:31.286,0:02:34.739 You cannot remove [br]the cause from the effect... 0:02:35.136,0:02:38.765 ...and you cannot remove [br]the effect from the cause. 0:02:39.728,0:02:49.120 It is like the corn kernel is the [br]cause and the corn stalk is the effect 0:02:49.120,0:02:53.752 but they are not two separate entities. 0:02:53.752,0:02:58.611 You cannot remove the corn kernel [br]from the plant of corn 0:02:58.611,0:03:04.360 and you cannot remove [br]the corn plant out from the corn kernel. 0:03:04.360,0:03:12.424 So cause and effect [br]are not two different entities. 0:03:12.424,0:03:16.928 And one is the continuation of the other. 0:03:17.478,0:03:20.536 The plant of corn is a [br]continuation of the seed of corn 0:03:20.536,0:03:23.134 in the direction of the future; 0:03:23.134,0:03:26.740 and the kernel of corn [br]continues the plant of corn 0:03:26.740,0:03:29.286 in the direction of the past. 0:03:29.286,0:03:39.900 Thanks to the corn kernel, the plant [br]of corn has access to the ancestors. 0:03:40.145,0:03:45.989 And thanks to the plant of corn, [br]the ancestors have access to the future. 0:03:46.290,0:03:53.368 It's a wonderful collaboration [br]on the base of no-self. 0:03:53.368,0:04:00.768 There is only a continuation and [br]that is from the point of view of time. 0:04:02.358,0:04:07.720 From the point of view of space,[br]it's the same. 0:04:07.720,0:04:16.162 There is what we call collective karma [br]and individual karma 0:04:17.782,0:04:22.324 and you are talking about [br]individual karma. 0:04:22.717,0:04:26.394 And it's different from other karma, 0:04:26.394,0:04:32.645 but if you reflect on the notion [br]of individual and collective, 0:04:32.645,0:04:37.156 you already make a big step. 0:04:37.586,0:04:41.497 Because the notions of [br]individual and collective 0:04:41.497,0:04:46.290 are also a pair of opposites [br]to be transcended. 0:04:50.713,0:05:00.724 When a young person [br]tells his father that: 0:05:00.724,0:05:04.408 "This is my body. This is my life," 0:05:04.408,0:05:12.582 "I have the freedom, I have the right [br]to do anything with my body, my life." 0:05:12.582,0:05:17.433 That is a view that I am not you. 0:05:17.433,0:05:20.867 "I have my own body, [br]my own feeling, my own life." 0:05:20.867,0:05:25.271 "I have the right to dispose my life[br]the way I want." 0:05:25.271,0:05:27.752 And there are young people say like that. 0:05:27.752,0:05:32.994 They don't know that they are the [br]continuation of their father, their mother. 0:05:32.994,0:05:41.683 And in fact they cannot harm, they do not [br]have the right to harm their father, their own body. 0:05:41.683,0:05:44.725 To commit suicide is an offence. 0:05:44.725,0:05:47.009 You are killing your father, 0:05:47.009,0:05:51.640 you are killing your mother, [br]your ancestors when you commit suicide. 0:05:51.640,0:05:54.910 This body is not yours. 0:05:54.910,0:05:59.727 This body is a property of your father's, [br]of your ancestors'. 0:05:59.727,0:06:06.675 And with that kind of insight, you cannot [br]behave like the way many people behave, 0:06:06.675,0:06:09.317 based on wrong view. 0:06:10.513,0:06:14.315 So to meditate is to see [br]the nature of interbeing, 0:06:14.317,0:06:20.389 non-self, which allow you to act properly. 0:06:20.389,0:06:22.907 and not to cause suffering that is karma. 0:06:22.907,0:06:31.483 And your body is not [br]your individual property. 0:06:34.095,0:06:36.404 It is also collective at the same time. 0:06:36.404,0:06:41.403 Your body is a collective product [br]of your nation's, 0:06:41.657,0:06:44.692 of your people's, of your culture's 0:06:46.567,0:06:48.938 of your ancestors'. 0:06:49.188,0:06:51.511 So you are not strictly individual, 0:06:51.848,0:06:53.930 you are partly collective, 0:06:54.527,0:07:00.252 and it depends on a way of looking [br]that you are more or less collective. 0:07:05.803,0:07:16.075 Suppose you say that [br]you have your nerves, 0:07:16.332,0:07:21.914 your optic nerves behind your eyes. 0:07:22.828,0:07:28.998 Your optic nerves look like [br]something strictly individual. 0:07:32.271,0:07:34.981 It only concerns you, [br]your optic nerves, 0:07:35.248,0:07:38.617 that is something absolutely individual. 0:07:39.531,0:07:45.001 People don't see it, [br]they are not concerned by it. 0:07:45.001,0:07:47.436 It concerns only you. 0:07:48.201,0:07:54.441 That is a notion of [br]individual and collectiveness. 0:07:54.691,0:07:56.673 But if you are a bus driver, 0:07:57.451,0:07:59.630 our lives depend on your optic nerves. 0:07:59.630,0:08:03.932 So your optic nerves are not [br]individual any more, 0:08:03.932,0:08:09.524 they belong to us because [br]our lives depend on your optic nerves. 0:08:10.444,0:08:15.381 So your optic nerve is something [br]you describe as individual 0:08:15.381,0:08:18.631 but in fact they are collective. 0:08:19.070,0:08:25.056 So we have the notion of [br]collective karma and individual karma. 0:08:25.326,0:08:33.983 And any karma whether it is collective[br]or individual affects the whole. 0:08:36.797,0:08:42.494 And the karma, the action [br]might be better or worse. 0:08:42.494,0:08:46.616 When 600 people come for a retreat, 0:08:48.234,0:08:53.290 they read something together as collective action. 0:08:53.580,0:09:00.798 They do sitting, walking, breathing, [br]smiling, sharing, 0:09:00.798,0:09:07.514 and this is a collective action [br]and we profit from that. 0:09:08.214,0:09:13.594 There are those in the world [br]at this time they don't practice like us. 0:09:13.594,0:09:22.810 and they drink and go dancing, and they [br]spend their time in a very different way. 0:09:25.784,0:09:36.077 And we have been able to set aside [br]three weeks to come together 0:09:38.176,0:09:43.797 and we are sharing a kind of [br]collective action here 0:09:44.003,0:09:46.996 that we believe to be a good action. 0:09:47.253,0:09:51.406 because every day [br]we water the seeds of mindfulness, 0:09:51.627,0:09:57.100 understanding, compassion in us [br]and the collective. 0:09:57.606,0:10:01.879 But in the collective, [br]you can see the individuals - 0:10:02.104,0:10:05.751 there are those that [br]do better than some others, 0:10:06.133,0:10:11.442 there are those of us [br]who can find it possible to transform, 0:10:11.654,0:10:19.918 to leave behind the burden of worries [br]in the first five days 0:10:20.252,0:10:25.987 there are those who also [br]need more than that, 0:10:26.191,0:10:32.509 only on the third week that [br]they can release, put down their worries. 0:10:32.902,0:10:35.567 So in the collective, [br]there is the individual 0:10:35.785,0:10:40.337 and in the individual,[br]there is the collective. 0:10:41.030,0:10:46.717 And there is no absolute individuality, [br]there is no absolute collectivity. 0:10:46.909,0:10:52.432 That is the truth. And that is why [br]it is another pair of opposites. 0:10:52.773,0:10:57.876 And if you practice looking deeply,[br]you can remove them. 0:11:00.431,0:11:07.602 And you see that [br]any karma affects all of us. 0:11:08.634,0:11:17.965 Whatever good we are doing here [br]is helping the world, 0:11:17.965,0:11:21.125 so we have to be confident that [br]the karma is not lost. 0:11:21.125,0:11:27.378 any thought of compassion and forgiveness [br]that we produce not only can help us heal 0:11:27.605,0:11:29.299 but can help the world.[br] 0:11:29.588,0:11:37.076 So during the 21 days, we have been [br]producing thoughts of compassion, 0:11:37.239,0:11:41.944 of loving kindness, [br]that is our best contribution to the world. 0:11:43.357,0:12:00.401 And that is why our action of karma [br]is neither different nor the same 0:12:00.447,0:12:05.200 because sameness and otherness [br]is also a pair of opposites. 0:12:05.655,0:12:08.482 So right view lies in the fact that 0:12:08.660,0:12:13.229 you are able to remove [br]all these pairs of opposites.