WEBVTT
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Good morning, dear Sangha,
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most respected Thay.
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Dear Sangha,
today is the 22nd of September
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in the year 2019, and we are in the
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Assembly of Stars Meditation Hall,
in the Lower Hamlet,
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on our day of mindfulness.
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And we shall begin by listening
to three sounds of the bell.
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You can enjoy the sound of the rain,
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and the feeling of your breath
in your body.
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[The bell is awoken.]
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[The bell is invited.]
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[The bell is invited.]
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[The bell is invited.]
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Dear Sangha, about 30 years ago,
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we were having a picnic with Thay
in the Upper Hamlet.
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And we were sitting where
there used to be a forest,
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but now there is the monk's residence.
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Well, not exactly a forest.
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Green grass with some trees.
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And it was a beautiful day.
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And we put our hammocks between the trees
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after we had the picnic.
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And we lay down to have a siesta.
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And then it started to rain very hard.
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So we had to go back
to the nearest building for shelter.
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And the nearest building was
the stone house, which had a veranda.
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And we sat on the veranda.
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And Thay said, "Chan Duc,
write a song about the rain."
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I don't know,
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The rain is falling
oo, so softly,
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washing every leaf of every tree,
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washing every care.
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Namo 'valokiteshvaraya,
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Namo 'valokiteshvaraya.
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The rain is falling, oo so-o strongly,
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reaching every root of every tree.
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Reaching every root of affliction.
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Namo 'valokiteshvaraya,
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Namo 'valokiteshvaraya.
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The rain is falling o-o so-o loudly,
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playing the music of joy
for 10,000's of beings.
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Namo 'valokiteshvaraya,
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Namo 'valokiteshvaraya.
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So, dear Sangha,
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in this song we can see
that the climate outside of us
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and the emotions and
mental formations inside of us
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are not two separate things.
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When we see the rain wash
the leaf of the tree,
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we also feel that
our worry is washed away.
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Because we are children of the Earth.
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We are the Earth.
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So whatever happens to the Earth,
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it also happens to us.
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And that is an insight that we've had
for a very long time.
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We didn't have to wait for climate change
to have that insight.
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But before climate change took place,
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people had forgotten that
they were the Earth.
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And therefore they didn't
take care of the Earth.
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And at the same time,
they didn't take care of themselves.
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But now we have that opportunity,
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to see that we are the Earth.
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And that means that every time
we take care of ourself,
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we take care of the Earth.
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And every time we take care of the Earth,
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we take care of ourself.
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And when I say "ourself", I really mean
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"ourselves".
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I really mean "ourselves",
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because we are not separate
from each other.
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If I take care of myself,
I'm taking care of you,
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my fellow human being.
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And I'm taking care of you,
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animal species,
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the plant species,
and the mineral species.
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We are very lucky in a way
to be living in this time.
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Because it's a time of urgency.
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And it's a time
that forces us to look deeply
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at our relationship with the Earth,
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and our relationship with each other.
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And if we did not have the threat
that we might not be here very long,
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we might be lazy to make that effort.
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That is one human characteristic,
is a little bit lazy.
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And the Buddha said that we are fortunate
to be born human beings,
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because if we are born a god,
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then maybe everything is going our way,
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and we feel very happy,
and everything is OK,
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and so we don't really get
down to the practice.
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But when we're a human being,
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there is quite a bit of ...
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things are not OK,
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and quite a bit of suffering,
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and so that is an impulse
for us to practice.
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So today we have to talk
about the Bodhicitta.
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Bodhicitta is sometimes translated
as the Mind of Love.
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Sometimes translated
as the Mind of Awakening.
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And we have the same word "bodhi"
in the word Bodhisattva.
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And "citta" means our mind,
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and "bodhi" means awakening.
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It's the same root as the word for Buddha.
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If you are Russian, then you know
that the word for "wake up"
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is also from the same root, "Budta".
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So we need to wake up.
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Homo sapiens needs to wake up.
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And become homo...
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I can't remember the Latin word
for being awake.
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Vigila, vigilatus or something, vigilatus?
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We need to become "man awake"
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rather than homo sapiens,
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a name we gave to ourselves.
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I don't know whether we gave it
to ourselves very correctly.
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"Sapiens" means "wise",
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but I don't know if we're always so wise.
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But enough of this kind of wisdom,
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we need to go forward
and become awake.
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And we are lucky, because
we have the teachings of mindfulness.
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And mindfulness is what keeps us awake,
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makes us awake.
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A bodhisattva means "a being
who is waking up,"
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or "a being who is helping
other beings to wake up."
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And now as a species
we have an opportunity
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to practice waking up.
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And every generation,
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every era of the human species
has been here, on planet Earth,
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there have been things
that we've needed to wake up to.
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And now the thing
that we need to wake up to
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is that we've done a lot of damage,
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we're still doing a lot of damage
as a human species.
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Geologists call our age the Anthropocene,
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the age that is made by,
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the geology is made by the humans.
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It's not made by natural processes
in the Earth anymore.
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If you take a look at the Earth,
you will find many chicken bones in it.
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And those chicken bones, they come from
human beings eating too many chickens.
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So as human beings,
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we are making Mother Earth
what she is becoming.
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And we are children of Mother Earth.
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So we want to wake up.
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And we want to wake up to the fact
that we inter-are.
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We are interconnected
with everything on the Earth.
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And what better opportunity
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than when you are eating a meal.
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Eating in mindfulness,
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relating to the food that you are eating.
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When I was young, when I was a teenager,
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in my early twenties,
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I suffered from something called
anorexia nervosa.
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This meant that I didn't eat.
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I didn't want to eat anything.
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And it's very damaging for my body.
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And it's also damaging for my mind.
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And it planted seeds in my body
and my mind which harm myself.
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And so I realize that at that time,
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I was also harming my Mother Earth.
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I was also harming
my genetic mother and father,
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who had to worry a lot about me.
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But at the time, I was not aware
of what I was doing.
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I did not have the bodhicitta,
the mind that was awake.
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I was not the waking up Bodhisattva.
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It took me some time to realize
what I was doing.
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And eating in mindfulness
is what can restore,
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what restores my right relationship
with what I am eating.
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So I am very grateful
for the practice of mindful eating.
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And when I put something in my mouth.
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I put a spoon of millet in my mouth.
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I feel closely connected
to the whole universe.
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I feel connected to the sun, to the stars,
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and to the Earth under my feet,
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and the atmosphere around me,
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which contains the clouds and the rain.
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And I feel all these things
are coming together to nourish me.
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And my heart is filled with gratitude.
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And I know that as a child of the Earth,
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I am being nourished by the Earth.
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And as I eat in mindfulness,
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I am also aware
of where the food comes from.
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And if the food that I am eating
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is contributing
to global carbon footprint.
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So I have to be aware of where,
how far away the food has come from.
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what kind of transport the food used
to come to me.
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And I still see that when I eat,
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there is some carbon footprint
in what I eat.
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But that does not take away
my joy of eating,
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because although I want to minimize
the carbon footprint of what I eat,
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at the same I know that the most important
thing is my relationship to Mother Earth,
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to the atmosphere.
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And when I feel that deep gratitude in me,
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and that deep aspiration
to take care of the Earth,
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as I take care of myself.
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I know that I am doing the very best
that I can.
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So we said that bodhicitta means,
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literally it means the mind of awakening.
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But Thay has translated this into English
as the mind of love.
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As if awakening and love
are not two separate things.
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And we know also that understanding
and love are not two separate things.
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So when I sit and I eat a meal,
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I am also aware of my brothers, my sisters
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who are eating with me,
because they also are the Earth.
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They also are children of the Earth.
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And if I cannot understand them
and love them,
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then I cannot understand
and love the Earth either.
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So a meal time is not just being
grateful for the food,
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feeling love for Mother Earth and
the universe that has produced the food,
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but it's also feeling grateful to our
brothers and sisters who are with us,
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and feeling love for our brothers
and sisters who are with us.
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During the day, I keep alive
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with my mindfulness
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and with the use of the gathas,
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my awareness of Mother Earth.
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When I wash my hands, I wash my hands
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that all may have hands blessed
to save this planet Earth.
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And I know that when I wash my hands,
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I want to be 100% there,
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because I am in touch with the water,
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and the water is such a precious gift
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of the Earth and the sky.
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And we know that sources of clean water
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in the Earth are drying up.
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The aquifers are drying up.
00:21:10.415 --> 00:21:16.115
Those great underground rivers that
used to be there, are no longer there.
00:21:17.648 --> 00:21:23.026
And so clean water is a precious,
precious gift.
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And so I want to do my best
not to waste it.
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Even though it's very difficult sometimes
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to adjust the tap so that too much water
doesn't come out,
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it is a joy for me to be able to adjust it
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so that just the right amount of water
that I need comes out.
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And I can catch that water in a bowl.
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I don't have to let it keep flowing.
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And then I can take the water
from the bowl and wash my face.
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So these things are not an effort.
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It doesn't take an effort to do that.
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I do not have to force myself to do this.
00:22:11.537 --> 00:22:15.907
Because I am the Earth,
00:22:16.515 --> 00:22:18.316
and the Earth is me.
00:22:18.703 --> 00:22:20.693
And when I take care of the Earth,
00:22:20.693 --> 00:22:22.807
I take care of the water,
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I am taking care of me.
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And there are so many things
that we do during the day
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which can keep us in our relationship,
00:22:39.768 --> 00:22:42.608
our right relationship with the Earth
00:22:43.210 --> 00:22:45.626
And of course, the most important one
00:22:46.378 --> 00:22:49.169
is walking on the Earth,
00:22:50.058 --> 00:22:55.605
On Friday,
00:22:57.089 --> 00:22:59.851
some of us had an opportunity
00:23:00.869 --> 00:23:06.875
to walk on the Earth, for maybe two hours.
00:23:08.715 --> 00:23:13.015
And we really had to concentrate,
or at least, I did.
00:23:14.166 --> 00:23:17.446
Because there was a lot of noise
going on around,
00:23:18.032 --> 00:23:21.605
and if I wasn't careful,
I would lose my concentration.
00:23:22.592 --> 00:23:25.742
So I had to use the gatha,
I used the gatha
00:23:27.026 --> 00:23:30.448
"I am home, I have arrived,
00:23:30.914 --> 00:23:33.649
in the here, in the now.
00:23:34.376 --> 00:23:37.788
I am solid, I am free.
00:23:38.589 --> 00:23:44.394
In the ultimate, the realm of
no birth and no death, I dwell."
00:23:45.516 --> 00:23:50.106
And practice that solidly.
00:23:51.035 --> 00:23:55.265
And the next morning when I woke up,
I was still practicing it.
00:23:55.823 --> 00:24:03.400
Because two hours is quite a long time
to practise one gatha.
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But this gatha is very important for us,
00:24:10.109 --> 00:24:12.956
who are taking care of the earth.
00:24:14.198 --> 00:24:16.696
First of all we see the earth as our home.
00:24:19.188 --> 00:24:27.609
Secondly, we see that we have arrived
where we are.
00:24:29.270 --> 00:24:31.608
This is a teaching of Plum Village,
00:24:32.671 --> 00:24:35.733
the three times inter-are.
00:24:36.927 --> 00:24:41.196
The past, the present and the future.
00:24:42.098 --> 00:24:45.076
They're not three separate realities.
00:24:46.557 --> 00:24:49.123
Some schools of Buddhism say,
00:24:49.637 --> 00:24:55.266
the past, the present and the future
exist as separate realities.
00:24:55.957 --> 00:24:59.114
Some say there's only the present moment.
00:25:00.168 --> 00:25:06.783
Thay, in Plum Village, has taught us
that the three times inter-are.
00:25:07.479 --> 00:25:10.811
So when I have arrived
in the present moment,
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it doesn't mean to say
that the past is not there,
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or the future is not there.
00:25:20.351 --> 00:25:24.437
The best way I can take care of the future
00:25:25.461 --> 00:25:29.395
is to take care of the present moment.
00:25:30.251 --> 00:25:37.341
The present moment is what it is
because of the past moment.
00:25:39.920 --> 00:25:43.986
So I have arrived is important.
00:25:44.659 --> 00:25:48.670
It's important to keep myself
in the present moment,
00:25:49.294 --> 00:25:52.028
in order to take care of the future.
00:25:53.281 --> 00:25:56.591
That doesn't mean to say
that I close my eyes,
00:25:57.437 --> 00:26:02.192
that I'm not awake to
what could happen in the future
00:26:03.441 --> 00:26:06.859
The reason I know
what could happen in the future
00:26:07.429 --> 00:26:10.692
is because I know what's happening
in the present.
00:26:12.449 --> 00:26:19.354
Of course we care very much
about keeping to 1.5 degrees
00:26:23.605 --> 00:26:26.261
and we know the ways we can do this,
00:26:26.525 --> 00:26:28.456
we are aware of all that.
00:26:30.394 --> 00:26:34.471
But we have to practise
to keep ourselves solid,
00:26:35.503 --> 00:26:38.603
to keep ourselves free
in the present moment.
00:26:39.205 --> 00:26:41.036
Otherwise we will burn out
00:26:41.548 --> 00:26:45.024
and we'll not be able
to do the things we want to do
00:26:45.550 --> 00:26:47.544
in order to get everyone to help,
00:26:48.285 --> 00:26:49.506
to help the earth.
00:26:52.282 --> 00:26:54.637
So when you become a monk or a nun,
00:26:55.434 --> 00:27:00.148
it is said you become a monk or a nun
because of the Bodhicitta,
00:27:00.825 --> 00:27:03.031
because of the mind of awakening,
00:27:03.492 --> 00:27:05.882
because of the mind of love
00:27:06.389 --> 00:27:09.830
which is there, for all of us,
in the store consciousness.
00:27:10.758 --> 00:27:15.508
When you shave your head, the first time
and every time after,
00:27:16.253 --> 00:27:17.653
you say a poem.
00:27:20.078 --> 00:27:21.187
[speaking vietnamese]
00:27:23.543 --> 00:27:26.852
Shedding my hair completely,
00:27:27.641 --> 00:27:30.506
I make the great vow today
00:27:32.674 --> 00:27:39.570
that all people
will transform their afflictions
00:27:41.218 --> 00:27:48.898
and all species will go
to the other shore.
00:27:54.799 --> 00:28:00.379
[speaks vietnamese]
00:28:00.877 --> 00:28:02.357
for the world, yes.
00:28:02.500 --> 00:28:06.646
And we can take the world
and all its species to the other shore.
00:28:07.857 --> 00:28:11.857
That is a very strong vow.
00:28:13.368 --> 00:28:17.698
When you vow deeply like that
on the day when you shave your head
00:28:18.450 --> 00:28:25.280
you're realizing that you are
not separate from all species.
00:28:25.829 --> 00:28:29.442
You're not separate from all human beings
00:28:30.644 --> 00:28:37.949
and your suffering and their suffering
are not two separate things.
00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.919
And so you come into the monastery
00:28:41.380 --> 00:28:47.015
in order to be able to first of all
transform your own afflictions
00:28:47.568 --> 00:28:51.427
and then you see that transforming
your own afflictions
00:28:52.222 --> 00:28:54.403
is helping other people to do it.
00:28:54.976 --> 00:28:56.633
You don't have to make an effort
00:28:57.302 --> 00:29:00.553
to help other people
to transform their afflictions.
00:29:01.211 --> 00:29:05.779
When you transform, they only
quite naturally will do that.
00:29:07.334 --> 00:29:09.102
And that is the Bodhicitta.
00:29:09.679 --> 00:29:12.554
The other gatha that you will read,
00:29:13.369 --> 00:29:16.768
when you receive your robe:
00:29:19.654 --> 00:29:23.972
How beautiful is the robe
of a monk or a nun,
00:29:24.856 --> 00:29:27.435
it's a field of all good seeds.
00:29:28.120 --> 00:29:31.199
I bow my head to receive it today,
00:29:32.231 --> 00:29:37.549
and I vow to wear it life after life.
00:29:39.969 --> 00:29:41.471
I used to think that.
00:29:44.200 --> 00:29:49.787
Now I'm 70.
I don't think I'll live much longer.
00:29:50.674 --> 00:29:55.653
So maybe I will avoid
all the climate change
00:29:58.859 --> 00:30:03.379
But then I saw that is wrong feeling.
It is wrong view.
00:30:04.392 --> 00:30:12.139
It is the view of nihilation
that I will cease to exist.
00:30:12.491 --> 00:30:15.229
I won't have to go through climate change.
00:30:15.597 --> 00:30:20.743
Yesterday I saw a poster, on Friday,
that said
00:30:22.340 --> 00:30:29.292
You will die from old age,
but we will die from climate change.
00:30:30.454 --> 00:30:32.369
That is written by a young person.
00:30:34.281 --> 00:30:36.331
I used to think like that too.
00:30:37.202 --> 00:30:39.338
But I don't think like that anymore.
00:30:40.207 --> 00:30:42.009
I know that I will continue.
00:30:42.444 --> 00:30:44.177
I know that I will be there.
00:30:45.581 --> 00:30:51.520
In maybe a slightly different form
to go through climate change.
00:30:52.758 --> 00:30:58.537
So I vow to wear my robe life after life.
00:30:59.044 --> 00:31:00.737
Not just for this lifetime,
00:31:01.319 --> 00:31:05.646
because I know that my practise
as a solid practitioner
00:31:06.181 --> 00:31:09.749
will be needed in future lifetimes also.
00:31:11.077 --> 00:31:15.478
So these two gathas, in a way,
they represent the Bodhicitta.
00:31:17.447 --> 00:31:21.719
I remember when I was young,
I was a lay person,
00:31:23.504 --> 00:31:30.656
I wanted to go and do something
to help the world.
00:31:32.126 --> 00:31:33.916
And that is Bodhicitta.
00:31:35.102 --> 00:31:37.332
We don't think about our own comfort.
00:31:38.831 --> 00:31:41.993
We think about doing something
to really help.
00:31:42.766 --> 00:31:45.878
I wanted there to be peace in the world.
00:31:46.211 --> 00:31:49.410
I didn't want there to be
nuclear armaments
00:31:50.678 --> 00:31:54.121
and that morning I got up.
00:31:55.726 --> 00:32:00.086
I told myself I'm not going
to sleep in the house anymore.
00:32:00.719 --> 00:32:02.793
I'm going to sleep outside.
00:32:04.644 --> 00:32:08.853
So that night I slept outside,
and it was freezing.
00:32:09.715 --> 00:32:11.783
The temperature was below zero.
00:32:12.289 --> 00:32:16.133
But I slept in my sleeping bag,
it wasn't too bad.
00:32:16.273 --> 00:32:19.051
And then in my sleeping bag
it was about freezing.
00:32:20.048 --> 00:32:24.216
With my sleeping bag
and a pair of rubber boots,
00:32:25.555 --> 00:32:27.758
I said, "I'm going to Greenham Common."
00:32:28.263 --> 00:32:29.732
And then I felt so free,
00:32:30.132 --> 00:32:33.649
I felt like a bird
that was let outside of its cage.
00:32:35.490 --> 00:32:38.952
Then I walked and I walked,
until my feet couldn't walk anymore.
00:32:41.421 --> 00:32:43.957
I felt that wonderful sense of freedom.
00:32:45.575 --> 00:32:47.903
You have the whole world before you.
00:32:48.338 --> 00:32:53.306
and you have your aspiration
to do something for the world,
00:32:54.053 --> 00:32:57.353
because the world is not you.
00:32:58.416 --> 00:32:59.609
The world is you.
00:33:02.539 --> 00:33:05.576
You do something for the world,
you do it for yourself.
00:33:14.205 --> 00:33:20.968
♪ Breathe and you know
that you are alive, ♪
00:33:21.801 --> 00:33:29.068
♪ breathe and you know
that what is helping you ♪
00:33:30.093 --> 00:33:37.148
♪ Breathe and you know
that you are the world ♪
00:33:37.998 --> 00:33:45.300
♪ breathe and you know
that the flower is breathing too. ♪
00:33:46.386 --> 00:33:53.947
♪ Breathe for yourself
and you breathe for the world ♪
00:33:54.963 --> 00:34:02.474
♪ breathe in compassion
and breathe out joy. ♪
00:34:03.026 --> 00:34:04.532
So that is...
00:34:07.108 --> 00:34:12.318
One of the wrong views in Buddhism is,
I am the world and the world is me.
00:34:13.945 --> 00:34:17.030
That wrong view is a little bit
in that song.
00:34:18.260 --> 00:34:21.129
But when I say that I am the world,
00:34:21.870 --> 00:34:24.419
I mean I inter-am with the world.
00:34:27.295 --> 00:34:30.096
The world is not a separate self-entity.
00:34:30.707 --> 00:34:33.798
I am not a separate self-entity.
00:34:39.207 --> 00:34:42.035
Becoming a nun is a little bit like that,
00:34:43.364 --> 00:34:48.919
is having a deep aspiration
to do something,
00:34:49.645 --> 00:34:51.395
to do something for the world.
00:34:52.614 --> 00:34:56.784
You just get up and you go
and you do that.
00:34:58.671 --> 00:35:01.618
You don't worry too much
about your comfort.
00:35:08.609 --> 00:35:12.645
Awareness of impermanence
00:35:13.635 --> 00:35:20.827
is also an important contribution
to our Bodhicitta.
00:35:23.250 --> 00:35:27.929
We all know that there are two kinds
of impermanence.
00:35:29.234 --> 00:35:33.837
There's the kind of impermanence
that is happening at every second,
00:35:33.837 --> 00:35:35.415
every instant.
00:35:36.203 --> 00:35:41.155
You are not the same person
as when you came into this hall.
00:35:42.258 --> 00:35:44.771
Cells have died in your body
00:35:45.408 --> 00:35:48.002
and new cells have been born.
00:35:48.801 --> 00:35:51.388
The feelings you had when you came in
00:35:52.104 --> 00:35:54.854
are different from the feelings
you have now.
00:35:55.477 --> 00:35:59.718
And your perceptions are different,
your mental formations are different.
00:36:00.023 --> 00:36:02.321
Your consciousness is different.
00:36:02.891 --> 00:36:09.679
So it's that instant impermanence,
happening at every instant is one kind,
00:36:10.815 --> 00:36:17.869
and then there's the impermanence when
some major change happens in your life.
00:36:20.068 --> 00:36:23.908
You are no longer a child,
you are a teenager.
00:36:23.908 --> 00:36:26.812
You're no longer middle-aged, you're old.
00:36:29.307 --> 00:36:33.061
Your death certificate is signed.
00:36:33.932 --> 00:36:38.691
Those kind of things we call
'the cyclical impermanence'.
00:36:40.414 --> 00:36:43.247
Maybe 65 million years ago,
00:36:44.631 --> 00:36:46.640
when, we don't quite know why,
00:36:46.808 --> 00:36:51.164
but maybe a meteorite
hit our dear mother earth,
00:36:52.091 --> 00:36:57.555
then three quarters of the species
on earth went extinct,
00:36:58.067 --> 00:37:01.071
and that was a cyclical impermanence.
00:37:02.410 --> 00:37:07.539
And now we're also facing
a cyclical impermanence.
00:37:08.894 --> 00:37:14.865
The end of the human species
may be the end of life on earth,
00:37:14.965 --> 00:37:18.981
at least temporarily
the end of life on earth,
00:37:19.608 --> 00:37:24.815
until earth recovers enough
to be able for life to come about again.
00:37:25.329 --> 00:37:28.839
Because the sun will be there
for billions of years more
00:37:29.461 --> 00:37:31.299
to support life on earth.
00:37:32.306 --> 00:37:34.947
So even if we destroy everything now,
00:37:37.484 --> 00:37:40.271
maybe a rebirth in the future.
00:37:42.598 --> 00:37:44.867
So this cyclical impermanence,
00:37:45.091 --> 00:37:48.692
this awareness of impermanence
is so important.
00:37:49.568 --> 00:37:52.542
We have this gatha
which we use when we're angry.
00:37:57.424 --> 00:38:01.055
Being angry I know I'm angry
00:38:01.775 --> 00:38:04.818
in the historical dimension.
00:38:05.717 --> 00:38:07.680
I close my eyes.
00:38:08.537 --> 00:38:11.280
It's very important to close your eyes.
00:38:11.591 --> 00:38:14.713
Don't look at the person
who's making you angry,
00:38:15.025 --> 00:38:17.909
it'll only water the seed of anger in you.
00:38:18.797 --> 00:38:22.306
I close my eyes and look deeply.
00:38:23.670 --> 00:38:27.798
300 years from now, where will you be?
00:38:28.440 --> 00:38:29.894
And where shall I be?
00:38:30.898 --> 00:38:34.488
Then we remind ourselves
that I am impermanent,
00:38:34.889 --> 00:38:37.304
I'm not going to be here much longer.
00:38:37.687 --> 00:38:41.747
You're impermanent.
You're not going to be here much longer.
00:38:41.959 --> 00:38:44.371
If we can remind ourselves of that,
00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:49.490
all we want to do is take the other person
in our arms and say,
00:38:50.201 --> 00:38:53.084
we're so grateful that you're still there.
00:38:54.651 --> 00:39:02.391
When I was staying in Israel,
in Palestine, one time,
00:39:03.520 --> 00:39:06.769
the people there that I was
staying with, told me:
00:39:07.058 --> 00:39:10.344
"every day when my partner goes to work,
00:39:10.972 --> 00:39:17.170
I don't know if I'll see him
or her in the evening.
00:39:17.637 --> 00:39:23.670
And so, we relish each moment
of having breakfast together.
00:39:26.188 --> 00:39:33.418
We hug each other before going to work,
we know that it may be the last time.
00:39:34.169 --> 00:39:36.360
So it's a very deep hug.
00:39:37.690 --> 00:39:42.980
When you hug somebody deeply,
and you breathe in and you breathe out,
00:39:43.545 --> 00:39:45.252
you just follow your breathing,
00:39:46.435 --> 00:39:52.664
and then you'll recognize how wonderful
this person is warm, this person is alive,
00:39:53.468 --> 00:39:57.793
and you also recognize,
it won't always be like that.
00:39:58.668 --> 00:40:03.251
I won't always be warm and alive,
nor will the other.
00:40:03.565 --> 00:40:08.040
And when you recognize that,
you see how important this moment is.
00:40:08.359 --> 00:40:13.059
This moment is
the most important momentof our life.
00:40:13.949 --> 00:40:18.277
And you enjoy it deeply,
and you enjoy it fully.
00:40:18.926 --> 00:40:25.553
and you may do as Blake did
and see eternity in an hour,
00:40:25.869 --> 00:40:31.999
well not in an hour,
eternity in a second, in a minute.
00:40:34.314 --> 00:40:39.276
So it's the same when I contemplate
on the impermanence of Mother Earth.
00:40:41.435 --> 00:40:47.129
It makes me want to enjoy
every moment on mother Earth.
00:40:48.015 --> 00:40:51.491
I want to enjoy
all the beauties of nature,
00:40:52.374 --> 00:40:57.125
everything that's wonderful on the earth,
I want to enjoy it deeply,
00:40:57.859 --> 00:41:01.063
because I don't know
how long it will be there for.
00:41:02.287 --> 00:41:05.338
So in a way, I'm grateful
for that not-knowing.
00:41:06.827 --> 00:41:11.874
I think the dinosaurs didn't know that
a meteorite was going to hit the planet
00:41:12.803 --> 00:41:15.094
and they were going to become extinct.
00:41:15.603 --> 00:41:19.522
So they didn't have the chance
to enjoy every moment.
00:41:20.936 --> 00:41:23.432
We do have a bit of time,
00:41:24.817 --> 00:41:28.221
we're in a bit of a different situation
from the dinosaurs,
00:41:29.093 --> 00:41:31.602
which means we can enjoy every moment.
00:41:32.478 --> 00:41:35.558
And enjoying our relationship
with the earth,
00:41:35.827 --> 00:41:38.260
enjoying what's beautiful on the earth.
00:41:38.652 --> 00:41:41.658
We don't have to make an effort
to conserve it.
00:41:43.068 --> 00:41:45.400
We just do it out of love.
00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:50.728
In Thay's book Love letters to the earth
00:41:51.233 --> 00:41:55.233
Thay tells us he's in love with the earth.
00:41:55.871 --> 00:41:59.029
Every time before Thay
goes outside for a walk,
00:41:59.255 --> 00:42:02.814
Thay tells himself, "Oh,
I'm going to meet my loved one.
00:42:03.355 --> 00:42:06.812
I'm going to see all these beautiful
and wonderful things."
00:42:08.134 --> 00:42:12.225
And Thay said that
if we can have a relationship
00:42:13.618 --> 00:42:15.901
of falling in love with the earth,
00:42:16.798 --> 00:42:21.773
that's the best thing we can do
to take care of the earth.
00:42:24.816 --> 00:42:26.971
If we don't have that relationship,
00:42:28.050 --> 00:42:32.195
it's possible that we'll not be able
to take care of the earth.
00:42:33.778 --> 00:42:38.921
Some of us really become burned out
trying to take care of the earth.
00:42:39.863 --> 00:42:44.639
Some of us put a lot of pressure
on ourselves to do things,
00:42:45.294 --> 00:42:47.323
to keep taking care of the earth.
00:42:48.546 --> 00:42:50.951
But we forgot about ourselves,
00:42:50.951 --> 00:42:53.921
we forgot to take care of ourselves.
00:42:55.537 --> 00:42:58.765
We forgot we are a child of the earth.
00:43:02.052 --> 00:43:09.811
So, just to be able to do nothing
is also a way of taking care of the earth.
00:43:10.792 --> 00:43:14.933
To sit peacefully on the earth,
restore your self,
00:43:15.421 --> 00:43:17.096
to rest and do nothing.
00:43:19.205 --> 00:43:23.277
You may say you're not doing anything
to take care of the earth, but you are.
00:43:24.172 --> 00:43:29.571
With every breath that restores you,
you are helping the earth.
00:43:36.168 --> 00:43:37.728
[The bell is awoken.]
00:43:39.275 --> 00:43:44.667
[The bell is invited.]
00:44:50.490 --> 00:44:54.771
This morning, when we were practising
the guided meditation
00:44:54.771 --> 00:44:57.937
before the Dharma talk,
00:44:58.652 --> 00:45:03.192
when we got to the tongue
I thought we were going to be aware
00:45:03.192 --> 00:45:07.473
of the taste of the rain on our tongue.
00:45:10.319 --> 00:45:13.050
So I was practising that
in advance of it.
00:45:46.273 --> 00:45:48.491
So when we talk about Bodhicitta,
00:45:50.626 --> 00:45:53.351
we could talk about 'my' Bodhicitta,
00:45:55.750 --> 00:46:00.508
but I think it might be not right
to talk about 'my' Bodhicitta.
00:46:02.418 --> 00:46:07.027
Because Bodhicitta is
a seed in consciousness.
00:46:08.444 --> 00:46:11.404
It's a seed
in the collective consciousness,
00:46:12.677 --> 00:46:16.040
not just in my consciousness.
00:46:17.978 --> 00:46:22.384
And it's been handed down
from my ancestors,
00:46:27.206 --> 00:46:28.618
my mother, my father,
00:46:30.307 --> 00:46:34.447
even though they may not have known it,
they also have the Bodhicitta.
00:46:39.145 --> 00:46:46.365
So when you practise the meditation
on your mother and your father,
00:46:47.610 --> 00:46:49.517
as five year old children,
00:46:51.810 --> 00:46:56.320
you don't just see only that your mother
and father suffered
00:46:57.186 --> 00:46:58.835
as five year old children,
00:46:59.413 --> 00:47:01.840
although it's very important to see that,
00:47:02.459 --> 00:47:06.479
so that you can give rise
to compassion for your mother and father,
00:47:07.464 --> 00:47:14.244
but you also see that your parents,
as five year old children,
00:47:14.673 --> 00:47:16.337
have the Bodhicitta,
00:47:16.662 --> 00:47:18.367
have the mind of love,
00:47:19.937 --> 00:47:24.785
and therefore they have
the capacity to transform their suffering,
00:47:25.472 --> 00:47:28.544
and they've handed that capacity
on to you.
00:47:31.173 --> 00:47:32.664
You look at the children,
00:47:33.747 --> 00:47:41.225
you can see that intuitively they know
how to offer love to others.
00:47:42.546 --> 00:47:44.516
Sometimes, in Christianity,
00:47:44.516 --> 00:47:51.694
you say that you have to be a child
in order to enter the Kingdom of God.
00:47:53.345 --> 00:48:00.310
Every day we want to walk on the earth
as if we're walking in the kingdom of God,
00:48:00.668 --> 00:48:04.175
as if we're walking in the Pure Land.
00:48:05.067 --> 00:48:09.207
I used to think the Earth
was not a perfect place.
00:48:10.179 --> 00:48:14.179
There would be somewhere better,
there must be somewhere better.
00:48:15.296 --> 00:48:17.703
Somewhere you can go to
when you die.
00:48:18.782 --> 00:48:21.082
But then I recognized that...
00:48:24.102 --> 00:48:27.092
everything I need is here on earth,
00:48:27.763 --> 00:48:31.763
and when I die,
I just want to go back to the earth.
00:48:34.910 --> 00:48:39.106
And if I'm not able to go back
to the earth when I'm alive,
00:48:39.656 --> 00:48:43.656
it will be very difficult
to go back to the earth when I die.
00:48:45.327 --> 00:48:49.327
So every day I want to practise
going back to the earth
00:48:49.548 --> 00:48:55.880
and seeing the earth as paradise,
seeing the earth as the kingdom of God.
00:48:58.893 --> 00:49:05.779
Because it's said that the pure land
is not something outside of you.
00:49:06.684 --> 00:49:10.684
The pure land arises in our mind.
00:49:22.087 --> 00:49:30.537
I feel very grateful to people
who take the risk of being arrested
00:49:32.503 --> 00:49:39.483
by demonstrating,
by doing non-violent resistance.
00:49:41.426 --> 00:49:44.046
I see that their Bodhicitta is strong.
00:49:47.363 --> 00:49:50.409
But I also feel concern.
00:49:53.470 --> 00:49:58.700
I think Mahatma Gandhi knew very well
how to take care of himself
00:50:00.355 --> 00:50:03.464
and he could keep the mind of love alive.
00:50:04.702 --> 00:50:06.605
If we have love in our heart,
00:50:07.505 --> 00:50:09.610
if we have compassion in our heart,
00:50:10.401 --> 00:50:12.839
it's what protects us most of all.
00:50:14.185 --> 00:50:20.633
So even when we're being arrested,
we can feel compassion and love,
00:50:21.436 --> 00:50:22.827
and that's important,
00:50:23.808 --> 00:50:32.457
because if there's someone
who puts himself at risk of being arrested
00:50:33.402 --> 00:50:39.508
because they want to do
something good for the world,
00:50:43.073 --> 00:50:45.062
but they don't feel love in their heart,
00:50:46.548 --> 00:50:47.974
they don't feel compassion,
00:50:51.841 --> 00:50:52.751
then...
00:50:56.016 --> 00:51:02.269
.. they're not doing the thing
that would be most helpful for the world.
00:52:46.744 --> 00:52:53.698
One time, the Buddha taught
a very famous discourse.
00:52:54.100 --> 00:52:58.163
It's called Kesaputtiya sutra,
00:52:58.900 --> 00:53:02.616
and some people call it the Kalama sutra
00:53:57.553 --> 00:54:02.679
The Buddha taught this sutra
to young people.
00:54:04.126 --> 00:54:09.907
They were very confused
because Kesaputtiya is a town
00:54:10.999 --> 00:54:17.089
that many, many religious teachers
liked to go to.
00:54:17.990 --> 00:54:20.860
So the Kalama, young people,
00:54:20.860 --> 00:54:25.732
had the chance to listen
to so many Dharma talks.
00:54:26.895 --> 00:54:30.516
Maybe they had as many Dharma talks
as we do here.
00:54:31.291 --> 00:54:37.261
But one thing about here is that mostly
we Dharma teachers agree with each other.
00:54:38.665 --> 00:54:43.055
If every week we say the opposite
of what the person had said before,
00:54:43.533 --> 00:54:48.313
then you would be in the same kind
of confusion as the Kalamas were.
00:54:50.506 --> 00:54:53.906
So some people would come
and they would say,
00:54:55.498 --> 00:55:00.068
"Whether you do a good thing
or a bad thing, that doesn't matter.
00:55:01.340 --> 00:55:08.320
Because there's no such thing
as karmic retribution."
00:55:30.615 --> 00:55:32.695
There's no karmic retribution.
00:55:32.695 --> 00:55:36.559
Karmic retribution means
that you do something good,
00:55:36.914 --> 00:55:41.214
you will have merits and
you will enjoy some kind of merit.
00:55:43.137 --> 00:55:47.647
You do something bad and
you have demerit and you will suffer.
00:55:48.647 --> 00:55:51.672
So that's what's meant
by Karmic retribution.
00:55:53.337 --> 00:55:56.224
Then other teachers would come along
and they'd say,
00:55:56.226 --> 00:55:59.914
if you do something bad,
then when you'll die, you'll go to hell.
00:56:00.367 --> 00:56:04.877
If you do something good, when you'll die,
you'll be reborn as a god or a human.
00:56:06.774 --> 00:56:13.574
So the Kalama were very confused
and said: "Oh, the Buddha is coming!
00:56:14.132 --> 00:56:20.892
The Buddha is enlightened.
The Buddha can remove our confusion."
00:56:25.926 --> 00:56:29.070
So when the Buddha came, they asked:
00:56:29.611 --> 00:56:35.481
"So many teachers come and they all
tell us they're teaching the truth,
00:56:36.002 --> 00:56:39.912
but their truths,
they contradict each other.
00:56:40.371 --> 00:56:43.848
So we're very confused. Can you help?"
00:56:44.170 --> 00:56:45.290
And the Buddha said:
00:56:46.622 --> 00:56:52.941
"You're right to be confused,
it's very confusing. I understand that.
00:56:55.795 --> 00:57:03.105
But before you believe something,
you have to experience it for yourself.
00:57:04.130 --> 00:57:08.680
If you do something and you feel well,
00:57:08.680 --> 00:57:11.896
and you see that others
around you feel well,
00:57:12.535 --> 00:57:16.765
then you may know that that is beneficial.
00:57:17.260 --> 00:57:20.730
If you do something and you
don't feel good, and others don't,
00:57:21.072 --> 00:57:23.032
you know that that's not beneficial.
00:57:24.560 --> 00:57:27.710
But that's not quite enough.
00:57:28.444 --> 00:57:34.013
Because like I said, when I was young,
I had anorexia nervosa.
00:57:35.264 --> 00:57:39.844
It's not good for me,
it's not good for other people.
00:57:40.602 --> 00:57:42.829
But at that time, I wasn't aware.
00:57:45.202 --> 00:57:50.552
So I needed some good, kind
spiritual friend to come along
00:57:50.552 --> 00:57:55.283
and try to help me see the root of this,
00:57:55.283 --> 00:57:58.830
and try and help me to transform it.
00:57:59.947 --> 00:58:02.611
So in the sutra the Buddha also says,
00:58:04.213 --> 00:58:09.023
"Is this something that
the wise ones would approve of?
00:58:09.443 --> 00:58:12.000
Your good spiritual friends
would approve of?
00:58:12.327 --> 00:58:16.345
That's also a question
you have to ask yourself.
00:58:24.955 --> 00:58:30.758
And then the Buddha tells us,
00:58:31.523 --> 00:58:34.043
tells the Kalamas,
00:58:36.923 --> 00:58:42.563
You can develop the mind of love,
the Bodhicitta.
00:58:43.690 --> 00:58:47.519
If your heart has no enmity in it,
00:58:49.785 --> 00:58:54.005
you can be sure...
00:58:59.436 --> 00:59:06.476
... that you have peace and joy
in the present moment.
00:59:21.058 --> 00:59:27.068
WHEN THERE IS THE MIND OF LOVE
00:59:43.337 --> 00:59:50.777
THERE IS HAPPINESS HERE AND NOW
01:00:03.561 --> 01:00:09.851
and if there's such a thing as merit,
01:00:10.542 --> 01:00:16.542
then there will be happiness
from that deed in the future.
01:00:17.378 --> 01:00:23.625
The Buddha didn't want to say
that you will be happy in the future.
01:00:24.291 --> 01:00:28.190
You will have merit and
that will make you happy in the future,
01:00:29.106 --> 01:00:31.476
because if the Buddha taught like that,
01:00:32.391 --> 01:00:34.923
it would mean there was a separate self,
01:00:35.812 --> 01:00:39.510
there's a separate me
who's doing good now,
01:00:39.785 --> 01:00:45.228
and that same separate me
will have happiness in the future.
01:00:45.741 --> 01:00:47.959
And that's not the teaching of the Buddha.
01:00:48.347 --> 01:00:53.310
It is the teaching of eternalism,
the opposite of annihilation.
01:00:57.560 --> 01:01:03.796
So we know that when there's the mind
of love, there's happiness here and now.
01:01:04.760 --> 01:01:09.278
If we understand
and have seen for ourselves
01:01:10.176 --> 01:01:15.934
that the future inter-is with the present,
01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:20.638
then we can say that basing
on this mind of love now,
01:01:21.278 --> 01:01:23.995
there's mind of love in the future.
01:01:24.338 --> 01:01:26.848
You don't have to say 'my' mind of love,
01:01:28.829 --> 01:01:31.150
or bring 'me' happiness in the future.
01:01:38.268 --> 01:01:42.899
So when we are allowing ourselves
to be arrested,
01:01:44.343 --> 01:01:51.683
we are living outside,
like at Greenham, no tent,
01:01:57.235 --> 01:02:01.720
is mind of love there,
or are we always fighting?
01:02:02.548 --> 01:02:05.775
Are we always thinking about the enemy?
01:02:07.108 --> 01:02:14.645
And seeing ourselves as separate from
the guards who are guarding the missiles,
01:02:16.373 --> 01:02:17.830
as our enemy?
01:02:21.029 --> 01:02:22.870
One time I was
in a local sangha somewhere,
01:02:22.974 --> 01:02:24.547
I went to lead a retreat,
01:02:25.766 --> 01:02:28.962
I said, "I was in Greenham Common,
01:02:29.472 --> 01:02:32.488
in 1981 or something,"
01:02:35.374 --> 01:02:37.958
and he said, "I was there too!"
01:02:38.586 --> 01:02:40.618
but he said, "I was on the other side.
01:02:41.807 --> 01:02:44.993
I was one of the soldiers
on the other side."
01:02:49.379 --> 01:02:52.428
Then we both found ourselves
in the same sangha.
01:03:01.218 --> 01:03:05.700
So we need to keep this mind of love alive
01:03:06.767 --> 01:03:14.058
and if we feel that our mind of love
is no longer alive enough,
01:03:15.397 --> 01:03:17.617
it's only understandable.
01:03:17.926 --> 01:03:22.417
Sometimes a situation is so hard,
01:03:23.450 --> 01:03:26.528
that it's difficult
to keep the mind of love alive
01:03:27.096 --> 01:03:29.933
So there's nothing wrong with that,
it's natural.
01:03:30.623 --> 01:03:33.379
But the important thing is to recognize,
01:03:34.221 --> 01:03:37.959
'mind of love is not there
and I need to withdraw.
01:03:38.587 --> 01:03:40.639
I need to do something different,'
01:03:41.756 --> 01:03:45.756
rather than just resisting all the time,
01:03:46.794 --> 01:03:48.442
non-violent resistance,
01:03:49.011 --> 01:03:54.263
I have to do something like planting trees
which will nourish me more,
01:03:55.760 --> 01:03:57.952
and help the mind of love to come back.
01:03:59.730 --> 01:04:02.690
So sometimes I see,
this is a little bit a danger
01:04:02.905 --> 01:04:10.734
forof people who, for decades,
are in some kind of resistance.
01:04:14.182 --> 01:04:19.193
I'm very grateful to them,
but we have to remember the mind of love.
01:04:24.705 --> 01:04:29.315
So that is the first reassurance.
01:04:30.315 --> 01:04:35.900
We know that when there's the mind of love
there's peace and happiness here and now.
01:04:39.022 --> 01:04:40.922
That peace and happiness is...
01:04:42.104 --> 01:04:45.673
If we see that the three times interare,
01:04:46.216 --> 01:04:49.869
we can see that it's also in the future.
01:04:50.588 --> 01:04:52.758
So the second is,
01:05:09.913 --> 01:05:16.373
WHEN THE THREE TIMES INTERARE,
01:05:22.694 --> 01:05:32.184
THERE'S HAPPINESS IN THE FUTURE
01:05:56.156 --> 01:05:58.783
[The third one:]
01:06:03.311 --> 01:06:08.994
WHEN THERE IS ENMITY,
01:06:13.174 --> 01:06:19.578
THERE IS SUFFERING HERE AND NOW
01:06:35.204 --> 01:06:36.710
[The fourth one:]
01:06:43.448 --> 01:06:49.926
SINCE THE THREE TIMES INTERARE,
01:06:57.163 --> 01:07:05.485
THERE'S SUFFERING IN THE FUTURE
01:07:16.127 --> 01:07:17.716
But the Buddha said,
01:07:18.542 --> 01:07:22.730
"You don't have to believe
that the three times interare.
01:07:23.432 --> 01:07:25.984
It's something
that you have to experience,
01:07:25.984 --> 01:07:28.158
not something you believe.
01:07:28.634 --> 01:07:32.120
So if you don't experience that,
and you say,
01:07:33.967 --> 01:07:35.812
you can forget about the future,
01:07:37.821 --> 01:07:42.497
all the same, you can know that
these are the most important things,
01:07:42.907 --> 01:07:44.934
the number one and the number three.
01:07:49.759 --> 01:07:55.252
But don't think that
suffering is something bad.
01:07:59.310 --> 01:08:02.409
Don't think that we need
to get rid of suffering.
01:08:03.964 --> 01:08:05.905
We talk about the Bodhicitta,
01:08:07.339 --> 01:08:12.867
and in the Buddhist teachings of the Mahayana
01:08:13.744 --> 01:08:23.049
it says clearly that the afflictions,
the klesha, the suffering IS the Bodhi.
01:08:24.749 --> 01:08:25.798
The klesha,
01:08:44.947 --> 01:08:48.165
the awakening IS the affliction.
01:08:48.596 --> 01:08:49.818
IS the suffering.
01:08:52.883 --> 01:08:56.125
So it means that the enmity that you feel,
01:08:57.626 --> 01:09:09.027
it can be the ground for the Bodhi,
for the awakening,
01:09:10.033 --> 01:09:13.943
because in Buddhism we don't want
to make two camps.
01:09:15.413 --> 01:09:21.229
We don't want to make a camp
of the good and a camp of the evil.
01:09:22.791 --> 01:09:24.751
Thay used to say that.
01:09:26.145 --> 01:09:27.941
In the past, Thay said:
01:09:30.798 --> 01:09:33.003
"Do not make man your enemy.
01:09:35.605 --> 01:09:41.368
Your enemy is greed, hatred,
confusion,
01:09:42.374 --> 01:09:45.785
but one day Thay said
he didn't want to say that anymore.
01:09:48.384 --> 01:09:53.320
Greed, hatred and confusion
are no longer your enemy.
01:09:55.546 --> 01:10:01.964
They are the mud
out of which the lotus can bloom.
01:10:13.788 --> 01:10:16.259
But we have enough mud already,
01:10:17.730 --> 01:10:19.914
so we don't want to make any more.
01:10:21.715 --> 01:10:29.517
We have enough suffering
for us to give rise to awakening,
01:10:30.062 --> 01:10:32.862
we don't need to make any more.
01:10:35.460 --> 01:10:42.269
So we want to try and avoid
making more suffering, if we can.
01:10:43.588 --> 01:10:46.611
We just want to use the suffering
that's already there,
01:10:47.101 --> 01:10:50.725
in order to help us to wake up,
to be awake.
01:11:15.140 --> 01:11:18.005
I don't know if you can think of a name
01:11:21.163 --> 01:11:24.268
for the species that we want to become.
01:11:27.318 --> 01:11:30.453
Thay suggested
that we talk about Homo Conscious,
01:11:34.749 --> 01:11:36.230
the aware man.
01:11:38.629 --> 01:11:43.081
If we can talk about interbeing,
the interbeing man,
01:11:43.365 --> 01:11:44.857
I think it will be nice.
01:11:49.293 --> 01:11:53.901
In Budhism we have
the Vajracchedikā sutra,
01:11:55.622 --> 01:11:58.434
the diamond that cuts through illusion.
01:12:02.628 --> 01:12:06.794
In that sutra it talks about
four kinds of wrong perception
01:12:09.117 --> 01:12:13.629
which are very linked to the awakening
that we need to have now,
01:12:14.965 --> 01:12:19.141
and the first wrong perception is
that I am a separate self.
01:12:22.042 --> 01:12:23.849
The second wrong perception is,
01:12:24.046 --> 01:12:31.771
the human species is separate
from the other species.
01:12:33.311 --> 01:12:36.771
The third wrong perception is
that the living species,
01:12:37.045 --> 01:12:39.161
those of us who can move around,
01:12:40.409 --> 01:12:43.717
are separate from the non-living species.
01:12:46.235 --> 01:12:52.642
The animals are different from the plants
and the minerals, are separate.
01:12:53.520 --> 01:12:59.271
And the last wrong perception is
that we have a life-span.
01:12:59.650 --> 01:13:01.508
Our life is limited,
01:13:02.775 --> 01:13:05.845
we have a birthday and a deathday,
01:13:06.144 --> 01:13:10.374
and we only live between our birthday
and our deathday.
01:13:11.089 --> 01:13:13.803
You only need to go into the forest
01:13:14.240 --> 01:13:16.951
and look at the leaves under your feet
01:13:17.436 --> 01:13:19.924
and you'll know there's no such thing as
01:13:20.933 --> 01:13:25.113
'birth separate from death'.
01:13:25.611 --> 01:13:30.191
Everything is in a wonderful
cycle of transformation.
01:13:31.889 --> 01:13:35.498
The leaf doesn't go anywhere
when it falls from the tree.
01:13:35.772 --> 01:13:37.659
It goes back to the earth,
01:13:38.039 --> 01:13:42.529
it becomes the nourishment
for the young leaf that's born on the tree.
01:13:42.942 --> 01:13:45.828
And actually while the leaf
was on the tree,
01:13:46.452 --> 01:13:52.032
it was already nourishing the tree.
01:13:52.784 --> 01:13:56.196
So the leaf was going into the tree
while it was alive,
01:13:56.704 --> 01:14:00.479
and when that leaf is on the ground,
it also goes into the tree.
01:14:01.457 --> 01:14:04.447
So the leaf has no beginning and no end.
01:14:04.812 --> 01:14:07.733
If we can see ourselves as leaves,
01:14:09.486 --> 01:14:12.860
nourishing the earth
while we are alive on the earth,
01:14:13.515 --> 01:14:19.625
and going back to the earth
when we have our death certificate,
01:14:20.560 --> 01:14:23.348
in order to nourish new life on the earth,
01:14:23.890 --> 01:14:25.972
then we have no more fear.
01:14:30.180 --> 01:14:32.717
As someone who has no more fear,
01:14:35.232 --> 01:14:39.442
we are really able to be useful
and beneficial to the world.
01:14:44.394 --> 01:14:51.806
So, part of the Bodhicitta
is that deep desire that we all have
01:14:53.331 --> 01:14:57.325
to realize the truth of no birth
and no death
01:14:58.119 --> 01:15:00.412
that can take us beyond fear.
01:15:01.400 --> 01:15:04.467
That is not just something
for a monk or a nun to do,
01:15:05.316 --> 01:15:08.043
that's something that all of us,
the fourfold sangha,
01:15:11.400 --> 01:15:14.527
need to have the time to do.
01:15:15.208 --> 01:15:17.893
Because as a monk or a nun we can be busy.
01:15:19.521 --> 01:15:21.224
We can have many projects,
01:15:22.544 --> 01:15:24.828
things we want to do to help the world,
01:15:24.828 --> 01:15:27.182
they may sound very good but we're busy,
01:15:27.741 --> 01:15:32.929
we don't have the time to come back
to ourselves and stop, and look deeply.
01:15:33.626 --> 01:15:37.439
A lay-person is the same,
you can be very busy going to work,
01:15:38.748 --> 01:15:44.564
bringing up your family, you don't have
the time to stop and look deeply
01:15:44.871 --> 01:15:48.444
into the matter of no birth and no death.
01:15:52.208 --> 01:15:55.840
But a monk or a nun,
a lay-man or a lay-woman,
01:15:57.748 --> 01:16:00.649
we can give ourselves,
we can organize our life,
01:16:01.257 --> 01:16:04.928
so that we have time
to look deeply into impermanence,
01:16:06.629 --> 01:16:12.748
To look deeply into impermanence
doesn't mean to be caught in impermanence,
01:16:13.491 --> 01:16:17.570
because impermanence can become
a view that you are caught in.
01:16:20.397 --> 01:16:22.939
Then you think that impermanence
is something bad.
01:16:24.509 --> 01:16:28.416
But in fact, impermanence doesn't
mean there isn't a continuation.
01:16:29.888 --> 01:16:33.091
Things change their form
into a different form,
01:16:33.904 --> 01:16:36.060
and there's always continuation.
01:16:36.982 --> 01:16:40.712
The rain we listen to now
is the continuation of the cloud.
01:16:58.185 --> 01:17:04.565
In Buddhism, in China,
01:17:04.565 --> 01:17:07.175
they used to say
there's two kinds of awakening.
01:17:08.418 --> 01:17:13.803
There's the sudden enlightenment,
and there's the gradual enlightenment.
01:17:17.703 --> 01:17:21.356
I don't understand
the Plum Village teachings in that way.
01:17:23.789 --> 01:17:27.696
We can have little enlightenments
every day that come to us
01:17:28.375 --> 01:17:33.411
when we practise mindful walking
and mindful breathing.
01:17:35.347 --> 01:17:38.234
We can become enlightened
a little bit every day.
01:17:39.570 --> 01:17:42.162
We don't have to wait
for a sudden enlightenment,
01:17:43.907 --> 01:17:50.106
and we don't have to think that at the end
of a long, gradual enlightenment
01:17:50.106 --> 01:17:51.939
we'll become enlightened.
01:17:53.114 --> 01:17:57.673
Because the Bodhi, the enlightenment,
is present in each of us,
01:17:58.610 --> 01:18:04.489
with our own practise
of dwelling in the present moment
01:18:06.299 --> 01:18:09.481
mindfulness of walking,
mindfulness of breathing,
01:18:10.116 --> 01:18:15.421
that enlightenment is always inside
and can always come up.
01:18:16.531 --> 01:18:20.400
With mindfulness and concentration
that can always be inside.
01:18:23.129 --> 01:18:26.575
So we shouldn't miss
the opportunity of guided meditation,
01:18:30.173 --> 01:18:31.825
walking meditation,
01:18:36.656 --> 01:18:39.909
That is our aspiration,
01:18:40.673 --> 01:18:47.257
always to remain fresh,
not to grow tired of the practise,
01:18:47.930 --> 01:18:50.019
not to find the practise boring.
01:18:52.738 --> 01:18:57.657
That feeling of boredom, of being tired
of the practise, come from our own mind.
01:18:59.537 --> 01:19:01.929
We need to open our mind a little bit more
01:19:02.959 --> 01:19:06.174
in order to be able
to give ourselves the opportunity
01:19:06.174 --> 01:19:10.693
to use the Dharma door
such as being given to us,
01:19:11.431 --> 01:19:13.371
in order to help us have insight,
01:19:13.922 --> 01:19:17.922
that insight will bring us encouragement,
01:19:18.517 --> 01:19:21.807
and help us to continue
a long time on the path.
01:19:23.689 --> 01:19:26.780
Of course we can always
renew our practise.
01:19:29.062 --> 01:19:32.455
we can always have new ideas
about how to practise
01:19:36.415 --> 01:19:39.172
We need to be creative in our practise.
01:19:39.898 --> 01:19:41.499
If you use a knife,
01:19:42.854 --> 01:19:46.854
cutting carrots every day,
it will get blunt after a while.
01:19:47.497 --> 01:19:49.388
Then you need to sharpen it again.
01:19:49.979 --> 01:19:52.237
If you just keep using the blunt knife
01:19:53.143 --> 01:19:55.877
that's like just keeping the outer form,
01:19:56.450 --> 01:19:58.884
but you don't have the content anymore.
01:19:59.817 --> 01:20:02.251
As long as the practise has the content
01:20:02.946 --> 01:20:04.526
and it's not the outer form,
01:20:04.798 --> 01:20:09.005
it will always nourish you
and nourish others as well.
01:20:19.663 --> 01:20:21.943
So dear friends, thank you for listening.
01:20:22.729 --> 01:20:24.956
We now hear three sounds of the bell.
01:20:32.320 --> 01:20:33.864
[the bell is awoken]
01:20:36.649 --> 01:20:41.763
[the bell is invited]
01:21:07.945 --> 01:21:13.776
[the bell is invited]
01:21:37.724 --> 01:21:45.563
[the bell is invited]