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[The Plum Village Online Monastery]

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(Bell)

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Dear respected Thay,

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dear beloved sangha,

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This morning

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we will share about our practice
of the Four Noble Truths

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and I though of a --

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When we talk about the Four Noble Truths

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immediately we think of the Buddha,

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because it is the first Dharma talk
the Buddha gave,

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and the last one.

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And I also think of Thay
because his whole life,

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what he has been doing is

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to show us the way to end suffering.

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Or we can say, the way to build
peace and happiness.

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I have written down the Four
Noble Truths on the board.

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And I thought while writing on the board,

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I thought: If I write only one truth,

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talk about one by one.

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And then I said to myself:
No, I need to write all four.

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I need to write everything.

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Because they interare,

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and it would be too difficult for me
to talk about one truth,

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like the first one, suffering,
without talking about the others.

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The Buddha said:

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'I teach about suffering,
and the way to end suffering.'

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Two things together.

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And they are together,
we cannot separate them.

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Somebody asked,

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somebody asked this question:

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'The Buddha already taught
that life is suffering.

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Why Thay always teaches about
living happily in the present moment?

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But the Buddha always taught
two things together,

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suffering and the way to end suffering.

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I don't think that the Buddha,
compassionate as he is,

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he only talks about suffering.

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I'm sure that the Buddha did not want
to make us depressed.

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(Laughter)

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The Buddha didn't want us
to be pessimistic.

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When there is suffering,

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there is always a way, a path,
to end suffering, or to lead,

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we can say, a path leading to happiness.

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But in our daily life, in our family
or among our friends

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from time time we see
somebody or some people

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who suffer, but they don't see
that they suffer.

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And they don't want
to get out of their suffering.

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It is like someone who is angry

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and you say: 'Oh, you are angry!'

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'No, I am not angry!'

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(Laughter)

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'I am not, you are! I' m not angry.'

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And the same thing,

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someone suffers

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and he or she denies:
'No, I don't suffer, I'm okay!'

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But when we suffer and we deny it,
we don't see that we are suffering

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and then there is no way for us
to get out of our suffering.

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So in the Four Noble Truths,

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there must be awareness.

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Suffering is awareness of suffering.

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If we want the way out,

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we need to be aware of our suffering.

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Without the awareness,

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it is impossible to get out of suffering.

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And awareness is Right Mindfulness,

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it is already in the Noble Eightfold Path.

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It is already in the way to end suffering.

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So in the suffering we already see

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the way to end suffering.

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Without the awareness, it is not --

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that suffering is not
the noble truth yet,

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it is not the First Noble Truth
that the Buddha taught about.

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So if we deny our suffering,
we are not aware of our suffering,

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it is like someone who is sick

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and who thinks that 'I'm okay,
I don't need to see the doctor,

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I don't need to take medicine,
I don't need to do anything,

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because I'm okay.'

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So suffering here, as a Noble Truth,

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means awareness of suffering.

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So that is already the path
to end suffering.

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I imagine there is a path,
a beautiful path.

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But there is no suffering.

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Is it possible?

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I remember when I was a teen,
the first time I came to Plum Village.

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It was in 1985,

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the year when that brother
received the lamp.

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I was a teen.

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My parents brought me to Plum Village.

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I often heard they talked about Thay's
books, Thay's Dharma talks, Plum Village,

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and when Thay went to Paris,

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when we had the practice center
Fleur de Cactus in Noisy le Grand,

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near Paris,

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when Thay went there
and gave Dharma talks,

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my parents also went
and brought me with them.

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So I often heard about Thay,
about Thay's teachings,

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about Thay's books.

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I saw how my parents admired Thay.

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And every time, I noticed that,

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every time when they came back
from a Dharma talk,

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they were much happier.

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They were much more in harmony.

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They stopped quarreling for a while.

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(Laughter)

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For a certain time.

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So I knew, I knew

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that there is a great teacher,
there is a beautiful path,

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but I felt that it was not for me.

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So I went to Plum Village to have fun,
to play, to run around with the other kids

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but I didn't practice at all.

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Until the day when my father
suddenly passed away.

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It was the first time in my life
I experienced deep grief.

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And deep suffering.

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I remember, at that moment
right away I thought of Thay.

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Because I remembered he taught:

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'When you look at your hand,

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you see your father's hand.

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You see your father in your hand.'

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So I did as I remembered
but still I suffered.

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And I wrote Thay a letter:
'I did like you say but I still suffer!'

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(Laughter)

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Then, with my family,
I came back to Plum Village.

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And that time I started to practice.

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And the more I practiced,
the more I appreciated the practice.

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For me, suffering is really precious.

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It is really a noble truth.

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Without the suffering

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I would never make good use
of the Noble Path.

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I only use it when I need.

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And what makes me need it is my suffering.

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Before, I heard about Thay's teachings
but it was just ideas.

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This noble path was only ideas, concept.

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It was not really a Noble Path.

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Until I practiced, until I really wanted
to get out of my suffering

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and I practiced.

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That is why I cannot write down
just suffering, number 1,

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suffering and then talk
about suffering. No.

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I had to write down everything,
because they are together,

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they mingle, they interare.

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We cannot separate them.

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So there is no Noble Path separated

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without suffering.

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There is no path leading
to happiness without suffering.

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For me, it is my own experience.

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If I do not need it, I don't --

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Until I suffer, then I feel the need
and then I find that path.

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It becomes a path for me.

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Maybe the path is for other people
but is not for me

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until I really experience
the pain, the suffering,

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and then I really feel the need.

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But when I look around, in my family,

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I also see people who suffer a lot,

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but who cannot make good use of the path
the way out of suffering.

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Even though we show them:
'There is a path.'

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They cannot make good use,
they cannot get profit from it.

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And why?

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Because this person is totally desperate.

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When the suffering
is so deep and overwhelming,

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we lose all our energy,
we don't have energy,

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we can fall into depression
and we don't believe in anything else.

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We lose faith, we lose trust,

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and we don't believe in the fact
that there is an end of suffering.

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I was very lucky

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because I received many beautiful seeds

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and I saw people, I saw models in my life,

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I saw people, how they lived
their daily life,

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how they helped other people suffer less.

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How they helped people
generate happiness and joy.

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How they can make people happy,
how they can make people stop crying.

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Because I see it, I experience it,

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because I see it, I know that it is true.

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It is something real, it is true,
so I have trust, I have faith,

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and when I suffer I know that
there is a way out.

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There are many people in the world

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who need to see environments

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like I did in the past,
to have faith, to trust.

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The first day when we gathered together,

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when I came in this hall
I was so touched, I was so moved,

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because I see that
we all are the continuation of Thay.

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Thay has spent his whole life
building something.

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Even though there are many people
who don't know Plum Village,

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who do not come here,
who are not here yet,

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but just the fact that we maintain such
an environment, we maintain this place,

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we maintain the practice,

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I am sure that in the future
there will be people,

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people who suffer deeply,

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they have a place to go, to return.

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They have something to grasp
not to get drowned in suffering.

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Just the fact that you come here,

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I don't talk about your practice,
you just come here,

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and you are participating in Thay's work.

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You are continuing Thay's work,
Thay's life, Thay's teachings,

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Thay's practice.

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There are people who suffer,
who know the path,

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who have listened to Dharma talks,

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who know about the Eightfold Path,

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but when they suffer so much,

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they don't have enough energy

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to practice.

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And they need friends,
they need a sangha

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who can help them.

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It is very easy for us

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just to flow with our habits.

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It is much more difficult

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to do something different
from our habits.

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Thay often talks about habit energies.

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When we do something

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or when we think in a certain way,

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in our brain the neurons fire together

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and wire together
and they make a neural path.

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Neuropathways.

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And the more we repeat

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this neuropathways become
deep, and clear, and deep,

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and that is why it is so easy
just to follow these patterns.

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When we practice, we have to --

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Sometimes, we do something
very different from our habit,

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we have to create new neuropathways.

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That is why it is more difficult,

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and we need friends, we need sangha,
we need the energy of the sangha

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to have more energy, 
to have more strength to do it.

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In our daily life,

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some sufferings we think
that they are unnecessary.

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Because they are just misunderstandings.

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We just need to go
and check with that person

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or communicate with that person
and we can solve the problem right away.

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And if we don't communicate,
if we are not open enough to check,

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to talk, to clear that misunderstanding,

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then our friend will say:

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'You! Why you let unnecessary suffering
invade you like that?

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It is unnecessary.'

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It is so easy to transform
those wrong perceptions.

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Then there are other sufferings

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when we see other people suffer,
we understand: Yes, of course.

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When their lose their parents or
their beloved ones they suffer, yes.

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It's normal. And we have lot of sympathy.

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We share their suffering.
They have the right to suffer.

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It is one of the deepest sufferings,

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when we lose someone we love.

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We have the feeling that some suffering

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we can control.

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Other sufferings we cannot.

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They are out of our hands.

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If somebody passes away,
it is out of our control.

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But still the Buddha shows us

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the way to end that suffering,

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It is Right View.

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Because we are so used
to a certain way of thinking,

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we think of birth and death,

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so we suffer.

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But when we have Right View,
there is no birth, no death.

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It is just a current,
a continuation of all phenomena.

252
00:21:49,927 --> 00:21:52,766
After my father passed away,

253
00:21:52,838 --> 00:21:55,480
one year later I became a nun.

254
00:21:56,583 --> 00:21:59,545
A few months later
I came back to Plum Village

255
00:21:59,830 --> 00:22:03,070
and learned to practice.

256
00:22:03,653 --> 00:22:07,053
Then, months after months,
I asked a question:

257
00:22:07,183 --> 00:22:13,575
'Oh! The practice is wonderful.
Why don't I devote my whole life in it?'

258
00:22:14,349 --> 00:22:20,910
Because I am the second youngest
member in my family

259
00:22:21,173 --> 00:22:24,049
and I knew that -I thought-

260
00:22:24,170 --> 00:22:29,846
I would see my older brothers,
my older sisters, my mum,

261
00:22:29,953 --> 00:22:34,933
they would pass away and I would be
second last one who bore all this grief,

262
00:22:35,075 --> 00:22:36,901
this losses.

263
00:22:36,997 --> 00:22:38,547
(Laughter)

264
00:22:38,683 --> 00:22:41,097
Too much for me. 
Just one person

265
00:22:41,357 --> 00:22:44,235
and I thought that I couldn't survive.

266
00:22:44,356 --> 00:22:50,136
Now I had to go through
6 more times. Too much.

267
00:22:51,178 --> 00:22:54,387
Then I know that on this path

268
00:22:54,520 --> 00:23:00,586
I will know how to handle.

269
00:23:04,423 --> 00:23:09,166
Then a year and a half ago,
Thay tested me.

270
00:23:10,692 --> 00:23:12,942
Thay tested me.

271
00:23:13,619 --> 00:23:18,015
When Thay was in the coma,
in his bed and the neurologist said:

272
00:23:19,776 --> 00:23:22,309
'He has a few more days.'

273
00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:26,227
And Thay really tested me how I faced --

274
00:23:27,162 --> 00:23:30,982
I didn't face my father's death.

275
00:23:31,254 --> 00:23:33,835
It was afterwards.

276
00:23:35,939 --> 00:23:40,454
Afterwards, after his death,
I practiced to overcome the grief.

277
00:23:41,897 --> 00:23:48,239
Then, a year and a half ago, Thay wanted
to see me how I deal, I face death.

278
00:23:52,975 --> 00:23:55,217
And one more time,

279
00:23:57,824 --> 00:24:03,311
one more time I saw
how the practice saved me.

280
00:24:04,959 --> 00:24:07,298
With the Right View.

281
00:24:10,990 --> 00:24:16,132
When my father passed away
I looked at my hand, I thought

282
00:24:17,499 --> 00:24:19,635
as Thay taught.

283
00:24:20,642 --> 00:24:24,024
But I didn't really see my father's hand.

284
00:24:24,127 --> 00:24:27,673
I couldn't really see
my father in this hand.

285
00:24:27,877 --> 00:24:29,872
I still suffered.

286
00:24:31,546 --> 00:24:37,949
There were still ideas, I had to practice
day after day, months after months

287
00:24:38,187 --> 00:24:40,462
years after years,

288
00:24:40,586 --> 00:24:45,107
in order to really experience, to feel it.

289
00:24:45,683 --> 00:24:48,488
Ideas didn't help me.

290
00:24:49,554 --> 00:24:52,126
A year and a half ago,

291
00:24:54,023 --> 00:24:57,410
when I heard that neurologist say it,

292
00:24:58,027 --> 00:25:02,117
what really helped me
was the Right View.

293
00:25:02,276 --> 00:25:06,247
I thought: Ok, I am Thay's continuation.

294
00:25:07,547 --> 00:25:09,894
And right away,

295
00:25:10,449 --> 00:25:16,208
I didn't fall into sadness and depression
like the time when my father passed away.

296
00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:22,296
But when I remembered
that I am Thay's continuation,

297
00:25:22,407 --> 00:25:24,655
I was full of energy.

298
00:25:24,789 --> 00:25:29,376
I saw that there are so many things
I need to do for Thay.

299
00:25:32,699 --> 00:25:36,489
To realize Thay's aspiration,
Thay's dream.

300
00:25:36,693 --> 00:25:41,492
And I see that the rest of my life,
I have so many things to do.

301
00:25:41,986 --> 00:25:45,264
I was full of energy.

302
00:25:47,894 --> 00:25:56,374
And the sadness transformed right away
into strong energy, action.

303
00:25:58,070 --> 00:26:00,610
I have the sangha,

304
00:26:01,076 --> 00:26:04,515
I have Plum Village,
the sangha of Plum Village

305
00:26:04,615 --> 00:26:07,865
and the fourfold sangha
everywhere in the world.

306
00:26:09,777 --> 00:26:14,367
And together, hands in hands,
we still have many things to do.

307
00:26:14,514 --> 00:26:17,225
We are Thay's continuation.

308
00:26:18,315 --> 00:26:20,533
And I was so grateful,

309
00:26:20,661 --> 00:26:24,028
so grateful for the teachings,

310
00:26:24,519 --> 00:26:27,265
Thay's teachings, the Buddha teachings,

311
00:26:27,396 --> 00:26:29,481
handed down to us

312
00:26:30,233 --> 00:26:34,574
after so many centuries.

313
00:26:35,329 --> 00:26:37,811
And we are so fortunate today,

314
00:26:39,439 --> 00:26:42,838
we have all these tools

315
00:26:43,967 --> 00:26:48,788
to help us get out of our suffering.

316
00:27:04,777 --> 00:27:06,425
(Bell)

317
00:27:11,180 --> 00:27:17,518
(Bell)

318
00:28:09,048 --> 00:28:12,571
We, as human, we have the capacity

319
00:28:13,702 --> 00:28:15,386
to bear,

320
00:28:17,620 --> 00:28:19,887
to bear suffering.

321
00:28:22,307 --> 00:28:26,696
Sometimes suffering becomes a routine

322
00:28:27,818 --> 00:28:30,244
and we are able to bear it.

323
00:28:30,384 --> 00:28:33,561
Then it becomes something normal.

324
00:28:36,281 --> 00:28:41,353
And we feel that
we don't need to get out of it.

325
00:28:41,503 --> 00:28:47,893
We don't need to go on the path
to get out of it.

326
00:28:49,638 --> 00:28:52,290
And the same thing with happiness.

327
00:28:52,410 --> 00:28:54,852
We get used to happiness.

328
00:29:00,493 --> 00:29:02,679
After we

329
00:29:07,502 --> 00:29:12,306
After we learn something,
we learn the path, it is so wonderful

330
00:29:12,412 --> 00:29:18,733
and we, I could solve
some problems in my daily life

331
00:29:18,865 --> 00:29:21,206
and I am so happy.

332
00:29:23,075 --> 00:29:25,236
But after a while,

333
00:29:25,823 --> 00:29:28,058
I get used to that happiness

334
00:29:28,936 --> 00:29:31,523
and then I go back to my habits.

335
00:29:33,897 --> 00:29:35,835
I am not happy anymore.

336
00:29:38,395 --> 00:29:44,627
Or I do not appreciate anymore
what I have.

337
00:29:47,917 --> 00:29:51,136
And slowly, I lose my happiness.

338
00:29:55,463 --> 00:29:58,237
When I became a nun,

339
00:30:00,516 --> 00:30:03,366
the first few years I was so happy,

340
00:30:03,583 --> 00:30:10,137
because I was bathed in the beautiful
teachings, in the beautiful practice.

341
00:30:11,889 --> 00:30:14,209
Then, after a few years,

342
00:30:16,629 --> 00:30:21,724
this environment became a routine,
became something normal to me.

343
00:30:24,666 --> 00:30:31,538
But fortunately, Thay kept reminding us
to cultivate our beginner's mind

344
00:30:32,379 --> 00:30:37,001
and not to get used to our happiness.

345
00:30:38,649 --> 00:30:41,321
Not to get used to our comfort,

346
00:30:42,026 --> 00:30:45,510
spiritual comfort, for example.

347
00:30:48,819 --> 00:30:53,114
We need to look back
at our own suffering to remember

348
00:30:54,010 --> 00:31:00,295
that in the past there were moments
when we suffered so much

349
00:31:01,233 --> 00:31:04,282
because of this, because of that,

350
00:31:04,435 --> 00:31:06,708
to remember that today

351
00:31:08,802 --> 00:31:12,434
we are in a different situation.

352
00:31:13,049 --> 00:31:16,163
We don't suffer anymore.

353
00:31:17,734 --> 00:31:22,762
When we remember it we can wake up

354
00:31:24,112 --> 00:31:26,914
and appreciate what we have

355
00:31:27,204 --> 00:31:29,705
and appreciate our situation now.

356
00:31:29,866 --> 00:31:31,827
Otherwise,

357
00:31:32,090 --> 00:31:35,432
we can get used to our own happiness

358
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,166
and lose it.

359
00:31:42,536 --> 00:31:44,990
It is the same thing with suffering,

360
00:31:45,121 --> 00:31:46,960
When get used to suffering,

361
00:31:48,144 --> 00:31:50,083
we see that it is normal.

362
00:31:50,175 --> 00:31:54,377
We continue to make ourselves suffer
we continue to make the others suffer

363
00:31:54,478 --> 00:31:59,476
and then we don't feel
the need to get out of it.

364
00:32:01,802 --> 00:32:03,637
Until one day,

365
00:32:03,756 --> 00:32:06,340
somebody yells at us:

366
00:32:06,485 --> 00:32:10,403
'Stop making me suffer, please!'

367
00:32:10,723 --> 00:32:14,823
And then we wake up.
'Oh! Really?

368
00:32:15,981 --> 00:32:19,074
I didn't know that I make people suffer.'

369
00:32:20,406 --> 00:32:23,546
So we need the sangha
we need friends,

370
00:32:26,548 --> 00:32:29,022
we need spiritual friends.

371
00:32:47,198 --> 00:32:50,707
When we look deeply into our suffering,

372
00:32:51,325 --> 00:32:53,440
to see the cause,

373
00:32:54,438 --> 00:32:56,257
the cause of it,

374
00:33:00,256 --> 00:33:02,641
what is the cause of my suffering?

375
00:33:02,773 --> 00:33:03,954
Is it --

376
00:33:06,709 --> 00:33:12,759
I suffer because I don't know
how to appreciate what I have?

377
00:33:12,837 --> 00:33:20,061
I don't know how to really, to live fully

378
00:33:20,201 --> 00:33:24,290
what is happening
in the here and the now?

379
00:33:26,038 --> 00:33:32,510
Is it because I always run towards
the future looking for some happiness?

380
00:33:34,937 --> 00:33:39,486
When we stop
and we look deeply at our ill-being,

381
00:33:41,740 --> 00:33:46,335
we have Right Mindfulness,
we have Right Concentration,

382
00:33:48,149 --> 00:33:53,095
and we are already
on the path to end suffering.

383
00:34:05,268 --> 00:34:08,763
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384
00:34:09,007 --> 00:34:16,824
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385
00:34:17,021 --> 00:34:24,565
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