1
00:00:05,265 --> 00:00:07,040
(Bell)

2
00:00:09,937 --> 00:00:16,120
(Bell)

3
00:00:32,462 --> 00:00:34,397
(French) Dear Thay, dear Sangha,

4
00:00:34,712 --> 00:00:38,040
Here you say 'Be yourself, be beautiful'.

5
00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:40,105
But...

6
00:00:40,433 --> 00:00:42,949
Nature is really beautiful,

7
00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,474
but men and women,
physically,

8
00:00:46,680 --> 00:00:49,509
I don't think that it is always like that.

9
00:00:49,743 --> 00:00:51,303
For example,

10
00:00:51,981 --> 00:00:54,565
I cannot understand how you do

11
00:00:54,776 --> 00:00:57,218
when you are in front of us meditating,

12
00:00:57,388 --> 00:00:59,853
to be so sure of yourself physically.

13
00:00:59,904 --> 00:01:03,164
How do you know, for example
that your nose is not going to run.

14
00:01:03,234 --> 00:01:05,010
The human body is...

15
00:01:05,142 --> 00:01:07,133
I don't think it is so good

16
00:01:07,198 --> 00:01:10,009
if you don't wash yourself,
shave yourself and so on.

17
00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:12,229
It is not so beautiful.

18
00:01:12,421 --> 00:01:18,111
If you don't cut your hair,
you are not so beautiful.

19
00:01:18,433 --> 00:01:21,324
I don't understand how do you manage

20
00:01:21,502 --> 00:01:23,639
to feel so well physically.

21
00:01:23,872 --> 00:01:25,243
In front of us.

22
00:01:25,433 --> 00:01:28,465
How do you manage
to be so comfortable,

23
00:01:28,742 --> 00:01:31,248
to feel so beautiful in front of us.

24
00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:33,002
I don't understand.

25
00:01:33,053 --> 00:01:34,498
(Laughter)

26
00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:37,720
(Sister) Can you say it also in English?

27
00:01:37,914 --> 00:01:41,290
Here in Plum Village,
we say 'Be yourself, be beautiful'.

28
00:01:42,156 --> 00:01:44,364
When I look at most of the girls,

29
00:01:44,529 --> 00:01:46,554
I find them really beautiful.

30
00:01:46,719 --> 00:01:48,953
But when I look at people,

31
00:01:49,153 --> 00:01:52,498
sometimes I don't find them beautiful.

32
00:01:52,717 --> 00:01:56,329
So I don't understand why you say
'Be yourself, be beautiful'.

33
00:01:56,471 --> 00:01:58,879
Sometimes we are not beautiful.

34
00:01:59,023 --> 00:02:01,049
That is why we are here.

35
00:02:01,213 --> 00:02:04,920
We use make-up, for the women,

36
00:02:05,107 --> 00:02:08,981
we take care of our appearance, etc.

37
00:02:09,138 --> 00:02:12,113
I don't find myself so beautiful.

38
00:02:16,740 --> 00:02:18,422
(Sister) Our friend asks

39
00:02:18,540 --> 00:02:22,541
how are people to feel beautiful
and be in front of many people.

40
00:02:23,099 --> 00:02:24,680
Beautiful in this body.

41
00:02:25,250 --> 00:02:27,506
(Sister) To feel comfortable
in his own body.

42
00:02:27,688 --> 00:02:29,982
So confident in his body.

43
00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,106
(Sister) The microphone?

44
00:02:32,598 --> 00:02:36,440
(Man) I don't understand how you do
to be so confident in your body.

45
00:02:36,931 --> 00:02:39,966
Because my body always makes me flush.

46
00:02:40,232 --> 00:02:42,510
(inaudible)

47
00:02:46,014 --> 00:02:47,772
Interesting question.

48
00:02:47,844 --> 00:02:49,931
(Laughter)

49
00:03:02,544 --> 00:03:07,356
We agree with each other
that Mother Earth is beautiful.

50
00:03:07,821 --> 00:03:09,417
Right?

51
00:03:15,785 --> 00:03:19,693
She knows how to preserve her beauty.

52
00:03:21,258 --> 00:03:23,869
She does not need cosmetics.

53
00:03:26,054 --> 00:03:29,480
And yet she knows how to transform.

54
00:03:36,356 --> 00:03:39,329
She has the power of transformation

55
00:03:39,951 --> 00:03:41,911
and healing.

56
00:03:42,432 --> 00:03:44,948
We have to learn from her.

57
00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,099
To me, Mother Earth is a real bodhisattva.

58
00:03:57,125 --> 00:03:59,822
A very beautiful bodhisattva.

59
00:04:00,687 --> 00:04:03,379
Having a lot of virtues,

60
00:04:05,026 --> 00:04:08,560
like non-discrimination.

61
00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,543
Mother Earth does not discriminate.

62
00:04:14,426 --> 00:04:16,554
Mother Earth does not say,

63
00:04:16,721 --> 00:04:19,172
"You are beautiful,
you are not beautiful.

64
00:04:19,351 --> 00:04:22,327
I am beautiful,
I am not beautiful.'

65
00:04:22,454 --> 00:04:24,885
Mother Earth never says
'I am beautiful.'

66
00:04:25,047 --> 00:04:28,461
She is beautiful, but she never says
I am beautiful.

67
00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,053
(Laughter)

68
00:04:39,642 --> 00:04:42,094
If we practice well enough,

69
00:04:43,915 --> 00:04:49,090
we will see that we ourselves
are children of Mother Earth.

70
00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:51,286
You cannot deny it.

71
00:04:51,421 --> 00:04:54,542
Buddhas, bodhisattvas, saints,

72
00:04:58,103 --> 00:05:00,151
even terrorists,

73
00:05:00,752 --> 00:05:03,738
are children of the Earth.

74
00:05:04,381 --> 00:05:06,182
Right?

75
00:05:10,557 --> 00:05:12,858
As children of the Mother Earth,

76
00:05:13,073 --> 00:05:15,646
we carry Mother Earth inside of us.

77
00:05:16,373 --> 00:05:18,092
Right?

78
00:05:18,233 --> 00:05:21,138
Mother Earth is not only outside of us,

79
00:05:21,761 --> 00:05:24,600
she is also inside of us.

80
00:05:25,292 --> 00:05:27,662
If you look into yourself,
you see Mother Earth.

81
00:05:27,824 --> 00:05:30,430
You carry Mother Earth.

82
00:05:35,712 --> 00:05:38,489
If Mother Earth is beautiful,

83
00:05:39,207 --> 00:05:41,396
we are beautiful.

84
00:05:41,819 --> 00:05:44,335
There should be no complex.

85
00:05:44,919 --> 00:05:46,475
(Laughter)

86
00:05:46,681 --> 00:05:48,898
If Mother Earth is beautiful,

87
00:05:49,118 --> 00:05:50,944
we are beautiful also.

88
00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:52,556
The problem

89
00:05:52,652 --> 00:05:55,818
is whether we know
how to preserve our beauty.

90
00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:01,138
If Mother Earth has no discrimination,

91
00:06:02,107 --> 00:06:04,229
we have to learn

92
00:06:04,868 --> 00:06:07,642
non-discrimination as a virtue.

93
00:06:08,342 --> 00:06:12,200
This person is beautiful,
that person is not beautiful,

94
00:06:12,418 --> 00:06:15,280
I am beautiful enough,
I am not beautiful enough.

95
00:06:15,503 --> 00:06:17,885
That is discrimination.

96
00:06:18,791 --> 00:06:21,560
Since we have a lot of discrimination,

97
00:06:21,777 --> 00:06:23,682
we have a lot of fear,

98
00:06:23,885 --> 00:06:26,166
we are afraid
that we are not beautiful enough.

99
00:06:26,333 --> 00:06:28,328
We have no confidence.

100
00:06:29,774 --> 00:06:34,429
The problem is

101
00:06:39,100 --> 00:06:40,824
that...

102
00:06:43,310 --> 00:06:46,516
whether we know
how to preserve our beauty,

103
00:06:47,389 --> 00:06:50,392
and preserve the virtues

104
00:06:50,578 --> 00:06:54,330
that our beautiful Mother has.

105
00:06:57,527 --> 00:07:00,933
I think that
the teaching of the Buddha on love

106
00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,813
is very crucial,

107
00:07:05,472 --> 00:07:07,470
very helpful.

108
00:07:09,992 --> 00:07:14,441
Mother Earth is very loving.

109
00:07:16,870 --> 00:07:20,428
Very compassionate.

110
00:07:21,894 --> 00:07:23,825
Loving kindness

111
00:07:24,192 --> 00:07:26,332
and compassionate.

112
00:07:26,921 --> 00:07:30,355
She loves without discrimination.

113
00:07:30,797 --> 00:07:35,690
She does not prefer
one species over another.

114
00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,815
Can we do that?

115
00:07:40,410 --> 00:07:44,360
Mother Earth has a lot of compassion.

116
00:07:44,994 --> 00:07:47,090
She is able to help us heal

117
00:07:47,271 --> 00:07:51,356
if we know how to go back to her
and surrender to her.

118
00:07:51,602 --> 00:07:54,817
We can get the healing from Mother Earth.

119
00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:58,072
Our practice of Touching the Earth

120
00:07:58,804 --> 00:08:03,671
as our practice of walking meditation

121
00:08:06,049 --> 00:08:08,890
is to help us to go back to the Earth

122
00:08:09,075 --> 00:08:13,464
and get the healing that we need.

123
00:08:14,490 --> 00:08:18,624
Even the Buddha
practises Touching the Earth.

124
00:08:19,435 --> 00:08:24,723
There is a mudra called bhumisparsha,
'earth touching'.

125
00:08:26,053 --> 00:08:29,300
The Buddha is touching
the Earth with his hand.

126
00:08:30,942 --> 00:08:34,081
He is in connection with Mother Earth.

127
00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:36,777
We, humans,

128
00:08:37,485 --> 00:08:41,360
we lose that kind of contact
with Mother Earth.

129
00:08:42,169 --> 00:08:45,469
We are alienated
from Nature, from Mother Earth.

130
00:08:45,622 --> 00:08:48,174
That is why we become sick.

131
00:08:51,294 --> 00:08:58,596
Because of that lack
of non-discrimination, equanimity,

132
00:08:59,463 --> 00:09:01,741
we begin to suffer.

133
00:09:02,191 --> 00:09:05,762
We think that we are
more beautiful than someone else,

134
00:09:06,479 --> 00:09:10,552
we believe that we are
less beautiful than someone else,

135
00:09:10,735 --> 00:09:15,130
or we believe that
we are equally beautiful.

136
00:09:17,480 --> 00:09:21,365
This kind of complexes
make us suffer a lot.

137
00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:30,250
If we try to buy cosmetics,

138
00:09:33,611 --> 00:09:36,780
if we do plastic surgery,

139
00:09:37,661 --> 00:09:39,963
it is because we don't have confidence.

140
00:09:40,117 --> 00:09:43,736
We don't know that
we are beautiful like that.

141
00:09:43,983 --> 00:09:46,349
We think that in order to be beautiful

142
00:09:46,513 --> 00:09:49,736
you should be like that,
like this, like that.

143
00:09:49,885 --> 00:09:53,209
You have a notion of beauty.

144
00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:57,118
But for Mother Earth,

145
00:09:58,684 --> 00:10:03,192
non-discrimination is the way she looks.

146
00:10:04,657 --> 00:10:07,160
If we learn that way of looking,

147
00:10:07,316 --> 00:10:10,200
we can see that everything is beautiful.

148
00:10:10,372 --> 00:10:13,436
A swan is beautiful,
a horse is beautiful,

149
00:10:13,614 --> 00:10:16,870
a monkey is beautiful,
a frog is beautiful.

150
00:10:20,287 --> 00:10:22,203
A flower is beautiful,

151
00:10:22,372 --> 00:10:26,454
a grass blade is also beautiful.

152
00:10:26,672 --> 00:10:28,871
Everything is a wonder,

153
00:10:29,045 --> 00:10:31,551
everything is beautiful.

154
00:10:31,725 --> 00:10:36,078
Not only the lotus is beautiful,
but the mud is also beautiful.

155
00:10:36,326 --> 00:10:38,733
That is the mind of non-discrimination.

156
00:10:44,450 --> 00:10:49,022
You know that in Plum Village
we have the practice

157
00:10:51,032 --> 00:10:55,262
that has been invented for the children,

158
00:10:55,442 --> 00:10:58,126
the pebble meditation

159
00:11:00,433 --> 00:11:03,391
about beauty and freshness,

160
00:11:03,582 --> 00:11:06,183
and solidity and freedom.

161
00:11:06,345 --> 00:11:10,101
The children get four pebbles
and practise.

162
00:11:11,459 --> 00:11:15,951
The first pebble represents a flower.

163
00:11:17,205 --> 00:11:20,640
'Breathing in, I see myself as a flower.'

164
00:11:22,687 --> 00:11:27,884
You are born as a flower
in the garden of humanity.

165
00:11:29,063 --> 00:11:32,392
Look at the babies,
they are very beautiful.

166
00:11:32,544 --> 00:11:34,463
They are all flowers.

167
00:11:34,680 --> 00:11:38,964
Their face is truly a flower.

168
00:11:39,359 --> 00:11:41,631
Their tiny hand is a flower.

169
00:11:41,774 --> 00:11:44,112
Their tiny foot is a flower.

170
00:11:44,861 --> 00:11:49,087
The child is beautiful
when she sleeps,

171
00:11:49,249 --> 00:11:52,388
the child is beautiful when she plays.

172
00:11:53,747 --> 00:11:57,760
We, adults, we have lost
our beauty and freshness

173
00:11:58,275 --> 00:12:01,347
because we don't know
how to preserve that beauty.

174
00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,681
We cry too much.

175
00:12:03,888 --> 00:12:08,421
And our eyes are not limpid
and beautiful any more.

176
00:12:09,110 --> 00:12:13,463
We have many wrinkles
because we worry too much.

177
00:12:15,136 --> 00:12:22,271
Practising 'Breathing in,
I see myself as flower,

178
00:12:22,653 --> 00:12:24,866
breathing out, I feel fresh'

179
00:12:25,052 --> 00:12:28,980
is to restore your flowerness,
your freshness,

180
00:12:29,748 --> 00:12:32,126
that you have lost.

181
00:12:33,233 --> 00:12:36,539
Many of us have lost
some of our freshness and beauty.

182
00:12:37,405 --> 00:12:45,623
Beauty understood
the way Mother Earth has.

183
00:12:48,743 --> 00:12:54,794
If you are not fresh,
not natural, not beautiful,

184
00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:57,320
you are not happy,

185
00:12:57,540 --> 00:13:00,593
you have not much to offer
to the person you love.

186
00:13:00,710 --> 00:13:06,255
So the first pebble represents beauty,

187
00:13:08,360 --> 00:13:10,852
a flower, freshness.

188
00:13:11,008 --> 00:13:15,217
Breathing in, I see myself.
I do not imagine.

189
00:13:15,503 --> 00:13:17,489
I don't need to imagine

190
00:13:17,693 --> 00:13:20,722
because I am a flower
in the garden of humanity.

191
00:13:20,894 --> 00:13:28,052
I can restore my freshness, my beauty,

192
00:13:28,533 --> 00:13:32,610
even if I am over 80 years old.

193
00:13:32,979 --> 00:13:35,149
(Laughter)

194
00:13:35,766 --> 00:13:38,317
All persons can be beautiful,

195
00:13:38,913 --> 00:13:41,080
can be fresh also.

196
00:13:41,332 --> 00:13:44,872
Our practice of meditation
has to do with this.

197
00:13:46,627 --> 00:13:50,216
The second pebble represents a mountain.

198
00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:54,477
'Breathing in,
I see myself as a mountain,

199
00:13:55,561 --> 00:13:58,440
breathing out, I feel solid.'

200
00:13:58,744 --> 00:14:03,216
Solidity is part of
the beauty of the Earth.

201
00:14:05,555 --> 00:14:09,530
When you are not stable,
when you are not solid,

202
00:14:09,852 --> 00:14:12,714
people cannot count on you.

203
00:14:13,511 --> 00:14:16,418
Happiness is not possible
if you are not stable,

204
00:14:16,592 --> 00:14:19,112
if you are not solid.

205
00:14:19,628 --> 00:14:25,232
So to breathe like that is
to restore solidity, stability,

206
00:14:26,141 --> 00:14:30,257
and not to allow the past,
the future, the worries,

207
00:14:30,502 --> 00:14:33,084
to pull you away.

208
00:14:33,254 --> 00:14:34,721
You are solid.

209
00:14:34,903 --> 00:14:39,673
You are solidly established
in the present moment.

210
00:14:40,535 --> 00:14:46,511
Solidity is a part of...

211
00:14:48,467 --> 00:14:56,116
is a very important element of happiness.

212
00:14:56,707 --> 00:15:02,318
The third pebble represents peace, calm.

213
00:15:04,092 --> 00:15:08,391
Breathing in, I see myself as still water,

214
00:15:10,665 --> 00:15:14,272
peaceful, reflecting things as they are,

215
00:15:14,433 --> 00:15:16,711
not distorting.

216
00:15:16,960 --> 00:15:19,054
And if you are peaceful,

217
00:15:19,238 --> 00:15:22,433
not disturbed by anger and fear,

218
00:15:23,759 --> 00:15:26,320
then you are beautiful.

219
00:15:27,919 --> 00:15:30,393
That is what makes you happy,

220
00:15:30,511 --> 00:15:34,385
and that is what you offer
to the person you love.

221
00:15:35,170 --> 00:15:37,038
If you are not peaceful,

222
00:15:37,148 --> 00:15:40,437
you don't have much to offer him or her.

223
00:15:41,005 --> 00:15:44,120
Peace is possible with the practice
of mindful breathing,

224
00:15:44,510 --> 00:15:46,455
mindful walking,

225
00:15:46,854 --> 00:15:51,786
mindful embracing our sorrow, our fear.

226
00:15:52,302 --> 00:15:54,465
Peace is possible.

227
00:15:55,410 --> 00:15:58,086
And then the last pebble is freedom.

228
00:15:58,271 --> 00:16:01,655
'Breathing in, I see myself as space,

229
00:16:02,491 --> 00:16:05,351
breathing out, I feel free.'

230
00:16:05,508 --> 00:16:10,478
The moon is beautiful
because she has a lot of space around her.

231
00:16:12,619 --> 00:16:15,594
There will be a full moon in a few days.

232
00:16:16,239 --> 00:16:21,592
And we can practice
contemplating the moon together.

233
00:16:22,464 --> 00:16:27,495
So if we are free from worries,
fear, and anger,

234
00:16:27,779 --> 00:16:30,560
we are beautiful. We are happy.

235
00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,131
We are truly beautiful.

236
00:16:33,797 --> 00:16:35,893
And when you look at a person,

237
00:16:36,062 --> 00:16:39,551
if you see that person has freshness,

238
00:16:39,800 --> 00:16:43,387
has solidity, has freedom,

239
00:16:44,346 --> 00:16:46,791
you see real beauty.

240
00:16:47,936 --> 00:16:52,026
A person like that
does not need cosmetics.

241
00:16:52,199 --> 00:16:56,311
A person like that does not need
plastic surgery.

242
00:16:58,823 --> 00:17:02,593
And people like to come
and sit close to that person.

243
00:17:04,831 --> 00:17:10,989
If you have that kind of peace in you,

244
00:17:12,077 --> 00:17:15,713
that kind of space, freedom in you,

245
00:17:15,877 --> 00:17:18,158
that kind of solidity in you,

246
00:17:18,356 --> 00:17:20,427
you have confidence.

247
00:17:20,637 --> 00:17:26,071
If you don't wear lipsticks, powder

248
00:17:26,478 --> 00:17:30,058
and a good, expensive dress,

249
00:17:30,200 --> 00:17:33,394
you are beautiful anyway.

250
00:17:33,633 --> 00:17:36,756
Confidence comes from that.

251
00:17:38,059 --> 00:17:42,633
That is why the sentence

252
00:17:42,824 --> 00:17:45,656
'Be yourself, be beautiful'

253
00:17:45,951 --> 00:17:49,400
is to encourage people
not to seek beauty from the outside,

254
00:17:50,792 --> 00:17:53,075
not to have a complex

255
00:17:53,626 --> 00:17:58,280
and to be yourself
as a child of the Earth.

256
00:17:58,587 --> 00:18:00,960
Then you have true beauty.

257
00:18:01,485 --> 00:18:03,380
(Bell)

258
00:18:05,937 --> 00:18:12,441
(Bell)