1 00:00:01,009 --> 00:00:03,968 [Bell] 2 00:00:03,968 --> 00:00:07,522 Good morning, dear community, 3 00:00:07,851 --> 00:00:12,647 we are August the 10th in the year 2023, 4 00:00:13,567 --> 00:00:19,695 and we are celebrating, savoring the last day of our Wake Up retreat, 5 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:23,202 "Love in Action", here in the Upper Hamlet, 6 00:00:24,212 --> 00:00:27,903 in the Still Water meditation hall. 7 00:00:32,837 --> 00:00:35,687 I'm having an interesting moment sitting here. 8 00:00:40,379 --> 00:00:46,687 When we first started creating youth retreats, about 15 years ago, 9 00:00:47,653 --> 00:00:51,750 it was a real challenge to try and find enough young people 10 00:00:51,765 --> 00:00:53,504 to have a retreat. 11 00:00:55,020 --> 00:00:59,036 At the first there were forty, then the next year there was like 65, 12 00:00:59,552 --> 00:01:02,619 and then I remember the year we hit 100, 13 00:01:03,253 --> 00:01:06,255 and we were so excited that we had 100 registrations! 14 00:01:06,636 --> 00:01:10,336 And we went to report to Thay. This must have been around 2010. 15 00:01:11,153 --> 00:01:14,604 Thay, there's a hundred young people in Europe 16 00:01:14,870 --> 00:01:17,272 that want to learn about mindfulness. 17 00:01:17,854 --> 00:01:20,086 Can you believe it ? 18 00:01:20,636 --> 00:01:23,354 And he was like - well done! 19 00:01:25,154 --> 00:01:29,787 And then, we started to create the Wake Up movement. 20 00:01:30,136 --> 00:01:32,722 And I said (to Thay) it's a little bit overwhelming! 21 00:01:33,153 --> 00:01:36,070 And he said, and his eyes lit up with sparkles. 22 00:01:36,503 --> 00:01:39,337 Excellent, it should feel overwhelming!" 23 00:01:41,758 --> 00:01:44,816 And then I'm sitting here and I don't know how many hundreds 24 00:01:44,916 --> 00:01:48,015 of you there are, but it feels a little overwhelming. 25 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:53,482 So I guess Thay's smiling with a sparkle in his eyes. 26 00:01:54,031 --> 00:01:57,331 And be careful what you wish for, because it may come true. 27 00:02:01,666 --> 00:02:05,498 I hope that's going to make it easier, but hey, I think speaking in front of 28 00:02:07,297 --> 00:02:08,833 spiritual friends 29 00:02:10,732 --> 00:02:14,899 is both challenging and wonderful. Because on the one hand 30 00:02:15,282 --> 00:02:19,166 I feel I want to share my heart with you all, 31 00:02:19,983 --> 00:02:24,248 and on the other, of course, I have the same feeling that we all do, 32 00:02:24,699 --> 00:02:28,666 of whether I can be enough in this moment. 33 00:02:30,248 --> 00:02:35,183 But I will share from my, my joy my experience and my practice 34 00:02:35,682 --> 00:02:39,665 and that is my best, so, we will see. 35 00:02:42,663 --> 00:02:45,316 We have some little flowers here thank you, thank you. 36 00:02:45,387 --> 00:02:47,070 Emotional support flowers. 37 00:02:47,070 --> 00:02:51,512 We also have an emotional support cello, that I might need to call on. 38 00:02:54,117 --> 00:02:58,634 I was 21 when I first came to Plum Village. 39 00:02:59,269 --> 00:03:05,883 And I was one of the people who as soon as there was 40 00:03:05,926 --> 00:03:08,413 a chance to receive the five mindfulness trainings, 41 00:03:08,450 --> 00:03:09,880 I wanted to do it. 42 00:03:09,953 --> 00:03:12,061 And I was here for three weeks that summer. 43 00:03:12,233 --> 00:03:14,423 And I was also one of the people who was like 44 00:03:14,451 --> 00:03:15,881 I'll wait until the last week. 45 00:03:16,597 --> 00:03:18,982 So I know some of us have been here through the summer 46 00:03:19,364 --> 00:03:21,630 and have received the five mindfulness trainings 47 00:03:21,913 --> 00:03:24,681 this morning, and some of us are here for the first time 48 00:03:25,014 --> 00:03:27,149 and we also made that commitment 49 00:03:27,681 --> 00:03:31,530 and I have to say, getting on the train in Saint-Foye, 50 00:03:32,263 --> 00:03:34,547 with the five mindfulness trainings, 51 00:03:35,664 --> 00:03:37,914 kinda in my pockets, in my back pack 52 00:03:39,648 --> 00:03:42,864 my life was different. It just was! 53 00:03:43,830 --> 00:03:50,197 I felt that I had a path. I felt that I knew what was important to me. 54 00:03:51,331 --> 00:04:01,131 I felt that what the experience was that I can't fall that far anymore. 55 00:04:02,481 --> 00:04:07,998 It felt like the mindfulness trainings were a safety net or something. 56 00:04:08,515 --> 00:04:14,448 Like, I'm held in their embrace. That has been my experience. 57 00:04:15,714 --> 00:04:20,131 And although, I was sharing with my dharma discussion family, 58 00:04:20,515 --> 00:04:23,981 the path of the five mindfulness trainings is not exactly 59 00:04:24,315 --> 00:04:26,432 like a straight highway. 60 00:04:27,065 --> 00:04:33,298 Its more like this, and that has definitely been my experience. 61 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:40,948 That it has been an adventure, an experiment, a work in progress 62 00:04:41,798 --> 00:04:47,747 a challenge and also a training, really a training. 63 00:04:48,548 --> 00:04:51,764 And as many of us know whatever kind of training we do, we learn 64 00:04:52,046 --> 00:04:53,680 by making mistakes. 65 00:04:54,214 --> 00:04:55,864 And by trying things out, 66 00:04:56,214 --> 00:05:01,130 and by realizing ... oops, that was not in alignment or 67 00:05:01,398 --> 00:05:04,146 I have strayed far off my path at this point 68 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:07,847 But it was wonderful and has been wonderful to 69 00:05:08,099 --> 00:05:10,396 feel that they are part of my life 70 00:05:10,764 --> 00:05:14,147 and I don't know if your facilitators shared with you 71 00:05:14,464 --> 00:05:18,215 but the dharma name we get with our five mindfulness trainings 72 00:05:18,715 --> 00:05:22,381 is the dharma name for your life. 73 00:05:22,664 --> 00:05:26,913 So even if you become monastics your monastic name is not as important 74 00:05:27,280 --> 00:05:29,680 as your five mindfulness trainings name. 75 00:05:30,215 --> 00:05:34,781 because we are kind of born into our spiritual path with this practice 76 00:05:35,097 --> 00:05:37,181 and with this training. 77 00:05:39,065 --> 00:05:42,531 And so this morning, definitely more than a hundred of us, 78 00:05:42,813 --> 00:05:46,198 maybe more than a hundred and fifty possibly closer to two hundred of us 79 00:05:46,580 --> 00:05:48,513 across the different hamlets. 80 00:05:48,797 --> 00:05:54,880 made a passionate, wholehearted commitment to take the insight 81 00:05:55,497 --> 00:05:58,164 and practises of the five mindfulness trainings 82 00:05:58,881 --> 00:06:00,514 into our lives 83 00:06:01,814 --> 00:06:05,463 and so when we get on the train tomorrow, car or however we're getting 84 00:06:05,780 --> 00:06:07,165 home. 85 00:06:07,481 --> 00:06:10,482 these mindfulness trainings will be with us 86 00:06:11,414 --> 00:06:14,814 and even if we didn't make a formal commitment to receive them 87 00:06:16,197 --> 00:06:18,464 please take the piece of paper with you. 88 00:06:21,147 --> 00:06:23,463 They can penetrate our life because in a way they 89 00:06:23,763 --> 00:06:26,698 encapsulate everything we have been experiencing 90 00:06:27,064 --> 00:06:29,447 together in this retreat. 91 00:06:31,514 --> 00:06:32,533 And, 92 00:06:33,397 --> 00:06:40,747 these trainings are, I guess, the kind of Plum Village blueprint for 93 00:06:41,997 --> 00:06:44,281 changing the world. 94 00:06:45,464 --> 00:06:50,347 They are nothing less than our full vision for the kind of 95 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:59,131 loving action that can transform society and the future. 96 00:07:02,931 --> 00:07:06,864 Someone asked me in the earth retreat earlier in this year 97 00:07:07,647 --> 00:07:11,231 I find the Plum Village teachings on the earth and climate so 98 00:07:11,464 --> 00:07:15,047 fascinating, but do you have some kind of manifesto? 99 00:07:15,732 --> 00:07:16,914 or something. 100 00:07:17,347 --> 00:07:20,199 I said yeh - we have the five mindfulness trainings. 101 00:07:20,763 --> 00:07:22,782 And the person was like, no I didn't mean that. 102 00:07:23,248 --> 00:07:25,948 And I was like, oh I mean that. 103 00:07:26,465 --> 00:07:31,714 Because they are applied, they live they are kind of mult-dimensional. 104 00:07:32,615 --> 00:07:37,264 Each one of them is about bringing the energy of awakening and love 105 00:07:38,133 --> 00:07:45,231 directly into the heart of our daily lives, our relationship and our society. 106 00:07:48,731 --> 00:07:53,130 And so, as we take the practice home, maybe you go home and 107 00:07:53,964 --> 00:07:56,980 somebody comes up to you and says, how was your retreat? 108 00:07:57,297 --> 00:08:02,282 And you say ... brilliant, great wonderful. 109 00:08:03,232 --> 00:08:05,997 I'm going to practice meditation every day. 110 00:08:07,982 --> 00:08:10,531 And we may have a tendency to think that 111 00:08:11,881 --> 00:08:16,780 the most easily applicable thing we can take from this retreat 112 00:08:17,463 --> 00:08:20,598 is ten minutes sitting every day. 113 00:08:22,514 --> 00:08:26,031 And we may think, that's going to be my aspiration, my intention 114 00:08:26,364 --> 00:08:29,015 my volition, I'm going to put it all into that. 115 00:08:32,631 --> 00:08:34,848 and that is good, 116 00:08:39,163 --> 00:08:44,698 but I feel we can be more ambitious then that, and I say that because 117 00:08:46,114 --> 00:08:52,197 if we only do 10 minutes of sitting meditation a day, and then the 118 00:08:52,580 --> 00:08:55,197 rest of our life is the same, 119 00:08:56,398 --> 00:08:59,414 the transformation will not be very radical. 120 00:09:00,697 --> 00:09:05,314 But what we can see in each one of these amazingly challenging 121 00:09:05,713 --> 00:09:09,647 and inspiring trainings in the five mindfulness trainings is 122 00:09:09,963 --> 00:09:13,013 that they're about far more than sitting meditation. 123 00:09:14,630 --> 00:09:18,367 In fact, as a relatively active person, 124 00:09:19,281 --> 00:09:23,597 when I left Plum Village I, found it really hard to do sitting meditation 125 00:09:27,081 --> 00:09:31,548 I think it was very rare that I made time. 126 00:09:32,282 --> 00:09:35,980 was able to make time to do sitting meditation in my daily life. 127 00:09:37,081 --> 00:09:39,798 But, my life was utterly transformed. 128 00:09:40,314 --> 00:09:42,730 by the five mindfulness trainings. 129 00:09:43,915 --> 00:09:47,681 One thing I learned, I used to sit on public transport and 130 00:09:48,032 --> 00:09:50,497 be present for the people around me, and present for 131 00:09:50,831 --> 00:09:52,629 my feelings. 132 00:09:53,465 --> 00:09:57,664 And honestly, I think I got more kind of shift in my 133 00:09:58,198 --> 00:10:02,348 perspective and way of living in the way I sat on buses in 134 00:10:03,298 --> 00:10:06,151 Central London then I would have sitting on my cushion. 135 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because I lived like many of us a very 136 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 active and hyperstimulated life. 137 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was juggling a job in journalism and a masters degree. 138 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Like too much input, so if I sat on a cushion all I 139 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 heard or saw was just all the inputs 140 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but when I was in relation with the world, 141 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 following my breathing and being in contact with my body 142 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's like I opened up a whole new way of experiencing life 143 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and that was really transformative for me. 144 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So as we think about what we might want to take away from 145 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this retreat, i'm gonna sort of reflect back to some of the 146 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 things that we've been experiencing 147 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we can see for ourselves which of these elements 148 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 do I want to incorporate in my daily life. 149 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One of the things, perhaps the most important thing 150 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we've been doing on this retreat is resting. 151 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 relaxing 152 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and spending time in silence 153 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 both with people but also with nature 154 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and so we may ask ourselves 155 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in my daily life, am I making time to rest 156 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So resting without screens 157 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 resting wihtout maybe headphones 158 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 am I able to rest and listen to my body 159 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and how might we incorporate a practice of resting in our daily lifes 160 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So those of us that work from home we have a great chance to do relaxation 161 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 after lunch. 162 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Because no one can see you. 163 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, you can find the Plum Village App or your favorite relaxation teachers 164 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and you can listen to a relaxation 165 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and make it a part of your working day. 166 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We can make a commitment to ourselves, a promise to ourselves 167 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to spend more time in our nearest park, or to use 168 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our days off from study or work to actively go out into 169 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 nature. 170 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we can also , like, learning from this experience of being 171 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with people, in nature, is great. 172 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How can we invite our friends and organize to have more time 173 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in nature together. 174 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That is actively cultivating ourselves, our body and mind 175 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our awakening and also our resistance. 176 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What I mostly want to talk to you today 177 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about is, spiritual resistance. 178 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How the choices we make about how we live our life 179 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are a fundamental, deep form, or resistance. 180 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to collective consciousness and to society. 181 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So choosing to rest in our super busy world is a form of resistance 182 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we don't need to consume, we don't need to do, 183 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we're gonna be in the way that is the future we would 184 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like to see. 185 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 more simple, more connected and more whole in ourselves, 186 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not relying on external things. 187 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like consuming and doing to be happy. 188 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Another thing we've been doing on this retreat has been stopping 189 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and looking deeply. We have had a chance to step back 190 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from our life, to step outside 191 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the constant 192 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 pressures that we are under 193 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to kind of take stock to reflect a little bit and to listen 194 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and so the question about how we could take this kind of 195 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 stopping back with us could be 196 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is there a practice that you can take in your life where 197 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 every day has at least one moment of stopping in it. 198 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So when I went back from Plum Village, the something 199 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I chose was drinking a glass of water from the water 200 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 cooler at work. 201 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And my work was in a newsroom 202 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so it was a very overstimulated environment, but I wanted to 203 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 keep this connection to Plum Village into my spiritual life 204 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and the spiritual dimension of my being because being in a - 205 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was in the politics department of the newsroom - 206 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so its probably like the least, a very not spiritual place. 207 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But I was determined, I was there for ethical reasons because 208 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that ethical news was possible 209 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thats another story. 210 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So I chose that the moment that I drank water was the moment 211 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when I would be deeply into touch with my spiritual life 212 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I recited the poem that we have here in plum village 213 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for drinking water, many of us 214 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 know this poem, but if we are here for the first time 215 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you might have just seen it near a water tap somewhere 216 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this poem goes like this 217 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now, with the collective consciousness I don't have 218 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the first word. 219 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Water, thank you. 220 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 My brain is a social brain. 221 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Water comes from high mountain sources, 222 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 water runs deep in the earth 223 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 miraculously water comes to us and sustains all life. 224 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 My gratitude is filled to the brim. 225 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was working in the newsroom in Spring 2003 226 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was a peace activist and it was at the outbreak of the Iraq war 227 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And every time I went to the water cooler, I recited this poem. 228 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There were screens all around me that had a live screen from the war 229 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 zone. And this was my act of resistance. This was my resolve 230 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 my heart alive, to keep my hear open and to stay in touch with 231 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the beauty and wonder of life 232 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so that I could see clearly the destruction and injustice of war. 233 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It is very interesting to practice mindfulness in the workplace 234 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so I invite you to try it out. 235 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You could choose drinking water, you could choose maybe if you go 236 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to a place of work or study, you could choose some part of 237 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the distance when you are transitioning from your home life 238 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to go int work, you can take 200 meteres, and you can say 239 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to yourself, I will walk as a free person, as my whole 240 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 self including my spiritual aspect from this lamppost 241 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to that pedestrian crossing and you make a resolve, 242 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I will do this. 243 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So this was another thing I did. 244 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Across the center of London 245 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I had my anti-war umbrella. In London it always rains 246 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 except recently but that's a different story. 247 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Sorry. No diversion. 248 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I had my peace umbrella, in London everywhere. Everyone about 15 years 249 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ago still wore black in the city and had black umbrellas, 250 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so my umbrellas was white and it had the words peace that I 251 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 had stencilled on to it. 252 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I got lots of reactions as I would walk through the city 253 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on my way to the newsroom, but that was my almost resistance. 254 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And when I can to a certain place near a cathedral, I chose a stretch 255 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that was quite nice, right in the heart of the city and I said 256 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I will walk as a free person, free from my anger about the war 257 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 free from my fear about the days work ahead, 258 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 free from the fights, I will walk as a free human being on this 259 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 beautiful planet earth and I did this for 200 meters 260 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and these were delicious 200 meters, and now whenever I 261 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 think of London, my heart goes right back to this particular stretch 262 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and whenever I have a chance to go there, I like to revisit 263 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 my corner of these few hundred yards, that become like a 264 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 deep refuge for me because when we make 265 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a commitment to do that what's amazing is 266 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our whole body remembers the feeling, our whole 267 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 body remembers, I feel peaceful and free here 268 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so even if my mind is really stressed, about 269 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what was happening or about what I need to do 270 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that step up onto the pavement those two steps through this 271 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 gate, the step to the right with the two trees, 272 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 all the signals where, you are peaceful, you are fee 273 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you are a free person. 274 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So this is another way that we can take the practice 275 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 home, that we can, 276 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 take something as simple as walking to be an act of 277 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 resistence and an act of freedom right in the heart 278 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of our daily life. 279 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was walking in the rush hour the people were often 280 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 overtaking me, because I had a certain pace. 281 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It wasn't as slow as slow walking but there was a certain pace 282 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I found could tasted free to me. And everyone was like 283 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 overtaking me. 284 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And literally, each step felt like an act of resistance. 285 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't agree with the direction that my society is going in and 286 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I will express my resistance with my body, with each step. 287 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I reclaimed my freedom 288 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from this rat race, from this collective consciousness. 289 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Another thing we have learned to do on this retreat is to be 290 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 present with discomfort, with discomfort in the body, 291 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 discomfort in our feelings, discomfort in the mind. 292 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And 293 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think these things are changing now but at least this was not 294 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 something that I had a chance to learn at school, it was only 295 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 something I had a chance to learn at age 21 when I came 296 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to Plum Village. 297 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Many of you 298 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 have a lot of emotional maturity. I feel that I'm the kind of - 299 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm a millenial and I know that many of us here 300 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are Gen Z - so we're possibly slightly different generations. 301 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But it's wonderful to see that the emotional intelligence is there 302 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the young generation. That we are finding ways to understand 303 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the landscape of our emotions. 304 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we hope that over the last few days, we've learned something 305 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 really tangible, felt ways that we can be with a painful feeling 306 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when it comes up. 307 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We've been learning how to name it, or even beyond naming 308 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how to feel it, in the body, 309 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how it might effect our breathing. 310 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our breathing becomes more tense, or shorter or more jagged. 311 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our jaw becomes tighter, and we've been learning how to encounter 312 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and accompany and embrace unconditionally, challenging and 313 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 uncomfortable feelings that come up. 314 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, 315 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 just that this is a really great skill to have. 316 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I feel that as a human being when we can be with and master some 317 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the most painful feelings that we have, it's honestly, close to a 318 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 superpower, kind of. It allows us to have agency, to have freedom 319 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to have a way out, of some really difficult situations that we will 320 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be encountering in our life. 321 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To be able to feel the feel, feel the emotions and the painful feelings 322 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but, not be overwhelmed by them. 323 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Because we have an energy of mindfulness, we hold on to 324 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our breathing, we hold onto our felt sense of our physical body. 325 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Something as simple as feeling our hands, or feeling our toes. 326 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We find a way to be and breathe through difficult feelings. 327 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And what we've found on this retreat I'm thinking, I'm sure in every 328 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 dharma sharing circle group, is that when we can be with a 329 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 difficult feeling, it allows us to be authentic. We can be real. 330 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We can share our whole self because we're not afraid of it 331 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we've been able to speak our truth in our dharma sharing 332 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 circle, and we've been training how to listen to other people's uncomfortable 333 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 feelings and to accompany and offer that spiritual friendship and support. 334 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this also a kind of superpower. 335 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To be able to show up for our friends 336 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 without fear, but with a real strong, and loving presence. 337 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that we are also taking home with us tomorrow. 338 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we are with our friends and when they are having a difficult 339 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 moment, we know how to come back to our breathing, we know how 340 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to feel the reflection of their suffering in our own body. 341 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Take care of it there and be with them, not to change it in any way 342 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but to be not alone. 343 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We've been learning how to be together, even in suffering. 344 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this is so important for our generation, because we know that 345 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the path ahead will be challenging for us. So learning how to suffer is 346 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a really important skill and training. 347 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this brings us to something really important, which is, something 348 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that Br. Phap Huu touched on in the first talk, that mindfulness is not 349 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 just to make us feel better. 350 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Many of us may have come to mindfulness through some kind 351 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of wellbeing program or because someone said you can take care 352 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of your mental health with mindfulness so please practice 353 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 mindfulness to be well. 354 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And there are some offerings of mindfulness that only go that 355 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 far. But in deep mindfulness, 356 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 authentic mindfulness, original mindfulness, real mindfulness, 357 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know - whatever this thing is that we do here, that 358 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 has ancient roots, more than 2,000 years old, in our kind of 359 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 mindfulness, we don't just practice mindfulness to feel well. 360 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We practice mindfulness to understand our suffering and 361 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to find a way out, for ourselves, for our loved ones, and for our 362 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 society. So deep in the DNA of our kind of mindfulness, is a kind 363 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of radical transformation. 364 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A way out, changing things. 365 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Bell] 366 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We are leaving this retreat with a spiritual path. 367 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Path. 368 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And it has something to do with suffering and it has something to 369 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 do with happiness. 370 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Suffering , illbeing, 371 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Happiness, illbeing 372 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We're learning how to handle painful feelings and suffering 373 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we have been very actively musically, joyfully, learning how to 374 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 generate happiness. These are two really important skills. 375 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Sometimes we may think that happiness only comes from 376 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 outside. And we may sort of outsource our happiness ... 377 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 oh you know because the conditions are not enough, I can't be happy. 378 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So we kind of give up our agency, give up our freedome to be happy 379 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 by making it someone else or something else's responsibility. 380 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And here we reclaim our power, and we say that it is possible to learn to train ~ 381 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to create a happy moment for ourself and for the people around us. 382 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In Buddhism we are not afraid of suffering. We're ready to name it. 383 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To call it out, to look at it head on. 384 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I think that on this retreat many of you are also 385 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 deeply aware and awake to suffering in the world. 386 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 One sister reflected to me 387 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 sometimes it might be that in the collective consciousness 388 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 right now, 389 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we think that we have the right to suffering 390 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we have the right to suffering 391 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because the situation is so bad 392 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in every aspect. 393 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But we don't think we have the right to be happy. 394 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's quite interesting - think about that for a moment. 395 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We allow ourselves to suffer but we don't allow ourselves to 396 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be happy. 397 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's a bit of a koan for us. Maybe its' not true. 398 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But we can investigate that a little bit, why we might 399 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 think it is. And perhaps it has something to do 400 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with the collective consciousness that surrounds us and we'll go into 401 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that in a little bit. 402 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our teacher said that learning how to suffer is an art and a training and 403 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 yesterday in the Q&A there was a really interesting question 404 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think it was the second question about on the one hand we know that 405 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we are enough, and we alrady are what we want to become 406 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we can feel complete and whole 407 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but sometimes with the energy of mindfulness or professional settings 408 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we become aware that we are lacking in some areas. 409 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we want to train or to cultivate 410 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I really appreciated this question 411 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because both are true. There is a kind of energy in mindfulness. 412 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that when we wake up to for example our habits 413 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or the thoughts and feelings that are coming up in us 414 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we may want right away to do something, to change 415 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the situation, there's a kind of dynamism. On the one 416 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 hand we accept it totally on the other hand we see 417 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the possibility for change. 418 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 things are impermanent - we can effect things. 419 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So actually in Buddhism, the spirit of training, cultivating 420 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is really, really important, and i think that the one skill 421 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that I've really got better at in the monastery because 422 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I was the nearer of the four is how to suffer. 423 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And the immediate result of learning how to suffer 424 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that you are also actually directly learning how to be happy 425 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because for me the obstacle for my happiness was my suffering 426 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and the compost in my suffering has given me more joy. 427 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But it's really interesting, because it's not that my suffering has 428 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 neccesarily gone away, 429 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But that I've learned to be with it differently. 430 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this is something our teacher said, to be aware of the misconception 431 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that we somehow might need to take our suffering out of us 432 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 put it down or take it out that I've learned that the way 433 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I can be with it, because my suffering is kind of real 434 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in some sense, because it's felt, how can I be with it. 435 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And ye, for me what I've learned is that my, 436 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 my suffering is not something kind of fixed, it's a bit more like 437 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a river. And this is really interesting to kind of unpack a little bit. 438 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So when we talk about taking care of our suffering. The mind is an 439 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 embodied mind. So we're taking care of our mind and we're taking 440 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 care of our body at the same time. 441 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They're not two different things. 442 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is really important. 443 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How we are living in our body, how we are taking care of body 444 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how we're eating, acting, consuming 445 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 has a direct link also to our suffering. 446 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, our suffering may kind of reflect, reflect the collective, 447 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this is what I have kind of discovered. 448 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That, my suffering has quite a bit to do with the suffering 449 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of my family. 450 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 LIke many of us I have a strong seed of despair 451 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I also have another one of fear and anxiety. 452 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I have another one that's a little more like sorrow, or 453 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 melancholy. 454 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, when I've learned how to suffer with them, I've learned not to 455 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 see them as mine alone. 456 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But to see them as something that belongs to a river of 457 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ancestors. And so when I'm taking care of it, I'm taking care of it 458 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on behalf of my father, his father, and grandfather and grandmother, 459 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and other grandfather, and other grandmother. 460 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So I would like to give you this image of our emotions being this 461 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 river, kind of being fed by different inputs, so that the lineage that 462 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 comes from our ancestors and somewhat in the body, and 463 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so from our childhood and our nurturing, and there are also 464 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the inputs from our society. 465 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 From kind of collective consciousness. 466 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And our way of consuming. 467 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So one of the interesting things about this week is that 468 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we have consumed a differend kind of consciousness. 469 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I think the kind of screen consumption, has probably 470 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 gone down by like 90%. 471 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We have been with a lot of non-violence, a lot of compassion 472 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and good will. 473 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A lot of presence rather than distraction. 474 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We've had healthy good - very particular kinds of the day 475 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I don't know if this is normal for you to have three healthy 476 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 regular meals may be very new for our body and 477 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our body may be feeling good aobut it. 478 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 WE've had a different kind of experience about our own 479 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 consciousness, because our own good seeds, have been 480 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 triggered, while we've been here they've been kind of activated. 481 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Each of us, our seed of compassion our seed of stillness, our seed of joy 482 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in different ways. 483 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So what we have been kind of immersing ourselves in 484 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is what Thay calls, community 485 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of resistence. 486 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 WE have given ourselves the chance to experience something difference 487 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this week, and to see how it feels. 488 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And all the insight that we've had about our own, suffering 489 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our other's suffering, our families 490 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 suffering, about different decisions and choices, we have to make, is 491 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because we have given our consciousness, a really deep 492 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 kind of bath, in a different environment. 493 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So to recap something we were learning this week, we were learning 494 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about the different kinds of fuel that are feeding the river of our body and mind. 495 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, the fuel has something to do with how we feel, so 496 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we learned about four kinds -food and drink (we used to call 497 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it edible foods) and i can't write the word edible on the board 498 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so I'll just say food and drink. 499 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Sense impressions - 500 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So the screens and the music but also like the noise of the city 501 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we give ourselves a break from that. 502 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The fourth one (sic) my volition or intention 503 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we've been exposed to a different kind of volition and intention this 504 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 week an intention to live differently to build a different future, to 505 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be with each other in a different way. 506 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this other one that I am talking about now is consciousnness. 507 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 exposing ourselves to a different consciousness. 508 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So the inputs this week have been different, and that's 509 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 why our feeling now is different. 510 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is your power and this is your freedom. 511 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we go home from this retreat, you are the master 512 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you can choose how you will consume 513 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thse different things, how you will guard yourself, how you will 514 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 protect yourself. 515 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How you will resist. 516 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We want society to go in a different direction, and 517 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 all ours choices around these things are a chance to resist 518 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and in our own life to embody the different directions - to claim 519 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our freedom. 520 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And it takes training, right. We have had it surrounded. 521 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And going out from this retreat we will be encountering a really 522 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 good intention, and then the absolute reality. 523 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of our habit, how we usuallY 524 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 spend our evenings, how we usually spend our mornings. 525 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How we spend our free time. 526 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So there is some organizing going onhere. 527 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How could we make commitments to organize our life so we are 528 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 eating in a different way, so we're spending our time 529 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 differently. 530 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we encounter, like for example in our, many of us this week 531 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we've touched a deep fear, inside or a deap anger and one piece 532 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of the Buddhist understanding of consciousness, that we want 533 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to give you, is that consciousness is both individual and collective. 534 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When you feel angry, 535 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we name our anger, we allow our anger to be there, embrace 536 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that feeling of anger, 537 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we then have a chance to ask ourselves the question 538 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and in what way is this anger not only mine? 539 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So to not identify with our anger, to not like 540 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 put ourselves in a box 541 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and say I'm angry, I'm angry because of this, and that 542 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but to see, wow, my anger at the fossil fuel companies 543 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is a generational, societal, collective anger. My anger at inequity and 544 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 racial injustice is a collective anger. 545 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we allow ourselves to recognize 546 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that our consciosness, also belongs 547 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the collective consciosness. 548 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our fear and anxiety for our future also its strong in the collective. 549 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that is why it is strong in us. 550 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now what is interesting about this is that with the energy of mindfulness 551 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because of the deep interbeing, between our consciousness and 552 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the collective, that is exactly where your power lies. 553 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That is where we have agency. 554 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We belong to a collective. We are intrinsic to the collective and when 555 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we transform ourselves we transform the collective. 556 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is one way we can apply the insight of interbeing. 557 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The Insight of Interbeing 558 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our grief with the destruction of the earth and cultures 559 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is also the grief of the earth herself. That is why it 560 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 feels so big. 561 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we are a part of that 562 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That we don't need to hold it in. 563 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 identify with it, and kind of imprison ourselves 564 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 within it, saying me I'm someone,I am angry 565 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I am in grief and in despair. 566 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we've done quite some work with climate 567 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 leaders -I'm an activist and we host retreats 568 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for climate leaders, and 569 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we hosted one recently near Vancouver in Canada 570 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, it was very interesting because it was the first time 571 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I realized that climate despair has become a thing 572 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thata people were identifying with 573 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I realized that there was a story that went with it, 574 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and that it was really hard, people were finding it hard 575 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to see that their despair was impermanent and ever changing 576 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and interrelational 577 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so I'm a student of despair in practice, and I've realized 578 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that when I am learning to suffer with my despair 579 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it's been really important for me not to identify with it. 580 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but to recognize it as a seed that has been transmitted to 581 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 me and activated by my environment. 582 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And so I trained to allow my despair 583 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to like, evolve a little bit, to have 584 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 different threads to it. To be something fluid, something 585 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 made of non-despair elements. 586 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Something made of multiple parts, 587 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this can be - even our despair inter-is, it's not a fixed thing 588 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I've really learned that it has not helped me when I have 589 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 identified too much with my despair. 590 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Another thing that might belong to the collective consciousnes 591 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that might - any of us might feel, is like an energy of 592 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 restlessness, and kind of craving. 593 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But this is very important to know 594 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 if we come to do sitting meditation and we sit down and we feel 595 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the restlessness in our body 596 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and like urges and impulses 597 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 craving in our feelings and body 598 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this is also the result 599 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of our capitalist, consumerist society 600 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you are not enough, because you need to consume more. 601 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we've kind of been automated and trained - all of these inputs 602 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are telling us that we need more to be happy. 603 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So when in this retreat, we are sitting in stillness, not reaching 604 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for the phone, not reaching to eat or drink something 605 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that is an act of resistance. 606 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we go home, we can do the same, we can take time 607 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 maybe on the journey home how can I simplify my life. 608 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We've lived so simply this week. We did not need much to be 609 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 happy. The presence of people was a condition of happiness. 610 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Well hopefully for most of us, most of the time. 611 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And hopefully the present of the forest and the trees. 612 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for quite moments, was a condition of happiness. 613 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But when we can be with our friends in a simple way 614 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we don't need a lot to be happy. 615 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Sister Hero has a good insight around the question of striving 616 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and optimizing, kind of not-enoughness. 617 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And we feel like society is telling us 618 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the collective consciousness is telling us 619 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you need to develop yourself more in order to contribute. 620 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you need to have these skills, this and this diploma, these qualifications 621 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, you need to be productive. 622 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You need to be efficient. 623 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We've created all of these systems a kind of this crazy society 624 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 all of these screens, these e-mails and we have to learn to be 625 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 efficient, productive, Siste rHero has this questions. 626 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we feel that pressure, 627 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that society is asking us to optimize but for whose benefit. 628 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To give up our time, our energy, 629 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Wwe may end up like losing our life, like literally spending our 630 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 time to create a skill for a specific economic process, but we may not 631 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 be living our life in the process. 632 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We may lose our freedom, our contact with nature, 633 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our time with friends, our ease with our body, 634 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 With the energy of mindfulness we have a chance to stop 635 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to look deeply and to deeply reflect on our questions. 636 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 What I'm doing with my time, and energy - is it meaningful for me. 637 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Who benefits? 638 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Like every hour counts. Our livelihood is important. 639 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and how we spend our time. 640 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Who we're with. 641 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The collective consciousness, we expose ourselves to. 642 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There was one day in the newsroom when after drinking my glass of water 643 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I came back round towards my desk 644 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and 645 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 my colleagues were cursing and arguing 646 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and [booging] someone else 647 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and 648 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 being very aggressive about the next program. 649 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I just suddenly realized I'm in a toxic atmosphere. 650 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And it was literally like that I'd probably been there like 651 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 18 months by then, drinking my water, 652 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I just suddenly was - what am I doing to myself. 653 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what am I doing to myself. 654 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Practicing mindfulness in the workplace is really important. 655 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because you can wake up and you can see 656 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 honestly, I swear that my path out of the newsroom 657 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 began in that split second. 658 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 when I woke up to reality 659 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of my environment. 660 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I'm on the sixth floor of this gigantic building in Westminster 661 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in London and I'm wasting my life. 662 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That was quite a punch line. I didn't mean it. Okay. 663 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The one thing I wanted to say about the path of 664 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the five mindfulness trainings 665 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we heard it this morning, we read it in the text, they all begin with this 666 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 really powerful phrase. Aware of the suffering caused by 667 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we wake up to like what is actually going on 668 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and what is wrong with what is going on, then immediately 669 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there is a release of energy and intention or volition - I want to 670 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 do something about this. I vow to change my choices, my 671 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 situation. 672 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We will now enjoy the sound of a bell. 673 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Bell] 674 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we wake up we realize that something is 675 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 suffering and then we want to understand the roots of that suffering. 676 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Why has it come to be? 677 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In simple ways and in deep ways. 678 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If I 679 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 am watching something late at night and I am not able to 680 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 resist this automatic play on the next episode and I am 681 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 still watching something at three in the morning 682 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and I have a headache the next day, awareness of suffering 683 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the path that led to suffering 684 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is very clear. 685 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's really good to be mindful. 686 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maybe we should have a pop-up on certain apps and things so that 687 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we have a certain awakening in the moment, so we know 688 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 what to change in order to do it differently. 689 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this is the case on the personal level and also 690 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 on the collective level. 691 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our way of consuming may water our seeds of fear and anxiety. 692 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maybe there can be a different way that we read the news. 693 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or we can put a shorter timer on social media. 694 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maybe the choices we make about how we spend our time 695 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 who we spend our time with. Are the people we surround ourselves 696 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with - lifting us up? or pulling us down. 697 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we look deeply into suffering and we see it deeply 698 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 right away we see the path out of suffering. 699 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So we see that there is something we can do to 700 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 make a difference. 701 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We see the cause of suffering and what we can do. 702 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So Thay, he describes it as the path that led to suffering 703 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he called it the path of suffering 704 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and the path of happiness and wellbeing. 705 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Some of you may recognize this as the four noble truths. 706 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So what we are doing here with the five mindfulness trainings 707 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 represent a path that is leading us through and out of suffering. 708 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And so we may ... 709 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A very important point about this 710 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so underline it - you may have realized it already 711 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the function or the purpose, the intention of mindfulness 712 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is not to make an unliveable world 713 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 liveable. 714 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Mindfulness is not to help us survive and unsurvivable situation. 715 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 For me in the newsroom, mindfulness began by helping me stay true 716 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to myself in really difficult days. And really painful moments. 717 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But mindfulness carries a seed of insight in it, until the day when 718 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that mindfulness [says' you;re in a toxic environment, get 719 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 out of here. It didn't say stay in this toxic environment 720 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and breathe. And this is really important because sometimes 721 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 mindfulness is introduced into different sectors to kind of enable 722 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 toxicity, to enable an unsurvivable working environment. 723 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 or an unsurvivable ....well 724 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 even military environment, there Is now mindfulness in the military. 725 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But that's another story. 726 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we practice the whole teaching. 727 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we practice the full} scope of mindfulness 728 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as expressed in the five mindfulness trainings 729 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it carries the seed of a way out in it 730 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for ourselves and [ ] We don't perpetuate unjust 731 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and toxic ways of being. 732 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I need to say that - thank you. 733 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, we may ...how do you say this 734 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When I first came here, I really had this question 735 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how can I contribute to a better wordl 736 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and at the begining my answer was I will transform - [ ]But 737 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I started to understand this question much more 738 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 deeply. How can I 739 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 act to contribute to a better world. 740 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How can I act to contribute to a better world. 741 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If you like we can call this a koan. And in koans 742 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we ___ to investigate our terms. 743 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 How can I act? 744 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Hopefully this week ___ of who we are. 745 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That we are 746 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 inter connected to all that is 747 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we represent a lineage of ancestors 748 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our action now is action that will impact our descendents 749 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and we are deeply affected by our environment. 750 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 collected around us. 751 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Sometimes we can suffer a lot with the question 752 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 if we make the I too small. and we limit ourselves 753 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to this body. 754 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Little me. In fact we are a big me. We are a vast 755 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 interbeing self. 756 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So if we are suffering in this question, we may be caught 757 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in who I am. 758 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And this is also an interesting thing about collective action 759 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from that which we will get to. 760 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 From that but it's very important the word next to it. 761 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Act - how are we understanding action. And the theme of this 762 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 retreat is love in action. 763 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In Buddhism we have a word for action. 764 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and a very clear understanding of it. 765 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We understand it as being threefold. Action has three 766 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 aspects. 767 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You can call it triple-action. 768 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's our thinking, our speaking and our bodily action. 769 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's very interesting that our thoughts are our actions. 770 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our teacher used to say that our thoughts carry our signature. 771 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our thoughts are hatred, resentment anger go out into the world 772 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and carry our signature. 773 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our thoughts of love, tolerance compassion also go out into 774 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the world and carry out signature. 775 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He gave the image of like a kind of candle 776 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and the candle is kind of radiating our thoughts our speech and our action 777 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 just like a candle radiates light and warmth. 778 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Right now in this hall action is happening 779 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we are radiating an energy of peace, of presence, of enquiry 780 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of stillness together. 781 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And outside as well. 782 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We are radiating that energy and just like the candle 783 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 it also receives its own warmth which is what melts the wax 784 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so the wick can burn. It receives its own 785 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 warmth and it is lit by its own light. 786 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So in the same way, we receive like the food of our 787 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thoughts, the food of our speaking and the food of 788 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our bodily action is coming 789 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 back into us. And is creating 790 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 an impact. 791 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Thay said a really interesting thing. He said sometimes we say something 792 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that we didn't mean to say. 793 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maybe it was only partly true. 794 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And quite quickly it might come back to us and we get what we call 795 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the retribution of that and we have to apologize or explain ourselves. 796 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And if the candle represents time maybe that happens quite soon afterwards. 797 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When a particular speech, act came back 798 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And, he said, there may be some acts of thinking, speech or our 799 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 body that come back later. 800 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Like perhaps five, ten, twenty years later. 801 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So its coming back a bit further down the candle. 802 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and with some actions, it will come back after our candle 803 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and this becomes the collective retribution in our society 804 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and for our descendants. 805 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So how we think is important and this is in the first mindfulness 806 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 training 807 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 can we have thoughts of compassion of tolerance, not of fanatiscism 808 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and hatred. How we speak is important. 809 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Can we speak in a way that lifts each other up rather than cuts 810 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 each other down. 811 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And the way we act is very important. 812 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 The strongest kind of actions that we may be taking , may not be the 813 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 ones that we necessarily think are the ones. 814 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So for example, Brother Dao Phang was sharing yesterday, that the 815 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 action of 400, 500 young people walking in peace and freedom on the 816 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 New Hamlet hill, that action 817 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 has gone out into the world. 818 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 No one can take it away. 819 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here is a thought for you. 820 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 A hundred years from now, would you like people in the 821 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 world to be walking fast, stressed chasing after some kind of 822 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 economic illusion. 823 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Or would you like them to be walking in peace and freedom 824 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in nature, listening to the natural world, listening to each other, 825 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 listening to the suffering that is present in themself and on this planet. 826 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And if we want future generations to have this kind of spiritual quality, 827 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this kind of freedom, this way of being - in the future 828 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we need to start patterning it now. Us doing it now together. 829 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in this retreat, is making it immediately more likely that 830 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this will be happening in a hundred years time. 831 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If we go from this retreat and we choose a stretch of our 832 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 daily life where we will walk in peace and freedom, listening 833 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the earth, listening to the suffering of the world. 834 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That immediately we are making it more probably that it will happen 835 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and be available for future generations. 836 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a hundred years from now. It is a very powerful action. 837 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If we lose the capacity the walk in peace and freedom, there is no doubt 838 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that future generations will not have the capacity to walk in 839 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 peace and freedom. 840 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This is the Buddhist understanding of action. What we do and how we 841 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are counts. And this gets really interesting because the kind 842 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of future we want to create we are creating every day. 843 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with our body, with our choices, with our way 844 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of being. 845 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So for example, another kind of bodily action that 846 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is very important is our way of consuming. 847 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Thay had a kind of way of particular analysis of what is going on. 848 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in our economy, society right now. 849 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 He said that we are a culture of consuming that is overconsuming 850 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 consuming too much because we are consuming to cover up 851 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our suffering because we do not know how to suffer. 852 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You can imagine -very easily see all the industries that we have, 853 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to help us cover up our suffering as a society. Because as a society 854 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we don't know how to suffer. 855 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And he said, that the great power of reclaiming our right to be happy 856 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our right to be happy with few conditions, with simple living, 857 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with not consuming much, 858 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is a resistance to that collective culture of consuming that is 859 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 destorying the planet. 860 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If we know how to suffer and how to be happy - we don't need to 861 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 consume as society is pushing us to consume. 862 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Do you see that? It's a really intersting thing, because right off 863 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the way, our own practice of mindfulness, handling our 864 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 own painful feelings, and giving ourselves the right to be happy 865 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 claiming our happiness, reclaiming it, has a direct alternative economic 866 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 vision and impact. So our mindfulness has something to do with economic 867 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 structures that we are living in. 868 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We can resist the culture of consuming if we know how to be happy 869 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 not through consuming but through being with the painful 870 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 feelings. Accompanying them. 871 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Taking care of our time. Finding ways to be with others. To be 872 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with nature. 873 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So according to the Buddhist principles of action, changing ourselves, and 874 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 changing the system, is two sides of the same reality. 875 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There is no system that is outside of the humans that created it. 876 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we as humans can transform ourselves, the system is changing. 877 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that is why we could also say that the five mindfulness trainings 878 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are like a Plum Village vision for a systems change. 879 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And it's very interesting, we don't say we reduce the system to personal change 880 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we don't say that we are not challenging and confronting larger power structures 881 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but we are not diminishing or denying ourselves the agency and freedom that 882 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we do have as awakened humans. 883 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We won't let them take away that agency and freedom. 884 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There's another thing I would like to say. 885 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about action 886 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we want to challenge the system that we live in 887 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the most powerful way we can challenge it, is by bringing 888 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a different energy 889 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to that system. 890 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So we don't use the tools of the system to fight that system 891 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we find ways to step outside of it 892 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and offer a completely different energy and way of being 893 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that's a radical challenge to 894 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a system. That's our spiritual resistance. 895 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So the question for each one of us Is 896 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how are we taking care of the spiritual energy 897 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in our daily life. How are we keeping that flame, 898 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the fire of the bodhiccita of intention in our heart 899 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I want to say freedom is a practice that we will need 900 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to keep alive, each week, 901 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 each day, moving on from this retreat. 902 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And our connection to our own internal kind of spiritual 903 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 dimension throught the energy of mindfulness is what will help us 904 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 keep our freedom from the system we are in and ultimately create 905 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a different kind of future. 906 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Thay when he said these words we create a community of resistance 907 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he understood all the forces at play - he literally had this line 908 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 he said that we to reclaim our sovereignty from the system 909 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 of our own creation. 910 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And he said that we do that by creating communities of 911 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 resistance. Where we create a healthy collective consciosness 912 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 same good, brave, noble, bold intention and aspiration. 913 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 where we are nourishing ourselves body and mind. 914 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So the question for you all, moving forward from this retreat 915 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how will you weave and build your communities of resistance 916 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 around you. Who will your 917 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 allies be? How will you create community? 918 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We can create community in our places of work. 919 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We can make our time of working with other people 920 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 real encounters between human beings. 921 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Some of the quality of listening we have had in our dharma sharing 922 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there is no reason why we can't listen to our colleagues 923 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 like that. Even the difficult ones. 924 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I have experience"! It is possible. 925 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And it's amazingly powerful. 926 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So maybe our workplace can become more community spirited. 927 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Maybe we can be really intentional about who we live with. where we live. 928 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And live with people that go in the direction, help us, resist the mainstream 929 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and go in the direction we want to go in. 930 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 More real, more authentic and that kindof 931 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 embody the world we want to be possible 932 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for future generations. 933 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in our way of consuming 934 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our way of spending our time, our way of acting. 935 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Acting to protect and to save. 936 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 rather than to extract, to exploit. 937 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 destroy. 938 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And what is interesting about our community of resistance 939 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as you've discovered this week because we are not afraid of suffering 940 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 being with suffering as a community 941 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 there;s a kind of mechanism that is happening 942 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that the more we are with suffering the more compassion we generate. 943 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So communities of resistance that are awake to suffering are naturally 944 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 generating compassion. And we heard also 945 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the Q&A yesterday that maybe compassion and non-violence can 946 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 neutralize - have an effect of neutralizing 947 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the struggle and fight 948 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 being with suffering, generating compassion 949 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in the face of suffering - that kind of compassion can be 950 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 very powerful. In Buddhism we speak about compassion being 951 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as fierce as thunder. 952 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It's a powerful energy - the energy of compassion. 953 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And the energy of compassion can create and build. 954 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And the energy when we act and resist and respond to the system 955 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with a different kind of energy 956 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the system has greed in it, the system has craving in it 957 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 hatred, discrimination in it. 958 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We want to create a different kind of energy so that energy of compassion 959 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and non-violence is a powerful alternative. 960 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It is not weak, but it carries within it the possibility for regenerative 961 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 new ways of being. in the ways that Hatred and discrimination can only 962 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 destroy, but compassion can create. 963 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And one time Thay was asked why the monastics don't go on more protests 964 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and he didn't go to more peace conferences 965 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And Thay said, we want to demonstrate that another way of living is possible. 966 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We want to embody and create an alternative way of being. 967 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 That's what you are all tasting and experiencing. 968 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 now. That's a vision that Thay had. 969 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I want hundreds of thousands of young people to experience 970 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 something different. 971 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 To show that another world is possible. 972 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that is very powerful. 973 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It is as powerful, more powerful than tearing down. 974 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We build up again and show that something else 975 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 can be created. 976 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Thay said that we can't change the world if we can't change 977 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 our way of seeing, our way of thinking, our consciousness. 978 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And the shortest way we can say about the right way of seeing and thinking 979 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is the Insight of Interbeing. 980 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 With the Insight of Interbeing we see that 981 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 life is precious, the world is precious, humans are previous, 982 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the planet is precious, we see that the -we are deeply connected to 983 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the earth - and we are deeply connected to the humans around us. 984 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And when we can keep this insight alive, with the five mindfulness trainings 985 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we are cultivating a whole new way of seeing and being in the world. 986 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we see that the earth is not just matter but is 987 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 alive, has given rise to life 988 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is sacred and precious 989 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we cannot have a job or act in a way 990 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that treats the earth only as a resource to be exploited. 991 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And on a societal scale this is what is happening 992 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we're seeing the earth, not as something sacred, not as something 993 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 alive, and that is why it is possible for us to exploit the earth 994 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 as a society we may see humans also as a resource, to be utilitized 995 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for profit for exploitation 996 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and so long as we see humans as a resource rather than ourselves 997 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we may even see ourselves as a resource 998 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 treat our body as an instrument to earn a living and a salary 999 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but we are a wonder of life 1000 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we are a child of the earth our body is also sacred. 1001 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how we take care of our body is so important. 1002 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Any act of seeing our human, bodily dignity also makes possible 1003 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 justice, equity, and a society 1004 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 in which all humans have dignity 1005 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and respect and are treated with respect. 1006 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 There is a deep connection between our way of seeing and understanding 1007 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 about what a human is, what the earth is 1008 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and the kind of society we are creating 1009 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for future generations. 1010 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So in our way of being and acting, moving on from 1011 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 this retreat, please see yourself as this candle, it is not 1012 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 only kind of professional action that is your contribution, your legacy 1013 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to the world, how you are how you live, how you think and 1014 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 how you speak is imprinting is making that possibly in 1015 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 the world for the present moment but also for future 1016 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 generations. 1017 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If we want to live in a world where humans can collaborate 1018 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 with each other, 1019 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we need to learn right now, in our generation to collaboarate 1020 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to be and sit and listen to people who have different views. 1021 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 If we draw a line and reject someone now, that energy, that cancelling 1022 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that rejection, that denial of humanity of the other person is what we are 1023 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 imprinting for future generations. 1024 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Future generations will struggle more to collaborate. 1025 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They won't be able to sit in a room with people they 1026 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 disagree with. 1027 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And if as humans we are going to face the challenges ahead 1028 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we need to do so as a collective as a diverse collective, different 1029 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 view, different cultures, different spiritual traditions. 1030 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that means that we need to be uncomofrtable with uncomfortable 1031 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 feelings. Uncomfortable with being in rooms with people that have different 1032 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 views. And learn to understand, to be curious, to collaborate, to listen. 1033 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that is why one of the most powerful skills we've transmitted to 1034 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 you this week has been the skill of deep listening. 1035 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And in the climate movement this is a training that is most valued 1036 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that we are called on to give in different settings. 1037 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because we cannot solve issues in the current poly crisis 1038 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 unless we can listed to each other and harness collective insight to 1039 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 find a way out. And so even our way of listening is a powerful 1040 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 action that we are imprinting and making possible for future 1041 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 generations. 1042 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so that we can truly have a better world. 1043 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 thank you so much for listening. I have no sense of time. 1044 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I hope that the organizing team are here and ready with any 1045 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 announcements. 1046 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We can enjoy listening to three sounds of the bell. 1047 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Even the bell is an act of spiritual resistance. 1048 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Bell] 1049 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Bell] 1050 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Bell]