(Bell)
Dear Thay, dear Sangha,
how can I trust myself?
Trust is something that we cultivate,
that we should cultivate.
And it is based on our experience.
To trust is to believe, to rely on something.
And we have to rely only on evidence,
on something that is evident.
Suppose you talk about trusting the practice, trusting the Dharma.
Do we trust the Dharma?
Can we count on our practice?
Sometimes you have doubt... about your practice,
about what you learn from the Dharma
But that doubt does not mean that...
It is not exactly something negative.
Because some doubt can help you to get deeper
and to get a more profound understanding
So doubt can be helpful.
Doubt can be a positive thing.
So if there is a doubt we have to breathe and recognize it as it is.
Do not right away consider it to be something negative.
In the Zen tradition we say: 'The greater the doubt, the greater the enlightenment.'
That is the first thing we have to do.
And then we have to learn how to recognise the evidence
and to...establish our trust.
Like the practice of mindful breathing,
someone tries to convince you that mindful breathing is good,
that it can help you a lot.
But you don't have to believe him right away.
You have to put it into practice to see whether it truly can help you.
That is what the Buddha said.
Don't believe right away in something
even if it has been said by a famous teacher,
even if it is written in the holy scripture.
That's what the Buddha said.
When you hear something beautiful you have to learn to put it into practice.
And if it works for you
and if you see that it works for another person,
you can trust, you can believe in it.
And that is the statement of the Buddha in a sutra called 'Kalama Sutra'.
The Buddha was talking to a group of young people of the Kalama Clan.
They asked him what to believe,
because many teachers had visited them.
And all of them said their teachings and practice were the best.
So the Buddha said:
"Don't believe right away in anything even if it is said by a great teacher
or even if it is recorded in the holy scripture."
You have to base it on evidence, like a scientist.
So if you practice mindful breathing
and you persevere in the practice,
you will learn from it
You will find out that the practice of mindful breathing
can help increase your health,
can...
can help you to recognize the conditions of happiness you have,
can help you handle a painful emotion, a painful feeling.
In the beginning, you may not be able to do it right away.
But you really have to try to practice it
and you find out that...the practice works.
And you have trust in the practice.
And when you have trusted the practice, you trust yourself,
because it is you who has done the practice.
And you say: "I am capable of doing that."
When you see a person who suffers practice the fourth mindfulness training.
Say something, do something to help him or her suffer less.
And you try to do it several times.
And one day you see that it works.
So you believe in the practice of the 4th mindfulness training.
And you believe in yourself.
You can do it!
You have the capacity to make one person suffer less.
You have the capacity to make yourself suffer less.
And trust is built in that way: experiencing, practicing.
And we know that in principle
our ancestors have handed down to us many good things, many good seeds.
It is for us to discover these good things and allow them... to manifest.
The seeds of understanding, the seeds of joy,
the seeds of forgiveness, the seeds of compassion
are all in us.
We hear the Buddha say we have these good things in us,
but we have to practice in order to really recognise them as existing.
And sometimes they have manifested in the past.
And if you practice well they will continue to manifest better in the future.
And that is the way to cultivate trust.
(Bell)