(A lotus for you)
Respected Thay, Dear Noble Sangha,
Welcome to Plum Village.
This is our first Mindfulness Day,
of the Spring Retreat, and thank you
for coming together, as a Sangha.
There's a Chinese delegation,
who came by the bus.
Plum Village is not a school, where you
come and you learn, and you get a
degree...no.
We don't come here even to learn Buddhism.
Plum Village is not an ordinary community
where we come and chit-chat,
to get involved in communication,
talking with someone, or looking
for someone to be your friend, to be your lover.
Plum Village is a practice centre.
It's a community of practice where we
devote our energy and time into
the practice according to the Buddha.
Our main practice in Plum Village
is mindfulness.
Mindfulness means you come back to yourself.
You bring your wandering mind
back to the present moment.
Bring your mind back to the body,
and you establish yourself in the
present moment.
At the end of the monastic retreat,
we have 10 lazy days.
Lazy day means there is no schedule
of the practice. So you are on your own.
No one remind you to practice,
no schedule...no community
schedule for you. So you are on your own.
It's a time of examination, whether you
can do it by yourself.
Because a community practice- it depends
on individual practice.
We take refuge in the community.
It means that you are also taking refuge
in each individual practice.
If the Sangha is strong, it means
everybody is strong.
Everybody is (can't catch),
everybody is solid.
Everyone know the way to go
back to oneself.
To be in the present moment.
So it's so clear.
Plum Village is a training place.
Training here is training mindfulness.
To be alive, to be back to oneself.
To be alive, and then to touch life.
So what do we want to be here for?-
as the monastic?
What do you want to be here for,
as an aspirant to become the monastic?
What do you want to be here - as the lay?
You want to be here in order to embody the practice.
To take the concrete practice and then
to find ourselves.
Plum Village is like the mountain that has
a lot of jewels. You need to take it out.
You need to know how to collect
the jewels.
You need sharp eyes, clear eyes.
Plum Village Sangha is like a forest,
where all the trees stand together,
majestically standing together
under the sunlight.
We enter this community,
we enjoy the majestic energy of
the forest, in the morning.
So we don't want to come here
for anything else than that.
That's one sutra that the Buddha spoke about.
It's related to this:
There's a Sutra on
Majjhima Nikaya, it means
The Middle Discourse.
Number 29.
The Buddha spoke about how to be
a monastic.
This discourse was delivered after
Devadatta left the Sangha.
Devadatta, he created a lot of problems.
Devadatta is a cousin of the Buddha.
When he entered the monastic life,
after a while he wanted to become
a Buddha!
He wanted to be a Buddha.
He wanted to become a second Buddha.
He wanted to become the leader
of the Sangha.
So when the Buddha was still alive,
he said, "Dear Buddha,
let you rest. I will take care
of the Sangha. I'll become
you- the leader of the Sangha".
And the Buddha said." Don't mention that,
Devadatta, in the Sangha,
there's beautiful monastics like
Shariputra, Maha Mogallana, Mahakasyapa
they are beautiful people, but I don't
even let them become the leader
of the Sangha.
So don't mention about you."
And he get really upset.
He left the Sangha and he created a lot
of problems.
He divide the Sangha.
He convinced 500 monks to follow him,
and he set up a new Sangha.
This sutra- the Buddha spoke after
that event.
The Buddha said." When a young man,
out of faith, left a lay life,
and become a monastic. They're called 'homeless' ".
Because a monk doesn't have a home.
A monk lives in the forest,
with the community, in the monastery.
So we called all monastics 'are homeless'.
It's not like people who are homeless and
wandering in the town.
It means the people who devote their
energy, their life, their time to practice.
They don't concern themselves about
other things, like material comfort,
or...effective comforts...
like romantic relationships...
We don't come here to look for romance.
Like someone you love, secretly love.
No.
You come here to practice.
When we practice for a while,
we gain something.
You gain comforts (not sure..can't catch)
We...not only gain, but honour..respect...
We become respected by someone,
by lay friends, and we become famous,
renowned. Sometimes they called
you 'a renowned teacher',
become famous like a Dharma Teacher.
Could be a renowned person in the Sangha.
Of course when you practice for a while,
you become a Dharma Teacher.
I could be a renowned person
in the community.
This young man left family life, go forth.
In the language of the Buddha,
called 'go forth', means you go on,
you go higher, further, means you
ordain as a monastic.
You take the life of a monk or
a nun, and that's called 'go forth'
"The reason is that person don't want
to be a victim of birth, old age,
death, sorrow, pain, despair.
That person doesn't want to be a victim of
suffering, (can't catch) of suffering.
He believe in the Sangha,
that is the way to end all the suffering.
He practices dilligently...many years,
and he attain 'gaining'.
He attains honour, he attains renown,
He is pleased with these,
his intention is fulfilled when he enjoys
the gaining. I gain some kind of material
comfort,I come here I have food, I have
room, all that...
He is satisfied with honouring,
respect by other people.
He is also satisfied with his position,
he is renowned.
And he doesn't want to go on.
He doesn't want to practice.
That's good enough for me.
He praised himself, and he disparaged others.
He criticises the other people."
The Buddha say he became intoxicated,
with this gain, honour, renown.
He will grow into negligence, become
negligent and he will live in suffering.
So this is the warning of the Buddha.
After we practice a while,
we think that we have enough.
I become a Dharma Teacher,
or maybe I go out, I build a temple,
I have a lot of money, and that's it.
You stopped practicing, you forget the first
goal entering the Sangha. The most deepest
concern entering the Sangha.
You just stopped right there.
The Buddha made an example, like a person,
looking for heartwood. He goes into the
forest and he found a beautiful giant tree.
He cut the tree into pieces, into logs.
but he doesn't know what is the heartwood.
He only takes trees and branches.
That person who stopped at gaining,
and honouring, and renown, is like taking
the branches and leaves only.
He didn't take the heartwood.
The second kind of person, he doesn't
get satisfied with gaining,
honour, renown, he becomes diligent
and goes on practicing.
He achieves attainment of moral discipline.
Moral discipline. (In Viet)
He really thinks with discipline,
with fine manners, with vinaya, with shila.
He achieves beautifully, radiating the
energy of moral discipline. He is pleased
with it, and his intention is fulfilled.
I have enough.
He said, I'm the best, so I don't want to
practice anymore.
He praises himself and he (can't catch).
The Buddha said he becomes intoxicated
into the gaining, attainment of moral
respect, moral discipline.
He will grow negligently and falls into
negligence and he lives in suffering.
The Buddha says, " This man, this monk,
only gets the outer bark of the tree".
Moral discipline, precepts, shila is only
the outer bark of the tree. Outer bark of
the tree. You know the tree has bark?
You only get that.
You haven't get the heartwood yet.
The heartwood is the strongest part
of the tree.
The third kind of monastic
he does not (get) satisfied with gaining,
honour, renown, even moral disciplines.
He continues to be dilligent in the practice.
He attains...achieves the concentration.
The deep samadhi. Samadhi.
And he is pleased with it.
His intention is fulfilled, he doesn't
want to practice anymore. I am great
samadhi. Sometimes I can fly on the sky.
You know in the sutra, sometimes they
spoke about a monk who can fly in the sky.
They guild.
He stopped practicing.
He(is) bragging about his attainment. He
is satisfied with his attainment of samadhi.
He lauded himself, he praised himself.
He disparaged others.
The Buddha said, he becomes intoxicated
with attainment of concentraton, grows
negligently, fall into negligence,
and he lives in suffering.
You see, samadhi, but if you stopped...
you can fall back to suffering.
If you are satisfied bragging about your
own practice of samadhi, you can fall back
into suffering.
This person only gets the inner bark
of the tree.
So there's 2 barks-the outer bark
and inner bark.
He didn't get the heartwood yet.
The fourth person-
he is not satisfied with concentration,
with great concentration. He is not satisfied
with mindfulness. He is radiating with
light, of mindfulness and concentration,
but he is not satisfied with that.
He becomes dilligent, continue to practice
wholeheartedly, and he achieves the
non-achieve, the vision.
Knowledge and vision.
In Vietnamese it called (in Viet)
He has the knowledge and vision.
He can see things deeper than others.
He is pleased with it, and his intention
is fulfilled. He doesn't want to practice anymore.
So I got the knowledge, I got the insight.
So I don't want to practice anymore.
He enjoys life, get caught in
conversations, sleepy, seeking for pleasure.
He stopped the practice because he is
satisfied of what he believe he can attain
The final.
He praised himself, he disparaged others.
And the Buddha said, "This monk (is) also
falling back into suffering. He only get
the sapwood". Certain place in the
tree you called sap..sap wood...the
softer wood where it's (can't catch) sap.
Sapwood. S-A-P. Sapwood.
Means softer kind of wood.
It's not the heartwood yet.
It helps the tree to grow.
So it's permeated with sap.
The Buddha said, "not yet".
The last person, the last monastic.
He's not satisfied with the knowledge
and vision. He is not satisfied with insight.
He becomes more dilligent in practicing.
He practices wholeheartedly, and he
attains what they called
"perpetual emancipation".
Unshakeable liberation.
Perpetual means unshakeable.
Liberation or emancipation.
The Buddha said, when a person gets this
kind of liberation, he will not fall
back into suffering. He got the heartwood.
So this Discourse tells us that in
the practice, we don't stop.
We don't think that we got it. We've to
continue to do the daily practice. We cannot
stop the practice in our daily life.
When I reflect on this sutra, I see that
we come to Plum Village, we think that
we have enough, we get already enough.
So we just...not really wholeheartedly
in the Sangha practice. We just live our
life and let time go by. We feel that
there is nothing special here.
Nothing interesting here.
But as I said in the beginning,
Plum Village is like a mountain.
It has so many jewels hidden in the
mountain, and we need to discover that.
We need to be wholeheartedly in our daily
practice. We need to have sharp eyes, to
be able to see the jewels.
Especially those who live here for 10 years,
15 years or 20 years.
You will see that if we don't enjoy daily
practice, we fall into that trap of
satisfaction. I have enough.
(can't catch) is nothing special.
Nothing here.
That's why today I would like to share
with you what is the jewels
of Plum Village. We need to know what is
the jewels. We don't just want to come
here to gain some kind of comforts,
to have money, to have food...
to have special food, to have
room, comfortable room. We don't want to
come here to gain material comfort.
Or emotional comfort.
Or to become famous.
To become honourable person.
We want to come here to get the
jewels of the Dharma.
And our Teacher is like a rich man.
He's like a rich...
man who owns so much jewels and we are
the children of our teacher . We live with
him, but we don't receive anything!
We behave like a desperate child.
The first jewel in Plum Village is,
the practice called
"I have arrived, I am home".
So when you want to call the signature,
the seal of Plum Village is,
"I have arrived, I am home".
Means you don't run anymore.
You make one step and you stop your mind.
You stop your body and you stop your mind.
And you enter into the present moment.
You feel connect with Mother Earth, and
that's called
" I have arrived, I am home".
Sometimes we have not arrived yet.
Our mind is still thinking a lot.
We are still looking for something.
We are still searching for something.
We miss the first jewel of Plum Village.
No matter how long we live here,
we don't have the jewel of Plum Village.
I have arrived,
I am home.
No more running.
No more aiming.
No more searching.
Happiness is not at the end of the road.
Happiness is on each step of the way.
Whether we arrived or not.
Whether our mind stops and
feel life or not.
That's important.
Just that is already important.
Means the mind and the body comes together.
And then helps to arrive in the self.
Arrive in present moment, in life.
You get some degree of freedom..
The second seal of Plum Village is
"dwelling happily in the present moment"
So the present moment is our destination.
You know, I begin with the sutra in order
to speak about Plum Village practice.
So the sutra is not important, but
Plum Village practice is important,
because that's why we come here for! Haha.
Some people still don't have faith in
Plum Village practice. They don't have
faith in the teacher. They are still
waiting for moments to go away from
Plum Village. To find something else.
That's why speaking about the jewels of
Plum Village is so important.
Plum Village's seal.
"arrived, home"
We have to realise this.
We have to really experience this.
Because it's the practice of no running.
No aiming.
No searching.
Not even attainment.
You don't look for attainment.
Because each step you feel alive.
You touch life.
Each step you come home.
Mind come back to the body,
and you become whole. And you will be
whole by the present moment.
A lot of nourishing and healing in there.
So you don't need to run.
YouI don't need to even search for
enlightenment, because there is no
enlightenment at the end of the road.
You don't need even to become a Buddha.
Just be yourself.
To be home sweet home.
You don't need to be someone else.
Sometimes we feel like we are nothing.
We are only a human being full of suffering.
So we want to become someone else.
But this practice, "home",
I need to bring my mind back.
I need to bring myself back.
On each step I make. So you feel
Mother Earth when you walk like that.
You are connecting with Mother Earth.
it means that you feel yourself.
So between you and Mother Earth is life,
is energy of mindfulness.
Energy of being alive.
There's a clarity in the mind.
When you feel Mother Earth, you feel
yourself and all anxiety stopped.
All anixety, all worry, all pain
and sorrow stopped.
This is very clear when the Buddha
said, "A young man left home, go forth,
become a monastic, because of one reason.
That he doesn't want to be a victim
of birth, death, old age, sorrow, despair.
He doesn't want to be a victim of his
suffering and despair and stress".
So this can be the way to stop all our
block of suffering, mass of suffering.
The second jewel of Plum Village
practice is dwelling in the present moment.
Happily. In the present moment.
The present moment is our destiny.
So if you don't know where to go-
present moment. If you want to know
whether you have mindfulness or not,
you ask yourself,
'Am I in the present moment"?
In the present moment, everything
becomes alive.
You are radiating with light,
and you see light outside.
Your soul becomes green like grass,
your mind becomes clear like light.
Because you enter the present moment.
There is a formula I like so much,
when I'm talking about arrived home,
a formula called velocity.
Velocity equals distance over time.
This is when you want to arrive at home.
We use this physics formula called
velocity=distance/time.
When distance is here, here means here.
You don't make a step.
Your mind don't run here.
You don't go anywhere, and time is now,
means zero. Over zero. Velocity equals zero.
Means you stopped!
You are free from velocity.
Your mind totally stay still.
Isn't that cool?
Mathematics can cool the Buddha's teaching. (Mathematics can make the teaching cool).
If you want to stop your mind,
Thay says, "stop thinking radio station" (Thay says stop non-stop thinking radio)
If you want to stop your mind-
Here & Now. Arrived.
You see, it's very clear.
Present moment is our destiny.
Present moment is our country.
When no one can occupy.
No one can control that wonderful country
of yours.
When you enter the present moment,
everything becomes so real.
You can hear song of the bird
all the time. Now is the time, the bird is singing
almost all day long. Especially in the
early morning about 6 o' clock, 6.20.
In the present moment, flowers (are )
blooming all the time.
Your body, your mind, green like the
meadows, sparkling with light
in the present moment.
So this is your destination.
You don't need to find happiness because
in the present moment, you have a lot of
happiness.
Of course you don't need money to be happy.
In the present moment, you feel so good.
All is so great.
To be one with sunlight.
Wow, it's so good to see daffodils.
To really enjoy, touch daffodils.
The colour of golden colour.
In the present moment, what we called
the true peace. We need to get this.
This is very precious jewel.
So important dharma seal of Plum Village.
Anybody can do it.
Anybody can enter the present moment.
Dwelling, stay, establish youself
in the present moment.
There will be full of happiness.
Our Teacher has a very famous expression,
" There is no way to happiness,
happiness in the way".
Means you make one step,
you have to feel arrive and home.
You enter the present moment and then you
experience happiness. Because you become
one with the meadow, you feel the warmth
of the sunshine in your body.
That is happiness.
So happiness is at every step.
If we don't have this, at the end there
will be nothing.
Because our mind keeps running.
We don't need to run after happiness,
after peace, after joy, after well-being.
Happiness, peace, joy, well-being
are already available. You experience it.
You taste it.
And that requires, "home, arrive".
Mind stop. No velocity.
So these go together.
True peace.
And the beautiful thing in the present
moment is the silence.
If you are too noisy,
you don't feel much.
Can you believe in the morning,
the song of the bird are calling you.
and you are too noisy!
You are talking a lot, non-stop,
and your mind keep thinking.
thinking, looking of something,
and you really don't know
you missed the morning song of the birds.
So the silence is so important.
The silence inside of the mind.
So if you feel you don't know
what to do, enjoy the silence.
Sometimes we are afraid of silence.
At times you are alone,
and you feel don't know what to do.
You want to look for someone else to talk.
You ruin your silence.
You destroy your awareness.
Your clarity of the mind.
In 10 lazy days I spent time by myself.
My mentee that goes to the hut,
they have their own practice.
And I'm their mentor, I also do by myself.
I hide myself in the forest.
I think I have enough noise already.
Sometimes we live together,
it's too much noise.
When there's too much noise,
we don't feel much (of) present moment.
We don't feel much,
the energy of peace, of joy,
refreshing, healing energy in life.
In the present moment, what you
need is silence.
Silence.
The other thing is,
do one thing at a time.
Don't do multitask.
One thing at a time.
I have a habit of learning.
I want to learn so much.
Sometimes I learn something,
I read something, but I write something.
Because I am afraid of losing them.
I am afraid I don't have enough time.
So I listen to a Dharma talk,
but I am writing something.
You just do one thing at a time,
to really feel the present moment.
You do the garden, and you just do the
garden. You put all your heart into the
garden. In one of the lazy day, I worked in
the rose garden. I put all my heart into
doing the rose garden. I weed the grass,
I cut the grass, I clear away
the weed that occupy the root of the rose.
I trim the rose. So you do one thing at
a time, you stay in the present moment.
That's why our teacher says,
"Just breathe"
"Just walk".
So we walk, and that's it.
We don't think about something.
When we do walking meditation,
(it) doesn't mean you are thinking about
the dharma talk. No, you just walk,
and the insight comes out.
The talk doesn't come from thinking.
The talk comes from the insight.
The experience.
So just walk, just breath, just eat.
Is that simple enough?
And help to clear the mind!
Because the silence is so important.
The clear mind is so important.
In order to have clear mind,
the silence, we need to do one thing
at a time. It helps (us) to concentrate,
to help us concentrate on one thing.
The practice is 'just breathe'.
I like this so much.
"Just breathe", "Just walk"
When we eat, we just eat.
Enjoy, taste. The gift of life.
That's it.
You don't eat and you talk.
That's why the first 20 minutes, silence
meal is to just eat. That's the time of
concentration, of mindfulness.
Of clear mind.
So it's the training process.
I have the feeling that mindfulness
is like a thread.
A very thin thread.
You know lotus? When you break the lotus,
there's a thread.
There's a very vulnerable thread.
But it can hold other parts of the
lotus stem. So mindfulness is
like a thread. Very fine thread.
But day by day becomes so powerful.
Because the light becomes so powerful.
It recognise things.
It see things deeper in the realm of
feelings, in the realm of mind,
of thoughts.
Not to mention about the green grass,
the flower. These are physical things
you can see them clearly.
But you can see even your mind,
your feelings, your thoughts.
So training.
The third jewel of Plum Village practice.
There's a lot, but these are very
important jewels that we need to take,
we need to bring home, we need to possess,
in order to be a rich practitioner.
So we don't behave like a destitute.
Like a poor child.
In dwelling in the present moment,
what you got is the wonders of life.
So you don't need anymore conditions
for happiness.
The wonders of life.
Everything becomes so real.
So precious.
The third is the continuity.
Continuity or continuum.
This is called the insight. You need to
get this insight of continuity.
(In) Vietnamese called "tuong tục".
We need to have an insight of "tuong tuc".
Continuity.
Our life is not a rock, ok.
Our life is a process.
Our life is a process of energy.
Love and energy. Hate and energy.
And they don't stay the same.
They always change.
That's why the Buddha say
consciousness sometimes behave
like a river.
It's continually flowing.
Remember the insight of our life
is continuity.
Our life is flowing all the time.
This is the teaching on impermance.
So each moment of our lives,
there is input.
The things come in.
Fresh air, sunshine,
a smile, a loving thought.
Each moment of our lives,
there's inputs into what we
called body and mind. And also
each moment there is output,
things coming out.
The way you see things,
the energy goes out, by wavelength.
So you may send out good energy or really
negative energy.
So society becomes violent or not
depends on individual way of life.
What he send out through thoughts,
through speech and through body energy,
body language.
The insight of continuity helps you to
realise the teaching on impermance.
Everything change.
This is very important insight.
Everything change.
So if you have a despair, don't worry.
Everything will change.
Even you don't want to change,
it will change by itself.
So don't worry about it- despair.
Say hello to despair.
As a monk, sometimes I speak about
myself. Sometimes we feel like, a little bit
like depressed. (Laughs).
(Bell)
I'm sure depression is happening to
everyone right? But as a monk, because we
are going in, so we face so many energy.
And one of the energy inside of our
consciousness is depression.
Sometimes I felt the energy depressed.
I feel that my energy goes down.
Luckily I have a practice called
'gladdening the mind'.
Gladdening the mind.
Cheer up.
I go out of depression just like that.
Sometimes it's just the seed, triggered up.
The seed of depression maybe come from
our father, our mother, ancestors,
where they faced, go through challenges
in their life, and they fall
into depression. They despair because they
cannot do things.
They faced so much suffering in life,
and they fall into despair.
And now it's transmitted to us.
We practice and we encounter
this energy.
We have the way out,
by gladdening the mind.
Open the door and walking outside.
Be with nature, and it changes
this energy of depression.
Continuity means that don't worry.
Don't be despair,
because things will change.
Sometimes things will change in a year,
not overnight but one year.
There's certain seed, that anger
it takes years to practice.
That certain seed of anixiety,
it takes like years to practice
So don't give up, have trust.
Because we have insight of continuity,
the insight of 'tuong tuc".
'Tuong tuc' means continue,
flowing all the time,
There's another word- impermanance.
Don't look into our live as a rock.
A stone. No.
Look into our life as a river.
Ever-changing energy.
One energy we change to a different energy.
So if you have a depression, you can change into
joy and happiness. If you have an anger,
you can change into love.
You can do it with the practice.
So don't stuck in there.
Find a way. A skilful way that fit you.
In order to change the river of your mind.
We call 'change the seed', because
all come from seeds.
Our consciousness sometimes,
is described as 'the totality of seeds".
Like the garden, it embodies every kind
of seeds in the garden.
When you faced some kind of depression,
that's something very normal, but you
need to change the seed, or
you will be despair for a long time.
Keep this insight of impermance,
insight of continuity.
The fourth jewel of the practice is the
insight, why we called insight? because
it is not thinking. Insight (is what) you
see, you see directly, that your body
change, that your mind change.
If you are able to let go, it change.
Sometimes we don't want to let go.
When you hate someone, you keep holding
into that, you keep arguing in the mind
with that person, and you make it worse!
You don't allow it to flow,
you have it heavy in your mind.
And that person doesn't know anything!
That's really called 'attachment'.
This insight helps to remove attachment.
No attachment.
No attachment to whatsoever,
whatsoever in the form, in the feeling,
in the thinking, in the mind.
In the person, even in the person that
you don't like, you have to let go.
Because your mind holds on to it,
you suffer a lot.
Because the insight of continuity means
your mind flow.
Don't hold.
You hold, you ruin the nature of our mind.
The insight of interconnectedness.
Interconnectedness.
How Teacher usually says, "interbeing".
Interbeing is another word.
So with this insight of changing,
insight of interbeing,
we are free.
Because we relate.
If you hate someone, it means
you hate yourself.
Interbeing. Interconnected.
Your suffering is his suffering.
Your smile is her smile.
So if you want to punish him means
you want to punish her- yourself.
Interbeingness, interconnectedness.
And that is the energy field.
You know, life- in quantum physics, they
called energy field.
You are just a whole bunch of energy.
I'm moving around, and two energy bombard,
and there is life. Two energy bombard
bombard means we have a problem.
You love or you hate.
So actually love and hate is just energy.
Collision of energy. In bio-chemistry,
they called the bonding of the chemical.
Its funny that when you fall in love with
someone, you actually bonding with her
in the level of chemistry.
You send out to her the message to say,
"Dopamine I love you"
You know, the dopamine say "I love you",
"I feel good with you",
and you fall in love.
And he do the same thing.
So insight of interbeing, the insight is
so crucial. Usually we attach our ego,
so we forgot the insight of interbeing.
Interconnectedness.
We are relating, we are connecting.
In the level of human being, and
also in the level of nature.
Of life.
Nowadays at Hanoi, the government
cuts down all the big trees.
There's several thousands of big trees and
they want to cut them down.
All of them.
You know Hanoi is beautiful because of the
the big trees. It gives shade and
it also makes the city beautiful.
Now they are cutting it down.
I think some guy in the back wants to get
the wood. That's why they then
make this plan.
It's really hurt, especially the people
who live in Hanoi.
They didn't know the tree is so important
for life, because we are
interconnected with tree.
Tree absorbs carbon dioxide,
and releases oxygen for us.
Tree gives us fruits, tree gives us shade.
Tree removes away heat and sunburn.
But they don't know that.
They want to make money.
They want to cut down all the trees.
I mean they are going to kill themselves.
So today we need to pray for the
trees in Hanoi. They are giant like this.
I think this government is stupid.
In Vietnam, the government is stupid.
with all stupid people.
Sorry I have to say that, but they do so
many things so corrupt.
The insight of interbeing means you are
not yourself. The insight of no-self.
It's a very important teaching
of the Buddha. I think Thay Phap Luu
like the way I talk...(laughs)
because it's a very sutra thing.
Not a separate existence,
interbeing is like that.
You are not alone.
You cannot be alone.
In the level of energy, we always
exchange. Your sorrow comes out as energy
and I got it. Your happiness,
as wavelength, comes out and you make
me happy.
It's goes through your eyes,
it goes through your body.
Sometimes it goes through your language.
Sometimes you speak beautiful language,
we feel good. Nowadays in society,
people speak very rough language.
They accuse, their language is like knife,
cutting everything. So we need to change
the way of speaking.
You know the eight-fold path of
the Buddha teaching is right speech.
Loving speech.
We need to speak in a way that create
peace, happiness, confidence.
We don't want to hurt
other people. We don't want our speech
to be like knife, cutting other people up,
with pain and sorrow.
Interbeing, interconnectedness is like
that. You are concerned for other people.
Because you are not alone.
You cannot be alone.
You know sometimes I have a feeling
I want to go away by myself.
Because I think I can do better by myself.
So this is very temptation.
Because I think I can do better in the
practice by myself.
Living in the community sometimes
is a little bit difficult.
Too much noise...
too much singing...
too much playing music.
You hear flute everywhere...
you hear guitar everywhere...sometimes
you feel overwhelming with that.
A lot of talking. We talk a lot.
But we don't spend time to be silent.
So that's the temptation to be alone
is so strong in me.
I've to be very careful with that.
Because actually we need each other.
One more day, if I give a talk, I'll talk
about the sutra the Buddha says about
the importance about having friends.
Ananda says it's only half in importance
in spiritual life. The Buddha says,
"No, Ananda,full of spiritual life.
If you have a good friend".
There's a sutra like that. You can
realise your full potential of spiritual
life, full enlightenment, with liberation
with a good friend".
A good friend, ok.
Not like a noisy guy. (Laughs)
So interbeing is like that. We need to take
good care of our practice, in order to be
good for the Sangha. Be good with our Sangha.
To support our brothers and sisters.
The fifth jewel of Plum Village practice,
is the insight...this is the very
important insight of non-duality.
Non-duality.
This is so important.
Insight. It's not notion.
All these is not notion.
All these you need to experience.
If you learn from the book,
it's not an insight.
If you read from the book, from a sutra,
it's not yet the insight.
You need to experience.
You need to live your life
with the insight of non-duality.
What does that mean- non-duality?
Means there's no right or wrong.
There is no you separate from I.
There is no body separate from mine.
There is no enemy separate from friend.
Non-duality is like that.
We're always thinking of right and wrong.
Good and bad.
Friend and enemy.
Right, is that right?
Most of the time we're thinking like that.
That is the main source of suffering.
It comes from discriminative mind.
The mind of discrimination.
Non-duality means the insight of non-discrimination.
The Buddha says there's two views.
Double view. (In viet).
You are different from him.
You, are the perceiver, and
he, is the object of your preception,
are different. It means double view.
If we are caught in that,
we have problem right away.
You begin to judge him.
You put him in (a) box.
Whether good monk or bad monk.
We already have a problem.
Cannot live together.
We have to transcend this double view:
"I'm different from you",
"I'm judging you".
"I'm a judge and you become
object of my judgement".
That's called non-duality.
Non-discrimination.
You, are a part of my mind.
You are the object of my mind.
If I don't change my mind,
I cannot change you.
If you don't like someone in the Sangha,
you change your mind.
Is there anybody you don't like
in your Sangha?
You have to change your mind.
Non-duality.
And the same thing is (for)
suffering and happiness. You don't throw
away suffering in order to run after
happiness.
Suffering make happiness.
It just like garbage makes flowers.
Manure, cow manure makes flowers
and vegetables.
So if you see something inside of you,
called garbage, suffering,
don't be afraid.
Use that to plant lettuce,
green mustard, flowers.
So non-duality is like that.
So that point, you'll be able to accept
the whole of life.
You don't struggle.
There is no struggling,
There is no clinging.
Non-duality means no clinging to
whatsoever.
Even enlightenment or happiness.
Sometimes we live in a community,
we feel comfortable with someone,
with a group of people, and we
don't like the other group.
Insight of non-duality helps us to
remove that behaviour.
To open our heart, so that slowly
everyone becomes part of your community.
Everybody becomes part of your love.
Non-duality.
We will be free from double grasping.
The Buddha says (in viet),
(in viet), double grasping.
Remove that.
We always have this double grasping.
It's very deep down, controlled by the ego.
The judge.
So the ego in the back is doing all these.
Judging, discriminating.
You see, it's very powerful.
It's very powerful insight.
It helps us to remove the totality
of all suffering.
Non-duality.
"I am you"
"I am my father"
"I am my teacher"
Look at the people around us.
This is transmitted by our teacher.
As I say, our teacher is like a rich guy.
Rich man.
He has so much jewels and
he give it to us,
but we don't receive anything.
We receive only the bark of the tree,
the branch, the leaves.
We don't receive heartwood,
the essential, the most important
of the Buddha's teachings.
We don't receive yet.
So if you have in your mind,
thinking of going away,
go to another school,
think about it.
Have you got the jewels?
From Plum Village.
From the mountain.
Good luck.
Thank you very much.
(A lotus for you)