0:00:01.757,0:00:03.626
(Bell)

0:00:06.792,0:00:12.088
(Bell)

0:00:33.302,0:00:36.492
What is the hardest thing[br]that you practice?

0:00:39.498,0:00:44.788
That is not to allow yourself[br]to be overwhelmed by despair.

0:00:45.440,0:00:47.773
That is the hardest thing.

0:00:48.430,0:00:51.232
Because when you are[br]overwhelmed by despair,

0:00:51.419,0:00:54.520
that is the worst thing[br]that can happen to you.

0:00:56.635,0:01:00.031
I remember when the war was going on.

0:01:01.707,0:01:07.301
We did not see the light

0:01:09.602,0:01:12.161
at the end of the tunnel.

0:01:12.398,0:01:16.600
It seemed that the war[br]would go on and on forever.

0:01:17.952,0:01:22.106
The young people[br]came and asked:

0:01:22.421,0:01:24.187
'Dear Thay,

0:01:24.407,0:01:27.661
do you think that[br]the war will end soon?'

0:01:30.680,0:01:33.574
It is very difficult to answer.

0:01:33.854,0:01:38.326
Because you have not seen the light[br]at the end of the tunnel.

0:01:38.980,0:01:41.472
But if you say: 'I don't know',

0:01:41.789,0:01:50.796
then you water[br]the seed of despair in them.

0:01:55.105,0:02:00.064
So Thay had to[br]breathe in and out a few times

0:02:00.564,0:02:02.524
and then what he said was:

0:02:02.787,0:02:04.425
'Dear friends,

0:02:04.641,0:02:08.041
the Buddha said[br]that every thing is impermanent.

0:02:08.221,0:02:11.770
The war should be impermanent also.

0:02:12.144,0:02:14.486
It should end some day.

0:02:14.674,0:02:17.987
Let us continue to work for peace.'

0:02:19.242,0:02:21.365
During the war,

0:02:21.586,0:02:26.756
we, young nuns and monks,[br]and lay practicioners

0:02:27.128,0:02:31.290
we organized the School of[br]Youth for Social Service

0:02:32.155,0:02:36.626
like the Peace Corps[br]created by John F. Kennedy.

0:02:37.547,0:02:41.286
We went into the war zone[br]and we helped the wounded people.

0:02:43.742,0:02:48.735
We helped create refugee centers,

0:02:49.047,0:02:54.293
we gave them a chance[br]to go back to normal life.

0:02:56.173,0:03:00.897
We rebuilt the villages[br]that had been bombed.

0:03:03.836,0:03:06.748
There was a village called Tra Loc

0:03:06.894,0:03:10.911
not very far from the demilitarized zone

0:03:11.624,0:03:14.269
separating North and South.

0:03:15.275,0:03:20.236
The village of Tra Loc was bombed,[br]completely destroyed.

0:03:21.168,0:03:23.561
Our young social workers,

0:03:23.763,0:03:27.145
including monks and nuns[br]and lay practitioners,

0:03:27.314,0:03:30.837
they had rebuilt the village.

0:03:32.360,0:03:35.332
But it was bombed again[br]and destroyed again.

0:03:37.399,0:03:40.835
And our social workers wired us

0:03:41.606,0:03:45.593
and asked whether[br]they should rebuild it.

0:03:46.120,0:03:48.767
We said: 'Rebuild it'.

0:03:49.119,0:03:51.143
And we rebuilt it.

0:03:51.329,0:03:53.600
And it was bombed again.

0:03:55.515,0:03:57.263
Four times.

0:03:58.497,0:04:00.392
If we gave up,

0:04:01.628,0:04:04.744
that would create a feeling of despair.

0:04:04.939,0:04:11.298
That is why we kept[br]rebuilding it and rebuilding it.

0:04:11.743,0:04:15.507
So the hardest thing is[br]not to lose your hope,

0:04:16.323,0:04:19.017
not to give up, to despair.

0:04:19.199,0:04:21.572
That is the hardest thing.

0:04:21.792,0:04:25.600
We have gone through[br]two wars like that.

0:04:28.500,0:04:33.430
We saw French soldiers came,[br]killed and get killed.

0:04:34.681,0:04:38.468
We saw young Americans came[br]and killed and get killed.

0:04:38.651,0:04:44.037
50.000 young Americans[br]were killed in Vietnam.

0:04:44.819,0:04:50.942
Hundred of thousands of them were wounded

0:04:52.544,0:04:56.911
and many had to be cared[br]by psychotherapists and so on.

0:04:57.183,0:05:01.655
In a situation of[br]utmost suffering like that

0:05:01.932,0:05:05.756
if we don´t have a practice[br]we cannot survive.

0:05:07.281,0:05:09.759
We practice in such a way

0:05:09.967,0:05:17.114
that we can preserve[br]our hope and our compassion.

0:05:25.061,0:05:31.341
When the journalists[br]asked us questions about that,

0:05:31.830,0:05:36.621
about how do we felt[br]about young Americans coming

0:05:40.110,0:05:43.986
and killed and died in Vietnam,

0:05:44.497,0:05:48.227
we said: 'They are victims,[br]we don't hate them.

0:05:49.342,0:05:54.453
They are victims of a kind of policy[br]that is not very intelligent.

0:05:56.520,0:05:59.709
A policy based on fear.

0:06:03.520,0:06:11.320
Fear of the taking by the communists[br]of the whole South East Asia.

0:06:16.373,0:06:18.055
They are victims.

0:06:18.232,0:06:20.560
They have to come here[br]to kill and to die.'

0:06:21.184,0:06:24.121
You understand,[br]so you are not angry at them.

0:06:27.428,0:06:34.561
In 1966, Thay was invited[br]to come to America.

0:06:36.800,0:06:45.575
He had the chance to talk[br]to the American people about the war.

0:06:47.851,0:06:53.033
There was a very angry young American

0:06:53.592,0:06:58.025
who stood up[br]and told Thay this:

0:06:59.641,0:07:01.640
'You should not be here.

0:07:01.871,0:07:08.175
You should go back and fight[br]American imperialism in Vietnam.

0:07:09.440,0:07:12.814
You have to kill[br]the American soldiers there.'

0:07:13.840,0:07:15.936
Thay's answer was:

0:07:16.221,0:07:19.600
'I thought that[br]the root of the war is here.

0:07:19.808,0:07:22.148
It is not in Vietnam.

0:07:22.633,0:07:26.013
The young Americans[br]who came in Vietnam

0:07:26.215,0:07:28.543
they are just victims.

0:07:28.793,0:07:31.374
So I had to come here[br]and tell the American people

0:07:32.246,0:07:35.848
that this war[br]is not helping Vietnam at all.'

0:07:37.033,0:07:41.834
So without that kind of[br]understanding and compassion,

0:07:43.576,0:07:48.292
you will lose yourself[br]in anger and hate.

0:07:48.607,0:07:51.256
And you will not be able[br]to say things like that

0:07:51.400,0:07:53.776
and help the American people understand

0:07:53.942,0:07:58.868
and change the policy.

0:08:06.099,0:08:12.903
There was a peace movement in America[br]oposing the war in Vietnam.

0:08:21.678,0:08:25.414
As people demanded peace[br]and did not get it,

0:08:25.600,0:08:27.991
they got very angry.

0:08:28.506,0:08:31.573
So there was a lot of anger[br]in the peace movement.

0:08:33.951,0:08:36.991
And when Thay toured America[br]and talked to these groups,

0:08:37.151,0:08:40.473
Thay said: 'If you have[br]a lot of anger in you

0:08:40.634,0:08:42.425
you cannot touch the peace.

0:08:42.588,0:08:45.175
You have to be peace[br]before you can do peace.

0:08:48.232,0:08:51.236
Understanding is very important.

0:08:51.448,0:08:55.491
You need to know[br]how to write a love letter

0:08:56.456,0:08:59.135
to your president, to your Congress,

0:09:00.022,0:09:03.560
and tell them that[br]you don't support the war.

0:09:03.770,0:09:07.529
If you write a strong, angry letter,

0:09:07.860,0:09:09.880
they will not read it.'

0:09:09.979,0:09:13.360
Thay was able to speak like that

0:09:13.615,0:09:18.244
and help somehow to end the war.

0:09:23.440,0:09:25.294
Understanding suffering

0:09:27.813,0:09:31.784
helps compassion to be born in you.

0:09:34.198,0:09:38.194
You will be free[br]from despair, from anger,

0:09:38.324,0:09:40.713
and you can help the cause of peace.

0:09:42.406,0:09:44.204
(Bell)

0:09:47.493,0:09:53.685
(Bell)