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(Bell)

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Dear Thay,
dear Sangha,

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What should one do when a teacher makes
fun of you in front of the whole class

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and your class laughs about you?

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Very difficult.

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(Crowd laughs)

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I think the best way is to laugh along,
to laugh with the whole class,

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(Crowd laughs)

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to join the class in laughing.

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That's the most beautiful thing to do
in those circumstances,

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because sometimes something is not funny
but people believe it to be funny.

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There is a wrong perception.

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You know...

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Maybe you will grow up
and become a teacher.

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So we should prepare ourselves
not to do like that.

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(Laughter)

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Teachers need time to grow
into a good teacher.

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It's not because you have graduated
from teacher's college,

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that you can be a good teacher
right away.

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So teachers can make mistakes.

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Thay also made mistakes
as a young teacher.

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And he still makes mistakes.

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But he learns everyday being a teacher.

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And he has learned so much
from his own students.

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Not only teachers, but nobody
should make fun of anyone,

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because they will cause suffering.

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Sometimes it is not the intention
to make you suffer

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but it's because that person lacks
some skillfulness,

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he may talk about the same thing, but
will not hurt you with skillful speech

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Even when he wants to teach you, he can
teach in a way that does not hurt you.

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That is something we have to learn,
teacher or not.

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We say the same thing,
but the way we say it will not hurt people.

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Thay has learned about that,
he has many students.

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Sometimes he wants to help
his students to transform.

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And he has learned to be very careful.

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Sometimes he can
tell the disciple directly.

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Sometimes he has to help a big brother
or a young sister to tell him,

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instead of telling him directly.

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Sometimes he can say it right away,

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sometimes he has to
wait for a few weeks and tell it later.

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You have to choose the time
and the place to tell.

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You may tell him in front of a group
or privately, you have to select.

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And you learn that through the process
of being a teacher.

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So your teacher may not be
very skillful now,

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but maybe he does not have
the intention to hurt.

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So you should help your teacher.

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After the event you may like to
come to your teacher and say:

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"My dear teacher, I hope next time
you will not do like that,

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because I suffer when you make fun of me
in the class. I get hurt.

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So I hope next time you will not do it
to me or to another student of yours."

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And you help your teacher.
You do not reproach him. You help him.

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So you use compassion and love
in order to respond to something not kind

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that the other person has done to you.

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You are a good practitioner.

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And everyone can make that kind of
mistake, also Thay in the past.

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So you yourself and all of us
have to learn.

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That is the fourth mindfulness training:

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learning to speak in such a way that
you can tell the truth

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and help the other person,
and not hurt him or her.

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This is a wonderful practice,
the fourth mindfulness training.

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(Bell)