(Bell)
Dear Thay, dear Sangha,
What should one do when a teacher makes fun of you in front of the whole class
and your class laughs about you?
Very difficult.
(Crowd laughs)
I think the best way is to laugh along, to laugh with the whole class,
(Crowd laughs)
to join the class in laughing.
That's the most beautiful thing to do in those circumstances,
because sometimes something is not funny but people believe it to be funny.
There is a wrong perception.
You know...
Maybe you will grow up and become a teacher.
So we should prepare ourselves not to do like that.
(Laughter)
Teachers need time to grow into a good teacher.
It's not because you have graduated from teacher's college,
that you can be a good teacher right away.
So teachers can make mistakes.
Thay also made mistakes as a young teacher.
And he still makes mistakes.
But he learns everyday being a teacher.
And he has learned so much from his own students.
Not only teachers, but nobody should make fun of anyone,
because they will cause suffering.
Sometimes it is not the intention to make you suffer
but it's because that person lacks some skillfulness,
he may talk about the same thing, but will not hurt you with skillful speech
Even when he wants to teach you, he can teach in a way that does not hurt you.
That is something we have to learn, teacher or not.
We say the same thing, but the way we say it will not hurt people.
Thay has learned about that, he has many students.
Sometimes he wants to help his students to transform.
And he has learned to be very careful.
Sometimes he can tell the disciple directly.
Sometimes he has to help a big brother or a young sister to tell him,
instead of telling him directly.
Sometimes he can say it right away,
sometimes he has to wait for a few weeks and tell it later.
You have to choose the time and the place to tell.
You may tell him in front of a group or privately, you have to select.
And you learn that through the process of being a teacher.
So your teacher may not be very skillful now,
but maybe he does not have the intention to hurt.
So you should help your teacher.
After the event you may like to come to your teacher and say:
"My dear teacher, I hope next time you will not do like that,
because I suffer when you make fun of me in the class. I get hurt.
So I hope next time you will not do it to me or to another student of yours."
And you help your teacher. You do not reproach him. You help him.
So you use compassion and love in order to respond to something not kind
that the other person has done to you.
You are a good practitioner.
And everyone can make that kind of mistake, also Thay in the past.
So you yourself and all of us have to learn.
That is the fourth mindfulness training:
learning to speak in such a way that you can tell the truth
and help the other person, and not hurt him or her.
This is a wonderful practice, the fourth mindfulness training.
(Bell)