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(Bell)

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Dear Thay,
dear Sangha

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I have heard that a few months ago,

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a monk ended his life

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in Plum Village.

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I have this monk always in my head.

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He was always smiling.

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He was always wanting
to help other people.

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And I do not understand.

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My question is:

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How can the daily
practice of your teaching

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lead to desperation and to suicide?

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In the time of the Buddha, there were
also monks who committed suicide.

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Did you know that?

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You didn't.

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Many of us come
to Plum Village and practice.

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And there are those of us
who are capable of

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transforming and healing very quickly.

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And there are those of us
who are very slow

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in the practice
of transforming and healing.

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But if you stick to the practice,
you have a chance.

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If you truly take refuge in the Sangha,

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if you try to practice wholeheartedly,
putting the practice into yourself,

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then you have more chance
to transform and to heal.

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And if you just want to prove
that you are a practitioner,

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that is not good enough.

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So that is what happened
during the time of the Buddha,

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and it will continue
to happen in the Sangha.

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In the Sangha there
will be people like that.

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If we really take refuge in the Sangha,
get rooted in the brothers and sisters,

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we will have more chance
to transform and heal,

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even if we have that tendency,

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that nature, of suicide in ourselves,

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transmitted by
many generations of ancestors.

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You bring that tendency, that seed
of society into the Sangha.

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And if you hide that from us,

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we do not have a chance
to help you soon enough.

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So you do not have a chance.

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So when you come to us, you should
tell us your suffering, your weakness

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and ask for help.

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And then we will know how
to generate a collective energy

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to help you deal
with that specific question.

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But if you try to hide it,

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then we do not know how
to help you in the beginning

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and you lose your time.

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You pretend that everything is good,
everything is going well,

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until one day,
you cannot do it anymore.

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So things like that happened
during the time of the Buddha,

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and, I think, will continue
to happen in the future.

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We have to learn the lesson.

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And that applies not only
to monastics, but also to lay people.

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If you come to the Sangha,
you should take refuge in it.

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You should sit among us and say:

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Dear Sangha,
dear brothers and sisters in the Dharma,

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here is my pain, here is my sorrow,
here is my despair.

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Please help recognize and embrace it.

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I need you, I need the collective
of the Sangha to guide me,

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to lead me,
to help me transform.

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That is our practice.

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This is called the practice of
taking refuge in the Sangha.

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Taking refuge in the Sangha is not
a statement made by chanting.

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Taking refuge in the Sangha is

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to truly believe in the power
of the Sangha to help you

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and to open your heart,

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ready to be embraced, guided
and instructed by the Sangha.

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(Bell)