[gong]

[gong]

[gong]

So, good afternoon,

dear respected Thay, dear beloved 
brothers and sisters and friends

Today is Thursday, the 26th of July 2018

We are in the Still Water Hall, 
meditation hall of Upper Hamlet

and this is the last Dharma Talk of the 
third week of our annual Summer Retreat.

and it's very hot.

Thank you for coming to sit here,
I try to keep it short and sweet,

so we can all go out 
and enjoy some fresh air after this.

Today I'll be speaking 
about the four Brahmavirahas,

the four immeasurable minds 
that really are a guide

to how we can respond 
to life situations with love

and I think it's a hot day,

so maybe we have to respond 
with love by keeping it short.

Today we celebrate the Full Moon festival
together, here in Upper Hamlet

and that's why we have 
the Dharma talk in the afternoon,

so the friends from the New Hamlet don't 
need to ride the bus back and forth twice.

An expression of love and understanding.

A good start.

We started this week with a smile, 
do you remember?

Sister Hoi Nghiem shared how 
every morning when she recites the ghata,

waking up this morning I smile,

24 brand new hours are before me,

I vow to live them fully each moment

and look at all beings 
with the eyes of compassion.

And when she notices 
that she forgot to smile,

she will lie down again 
and start all over again.

So my question is, how many times 
did you lie down again this week?

Did you remember?

But that story definitely brought 
a smile to our face, didn't it?

Anyway,

in case you missed the chance 
to smile, we're waking up.

I thought, maybe we start by giving you 
a chance to smile

and to enjoy your smile.

A smile makes us feel better 
straight away.

whether we're the ones who receive it,

or the ones who offer it.

or the ones who just smile 
because, why not?

Why would we not smile?

It makes us feel better straight away.

and as we heard, 
it's the best way to start the day

A smile can even turn "Monday morning",

if that still exists, nowadays 
that we work from home

Monday morning, not a too pleasant morning

and I hope that it can also turn
a hot Thursday afternoon

into a pleasant afternoon.

Let's start with a short meditation 
to bring our mind home to our body.

Make yourself comfortable.

and let's bring some loving 
kindness to ourselves

by, during the meditation, 
going through our body

and whenever we encounter 
a feeling of tension,

on the outbreath, to relax the tension, 
to soften it

and to smile to it, to say,
<i>"I know you're there,</i>

<i>I love you too, you are also me.</i>

So let's start by enjoying 
a sound of the bell.

[gong]

Let us become aware of the air 
as it flows into and out of our body,

and smile to our inbreath and outbreath

knowing that we are alive in this moment.

Let us become aware of our body

and scan our body from the top of our head

all the way down to the tip of our toes.

And we sweep along any tension 
we may find on our way

Maybe there's tension in our head,

maybe behind our forehead,

or around our eyes, behind our eyes,

around our ears

our jaws,

maybe our neck,

and on every outbreath, we smile,

which helps to soften 
the tension we encounter.

Become aware of our shoulders,

and then sweep down into the arms,

our hands and our fingers.

On every outbreath, softening the tension

by offering it a smile.

We sweep down our trunk

our back and our front.

And then the lower part of our body,

the buttocks and the abdomen.

Softening any tension we may find
in the buttocks or in the abdomen

by offering it a smile.

Then we sweep down into the legs,

all the way down into the feet,

to the tip of the toes.

And here too, softening any tension
we may encounter,

and offering it a smile.

Now become aware that we have arrived

on our chair or on our cushion

or on the ground, 
if you're sitting on the ground.

Our body is here 
and our mind is in the now,

in the present moment.

Body and mind, relaxed.

And we like to allow 
a smile to be born on our lips.

[gong]

We usually smile when we want 
to acknowledge the presence of someone,

of someone we meet,

it is very common to smile then.

When we walk around 
the grounds of Plum Village

we're bound to meet people, 
because there are many of us, here,

So we have a lot of opportunities 
to smile throughout the day.

A smile or a nod of the head,
something like this.

In some cultures they do that, 
not a smile.

At home, when we walk in the streets
and we meet a neighbor,

we also smile, even if they're 
on the other side of the street

Maybe we wave as well,

but often, we just smile.

To let them know, "I see you,"

"I've seen you, 
I acknowledge your presence,"

and this is very important.

Everybody needs love, needs to be loved,

and everybody has a need to love as well.

But very often, the way we love

ends up imprisoning the other person,

and also ourselves.

So how can we love and be free
at the same time?

What may happen when we meet somebody
and we offer them a smile,

tears come to their eyes.

Because they have a feeling 
that they haven't been seen

or acknowledged in their being, 
for a long time.

We may live with other people

but we're so busy,

we watch many things,

we look at many things, but 
we don't look at the people we live with.

We already heard it this week,

but it also strikes me every time 
I travel, for instance,

and I'm in the departure lounge,
there are many people,

and they're all sitting 
with their gadgets,

Last time, when I came into the lounge,

I tried to guess who was with who.
That was quite difficult!

Because they're sitting with their 
back to each other, doing this,

and I thought, 
I don't think they came together.

But when it is time to board, 
they speak to each other

and they go off together to board.

I said, "apparently 
they did come together."

But it's difficult to tell.

Usually I can tell 
if children and parents are together,

because they sit together 
and they may say something,

but they're also quite...

immersed in whatever 
they're doing with their gadgets

This is such a pity,

because the most precious thing we can 
offer each other is our true presence.

And when we sit in a departure lounge,
a waiting room,

we have nowhere to go and nothing to do
until we board the plane.

It's a very good opportunity
to be there for each other.

and to just offer each other's presence.

Thay gave us a mantra that says
"I am here for you."

This is not a mantra in Sanskrit 
or some other language,

this is a mantra in colloquial language,

"I am here for you."

In French, "Je suis là pour toi,"

and you can translate it 
into your own language.

and to go to our loved ones,

first, bring our mind home to our body,
as we did just now.

to be truly present, and then say:
"Darling, I'm here for you."

and then I leave it up to you
to discover what happens after that,

and then you can let us know next year.

I'm truly here for you.

To hear, to listen, to understand.

True Love comes from understanding,

and in order to understand,
we need to listen carefully.

We need to listen to what's being said
inbetween the lines

At the beginning of the week, 
we chanted <i>Namo Avalokiteshvaraya,</i>

we invoked the name 
of the Bodhisattva Avalokitha,

who has the capacity to listen,

and, also, to hear what's being said
and what is left unsaid.

To really listen, 
because our loved one, or our friend,

our parent or our child,

may be saying something in words,

may be saying one thing in words,

but their eyes may be saying 
something else.

So, being present and looking into 
their eyes, maybe their body language,

we will be able to hear 
what's being left unsaid,

but what actually wants to be heard.

What wants to be heard.

So let us enjoy a sound of the bell,

and offer ourselves our true presence 
one more time.

Bringing our mind home to our body.

"Hello body, I'm here for you",

making ourselves present for ourselves.

[gong]

When I wake up in the morning,

like my sister,
I don't always remember to smile.

But I remember smiling in the morning,
better,

if I remember to smile 
before I go to sleep.

So, if you didn't remember to smile
in the morning,

try smiling at night,

and you may also remember better.

But then, when I get to the bathroom,

I see a mirror.

When I first came to Plum Village,
we didn't have so many mirrors,

but now we have more mirrors,

so I have a chance to see myself.

Some of you who have been 
coming for a long time, remember this.

We don't have any hair, I don't need 
to put on make up and things like that

so I look in the mirror and I think,
why should I look in the mirror?

Oh, I could smile at myself, why not?

"Hello!

Good morning, how are you?"
Why not?

So that's what I do.

I forget to smile when I wake up,
I remember when I look into the mirror.

Try it. It's bit kind of awkward 
in the beginning, smiling at yourself

but it's worth the while.

If we practise, 
if we're talking about true love

maybe we can start by loving ourselves.

So the least we can do, 
is offering ourselves a smile.

And saying, ok, I know you're there,
and I'm so happy.

How are you today?

When we smile,

in the gatha, we smile to a new day.

In the gatha, that's the little poem 
that the sister recited,

<i>waking up this morning, I smile</i>,

it's a little poem that we recite 
when we wake up in the morning.

When we wake up in the morning,

because we want to water 
the seed of compassion in us.

To look at all beings with compassion,

and I thought, well, since I'm 
the first being to meet this morning,

why not smile to myself?

So we wake up 
and we can smile to the new day.

This is a new day.

We could reflect,
how did I live my day yesterday?

This is a new day.

I can live it 
with a little bit more compassion

for myself and for others.

We smile to the people around us,
our loved ones, and smile to nature.

Sometimes it seems much easier

to smile to a singing bird 
or to a tree or to a flower

than to the person who's right next to us.

However, the person who's right next to us
is also a flower.

And our smile will make her, 
him, them, bloom.

So we can practice smiling to nature

in order to develop 
the capacity of smiling.

We can also smile to our joy,
as well as our suffering.

And then we can just smile
for the joy of smiling.

Many years ago,

this was before I ordained,
but I already knew of the practice,

I was walking down the street,

and all of a sudden somebody stopped
and turned around,

and I thought, 
Oh, maybe I know this person,

so I turned around and said:
"Do I know you?"

He said: "No - such a beautiful smile,"
and I said: "Oh? Ok."

And I thought, 
I didn't even know I was smiling,

but I was smiling 
for no reason whatsoever,

just smile because I was feeling well, 
I guess.

You know?

I was smiling.

So we don't need a specific 
or a particular reason to smile,

we can smile just like that.

Thay said: "Sometimes our smile 
is born from love,

and sometimes love 
is born from our smile."

I like that.

So true love has four aspects,

and these four aspects 
are within ourselves.

They are within ourselves 
in the form of a seed.

We already heard about seeds this week,

in our store consciousness,

that need to be watered in order to bloom,

into a flower.

That is to say, a seed is a potential.

We have the capacity to love,

to have loving kindness in our heart.

We have the capacity to be compassionate.

We have the capacity to feel joy,

we have the capacity to feel equanimity
and to be inclusive.

It's in seed form, the potential,
and when it's watered,

when the seed gets water,

then it manifests as a mental formation,

or in other words, as a state of mind.

So these four aspects of love, 
we call them:

the Four Immeasurable States of Mind,
the immeasurable minds.

And they're immeasurable 
because we can extend these aspects

to all beings and to everything that is,

including Mother Earth.

They have no limit,

the unlimited minds.

They're within us, so it's not 
something we have to get somewhere,

they are in us in potential.

So it's a matter of watering them.

We can water the seeds by practising 
Deep Looking and Deep Listening

The first aspect is Maïtri, 
also called Loving Kindness

or, here in Plum Village, 
we sometimes call it Love.

Just Love.

It is the intention 
and the capacity to love.

We may have an intention, but that doesn't
mean we have the capacity.

The capacity, we develop.

And the capacity to love 
stems from understanding.

The capacity to offer joy and happiness,

in order to offer happiness to others,
we have to understand them.

We have to know their aspirations,
their dreams,

their hopes.

What is it they hope for in their lives?
What is it?

Sometimes our parents have had dreams
for their own future, as a young person,

but maybe conditions were not sufficient
for them to realize it.

Then they hope, they wish so much

that their children will be able 
to realize their dreams,

but we may have our own dream
which may not be the same,

and although our parents 
want the best for us,

actually, we suffer a little bit.

We suffer a little bit.

Here in Plum Village, Thay teaches us 
that we as elders need to look deeply

to understand the aspirations and the joys
and the suffering of our younger siblings.

So we have to listen to them.

And sometimes I encourage 
my younger sisters in the Dharma

to do things that I think will help them 
to make progress on the Path.

And that can cause them suffering.

So as a practise as an elder, 
I'm practising looking and listening

in order to understand 
what their dreams are

and to see what would be 
the next step on their path,

and how can I offer support.

So this is my practise 
of making progress on the path,

is, to listen to my younger ones.

Here in Plum Village, 
we celebrate Christmas,

and it's an opportunity to offer a gift
to one of our sisters

A few years ago I went shopping 
with another sister

who had just arrived,

and then she looked 
at what I put in the basket

and she said "Sister Dieu Nghiem,

that is not your taste at all, 
why do you buy those things?"

and I said: "Because this is 
what my sister likes."

And I realized,

maybe in the past I have offered things 
to friends, to my siblings, that I like,

this would be a wonderful present,
because it's so beautiful, you know?

And I give it to them, 
and now in hindsight, I think, hm....

maybe that was a present that came 
from a lot of love

and a little lack of understanding.

But I remember 
they all accepted it very gracefully,

so, they may have realized 
it was a good intention.

Maïtri is also friendship.

There's the word Mitra 
that's connected to Maïtri,

and it means Spiritual Friend.

A friend is somebody, a heart friend,
somebody that understands us,

who understands our dreams 
and our aspirations,

our joys and our sufferings,

with whom we can share from our heart

with whom we can share our joys 
and also our suffering

and who will listen 
without judging or reacting

and who will not give advice.

"You know what you should do"

But also, it's on the path in our life,

it's also that they can point out to us

something that we don't see.

and they can point that out to us 
in a way that we can hear it.

So, to be a true friend,
to be a friend on the spiritual path,

it needs Deep Looking and Deep Listening,
and some understanding,

in order to point something out in a way 
that it can be received.

I also noticed on my path,

I have given some input and...

it wasn't in a way it could be received.

although I gave it 
with the best of intentions

so I'm becoming more and more mindful

of how I give some encouragements.

However well meant, it needs to be 
in the right way at the right time

But we may have a spiritual friend 
who we know very well.

She can say a little bit more,

because we have this friendship 
that holds all this

and she can say, 
like one of my sisters said,

"well, you could look at the habit energy.

One of your habit energies is, 
sometimes you're quite impulsive.

You react spontaneously to something,

but it may not always be 
the right thing to do.

And I said, "Thank you, 
I will look into that."

I know it came from her care.

So, having a good friend with whom 
we can share, so that we can grow.

Our heart can become larger,
we can embrace more,

we can find more happiness

for ourselves and for others

So, to give some feedback,

we have to be aware of

from where we are giving that feedback.

Sometimes someone in our community 
may be passing through a difficult time,

therefore also cause some difficulties, 
some suffering to others

and I'm becoming more and more aware
of what this touches in me.

Sometimes it touches a kind of annoyance,

you know, can she not take better care 
of her suffering,

instead of causing others also to suffer?

And then, not so long ago, I thought,
wait a minute.

If I were suffering, and somebody wanted
to point something out to me,

how would I like to be approached?

Then I thought, with kindness.

With some love.

So I took some time to be with my sister,

to be able to touch her suffering.

What is her suffering?

The little I know about the roots, 
can I just touch it?

and then I could interact with her,

and a big smile came up on her lips,

and I thought, yes, that was 
because I came with love in my heart,

with compassion, and not with annoyance.

and I thought just kindness,

just plain kindness,

how much does it take,

and I asked myself, why does it take me 
so long sometimes?

I realized, it takes long 
because I'm not very kind to myself.

How can I be kind to others 
if I'm not kind to myself?

Can I have a little bit more kindness

and a little bit more compassion 
to watch myself?

So lately I've been practising to look 
at myself with the eyes of compassion.

and to see, 
why do I think the way I think,

why do I speak the way I speak?

Why do I act the way I act,

in my interactions with others.

What is happening for me?

And when I look and I see my shortcomings,

maybe a little impatience,

a lack of understanding of myself also,

I think, can I just accept myself as I am?

I am as I am, because of 
many causes and conditions

All the seeds that were watered in me
during my lifetime,

that I have allowed to be watered 
in me, during my lifetime,

maybe seeds I have inherited 
from my ancestors

I want something to be solved quickly,
I'm very efficient.

but that's not always the best way 
to approach an issue

Sometimes you need time.

One time I went to Thay and I said:

"Thay, I'd like to address this issue 
with one of the sisters."

And Thay said: "Too soon.

Too soon, you have to wait."

Thay told me: "Sometimes Thay also 
has to wait for six months."

and I thought, ok, let me walk 
in the footsteps of my teacher,

and practise waiting.

Six months at least,

you'll see when the time is right.

I realized time needs to be right in me.

When I can approach with loving kindness
as a spiritual friend

when I can approach with compassion,
then the time may be right.

It's not only the time 
for the other person,

but for me, I have to be ready.

So, to offer time.

The second aspect of True Love 
is Karuna, compassion.

It means the intention and the capacity
to relieve the suffering.

First of all, our own suffering.

A lot of our suffering is caused by 
wrong perceptions, as we already heard.

So it's always good to go 
and check our perceptions

"the other day, you said this; 
can you tell me why you said that?"

In the beginning I said,
"You said that!"

quite unkindly.

"Why did you say this?"

I realize it doesn't inspire 
the other person to reply

because there is already 
a criticism in there,

the tone of my voice, the words I use.

So, to ask, to check my perceptions,

I also need to come from a place 
of really wanting to understand

and to give the other person
the benefit of the doubt.

I also am unskillful at times,
not necessarily on purpose,

and I also appreciate when somebody 
gives me the benefit of the doubt.

So, trust the other person,
we'll then be able

to understand that sharing with us,

why we said something,

will help relieve the suffering in us.

Sometimes we find it difficult
to be with the suffering of someone else,

and we like it to go away,

because their suffering makes us suffer.

We suffer because they suffer.

We have the intention 
to help relieve their suffering,

but actually, underneath, there's the wish
that if they don't suffer anymore,

then I feel better.

So we're doing it with a self-interest.

My experience is, when I do this,
it doesn't work.

It just doesn't work.

I think, when we suffer, 
we're very sensitive

to with what kind of energy 
someone approaches us.

If they want us not to suffer,

because our suffering 
is causing them difficulties,

is causing them suffering,

so, "stop suffering please, 
so I can be happy",

it doesn't work like that.

If we listen in order to help 
relieve the suffering,

it's with the sole purpose 
that we would like the other person

to be relieved of their suffering,

not because of us.

If we find it difficult to be 
with their suffering, we have to look,

why is it difficult to be 
with the suffering of the other?

to understand,

and to look after ourselves in a way

that we can take care of our suffering,

and then, maybe we're able 
to be with their suffering.

At times, when we are 
with somebody who suffers,

we just need to be with them.

Just sitting next to them, breathing,

not being overwhelmed by their suffering,

not being carried away by their suffering.

Maybe just an arm around their shoulders.

Just to know that we are there for them.

and that's all.

Many years ago,

I lived in a small center 
with some other monastics,

and we had a neighbor, 
and the wife was ill, she was dying.

Whenever he wanted to go shopping,

he came to our door to ask 
one of us to be with his wife.

So we would sit at her side
and breathe, and just be there.

Maybe hold her hand.

Not really saying much.

One day, he came again,
and he said:

"Sorry, I always come to ask one of you,

because Lucie is so calm and peaceful
when one of you is there."

So I spoke to the other sister and said:
"What do you do?"

She said: "Nothing. I just sit there."

I said: "So do I."

And I asked her: "Are you afraid?"
and she said: "No."

I said: "Neither am I."

So we could be with her fear.
We could just be there.

We didn't need to say much.

And she was peaceful, and at ease.

So, we don't always need words.

Our true presence is already here,
and soothing.

Maybe we can enjoy a sound of the bell,

and bring our mind home to our body,

so we can make ourselves truly present

especially present for ourselves,

and maybe we don't need 
to say anything to ourselves,

but just be there.

Be with whatever is present in us.

[gong]

Boddhisatva

As I was sitting here, I was saying,
"just be with the heat,"

and then, "but look 
at the people in front of me,

it's much hotter there."

You're surrounded by 37°, many

and I have a fan.

One time, one of my sisters
came to share her suffering with me,

and I jumped into action,

I came up with a number of solutions.

She said: "But Sœur Dieu,
I just want you to listen to me."

I thought: "Oh yes, of course."

That's all. 
That's more precious than anything else,

my solutions are my solutions, not hers.

So, let's imagine,

that we're faced 
with a difficult situation.

How would we like to be approached?

What kind of action or non-action 
would help us to embrace our suffering?

It could be a bigger or smaller suffering.

Maybe it's something 
that you can offer yourself.

So, maybe we'll just close our eyes
and have another sound of the bell,

and let's just go to ourselves,

how would I like to be approached?

[gong]

As I said before, what came up for me
this time again, is the question,

do I understand you enough?

Do I understand myself enough?

What can I offer myself?

The third aspect of True Love is Muditha,
it means joy.

Muditha, it means joy.

Joy and happiness, born from letting go.

Many small things can bring joy.

Coming back to the present moment,

we can nourish our joy 
with the beauty around us,

we can nourish our joy with the presence
of our loved ones around us.

We feel the gratitude and the joy
of their presence in our lives.

And the joy that is an immeasurable mind,

is the joy that is filled 
with peace and contentment.

So it's not the joy that has excitement

it is this peace and contentment.

And we feel this joy for ourselves
and for others.

It's also the joy,

when someone we love is happy,

when someone we love 
maybe went through a difficult time

and then is happy.

We feel this joy for them.

"I'm so happy for you."

That kind of joy.

We rejoice in the well-being of others,
that kind of joy.

In our daily life we'll see 
there are more opportunities than we think

to have joy and to rejoice 
in the happiness of others.

The last aspect of True Love is Upeksha.

Upeksha.

It means inclusiveness.

It means "we love everyone equally."

The ones we find easy to love and 
the ones we find more difficult to love.

As I said, we have the potential
to do this already, right?

It needs to be watered,

that seed needs to be watered
in order to manifest as a state of mind.

If, at the moment, we say:

"To love everybody, to be inclusive,
I'm not there yet",

That's alright, 
because we're still practising,

we're going in the direction.

To love everyone equally
also stems from compassion.

How can we be compassionate

to somebody who behaves in a way
that causes suffering to other people?

If we try to put ourselves 
in the skin of that person,

and try to imagine,

what was the kind of family 
this person may have been born into?

What was the childhood like?

What was their environment
when they grew up?

What were the people they interacted with?

What kind of education did he have?

The environment forms us,

so what is the environment 
they grew up with?

Was it an environment that was
full of understanding and love,

or was it an environment where 
there was hatred and violence?

If there was hatred and violence,

the seed of hatred and violence 
was watered in them

The seeds of discrimination 
was watered in them.

So, no wonder they are the way they are.

If we can really put ourselves 
in the skin of the other,

understand how they came 
to be as they are,

then we can include them in our love.

Because we have compassion.

Compassion does not mean 
that we condone the act,

what they did is not right,

but we can understand 
what brought them to that point

what kind of mental food did they get,

to what were they exposed?

Thay says: "If we were born
where they were born,

in the family, in their environment,

we would do exactly the same."

[alarm clock sounds]

This is my alarm.

We would do exactly the same.

In the beginning I thought,
no, I won't.

And then I thought, ah!

But that means, I'm not putting myself
in the skin of the other person.

I haven't looked deeply enough.

And, there is compassion and there is pity

Pity doesn't go anywhere,

but compassion motivates us 
to do something, to act.

Maybe that person who does something 
to cause suffering to others

needs our help, 
because there's a lack of understanding.

You do suffering to the others,
you're doing it to yourself.

If you think, causing suffering to 
somebody else is bringing you happiness,

it's not.

Maybe they don't know,
and we need to help them.

And that's our engagement,
and Thay is very engaged.

Thay has spoken to politicians,
to business people.

In many countries Thay has adressed issues

that were happening in the country,

in order to help the politicians 
understand, and the people to understand

what we can do,

and also what maybe 
would be better not to do.

So, with compassion and understanding
how things come to be,

our love can become inclusive.

Of course, as I said before,

the foundation for that is, 
can we include ourselves in this love?

With all our strengths and weaknesses,
can we do that?

So, practising and developing
these four immeasurable minds

is the best way to take care of ourselves
our loved ones,

and all other beings.

So they're not a kind of tools 
that we have, like,

"oh I think we need loving kindness here,"

"oh, I think I need compassion,"

"oh, I think I need joy,
or inclusiveness."

No.

It is, developing these aspects of love 
in ourselves

so that we can respond to life 
from these aspects.

To bring these four aspects 
of love to mind, every day,

to water the seeds, to remember

that we can respond with loving kindness

we can respond with joy 
to the joy of others

we can respond with compassion 
to the suffering,

we can respond with inclusiveness 
to all beings, including Mother Earth.

They become a state of mind.

And when we bring them to mind often,
the Buddha said:

"Whatever we think about, or ponder upon, 
becomes the inclination of our mind.

Becomes the way we respond to life."

So we may like to look, how do we 
respond to life right now?

Is it with fear? Is it with worries?

Is it with anger?
Is it with love?

How do we respond to life?

Just to know and say: 
"Ok, this is where I stand now.

Practising the Four Immeasurable Minds,

I go in the direction of responding 
to life with True Love.

It's not only to life, 
but also to individuals,

the person who's right next to me, 
next to us,

the person we hope 
to spend our whole life with,

can we have this mind of love 
towards them?

This True Love, that is not centered 
on just ourselves.

Instead of our love being like a cage,
robbing our loved one of their freedom,

our love is wide 
and embraces all aspects of them.

Maybe we can think of our loved one as...

a nice breeze that you hopefully 
will experience soon

If we want to catch the breeze 
and consider it our own,

it's like putting the little breeze 
in a little cage,

and what happens 
when you put it in a little cage...

it dies.

In fact, I reflected on this, 
if we love like that,

then the things we love in the other 
person, will no longer be there.

as you will stop loving her 
very, very soon.

We will stop loving them very, very soon.

So, let's infuse our minds 
with these four aspects of love,

so that we can love, and be loved

and offer True Love 
to ourselves and others.

And now I'm going to offer you

a nice breeze outside.

Thank you for being there,
free as the breeze.

Happy continuation on your path,

may every step bring you 
peace and happiness,

and remember, smile, 
breathe when you look deeply,

and enjoy every step you take.

Thank you very much.

[gong]

[gong]

[gong]