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Br. Phap Huu: Good morning,
dear respected Thay,

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dear brothers, dear sisters,
dear friends.

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I hope you had a relaxing
and lazy morning.

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You could sleep in
and feel more rested

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and enjoy the wonderful space
provided for us

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to be in touch with our breath,
with the trees, with the space.

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We have an opportunity
for questions & answers.

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This is a great opportunity
to put into words something

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we may have been chewing on
for a long time.

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But with regards to the practice
of mindfulness and meditation.

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the teachings of Plum Village,
and looking back

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at our way of life, 
our happiness, our suffering

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and how to apply the practice
in our daily lives.

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This is an opportunity to ask questions.
We call it "Asking from the heart."

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We tend to come more
towards the intellect,

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but here in Plum Village
we always encourage to ask:

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How do we bring these teachings
into our daily life?

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This is more important to us
than philosophy.

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And we have children with us.
I'm surprised they are here.

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I thought you would
enjoy more laziness.

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It is a wonderful tradition to have
space for the children to ask questions.

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We would like to offer space to the kids
to ask three to four questions.

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A good question can benefit many of us.
It doesn't have to be long.

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It can be clear and simple.

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We have our brother filming the session.

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Please raise your hand if you
prefer not to be on camera

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and our brother will know. He will
focus the camera on the monastics.

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So you can be at ease if you would like
to ask a question, but not be filmed.

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Before we listen to a question,
we will listen to a sound of the bell

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to come back to our breathing,
and then we ask the question.

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So, we would like to invite
the children first.

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If there is a child with a question,
you are welcome to come up

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and sit on this chair and breathe with us.
And then you can ask your question.

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Do any of you have a question?

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We do.

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[sound of the bell]

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Dear community, this is the first
question. Our friend will ask in Italian.

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Giacomo: [Italian] If there is
something that we like to do,

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and we see someone else
do something that we might not like,

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but so many people are doing it,
why do we end up doing that, too?

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Voice offscreen: I will try to translate it
and Giacomo can help me

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if it's not correct, because
you speak English quite well?

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I think the idea is: We know what we want,
what we like to do.

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But then we see others do something
that we don't approve of.

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We don't like what they're doing.

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How come we end up what they're doing
even though we don't like it?

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Br. Phap Huu: Do you need translation?

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Br. Phap Linh: Thank you.
That's a great question.

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We could all ask ourselves that question
at the level of the whole planet.

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Why, when there are things that we know
we don't want to do, or we don't like,

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but we see that society is going that way,
and we end up doing it as well.

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That can happen with a group of friends,
or in a choice of career that we make,

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or how much money we think we need,
where we should live,

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what lifestyle we think we should have.
It's all a similar problem.

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We get pulled into things that
at some level we don't want to do,

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but we find ourselves doing anyway.

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So ... I think the first question
that I would ask.

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You started by saying that we know
what it is that we like to do.

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We know what we want.
I'm not sure that that's true.

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We kind of know.
But do we really know?

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Do we know with the power,
with the strength,

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that would be enough to stop us
from getting pulled into things

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that we don't want to do?

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So we know a little bit.

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But could we make that more clear?

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What is it that we want to do
and what is it we do not want to do?

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That takes contemplation. In a way,
that's what meditation can be for.

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Our teacher used to ask us to go
and quietly sit in the forest

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and ask ourselves: 
What is my deepest desire?

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What is the thing that I want most of all?

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Because when we know that really clearly,
it makes it much easier to say No

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when other people are trying
to pull us into something.

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That's the first thing. Do we really know
what it is we do and don't want to do?

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And the second thing is that
there's a competition in us,

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because we like two things:

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We like to do the thing we want to do,
but we also like to be with our friends.

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We like to feel connected to others.

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We like to not stick out,
so that we're not left out of the group.

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If there's a group going one way, a strong
part of us wants to be part of the group.

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Even if they're doing something
we don't really want to do.

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There are two different pulls.
One is: I need to be part of the group.

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I am in danger if I'm not
part of the group.

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There's a very old feeling in our bodies.
For a long time, maybe millions of years,

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if we didn't belong to the group,
we wouldn't be able to survive.

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We would die. So there's a
strong need to be part of the group.

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And when that need is in conflict
with this other part of us that says:

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"I don't want to do what they're doing",
it's difficult.

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It depends which one is stronger.
But it helps just to know that.

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You're here, we're all here. We've heard
about the energy of mindfulness.

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The energy that allows us to be aware
what's going on inside and around us.

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That is the capacity to recognise:
"I want to be part of the group."

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When you can see and recognise it,
you also have a bit more freedom.

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"I know, I hear you. I hear the part
of me that wants to jump in,

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but I can also say No thank you."

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Sometimes in a group,
when there's one person that says:

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" No. Actually, I don't want to do that."

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Then maybe there's two or three
or four other people in the group

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who also feel uncomfortable.
Once that one person has said no,

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they can also say: "Actually,
I also don't want to do that."

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And suddenly, the whole group
can change direction

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because one person had
the freedom and the courage to say No.

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It's like you are watching
what's happening around you,

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but a part of you is watching
what is happening inside of you.

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It's like you have an eye tracking:
"I want to jump in,

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but I also don't feel comfortable
with what we're doing."

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And then you get to choose.

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Because otherwise you jump in
before you even know.

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It just happens, and then later,
maybe a day, maybe a week later,

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you realize you didn't want to do that.
But with the energy of mindfulness,

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you have more time,
you have more freedom to choose.

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And then maybe many other people
in the group will thank you later

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because they also didn't want to do that.

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And thanks to you,
they had the choice to say No.

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Maybe as a society we're a bit like that.

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We rely on a few people with the strength
and awareness to say no to the current

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that is taking us in the direction
of destroying the planet

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and causing suffering to each other.

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Maybe if a few of us can see us and say:
"We don't want to go that way",

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then others can get to also say No
and go a different way.

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Thank you for your question.

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[sound of the bell]

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Girl: (French) Do plants
have a nervous system?

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For example if you snap a twig,
are you hurting the tree?

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Br. Phap Linh: Do the plants
have a nervous system?

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For example if you break a branch,
does it hurt the plant?

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Br. Phap Huu: The quickest answer
is "Oui" - yes.

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Br. Phap Linh: I can add a little bit.

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I would say the answer is yes and no.

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Because they don't exactly
have a nervous system like ours.

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There's no central brain where
all the nerve impulses arrive.

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It's been a question in science
for a long time.

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And most scientists have said:
"No, plants don't feel anything."

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But it's changing. So in recent years,
there are a few scientists

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finding evidence to say that plants
do feel and we still don't know how.

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But we know that there are electrical
signals passed through the plant cells -

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all cells are electrical in nature,
just like nerve cells.

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They're not exactly like brain cells,

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but they are similar enough
that there is a Spanish scientist

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who really believes, and has good
evidence to show, that plants can feel.

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One of the ways they can test this
is by using anaesthesia.

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If you have to go to a hospital
to have surgery,

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they give you an injection or a gas
that makes you fall asleep,

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so you don't feel any pain.

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For a long time, everybody thought
that only works on humans and animals.

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But plants respond to anaesthesia
in very much the same way,

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to being put to sleep.

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This is all very new research.
You ask a very good question.

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You could make
a whole career as a scientist

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out of trying to answer that question.

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But that's answering
at the level of the head.

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There's also an answer
at the level of the heart.

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It's the answer that Thay Phap Huu gave

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and it's the answer you already know.

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We don't feel comfortable
to break a plant for no reason.

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We feel like maybe we should
respect them a little bit more.

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We should care for them
a little bit better.

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Maybe we should not be so sure
that it is only us who can feel things.

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If we're very sure,
we can cause a lot of harm

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we can be very careless.

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But if we're not sure,
if there's a part of us wondering:

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"Will the tree feel it
if I break the branch?"

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that little space of openness, of
"I don't know, maybe the tree can feel it"

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can make us more careful.

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Not only as individuals,
but collectively as a species.

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There's an awakening happening
in the whole of society.

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There are more and more people
waking up to the suffering

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that we are maybe causing to
not just the animals that we kill to eat,

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but also to the trees that we cut to
build houses, like this meditation hall,

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the paper that we use in the toilet,
or to write on.

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Maybe it is impossible to live completely
without hurting anything.

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It's actually really hard.

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But maybe there's a way to live
where we cause as little harm as possible.

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We try to do less damage.
Maybe we can't do no damage.

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But I'm sure we can do less damage.

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Thank you for your question.

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Br. Phap Huu: One more question
from the children sangha.

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If there are no more questions
from the children sangha,

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you are welcome to stay or
you are welcome to go out and play.

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I was told there's no children program,
but there's a lot of space.

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So feel free.

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And now we'd like to offer space
for the bigger children.

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if you have questions from the heart,
you are welcome to come up

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just like the children to ask
your questions to all of us adults.

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[sound of the bell]

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Woman: Okay. I'm nervous.
Lots of people.

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It's a question I've had
in my head for some months.

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It's about how to handle
the suffering that is attached

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to a mental formation that has its
beginning somewhere during childhood,

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something traumatic that happened.

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Because it's different to handle emotions
that come back in a never-ending circle,

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or an emotion that comes from something
that happens in a moment and goes away.

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I'd like a little advice how to do it.

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It confuses me to learn something that
helps me to always be happy or be at peace

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but without wanting that the pain
goes away. It's like a contradiction:

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How to embrace it without getting
caught in it, or holding it back.

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The concrete question is: How can I see
when something that comes up

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needs to be embraced, or I can just
let it go and focus on something else,

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or how can I see the point
where I'm holding it back?

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This difference where I'm embracing it
or where I'm getting stuck on it.

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How to let it go
without wanting to let go.

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I hope you understand it.

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Br. Phap Huu: Thank you for your question.

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I will share from my own experience
as a practitioner.

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First of all, we have to understand that
meditation is not to get rid of feelings.

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We don't practice it to have a single
field of emotions that we feel is us.

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But meditation, mindfulness,
is the ability to stop,

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to recognise what is happening,
what is present.

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Name it. To identify it.
To call it by its name.

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And that is acceptance.

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For me, a good word that I use,
particularly with emotions

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and feelings that are very linked
to childhood experiences,

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is to befriend it.
To befriend that emotion, that feeling.

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We can have a natural reaction, like
trying to get rid of it, or run from it.

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I've run away from particular
emotions for a very long time.

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Like you shared in your question,
it doesn't go away.

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The word that we use
in our training is 'transformation'.

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We can transform a seed, a feeling
that we have experienced

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into another feeling.

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Inviting another feeling
to embrace and take care.

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Mindfulness is an energy
that we can cultivate

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to befriend these emotions.

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The practice of our arriving
in every moment is the present moment.

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The present moment
is the place where life truly is.

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Where we can invite that emotion
to be present, to embrace it

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with our present moment of who you are.

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I can say that all of us have suffered.

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Suffering is a noble truth.
We all can understand suffering.

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It can make us relate to one another.

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Suffering can also be a prison.
We can be attached to our suffering.

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And the suffering we tend to be
attached to might not be the feeling,

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but it's the story.

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Every time that emotion, that feeling,
comes up, that story is recalled.

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Our practice is to identify the story.
Recognise the story, embrace it,

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but have the mindfulness of this present
moment that I am not in that situation.

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I am a new me today.

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This new me has the ability to embrace.

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To recognise. And to tell the child
that was wounded inside:

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"Yes, I have suffered,
I have experienced such pain.

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But in this present moment, I have
other energies that I can cultivate."

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Love for oneself. Compassion.
Courage. Solidity.

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In this present moment,
by embracing this pain,

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we don't just get lost in this story.

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It's like when we've been slapped.
We're not being slapped again.

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But this time we are aware of that pain
and we are telling ourselves

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that in that moment,
I'm cultivating something new.

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So you are healing the child.
You are transforming it

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to live, deeply, this present moment.

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And this is the work of transformation
for the samsara, the cycle.

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To have an opportunity to stop.

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On a personal note:
I've practised for more than 20 years.

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Fear is a seed that is still
very present in me.

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In particular situations, maybe if
I meet somebody who reminds me

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of someone who offered
a lot of pain to me,

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that seed of fear gets watered.

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But now as a practitioner,
I'm not afraid.

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I can become aware of my body.

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Your body will have reaction
to the fear that is channeled.

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The first place of mindfulness
is the body.

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I come back, I recognise the fear.

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I know exactly where
the reaction is coming from.

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I bring my mindfulness
to those body parts.

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I calm the nervous system
with mindful breathing,

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with total relaxation.
And in this moment of recognition,

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I tell myself: "Phap Huu, don't be afraid.
You're much more than that emotion."

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You have many other wonderful emotions.

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I call up the other emotions.
I have confidence in my practice.

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I know how to breathe.
Nobody can take that away.

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I know how to be present.

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I have learned to recognise
how to be myself.

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To be with my loved ones.

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I know how to do it.

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Mindfulness is also remembering.
Remembering how to.

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How to be in the moment
where you can be solid.

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So our practise of this present moment

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is training to take care
and to heal the wounds.

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As a mindfulness practitioner,

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we have to have the ability to know
when it's enough to be with suffering.

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We can be very ambitious
as a practitioner.

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"The monks, the nuns,
are telling me to recognise my suffering.

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OK, I see it. And now
I want to transform it all."

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Don't do that. It's a dark hole.

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Be generous and patient with yourself.

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For us, the practise is a path
of transformation. It takes time.

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We have to develop the joy and
the happiness in the present moment.

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To also let the wounded child know
that you have the ability

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to live happily in this present moment.

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This doesn't mean
"to have something to be happy".

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But in this moment, I am present.
I still have the ability to recognise

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the simple joy, the wonderful
conditions that are there.

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Recognising pain is a happy condition.

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Knowing what to do, 
what not to do.

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I hope that helps. Thank you.

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Woman: Can I say one more thing?

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So it's important not to identify
with the emotion, or with this thing.

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I understand it.

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And to know that I can decide
when I look at it and when not.

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Because it really was like you said.
I thought: "Let's look at it" for years.

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Br. Phap Huu: Yes and no.

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To not be caught and
just identify as one emotion.

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As one past story.

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Because we are
a continuous stream of life.

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If we are just caught in one story,
we'll become a victim of the story forever

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But our practise is to identify:
"Yes, in this moment, I am angry."

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"That is just one emotion, though."

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In this moment, I can invite
and invoke other energies.

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And therefore, you are
more than that emotion.

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I've done this myself: Feel very entangled
in an emotion, in a story.

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And I see myself as just that.

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But our mindfulness
of coming home to oneself,

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we know we are much more than just that.

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We are a continuation of our ancestors.

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We are a continuation of this earth.

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Sometimes, I take refuge
in land ancestors.

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I am much more than just this suffering.

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But also to own our suffering,
and be responsible to transform it.

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'Cause I've met people, sorry,
I'm going on a little bit long.

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I've met people who've become
very attached to their suffering.

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And that suffering
becomes a way to blame life.

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And using that as an excuse.

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And our teacher shared with us
that we all have the right to suffer.

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But it is our responsibility to
transform it. This is it. Thank you.