WEBVTT 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Huu: Good morning, dear respected Thay, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 dear brothers, dear sisters, dear friends. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I hope you had a relaxing and lazy morning. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You could sleep in and feel more rested 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and enjoy the wonderful space provided for us 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be in touch with our breath, with the trees, with the space. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have an opportunity for questions & answers. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is a great opportunity to put into words something 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we may have been chewing on for a long time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But with regards to the practice of mindfulness and meditation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the teachings of Plum Village, and looking back 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at our way of life, our happiness, our suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and how to apply the practice in our daily lives. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is an opportunity to ask questions. We call it "Asking from the heart." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We tend to come more towards the intellect, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but here in Plum Village we always encourage to ask: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How do we bring these teachings into our daily life? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is more important to us than philosophy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we have children with us. I'm surprised they are here. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I thought you would enjoy more laziness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is a wonderful tradition to have space for the children to ask questions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We would like to offer space to the kids to ask three to four questions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 A good question can benefit many of us. It doesn't have to be long. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It can be clear and simple. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have our brother filming the session. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Please raise your hand if you prefer not to be on camera 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and our brother will know. He will focus the camera on the monastics. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So you can be at ease if you would like to ask a question, but not be filmed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Before we listen to a question, we will listen to a sound of the bell 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to come back to our breathing, and then we ask the question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, we would like to invite the children first. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If there is a child with a question, you are welcome to come up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and sit on this chair and breathe with us. And then you can ask your question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do any of you have a question? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [sound of the bell] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Dear community, this is the first question. Our friend will ask in Italian. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Giacomo: [Italian] If there is something that we like to do, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and we see someone else do something that we might not like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but so many people are doing it, why do we end up doing that, too? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Voice offscreen: I will try to translate it and Giacomo can help me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if it's not correct, because you speak English quite well? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think the idea is: We know what we want, what we like to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But then we see others do something that we don't approve of. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We don't like what they're doing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How come we end up what they're doing even though we don't like it? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Huu: Do you need translation? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Linh: Thank you. That's a great question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We could all ask ourselves that question at the level of the whole planet. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why, when there are things that we know we don't want to do, or we don't like, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but we see that society is going that way, and we end up doing it as well. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That can happen with a group of friends, or in a choice of career that we make, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or how much money we think we need, where we should live, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 what lifestyle we think we should have. It's all a similar problem. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We get pulled into things that at some level we don't want to do, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but we find ourselves doing anyway. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So ... I think the first question that I would ask. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You started by saying that we know what it is that we like to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We know what we want. I'm not sure that that's true. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We kind of know. But do we really know? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Do we know with the power, with the strength, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that would be enough to stop us from getting pulled into things 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we don't want to do? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So we know a little bit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But could we make that more clear? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What is it that we want to do and what is it we do not want to do? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That takes contemplation. In a way, that's what meditation can be for. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our teacher used to ask us to go and quietly sit in the forest 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and ask ourselves: What is my deepest desire? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What is the thing that I want most of all? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because when we know that really clearly, it makes it much easier to say No 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 when other people are trying to pull us into something. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's the first thing. Do we really know what it is we do and don't want to do? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the second thing is that there's a competition in us, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because we like two things: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We like to do the thing we want to do, but we also like to be with our friends. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We like to feel connected to others. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We like to not stick out, so that we're not left out of the group. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If there's a group going one way, a strong part of us wants to be part of the group. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Even if they're doing something we don't really want to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are two different pulls. One is: I need to be part of the group. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am in danger if I'm not part of the group. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a very old feeling in our bodies. For a long time, maybe millions of years, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if we didn't belong to the group, we wouldn't be able to survive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We would die. So there's a strong need to be part of the group. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And when that need is in conflict with this other part of us that says: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I don't want to do what they're doing", it's difficult. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It depends which one is stronger. But it helps just to know that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You're here, we're all here. We've heard about the energy of mindfulness. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The energy that allows us to be aware what's going on inside and around us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That is the capacity to recognise: "I want to be part of the group." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When you can see and recognise it, you also have a bit more freedom. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I know, I hear you. I hear the part of me that wants to jump in, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I can also say No thank you." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sometimes in a group, when there's one person that says: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 " No. Actually, I don't want to do that." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Then maybe there's two or three or four other people in the group 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who also feel uncomfortable. Once that one person has said no, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they can also say: "Actually, I also don't want to do that." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And suddenly, the whole group can change direction 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because one person had the freedom and the courage to say No. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like you are watching what's happening around you, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but a part of you is watching what is happening inside of you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like you have an eye tracking: "I want to jump in, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but I also don't feel comfortable with what we're doing." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then you get to choose. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because otherwise you jump in before you even know. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It just happens, and then later, maybe a day, maybe a week later, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you realize you didn't want to do that. But with the energy of mindfulness, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you have more time, you have more freedom to choose. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then maybe many other people in the group will thank you later 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because they also didn't want to do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And thanks to you, they had the choice to say No. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe as a society we're a bit like that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We rely on a few people with the strength and awareness to say no to the current 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that is taking us in the direction of destroying the planet 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and causing suffering to each other. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe if a few of us can see us and say: "We don't want to go that way", 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then others can get to also say No and go a different way. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you for your question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [sound of the bell] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Girl: (French) Do plants have a nervous system? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For example if you snap a twig, are you hurting the tree? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Linh: Do the plants have a nervous system? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For example if you break a branch, does it hurt the plant? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Huu: The quickest answer is "Oui" - yes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Linh: I can add a little bit. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I would say the answer is yes and no. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because they don't exactly have a nervous system like ours. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no central brain where all the nerve impulses arrive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's been a question in science for a long time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And most scientists have said: "No, plants don't feel anything." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it's changing. So in recent years, there are a few scientists 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 finding evidence to say that plants do feel and we still don't know how. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But we know that there are electrical signals passed through the plant cells - 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 all cells are electrical in nature, just like nerve cells. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 They're not exactly like brain cells, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but they are similar enough that there is a Spanish scientist 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 who really believes, and has good evidence to show, that plants can feel. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 One of the ways they can test this is by using anaesthesia. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If you have to go to a hospital to have surgery, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 they give you an injection or a gas that makes you fall asleep, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 so you don't feel any pain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For a long time, everybody thought that only works on humans and animals. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But plants respond to anaesthesia in very much the same way, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to being put to sleep. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is all very new research. You ask a very good question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You could make a whole career as a scientist 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 out of trying to answer that question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But that's answering at the level of the head. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's also an answer at the level of the heart. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's the answer that Thay Phap Huu gave 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it's the answer you already know. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We don't feel comfortable to break a plant for no reason. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We feel like maybe we should respect them a little bit more. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We should care for them a little bit better. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe we should not be so sure that it is only us who can feel things. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If we're very sure, we can cause a lot of harm 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we can be very careless. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But if we're not sure, if there's a part of us wondering: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Will the tree feel it if I break the branch?" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that little space of openness, of "I don't know, maybe the tree can feel it" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 can make us more careful. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Not only as individuals, but collectively as a species. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's an awakening happening in the whole of society. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There are more and more people waking up to the suffering 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we are maybe causing to not just the animals that we kill to eat, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but also to the trees that we cut to build houses, like this meditation hall, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the paper that we use in the toilet, or to write on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe it is impossible to live completely without hurting anything. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's actually really hard. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But maybe there's a way to live where we cause as little harm as possible. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We try to do less damage. Maybe we can't do no damage. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I'm sure we can do less damage. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you for your question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Huu: One more question from the children sangha. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If there are no more questions from the children sangha, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 you are welcome to stay or you are welcome to go out and play. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I was told there's no children program, but there's a lot of space. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So feel free. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And now we'd like to offer space for the bigger children. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 if you have questions from the heart, you are welcome to come up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 just like the children to ask your questions to all of us adults. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [sound of the bell] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Woman: Okay. I'm nervous. Lots of people. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a question I've had in my head for some months. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's about how to handle the suffering that is attached 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to a mental formation that has its beginning somewhere during childhood, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 something traumatic that happened. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because it's different to handle emotions that come back in a never-ending circle, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or an emotion that comes from something that happens in a moment and goes away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I'd like a little advice how to do it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It confuses me to learn something that helps me to always be happy or be at peace 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but without wanting that the pain goes away. It's like a contradiction: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How to embrace it without getting caught in it, or holding it back. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The concrete question is: How can I see when something that comes up 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 needs to be embraced, or I can just let it go and focus on something else, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 or how can I see the point where I'm holding it back? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This difference where I'm embracing it or where I'm getting stuck on it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How to let it go without wanting to let go. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I hope you understand it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Huu: Thank you for your question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I will share from my own experience as a practitioner. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 First of all, we have to understand that meditation is not to get rid of feelings. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We don't practice it to have a single field of emotions that we feel is us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But meditation, mindfulness, is the ability to stop, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to recognise what is happening, what is present. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Name it. To identify it. To call it by its name. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that is acceptance. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For me, a good word that I use, particularly with emotions 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and feelings that are very linked to childhood experiences, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is to befriend it. To befriend that emotion, that feeling. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can have a natural reaction, like trying to get rid of it, or run from it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've run away from particular emotions for a very long time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Like you shared in your question, it doesn't go away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The word that we use in our training is 'transformation'. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can transform a seed, a feeling that we have experienced 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 into another feeling. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Inviting another feeling to embrace and take care. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mindfulness is an energy that we can cultivate 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to befriend these emotions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The practice of our arriving in every moment is the present moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The present moment is the place where life truly is. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Where we can invite that emotion to be present, to embrace it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with our present moment of who you are. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can say that all of us have suffered. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Suffering is a noble truth. We all can understand suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It can make us relate to one another. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Suffering can also be a prison. We can be attached to our suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the suffering we tend to be attached to might not be the feeling, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it's the story. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Every time that emotion, that feeling, comes up, that story is recalled. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our practice is to identify the story. Recognise the story, embrace it, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but have the mindfulness of this present moment that I am not in that situation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am a new me today. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This new me has the ability to embrace. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To recognise. And to tell the child that was wounded inside: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Yes, I have suffered, I have experienced such pain. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But in this present moment, I have other energies that I can cultivate." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Love for oneself. Compassion. Courage. Solidity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In this present moment, by embracing this pain, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we don't just get lost in this story. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's like when we've been slapped. We're not being slapped again. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But this time we are aware of that pain and we are telling ourselves 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that in that moment, I'm cultivating something new. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So you are healing the child. You are transforming it 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to live, deeply, this present moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And this is the work of transformation for the samsara, the cycle. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To have an opportunity to stop. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 On a personal note: I've practised for more than 20 years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Fear is a seed that is still very present in me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In particular situations, maybe if I meet somebody who reminds me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 of someone who offered a lot of pain to me, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that seed of fear gets watered. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But now as a practitioner, I'm not afraid. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I can become aware of my body. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Your body will have reaction to the fear that is channeled. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The first place of mindfulness is the body. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I come back, I recognise the fear. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know exactly where the reaction is coming from. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I bring my mindfulness to those body parts. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I calm the nervous system with mindful breathing, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 with total relaxation. And in this moment of recognition, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I tell myself: "Phap Huu, don't be afraid. You're much more than that emotion." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You have many other wonderful emotions. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I call up the other emotions. I have confidence in my practice. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know how to breathe. Nobody can take that away. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know how to be present. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I have learned to recognise how to be myself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To be with my loved ones. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know how to do it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Mindfulness is also remembering. Remembering how to. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 How to be in the moment where you can be solid. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So our practise of this present moment 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 is training to take care and to heal the wounds. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As a mindfulness practitioner, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we have to have the ability to know when it's enough to be with suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We can be very ambitious as a practitioner. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "The monks, the nuns, are telling me to recognise my suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 OK, I see it. And now I want to transform it all." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Don't do that. It's a dark hole. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Be generous and patient with yourself. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For us, the practise is a path of transformation. It takes time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We have to develop the joy and the happiness in the present moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To also let the wounded child know that you have the ability 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to live happily in this present moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This doesn't mean "to have something to be happy". 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But in this moment, I am present. I still have the ability to recognise 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the simple joy, the wonderful conditions that are there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Recognising pain is a happy condition. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Knowing what to do, what not to do. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I hope that helps. Thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Woman: Can I say one more thing? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So it's important not to identify with the emotion, or with this thing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I understand it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And to know that I can decide when I look at it and when not. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because it really was like you said. I thought: "Let's look at it" for years. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Huu: Yes and no. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To not be caught and just identify as one emotion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As one past story. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because we are a continuous stream of life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If we are just caught in one story, we'll become a victim of the story forever 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But our practise is to identify: "Yes, in this moment, I am angry." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "That is just one emotion, though." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In this moment, I can invite and invoke other energies. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And therefore, you are more than that emotion. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've done this myself: Feel very entangled in an emotion, in a story. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I see myself as just that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But our mindfulness of coming home to oneself, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we know we are much more than just that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are a continuation of our ancestors. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are a continuation of this earth. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sometimes, I take refuge in land ancestors. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I am much more than just this suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But also to own our suffering, and be responsible to transform it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 'Cause I've met people, sorry, I'm going on a little bit long. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I've met people who've become very attached to their suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And that suffering becomes a way to blame life. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And using that as an excuse. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And our teacher shared with us that we all have the right to suffer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it is our responsibility to transform it. This is it. Thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [sound of the bell] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Paolo: This matter about gardening and nourishing our seeds. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Help me to understand and to cope, I would say, with my inconsistency. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Having both grown, beautifully, my seeds of generosity, and greed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of welcoming, loving, and of anger. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Dealing with this source of having both parts, and experience in both parts. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 This is one big topic I'm working on. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But my question is about gardening others' gardens. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of course, unwillingly, I also grew anger and pain and sadness and distrust 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in people I love. It's very convenient for me to say: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Oh, I'm a new Paolo. I'm in the moment. The past is the past, don't worry." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's very convenient for me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I understand that this is not so easy for the other, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because the pain is not mine. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 What can I do about the pain that I generated, over many years maybe, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and how can I deal with it today? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Troi Bao Tang: Dear Thay, dear community, and dear friends. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's true that our mind is like a garden. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we go to the garden, we may find beautiful plants that we love. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Flowers, trees, et cetera. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But we will also find grass, and the plants we don't really like. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But they are all there. This is one thing we first have to accept. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That everything is organic and they are all there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And they all can be transformed, too. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The place where the nettles grow, if we want to change it into flowers, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it's possible. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But we can also allow the nettles to be there and see the goodness of it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So for me, for example, when I practise, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the beginning I thought I could take away all of the bad seeds in me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And to have no more bad seeds, only good seeds. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I imagined, if I practised, and one day I would not have anger any more, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 it means I am emotionally handicapped. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I don't want to be like that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I want to feel alive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But to do that, I need to have enough energy of mindfulness 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in the present moment, to recognise that something is arising 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that I don't appreciate. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Something that can cause suffering for myself and for others. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So that is why navigating our action is very important. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 First, recognise what is happening in us, and then we navigate our action. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The fourth mindfulness training is very helpful to do that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When we recognise that we are in a strong emotion, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we practise not to speak and not to act, but instead, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to recognise it and practise with that seed. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Until you feel you have enough calm. Then you can start to communicate. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Tonight we will learn more about that, in the practise of loving speech. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So let's say we have done a thing that caused suffering in the past 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and it has become a burden for us. Maybe it makes us feel guilty. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It makes us feel like we have to take the responsibility for that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So in the practise, feeling regret is very healthy. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It is not good, it is not bad to feel regret. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But that regret, if it has grown into a burden for our mind, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 then it is not very good, then it is not healthy for us. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So one thing we can practise is to change the direction of our guilt 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 into an aspiration. Into the aspiration of practising. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So let's say, I get triggered and I cannot stop myself from saying something. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To make people feel pain, for example. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If one time I feel I'm not doing it successfully, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I know that I can do it better next time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I need to make a real effort to do better the next time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Until I'm able to stop my speech, that is already good enough. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because if we are not able to save the people in the past, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we can still save the people in the present moment. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we can save the people in the future. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But this moment is very crucial to cultivate that aspiration to 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 practise and embrace that. And to not be afraid of it. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So, when we practise like that, we also have self-compassion, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we have a weakness inside, that we can still embrace. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 When you are able to be present for your loved ones, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that is already good enough to transform the past. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are made people suffer in the past unconsciously, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because we didn't have enough energy of mindfulness at the time. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 By generating energy of mindfulness and aspiration to do it better, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we can do it now. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In our practise, we have a lot of methods, we call them dharma doors, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 like touching of the earth, cultivating joy and happiness in the present moment, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that will help us to be more attentive. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In the practise, we should not be afraid of failure. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's no failure actually. We just need to exercise and to practise. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you for the question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Huu: Can I add one thing? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If we have hurt another garden, very simple, but very difficult: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Apologise. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Say "I'm sorry." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And why is it so difficult, even for us practitioners? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because we think we're right. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I share this from my own experience of living in this community. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We work with brothers and sisters 365 days. We smile a lot, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but we also get angry at each other. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And even in our greatest intention of doing things for "the greater good", 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 we will still make each other suffer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And my biggest growth as an individual is learning to say sorry. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Without explaining. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Every time I've made someone suffer in the past, I had a reason to do so. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We all do this. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Our practise of the present moment, now I've learned, when somebody expresses 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 their pain and hurt to me, of what I've done to them, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 my mind will go into the garden right away and say: "Yes but, I gave you good manure, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 now you're a better person," and you find every reason to justify your action. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And I've learned that that doesn't do me any good. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It only feeds my own ego. It only makes the other person hate me more 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because I don't listen. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the biggest support and practise in that moment is to bow and to say: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I'm so sorry I made you suffer." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because what is real is that that person is suffering. That is real. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That, for me, is what I have learned to accept. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And our practise is to help remove the knot. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we will hear the practise of beginning anew this afternoon. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But this is the biggest practise of taking care of one's garden 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and of each other's garden: Beginning anew. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To recognise the pain that we have offered, even from a good intention. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But your action has made that person suffer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And just to accept, you accept the suffering. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Maybe, in my critical mind, there's still a part of me: "I had to say that." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "I had to do that." But that's not important. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That's already in the past. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 The present is: "You suffer. It was my words. It was my choice of action. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I will learn from this. I will reflect on these actions." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And in this way, you offer the other garden understanding. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because when someone suffers, what they want the most, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 in my understanding, is to be heard, to be seen, and to be accepted. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If we're too proud of our garden, then we are not supporting and helping. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We're just showing off. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 As a practitioner, there are moments to come back to humility, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to be humble, so that we know we're not always right. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we still have compost that we need to take care of. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That, for me, is bruising, it's painful, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 but it gives us an opportunity to continue to grow. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That is the wisdom of nature. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That it's always growing. It's learning from its mistakes. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And the garden continues to bloom it its four seasons. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Thank you. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [sound of the bell] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Woman: I have more of a kid's question. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a little bit concerning the saying: A cloud never dies. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sometimes we have conversations with children about death and reincarnation. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My son often says: I don't like this reincarnation, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 because you won't be my mother in another life, and my dad won't be my dad. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's difficult to have answers. Here, we really feel that the body never dies, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 kind of like composting. And reincarnation really talks to me. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Also the heritage of our ancestors and the lineage. It's all a bit blurry. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I thought that maybe you could be clearer. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Br. Phap Linh: I'll see if I can summarise the question 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 to make sure we understood. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's two types of teaching on continuation, reincarnation, rebirth. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 In one type, it seems to be that there is something like a soul, or a person, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that gets reincarnated. And that person has a kind of continuity. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Although the relationships might change. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it's that person that then appears in another body. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And then according to Thay's teaching, it's something more blurry. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We don't see ourselves exactly as a separate entity or person 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that gets reincarnated, because we are already all of our ancestors 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 and all of our descendants. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And we are the whole cosmos. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So who dies, and who is reborn? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Could it be more clear? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 [laughter] 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think it's quite clear. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 There's a part of us that still doesn't quite trust or believe 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that we are already each other. That we are already the earth, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 the stars, the entire cosmos. The past, the future. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "Yeah, OK, I guess, intellectually, I kind of understand this interconnection. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But why is it that I feel things that you don't feel? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Or I see things from a point of view and you have a different point of view." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We are different. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We do seem to be different. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We seem to have our personalities and characteristics. We're not identical. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And yet we are, each of us, manifestations of the whole. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's very strange. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's OK for it to be strange. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Of course there's a part of us that would like it to be clear. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sort of explainable. Simple. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I think that would be more boring. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 So I like to kind of rest in the mystery. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I acknowledge the part of me that wants to know. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But I also see its limitations. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That part of me that wants to grasp and explain, in words: 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "It's like this, and then it's like that", make a nice picture, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I go: "Hello! I see you. You can rest. Take a break. This is another part of us." 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It doesn't need to resolve it. It can dwell peacefully in the mystery. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 My experience of it is that it's a much more alive place to be. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think it's beautiful that at the heart of reality, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 at the heart of the present moment, at the heart of life, of us, 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 there is something that cannot be grasped. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 That cannot be explained. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I prefer it like that. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 No? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's so much more fun. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 If it was all explainable, you could just write it down and you'd be done. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 "OK, now we know. What else should we do?" 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's kinda boring. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 For me, a part of the practise is to recognise the part of me 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 that wants to know in that kind of way. It doesn't mean that we can't know. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's just another kind of knowing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 We do know. We already know that it's a different kind of knowing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It's a knowing that can't be said in words. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 It can't be grasped. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 But it can be experienced. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Sometimes it's a little glimmer, a little flash of that knowing. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You feel it. You feel connected. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 You feel at peace. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 I think that is something that we can settle into. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 And there's words that can take us there. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 To some extent or another. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Even stories, or poems. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why do we sit here, talking, if it can't be said? 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Why did Thay give so many talks, thousands of talks. He kept talking 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 about something that can't be said. 99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999 Because if he did that and we continue to do that, it's not completely useless.