WEBVTT 00:00:02.787 --> 00:00:06.119 Br. Phap Huu: Good morning, dear respected Thay, 00:00:06.119 --> 00:00:10.752 dear brothers, dear sisters, dear friends. 00:00:10.752 --> 00:00:16.151 I hope you had a relaxing and lazy morning. 00:00:16.151 --> 00:00:19.351 You could sleep in and feel more rested 00:00:19.351 --> 00:00:24.634 and enjoy the wonderful space provided for us 00:00:24.634 --> 00:00:32.099 to be in touch with our breath, with the trees, with the space. 00:00:32.099 --> 00:00:38.431 This is an opportunity for questions & answers. 00:00:38.431 --> 00:00:46.214 It is a great opportunity to put into words 00:00:48.042 --> 00:00:52.541 something we may have been chewing on for a long time. 00:00:52.541 --> 00:01:00.290 But with regards to the practice of mindfulness and meditation, 00:01:00.290 --> 00:01:05.889 the teachings of Plum Village, and looking back 00:01:05.889 --> 00:01:11.356 at our way of life, our happiness, our suffering 00:01:11.356 --> 00:01:15.738 and how to apply the practice in our daily lives. 00:01:15.738 --> 00:01:22.337 This is an opportunity to ask questions. We call it "Asking from the heart." 00:01:22.337 --> 00:01:28.069 We tend to come more towards the intellect, 00:01:28.069 --> 00:01:36.002 but here in Plum Village we always encourage to ask: 00:01:36.002 --> 00:01:40.868 How do we bring these teachings into our daily life? 00:01:40.868 --> 00:01:47.217 This is more important to us than philosophy. 00:01:47.217 --> 00:01:52.367 And we have children with us. I'm surprised they are here. 00:01:52.367 --> 00:01:56.033 I thought you would enjoy more laziness. 00:01:56.033 --> 00:02:03.749 It is a wonderful tradition to have space for the children to ask questions. 00:02:03.749 --> 00:02:09.948 We would like to offer space to the kids to ask three to four questions. 00:02:09.948 --> 00:02:16.963 A good question can benefit many of us. It doesn't have to be long. 00:02:16.963 --> 00:02:20.963 It can be clear and simple. 00:02:20.963 --> 00:02:27.028 We have our brother filming the session. 00:02:29.128 --> 00:02:37.062 Please raise your hand if you prefer not to be on camera 00:02:37.062 --> 00:02:42.043 and our brother will know. He will focus the camera on the monastics. 00:02:42.043 --> 00:02:49.808 So you can be at ease if you would like to ask a question, but not be filmed. 00:02:54.608 --> 00:03:00.507 Before we listen to a question, we will listen to a sound of the bell 00:03:00.507 --> 00:03:05.957 to come back to our breathing, and then we ask the question. 00:03:05.957 --> 00:03:10.822 So, we would like to invite the children first. 00:03:10.822 --> 00:03:16.489 If there is a child with a question, you are welcome to come up 00:03:16.489 --> 00:03:24.238 and sit on this chair and breathe with us. And then you can ask your question. 00:03:27.038 --> 00:03:32.720 Do any of you have a question? 00:03:37.519 --> 00:03:39.358 We do. 00:04:02.817 --> 00:04:13.598 [sound of the bell] 00:04:21.613 --> 00:04:28.220 Dear community, this is the first question. Our friend will ask in Italian. 00:04:29.593 --> 00:04:34.762 Giacomo: [Italian] If there is something that we like to do, 00:04:35.347 --> 00:04:40.763 and we see someone else do something that we might not like, 00:04:41.528 --> 00:04:46.894 but so many people are doing it, why do we end up doing that, too? 00:04:48.243 --> 00:04:51.545 Voice offscreen: I will try to translate it and Giacomo can help me 00:04:52.977 --> 00:04:56.160 if it's not correct, because you speak English quite well? 00:04:57.661 --> 00:05:03.208 I think the idea is: We know what we want, what we like to do. 00:05:04.226 --> 00:05:08.076 But then we see others do something that we don't approve of. 00:05:08.775 --> 00:05:10.907 We don't like what they're doing. 00:05:11.509 --> 00:05:18.526 Why do we end up doing what they're doing even though we don't like it? 00:05:32.896 --> 00:05:36.159 Br. Phap Huu: Do you need translation? Giacomo: No, I'm OK. 00:05:39.995 --> 00:05:41.986 Br. Phap Linh: Thank you. That's a great question. 00:05:42.110 --> 00:05:49.792 We could all ask ourselves that question at the level of the whole planet. 00:05:52.858 --> 00:05:58.525 Why, when there are things that we know we don't want to do, or we don't like, 00:06:00.442 --> 00:06:05.442 but we see that society is going that way, and we end up doing it as well. 00:06:07.025 --> 00:06:14.400 That can happen with a group of friends, or in a choice of career that we make, 00:06:15.400 --> 00:06:19.858 or how much money we think we need, where we should live, 00:06:20.650 --> 00:06:27.108 what lifestyle we think we should have. It's all a similar problem. 00:06:27.775 --> 00:06:35.192 We get pulled into things that at some level we don't want to do, 00:06:35.650 --> 00:06:38.150 but we find ourselves doing anyway. 00:06:40.358 --> 00:06:47.067 So ... I think the first question that I would ask. 00:06:50.358 --> 00:06:56.692 You started by saying that we know what it is that we like to do. 00:06:57.192 --> 00:07:01.858 We know what we want. I'm not sure that that's true. 00:07:05.358 --> 00:07:11.275 We kind of know. But do we really know? 00:07:13.067 --> 00:07:18.317 Do we know with the power, with the strength, 00:07:19.233 --> 00:07:24.317 that would be enough to stop us from getting pulled into things 00:07:24.733 --> 00:07:26.775 that we don't want to do? 00:07:28.733 --> 00:07:30.400 So we know a little bit. 00:07:31.650 --> 00:07:33.983 But could we make that more clear? 00:07:34.608 --> 00:07:40.733 What is it that we want to do and what is it we do not want to do? 00:07:42.733 --> 00:07:50.233 That takes contemplation. In a way, that's what meditation can be for. 00:07:51.483 --> 00:07:56.233 Our teacher used to ask us to go and quietly sit in the forest 00:07:57.108 --> 00:08:02.108 and ask ourselves: What is my deepest desire? 00:08:03.483 --> 00:08:05.650 What is the thing that I want most of all? 00:08:06.108 --> 00:08:11.067 Because when we know that really clearly, it makes it much easier to say No 00:08:12.275 --> 00:08:15.650 when other people are trying to pull us into something. 00:08:16.442 --> 00:08:22.317 That's the first thing. Do we really know what it is we do and don't want to do? 00:08:24.108 --> 00:08:33.775 And the second thing is that there's a competition in us, 00:08:34.483 --> 00:08:37.567 because we like two things: 00:08:38.025 --> 00:08:44.025 We like to do the thing we want to do, but we also like to be with our friends. 00:08:45.858 --> 00:08:51.484 We like to feel connected to others. 00:08:52.359 --> 00:08:58.483 We like to not stick out, so that we're not left out of the group. 00:08:59.150 --> 00:09:07.650 If there's a group going one way, a strong part of us wants to be part of the group. 00:09:08.983 --> 00:09:13.317 Even if they're doing something we don't really want to do. 00:09:14.067 --> 00:09:18.733 There are two different pulls. One is: I need to be part of the group. 00:09:19.608 --> 00:09:23.525 I am in danger if I'm not part of the group. 00:09:24.525 --> 00:09:32.233 That's a very old feeling in our bodies. For a long time, maybe millions of years, 00:09:33.817 --> 00:09:38.650 if we didn't belong to the group, we wouldn't be able to survive. 00:09:39.900 --> 00:09:46.358 We would die. So there's a strong need to be part of the group. 00:09:48.650 --> 00:09:55.483 And when that need is in conflict with this other part of us that says: 00:09:55.900 --> 00:09:59.858 "I don't want to do what they're doing", it's difficult. 00:10:00.400 --> 00:10:07.858 It depends which one is stronger. But it helps just to know that. 00:10:10.317 --> 00:10:15.400 You're here, we're all here. We've heard about the energy of mindfulness. 00:10:19.525 --> 00:10:27.233 The energy that allows us to be aware what's going on inside and around us. 00:10:29.150 --> 00:10:35.233 That is the capacity to recognise: "I want to be part of the group." 00:10:37.567 --> 00:10:44.025 When you can see and recognise it, you also have a bit more freedom. 00:10:45.692 --> 00:10:52.150 You can say: "I hear you. I hear the part of me that wants to jump in, 00:10:53.358 --> 00:10:58.150 but I can also say No thank you." 00:10:59.900 --> 00:11:07.150 Sometimes in a group, when there's one person that says: 00:11:07.775 --> 00:11:11.483 " No. Actually, I don't want to do that." 00:11:12.733 --> 00:11:16.733 Then maybe there's two or three or four other people in the group 00:11:17.608 --> 00:11:23.233 who also feel uncomfortable. Once that one person has said no, 00:11:23.775 --> 00:11:27.483 they can also say: "Actually, I also don't want to do that." 00:11:27.983 --> 00:11:31.942 And suddenly, the whole group can change direction 00:11:32.650 --> 00:11:38.379 because one person had the freedom and the courage to say No. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:44.069 So if you know how to generate the energy of mindfulness, ... 00:11:46.401 --> 00:11:49.983 It's like you are watching what's happening around you, 00:11:50.150 --> 00:11:54.150 but a part of you is watching what is happening inside of you. 00:11:55.608 --> 00:12:01.692 It's like you have an eye tracking: "I want to jump in, 00:12:02.233 --> 00:12:06.400 but I also don't feel comfortable with what we're doing." 00:12:07.400 --> 00:12:09.817 And then you get to choose. 00:12:10.525 --> 00:12:13.233 Because otherwise you jump in before you even know. 00:12:14.483 --> 00:12:19.400 It just happens, and then later, maybe a day, maybe a week later, 00:12:19.858 --> 00:12:24.275 you realize you didn't want to do that. But with the energy of mindfulness, 00:12:24.775 --> 00:12:29.067 you have more time, you have more freedom to choose. 00:12:30.275 --> 00:12:35.025 And then maybe many other people in the group will thank you later 00:12:35.442 --> 00:12:37.608 because they also didn't want to do that. 00:12:38.108 --> 00:12:42.483 And thanks to you, they had the choice to say No. 00:12:43.525 --> 00:12:47.067 Maybe as a society we're a bit like that. 00:12:47.525 --> 00:12:57.108 We rely on a few people with the strength and awareness to say no to the current 00:12:57.983 --> 00:13:03.483 that is taking us in the direction of destroying the planet 00:13:04.067 --> 00:13:06.483 and causing suffering to each other. 00:13:07.775 --> 00:13:11.150 Maybe if a few of us can see us and say: "We don't want to go that way", 00:13:11.817 --> 00:13:17.692 then others can get to also say No and go a different way. 00:13:19.358 --> 00:13:21.025 Thank you for your question. 00:14:01.692 --> 00:14:07.358 [sound of the bell] 00:14:34.067 --> 00:14:36.817 Girl: (French) Do plants have a nervous system? 00:14:37.567 --> 00:14:40.567 For example if you snap a twig, are you hurting the tree? 00:14:44.317 --> 00:14:47.400 Br. Phap Linh: Do the plants have a nervous system? 00:14:48.442 --> 00:14:52.108 For example if you break a branch, does it hurt the plant? 00:15:10.567 --> 00:15:15.150 Br. Phap Huu: The quickest answer is "Oui" - yes. 00:15:21.150 --> 00:15:22.983 Br. Phap Linh: I can add a little bit. 00:15:27.048 --> 00:15:30.858 I would say the answer is yes and no. 00:15:31.608 --> 00:15:37.733 Because they don't exactly have a nervous system like ours. 00:15:39.233 --> 00:15:45.483 There's no central brain where all the nerve impulses arrive. 00:15:48.525 --> 00:15:52.233 It's been a question in science for a long time. 00:15:53.108 --> 00:15:58.358 And most scientists have said: "No, plants don't feel anything." 00:15:59.567 --> 00:16:05.108 But it's changing. So in recent years, there are a few scientists 00:16:06.150 --> 00:16:17.400 finding evidence to say that plants do feel and we still don't know how. 00:16:20.025 --> 00:16:26.150 But we know that there are electrical signals passed through the plant cells - 00:16:27.608 --> 00:16:31.025 all cells are electrical in nature, just like nerve cells. 00:16:31.650 --> 00:16:34.483 They're not exactly like brain cells, 00:16:35.317 --> 00:16:39.400 but they are similar enough that there is a Spanish scientist 00:16:40.108 --> 00:16:46.150 who really believes, and has good evidence to show, that plants can feel. 00:16:47.150 --> 00:16:53.817 One of the ways they can test this is by using anaesthesia. 00:16:54.858 --> 00:16:58.358 If you have to go to a hospital to have surgery, 00:17:00.067 --> 00:17:05.150 they give you an injection or a gas that makes you fall asleep, 00:17:05.983 --> 00:17:08.275 so you don't feel any pain. 00:17:13.025 --> 00:17:19.525 For a long time, everybody thought that only works on humans and animals. 00:17:20.817 --> 00:17:25.608 But plants respond to anaesthesia in very much the same way, 00:17:27.233 --> 00:17:30.817 to being put to sleep. 00:17:32.858 --> 00:17:36.442 This is all very new research. You ask a very good question. 00:17:37.358 --> 00:17:41.108 You could make a whole career as a scientist 00:17:41.983 --> 00:17:44.525 out of trying to answer that question. 00:17:45.608 --> 00:17:48.317 But that's answering at the level of the head. 00:17:49.358 --> 00:17:51.733 There's also an answer at the level of the heart. 00:17:52.442 --> 00:17:54.733 It's the answer that Thay Phap Huu gave 00:17:55.525 --> 00:17:57.900 and it's the answer you already know. 00:17:58.858 --> 00:18:08.483 We don't feel comfortable to break a plant for no reason. 00:18:10.025 --> 00:18:14.150 We feel like maybe we should respect them a little bit more. 00:18:14.775 --> 00:18:18.608 We should care for them a little bit better. 00:18:19.483 --> 00:18:28.483 Maybe we should not be so sure that it is only us who can feel things. 00:18:31.650 --> 00:18:36.317 If we're very sure, we can cause a lot of harm 00:18:37.150 --> 00:18:39.192 we can be very careless. 00:18:39.692 --> 00:18:43.275 But if we're not sure, if there's a part of us wondering: 00:18:44.483 --> 00:18:48.233 "Will the tree feel it if I break the branch?" 00:18:49.983 --> 00:18:56.942 that little space of openness, of "I don't know, maybe the tree can feel it" 00:18:58.067 --> 00:19:01.358 can make us more careful. 00:19:02.817 --> 00:19:07.108 Not only as individuals, but collectively as a species. 00:19:07.900 --> 00:19:15.233 There's an awakening happening in the whole of society. 00:19:15.942 --> 00:19:19.483 There are more and more people waking up to the suffering 00:19:20.150 --> 00:19:25.233 that we are maybe causing to not just the animals that we kill to eat, 00:19:25.858 --> 00:19:32.483 but also to the trees that we cut to build houses, like this meditation hall, 00:19:35.567 --> 00:19:41.233 the paper that we use in the toilet, or to write on. 00:19:42.483 --> 00:19:50.442 Maybe it is impossible to live completely without hurting anything. 00:19:52.525 --> 00:19:54.483 It's actually really hard. 00:19:57.442 --> 00:20:02.983 But maybe there's a way to live where we cause as little harm as possible. 00:20:04.358 --> 00:20:08.650 We try to do less damage. Maybe we can't do no damage. 00:20:09.233 --> 00:20:12.150 But I'm sure we can do less damage. 00:20:14.983 --> 00:20:17.442 Thank you for your question. 00:20:22.900 --> 00:20:28.067 Br. Phap Huu: One more question from the children sangha. 00:21:05.483 --> 00:21:09.025 If there are no more questions from the children sangha, 00:21:09.983 --> 00:21:14.733 you are welcome to stay or you are welcome to go out and play. 00:21:15.442 --> 00:21:21.983 I was told there's no children program, but there's a lot of space. 00:21:22.942 --> 00:21:24.692 So feel free. 00:21:25.067 --> 00:21:28.108 And now we'd like to offer space for the bigger children. 00:21:28.483 --> 00:21:34.650 if you have questions from the heart, you are welcome to come up 00:21:35.233 --> 00:21:43.775 just like the children to ask your questions to all of us adults. 00:22:10.067 --> 00:22:19.650 [sound of the bell] 00:22:45.025 --> 00:22:49.692 Woman: Okay. I'm nervous. Lots of people. 00:22:52.858 --> 00:22:56.608 It's a question I've had in my head for some months. 00:22:58.358 --> 00:23:07.150 It's about how to handle the suffering that is attached 00:23:07.858 --> 00:23:16.567 to a mental formation that has its beginning somewhere during childhood, 00:23:17.692 --> 00:23:20.983 something traumatic that happened. 00:23:23.817 --> 00:23:28.347 Because it's different to handle emotions 00:23:28.371 --> 00:23:32.900 that come back in a never-ending circle, 00:23:33.900 --> 00:23:39.650 or an emotion that comes from something that happens in a moment and goes away. 00:23:42.567 --> 00:23:45.733 I'd like a little advice how to do it. 00:23:46.692 --> 00:23:52.230 It confuses me to learn something 00:23:52.254 --> 00:24:00.067 that helps me to always be happy or be at peace 00:24:05.108 --> 00:24:12.858 but without wanting that the pain goes away. It's like a contradiction: 00:24:14.442 --> 00:24:21.817 How to embrace it without getting caught in it, or holding it back. 00:24:23.942 --> 00:24:27.723 The concrete question is: 00:24:30.237 --> 00:24:37.817 How can I see when something that comes up 00:24:38.069 --> 00:24:44.914 needs to be embraced, or I can just let it go and focus on something else, 00:24:47.815 --> 00:24:53.358 or how can I see the point where I'm holding it back? 00:24:54.233 --> 00:24:58.942 This difference where I'm embracing it or where I'm getting stuck on it. 00:24:59.775 --> 00:25:05.192 How to let it go without it wanting to let go. 00:25:06.233 --> 00:25:08.233 I hope you understand it. 00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:24.858 Br. Phap Huu: Thank you for your question. 00:25:28.150 --> 00:25:31.233 I will share from my own experience as a practitioner. 00:25:34.692 --> 00:25:44.358 First of all, we have to understand that meditation is not to get rid of feelings. 00:25:46.233 --> 00:25:59.442 We don't practice it to have a single field of emotions that we feel is us. 00:26:01.067 --> 00:26:07.983 But meditation, mindfulness, is the ability to stop, 00:26:09.942 --> 00:26:13.483 to recognise what is happening, what is present. 00:26:14.608 --> 00:26:19.025 Name it. To identify it. To call it by its name. 00:26:20.942 --> 00:26:23.358 And that is acceptance. 00:26:24.025 --> 00:26:31.817 For me, a good word that I use, particularly with emotions 00:26:32.650 --> 00:26:39.400 and feelings that are very linked to childhood and experiences, 00:26:40.025 --> 00:26:46.192 is to befriend it. To befriend that emotion, that feeling. 00:26:48.067 --> 00:26:56.358 We can have a natural reaction, like trying to get rid of it, or run from it. 00:26:57.775 --> 00:27:01.317 I've run away from particular emotions for a very long time. 00:27:02.025 --> 00:27:07.692 Like you shared in your question, it doesn't go away. 00:27:10.275 --> 00:27:17.900 The word that we use in our training is 'transformation'. 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:25.567 We can transform a seed, a feeling that we have experienced 00:27:26.900 --> 00:27:29.150 into another feeling. 00:27:29.942 --> 00:27:33.275 Inviting another feeling to embrace and take care. 00:27:33.817 --> 00:27:41.733 Mindfulness is an energy that we can cultivate 00:27:43.358 --> 00:27:47.900 to befriend these emotions. 00:27:50.150 --> 00:27:56.442 The practice of our arriving in every moment is the present moment. 00:27:57.983 --> 00:28:03.317 The present moment is the place where life truly is. 00:28:04.692 --> 00:28:12.067 Where we can invite that emotion to be present, to embrace it 00:28:12.650 --> 00:28:15.692 with our present moment of who you are. 00:28:17.608 --> 00:28:22.067 I can say that all of us have suffered. 00:28:23.525 --> 00:28:30.900 Suffering is a noble truth. We all can understand suffering. 00:28:32.025 --> 00:28:36.400 It can make us relate to one another. 00:28:37.692 --> 00:28:45.692 Suffering can also be a prison. We can be attached to our suffering. 00:28:47.192 --> 00:28:54.983 And the suffering we tend to be attached to might not be the feeling, 00:28:55.608 --> 00:28:57.608 but it's the story. 00:28:59.567 --> 00:29:09.942 Every time that emotion, that feeling, comes up, that story is recalled. 00:29:11.400 --> 00:29:18.116 Our practice is to identify the story. Recognise the story, embrace it, 00:29:18.184 --> 00:29:26.858 but have the mindfulness of this present moment that I am not in that situation. 00:29:27.900 --> 00:29:30.192 I am a new me today. 00:29:31.567 --> 00:29:36.525 This new me has the ability to embrace. 00:29:37.400 --> 00:29:45.567 To recognise. And to tell the child that was wounded inside: 00:29:46.692 --> 00:29:52.650 "Yes, I have suffered, I have experienced such pain. 00:29:54.025 --> 00:30:03.108 But in this present moment, I have other energies that I can cultivate." 00:30:05.025 --> 00:30:12.608 Love for oneself. Compassion. Courage. Solidity. 00:30:15.317 --> 00:30:20.275 In this present moment, by embracing this pain, 00:30:22.608 --> 00:30:25.400 we don't just get lost in this story. 00:30:25.900 --> 00:30:32.692 It's like when we've been slapped. We're not being slapped again. 00:30:34.275 --> 00:30:40.025 But this time we are aware of that pain and we are telling ourselves 00:30:40.608 --> 00:30:45.067 that in that moment, I'm cultivating something new. 00:30:45.567 --> 00:30:50.567 So you are healing the child. You are transforming it 00:30:51.108 --> 00:30:55.067 to live, deeply, this present moment. 00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:04.275 And this is the work of transformation for the samsara, the cycle. 00:31:06.317 --> 00:31:09.650 To have an opportunity to stop. 00:31:13.983 --> 00:31:22.525 On a personal note: I've practised for more than 20 years. 00:31:26.040 --> 00:31:30.192 Fear is a seed that is still very present in me. 00:31:33.525 --> 00:31:39.692 In particular situations, maybe if I meet somebody who reminds me 00:31:40.608 --> 00:31:45.692 of someone who offered a lot of pain to me, 00:31:47.067 --> 00:31:50.567 that seed of fear gets watered. 00:31:52.275 --> 00:31:56.442 But now as a practitioner, I'm not afraid. 00:31:57.317 --> 00:31:59.233 I can become aware of my body. 00:31:59.816 --> 00:32:06.483 Your body will have a reaction to the fear that is channeled. 00:32:07.112 --> 00:32:10.525 The first place of mindfulness is the body. 00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:13.858 I come back, I recognise the fear. 00:32:14.567 --> 00:32:18.233 I know exactly where the reaction is coming from. 00:32:18.608 --> 00:32:22.525 I bring my mindfulness to those body parts. 00:32:23.525 --> 00:32:27.400 I calm the nervous system with mindful breathing, 00:32:28.108 --> 00:32:31.166 or with total relaxation. 00:32:32.095 --> 00:32:36.630 And in this moment of recognising the seed of fear, 00:32:37.404 --> 00:32:43.155 I tell myself: "Phap Huu, don't be afraid. 00:32:43.863 --> 00:32:47.650 You're much more than that emotion." 00:32:48.608 --> 00:32:51.025 You have many other wonderful emotions. 00:32:51.650 --> 00:32:58.233 I call up the other emotions. I have confidence in my practice. 00:32:59.858 --> 00:33:02.983 I know how to breathe. Nobody can take that away. 00:33:04.733 --> 00:33:06.733 I know how to be present. 00:33:07.192 --> 00:33:12.067 I have learned to recognise how to be myself. 00:33:12.733 --> 00:33:14.608 To be with my loved ones. 00:33:14.942 --> 00:33:17.067 I know how to do it. 00:33:17.442 --> 00:33:22.483 Mindfulness is also remembering. Remembering how to. 00:33:22.983 --> 00:33:27.192 How to be in the moment where you can be solid. 00:33:29.199 --> 00:33:32.900 So our practise of this present moment 00:33:35.192 --> 00:33:39.483 is training to take care and to heal the wounds. 00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:44.733 As a mindfulness practitioner, 00:33:46.483 --> 00:33:54.775 we have to have the ability to know when it's enough to be with suffering. 00:33:56.317 --> 00:34:00.567 We can be very ambitious as a practitioner. 00:34:01.483 --> 00:34:05.358 "The monks, the nuns, are telling me to recognise my suffering. 00:34:06.233 --> 00:34:09.025 OK, I see it. And now I want to transform it all." 00:34:10.817 --> 00:34:13.400 Don't do that. It's a dark hole. 00:34:15.150 --> 00:34:18.650 Be generous and patient with yourself. 00:34:19.483 --> 00:34:26.358 For us, the practise is a path of transformation. It takes time. 00:34:28.858 --> 00:34:36.525 We have to develop the joy and the happiness in the present moment. 00:34:37.358 --> 00:34:42.192 To also let the wounded child know that you have the ability 00:34:43.775 --> 00:34:46.650 to live happily in this present moment. 00:34:48.067 --> 00:34:52.150 This doesn't mean "to have something to be happy". 00:34:53.192 --> 00:34:58.150 But in this moment, I am present. I still have the ability to recognise 00:34:59.400 --> 00:35:02.858 the simple joy, the wonderful conditions that are there. 00:35:04.150 --> 00:35:06.942 Recognising pain is a happy condition. 00:35:08.192 --> 00:35:10.483 Knowing what to do, what not to do. 00:35:13.400 --> 00:35:15.608 I hope that helps. Thank you. 00:35:20.108 --> 00:35:22.150 Woman: Can I say one more thing? 00:35:23.067 --> 00:35:30.817 So it's important not to identify with the emotion, or with this thing. 00:35:33.942 --> 00:35:36.567 I understand it. 00:35:38.567 --> 00:35:44.650 And to know that I can decide when I look at it and when not. 00:35:45.733 --> 00:35:52.233 Because it really was like you said. I thought: "Let's look at it" for years. 00:36:00.025 --> 00:36:03.067 Br. Phap Huu: Yes and no. 00:36:05.983 --> 00:36:12.150 To not be caught and just identify as one emotion. 00:36:13.609 --> 00:36:16.608 As one past story. 00:36:18.442 --> 00:36:21.067 Because we are a continuous stream of life. 00:36:21.733 --> 00:36:29.192 If we are just caught in one story, we'll become a victim of the story forever 00:36:31.358 --> 00:36:38.233 But our practise is to identify: "Yes, in this moment, I am angry." 00:36:40.317 --> 00:36:42.358 "That is just one emotion, though." 00:36:42.733 --> 00:36:50.525 In this moment, I can invite and invoke other energies. 00:36:51.025 --> 00:36:54.233 And therefore, you are more than that emotion. 00:36:55.025 --> 00:37:02.071 I've done this myself: 00:37:02.095 --> 00:37:06.858 Feel very entangled in an emotion, in a story. 00:37:07.442 --> 00:37:09.817 And I see myself as just that. 00:37:11.442 --> 00:37:14.650 But our mindfulness of coming home to oneself, 00:37:15.608 --> 00:37:18.192 we know we are much more than just that. 00:37:19.525 --> 00:37:22.858 We are a continuation of our ancestors. 00:37:24.025 --> 00:37:26.817 We are a continuation of this earth. 00:37:27.317 --> 00:37:29.983 Sometimes, I take refuge in land ancestors. 00:37:31.442 --> 00:37:34.275 I am much more than just this suffering. 00:37:35.983 --> 00:37:40.405 But also to own our suffering, 00:37:40.429 --> 00:37:44.275 and be responsible to transform it. 00:37:45.025 --> 00:37:49.900 'Cause I've met people, sorry, I'm going on a little bit long. 00:37:51.733 --> 00:37:55.983 I've met people who've become very attached to their suffering. 00:37:57.525 --> 00:38:02.108 And that suffering becomes a way to blame life. 00:38:04.150 --> 00:38:06.442 And using that as an excuse. 00:38:06.983 --> 00:38:11.150 And our teacher shared with us that we all have the right to suffer. 00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:20.525 But it is our responsibility to transform it. This is it. Thank you. 00:38:56.052 --> 00:39:02.900 [sound of the bell] 00:39:29.358 --> 00:39:34.817 Paolo: This matter about gardening and nourishing our seeds. 00:39:38.025 --> 00:39:44.942 Help me to understand and to cope, I would say, with my inconsistency. 00:39:46.233 --> 00:39:55.108 Having both grown, beautifully, my seeds of generosity, and greed. 00:39:56.817 --> 00:40:00.567 Of welcoming, loving, and of anger. 00:40:02.775 --> 00:40:12.483 Dealing with this source of having both parts, and experiencing both parts. 00:40:12.900 --> 00:40:17.067 This is one big topic I'm working on. 00:40:18.858 --> 00:40:23.858 But my question is about gardening others' gardens. 00:40:25.067 --> 00:40:36.108 Of course, unwillingly, I also grew anger and pain and sadness and distrust 00:40:37.775 --> 00:40:42.733 in people I love. It's very convenient for me to say: 00:40:43.608 --> 00:40:49.275 "Oh, I'm a new Paolo. I'm in the moment. The past is the past, don't worry." 00:40:50.108 --> 00:40:52.275 It's very convenient for me. 00:40:52.775 --> 00:40:56.983 But I understand that this is not so easy for the other, 00:40:57.525 --> 00:40:59.358 because the pain is not mine. 00:40:59.692 --> 00:41:05.442 What can I do about the pain that I generated, over many years maybe, 00:41:07.150 --> 00:41:10.567 and how can I deal with it today? 00:41:28.775 --> 00:41:31.858 Br. Troi Bao Tang: Dear Thay, dear community, and dear friends. 00:41:33.067 --> 00:41:37.942 It's true that our mind is like a garden. 00:41:39.733 --> 00:41:45.525 When we go to the garden, we may find beautiful plants that we love. 00:41:46.775 --> 00:41:48.983 Flowers, trees, et cetera. 00:41:50.858 --> 00:41:58.567 But we will also find grass, and the plants we don't really like. 00:42:05.803 --> 00:42:11.650 But they are all there. This is one thing we first have to accept. 00:42:12.942 --> 00:42:16.192 That everything is organic and they are all there. 00:42:17.525 --> 00:42:19.983 And they all can be transformed, too. 00:42:21.275 --> 00:42:29.067 The place where the nettles grow, if we want to change it into flowers, 00:42:29.775 --> 00:42:32.025 it's possible. 00:42:33.358 --> 00:42:38.983 But we can also allow the nettles to be there and see the goodness of it. 00:42:42.317 --> 00:42:47.108 So for me, for example, when I practise, 00:42:50.233 --> 00:42:56.775 in the beginning I thought I could take away all of the bad seeds in me. 00:42:57.733 --> 00:43:00.275 And to have no more bad seeds, only good seeds. 00:43:02.192 --> 00:43:07.858 I imagined, if I practised, and one day I would not have anger any more, 00:43:09.692 --> 00:43:13.150 it means I am emotionally handicapped. 00:43:14.775 --> 00:43:17.400 And I don't want to be like that. 00:43:18.567 --> 00:43:20.525 I want to feel alive. 00:43:22.442 --> 00:43:27.025 But to do that, I need to have enough energy of mindfulness 00:43:27.858 --> 00:43:32.733 in the present moment, to recognise that something is arising 00:43:33.650 --> 00:43:37.233 that I don't appreciate. 00:43:39.400 --> 00:43:44.900 Something that can cause suffering for myself and for others. 00:43:48.567 --> 00:43:52.400 So that is why navigating our action is very important. 00:43:53.442 --> 00:43:58.692 First, recognise what is happening in us, and then we navigate our action. 00:44:01.025 --> 00:44:04.900 The fourth mindfulness training is very helpful to do that. 00:44:06.150 --> 00:44:09.400 When we recognise that we are in a strong emotion, 00:44:11.233 --> 00:44:15.858 we practise not to speak and not to act, but instead, 00:44:16.942 --> 00:44:19.317 to recognise it and practise with that seed. 00:44:21.025 --> 00:44:28.692 Until you feel you have enough calm. Then you can start to communicate. 00:44:30.650 --> 00:44:36.608 Tonight we will learn more about that, in the practise of loving speech. 00:44:39.358 --> 00:44:45.608 So let's say we have done a thing that caused suffering in the past 00:44:46.650 --> 00:44:55.150 and it has become a burden for us. Maybe it makes us feel guilty. 00:44:56.858 --> 00:45:00.233 It makes us feel like we have to take the responsibility for that. 00:45:03.650 --> 00:45:07.817 So in the practise, feeling regret is very healthy. 00:45:09.067 --> 00:45:12.192 It is not good, it is not bad to feel regret. 00:45:12.983 --> 00:45:19.608 But that regret, if it has grown into a burden for our mind, 00:45:20.608 --> 00:45:23.900 then it is not very good, then it is not healthy for us. 00:45:24.942 --> 00:45:30.983 So one thing we can practise is to change the direction of our guilt 00:45:31.775 --> 00:45:39.192 into an aspiration. Into the aspiration of practising. 00:45:40.900 --> 00:45:49.025 So let's say, I get triggered and I cannot stop myself from saying something. 00:45:50.025 --> 00:45:52.775 To make people feel pain, for example. 00:45:53.858 --> 00:45:57.817 If one time I feel I'm not doing it successfully, 00:45:59.025 --> 00:46:01.233 I know that I can do it better next time. 00:46:01.983 --> 00:46:06.400 And I need to make a real effort to do better the next time. 00:46:08.733 --> 00:46:13.567 Until I'm able to stop my speech, that is already good enough. 00:46:18.775 --> 00:46:21.900 Because if we are not able to save the people in the past, 00:46:22.525 --> 00:46:24.817 we can still save the people in the present moment. 00:46:25.525 --> 00:46:27.900 And we can save the people in the future. 00:46:29.067 --> 00:46:34.608 But this moment is very crucial to cultivate that aspiration to 00:46:35.525 --> 00:46:39.855 practise and embrace that. And to not be afraid of it. 00:46:41.355 --> 00:46:44.983 So, when we practise like that, we also have self-compassion, 00:46:45.567 --> 00:46:49.483 that we have a weakness inside, that we can still embrace. 00:46:54.317 --> 00:46:59.192 When you are able to be present for your loved ones, 00:47:00.775 --> 00:47:04.192 that is already good enough to transform the past. 00:47:10.483 --> 00:47:17.108 We made people suffer in the past unconsciously, 00:47:17.650 --> 00:47:21.567 because we didn't have enough energy of mindfulness at the time. 00:47:22.900 --> 00:47:30.692 By generating energy of mindfulness and aspiration to do it better, 00:47:31.983 --> 00:47:34.942 we can do it now. 00:47:35.317 --> 00:47:41.317 In our practise, we have a lot of methods, we call them dharma doors, 00:47:43.192 --> 00:47:49.329 like touching of the earth, 00:47:49.353 --> 00:47:54.442 cultivating joy and happiness in the present moment, 00:47:55.608 --> 00:47:58.442 that will help us to be more attentive. 00:48:00.233 --> 00:48:03.317 In the practise, we should not be afraid of failure. 00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:08.442 There's no failure actually. We just need to exercise and to practise. 00:48:09.650 --> 00:48:12.108 Thank you for the question. 00:48:13.400 --> 00:48:15.400 Br. Phap Huu: Can I add one thing? 00:48:16.067 --> 00:48:26.025 If we have hurt another garden, very simple, but very difficult: 00:48:28.233 --> 00:48:30.192 Apologise. 00:48:31.025 --> 00:48:32.692 Say "I'm sorry." 00:48:35.858 --> 00:48:38.650 And why is it so difficult, even for us practitioners? 00:48:39.525 --> 00:48:41.483 Because we think we're right. 00:48:44.442 --> 00:48:48.317 And I share this from my own experience of living in this community. 00:48:49.692 --> 00:48:54.863 We work with brothers and sisters 365 days. 00:48:56.127 --> 00:48:59.067 We smile a lot, 00:48:59.525 --> 00:49:01.942 but we also get angry at each other. 00:49:03.733 --> 00:49:11.192 And even in our greatest intention of doing things for "the greater good", 00:49:14.942 --> 00:49:18.442 we will still make each other suffer. 00:49:20.733 --> 00:49:27.525 And my biggest growth as an individual is learning to say sorry. 00:49:28.692 --> 00:49:30.775 Without explaining. 00:49:32.067 --> 00:49:38.900 Every time I've made someone suffer in the past, I had a reason to do so. 00:49:41.775 --> 00:49:43.817 We all do this. 00:49:45.900 --> 00:49:50.733 Our practise of the present moment, now I've learned, when somebody expresses 00:49:51.358 --> 00:49:54.650 their pain and hurt to me, of what I've done to them, 00:49:55.817 --> 00:50:02.983 my mind will go into the garden right away and say: "Yes but, I gave you good manure, 00:50:03.942 --> 00:50:10.608 now you're a better person," and you find every reason to justify your action. 00:50:12.400 --> 00:50:15.650 And I've learned that that doesn't do me any good. 00:50:16.733 --> 00:50:21.525 It only feeds my own ego. It only makes the other person hate me more 00:50:22.275 --> 00:50:24.400 because I don't listen. 00:50:25.483 --> 00:50:37.025 And the biggest support and practise in that moment is to bow and to say: 00:50:37.525 --> 00:50:41.067 "I'm so sorry I made you suffer." 00:50:41.442 --> 00:50:46.317 Because what is real is that that person is suffering. That is real. 00:50:47.608 --> 00:50:52.317 That, for me, is what I have learned to accept. 00:50:54.067 --> 00:50:58.317 And our practise is to help remove the knot. 00:51:01.698 --> 00:51:05.692 And we will hear the practise of beginning anew this afternoon. 00:51:06.608 --> 00:51:11.233 But this is the biggest practise of taking care of one's garden 00:51:12.192 --> 00:51:15.775 and of each other's garden: Beginning anew. 00:51:16.775 --> 00:51:26.608 To recognise the pain that we have offered, even from a good intention. 00:51:29.150 --> 00:51:33.025 But your action has made that person suffer. 00:51:35.150 --> 00:51:38.650 And just to accept, you accept the suffering. 00:51:39.567 --> 00:51:44.150 Maybe, in my critical mind, there's still a part of me: "I had to say that." 00:51:45.442 --> 00:51:48.650 "I had to do that." But that's not important. 00:51:48.983 --> 00:51:51.150 That's already in the past. 00:51:51.442 --> 00:51:59.317 The present is: "You suffer. It was my words. It was my choice of action. 00:52:00.900 --> 00:52:05.858 I will learn from this. I will reflect on these actions." 00:52:06.942 --> 00:52:12.692 And in this way, you offer the other garden understanding. 00:52:14.358 --> 00:52:17.942 Because when someone suffers, what they want the most, 00:52:18.692 --> 00:52:26.650 in my understanding, is to be heard, to be seen, and to be accepted. 00:52:32.368 --> 00:52:35.406 If we're too proud of our garden, 00:52:35.525 --> 00:52:42.525 then we are not supporting and helping. 00:52:43.025 --> 00:52:44.775 We're just showing off. 00:52:45.150 --> 00:52:50.567 As a practitioner, there are moments to come back to humility, 00:52:51.650 --> 00:52:56.775 to be humble, so that we know we're not always right. 00:52:58.442 --> 00:53:02.733 And we still have compost that we need to take care of. 00:53:04.650 --> 00:53:09.567 That, for me, is bruising, it's painful, 00:53:11.733 --> 00:53:18.275 but it gives us an opportunity to continue to grow. 00:53:21.733 --> 00:53:24.317 That is the wisdom of nature. 00:53:25.150 --> 00:53:28.858 That it's always growing. It's learning from its mistakes. 00:53:30.317 --> 00:53:34.150 And the garden continues to bloom it its four seasons. 00:53:35.192 --> 00:53:36.900 Thank you. 00:54:05.817 --> 00:54:12.900 [sound of the bell] 00:54:34.150 --> 00:54:36.900 Woman: I have more of a kid's question. 00:54:41.108 --> 00:54:48.608 It's a little bit concerning the saying: A cloud never dies. 00:54:52.233 --> 00:54:58.733 Sometimes we have conversations with children about death and reincarnation. 00:55:00.733 --> 00:55:04.692 My son often says: I don't like this reincarnation, 00:55:05.608 --> 00:55:09.775 because you won't be my mother in another life, and my dad won't be my dad. 00:55:16.176 --> 00:55:19.409 It's difficult to have answers. 00:55:21.550 --> 00:55:28.067 Here, we really feel that the body never dies, 00:55:29.525 --> 00:55:31.946 kind of like composting. 00:55:35.252 --> 00:55:39.608 And reincarnation really talks to me. 00:55:40.817 --> 00:55:48.547 Also the heritage of our ancestors and the lineage. 00:55:53.499 --> 00:55:56.942 It's all a bit blurry. 00:55:59.532 --> 00:56:02.900 I thought that maybe you could be clearer. 00:56:20.400 --> 00:56:23.692 Br. Phap Linh: I'll see if I can summarise the question 00:56:24.358 --> 00:56:26.025 to make sure we understood. 00:56:27.192 --> 00:56:35.525 There's two types of teaching on continuation, reincarnation, rebirth. 00:56:36.275 --> 00:56:43.525 In one type, it seems to be that there is something like a soul, or a person, 00:56:44.275 --> 00:56:48.733 that gets reincarnated. And that person has a kind of continuity. 00:56:51.400 --> 00:56:54.567 Although the relationships might change. 00:56:57.692 --> 00:57:00.775 But it's that person that then appears in another body. 00:57:01.067 --> 00:57:07.525 And then according to Thay's teaching, it's something more blurry. 00:57:08.942 --> 00:57:15.525 We don't see ourselves exactly as a separate entity or person 00:57:16.275 --> 00:57:20.442 that gets reincarnated, because we are already all of our ancestors 00:57:20.942 --> 00:57:23.025 and all of our descendants. 00:57:23.275 --> 00:57:25.275 And we are the whole cosmos. 00:57:25.442 --> 00:57:29.400 So who dies, and who is reborn? 00:57:34.400 --> 00:57:36.900 Could it be more clear? 00:57:38.025 --> 00:57:39.983 [laughter] 00:57:43.983 --> 00:57:45.733 I think it's quite clear. 00:57:55.838 --> 00:58:07.983 There's a part of us that still doesn't quite trust or believe 00:58:09.650 --> 00:58:16.733 that we are already each other. That we are already the earth, 00:58:17.900 --> 00:58:22.275 the stars, the entire cosmos. The past, the future. 00:58:26.483 --> 00:58:31.858 "Yeah, OK, I guess, intellectually, I kind of understand this interconnection. 00:58:32.608 --> 00:58:36.025 But why is it that I feel things that you don't feel? 00:58:36.983 --> 00:58:40.733 Or I see things from a point of view and you have a different point of view." 00:58:41.067 --> 00:58:42.858 We are different. 00:58:43.483 --> 00:58:45.108 We do seem to be different. 00:58:45.358 --> 00:58:50.567 We seem to have our personalities and characteristics. We're not identical. 00:58:52.525 --> 00:58:57.317 And yet we are, each of us, manifestations of the whole. 00:58:58.319 --> 00:59:00.025 It's very strange. 00:59:05.775 --> 00:59:07.817 It's OK for it to be strange. 00:59:12.900 --> 00:59:17.692 Of course there's a part of us that would like it to be clear. 00:59:20.525 --> 00:59:23.608 Sort of explainable. Simple. 00:59:25.775 --> 00:59:27.817 But I think that would be more boring. 00:59:31.108 --> 00:59:36.025 So I like to kind of rest in the mystery. 00:59:39.192 --> 00:59:43.108 I acknowledge the part of me that wants to know. 00:59:44.608 --> 00:59:46.858 But I also see its limitations. 00:59:48.192 --> 00:59:52.275 That part of me that wants to grasp and explain, in words: 00:59:53.191 --> 00:59:57.983 "It's like this, and then it's like that", make a nice picture, 00:59:59.358 --> 01:00:10.025 I go: "Hello! I see you. You can rest. Take a break. This is another part of us." 01:00:12.650 --> 01:00:22.525 It doesn't need to resolve it. It can dwell peacefully in the mystery. 01:00:25.150 --> 01:00:31.483 My experience of it is that it's a much more alive place to be. 01:00:35.567 --> 01:00:41.400 I think it's beautiful that at the heart of reality, 01:00:41.900 --> 01:00:45.317 at the heart of the present moment, at the heart of life, of us, 01:00:45.733 --> 01:00:48.442 there is something that cannot be grasped. 01:00:48.983 --> 01:00:50.650 That cannot be explained. 01:00:54.858 --> 01:00:56.692 I prefer it like that. 01:01:00.150 --> 01:01:01.593 No? 01:01:01.692 --> 01:01:05.067 It's so much more fun. 01:01:06.692 --> 01:01:14.067 If it was all explainable, you could just write it down and you'd be done. 01:01:14.525 --> 01:01:18.858 "OK, now we know. What else should we do?" 01:01:23.192 --> 01:01:25.442 It's kinda boring. 01:01:29.983 --> 01:01:32.692 For me, a part of the practise is to recognise the part of me 01:01:33.233 --> 01:01:37.149 that wants to know in that kind of way. 01:01:37.392 --> 01:01:40.358 It doesn't mean that we can't know. 01:01:40.733 --> 01:01:42.608 It's just another kind of knowing. 01:01:43.275 --> 01:01:49.525 We do know. We already know that it's a different kind of knowing. 01:01:50.067 --> 01:01:54.108 It's a knowing that can't be said in words. 01:01:54.525 --> 01:01:56.067 It can't be grasped. 01:01:56.192 --> 01:01:58.067 But it can be experienced. 01:02:00.275 --> 01:02:04.025 Sometimes it's a little glimmer, a little flash of that knowing. 01:02:04.900 --> 01:02:07.733 You feel it. You feel connected. 01:02:10.525 --> 01:02:12.567 You feel at peace. 01:02:18.858 --> 01:02:23.192 I think that is something that we can settle into. 01:02:23.692 --> 01:02:25.983 And there's words that can take us there. 01:02:26.400 --> 01:02:28.275 To some extent or another. 01:02:28.483 --> 01:02:31.275 Even stories, or poems. 01:02:31.483 --> 01:02:35.567 Why do we sit here, talking, if it can't be said? 01:02:36.942 --> 01:02:41.025 Why did Thay give so many talks, thousands of talks. He kept talking 01:02:42.858 --> 01:02:45.150 about something that can't be said. 01:02:47.067 --> 01:02:52.275 Because if he did that and we continue to do that, it's not completely useless. 01:02:55.983 --> 01:03:02.858 I observe what we're doing here now and I find it very beautiful. 01:03:05.942 --> 01:03:10.108 That we're sitting here and not looking at our phones 01:03:11.045 --> 01:03:15.317 We're not distracting ourselves on our phones. 01:03:15.733 --> 01:03:18.900 We're sitting here and there's something happening 01:03:19.525 --> 01:03:23.400 to all of us by the fact of sitting here together. 01:03:26.400 --> 01:03:31.275 It's a bit hard to grasp what exactly is going on. 01:03:31.692 --> 01:03:35.317 What are we doing? It might not be exactly what we think. 01:03:39.608 --> 01:03:42.400 But I think the fact that we are sitting here 01:03:43.108 --> 01:03:49.025 and maybe all of us, or most of us, are aware of our breathing, 01:03:51.192 --> 01:03:58.983 aware of the sensations in our body, maybe noticing some discomfort 01:04:00.608 --> 01:04:03.400 in the present moment and accepting it, 01:04:05.525 --> 01:04:10.233 that's a kind of awakening for me. It's a kind of rebirth. 01:04:16.008 --> 01:04:22.817 My ancestors didn't do this 50 years ago. A 100 years ago. 01:04:23.192 --> 01:04:26.400 150 years ago. They didn't have a way to do this. 01:04:26.692 --> 01:04:31.858 To sit together in a room to cultivate stillness, 01:04:33.358 --> 01:04:36.650 to cultivate awareness of their bodies, of their feelings, thoughts ... 01:04:42.775 --> 01:04:45.733 But now we are doing that. 01:04:47.650 --> 01:04:54.233 Thanks to one man, Thay, he was exiled, he lived in the West, 01:04:55.025 --> 01:04:57.403 and he saw that maybe there was something 01:04:57.428 --> 01:05:00.317 that we needed to cultivate a little bit more. 01:05:02.817 --> 01:05:09.608 And so that stream of wisdom and practise joined all of our streams of lineage, 01:05:11.942 --> 01:05:22.608 of culture, education, transmission, inheritance, suffering and happiness. 01:05:25.358 --> 01:05:29.650 So something is being awakened. Somebody is being reborn. 01:05:31.900 --> 01:05:35.817 But I don't know if it doesn't belong to any of us individually. 01:05:36.483 --> 01:05:38.775 We're all changing, together. 01:05:39.067 --> 01:05:41.317 We're all transforming together. 01:05:45.233 --> 01:05:46.703 And ... 01:05:51.793 --> 01:05:54.483 I can't say that I understand it. 01:05:55.692 --> 01:05:58.567 Or that I can know it exactly. 01:06:00.233 --> 01:06:02.858 But I can feel that it's important. 01:06:05.108 --> 01:06:07.376 And ... 01:06:12.369 --> 01:06:15.025 I can talk to my ancestors. 01:06:15.608 --> 01:06:19.192 I ask them how they would like to continue. 01:06:22.608 --> 01:06:24.483 What direction they would like to go in. 01:06:24.650 --> 01:06:29.983 Almost all of them. Not quite all of them, some of them are still negotiating, 01:06:31.900 --> 01:06:37.275 but pretty much all of them are very, very happy to be here. 01:06:39.525 --> 01:06:44.317 To live like this. To do these things together. 01:06:47.455 --> 01:06:56.817 It would be kind of sad if they had to just continue to be themselves. 01:06:59.317 --> 01:07:04.733 So the change and the fact that we inter-are is an amazing thing. 01:07:05.317 --> 01:07:08.192 It's a wonderful thing. It's what liberates us. 01:07:08.567 --> 01:07:15.650 We don't have to keep continuing the same patterns of suffering, of confusion. 01:07:18.483 --> 01:07:26.900 We can also get beyond the stories of who we were and the pains we experienced. 01:07:28.400 --> 01:07:33.317 We can start to soften that and let that go a little bit and experience 01:07:33.900 --> 01:07:44.150 what it might be to live as a community. To live as the world. As forests. Clouds. 01:07:51.650 --> 01:07:55.567 Of course there's still a part of us which seems to be very concerned 01:07:56.108 --> 01:08:00.108 with what happens to this body, these feelings, these thoughts. 01:08:02.400 --> 01:08:08.067 But from time to time we get to experience something that stretches us a little bit, 01:08:08.567 --> 01:08:15.525 that goes beyond the immediate concern for this part of the whole. 01:08:17.608 --> 01:08:23.525 And I find that interesting. I find it kinda healthy. 01:08:25.400 --> 01:08:28.608 I'm still gonna do my best to take care of this bit. 01:08:30.317 --> 01:08:43.442 But I like to practise daily stretching the envelope of what I think I am. 01:08:45.692 --> 01:08:48.733 I find it changes my view in interesting ways. 01:08:49.775 --> 01:08:52.817 It changes my priorities in interesting ways. 01:08:57.858 --> 01:09:03.108 What if I'm actually also the forest? What does the forest think? 01:09:03.525 --> 01:09:06.733 What does it need, what does it feel? Can I feel what it feels? 01:09:07.358 --> 01:09:09.525 Am I already feeling what it feels? 01:09:09.900 --> 01:09:14.483 Is something that I'm feeling actually not to do with what I think it is, 01:09:14.817 --> 01:09:18.692 but it's actually a manifestation of the feelings of the earth, 01:09:19.400 --> 01:09:21.483 I just misidentified it? 01:09:21.858 --> 01:09:28.192 I find that very interesting. To experiment with my boundaries. 01:09:28.900 --> 01:09:31.317 Let them be more flexible. 01:09:31.608 --> 01:09:35.317 And I think Thay showed us that again and again and again. 01:09:36.233 --> 01:09:40.608 Of course he had his body and his feelings and his thoughts. 01:09:41.025 --> 01:09:43.942 Personality. One that we loved. 01:09:45.108 --> 01:09:55.150 But I could feel many times that he wasn't as concerned about just this part, 01:09:56.067 --> 01:09:59.358 the body, as you might think. 01:10:01.483 --> 01:10:03.317 He wasn't afraid. 01:10:03.733 --> 01:10:06.692 He would sometimes make this gesture. 01:10:06.983 --> 01:10:10.233 "Don't get attached to the body, to the form; 01:10:10.442 --> 01:10:13.483 Thay is the tiniest part of what I am." 01:10:18.192 --> 01:10:25.942 So even if our personality gets reincarnated somehow, 01:10:27.525 --> 01:10:31.942 into another body, it's OK. But that's not all we are. 01:10:35.045 --> 01:10:37.567 It's a very small part of who we are. 01:10:37.900 --> 01:10:42.483 So maybe it doesn't matter as much as we think. 01:10:45.025 --> 01:10:52.858 What happens to the little piece of reality that we identify with as self. 01:10:54.317 --> 01:10:59.817 In the many ways that we can apply the practise that Thay has offered us, 01:11:01.067 --> 01:11:10.817 to experiment with being more flexible with what it is that we think we are, 01:11:11.483 --> 01:11:16.358 like right now we can sit here and think of our own individual needs and wants. 01:11:17.317 --> 01:11:20.858 There's probably things that we want. 01:11:23.692 --> 01:11:31.442 We'd like to feel better. Less uncomfortable. Happier. More peaceful. 01:11:32.108 --> 01:11:35.233 There's things pulling at us inside. 01:11:38.317 --> 01:11:43.275 But it's also possible to look around to sort of feel into the space of the room 01:11:44.400 --> 01:11:48.192 and to feel: "Oh, there's something really interesting happening here. 01:11:48.483 --> 01:11:52.775 Why have a couple of hundred people chosen to spend their Thursday morning 01:11:53.650 --> 01:12:00.067 sitting still and listening deeply to each other and to themselves? 01:12:02.442 --> 01:12:04.483 I wonder what's happening." 01:12:05.747 --> 01:12:09.250 It's a very strange thing. I don't know in how many parts of the world 01:12:09.275 --> 01:12:14.483 this is happening right now. In how many places is this going on? 01:12:15.400 --> 01:12:18.567 Not many. I find it really interesting. 01:12:22.650 --> 01:12:25.442 There is something happening which we are a part of, 01:12:25.775 --> 01:12:28.442 but that we're not exactly doing. 01:12:29.650 --> 01:12:34.233 We get focused a lot on "What is it that I'm doing, my choices?" 01:12:35.025 --> 01:12:39.025 But there's so much of our life that is not doing. 01:12:42.025 --> 01:12:46.317 We are co-being. Co-manifesting. 01:12:49.692 --> 01:12:52.067 So. I don't think it's any clearer. 01:12:54.233 --> 01:12:56.192 But I think it's also OK. 01:13:04.317 --> 01:13:08.233 Br. Phap Huu: Dear community. I think we have to end 01:13:09.317 --> 01:13:15.317 because we don't want to overtake our joyful and lazy day. 01:13:16.275 --> 01:13:23.317 There's just one part I want to share. It's the "Sorry" part 01:13:25.108 --> 01:13:29.608 which was the first action of recognising suffering. 01:13:30.900 --> 01:13:39.692 But if there is some misunderstanding about the situation, there's always 01:13:40.400 --> 01:13:47.358 a time and space to clarify, to come back and to resolve any conflict 01:13:48.483 --> 01:13:53.733 that has been established. It's not just "I'm sorry", and that's it. 01:13:54.442 --> 01:13:58.650 If there is wrong perception, when we are talking about the garden, 01:13:59.275 --> 01:14:03.525 if there is real wrong perception, and there is miscommunication, 01:14:04.567 --> 01:14:10.817 the practise is to find a time and space to communicate and resolve, 01:14:11.483 --> 01:14:16.900 so that the relationship can be re-established. 01:14:18.067 --> 01:14:20.483 Normally, when somebody is sharing their suffering, 01:14:20.900 --> 01:14:24.192 it's just very easy to get very defensive. 01:14:24.983 --> 01:14:29.442 That defensiveness blocks the heart to connect. 01:14:30.233 --> 01:14:37.650 We have to be very mindful of our judgment and our righteousness. 01:14:39.192 --> 01:14:43.317 Then we create space in order to resolve. 01:14:44.067 --> 01:14:45.150 Thank you. 01:14:45.483 --> 01:14:48.400 Thank you, dear friends, for being present. 01:14:48.900 --> 01:14:50.983 For listening with open hearts. 01:14:51.692 --> 01:14:54.733 Let us listen to three sounds of the bell together. 01:15:12.275 --> 01:15:20.442 [sound of the bell] 01:15:43.483 --> 01:15:50.983 [sound of the bell] 01:16:04.900 --> 01:16:12.500 [sound of the bell]