WEBVTT

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(Half bell)

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(Bell)

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(French) I think that nowadays there are
many people who are afraid of silence,

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or do not like silence.

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They turn on music or the TV
during the day.

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I wonder whether that means they are
afraid to be with themselves?

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(English) I have the impression that
nowadays there are many people

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who are afraid of silence.

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They prefer to put on
some music or television

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or something to occupy the space.

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She wants to know:

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Is it because they are afraid
to be with themselves?

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There may be a feeling of emptiness,

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of isolation, of sorrow
of restlessness in us.

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And when there is silence these things...

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appear very clearly:

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the vacuum, the worry,

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the restlessness, the lack of love.

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You feel empty.

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There is no happiness.
There is no feeling of fulfillment.

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And many people in the world
have that kind of feeling:

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It is empty inside,
there is no love, no happiness.

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We feel we lack something.

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And there is sorrow,
there is fear, there is anger in us.

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And when there is silence
all these things appear very clearly.

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They are always there!

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That is why many of us...

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try to consume in order to forget.

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Suppose you have some worry,
you have some restlessness in yourself.

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And...

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you are not capable of handling...

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that feeling of loneliness
and restlessness.

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So you go and open the refrigerator
and find something to eat.

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But you know that you are not hungry,
you do not need to eat.

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You eat because you want to cover up

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the feeling of loneliness,
restlessness in you.

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And you get fat after eating so much.

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(Laughs)

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Or you play music,
or you turn on television,

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or you pick up a newspaper.

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And that is what people in the world do
when they feel empty in themselves.

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That is the collective disease of
human beings in our civilization.

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So the market place provides us
with every kind of means

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in order for us to try and
forget the suffering inside,

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the loneliness inside.

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And among these items they sell for us
to use in order to cover up the suffering

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there are many things that
have toxins and poisons.

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And if we consume them,
we get more loneliness,

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we get more anger...

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and despair.

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Because many of the things
we read in books and magazines,

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many kinds of things we see on television
or we get from the internet,

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give us more despair, more anger.

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So the situation becomes more
and more serious every day,

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because of our
non-mindful consumption.

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And that is why we need to practice
the fifth mindfulness training,

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about right consumption.

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We have to learn how
to generate joy and happiness

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with the practice of mindfulness,
mindful breathing, mindful walking.

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We have to learn how
to generate peace

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so that we have something
good inside to be with.

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And in these moments
silence will only help us

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to taste and enjoy more
the feeling of joy and happiness

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that we have generated by our practice.

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Suppose I sit here and
I pay attention to the sunshine outside,

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the beautiful trees outside,

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the grass and little flowers
that are springing up everywhere.

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It is beautiful outside!
It is summer!

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And our planet is so beautiful.

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And many of us do not have the capacity

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to get in touch with these wonders
of life in us and around us,

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because we do not know
the practice of mindfulness

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to bring our mind home
to the here and the now

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and to get in touch with these
nourishing and healing elements

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that can bring us joy and happiness.

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So we do not have these
beautiful things in us.

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We have only the negative things
like anger, loneliness and so on.

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It is possible to sit on the grass,
to breathe and to be happy.

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And then you can hear
the sound of the birds,

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and the music of the wind
playing in the trees.

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And these are very
nourishing and healing.

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And not many people
know how to do that.

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So the practice of mindfulness
helps us to nourish us, to heal us.

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And then...

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When there is a painful feeling
arising inside of us

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and we know the practice of mindfulness,

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we do not have to go out and buy something
and consume in order to forget.

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In fact, we know how to recognize
the painful feeling, the painful emotion.

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We know how to hold it tenderly,
how to understand it.

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And we can begin to transform it
into something more positive.

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We can transform the garbage into flower.

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And that is why you have to practice.

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So in order to deal with
the collective suffering in society,

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we have to learn
the practice of mindfulness.

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We want to take care of our body,
of our feelings, of our emotions.

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And the practice of 
mindfulness helps us to do so.

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The practice of mindfulness
can help bring a feeling of joy

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a feeling of happiness.

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The practice can help us handle
a painful feeling, a painful emotion.

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And we can generate love
and understanding in us.

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And we get the feeling
of fulfillment.

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And we become a source of joy
and happiness for other people,

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for our beloved ones,

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because we have so many things to offer.

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And sitting close to us they will
feel peaceful and happy,

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because we have
the feeling of fulfillment,

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compassion and happiness in us.

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And...

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during the practice we need silence,

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because that silence helps us
to come back to ourselves

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and to get in touch with
our breathing, with our body

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with our happiness, with our suffering,

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so that we can take care
of ourselves, body and mind.

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And when we can produce
the feeling of happiness and peace,

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we can help the others to do the same.

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We can offer the energy of
joy, mindfulness, compassion

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and help him or her to suffer less,

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and help him or her to...

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to generate the feeling of joy
and happiness in him or in her.

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So that kind of silence
is very fruitful, is very...

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is very active,
is very eloquent.

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It is not the kind of silence
that represses you.

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It is a kind of noble silence.

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In Buddhism we call this silence
'The Thundering Silence'.

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It is very eloquent.
It is very full of energy.

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Like in the meditation hall,

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if...

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if 900 people know how to
practice mindful breathing in and out

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and how to generate the energy
of mindfulness and peace,

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that silence is very powerful,
very healing, very nourishing.

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It does not oppress you.

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That is called 'Thundering Silence'.

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And with that silence the children
are happy, adults are happy.

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If everyone is angry or anxious
and they sit together,

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they create a collective anxiety,
a collective anger.

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That silence is very negative.

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We cannot bear that kind of silence.

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It kills us.

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But when we know how to
sit together and breathe together

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and generate the energy of
peace, relaxation and joy,

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that collective energy of silence
is very healing, very nourishing.

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And therefore we have to learn
how to generate that kind of silence

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in our family, in our classroom,
in Congress, in the town hall.

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If you are a schoolteacher
you should know how to

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generate that kind
of silence in your class.

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If you have a household,
you should know how to

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bring that kind of
silence into your family

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to nourish you and your children
and others.

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If you are the chairman
of the National Assembly,

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you can propose that kind of practice
in order to generate that kind of silence.

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When I was in India, I visited
the president of the National Assembly.

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I proposed him

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the practice of listening to the bell,
breathing and smiling, in Congress.

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You start a session by mindful
breathing and listening to the bell.

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And every time the discussion gets hot

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and people are not capable of
listening to each other anymore,

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then you can invite the bell.

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And the whole assembly will
stop talking, stop listening

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and practice mindful breathing
to calm themselves down.

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Mister Narayanan,

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who was chairperson
of the Indian National Assembly

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was very excited about that.

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And he tried to bring
that practice into Congress.

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So ten days later, when I was
conducting a retreat in Chennai,

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someone brought me a newspaper.

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There was an article saying that
Mr. Narayanan had formed a committee,

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taking care of that kind
of practice in Congress.

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And he asked the former prime minister
to be chairman of that committee,

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named 'Committee for Ethics
in the National Assembly'.

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And we don't know how far
they have gone in the practice.

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But very soon, he became
the president of India.

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So he could no longer be with the assembly
in order to continue the practice.

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If you are a member
of a National Assembly,

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you may try to (laughs)

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to persuade the spokesman, the spokeswoman
of the House, of the Senate to do the same.

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This is the practice.

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And in fact if you are
a schoolteacher,

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if you are a director of a business,

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if you are chief of an enterprise,


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if you are a head of a family,
if you are...

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if you are the Mayor,

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you can very well create
that kind of silence where you work.

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And it will nourish you
and your colleagues.

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So it depends on
the kind of silence we create.

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(Half bell)

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(Bell)