Do I have to be number one?

Questions an answers with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Plum Village, France.

(Bell)

(Bell)

Dear Thay, dear sangha,
with my practice, I have been realizing

how deep and how strong
were the ideologies I built as a child

to protect myself
from the instability of my environment,

and how important for my inner balance
it became, to be first at school,

and how I unconsciously took the habit
of always looking at myself as the first,

to hide my fear,

and to give me illusory confidence.

I know that this coming school year
will be academically very challenging.

So I'd like to have some advice
on how to practice

in order to go through this year,
while these ideologies,

which were the ground I stood on,
are falling down.

(SisterTrue Dedication
repeats the question)

Dear Thay, dear sangha,
our friend shared that,

since she was a young girl,

she had a lot of ideologies
that became part of her,

including the need
to be number one at school.

Being number one at school

helped her to overcome her fear,

and gave her confidence,
striving to be number one.

But since she has been here,

she sees this ideology, this need,
begin to fall apart,

and it's as though the ground
on which she stood

is falling apart underneath her.

But she still has a coming school year.

So she's asking Thay for some guidance,

how to go forward in this year to come.

This is the concern of many people.

In the military, in the business circles,

people want to be number one,
because they believe that

to be number one
is a basic condition for happiness.

And that is a kind of view.

It has been transmitted to us,
maybe by our ancestors,

and maybe by collective thinking,

and because of that we have to strive
day and night,

and tire ourself out,
so that view is very costly.

We have to pay with our whole life.

And we may not experience joy,
happiness, relaxation,

because we hold that kind of view.

Maybe we ourselves
do not want to have that view,

but that view has been transmitted to us,

and our parents are trying
to force it on us,

and also society is encouraging
the same kind of view.

It's based on the wrong view of self.

Wrong view of self leads to
the wrong view to be number one,

because if there is no self,
there will be no number one.

(LAUGHTER)

So meditation is an act of looking deeply.

And when you look deeply,
you have a right view.

Why do I have to be number one?

Is it a necessary condition for happiness?

Why do my ancestors, my parents,
want me to be number one?

We can find many answers.

Maybe our ancestors wanted
to be number one,

but they could not,
so they want us to do it for them.

So we have meditated on that.

Every time we come up and chant, we say:
'Let us breathe as one body,'

'chant as one body,
and listen as one body,'

'going like a river,'

'and transcend the illusion
of a separate self,'

'overcoming the superiority complex,
the inferiority complex,'

'and the equality complex.'

That is to help us to see we have to
abandon the wrong view of a self.

With the wrong view of the self gone,

the wrong view that number one
is the only condition for you to be happy

will be gone also.

Sometimes we don't want to be number one,

but it happens that
we have to be number one.

And very often we want to be number one,
but we do not become number one.

We think that the president
of a big country,

like Barack Obama,
is a number one,

the most powerful person in the country.

But I think Mr. Obama knows better,
that he is not powerful enough.

He does not have enough power.

He feels very powerless.

There are many things he wants to do,
but he cannot do it.

So if he does not have enough power,
how can we have enough power?

And, is the number one happy?

That is our meditation.

So what do we want: to be number one,
or to be happy?

So when we are able to transform our view,

from wrong view to right view,

not only do we help ourself
to be liberated,

but we liberate our ancestors,

and we liberate the world
from the wrong view

that if you don't become number one,
you cannot be truly happy.

When you are a student,

if you study only to become number one,

you are not a happy student.

To study can be a very wonderful thing.

There is a need to learn, to understand.

We have two basic needs:

we want to understand the world,
we want to understand life,

and then the second basic desire
is to love, and to be loved.

So the two basic needs are
to understand, and to love.

To be a student,
you have a chance to learn.

You are curious about things.

And as you study,

you satisfy your first need:
to understand.

So to study is very fulfilling.

A good teacher is also someone
who studies all the time,

because he knows that he knows many things
but he can know more.

So both teacher and students
get a lot of happiness

while trying to find out
more about reality

and to understand more.

So if we study like that,
our academic year will be wonderful.

But if we study just because
we want to get a diploma,

to be number one, we will suffer
for the whole academic year.

So, up to you to decide.

And if you change your view
into a right view,

you are making a revolution.

(LAUGHTER)

Yes!

And many young people,
if they see you happy -

and to be happy does not mean
that you don't study well -

but you are happier.

You study better, and even if
you don't want to be number one,

you must be the number one!

(LAUGHTER)

You see?

That is why there are those of us
who do not want to be number one,

but it just happens like that!

(LAUGHTER)

That is a by-product only.

(LAUGHTER)

The first product is happiness.

So I think we have to tell
our friends in school,

both teachers and students,

that our aim is to be happy,
and not to be number one.

Our happiness can be recognized
by other people,

and we can set an example
for other students,

and also for our teachers.

Good luck!

(LAUGHTER)

(HALF BELL)

(BELL)