New Year Eve Talk. Brother Pháp Dung. 2016.12.31

This is the Dharma talk by Thay Pháp Dung on New Year Eve in Upper Hamlet.

Dear respected Thay,
dear community,

today is today's day.

It's not old and it's not gonna be new.

We give it a date,
just to have fun with it and celebrate.

In Plum Village, we celebrate everything,
including today's day.

Today's day, Thay loves to celebrate that.

The thirty-first,
the 31st of December.

We'll be reflecting a little bit
on our calendar, our dates,

our watches,

these things that we make up
so that we can work together.

It's kind of artificial,

especially when you have to change time,
the seasons,

I think it's functional,
but it's a little bit annoying.

Here in Plum Village,
we follow the bell.

When you hear the bell,
just gather, and go.

The monks and the nuns,

we sometimes forget what time it is,
what date it is,

and sometimes even the year.

Well, some of us do.

We live according to the leaves,
autumn leaves, grass,

coldness, the warmth,
the moon,

We tell our time based a little bit
on what happens in nature.

The moss starts to be different,
the color, the leaves,

the animals, the different birds,

come around late spring,
you hear a cuckoo bird,

[sounds of cuckoo]

and you know, you don't even have to
call what season,

you just know, "Ah, that's a....."

and we also see the farmers,

so we keep time a little bit based
on the actual vines, the grape vines,

the cycle of making wine.

and it's quite quick.

Now, as the new year comes,
they will start to come out,

and start to clip,

and soon, it will [phuip],
and then leave 1, and then...

and all of a sudden, spring,
and then summer,

so we actually, instead of
looking at a calendar,

we look at the grape vines,

as we drive back and forth
between New Hamlet and Lower Hamlet.

And also the sunflowers,
the wheat,

So it's a kind of rhythm
that we find here when we live here,

year-round and many years.

It's a very natural rhythm

So every time we have to do this
'changing the clock',

it just feels very,
"gosh, who made this up?"

We also have retreat-seasons,

summer is where we have our
festival-season,

children come

and many, many people
from many countries come.

We have spring and autumn,

when the monks and nuns
fly away like birds

they go to different countries,

and they share the practice
with many people around the world.

And then, winter time.

We copy the trees,
we let go of our leaves

and we come back to what is most essential

so we watch nature,

and we, in a way,
mimick nature.

Not just the time but --
it's a habit

It's a lot of wisdom.

You live around nature
and you pay attention

even a little flower pot,
we take care of it.

Year round, you begin to understand
something about that flower

These are the kind of rhythms

that we are used to in Plum Village.

So, when it comes New Year,

we do kind of pretend
"ok, let's call it New Year"

we even have a
non-alcoholic kind of...

and we celebrate you and..,

but luckily we don't have a hang-over

The monks, we celebrate,
we go in a brother's room,

and we gather and we drink,

yes, we do drink.

But it's so nice, we get all the brothers,
and we're aware of each other,

and we're aware of our happiness,
we're not lost in some kind of

mental confusion.

But we do laugh a lot,
and we do celebrate,

so it does look like we're drunk,

I call it 'Dharma drunk'

So I share with you a little bit
about some of the things that happen here,

and it's nice,
it's nice to celebrate,

to make a moment special,
and call it 'New Year' and get together

and we celebrate our life together.

And we're very happy that
you've come to join us

and support and be with us

to gather this energy

When I lived in Deer Park Monastery,

we also celebrate Christmas and New Year's

and sometimes we get news

of all the tragedy that happens
around this holiday season

It's quite sad to find this kind of news

especially when people celebrating
the New Year, their life, their family

accidents because of alcohol

as well as people become very violent

so this is something for you,

to come here to generate the peace
and calm and compassion,

it's wonderful for the world.

You're not just coming here to take refuge
from all the craziness,

but you're also here
to send that energy out

for those people who are unfortunate

I know there are many teachers here,
gathered with us this week,

I just want to acknowledge
and thank you for being teachers.

Our teacher loves teachers,

he even wrote a calligraphy
that has teachers on it.

He doesn't write 'happy businessmen
can change the world'

He writes
'happy teachers change the world'

He doesn't write
'happy monks change the world'

Not that we're jealous or envy you,
but, I have to say,

our teacher understands the importance
of what you're doing,

your dedication,
although you might not feel that

from society and from other people,

but how you affect the student, is..

you're in such a position
to really transmit compassion,

love, peace,
patience, kindness.

We're also aware of this.

In a way, monks and nuns,

we're also in the role of
having to hold a class

or hold an audience,

so, how we emit ourselves is important.

So, for you to dedicate yourself
for one week, to come here,

to take care of yourself,

so that you can take care of your student,

I know it's tough,

I have a brother and a sister-in-law
who are teachers,

and it's very hard.

They sometimes want
to change careers or something,

because it's so difficult,

but luckily, they continue to affect.

My brother's very patient, very kind,

so I keep encouraging him,

and I'm very grateful that he's a teacher.

So today I teach a little bit
surrounding the theme of renewal

I think there's a kind of tradition
around New Year's

to have an aspiration.

People make fun of it,
they say you have an aspiration,

but the rest of the year
you don't remember it.

That's what I remember

For me, when it comes
to this time of year

or the season of winter,

it's a comtemplation I like to touch,

a practice I like to touch,

it's a renewal,
I have to renew my practice.

So this is the wisdom of nature,

it knows how to renew itself.

You look at any living thing,

a plant,
grass,

it has a cycle renewal

and we, as human beings,
as animals,

we also are part of that natural system.

So we need to find a way
to renew ourselves.

This is something we've lost touch with

as we've become very organized
and very civilized

We have many things
that try to keep us very ...

I was telling my brother
about the alarm clock,

it's such an artificial thing.

It wakes you up, it yells at you,

and you wake up..

so we train ourselves
with these kind of rhythms.

You live around the monastery
long enough...,

some of us can find a rhythm,

and we wake up naturally
with the earth and with the day.

So this is the subject of renewal

When we look at our society,
I think, many of you are here,

and you might agree that the way
we've organized our society

is a little bit off.

I don't know,
maybe that's why you're here

this is kind of like a refuge.

Many of you are stressed,
at lunch time on arrival day

and the lay friends who just came,
stand up to share why they're here

the monks,
we love to hear it,

because we say
"wow, we're in the right place"

So you remind us every time

the way we organize our society is,

we have to re-look at it.

We've separated our families

every one is living in little pockets,

there's no community.

So we isolate ourselves,

as well as the busy-ness,

the scheduling of our society.

I come home and visit,
and I see the families now

they organize even the weekend
for their children,

you know, they have soccer,
piano, ballet,

extra reading.

Even the weekend, the mother
has to drive the child to this place,

and the father drives
the other child to that place.

So even when they're little,
4 or 6 years old, they're already....

you know, very quick.

So our life,
the way we've organized is quite..

we're always in a rush,

and we feel like
we don't have enough time.

I remember when I was working
in the city of Los Angeles,

and I would see a friend,
a colleague at the grocery store,

and we don't talk to each other,

but we say "email me"
or "see you later",

"I'll catch you later!"

And I never forget that,

it's a habit,
you see someone in the street,

you say "I love to get ahold of"

"let's, let's have a ...."

You make an appointment, later,

rather than actually meeting them.

Do you know this? Yeah.

That's the city...

You feel like you don't have enough time,

it's like "I don't have time for you
right now, but let's email each other",

or now, "let's text".

So the energy is quite..,
we feel like we don't have enough time,

and this is a real tragedy,

to go very quick

and you'll be in your '60s
and '70s and '80s,

so this is something we need to look at.

I'm not saying to change it now,

I'm just reflecting.

We have to look deeply
where we're at, as a society

and not just to accept it.

So this is a kind of suffering
and we need to look at it.

We also have to look at the way we...

.. kind of lost touch with
a kind of spiritual life.

Most of our year, we schedule it

towards means of making a living, working,

even going on vacation,
it's a kind of work, it's busy

and you don't even find relief
or relaxation from that.

I see this in families, even in vacation.

So, coming to Plum Village,

you're able to touch something different,
a different order,

a different way of organizing.

This is something that Thay envisioned
for Plum Village,

a refuge for people,
to come and to renew themselves.

First he envisioned it
for the social workers

that were helping him
during the time of war.

He envisioned a place he called
not Plum Village, but "Persimmon Village".

He knew that you needed to come back
and to take care of your spirit

The church used to do that,
and the temples used to do that,

and we need to renew this,

so that it becomes a place
where people can find peace,

find compassion,

so that they can take care
of their suffering

This dimension in us,

because we've become too,
kind of, religious

even in the Buddhist temple.

I grew up, young, in my youth,
I went to the temple,

but it was just like Sunday temple,

like Sunday church,

you go,
you do your thing,

and then, you know,

you're a good Buddhist,

and then you go eat
in a restaurant

I only went because my parents said

"I'll take you to a restaurant afterwards"

And we ate beef stew, you know.

So that's for me,
as a young man I didn't understand

what the temple was helping because..

it was not helping my mother,
it was not helping my father get along.

It was not helping them
touch a deeper cause,

a deeper meaning in their life,

and how to actually deal
with each other, too.

So the role of a spiritual guide,
a spiritual community

has lost its place in our society.

Now we have therapists,

we have practice centers.

Luckily, now we're beginning
to have practice centers.

I don't know much about the Jewish
or the Christian tradition,

whether they have practice centers,
I imagine they do,

but at least I'm aware of places
where people can go and retreat,

and find their spirit, their heart again,

renew themselves.

Renew their spirit.

So the way we have divided

the spiritual practice
and our other pursuits,

is a kind of tragedy.

You hear the word 'secular',
secularizing things,

or separating things,

and we have to look at this

We have to find a way
to touch a deeper spirituality

that is not religious.

I think you know what I mean
if you read some of Thay's books.

And this is Thay's whole life,

trying to extract
from the Buddhist teaching

and bring out the practices
and the teachings that can help people.

No matter what background you come from.

And when I found Thay,
he helped me find my heart,

my spirit,
find my roots,

and I would say,
Thay saved me from being lost,

being a "hungry ghost", they call it,

always looking for things,

sensual pleasure, looking for fame,

looking for things, cds,
computers, laptops, gadgets...,

partnerships, relationships,

praise,

these things don't fill the heart
of a hungry ghost.

So when I found Thay's teachings,
he taught me the practice of coming back,

and touching our suffering.

Breathing,
being with our suffering.

He's the one that helped me stop,
recognize and accept my suffering.

I remember crying,

many of you probably remember
yourself crying, too

and don't know why,
but it just keeps coming

As a young man,
it was the first time I cried

because I hold it too long, you know..?

I think it's something
many of us have touched

I think many of you here,
you've touched that.

This is something wonderful.

In the theme of renewal,
we also need to renew our practice.

So now that we're here and have come
to the Sangha, to the Dharma,

to the practice, through a Youtube-video,
a book or something,

we have touched a little bit
of the practice

But we need to continue,

this is very important,

because everything is impermanent,

your practice is impermanent.

We have many new monks and nuns,
just ordained,

you look into their faces,
they're very bright,

they're like a new flower.

They're just - open.

Hasn't fully bloomed and is ready to wilt,
but is just...

that is the beginner's mind.

That is the mind of love,
that is the mind of freshness.

And as a practitioner,
when you've first read that book,

or that chapter,
or you saw that video,

it's that kind of ..,,
very invigoring,

very fresh and it gives you, "wow",

Or when you've found relief
from your suffering

it lightens your shoulder
and you feel more open to your loved ones

to your father, to your mother,

that is the beginner's mind,
that's the mind of love.

And that also is impermanent

So the practice is to learn from nature
and learn how to renew it

So, the breathing is one way
we can renew our practice

We take a breath.

You see, in the very moment
we can refresh

Let's just take one breath right now
in mindfulness

and you see the effect on your mind.

One deep breath,

we take a moment,

So, when we come to the monastery,
we learn a practice

and we learn how to renew
our practice.

Walking meditation is another way
for us to renew our practice,

how to....

as we practice, as the years go by,
you need to refresh it,

and you have to find ways
to make it fresh again,

very important,
we say "make it novel,"

Thay is the master,

he'd always surprise the monks
by changing a little bit of this or that.

So we need to remember that.

So if you already have
some sitting practice,

don't do it just out of routine.

When you sit, have clear intentions,
sit, and bring freshness,

bring the mind of a beginner again.

We have to find ways like that,

with breathing, with walking

and our body, we need to find ways
to renew our body,

to pay attention to the rhythms
of our body,

so mindfulness, aware of your body,

when you're sitting or meditating,

but also, aware of the rhythms of it,

when it's in stress,
when is it in stress?

when are you rushing?

Our society has trained us so,

that we've become disconnected
from our body.

Some of you, who stay here long,

you see, you can tell newcomers
to Plum Village,

just by the way they move.

The way they open the door,

the way they put the cup down
in the tearoom,

or the way they actually plug in
their headphones,

because we have an energy in our body.

So learning how to be in your body,

when you're working on your computer,
when you're walking,

when you're making a cup of tea,

be aware, are you relaxed?
Are you tight?

Another way of looking at it,

are you spending more energy
than you need to?

That question right there
has guided my practice.

Now, when I'm washing something,

I mean, do you need
to use all that energy?

Do you know what I'm talking about?

One I love to share is,
when you brush your teeth.

I mean, there's only a few teeth,
and they're so small.

And your brush is this small,
but you use enough energy

to drive a crane, you know?

So ask yourself, am I using
more energy than I need to?

I hear some people walk...

listen to their footsteps.

Do you need to use that much energy?

[crugh, crugh, crugh, crugh, crugh, crugh]

sorry, I have special effects!

I say this, because
I've wasted a lot of energy,

Especially walking, and...

and you get a back ache
and you get bone problems

because of your posture
and the way you walk.

So the practice of mindfulness
can help us be aware of our body

and when it moves,
ask yourself:

"Do I need to use all this energy?"

That's a wonderful way of guiding it,
because we love to be efficient,

so I'm making it so that
you have more motivation

You don't want to waste energy,

especially when you're a teacher, right?

You know, when you're correcting something
you don't have to go phuit

You just use 10%,
you don't have to use 80%!

So I'm watering,
I'm challenging your efficiency

Humans love to be efficient

Mindfulness helps us not to waste energy.

So, slowing down helps.

Slowing down is not
the perfect and right way

but slowing down helps.

Because our society has pushed us
and we run

Not just with our body but with our minds.

So when we come here and we walk,

when we do something,
just slow it down first.

And when you begin to have
more awareness and concentration,

then you do fast, slow,

you don't waste energy.

So this is another way of saying,

just relax!

You don't need to try so hard.

So this is a body-practice

One thing we also need to,

these are habits we need to relook at

One practice I like to look at
is my habits.

We are, they say, creatures of habits.

That's great, because it's true.

So we have to look at
what kind of habits do we have?

and when we look at other people's habits,

we begin to see mine too.

So we have a habit of
non-stop thinking,

Thay would say NST,
Non-Stop Thinking.

Thay made a radio show out of it.

He said:"Turn off your NST radio",

it is constantly emitting radio-waves,
thinking.

So when we come to the practice center,

the practice helps us
to just rest our thinking.

This is another area
where we waste a lot of our energy.

Thinking is ok, but there's a time for it

and there's a time to just be..

so we're so much trained
to always be thinking about something,

so when we meditate, when we walk,
when we sit,

when we enjoy a cup of tea,

just be present with it
and don't think about it.

You know, "where is this from,
what kind of, oh, you know like,

what kind of ingredients,
is this bio, it comes from where?

It's nice to be aware, but sometimes
that's just a habit.

You know, everything you look at,
you have to know exactly

where everything is, and you have to,
to constantly...

that's a habit that we have.

It's useful sometimes,

but most of the time
it wastes a lot of energy.

So renewing, reviving that habit.

Being aware of these habits.

We have a habit of reacting

The practice,
mindfulness can help us react

Someone drops something
in the dining-hall,

maybe tonight,

follow your breathing

and then you can see your thinking mind

"ah, I'm gonna find out who, what family,
who is that?"

But what happens when you close your eyes
and you follow your breathing...

you're free from having to think.

And so, you know,
"oh, it's that woman again, jeez"

you see? waste of energy.
React!

This is a good place to train to react
because you get all kinds of people here.

And they come from different cultures,

and they have a different approach,

so this is the U.N. of Mindfulness.

This is a very...

"you might like to do it that way,
but watch out!"

So, when you hear the bell,

it helps us stop and follow our breathing

It's to help us train to not react.

Come back,
enjoy the freedom

of not having to look..

wow!

That is a freedom that you have

we don't have to react

We hear a sound,
we don't have to think

that is a freedom.

This is something that can be trained,

that can be your tool.

And as teachers, you need to train this.

You need to come to a monastery
many, many times,

or train at home with friends,

because as a teacher
you're under a lot of stress,

not just as teachers, but as human beings

whether you're a mother or a father,
any field you're in

I want to have a meditation one day,

to have people gather around a table,
in a circle,

and then you have a cup of orange juice,

and everyone looking
at the cup of orange juice,

and the table has to be really clean,

and then I knock the orange cup over.

And everyone just breathes...

Wouldn't that be a great meditation?

a kind of new, guided meditation?

Because I learned that here, actually.

I've never been to a place where
when someone drops a bowl of food,

and the monks say
"Voilà! A flower!"

First time I see that, I was like,
"What is wrong with this monk?"

I was like, "Oh, they're just pretending,
they're really angry inside",

but you see, it's true,
many people have this habit here,

they celebrate when something goes wrong

and so I want to make it
become a guided meditation.

When something goes wrong,

this is our society,

they train us to react.

You know, if you drive,
you're getting trained

to be reactive, and to be judgmental,

and to fight.

I grew up in Los Angeles,
I know all about that.

I had to make a game out of surviving
without being mean

because the freeway makes you
become really mean.

See how our society is great,

it's better than the rat-experiment,
that's terrible.

Sorry, I'm an architect,
I get to say that,

I designed cities!

Aware of this, we are very fortunate

we have an opportunity.

Routines, habits,

routines, be careful of your routines,

the clocks, the watches,

calendars, the new, flick, touches,

smart phones.

They are taking over your life,

and I just got one, so...

I confess, the Sangha trusts me enough now
to see how I do that

It stays right next to my bed

and I'm learning
to become friends with it.

But I see, it's slowly thinking
"come on...

..come on!"

It's great

But you know
what I'm talking about, right?

yeah, okay,
so I don't need to talk about that

We're so organized, we're so efficient,
this is gonna be a good year

(speaks Vietnamese)

I'm just seeing what time I have to cook

Another area we need to renew

and to revisit and to reflect
is our stories,

very important.

The stories we tell our children,

the stories we tell our students,

the stories we tell ourselves.

We are creatures of habits,
but we are also creatures of stories.

We love "Who are you?"
and we tell a story.

Be careful of our stories

I grew up and

I had a story I told about my family

and my father and my mother,

and my place in America,
American society,

that caused me a lot of suffering
as a young man

and I didn't know how to tell
a different story.

So the practice of meditation,
sitting down,

and breathing, and just clearing our mind,

we begin to hear that story.

You begin to hear it again and again,

and you touch that suffering.

And you begin to understand
where it comes from

It comes because we won't let go,

We won't let go of that story.

We cause a lot of suffering
to those we love,

so we need to relook at
how we can tell a different story

a story that can open our heart,

that can accept.

I think, maybe you are here

because you want to find
a new story for your life.

Yes, things have happened in the past,

yes, they might be like that,

but when we can stop and
see the other person

as someone who also suffers,

we can begin to tell a different story
about them.

Nobody wants to make another person suffer

It's only because they suffer,
that they cause others to suffer.

And when we can retell a story like that,

the way we look at our past

changes.

This is the beauty I found
in Thay's teaching.

You think the past cannot be changed?

The past, we make up.

You know your history books?

It's all made up.

So, find a way in the present moment

to look at suffering,

and to understand the root of it.

That will free you from that story.

This is something that helped me
become happier,

less judgmental,
more kind,

and more accepting of people
who are suffering.

These are personal stories
with your loved ones,

but they can also be stories
with other people.

This is very important for people
who are in education,

in media,
especially media now.

Those of you who are in media,
please tell a different story.

Stop watering the seed of discrimination,

hatred,
other, us.

You can write what happened,
but write in a way

that waters the seed of understanding,
of compassion in people.

Yes, there was terror,
there was injustice,

but write that in a way that can open up

and try to bring people together.

Encourage them to look more deeply,
to listen more deeply.

The news now is quite toxic,

so we need to be very careful
when we open our internet.

It could be something all around the world
that has nothing to do with us,

but this morning it makes us frown,
hate, fear,

and we move through our day like that

So this is an area, media,
and in school as well.

This is Thay's vision for relooking
at education and its purpose.

You look at that textbook,
the history books, it's all about war

about competition,
and this group and...

we need to revisit,
we need to retell

and teach different things:

our relationship to Mother Earth,
to other cultures,

we need to celebrate.

We need to tell a different story
about our nation.

Let's get rid of that!

I know it helps to have things organized,

but because we tell ourselves
we are from here, this group,

from this nation,

we're causing a lot of suffering.

So this is something for the New Year
and for the time to come.

If you're in that position,
of affecting other people,

tell a different story.

Even on a subway.
Something happened?

You can, by the way you describe
these people around you,

it can water the seed of understanding,

and water the seed of kindness.

So don't add to it,

don't add to the separation
and discrimination,

the fear.

As a practitioner, this is our mission.

We need to become..

a different kind of storyteller.

For ourselves, and for those
we come in contact with.

There's is a Bodhisattva
who is, what he does,

goes around thanking people.

Thank you, you know,
you are very beautiful,

you are a Buddha, you know that?

You're the most wonderful person.

And people don't accept it.

They say "what are you talking about?
Get out of here! Are you crazy?"

So we need that kind of Bodhisattva
in the world.

Please tell people that they're ok,
they're accepted, just as they are.

Tell them to accept themselves.

This is our work as practitioners.

When we practice, we find healing
for ourselves.

When we waste less energy,
thinking and trying too hard

and we have energy,

we can be a refuge for others,

our loved ones, our friends.

As a society, we also need to renew

and reflect, and change a little bit
our purpose, our dreams,

this is the root of a lot of problems.

Our family, we....

we had to leave Vietnam
because of war,

because of ideology,

communists,
democracy,

In a way I like to describe
my family like this:

my father, he is Chinese,
he had to escape China

because of war, revolution,

and then he had to escape Vietnam,

another war,

and then he came to America

and now I continue,
I escaped to France.

But it's a different kind of war.

Politically speaking, it's kind of funny,

because my dad escaped China
for communists,

and then another communist system,

so a lot of ideas, you know.

But in America, my family came
and we were very poor,

they didn't have anything.
We had to leave everything behind.

And I remember, growing up in America,

there's the American Dream.

"Leave it to Beaver", I grew up with
this black&white show.

"Leave it to Beaver",
and there's all these shows,

that shows you family,
and it's like, it's great,

happy, happy family

you have everything.

And then, as I grew up,
I learned the dream of having a house,

a garage, actually two garages,
and a car.

So these kind of dreams,
these kind of desires,

we have to relook at them,
because our planet needs it,

and other countries need for us
to renew our dream.

It's not gonna work, sorry,
for us to have everything,

and for everyone to have what we have,

it's not gonna work.

It's already hitting a limit.

Having many things,
and being able to buy many things,

having a bank account,
retirement plan,

and all these things that,
as a monk, we have left,

this is something we need to look at.

And it's difficult, I know that
some of the things I'm bringing up,

is hard, because you live in a society,
you have a family,

you have to pay your bills,

but I just invite you to look again,

minimizing or moderating
a little bit

of the material things we have.

And Christmas is a great time
to look at that,

Christmas and holiday,
they always have sales

I told Dah Young,
don't we have some sales in the books?

You know, a "buy one, get one free"?

And he said "No, we don't have that".

It was just my habit from Los Angeles,

when it's holiday, it's about buying,

it's not about coming in touch
with spiritual practice.

So our culture of buying,
a culture of having many things,

buying things and they're no longer useful

or there's a new model

Like, "there's a new model of this",
a new car,

it doesn't work,
it's not working.

So if you're a businessperson,
please help us with this aspect.

And also, money. Our culture is so linked
with the value of things, money.

We put prices on things,
and when we work, we get money,

therefore we buy something,
then it's ours.

Somehow this is not filling
the spiritual dimension,

the spiritual dimension of your heart.

This I share with you, having grown up
in the city and having worked,

and this is one of my sufferings:

getting a lot of things,
but really still feeling empty.

In fact there's a relationship between
the more things you have,

the more depression you'll get.

That's weird, isn't it?

Just think about it, having t-shirts.

Have you had two t-shirts?
Or do you have two shoes?

Or do you have one shoe?

You're so happy.
And you do everything to...

and you get another shoe,
and another shoe.

Or another t-shirt, you get ten t-shirts,

do you ever feel that?

I had this experience, you...
just another shirt

So there is a relationship,
this is just a very minor exemple,

but you have to expand that.
This is our culture.

Our materialistic culture.

This is something we have to revisit.

Wearing something out.
Or using something to its end.

And valueing it for helping you,
so something very...

That relationship you can look at.

But I know that culture
is very hard to resist.

Sometimes it helps us to have new things,

so I want to say, don't become an ascetic
and become asteer and so on,

but relook at it, in your life,
and see how that is playing out,

it could be just habit.

You're used to it, and society says it,
so you do it.

A lot of advertisement,
they stimulate us to do these things.

So this dream of having
material possessions,

I think we have to teach young people

to find different ways
to satisfy their lives.

Another area we can look at to renew

is our way of living.

Our society is very isolating.

I just met someone
whose son is in one country,

and whose daughter is
in another country,

and, as a grandmother,
she has to fly around now.

We no longer live close,
we no longer live with support

I think Thay's vision is
to restructure a little bit

our family, our community,

so even if you don't live
with your loved ones,

you can find like-minded groups.

Join a community,
a spiritual community to find support.

This is something that can help us
stay on the path, stay sane,

stay..

stay free.

It's Thay's vision to have
a practice community

in every city. It's his life's work,
he built Plum Village,

and this is a model for a role center,

and because of Thay's virtue and practice
and compassion in his life,

we've come and gathered here,

and Thay now encourages us
to build a sangha,

to build a community
wherever we go back to.

So our practice is no longer
just for ourselves.

Coming together, we support each other

and that community becomes
a support group for others

in the city.

And I think, this is a way forward for us,

to come together.

How many of you are therapists?
Mental therapists, or

psychotherapists?
Other therapists?

Yoga-instructors?

Wonderful.
So that's the body.

How many of you are
fitness-trainers?

You? Wonderful.

There's also... Now they
have leadership trainings, right?

How many of you are
in leadership training?

You can admit it, come on.
One, allright.

Wonderful.
How to succeed, yes.

We need that, we need good leaders.

I see more and more,
we need more therapists...

we need more yoga-instructors,
we need more...

places...

and so

The vision here is you can create
a community to play that role.

To become the therapist.

We had a psychiatrist come here,
make a presentation about what he does

and he divided up:

he said, behavior therapy, that has to do
with your behavior, your habits,

and then, cognitive therapy, about the way
your mind thinks,

and the new thing now is

mindfulness based therapy.

Mindfulness based cognitive therapy.

That's great.
Some of you are in that program?

Anyone?

I think, Thay would add one to that,

that's community based therapy.

Do you see the vision?

It's not just the psychiatrist
sitting there, saying:

"Ok, tell me your story.
Yes, all of it, don't hide anything",

one on one, right?

Sorry, I've never been to a..
I don't mean to a...

I hope it's not offending,
and I don't know the image now,

how they do it, but it's one on one right,

and it's private, closed door
and it's confidential

In community based therapy,
there's no confidentiality.

You sit here, you cry?
Everyone knows you're suffering!

Thank you for laughing.

I have to apologize, sometimes
I hope I'm not offending anyone.

I have a side in me that likes to poke
fun at things, that's my habit.

But community based therapy
is wonderful,

this is what I'm learning here,

and this is the power of
the collective healing,

even without discussion.

I don't need to know your history.

The community doesn't need to know.

But because you're here,
you practise within the community,

the energy,
the collective energy

is very powerful

And you will become your therapist.

That is the miracle.

The practise of mindfulness

can help you become your own therapist.

You begin to understand yourself,

you begin to have insight about yourself,

that YOU light up.

This is the power of the sangha.

Being in the sangha, I've learned
many things about others,

but a lot, I learned more about myself.

And you can ask all the one year-
long termers here if it's true.

Cause here, after a week you're still,
"Plum Village is great, you know,

it's heaven", yeah?

Oh-oh, some of you know what I mean, yeah?

You stay for a month, "now we move you
to a room with four people,

ten people", wow.

Now the practise really begins.

Therapy. The therapy begins.

It's nice. You come here for a week
and you go home

and you have such a beautiful memory
of Plum Village, oh!

So you see where I'm talking
about therapy now?

Community based therapy, yes.

But there's a reward to that suffering.

Living in a community,
being together,

your suffering,
seeing other people suffer,

seeing their breakthrough,

feeling an opening
in another person,

wow! You benefit from that.

You know, when you see someone,
as monks and nuns,

we love it when a practitioner
kind of like --

they are free, you know?

All of a sudden,
you can see it,

in the way they walk,
the way they say hi to you,

something they let go of.

It's a knot, you know,
we call it 'internal knots'

You come here,
and you're carrying a knot?

We can smell it.

Yeah. Of course, we're compassionate,
yes, sure,

but we give you space,
we give you time

but it is because we've been through that

and it needs time, it needs space

and this is the beauty of doing it
as a community.

It's a miracle we cannot...
Just like the chanting.

Chanting has nothing to do with thinking,

storytelling or analyzing your history.

It's energy.

And this is the power
of the true mindfulness

It's not about
psycho-analyzing you to death,

it is for you to..

so the basic practise of breathing,
walking, eating,

laying down, opening the door,

listening, being present,

not reacting

These are all opportunities for you to ...

have an insight.

When you wait in line, later tonight,

it's an opportunity

to be in a crowd,

to be where there's a lot of people

and feel safe.

You feel, this is your family

Everyone who comes here?
They have a little of suffering.

But they're learning to be with it.

So with your awareness,

slowly, your fear, your anxiety,

slowly, it melts.

It can fall off

This is the power of
community based therapy.

So when we are aware of our steps,

and people walking by, rushing,

and we can walk and be free,

and something happens.

This is a very healing energy.

Nobody gave it to you.

You generate it yourself,

and this is what we can train

to do, to practise.

So, as a society,

we stress so much on competition.

On competing.

We're always comparing,
even when we're little, in school,

A, A+, B, C,
D...

we're already trained, right?

In society, "how much do you make?
Oh.., oh...

We look at your badge,
"PHD, oh! Wow!"

We train like that, very...

well, I trained like that, sorry

So when we come together,
we learn a different way

of working together,
cooperating,

And helping another person

is something wonderful.

I know of a woman that came one time
to our monastery

in Deer Park

and in Dharma sharing, she said:

"My great happiness, I have to say,
it's nothing much and please don't laugh..

is when I was peeling the carrots
for the community,

I realized I've never done anything

for anyone

without wanting recognition.

And here I am, peeling a carrot,
and I don't know who's gonna eat it,

but they're gonna be happy,

and I'm so happy
to peel the carrots for them."

And I was so, like, "really?"

But she got her enlightenment
from peeling a carrot,

because for the first time in her life
she did something,

she shared that in her family life

you always get a reward for something,

and you have to be recognized.

And when you do something,
everyone should know.

It was something like that,
she was describing her childhood.

So we're so trained
to, like, do something, and then

"you guys see what I just did??"

In community,
nobody cares.

They do,
but if you care about it too much,

you have to be careful.

This is my training here,

I washed the pots,
I shared this before,

I was like, "you see, brother,
how much I cleaned the pots?

They're all clean, you know?"

And he was like,
"oh, you're wasting your energy,

why do you do that?"

And I was very angry for
a week or two.

So, not all monks and nuns
are like that, actually,

they're much more compassionate.

But when we practise in a community,

we get an opportunity to be kind
for kindness-sick.

People share this all the time
when they come here.

They do little things,

like, someone went
and collected all the cups,

and put them back,
and he shared,

at the end of our gathering here,

how much happiness that was
for him to just do that.

So in the community

we learn again our habits.

We learn to train new ways of looking.

But it's not all success,

there's also challenges,

this is where transformation
for the healing is possible.

From the community,
we also learn to exchange

and harmonize ideas, views.

So we learn to live

in harmony.

Even with different viewpoints,

and this is what's wonderful
about sangha.

Because the spiritual practise
helps us to let go.

Because we see those who don't let go,

and we see ourselves
when we don't let go of our viewpoints,

the suffering we cause to other people,

and the suffering we cause to ourselves.

Taking refuge in the community,

we need to renew it
over and over again.

Not just every New Year,

but every day, every week.

Every moment
is an opportunity for us

so making the practise...

you know, when we first came here,
"wow!"

Some of us who stay here long,

they can deteriorate

and I speak this for those of us
who stay here long:

please find ways
to renew your practise,

to renew your refuge in the community.

And the renewal,
and what is an obstacle,

I recognize this
because we hold on to something.

It's permanent,
but we don't let it flow.

You know, our mind is composed
of our feelings, our perceptions,

our thoughts and ideas,

and many times when we don't let it flow,

we cannot renew,
it's because we hold on to it.

Again that internal knot.

This is very important in our practise.

In Plum Village here,

we have many opportunities

for you to come and take refuge
for a week.

We also make opportunities
for young people to stay here long term

It's so that they can touch
something deeper and deeper

beyond just the one week
honeymoon-mindfulness.

There's also a mature mindfulness,

and you in relationships,
you know what I mean, you know.

After the honeymoon,
there is the maturity,

the ripening, right?

The challenges, the suffering,
and overcoming it.

It's the same with a community.

We have to find ways to refresh
our way of looking at each other

refresh our practise.

So I'll end here with this

encouraging us all
to go home and

build community.

A community that has a spiritual practise
as the base.

There's a lot of intentional communities
and good causes,

that come together for good causes,

but without a spiritual practise
as a foundation,

it's very difficult.

And when I say spiritual foundation,
it's not religious.

Spirituality here
is the mindfulness practise

of coming back to oneself
and touching our suffering.

recognizing the suffering in others,

practise of letting go of our ideas,

letting go of our ego, our self.

Spirituality is not like, you know...
Buddha, or God,

spirituality here is the virtuous practise

patience, kindness,

especially, letting go.

This is one of the precious stages
of the practise,

the letting go.

Even the most important, because....

and it frees you.

There are many sanghas around the world,

and there's also Wake Up community,

for young people to take refuge in.

We encourage the teachers to find ways
to build community in your own school.

And you don't have to call it by any name.

If you come more and more often
to our center,

you begin to see what is the essence,

"what are they doing here?"

Mindfulness practise, stopping,

coming back to one's self,

brotherhood and sisterhood,

you recognize schedules,

and also very important is
the mindfulness training

Mindfulness training,
a kind of a guideline

to guide the community.

These are ethical guidelines
to keep us balanced.

with the way the society encourages us.

It's a kind of balance,

to protect life,

to help us touch true happiness,
true love.

I just want a plug-in there for us
to those out there who can help us,

I think for the next level
of sangha building,

how many of you belong to a Sangha?

Wonderful.

I just want to encourage you
to continue that,

and Thay envisioned a sangha
as a mindfulness practice center

that is not 'buddhist'-framed,

more universal

and to create that place
in an urban environment.

This is something I just want to share,

to share kind of my wish,
a little bit, a desire

to have in every city,
an urban practice center.

So young people can take refuge.

Because not everyone can afford
to go out,

and having a place for regular meetings,
regular gatherings,

right in the city, accessible
for the young people and for everyone

and how to make it
so a sangha becomes your right livelihood.

How do you say, make it so
you don't have to hold another job.

What if sangha, and running the sangha,
and organizing the sangha

is your life?

You don't have to work a job
that you don't like

so if you're a yoga-instructor,

a health-something therapist,

get together and make it
become a center.

And then financially sustainable as well.

With simple living of course,

you don't want to be driving Lexus
and having...

just living a simple life.

And if you like to live in the urban city,
great.

So the vision is, having a center there,

and it's a full-time sangha community
living there.

Like ten people running the place,

having places for the young people
to take refuge in.

Every weekend, free,
anyone can come,

offering workshop, meditation,

so we're gonna put out of business
all the therapists,

community based therapists, yeah?

In fact, all the therapists should do this

because people are wasting too much,

it costs a lot, right, to get therapy,

I hear people pay lots of money
to go to therapy

so we have a sangha,
and we have workshops,

wouldn't that be wonderful?

That's Thay's vision for the MPC,
the Mindfulness Practice Center.

Because some of us, I mean,
I might go to temples now,

but I wouldn't have gone to a temple
as a young person.

And maybe some of us
might not go to churches,

so I encourage for us to find this,

because this is
what will bring balance back,

to have a spiritual dimension,

to have a way to keep us reminded

of what life, what our heart is about.

Those of you who are efficient,
intelligent, skillful,

please,
I send that out there,

and hopefully some of you
can have the condition

and the fortune to help build
a mindfulness practice center

and make it viable,
for your people to do it full-time.

so they don't have to waste their lives
working for a --- you know, something,

and that could be very community serviced,

that can help support the community

go to troubled youth-centers.

It could become a community service.

So as teachers as well,
you can do that in the school.

After school-activities,

create a place for the children,
for the students, for their parents,

after-school activities,

so please continue
Thay's volition, his deep desire,

to find, where's the balance.

Some of the difficulties,
the social ills I see,

many young people now are depressed,
have mental disorder,

the suicide rates, you hear,
keep increasing,

so we need...

we don't need a big bank account,
you know.

Just use that, to help change our world.

You cannot take it with you

so please help the young people,
the Wake Up-group,

who want to find a different way.

We have the Happy Farm-initiative,
and many young people are coming

and working with their hands,
and finding healing.

They stay for one year,

and we like to make this
available in the city,

have a lot become a garden

And I'm sure you have many other visions.

Please go back to your sangha
and discuss with your sangha

how to open up
so that more young people,

more people suffering,
can take refuge.

This is, everyone knows,
this is Thay's deepest wish.

Thank you for coming,
for listening.