Discourse on Love & Practicing Loving Kindness | Dharma Talk by sr Tu Nghiem, 2018 11 08

Dharma talk given by sister Tu Nghiem during a lay day in the Rains Retreat 2018.

- Read the Discourse on Love: https://plumvillage.org/sutra/discourse-on-love/
- Read about sister Tu Nghiem: https://plumvillage.org/about/dharma-teachers/sr-tu-nghiem

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So, dear respected Thay, dear sangha,
dear friends,

I'm very happy we are together again
on this eighth day of November,

in the year 2018.

There is a Day of Mindfulness for us,

you have a Day of Mindfulness
to be together

with lay practitioners
from many, many countries.

We are very grateful to Thay

because he has always made it possible
for the lay practitioners to join us

at Plum Village for the three month
Rain Retreat,

which in some countries is not open
for lay practitioners to come

and practice with the monastics.

So, since the very beginning
of Plum Village,

this has been our way of practicing
as a fourfold sangha.

And that means that

the monks and nuns,
male and female,

and then the lay practitioners,
male and female.

That is meant by four fourfold sangha.

During this Rains Retreat,
we have been offering

our understanding and ways of practicing
the 14 mindfulness trainings every Sunday,

and then, on Thursdays, there has been
a variety of teachings.

So far, we've shared the basic
Plum Village practices,

some of the Dharma Doors,

I believe, such as Beginning Anew,
Shining Light, guided meditations,

reconciliation within families
and relationships.

In the coming weeks, we will be offering
our understanding and how we can practice

some of the sutras.

This morning, today we will look
at the Discourse on Love.

We remember that the Dharma talk on Sunday
ended with a line from one of Thay's poems

and it said:
Let us accept one another.

Let us share the vision
for Great Love to arise.

Maybe we're wondering,
what is this Great Love?

Buddha had some wonderful teachings
on Great Love.

And Thay has also offered many deep
teachings on what he has called True Love.

So we know there are four expressions
of this Great Love, of this True Love.

We know them as
loving kindness,

it is also known as maitri or metta,

compassion,

or also known as karuna,
in Pali or Sanskrit.

Joy, mudita,

and then equanimity, upeksha.

The Buddha has offered an explanation
of these four expressions of love

in the Discourse on Love.

This discourse is available in all
of our chanting books,

Chanting from the Heart and all of
the translations in the Chanting Book.

And it's found in the session on Monday,
Monday morning.

This text or this sutra is very important
and really well loved and practiced

in the Theravada traditions in Buddhism.

So, we think of the countries where
'source Buddhism', as Thay calls it,

or 'original Buddhism' is practiced.

And that is the country of Thailand,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,

Sri Lanka, India and Myanmar.

Primarily the countries in Southeast Asia.

The text is in Pali language, and
it's part of their daily practice

to chant this discourse, this sutra.

I discovered that there are

20 translations of this text into English.

19 are available on the Internet,

and then the 20th is the one that
Thay and sister Chan Duc did,

or sister True Virtue, sister Annabel.
And to me, it's the most beautiful.

If you have an interest in scholarship,

you can look at the other translations
which are very accurate, I believe,

I don't read Pali.
But in reading the translation

that is available to us everyday,
I see that it is very, very beautiful,

the one that we have.

So, why don't we listen to
this Discourse on Love.

And, I'll read it.

And I believe many of you
have already heard it,

but it's nice to hear it again.

Because I've found that it waters
my seeds of happiness and goodness.

It is a wonderful text to nourish
the wholesome qualities in ourselves.

So, Discourse on Love. And this is Thay's
translation with sister Annabel.

“He or she who wants to attain peace

should practice being upright, humble,
and capable of using loving speech.

He or she will know how to live simply
and happily, with senses calmed,

without being covetous and carried away
by the emotions of the majority.

Let him or her not do anything that
will be disapproved of by the wise ones.

And this is what he or she contemplates:

May everyone be happy and safe,
and may all hearts be filled with joy.

May all beings live
in security and in peace –

beings who are frail or strong, tall or
short, big or small, visible or invisible,

near or faraway, already born,
or yet to be born.

May all of them dwell
in perfect tranquility.

Let no one do harm to anyone.

Let no one put the life of anyone
in danger.

Let no one, out of anger or ill will,
wish anyone any harm.

Just as a mother loves and protects her
only child at the risk of her own life,

cultivate boundless love to offer
to all living beings in the entire cosmos.

Let our boundless love pervade the whole
universe, above, below, and across.

Our love will know no obstacles.

Our heart will be absolutely free
from enmity and hatred.

Whether standing or walking, sitting
or lying, as long as we are awake,

we should cultivate
this love within our heart.

This is the noblest way of living.

Free from wrong views, greed,
and sensual desires,

living in beauty and realizing
Perfect Understanding,

those who practice boundless love
will certainly transcend birth and death.”

I discovered that this sutra
grew within me.

I heard it the first time and I thought,

"It's very lovely, very nice, but
how can I practice it?"

It seemed to be a real challenge,
to have all these qualities,

and to be able to practice boundless love.

So what I did is I read it,
I read it very often.

And I simply waited.

And I didn't expect myself
to be able to practice it.

It was simply enough to read it.

And I still do this everyday.
I read the sutra.

It's very interesting to know that
this sutra has a history.

It has an origin.
An origin story.

But before I share the origin story of
how this sutra was offered by the Buddha,

I want to say a few words about
what do we mean by origin stories.

When we

study or hear some of
the Buddhist teachings.

Do you know that the lay people

in the time of the Buddha

were the source of many
of the mindfulness trainings?

Or the precepts,
as they were called in those days.

Both for the lay people
and for the monastics.

And how was that possible?

For example, the 5 mindfulness trainings

were created by the Buddha

in response to the request
or the mother and father, the parents,

of a monk who had just ordained.

His parents went to the Buddha and said,

"World Honored One, do you have
some guidelines for us,

the lay people living in the world, so
we could have more happiness and peace?"

So the Buddha thought and he agreed,

he said, "Yes,
I will create some guidelines."

And these guidelines, in those days,
were offered with the phrase,

"I will refrain from killing.
I will abstain from stealing." Et cetera.

So the Buddha used words that were
appropriate for the time and culture

in ancient India.

I think if we continue to use those words
in our modern era,

perhaps the mindfulness trainings
will not be so easily accepted.

So Thay, with his great understanding
and wisdom of our era and culture,

renamed them to call them
'mindfulness trainings',

which is truly what they are about.
We'll develop our mindfulness,

and train our mind to think
and act in wholesome ways.

So Thay called them mindfulness trainings,

and then, instead of beginning
each training with the word

"I will abstain from", or
"I will refrain from",

because in our era, it's more a culture of
consummation rather than abstaining from.

So Thay chose to use the words,
"Aware of suffering caused by" killing,

or stealing.

If we know that such actions
are going to create suffering,

or our ways of speaking, or thinking
will create suffering,

then we think, "Oh, sure!
I'm willing to learn more and practice."

Practice the trainings.

So then Thay gives us ways to understand
within the training how to practice.

I am committed to do this.
I'm determined

to do something else in order to
not cause suffering to myself or others.

The precepts for the monks and nuns
were also created by the Buddha

after a situation occurred
where there was a mistake

or after an event.

The Buddha did not make precepts,
or mindfulness trainings,

we say "a priori", in advance.

The Buddha wanted the monastics
to have a way of life

that would make it easy for the lay people
to be able to ask questions,

and learn from the monastics,
and respect them.

So all of the precepts for the monastics

were made after
a specific situation occurred.

And how did the Buddha learn
about situations that occurred?

Or behavior on the part of the monastics?

It was from the lay people.

The lay people,
when they observed or heard

how the monks and nuns
were speaking or acting,

if they were not pleased with the -
If they were not happy,

they would go to the Buddha and tell him.

"This is what we saw,
this is what happened."

And then the Buddha decided
that he didn't want his monastics

to make the same mistake.

So he made precepts for them.

We have to understand, in the beginning,
the monastic sangha was forming.

It was brand new. So -

But they didn't know too much
about how to be monastics,

so, gradually,

they learned, Buddha learned,
and the monastics learned

about what would be the most
appropriate way of life for them.

And the Buddha created mindful manners
as appropriate codes of behavior.

We are all very grateful
to the lay sangha.

In those days they were helping
the Buddha and the other monastics

know what they thought
would be appropriate behavior.

Let us enjoy just a moment

to come back to ourselves. We'll listen
to one sound of the bell

for a moment of mindful breathing.

(Bell)

So I've shared a little bit about origin,
origin stories.

The precepts for the monastics,
they all have an origin story.

We learn about what happened

and it was a source of maybe
some misunderstanding,

a source of

people not being happy,

and so, a guideline was created.
An origin story.

And I've used the example of the
mindfulness trainings for the lay sangha,

and then, monastic mindful manners
and precepts for the monastics.

And also, I've, with great appreciation
and gratitude, let all of you know

how important you are for our practice.

And you were instrumental
in the time of the Buddha

for helping formulate the appropriate
code of behavior for monastics.

I want to add that other monastics
also went to the Buddha

to share what they saw other monastics do.

So it wasn't just the lay people going,

it was monastics also
letting the Buddha know.

I think the Buddha was very busy,
wasn't he?

Not only teaching,
but receiving all of these reports

on how people were acting,
and speaking, and thinking, et cetera.

So the Buddha listened, I'm sure,
very deeply and then reflected.

So from the time of the Buddha

he established the fourfold sangha

of the monastics and the lay people
practicing together

and supporting one another
in their practice.

So now I'd like to share with you
the origin story

of this sutra.

It is said that on one occasion,

some 500 bhikkhus, meaning
fully ordained monks,

after receiving some instruction
on meditation,

such as awareness of the breathing,

which is what Thay has chosen
for our basic meditation practice,

the Anapanasati sutra,
they practiced that daily,

aware of our in-breath and our out-breath,
aware of our body, relaxing our body.

So the Buddha gave them some topics
for their meditation.

Then, they went to a forest
in the Himalayas

to practice this meditation.

In those days, they didn't have
a practice center such as we know today.

They went to the foot of a tree,
or they went into the forest

to a quite, secluded area to practice.

Mostly sitting meditation,
and slow walking meditation.

But we know that they also ate mindfully.

But there were some devas.

Maybe a deva would be
someone comparable to an angel

in the Christian tradition.

Devas lived in the forest, in nature,
where there were trees

and bushes, a lot of natural
flora and fauna.

But there was some devas
already living there.

Initially, the devas, devas are like

beings that are not in a body form,

but they have already developed
some certain amount of consciousness.

But there were devas already living there.

In the beginning, the devas tolerated
the presence of the monks.

But they saw

that the bhikkhus were planning
to stay there and practice meditation.

And they had no intention to leave.

So the devas realized that and became
upset and annoyed with the bhikkhus

for taking their space, for moving in
occupying their territory.

So what did they do?

The devas made fearful sighs
and horrible sounds

that agitated the six
sense organs of the monks.

And they did this at night

to frighten the monks,
so they would go away.

The bhikkhus were so disturbed,

that they got sick

and they couldn't make any progress
in their meditation.

So they decided to leave the forest
to return to the Buddha.

And they reported their experiences
of what happened.

So the Buddha received this report,

and in his meditation,

he surveyed the area
to find an alternative forest

where the monks could practice in silence.

But he found no other suitable forest
in that area.

So what he told them
was to return to that forest.

However, before returning to the forest

the Buddha gave them, his monks,
this metta meditation.

The Metta Sutra for them to chant
as a daily practice

and then to offer as a meditation

to make the devas more peaceful,
to appease them,

and as well for the protection
of the monks.

So the monks went back to the same forest
where the devas were,

I imagine they were a little bit anxious,

wondering if the Buddha's teachings
would be enough

to make the devas calm.

Because they had experienced
a lot of agitation from these beings.

So the monks went back, and
daily chanted the Metta Sutra,

and the metta meditation
throughout the day.

And I believe throughout the night.

They had brief periods of sleep.

The result was transformative.

By receiving this metta energy
from the monks,

this energy of loving kindness
and compassion from the monks,

the devas developed trust
and confidence in the monks.

They welcomed them.

They then had goodwill towards the monks
and even looked after them,

making sure they had enough food,
and whatever they needed.

And the monks were also able to
develop these qualities in themselves,

and offer to the devas their friendliness,
their good wishes,

their kindness
and their peaceful presence.

That helped calm and watered
the best seeds in themselves,

but also

in the hearts and minds of the devas.

So everybody benefited from this practice.

And it is said, that

after this three months period
of rains retreat,

that the bhikkhus spent with this
meditation in the forest with the devas,

it is said that all 500 bhikkhus
became arhats.

And in the Theravada tradition
of Buddhism,

an arhat is a person who has purified
all of their afflictions,

such as greed, hatred, ignorance.

He has developed
to the highest extent possible.

Becoming arhat,
you have no more afflictions.

I believe it's just
before becoming a buddha.

Being an arhat is pretty good.

So the good fruits of their practice
of this metta meditation.

As practitioners in our daily life,
wherever we are living,

in the forest,

where there are trees.

And incidentally, you know there are

Greenpeace and organizations that
want to protect the life of trees,

and not let people cut down
the ancient forests,

which is happening in many countries.

To cut down the ancient forests, and then,
what do they do?

In some cases, they plant grass
to bring in the cattle.

To grow - They make pasture land.

But the ancient forests provide
beautiful fresh oxygen.

The leaves of the trees give us oxygen
and they absorb the carbon dioxide

in the process of photosynthesis.

So, the ancient forests are precious.

So whether we live in the ancient forest
or in the cities,

there are practices that we can do
related to this metta sutra.

I reflected on how I could
share this sutra this morning.

And the only thing I could think of

was to do what Thay did.

Because during the winter retreat,
the three month rain retreat,

Thay would chose a sutra.

And them he would take
short sections of the sutra

and then, share some commentary
on each section.

So I hope that's alright with you
if I simply do what Thay did.

We'll listen to some commentary
on this sutra,

and then we'll learn about this meditation

that is based on the sutra,
the metta meditation.

Let us take a moment to stretch
or change your sitting position

if you wish, or sit in a chair
if that will be more comfortable.

We'll have a sound of the bell
to reconnect us

with ourselves and with one another.
Because when we all breathe together,

at the same time, we're creating
a collective energy of mindfulness,

a collective energy of concentration
that is shared.

It's an interbeing experience.

(Bell)

So what we share on the sutra

is a different kind of sharing sometimes.

I appreciate

just your willingness to listen,
and whatever results is also okay.

It begins with: "He or she
who wants to attain peace

should practice being upright, humble,
and capable of using loving speech."

So the beginning of the sutra
gives us an opportunity

to think about how we can live
simply and happily.

How to speak lovingly.

We know we have the mindfulness
trainings to help us speak lovingly.

We have also the practice
of Beginning Anew,

where we learn how to speak lovingly

by sharing our appreciations of others,

how much we have a lot of gratitude
for people in our life.

When we are upright, what does that mean?

It means that we have some ethical values.

We live by our values.

So, this person is upright,

that suggests this person is reliable,
has ethical values.

We can take refuge in this person
because of their honesty,

their capacity to understand.

And not do anything
that would be disappointing.

We want not perfect, okay?

But someone who is upright is someone
who practices, maybe we put it simply.

Someone who loves the practice
and does it wholeheartedly.

But we don't speak of perfect uprightness.

There isn't perfect uprightness.

But just human uprightness. Okay?
It is good enough.

We don't covet or want what others have
in this simple lifestyle.

We have enough. There is
the Sanskrit word 'samtusta'.

We are content with what we have.

It says: We know how to live simply
and happily, with senses calmed,

without being covetous and carried away
by the emotions of the majority.

So if we are in an environment
where there is a majority of people

and we find that right now what I need
is to feel peaceful and calm,

and maybe the environment is such that

the majority of the people are

a little bit agitated,
not so peaceful and calm,

we can choose

to not be carried away
by the emotions that are there.

But we are not going to judge at all
the emotions of the majority.

We simply observe.

And that is bare attention.
We observe what is there,

what are the emotions being expressed.

We observe. We don't judge. And
if we wish to not be carried away

by whatever the majority of
the emotions are,

that we don't wish to experience,

then we come back to ourselves

and we can practice mindful breathing,
mindful walking.

Sometimes, we feel
that we have to step outside.

And that is certainly okay,

to not be carried away
in certain environments,

we can choose to find temporarily
another environment.

We step outside and enjoy mindful walking,

mindful breathing. We learned about
protecting our six sense organs.

The sutra says, with senses calmed.

That means that whatever we see, hear,

taste or touch, if it has
the effect on us of creating

agitation, or making us feel upset,
we are no longer peaceful,

then we want to think of how can I protect
my eyes, or my ears,

so they are not going to
continually receive this stimulation.

And we learn how to do this gradually.

We learn about the environment,
and how I'm feeling,

and to do this,
we become aware of our body.

And if we are having
emotions come up in us,

such as worry, anxiety,
anger or fear.

We can keep our stability.
We can keep our peace.

And that is, in a sense,

the practice of
keeping our six senses calm.

We keep our stability
and we keep our peace.

In a situation where I am the minority,

and I am in an environment where
others are the majority,

I accept being minority. Okay?

In our daily lives,
you may be a minority at work.

Or at school.

And you are invited
to join your colleagues on Friday, for -

They call it happiness hour
or something like that.

It means going to the bar. Yes.

(Laughter)

And you are a practitioner.
And you practice the five trainings.

Oh!, What do you do?

You say: Okay, I'm a minority.
What do I do?

So, if you know you -
If your practice is solid enough,

and you won't be carried away
by spending some time in the bar,

or a bistro, or wherever it is,
if you have confidence in your practice,

then you can go. It's alright.

But the big challenge is:
what do you order to drink?

(Laughter)

This is the challenge. Okay?

I leave that to you.

(Laughter)

To find ways to be a minority with the
majority of your friends, or colleagues,

or family members,

when you share Christmas
or New Year with them.

And maybe that would be something to share
in a Dharma sharing group at some point.

How to be a minority and still
take refuge in our practice?

But it's fine to be a minority.

Don't feel upset,

or feel that if I'm a minority,
I can't succeed in my practice. You can.

It is just your experience
of yourself practicing

mindful breathing and mindful walking

that gives you the assurance that
my practice is there, in me.

And we don't have to speak,

for example while eating.

Suppose you are invited to join everyone,
the majority group, for a lunch or dinner.

And you say, how can I practice
mindful eating? I'm a minority.

You can. You can chew mindfully,
gently, taste the food, and smile.

But you can keep your silence
for a little bit.

And we know we are flexible
in our practice.

You may say a few words.

But I've learned, while practicing
mindful eating with a group,

and they may not be practitioners,
I've learned not to ask questions.

That means I'm going to be talking,
and then, they may want,

Please, tell us, clarify your question.

And then I'm caught. I'm talking more
during a mindful meal with friends,

or with people who may not know
the practice so well.

So, we know that
we can live simply and happily

with a lifestyle of a practitioner.

And you can keep your religious tradition,
if you are not Buddhist,

you don't have to be Buddhist.

Thay encourages everyone
to keep their root tradition,

whatever it is, you can continue.

And just add your mindfulness practices.
That's it.

So, without being covetous.

That means without wanting
what you see other people have.

Maybe someone has a new pair of shoes,
or they are nice,

but you know they cost 150 euros, so
we let go of wanting that.

Or a new car, or whatever that is new.

Or old.

So we don't covet, we are not envious.
Envious of wanting what other people have.

And then, not being carried away
by the emotions of the majority.

We take refuge in our practice.

Okay. It continues:

May everyone be happy and safe,
and may all hearts be filled with joy.

So we want everyone to experience joy.

You know, we can say these words even if
we don't feel the joy in our heart.

Because as we continue
to repeat these words,

we are opening a neural pathway
in our brain.

And we are going to let joy
walk down the pathway.

We are going to let loving kindness
walk down the neural pathway.

We are going to let compassion,
joy and equanimity

walk down this new neural pathway that
we are creating when we say words.

When we repeat them.

So our heart and mind are
in a beautiful state of awareness

when we repeat these words
and we wish to share this energy,

our wish, our volition, with all beings.
May everyone be happy and safe.

So how can we help contribute
to the happiness and safety of everyone?

One of the practices I do
to protect the safety

of small beings.

It doesn't have to be this big act that
is going to protect the whole world.

But of course, we do it when we
are protecting Mother Earth.

If I see a snail, something so tiny,
or a slug,

we know what the slugs are, the 'limaces',

sometimes I see them
trying to cross the road.

And they're slow.

(Laughter)

So,

what I do? I really try to do this.

I look for a leaf, because I -

You know, they are cold and slimy,
so I try to find a leaf or a twig.

Or a worm. We can see worms
trying to cross the road.

I pick them up with my hand, no problem,

but I pick them up and
I take them to the other side.

To the other shore.

(Laughter)

Shore of non suffering.

The shore of the grass is greener
on the other side.

They usually try to go to the other side
of the road where there is grass.

And when I see them,
they're walking slowly on the pavement.

So I pick up the snails,
the slugs, and the worms.

And take them to the other side.

That is helping something be safe.
And happy.

We know when we live in the present moment
we have many opportunities

to see what is really there.

We've let go of the past, where
maybe there wasn't too much happiness,

and we come back to
what is in front of us,

what is so beautiful.
We have the autumn leaves.

This morning there was the beautiful fog,

when we came from.

There was mist
and everything was so soft.

There was greatness and softness,

and the mist was very beautiful.

So it brings a lot of happiness
when we are able to simply be there.

To be there in the present moment.

And for that, we let go of our thinking.
I've discovered that helps a lot

to not think. Instead of thinking,
I breathe in and out.

When I notice a thought arising,
I think: Oh! A thought is there.

Hello, my thought. Hello, my worry
about the future.

Hello, my regret about the past. Because
all of this comes up naturally.

The store consciousness continually sends
these messengers up to our mind.

These little messengers from the past

if something waters that seed.

The store consciousness,
the deepest level, alaya,

will always let a seed
manifest if we've watered it.

So, to help protect us,
to be happy and safe,

we can be aware of what kind of seeds
in my environment are being watered

by what people say,

what I listen to, what I hear,
what I see, okay?

So to be happy, I really enjoy the
practice of living in the present moment.

I see the beautiful orchid.

The orchid is there, just being an orchid.

He or she doesn't have to do anything else
but be, be present.

And the orchid is there for all of us.

So life is available for all of us.

Thay would quote André Gide,
the French writer,

who said that God is available
24 hours a day.

The question is, are we available to God?

And Thay would then say:
"Life is available to us.

The beauties, the wonders.

The happiness is available to us 24 hours
a day. But are we available to life?"

And Thay would often begin his talks by
saying: "Breathing in, I know I'm alive.

Breathing out, I smile to life
in me and around me."

So our practice can be,
let us smile to life in us and around us.

Life is all forms of life.
All forms of life.

One of the practices I love to do
to be happy,

to water my seeds of happiness
and feel at peace,

is whenever I come to Upper Hamlet,
if time permits,

I enjoy walking around the lotus pond
you have here.

It's so beautiful in all seasons.

And,

I love to look in the water
and see the fish.

There are fish there.

Gold fish you call them? Carp? Carp.

They travel together, they are a sangha.

You usually don't see one alone.
They're together.

There is a nice history of the fish
in that pond.

There was a time when after breakfast

the residents here

would give them some of the bread.

So there was a time when we would see
pieces of bread floating

everywhere in the pond.
But that stopped.

And I enjoy looking how the fish grow,
you know? They grow, and I wondered,

how do they grow? What is their nutriment?
What is feeding them?

But apparently
they don't need much to eat.

So we want all beings,
their hearts to be filled with joy.

And we send out this energy.

May you be happy and safe,
and may your heart be filled with joy.

It continues: May all beings
live in security and in peace.

So we want this for everybody.

We want our children to experience
security and peace in society.

Of course, at home, and at school.

We want our sanghas,

our family, our friends.

So we discover with our practice
of being peaceful,

and knowing how to transform
our strong emotions

into peace and happiness

we can contribute to the security
and peace of all beings.

We want to contribute to the peace
and happiness of Mother Earth,

because we know that Mother Earth
is in us, all the elements

that are in the food we eat,
that's Mother Earth.

And we are in Mother Earth, of course.
We're living on Mother Earth.

So there is a real,
deep connection that we have,

an interbeing connection
with Mother Earth.

And we want to live
in security and in peace,

and provide this for Mother Earth.

Beings who are frail or strong, tall or
short, big or small, visible or invisible,

near or faraway, already born,
or yet to be born.

May all of them dwell
in perfect tranquility.

Nothing is left out.
That's everything.

All forms of life, everywhere.

Whether they're frail, poor health,
good health, tall, short, big, tiny,

visible, we can see them,
or we can't see them,

like the 'aoûtats' in August,
if you have been here.

Do we know about these little

harvest mites, in other countries
their live in the grass,

and when it's hot, they love us.
They bite.

And then we itch.

Okay, whether we can see them,
or can't see them,

like the flu virus. Has it arrived yet?
We can't see it, but we see the effects.

Visible or not visible,
near or faraway,

already born or yet to be born.
They are on their way to manifesting.

May everyone dwell in perfect tranquility.

That means tranquility to be

free of fear, anxiety, worry,

related to being discriminated against.

That is, there is
discrimination in the world,

discriminated against based on their size,
or other characteristics,

such as race, nationality,
religion, or gender.

Discrimination can take many forms
and expressions.

So, we are bodhisattvas, awakened beings.

We want to wish everyone well-being.

No harm.

And we send this energy
of love and well-being to everyone,

near or far, already born,
visible, not visible, the whole cosmos.

I want to mention something that -

There are bodhisattvas everywhere now.

So, it's very encouraging.

We know there have been
many refugees worldwide.

And the United Nation's
High Commission on Refugees

has published the figures that now there
are 68.5 million people around the world

who are refugees.

25.4 million have had to settle
in different countries.

And more than half of them
are now under 18.

And we've learned that the United Nation's
High Commission on Refugees has a staff

of 11,517 people,
and I've called them bodhisattvas.

But they are out there, helping.
They are rescue at sea,

in boats out there rescuing people.

We know during the War in Vietnam
Thay and su co Chan Khong,

perhaps were the first
to start the rescue at sea,

hiring big boats to go out at sea
and save the refugees.

So this bodhisattva practice continues.

And you know, some of these bodhisattvas,
we have the honor to meet at Plum Village.

You may be those bodhisattvas already.
You are there, you are bodhisattvas.

It's just we don't know it.

But during the summer retreat,
we had the honor of meeting some of them.

They are ordinary human beings,
but, they have a great heart.

There was one retreatant,
she and her family adopted

a family of four refugees
from a war torn country,

from a war devastated country.
The family fled

and she and her husband and family
adopted them.

And, believe it or not, this summer
two dogs arrived at New Hamlet.

It seems to be in the summer,
the cats, the dogs, they arrive.

So,

two dogs were abandoned,
they arrived to the New Hamlet

and you know what?
She drove home with one of these dogs,

and her daughter, in a small car.

That's -

That's metta. That's this love.

We learned there is a water company,
a mineral water company,

in the Auvergne region of France.

And they have been in partnership
with UNESCO for more than 12 years

to make clean, drinkable water available
to the children and families in Africa.

And the drought ridden areas of Africa.

And they say, for every 1 liter
of their water that we buy,

they provide 10 liters
of fresh drinkable water in Africa.

So this is metta.

Making it possible for everyone
to be happy and safe,

and to protect their lives.

Just as a mother loves and protects her
only child at the risk of her own life,

let us cultivate boundless love to offer
to all living beings in the entire cosmos.

We learn from the neuroscientists
there is a region in the brain

where compassion is located,
so to speak.

And this area of the brain

that they identified as compassion

is very, very close to the center
for maternal love.

That's interesting.

So just as a mother will protect her
only child, this is the love

that can be instinctual perhaps.

I've seen pictures of lionesses
protecting their cubs,

mother dogs protecting their puppies,
et cetera.

And in my own personal experience,

in listening to consultations,
when retreatants want to share

about something in their life,
how to practice with it,

I have listened to many mothers
and also fathers.

And I've learned that they really love
their daughters and their sons.

There is really love there.

No matter what age their children are,

or no matter what their children are up to
or have done,

or if their children haven't talked
to them for 5 years, 10 years, whatever.

There can be suffering, of course,
but I've had heard

and learned there is love, there,
there is this maternal and paternal love.

But the difficulty is

that sometimes the parents' suffering
is just too great.

The mother's suffering has just been
too great over a long period of time,

or she received this suffering
from her parents,

an ancestor's suffering
has been transmitted.

So that is why they haven't learned
how to express their love.

And their sons and daughters may believe

that their mother doesn't love them,
or their father doesn't love them.

But it's my belief

the parental love is there.

And that deep down inside of us
we can learn to forgive, if necessary,

and love our parents
when we understand and learn more.

So this love, this boundless love
is developing now

to the point where the Buddha said:

Let our boundless love
pervade this whole universe,

in all directions, above,
below, and across.

In the ten directions.

That is northwest, southwest,
you know,

northeast, southeast,
you know that, okay.

All the directions
let this boundless love.

We can have this thought and
this intention, and this volition,

even if it hasn't been
developed yet in us. Okay?

So, please, believe me.
It's enough to say the words.

This love is perhaps like the love
that is described in the New Testament,

the King James version.

The love that Jesus offered and spoke of.

When the new Testament was translated
into the Greek language,

the word used was 'agape', 'agape'.

So this was the word used to describe
this spiritual love.

And we know there are many kinds of love.

You have many relationships,

and you can reflect on the nature
of the love in your relationships.

But the boundless love is like

the love that we read about in the Bible,
the 'agape',

and in the Old Testament there is a word
from the Hebrew language called

'chesed', I don't know
if I pronounce it correctly,

c-h-e-s-e-d.

[xesed]?

Yes, [xesed], we have a resource here.

Good. And that means for love, goodness
and kindness, like metta.

So this kind of love,
this boundless love is found

in other spiritual traditions, it has its
counterpart in other spiritual traditions.

So, there are no obstacles to this love.

Even if in our mind we have anger,
and hatred arising.

Okay, they are just mental formations.

Don't be -

Don't water them.

Don't be too attached to all of this,

these mental formations called
anger, and hatred, and all that.

They are mental formations,
and they will arise.

They are there, in the depth
of our consciousness, okay.

They arise when conditions are favorable.

And then, we let them go back.

But now we want to help arise this metta,
this boundless love.

So what is this boundless love?
How can we help it arise?

He said there are no obstacles, really.

The first thing we want to do
is to convince our mind

that there is boundless love.

Because the mind consciousness sometimes
says: "No, there is no love in the world.

Read the news, look at
all of that. No love."

We want to convince our mind.
Yes, there is love.

All right. So, as I've hinted to so far,

there is this boundless love
and what will help is

reciting the sutra.

There is a poem Thay wrote called
'Alone Again'.

It's a beautiful poem.

Some of the words towards the end are:
"Knowing the immortality of love,

those who love you will behold you,

will continue to behold you across
ten thousand worlds of birth and dying."

Bodhisattvas never abandon anyone.
We keep this love in our heart

no matter what is happening.

No matter what we see, or what we hear.

We cultivate this love,
the immortality of love.

You know, people loving, practicing love,

we are impermanent.
People come and go, right?

But love has continued.
It continues to manifest.

People playing the guitar,

their hands come and go.
Different hands play the guitar.

But guitars stay.

So love stays.

People breathe in and out.

The lungs come and go.
They are different lungs, right?

But breath has continued.
Mindful breathing has continued.

Mindful walking has continued.
The feet change,

people doing the mindful walking,
their feet change, right?

But mindful walking has continued.

So: "Living in beauty and realizing
Perfect Understanding,

those who practice boundless love
will certainly transcend birth and death."

Living in beauty and realizing
Perfect Understanding.

How can we live in beauty?

There is a Native American song,
Now I Walk in Beauty.

Beauty is before me,
beauty is above me,

beauty is around me,
above and below me.

So there is beauty in the ten directions.

We can live in beauty, as I mentioned,
by living in the present moment.

And the Perfect Understanding.

To understand, we want to
be able to stop for a minute,

to practice stopping with each step.
It's vipassana, okay?

In the southern tradition we stop,

come back to ourselves
with mindful breathing,

and then, we look deeply.

And this is the understanding
that will come

when we have mindfulness,
concentration, and then

that will lead to insight.

So let us practice now
the first vipassana, the stopping.

We will stop for a minute and breathe.

And we will hear a sound of the bell.

The bell is always this voice
inviting us to come back to ourselves.

(Bell)

So -

And now we are ready
for the shorter version of this sutra.

It has been written on the board.
It is the metta meditation.

The monks practiced the longer sutra,
every single sentence of that sutra,

and then it was shortened.

The shortened version actually was first

created by Buddhaghosa. He was

a commentator, he was a monk
who lived in the 5th century in Sri Lanka,

more that 1,500 years ago.

He was a scholar who wrote commentaries
on the Buddhist teachings.

He wrote a book called the Visuddhimagga,
which is The Path of Purification.

And it is the most important manual
of Buddhist meditation

for the Theravada school of Buddhism.

That is the Buddhism that is practiced
in the southeast Asian countries

that I mentioned.

Buddhaghosa,

he gave this teaching
on the four Brahmaviharas,

the four unlimited minds.

And it's in the part two
in the section on concentration,

because it helps us concentrate.

And Thay has based this metta meditation
that we have written for you,

it's Thay's version

of the meditation that was offered
by the Buddhaghosa

on the four unlimited minds,

which are loving kindness, as I mentioned,
compassion, equanimity - Excuse me,

loving kindness, compassion,
joy, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.

We use all four of
these expressions of love

when we practice this meditation.

I want to share
from my personal experience

why I offer this meditation to you.

Because it has been a practice
I do every morning

for about a year and a half.

And I share this very often.

Because I've experienced
that I had a lot to transform.

With seeds of anger, ill-will,
or irritation, getting upset easily,

all of that.

Maybe you have some of that too.
I don't know.

But I decided,

after hearing I think our lay friends
and some monastics say

that first of all they begin by reading
this sutra every morning.

So I started doing that.
I woke up a little bit earlier,

I read this sutra to myself,
that was very good,

and then, I got our of bed.

So I do this practice
before getting out of bed.

It's my first action.

My first thoughts of the day.

For me,

the firsts moments
of every day are so important.

Before I brush my teeth.

Because usually I have to wait.

Many people share
the bathroom, so we wait.

I start my practice before that.

Sit up in bed, I started
by reading this sutra.

And then I noticed,
how can I help my mind?

Because reading the sutra was helpful.

So, then I decided to try

this guided meditation:
May I be happy, may I be peaceful.

Very good. I was sending this good energy
to myself before starting the day.

That was very nice.
I was giving myself

a good start before the mental
formations were watered.

So that unwholesome mental
formations would manifest.

So I would start by watering
the good mental formations,

bringing up the wholesome thoughts.

And then I noticed that
sometimes in the sangha

there were situations where there was

disharmony, or two people were
having difficulty in their relationship.

Or another sister wasn't happy with me.

And I knew by the way she acted,

she would turn away when she saw me,
she would run away.

And I knew that doing Beginning Anew
was not the right time.

Because words were not acceptable,
were not possible.

Sometimes people's suffering is so great,

that whatever you say
can water their suffering.

You have the intention of helping,

and you speak lovingly
and with good words.

However, how people receive
is based on how they perceive. Okay?

How they hear what you say
is based on their perception.

And what determines our perception?

Past experiences.

So we have past experiences,

with the tone of voice people have used,

or what words they have used.

And all of these past experiences
are in store consciousness.

They are sleeping.

So even if approach someone who runs away,
and I say with kind words and gentle voice,

she may hear it differently.

Because in her past, people spoke
with a loud voice and angrily.

So I cannot control how people perceive.

I have my intention, my motivation,
but how people will perceive it,

I don't know.

But I observe.

And if I see that words are not
the best thing at this moment,

what I started to do is this meditation.

In the morning I would say,
I would have this person,

I would see her, whatever.

You can do this for family members,
for roommates,

for politicians.

Anyone.

You think of this person,
you have this person.

And then you send this energy. So there
is a part of this meditation that says:

May you be happy, may you be peaceful.

And you say every single line.

May you be safe and free from accidents.

May you be free from your anger,
your fear, your anxiety.

And you can specify whatever it is
you wish for this person

that they can transform.

May you learn to look at yourself
with the eyes of understanding and love.

Very often we don't know how to look
at ourselves with understanding and love.

So we send this wish for this person:

May you be able to begin to look at
yourself with understanding and compassion.

May you be able to look at
whatever is causing your suffering,

begin to look at it. Because sometimes
we can't. It's too scary.

We can say:
When the time is right for you,

may you begin to look at your source
of what makes you upset.

And then we send the wish:

May you learn how to recognize
what will bring you happiness and joy.

And may you learn how to nourish

and be in contact with
what brings you happiness and joy.

When you are able to do this, then
you may continue to live

with freshness, solidity and freedom.

You feel fresh, more fresh,
when you wake up.

You have more solidity,

in terms of doing your practice
and knowing the practice is helping.

And you are more free
from these moments of suffering.

So I started to do this,
with a particular situation,

and I continued even though
the present moment was difficult.

I did not go out of my way
to have contact, I respected.

I gave distance and space.

And, you know? After 21 days,
one day she came up to me, and she said:

"Good morning."

So it has proven to be effective.

There was this one situation
that was really -

Brought me a lot of confirmation
that the practice helps.

And I've seen it how it helps in general.

So, if you don't know what to do,

and really there is nothing
to be done for the moment in a situation,

there is something you can do. There is
this practice of metta meditation.

So it's just offered as a possibility.
You don't have to.

You can take it step by step
or read just one sentence of the sutra.

You can choose what sentence.

Or you don't read the sutra at all,
you don't have to.

And if you want to choose one sentence

from the meditation,

that's possible.

Remember we don't have to do
everything all at once.

Like the 5 mindfulness trainings.

We don't have to practice
everything all at once.

We can choose that which resonates in us.

And we remember that this sutra and
this metta meditation of universal love,

sending our love everywhere,

made it possible for the monks
to go back to the forest

and continue their practice
for three months.

It calmed that negative energy.

We can offer this metta meditation
in many situations.

Any difficult relationship.

It doesn't have to be that
you are in a difficult relationship.

It can be our parents,
your brothers and sisters, whatever.

It's possible. People who are ill.

It is possible to apply this.

I mentioned also a metta practice
of the four mantras of love

that Thay has created.
You may also know these.

We say: I am here for you.
You say that to someone.

And that is your bringing happiness
to the other.

That is the first, that's loving kindness.

You say this to someone who likes you.

You doesn't say it to someone
who doesn't like you. They won't be happy.

Someone that you love, it's the mantra
of love, four love mantras. Okay.

Second one: I know you are there
and I am happy. Okay?

So this is the joy,
and the loving kindness.

I know you are there,
and I am joyful, I am happy.

Your presence brings me joy and happiness.

Third mantra:

I know you suffer, and that is why
I am here for you.

So now we are going to practice compassion

of the four unlimited minds of love,
compassion. I see you are suffering.

Compassion is wanting to relieve
the suffering of others.

You want to and you are capable.

Loving kindness is wanting
to bring happiness to others.

You want to bring happiness,
and you are capable.

So the third mantra of love is:
I know you suffer,

that is why I am here for you.

You have compassion,
you want to relieve their suffering,

and you offer enough of your happiness
to be able to relieve their suffering.

I can be there for you.
I have enough happiness and compassion.

I want to relieve your suffering,
that is why I come to be with you,

or I call you, or whatever.

The fourth mantra of love is:
I suffer, please help. Please, help me.

This is when we are suffering and
we need other's compassion to help us.

But we want to ask people who like us.
Okay? Alright.

We call on others, our sangha,
our friends, our loved ones.

We let them know.
I'm in a difficult situation.

You can help me by doing the following.

So we call on not only compassion,

but their loving kindness.

And their joy at being able to help us.

So loving kindness, compassion,
joy, the equanimity is

the practice of non discrimination.
Not taking sides, and including everyone.

That's the fourth aspect
of unbounded love,

is that our heart is wide and big,
it includes everyone, no discrimination.

We don't take sides,
we have a balanced attitude.

We have equanimity, which is balance.

We've heard about
the beginning a new practice

and that is also practicing.

Loving kindness, bringing happiness
with our words, with listening.

Being able to say: "I'm sorry".

We are practicing compassion
by apologizing for mistakes,

so we can relieve their suffering
at our mistake.

We have compassion enough to apologize.

And we share our difficulties so that
gives them a possibility of understanding

and opening their heart of equanimity.

They will understand and have a better
possibility of accepting our difficulty.

Share our suffering, our hurts,

so we call on their compassion for that.

And their understanding and equanimity.

So loving kindness, compassion,
joy, and equanimity

are seeds that we have, all of us.
They are in the store consciousness.

We just want to be able
to water them daily,

if you wish, so that they will manifest
and become stronger and stronger.

We know when a seed manifests, because
it has been watered in store consciousness

when it manifests it becomes
stronger, well-developed.

So instead of letting
our anger and resentment, and

judgementalness, fear, all of that

come up so often so that
it gets so strong and big,

we want to let those seeds of suffering
go back and invite other seeds to come up.

We know now that the metta meditation,
the Discourse on Love is one way

to do selective watering of the most
wholesome and beneficial seeds

in our store consciousness,

so they will manifest
in our mind consciousness

and become stronger
and more solid.

And the result will be happier.

We will have more peace.

And we will be able to transcend
our fear of birth and death.

That means we will have so much confidence
and trust in this metta meditation,

that we will see that
everything is just manifesting.

Our love, our peace, our joy.

Everything just manifests,
and then ceases to manifest.

The love, and the boundless love
and the four aspects

will become our experience of life.

We will understand that birth and death
are just ideas.

They are just concepts.

I read that Thay said that
birth and death exist

only because we think they exist.

That is very deep.

Just because we think they exist.

What is there instead of birth and death
there is manifestation

and ceasing to manifest because the causes
are no longer there for manifestation.

But I do want to honor the translations,

the 19 other translations
that have been made of this sutra.

And they say: Those who practice
boundless love

will no longer be born again in a womb.

So that is how the traditional translation
of the Pali words means

you won't have rebirth.

Okay? You will not be subject to
coming to remanifesting in the world.

But Thay and sister Chan Duc translated,
instead of saying:

"You won't be reborn in a womb",
they said:

If you practice boundless love, you will
certainly transcend birth and death.

That is very beautiful.

Dear friends, I thank you
for your patience,

which is a sign of love.

I must say you have to love me,
it's been long.

Thank you for your patience
and for your listening.

I have provided for each hamlet CTC

some copies of the sutra,
both in French, and English,

and also the guided meditation
that we wrote on the board.

Maybe the CTCs can make
more copies available to our friends

who are here for another five weeks.

And if you won't be here for another
five weeks, you may be able

to take a picture of that,
because everyone has devices now,

or write it down.

Now we will listen
to three sounds of the bell,

and maybe there are some announcements.
Thank you, dear friends.

It's been my happiness and joy
to be with you.

(Bell)

(Bell)

(Bell)

(Bell)