What is a mindful student?

Session of Q&A with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Thay, Plum Village practice center, France.

(Half bell)

(Bell)

[What is a mindful student?]

Dear Thay, dear Sangha,

In many of your writings,
you refer to a mindful teacher.

A man learned
the practice of mindfulness

and one student says
he wrote no longer,

"What are you thinking?
Very bad grade!"

Instead he wrote,

"You do not understand
and it is my fault."

And this is a very empowering
view for students.

But I wondered, what does it mean
to be a more mindful student?

What are the responsibilities
of the student towards the teacher

and towards their own work?

Mindfulness helps to deal
with difficulties and problems,

of course,

but mindfulness can bring
a lot of joy and happiness.

And this part is very important.

You learn mindfulness not only
to deal with daily problems, difficulties.

First of all you learn mindfulness

in order to nourish yourself,
to heal yourself.

And this can be done right away.

When you breathe in mindfully,

mindfulness of breathing.

If you do it skillfully,

if you know how to do it,

you'll find that breathing in
is very pleasant.

If you suffer during the in-breath

this is not really mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the energy that helps you
to know what is going on.

And what is going on now
is you are breathing in.

It can be very pleasant to breathe in.

And mindfulness tells you
that it is wonderful to breathe in,

because you are breathing in,
therefore you are alive.

You are still there.

And to be alive is a miracle.

To get in touch with the wonders of life

that are available in the here
and the now is wonderful.

One in-breath can bring you
a lot of joy and healing.

And that in-breath should be pleasant
in order for you to enjoy.

You nourish yourself, you heal yourself
by breathing in like that, breathing out.

When you practice walking meditation,

you stop all the thinking

and making a step with your left foot

you touch Mother Earth.

It can bring you enlightenment.

To be alive and to be walking
on this beautiful planet

is a wonder.

And you are alive.

You are making one step
on this beautiful planet,

touching Mother Earth.

That can bring you happiness right away.

You don't have to run into the future

in order to get happiness.

And while sitting, and eating,

washing the dishes or making breakfast,
you practice mindfulness

and you enjoy every moment.

That is why we say that mindfulness
is a source of joy and happiness.

You don't need to run into the future

to look for happiness.

Mindfulness tells you
that the Kingdom of God,

the Pure Land of the Buddha is available
in the here and the now.

So you can taste every moment
that is given you to live.

So if students and teachers
practice mindfulness,

they should enjoy their time together.

You can teach mindfully

and enjoy your teaching.

If you suffer while teaching,

that is not good practice.

So as schoolteachers,

you learn how to teach in such a way

that there is pleasure in teaching.

And as students,
you also practice like that.

Learning is not to get a Diploma

in order to have a job later on.

But the fact of learning,
the act of learning

should bring happiness.

So teachers and students
can sit together

and discuss a strategy

as how to be happy
during the class, for both.

You know that in Plum Village
we have developed

the program of Wake up, Global Ethics.

We have been training
many school teachers

so that they can go
and teach in that way in school.

They can help the students
to enjoy learning

and teaching and learning

will not be hard labor
anymore for both sides.

So inquire about that,

specially the monastic brothers
in Plum Village.

Thay Phap Dung an so on,
they are working on this.

They have given many courses of training

for school teachers in India, in Bhutan,
in Thailand, in America, in England.

And there are many school teachers who
have trained to do that,

making the class into a family,

where is that joy and
brotherhood and sisterhood

so the students
will have a chance to learn

and practice with the teacher

in order to make the work
of learning and teaching

agreeable, pleasant.

[connect,
be inspired, be nourished]

(Bell)