Nondiscrimination | Dharma Talk by Thich Nhat Hanh, 2004.03.26

Breathing out, I smile to life.
Let us enjoy breathing with a sound of the bell.

[Touching the bell once]

[Bell]

[Bell]

Breathing in, I'm aware
that I'm surrounded by the mountains.

Breathing out, I smile to the mountains.

[Bell]

Breathing in, I know that I'm sitting
with my very colorful sangha.

Breathing out, I smile to my sangha.

I have arrived, therefore I'm not in a hurry.

[Bowing in]

Dear sangha, yesterday I spoke about home.
True home.

And I told you that I have a home
that nobody can take away from me

wherever I go.

Therefore, even if they tell me
that I have to wait ten more years

in order to go there,
I still have my true home.

Yesterday I told you that at one time

while I was in Washington DC,

the press informed me that my passport
was no longer valid.

So they did that in order for me
not to have a chance to go around

and speak for the sake of the victims of the war.

And people in Washington DC urged me
to go into hiding.

Because you risked deportation and jail.

So I managed...

I did not go hiding.

I sought ....

I was forced to seek political asylum in France,

and they granted me political asylum.

And I ​obtained a kind of travel document
called...

"apatride travel document".

You don't have "apatride",
you don't have a country,

you don't belong to any country,
without fatherland, or motherland.

"Apatride", the English word is ...

"expatriate", yeah, I have that travel document.

With that document, you can't ask for

the visa to some European countries
we have signed the Geneva Conventions.

But for countries like Canada, or United States
of America, where you have to sit for a visa,

it's very difficult to ask for a visa
when you do not have a country.

You are without fatherland, motherland.

But exactly because
I did not have ...

a country of my own

that I had the opportunity to find my true home.

This is very important.

It was... It is because I did not belong
to any particular country

that I made enough effort to break through
and I got my true home.

My dear friends, if you have the feeling
that you do not belong to any land, to any country,

to any geographical spot, to any cultural heritage,
to any particular ethnic group.

When you go to Japan, you don't feel that
Japan accepts you.

When you go back to America, you don't feel
that America is your home.

When you go to Africa, you don't think
that you are an African.

Or you're back... when you go back to the..
the United States of America,

you don't feel that you are accepted.

When you have that feeling,
that you are not accepted,

that you have nothing to belong to,
you have no identity,

that is when you have a chance
to break through to your true home.

That is my case. It was my case.

My true home do not...
is not limited to any...

... is not limited ...

geographically speaking, not limited
to any spot, any place.

Geographically speaking, ethnically speaking,
culturally speaking.

Although there may be some cultural preference,

some ethnic preference,
some geographical preference.

Sometimes you like snow, very cold weather.

Sometimes you like to be in a place
where there's a lot of sunshine.

You might have preference,
but you do not discriminate.

All belong to you.

There is absolutely no discrimination
in your true home.

You may prefer something sometimes.
But you do not discriminate against anything

in terms of geography, ethnicity, culture,...
because everything is beautiful.

Everything may be beautiful.
Anywhere may be beautiful.

And you do not have just one portion of it.
You have the totality of it.

And you are free to enjoy everything.

Suppose you love...

orange.

You consider orange to be your favourite fruit.

And you are free to enjoy your oranges.

But nothing prevents you to enjoy other kinds
of fruits like mango, kiwi.

Or even durian.
[laughter in the audience]

It's a pity that you are only committed
to eating one kind of fruit.

You are free,
and you can enjoy every kind of fruits.

It's a pity if you are committed only to Christianity,

or to Buddhism.

Because Christianity
is one of the spiritual heritages of mankind.

Buddhism also. Buddhism is just one kind
of spiritual heritage of mankind.

It would be a pity if you are committed
only to one spiritual heritage,

if you want to be faithful only to one heritage.

Because in the other heritages,
there are beautiful things.

Your orange may taste wonderful,
but the mango can taste wonderful also.

It would be a pity if you discriminate against
the mango, and the kiwi, and the durian.

So in your true home, there is no discrimination.

You are free.

And when you live with the wisdom
of non-discrimination, you don't suffer.

You have a lot of wisdom, and you embrace

everyone, every country,
every culture, every ethnic group.

And that is my case, I don't discriminate against
anything at all.

I love orange, but I also love mango and kiwi.

Durian?

[Laughter in the audience]

Although I don't eat it,
but I don't discriminate against it.

[Audience burst out laughing]

And my friends, my disciples, eat it for me.
[laughter in the audience]

My right hand.

This hand you call it my right hand.
And this one, left hand.

They are two hands,
and you don't mix the two up.

This is the right hand,
this is the left hand.

And you know something... my right hand
has written all the poems, all my poems.

And... except one.

I never wrote.... I did not...
I always write down my poems with a pen,

except one time I did not have a pen.

So there was a poem in me that wanted to go out.
And I did not have... a pen.

So there was a typewriter on the table.

So I took out an old envelope and rolled it
into the typewriter, and I typed my poem.

And that was ... that unique time when
my left hand was participating into poetry writing.

[Audience laughing]

And I remember the title of that poem,
"The Little Buffalo Chasing After the Sun."

And yet my right hand never has
a complex of superiority.

[Audience laughing]

My right hand does not think, or say things like,
"Left hand, do you know, do you know...

...that I have written all the poems except one?"
[Laughter in the audience]

"Do you know that I can do calligraphy?"
[Laughter in the audience]

"I can invite the bell to sound.

"And you, you're left hand,
and you does not seem to be good for anything."

My right hand never has that kind of thinking,
that kind of attitude.

And that is why my right hand never suffers
because of jealousy,

or especially of the superiority complex.

When you feel that you are more powerful,
more talented, more important, then you suffer.

Because that is a complex. Complex of superiority.

Not only when you have the complex of inferiority,
when you have low self-esteem that you suffer,

but when you have that kind of high self-esteem,
you suffer.

And my left hand,

although she has not written many poems,
although she has not writt... done any calligraphy,

she does not suffer at all of any complex.
No complex of inferiority in my left hand.

It's wonderful, she does not suffer at all.

There's no comparison.
There's no low self-esteem.

That is why she's perfectly happy, my left hand.

One day, I was trying a hang a picture on the wall.

My left hand was holding a nail.
My right hand, a hammer.

That day, I don't know why.

Instead of pounding on the nail,
I pound it on the finger.

And when I hit my finger of the left hand,
the left hand suffered.

The right hand right away put down the hammer

and took care of the left hand
in the most tender way.

Like it is taking care of itself.
Very tenderly.

It does not consider it as its duty.
No.

Things just happen like that, very naturally.

My right hand does things for my left hand
as if it does for itself.

There's no discrimination
"I am I, and you are you."

Remember that psychologist who said,
"I am me, and you are you.

And if by chance we agree with each other,
that's good"? No, this is not the case.

My right hand does not say, "I am me
and you are you. We are different hands."

There is no such a thinking.

And my two hands practice perfectly the teaching
of the Buddha: no-self, no separate self.

My right hand considered the suffering
of my left hand as his own suffering.

That is why it does...

It did everything in order to take care
of the left hand.

My left hand did not have any anger at all.
I assure you. Please believe me.

My left hand did not have any anger
towards right hand.

It did not say, "You, right hand, you have done me
injustice. Give me that hammer, I want justice!"

[Laughter in the audience]

There's no such thing.

And that is why you have confirmed that

there is a kind of wisdom that is inherent
in my right hand and my left hand.

And that wisdom is called by the Buddha
the wisdom of non-discrimination.

If you have it, you don't have to suffer at all.

The wisdom of non-discrimination is written
in Chinese like this.

In Sanskit, Nirvikalpa-jñāna.

"vikalpa", discrimination;
"nirvikalpa", non-discrimination;

"jñāna", wisdom.
The wisdom of non-discrimination.

The wisdom of (non-)discrimination is innate in us.

But if we allow wrong perceptions & habit energies
to cover it up, it cannot manifest.

The practice of meditation helps us
to recognize the seed of this freedom in us.

And if we cultivated it, we water it every day,
it will manifest fully and liberate us.

In the other person also, there is the wisdom
of non-discrimination.

But because he or she has lived in such a culture,
in such an environment

where the thinking and the action is so much
categorized by

individualism, selfishness, ignorance.

That is why the wisdom of non-discrimination
could not manifest.

That year I went to Italy for a retreat.

And I notice that they planted olive trees
by groups of three or four. I was surprised.

I asked, "Why do you plant olive trees in groups
of three or four?"

They said, "No we did not."

But in fact, if you look, you'll see groups
of olive trees of three or four.

Like that.

They explained,
"There's not three olive trees of four. It's just one.

"That year it was so cold that the olive trees died.

"But down there, deep down there
on the level of the root, they did not die.

"So after...

... the hard Winter season, Spring came,

and young sprouts become... to be born.

"And then instead of having one trunk,
they have three or four trunks of olive trees.

"And looking superficially, you think that
they are three olive trees or four.

"But in fact, they are one."

If you belong, you are brothers
of the same parents.

You are like that.

You have the same roots,

Father and Mother.

These three or four olive trees
they have the same block of roots.

They look like three different trees,
four different olive trees. But they are just one.

It would be funny if these trees
discriminate against this one

and fight each other and kill each other.

That is sheer ignorance.

If they look deeply and touch their roots, they know
that they are brothers, sisters, they are one.

Suppose the Israeli touch ...

... the wisdom of non-discrimination,

they'll find out that the Palestinians ...

... are their brothers.

They are like the right hand and the left hand.

And it will be very silly
to consider each other as enemies,

and killing each other for the sake of survival.

It would be...

a pity

if Hindu and Muslim have to kill each other,
have to fight each other.

It would be a pity if Catholics and Protestants
fight and kill each other.

Because they are of the same roots.

They have not been able to touch
their ground of being,

allowing the wisdom of non-discrimination
to manifest, to show them the way and the truth.

When you go to your true home,
when you are able to touch your true home,

you see that everything includes everything else,
you touch the nature of interbeing, of everything.

This flower

If you look deeply into the flower, you'll see what?

You see a cloud.

Because you know that if there's no cloud,
there will be no rain

and this flower cannot manifest herself.

So looking into the flower you see an element
you don't call flower, but it is part of the flower.

Cloud, or water.

If you remove the cloud from the flower,
the flower cannot be there for you anymore.

And if you look deeply, you'll see the sunshine.
Well, the sunshine is in it.

Without the sunshine, nothing can grow.

I can touch the sunshine
by touching the petal of the flower.

If you remove the sunshine,
the flower will disappear.

When you look into the flower
you see the earth, you see the minerals,.

You cannot remove the elements,
soil and minerals, out of the flower.

It will collapse, it will vanish.

That is why you can say that
every flower is made of only non-flower elements.

Right? Cloud is a non-flower element,
essential to the flower.

Sunshine is a non-flower element.
The soil, the compost,... are non-flower elements.

Without non-flower elements, a flower cannot
manifest herself as a wonderful thing.

A flower cannot be by herself alone.

Without the sunshine, without the rain,
without the soil, a flower cannot be.

A flower can only inter-be.

Inter-be with the sunshine, with the cloud,
with the soil, with the farmer, and everything.

So to be means to inter-be.
You cannot be by yourself alone.

And a flower is made exclusively
of non-flower elements.

If you remove all non-flower elements,
there's no flower to be seen and to be touched.

So the flower has no separate existence.

You cannot imagine that there's a flower
without sunshine, without cloud, without soil.

Such a thing does not exist.
And the Buddha called it a "Self".

The flower is full of everything, of the cosmos,
except one thing the flower does not have,

that is a separate self, a separate existence.

And this is the insight of the Buddha.

The flower is full of everything, full of the cosmos,
but empty of a self, of a separate existence.

This is important.

With meditation, with mindfulness and
concentration, you can look deeply into the flower

and you discover the nature of emptiness.
Empty of what? Empty of a separate existence.

But at the same time,
the flower is totally full of the cosmos.

So "to be"...

... the real meaning of "to be"
is "to inter-be".

You cannot "be" by yourself alone. You have to
"inter-be" with everyone else, everything else.

That is the case of the flower.
That is the case of the table.

That is the case of the house.
That is the case of river.

Suppose we speak of America as a flower.
What is America made of?

Only non-American elements.

Culturally speaking, America is made
only of non-American elements.

Ethnically speaking, America is made
only of non-American elements.

Geographically speaking, it's the same.
America has no self, no separate self.

And America cannot be by herself alone. America
has to inter-be with non-American elements.

And this is the teaching of the Buddha.

This is the insight that you can touch
with the practice of looking deeply.

America is made only of non-American elements.

And if you have that wisdom, you'll do everything
in order to protect non-American elements.

If you destroy non-American elements,
you destroy America.

Right?

In fact, America now is doing a lot of harm
to non-American elements.

America thinks that she has a self, a separate self.

That is why you have to bring the wisdom
back to America.

So America realizes that she's made only
of non-American elements.

[Touching the bell once]

[Bell]

If America is made only
of non-American elements,

and then ...

the American, the American citizens

the Americans are made
of non-American elements.

There's no such a thing
as an American identity.

Looking deeply into an American,
you see only non-American elements.

There's no such a thing called a self,
American self, American entity.

Scientifically speaking,

the idea of self, the idea of entity, is an illusion.

And if you touch your truth of non-self,
you are free.

And if you allow that illusion to occupy you,
you continue to suffer a lot.

Buddhism. What is Buddhism?
What is Buddhism made of?

It's very clear: Buddhism is made only
of non-Buddhist elements.

That's why it's silly to die for Buddhism,
to kill for Buddhism.

And therefore, Buddhism does not accept
any crusade, any holy war.

Because in Buddhism, there should be the wisdom
of non-discrimination, the wisdom of no-self.

That is why if you consider to be a Buddhist,
you don't fight for Buddhism

in such a way that you destroy
non-Buddhist elements.

A holy war in Buddhism is unthinkable, unacceptable.

Because if you wage war against
non-Buddhist elements,

you wage war against Buddhism.

Because Buddhism is made only of
non-Buddhist elements.

That is why the spirit of tolerance,
of all-embracing, in Buddhism is so clear.

As a Buddhist, you are not caught in the idea
that Buddhism is a self.

As a true Buddhist, you embrace
all non-Buddhist elements.

You don't discriminate
against Christianity, Judaism, Islam,...

because looking deeply you see
beautiful elements in every tradition.

You can see Buddhist elements in their traditions.

And you can help them to ...

... to unearth, to discover the beautiful things
that are...

that have been hidden in it.

When I look into the Christian gospel
deeply with the eyes of a practitioner,

I see the teaching of interbeing in it.
I see the teaching of non-self in it.

I see the teaching of non-discrimination in it

that have not been explored
and developed by Christian theologians.

If I were born a Christian, I would do that.
[Laughter in the audience].

You call me a Vietnamese,
and you are very sure that I am a Vietnamese.

And you consider Vietnamese as an identity.

In my case, I don't have a Vietnamese passport.

I don't have an identity card.
Legally speaking, I am not a Vietnamese.

Culturally speaking, speaking in terms of culture,
I have elements of French culture in me,

of Chinese culture in me, of Indian culture in me,
even American Indian culture in me.

There's no such a thing as a Vietnamese culture.

And when you look into my writing,
my person, my Dharma talk,

you can discover several sources
of culture and cultural streams.

Articulately speaking, there's no such a race
called Vietnamese race.

Looking into me, you can see
Melanesian element, Indonesian element,

Mongolian element, Negrito element,...

The Vienamese race is made
only of non-Vietnamese elements.

And if you know that, you are free.

The cosmos has come together
in order to help you to manifest.

And in you, the whole cosmos can be found.

When I hold a flower, I invite you to look deeply
into the flower,

you can see the sunshine, the cloud,
the earth, the minerals,...

But if you continue to look, you'll find out that everything in the cosmos is present in the flower.

Including time, space, and consciousness.

Yes, consciousness is in the flower.

Collective consciousness
and individual consciousnesses.

Because the flower, first of all,
is an object of your perception.

And perception is consciousness.

To perceive means to perceive something.

And the flower is just the object of your perception.

Perception includes the perceiver
and the perceived,

and what you hold in your hand is not a separate entity.

It is part of your perception.

Therefore your consciousness is in the flower.
And the flower is in your consciousness.

That is the teaching of the Buddha,
concerning mind.

The wisdom of interbeing helps you to touch
the wisdom of non-discrimination in you

and set you free.

There is no more discrimination.
There is no more hatred.

You don't think that you want to belong just to
one geographical area, or cultural identity.

Looking into yourself, you see a multitude of
ethnic sources, a multitude of cultural sources.

And you can see the presence
of the whole cosmos within yourself.

You may manifest as a lotus flower.
You might manifest as a magnolia flower.

You might manifest as an orange flower.
But every kind of flower is beautiful.

Whether that flower is red, or yellow,
or white, or black.

Scientifically, you know that a color has no self.
A color is made only of elements... other colors.

Looking deeply into one color, you'll see
all the other kinds, all the other colors in it.

White. The color white is made
of non-white elements.

And that can be proved scientifically.

The color brown is made of non-brown elements.
The color black is made of non-black elements.

We inter-are. That is the fact.
We inter-are. You are in me. And I am in you.

It's silly to discriminate against each other.
This is ignorance.

It is ignorance to discriminate, to think that
you are superior than me, that I am superior to you

and so on.

In Europe and in America, there are many people who have mental illness.

And psychotherapists used to tell them

because they have a low self-esteem,
and that's why they suffer.

And they try everything in order to help you
to feel that you are superior.

In this Winter retreat, the monastics
in the Deer Park

study the role of the Benedictine monks
together with the Buddhist Pratimokṣa.

Comparative studies of the two traditions.

And we found out that in the Benedictine tradition
they tried to combat ...

... the complex of superiority, arrogance,
with the complex of inferiority.

"I am nothing, I'm not worth a worm, I'm..."

Because the complex, the feeling that
you are superior can bring about a lot of suffering.

That is why in order to counter, to heal that,
you use the complex of inferiority.

But the complex of inferiority is also a complex.

You are using a poison
in order to neutralize another poison.

According to the teaching of the Buddha,
there is no "self". You cannot compare.

There's nothing to compare with.
There's no "self" to compare with.

The right hand and the left hand,
they don't have a separate self.

That is why you cannot compare.
And you should not compare.

That is why you don't suffer.

In Buddhism, all complexes are born
from the notion of "self".

There are three complexes, not two.

The complex of superiority called "thắng mạn".

In Vietnamese, (it's) called "thắng mạn".

And if you think that you are superior
to him, or to her, or to them, you are sick.

And the ground of your sickness
is your illusion of self, of a self that is "better".

And many of us have been struggling
in order to prove that "we are better",

"we are more powerful than they",
"we are clever than they".

We are trying to seek for happiness
by proving that we are superior.

We behave like a hammer, trying to drive the nail
in order to prove that

"Everyone is the nail except me, the hammer".

[Audience laughing]

And all our life we try to demonstrate one thing,
"I am superior to you", ...

... "our nation is superior to you",
"our race is superior to yours".

You want to prove that you are, military speaking,
you are number one power.

You can overpower every other nation.

You want to prove that, military speaking,
you can defeat any nation.

And that gives you some satisfaction, "Oh,
I'm superior to them. Mine is the mightiest nation."

And when they suffered, the other side suffered,
they wanted to respond in the same way.

They wanted to say that: "We are not nothing.
We are something.

If you can hit us that way,
we can hit you back the other way."

"If you can bomb us, we can bring a bomb
and blow ourselves in a bus.

We can make you sleepless. We can
make your nation live day and night in fear."

So they try to retaliate, to prove
that they are something, they are not nothing.

And both sides are trying that, they
can do something to punish, they are superior.

And that is happening with many groups,
where (there's) the Palestinians, Israelis,

Hindus and Muslims,
anti-terrorism and terrorism.

We want to prove that we are not nothing,
we are worth something.

And you cannot look down on us.

And all that kind of striving
is based on the illusion of "self".

In fact we inter-are. If you suffer, we suffer also.
If you are in safety, we'll be in safety also.

Safety and peace are not individual matters.

If the other person is not safe, you cannot be safe.

If the other person is not happy,
there's no way that you can be happy.

Look at a couple: If the Father is unhappy,
the son has no chance to be happy.

If the wife is not happy, well,
it's very difficult for the husband to be happy.

That is why happiness is not an individual matter.

You have to see that nature of interbeing.

When you make the other person happy,
you have a chance to be happy also.

And that is why the insight of interbeing
is the ground for peace and happiness.

You have to touch the ground of your interbeing.
You have to help him, to help her

touch the ground of interbeing
and the discrimination will vanish.

So the complex of superiority brings
a lot of suffering to you and to them

because when they suffer of
the complex of inferiority, they struggle,

and they make you suffer.

According to the Buddha, the complex
of superiority, or high self-esteem, is a sickness.

Because it is based on the illusion of "self".

And now, low self-esteem, "liệt mạng", inferiority,
is another sickness.

And you cannot use a poison
in order to heal a poison. You'll go around.

Because the suffering of the complex of inferiority
is also born from the illusion of a separate "self".

The right hand and the left hand
have no separate self.

The three olive trees,
they don't have a separate existence.

The two brothers also. The two sisters also.
The two partners also.

And then if you consider yourself as equal
to him or to her, that's also a sickness.

Because there is a "self", that is why
you can compare. And there's a competition.

"You know, I am as good as you are.
I will prove it."

And then that will cause also a lot of suffering. So
psychotherapy in Buddhism is a little bit different.

Psychotherapy in Buddhism is based on the wisdom of no "self", of interbeing.

That is why when you remove the notion of "self"
you are free from three kinds of complexes.

And there will be peace, reconciliation,

and brotherhood and sisterhood.

And Buddha is not a God.
Buddha is a human being like us.

He had suffered, he had practiced.
He was able to transform himself.

And he was able to transmit the wisdom
of interbeing, of non-discrimination to us.

And with that wisdom, we can liberate us,
and we help liberate the world...

... with our practice.

We'll live without any kind of complex, whether
the complex of superiority, or inferiority, or equality.

Because there is no "self".

To be a lotus flower is wonderful.
But to be a magnolia flower is equally wonderful.

In the lotus, there is a magnolia.
In the magnolia, there is a lotus.

The Buddha told us that
man is made of non-man elements,

namely animals, vegetals, and minerals.

And that is why you have to remove
the notion of man, human being.

If the human being is aware of the fact
that he is made only of non-human elements,

namely animal elements, vegetal elements,
and mineral elements,

he would know how to protect the life of
animals, minerals, and vegetables.

And he will not exploit them, pollute them,
or destroy them.

Because protecting the realm of animals,
protecting the realms of vegetals and the minerals

is to protect the realm of humans.
That is the teaching of the Diamond Sutra.

The Diamond Sutra
is the most ancient text on deep ecology.

Looking into man, you have to see non-man
elements, namely animals, vegetals, and minerals.

The teaching is so clear, and simple enough for us
to understand, to touch, and to practice.

[Bell]

Thay needs some non-Thay elements
[smiling and preparing tea]

(Someone asked) us, "Dear Thay,
in your true home, is there any suffering?"

You enjoy your true home.
But does suffering exist in your true home?

(There's) the Four Noble Truths.
And the First Noble Truth is ill-being.

Dukkha.

He encouraged us to take a deep look
to recognize ill-being

and to take a deep look
into the nature of our ill-being.

He advised us not to try to run away from ill-being.

Ill-being is suffering.

But why the Buddha called suffering a noble truth?

What is so noble about suffering?

The fact is that...

... thanks to suffering, thanks to the understanding
of the nature of suffering

that you have a chance to cultivate
your understanding and your compassion.

Without suffering, there's no way that you can learn to be understanding and compassionate.

And that is why suffering is noble.

You should not allow suffering to overwhelm you.

But if you know how to look deeply into the nature
of suffering and learn from it,

and then you have the wisdom of understanding
and the wisdom of compassion.

And ill-being can be described in terms of
violence, discrimination, hate, jealousy, and so on.

Anger, craving, and especially ignorance.

Because of ignorance, we do a lot of things that
make us suffer, and make the other person suffer.

And the Gospel said, "Lord, forgive them
because they don't know what they are doing".

That is ignorance. Ignorance is
the nature of ill-being, the root of ill-being.

And the Buddha spoke about
the Second Noble Truth,

it is the making of ill-being,
how ill-being has been made,

what is the root of ill-being,
what is the cause of ill-being.

The path leading to ill-being.
That is the Second Noble Truth.

Ill-being has its roots
and for a practitioner,...

when she looks deeply into the nature of ill-being,
she discovers the roots of that ill-being...

...and the understanding of the nature of ill-being.

[Sound of the marker scribbling on the white board]

Suddenly, the Fourth Noble Truth reveals itself.

If this is the path leading to ill-being,
and then we should not follow this path.

We recognize this path as ignoble.
The Ignoble Path that leads to ill-being.

We discover a noble path leading
to the cessation of ill-being.

And of course, the Third Noble Truth,
the cessation of ill-being.

"The cessation of ill-being"
means "the birth of well-being".

Ill-being means the absence...

... of well-being

"The absence of ill-being"
means "the presence of well-being".

It's like when there is a darkness, there is no light.
And when darkness stops, light reveals itself.

According to the teaching and the practice,
the presence of well-being is possible.

And the cessation of ill-being is possible
with the practice of the Noble Path.

And the Noble Path
leading to the cessation of ill-being

cannot be seen unless you understand
ill-being and the nature of ill-being.

That is why the First Truth is noble.
The Second one is noble.

The Third is noble. And the Fourth is noble.

The Noble Path leading
to the cessation of ill-being...

... is Right View,

the wisdom of non-discrimination,
the wisdom of interbeing.

And when you have that wisdom,
you have Right Thinking:

you think only in terms of interbeing,
in terms of non-self, in terms of non-discrimination.

When your thinking is characterized
by discrimination and anger,

that's no Right Thinking, that's Wrong Thinking,
leading to wrong actions, and wrong speech.

And that is why Right Thinking
is the kind of thinking

that goes along with understanding
and love and compassion.

Because they are born from Right View,

from the wisdom of interbeing,
the wisdom of non-discrimination.

And when you thinking is right,
your speech will be right, Right Speech.

And when your view are right,
your thinking is right, your physical...

Your bodily actions will be right,
Right Action.

And we have Right Livelihood.

Et cetera.

This is not a course called "Buddhism".
[audience giggling]

This is a retreat.

People think of the Kingdom of God is a place
where there is not suffering.

And most people tend to think
that the Kingdom of God is a place

where there is only happiness, no suffering.

And many Buddhists believe that
the Pure Land of Buddha, ...

... in the Pure Land of Buddha, people don't suffer,
there's no suffering.

And this is ...

dualistic thinking.

It betrays.. It goes against the wisdom
of Buddhism, the wisdom of interbeing.

Look at this marker.

You call this side your left,
this side your right.

Do you believe that the right is possible
without the left?

No, without left, there is no right.
Without right, there's no left.

If you are politically on the left,
don't wish for the disappearance of the right.

If there is no right, you cannot exist as a left.

So you have to wish for the existence of the right,
in order for you to be on the left.

Now I turn like this and we see
that is above and the below.

Do you think the above can exist
without the below?

No.

Do you think we can grow lotus flower without
the mud? Can we grow lotus flower on marbles?

No.

In order to grow vegetables,
you need the compost.

And you can make garbage into compost.

If you are organic gardener, you'll know that
you don't need to throw the garbage away.

Garbage are organic.
And with the garbage ...

... you can make compost
and you can nourish flowers and vegetables.

So suffering and happiness are all organic. If you
know, you can transform suffering into well-being.

This is the teaching of the Buddha, nondualistic.

There's no lotus flower possible
without the mud.

There's no understanding and compassion
without suffering.

I would never want to send my children to a place
where there is no suffering,

because in such a place,
my children have no chance

to learn how to understand
and to be compassionate.

It is by touching suffering, understanding suffering,
that you have a chance

to learn, to understand people,
and suffering of people.

And out of that understanding of
the suffering of the people, and your own suffering,

you begin to know what it means
by being compassionate.

No lotus flower can be without mud.

And that is why my definition
of the Kingdom of God is not a place

where there is no suffering.
There IS suffering.

But there IS an opportunity for you
to cultivate understanding and compassion.

So my definition of the Kingdom of God is a place
where there IS understanding and compassion.

A place where there is no
understanding and compassion is hell.

The Pure Land is also like that.
The Pure Land is a kind of university.

The Bodhisattvas are teachers
of understanding and love,

and they need suffering in order to help people
to understand and to be compassionate.

Even...

When you see a lot of violence, discrimination,
hate, jealousy, and craving,

and if you are equipped with
understanding and compassion, you don't suffer.

You are the Bodhisattva.

You are the teacher of
understanding and compassion.

And you are helping people to learn how to be
more understanding and compassionate.

And you are doing...
you are building the Kingdom of God.

You are building the Pure Land of the Buddha.

How beautiful, how meaningful your life (is)
because you have the chance.

You are the organic gardener.
You know how to make use of the garbage in order

to nourish the flowers and the vegetables.

You are making life
more beautiful, more meaningful

because you have the power
of understanding and compassion in you.

And understanding and compassion protect you.

You don't have to suffer,

even if there is anger, there is violence,
there is discrimination against you.

Understanding brings about compassion.

And those of us who have understanding
and compassion, we don't have to suffer.

We don't have any kind of complex.

And in my true home, there is
the presence of well-being.

Because understanding and compassion is there.

That is why I'm capable of protecting myself
and protecting other people.

[missing audio] my care, I help them to cultivate
more understanding and compassion

for them not to suffer because of
the presence of these negative things.

A garden should have both garbage and flower.

And the gardener, if she is an organic gardener,
she knows how to master the situation,

how to handle the garbage, in order for the flower
to be protected and to grow.

And that is why in a world where there is violence,
discrimination, hate, and craving ...

if you are equipped with wisdom, Right View,

the wisdom of interbeing, the wisdom of non-
discrimination, you don't have to suffer.

Pain is inevitable.

But suffering is optional.

You are protected by
understanding and compassion.

You are not a victim anymore.
You are not THE victim anymore.

It is them who are the victims
of their ignorance and discrimination.

And they are the object of your work.

You are living in such a way
so that you can help them

to remove, to transform their ignorance,
their discrimination, their craving, their hatred.

Craving ...

... is born from ignorance.
Anger is born from ignorance.

You crave to be recognized as superior.

You crave for power, ...

... for fame,

... for wealth.

You don't know that, around us, many people
who have plenty of power, of fame, and of wealth,

they suffer very deeply of solitude,
of loneliness, of despair.

And many of them have committed suicide.

Those who have a lot of power,
a lot of wealth, and a lot of fame.

Why people who have
a lot of understanding and compassion in them, ...

... they don't have to suffer at all,
they can live happily?

Because they are protected by their wisdom
and their compassion.

[Sound of small bell]

[Sound of small bell]