How to address ecological problems?

(Half bell)

(Bell)

Dear Thay, dear Sangha,

my name is Jenna and I am here with
my daughter and her baby,

my grandbaby for this retreat.

And I am a new grandmother.

And what has happened for me
is something that I've never expected,

which is my heart has got me even bigger
and filled with so much love

for this little baby girl
and this little baby boy.

I feel very very deeply

and I feel a very big responsibility,
a sacred responsibility for --

a future to be possible for them.

So, I try to do what I have learnt,
which is to breathe and enjoy the beauty

and the joy of these babies in this life
and in this world.

But even reading your book recently,
'Love Letters to Mother Earth'

and I am an activist, so the research
that I have done about what is predicted

for life on this planet
is very painful for me to live with.

And part of that is
because I feel quite alone

and as I move through life,
I look around and I wonder

if other people are feeling and
thinking the same things as I am

because it feels very confusing to me

that more people are not talking
about the positive things we can do.

And so, I do take the actions
that I need to

and I am helping preserve tigers
and the wild.

And the good news is
there are more coming back.

Maybe they won't go extinct in the wild.

And where I live in the Pacific Northwest,
there are changes happening politically

around prevention of coal coming
into the area to go to Asia to be burned.

But I don't feel like there are a lot
of places where I can talk about this.

I don't want to be angry about it,
I want to talk from my heart about it.

I want to talk without a ruse about how
to make positive changes that we can.

And what I am wondering is
how we can do that in the Sangha

because it seems even some reservations
that perhaps talking about this thing

is too political or too social and
I feel alone in my suffering around this.

Thank you.

(Sr.) Dear Thay, dear Sangha,

our friend is here on the retreat
with her daughter and her grandbaby.

And she is a very happy grandmother
of two young babies

and her heart has gotten bigger
as a grandmother.

But she is very worried for the future
for her grandchildren.

She is an activist, she has been reading
Thay's recent book

'Love Letters to Mother Earth', and
she has done her own research and

she knows that the prognosis does not look
good for the future for her grandchildren.

She is doing her best to cherish them
in the present moment and to cherish life.

But she has this fear for them coming up
and she feels alone in this.

She feels isolated,
she does not want to be angry,

she would like to speak and
act out of love

but she doesn't know how or where
and in what way to do that.

She is active in protecting wild tigers
and other projects

and she knows that in this way,
she can make an impact.

Within her own Sangha, she also sometimes
feels that there is not enough space

to talk about these issues or to work
on these issues together

because they are seen perhaps
is political or social.

And so, the essence of her question
is this, how to go forward. Thank you.

Sangha building is a very important work.

Sangha means harmonious community

and the main task of the Sangha
is not to organize events

even events of practice of the practice.

The main purpose of the Sangha is to build
brotherhood and sisterhood, harmony.

That is why,the practice of deep listening
and loving speech is so important.

We should be able to communicate
with each other easily.

We share our views, we can come easily
to agreement, collective insight.

And you feel that sitting in the Sangha,
you feel nourished, you feel stronger

and that is the real Sangha building,
not organize.

And with Sangha like that,
everything is possible.

Because you feel nourished, you don't lose
your hope and we have sensible time

even a Buddha cannot do much
without the Sangha.

Sangha building,you need a lot of patience
and patience is a mark of true love.

In Plum Village, we spend a lot of time
and energy building a Sangha.

We have enough time to sit together,
to eat together, to drink together,

to walk together,
exchange views and so on.

Because we know, that
if we do not have enough harmony

and happiness in our Sangha,

it could not mean anything
to organize a retreat

for other people to come
and have practice.

The Buddha spent a lot of time
building his Sangha

and he was a perfect Sangha builder.

It is not easy to build a Sangha
and the Buddha felt the same.

But with compassion and patience,

he was able to build a beautiful Sangha.

When the Buddha was 80,
he met King Prasenajit for the last time,

the King was also 80,

And the king saw the Buddha was travelling
and enjoying and he imitated the Buddha

and also left the politics to his son
to enjoy visiting the country

and one day, by chance they met,
in the northern part of the country

and on that occasion, King Prasenajit
praised the Buddha and he said:

"Dear teacher,
everytime I see the Sangha,

I appreciate you much more.

As I contemplate the Sangha moving,
sitting, doing Dharma works,

I see your real insight, your real value,

and today, I would like to bow to you
because you have such a beautiful Sangha.

In this trip, I remembered, once
I went to a place with two carpenters,

and they were your disciples,

and that night we were sleeping
in the same room.

They turned their head to the direction
they believed you were

and they turned their feet towards me.

They fear you more
than they fear the King,

so I know that you are loved daily

by members of your Sangha,
foremost Sangha.

And today I would like to tell you
that the Sangha is a jewel

and with the Sangha, you can accomplish
much in the world.

So King Prasenajit as well as the Buddha
recognized that the Sangha building

is the most important thing to do.

With the happy Sangha, many people
can come and take refuge

and benefit from the collective energy
of peace and happiness

and compassion and mindfulness.

With the Sangha like that,
you can nourish your grandchildren.

That is the safest place
for your children to be.

If children are nourished and
raised in such an environment,

they will become instruments of peace
and we have to believe in our children.

Our children have Buddha nature in them.

And what we can do today is not to worry

but to focus our efforts in watering
the seeds of love, compassion,

talent in them and we should
believe in our children,

investing and transmitting the best
we have to our children

and not to worry about future.

Taking good care, the best care
of the present moment

is about everything you can do
for the future

so instead of spending energy
to worry about future,

invest all your energies
into the present and

nourish our children and grandchildren
with the energy of hope,

compassion and insight.

(Half bell)

(Bell)