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"Stop Waiting, Start Living": Public Talk in NYC, 2015.09.12 (Sr. Jina and Br. Phap Dung)

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    Dear friends,
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    please enjoy your breathing one more
    time as we listen to the sound of the bell
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    With the inbreath, just feel refreshed,
    breathing in fresh oxygen
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    breathing out, letting go
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    [three sounds of the bell]
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    With all respect to our beloved teacher
    Thay and to our other brothers
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    and sisters who are with us, and with
    the sangha and our friends here
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    This is a happy moment
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    we are surrounded by all my brothers
    and sisters here
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    my sister Dieu Nghiem next to me
    and the sangha is gathered
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    and on behalf of our teacher, who is in
    San Francisco
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    we thank you for coming to support the
    sangha
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    and being here with us this evening
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    Our teacher's deepest wish has always been
    to build a community
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    a beloved community
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    as he shared his conversation with Martin
    Luther King
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    that's our teacher's deepest wish,
    is to form a family, a spiritual family
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    and so, tonight, sitting here among my
    brothers and sisters,
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    I think this is one of the few times where we manifest like this
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    to, in a way, continue our teacher
    as he is not physically here
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    So we thank you for coming together
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    This is something our teacher always gets
    nourished by, and so do we
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    Tonight we, my sister Dieu Nghiem, she's
    my oldest sister
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    she's asked me to share first so I will,
    I tried to get her to share for us
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    this is the first time we're doing this,
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    She was supposed to represent the Dharma
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    and I was supposed to represent the
    humor, I guess
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    just to let you know that that's,
    I guess, the intention
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    tonight, just being together already,
    I think we know how powerful it is
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    when people gather with the same intention
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    To learn, to open up, to really touch
    something deeper
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    than what we normally do outside
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    I think that's the truth that I'm feeling
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    This e vening, the talk we're supposed to
    share,
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    the theme, “Stop waiting and start living”
    is quite American
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    When I found out that's what it was,
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    I was quite “wow, this is like a subtitle
    somewhere” but it is
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    and I reflected on the theme of waiting
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    this morning we had a walk in the park
    over here
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    and we sat in front of, I think, George
    Washington, the statue,
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    and there were people protesting, voicing
    support for the Syrian people, refugees
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    We sat there, I don't know how long
    but it was very peaceful,
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    to be sitting there and supporting that
    effort and acknowledging and being there
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    and contributing our peace,
    and then sharing lunch
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    I had the chance to touch deeply
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    and be reminded that I was a refugee
    myself, our family,
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    In 1979, our family escaped Vietnam on a
    boat with maybe 200, 300 people,
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    and I was maybe six, seven years old
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    I touched that, sitting there in the park,
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    'cause we heard some of the voice and some
    of the speech
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    we also know that this country is built
    on that,
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    refugee, we all come from somewhere,
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    but not from this land, this continent,
    most of us at least
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    so I feel grateful to be here and
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    reflected on our time where we were in the
    refugee camp, my family,
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    and we were waiting for some
    country to sponsor us
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    I find out later, as a kid I was just
    playing around in the refugee camp,
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    throwing rocks and things,
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    we were on an island off of Hong Kong,
    and, reflecting,
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    there was this huge warehouse,
    maybe the size of this auditorium
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    and we were all, each family had little
    spots, mats on the floor
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    and that was our waiting spot
    until someone, some country or some place
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    sponsor us
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    and we were sponsored by a
    Christian family in Oregon
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    for us to come over
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    and I think this is, there was a lot of
    movement back then
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    between the Buddhist community and
    the Christian community, to help
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    so many churches rose to the occasion
    to gather and sponsor one family
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    and I remember another family that
    sponsored us, the church actually,
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    is not just one family but I remember
    it was many families from that church
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    and they each contributed something,
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    they bought a hous e for our family,
    it was a two story house
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    they bought it and they filled it up with
    furniture and food and everything
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    and I remember opening the cabinet full of
    food and canned food and all kinds of food
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    and I couldn't believe how much food
    was in that house
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    as well as toys, there was a room
    full of toys
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    I think they collected from other
    church members
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    and I remember opening the door and
    seeing toys
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    and didn't know how to play some
    of them I remember, 'cause it was so new
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    and the top floor was maybe 4 or 6 rooms,
    there was many rooms and they wanted,
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    my mom and dad, there was four of us,
    so they gave us each a room
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    I had a room, my sister had a room,
    my brother had a room
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    even though they were little, they each
    had a room
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    but we ended up staying in one room
    my parents' room
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    in fact, I think my two brothers, and
    I think I did too
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    we slept on this huge bed
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    you know, that's what we were used to
    at the refugee camp
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    So that's, you know, sitting there in the
    park today,
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    these memories of, of you know,
    of having a place to come back to
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    and feeling grateful,
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    my mom kept in touch with our,
    they call them sponsors
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    I never actually learned their names,
    because around the house
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    they were just mentioned as sponsors
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    and this is a beautiful image
    of people coming together
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    to help those in need
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    and this is what I remember around the
    house growing up
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    my mom once in a while
    would take a trip up to Oregon
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    and meet with our sponsor
    and many other families
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    this is,
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    so the theme of waiting came up,
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    of waiting for a place to come,
    to take refuge in
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    this is an important theme for me
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    'cause it's been a theme for
    my whole family, my parents
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    as well as my grandparents, they
    had to escape China after the revolution
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    and then my parents escaping (to) America
    and then I guess my turn is, I kind of,
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    my turn is to escape America I guess
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    in terms of actually growing up in
    Los Angeles, in the city,
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    confronting a lot of suffering
    as well as a young person
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    in a way, becoming a monk, now I see,
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    another way of looking at it is taking
    refuge or how shall I, a full-time refugee
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    I'm a full-time refugee now
    and I'm always taking refuge
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    and this is a wonderful way to remind
    myself, as I was sitting there in the park
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    What am I taking refuge in?
    What am I waiting for?
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    Am I waiting for another sponsor,
    another country?
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    And as I follow my breath, I realize that
    what my teacher has taught me is
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    I take refuge in my breath
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    and taking refuge in the island
    within myself
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    and the breath that saved me
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    once, when I learned from my teacher
    what the power of the breath is
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    when you simply take an inbreath,
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    conscious inbreath, we become aware
    of the inbreath coming in
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    when we breathe out, we let go
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    we let that outbreath penetrate
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    let it come from every cell of your body
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    feel the lightness as you breathe out
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    and I remember training like that,
    sitting still
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    in the forest in France in our monastery
    or in the bamboo grove
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    and I remember taking refuge in my breath
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    as I feel the breath into my body
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    every time we take a conscious breath
    and we bring our mind to the breath
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    is a break from all of
    the thinking, all the worries,
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    all the anxiety that we have,
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    that we're used to, we're so used to be
    thinking and using our mind
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    and being constantly occupied
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    is always talking, a lot of
    stimulation in our minds
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    and we don't know what it feels like
    to actually just let it go
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    and just come back to the breath
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    When we come back to the breath
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    our minds come back to our body
    return to our body
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    sometimes we are present, with our body
    but our mind is somewhere else
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    and you can see that phenomenon
    happening more and more
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    My brother and I, we walked the street
    from Greenwich,
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    and sometime we come up and I see
    all these shops, cafés, places
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    and place where people come to eat or
    drink and I like to peek in there
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    and I've been finding that there is
    a couple sitting there at the table
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    and it looks nice but they're both
    you know, not present
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    I mean, they're present to their gadget
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    I think you're starting to see
    that phenomenon
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    and so, this is our situation
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    This is the state that the coach of our
    society is moving towards
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    This is something we need to look at,
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    there are wars and conflicts
    between groups and nations
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    But we also need to look at where we're at
    in the place we live, in our family
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    we have to look deeply and see: Are we
    present? Are we present to ourselves?
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    Are we present to our loved ones?”
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    This is something I'm realizing
    more and more
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    so when we come back to the breath,
    it's a wonderful place for refuge
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    when we have a strong emotion
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    when we have something
    that's coming up for us, difficult
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    we always have the breath to return to
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    take an inbreath
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    take an outbreath
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    take a break from that emotion,
    take a break from that thought
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    (sound of the gong)
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    in
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    out
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    (sound of the gong)
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    In the monastery, when we hear
    the sound of the bell,
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    we train to come back to our breath
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    I tell you now, and it sounds easy,
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    maybe you do it for a few minutes here
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    but I'm pretty sure, after this event,
    you go outside,
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    and you go back to your habits and
    tendencies to start thinking again
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    so the stopping, to come back
    to the present moment
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    to be in touch with our body as it moves,
    as it sits, requires training
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    So in the monastery, I remember in our
    dining hall, we have a clock that chimes
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    I remember first being in Plum Village,
    our monastery in France,
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    that it was difficult every time that
    the clock chimed,
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    and I'm in the middle of a conversation,
    like after lunch or something,
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    it was really annoying
    and I always wonder, I always question
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    how did our teacher come up with this?
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    It's really a good hoop but
    it was pretty radical
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    because, you know, the chime is
    right there in the dining hall
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    and it was every fifteen minutes
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    And I remember trying to figure out
    how to make it so it's a little longer
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    but I think, the brothers, I asked
    permission and they didn't allow that
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    It was like an old one, it didn't
    have options back then
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    but it was all fifteen minutes
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    but I remember, you're in the middle
    of a conversation and it chimes,
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    and at first you're like “OK, you have
    to do it” you know,
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    so you don't really enjoy it
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    and this is just from habit of not yet
    used to a kind of clear thoughtless mind
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    you're used to always engage
    and be in conversation
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    or always thinking of something,
    you know, it's..
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    it requires training and I remember
    I struggled with that in the beginning
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    so it's pretty typical for us
    to have difficulty
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    but throughout the training,
    as the years pass,
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    I begin to see more the value
    of coming back to the breath
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    especially in meetings or,
    we have gatherings
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    and a strong emotion will come up
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    and slowly I began to see
    the benefits of taking a break
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    the delaying of continual thought,
    having a pause
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    I began to see the benefit of that
    so this is one of the refuges that I found
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    that slowly become more and more
    deeper for me,
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    finding different ways that it helps me
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    So just take a break,
    train yourself
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    I sometimes share with the young adults
    during Wake Up school
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    that a restful mind, a clear mind,
    a thoughtless mind,
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    it sounds weird, thoughtless,
    you don't want to be thoughtless
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    but more and more I think
    we will gonna want to,
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    to use terms like that, because
    we're so always thinking
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    that we don't know what it feels like
    and I tell the young people,
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    “do you know what it feels like
    when you have a bad breath?”
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    You know? After a six hour, ten hours
    plane ride you get off and you're like oh,
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    You know? You don't want to talk
    to anybody, right?
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    And we were not born to brush
    our teeth, you learn that,
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    and you learn what it feels like,
    to kind of ...
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    it's something you learn, you don't want
    to be near or talk to someone like that
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    so our mind is like that, our mind is
    restless, is angry, it is full of tension
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    and we think that's the norm
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    So, I say this, because it's
    a little graphic and visual
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    'cause it tells you, we're so used to
    this being full of, you know, stuff
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    but the equivalent is restless,
    angry, full of emotion
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    you don't want to be, what happens
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    I use it as an example, because young
    people find it very easy to understand
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    so, training our mind to feel when
    it's fresh, like a fresh breath
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    it requires some training,
    it needs some effort
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    so sitting down, finding time,
    once a day and so on,
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    to really find that refuge of a fresh mind
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    you know the word 'brainwash'?
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    I like to reuse that word, you know
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    people hate to be brainwashed, it's like
    kind of like cultish and all that,
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    but actually, it's a nice term
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    think about it, brainwash
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    it means like your brain is full of stuff,
    it needs a washing
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    You grew up in your family,
    I think you know what I mean
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    (laughter) - sorry
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    she's going to save me after
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    (whispering) sister, can I use your clock?
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    Sure, but it's a little bit fast
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    (normal voice)
    This is a training, to be up here,
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    for us to share with you,
    and it's also a training for us
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    so, the topic of waiting,
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    I grew up in, educated in
    California as an architect
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    and studied, and wanted to be good and,
    you know, make a name for myself and so on
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    to have a house and two garages,
    you know, the American dream
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    my mother and my father sacrificed a lot
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    for the children,
    my two brothers and my sister,
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    they escaped with nothing
    they had to leave everything
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    I remember giving away my toys
    and I said why am I giving away my toys?
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    And I remember my dad
    giving away his Honda
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    and slowly, our furniture,
    we had to
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    but we had to do it secretively
    so the neighborhoods don't know
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    we're going to escape one night
    on a boat
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    and we left everything to come here
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    I remember there was a lot of push
    from my mom especially,
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    to be successful and to make, you know,
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    and that's a dream for
    all mothers and fathers
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    and I see as I grew up I saw there was a
    lot of promotion and a lot of effort
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    to reach the diploma to become this
    and that,
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    you know, all the awards and so on,
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    these stickers you get, I forget
    what they're called, certificates
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    you get trained to be like
    always be somebody
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    and then you become an architect,
    you work in, and you look
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    you see whose office is closer to whose
    and who's got the better project
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    that's the system I grew up in
    and I was stuck in that
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    and also, growing up,
    I had difficulties with my father
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    he struggled a lot coming over here,
    losing everything
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    so for me, I had a lot of anger issues
    with my father
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    I think this is something
    that the practise helped me with
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    to learn to come back
    and look at ourselves
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    and to really confront the suffering
    that I was having as a young man
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    and it helped me become a little happier,
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    once the practise
    helped me look at my father
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    and look at my relationship with him
    to begin to understand him more
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    and to begin to understand
    my own suffering
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    and this is what was
    the benefit of sitting,
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    of silencing the mind a little
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    calming and having time to look deeply
    at my emotions,
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    where I'm at,
    and the goals I'm setting for myself
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    this helped me to understand more
    of what true happiness was
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    once I was able to touch a little bit
    of the root of my suffering
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    I was also able to touch,
    so the things that I'm passing by
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    because of some future promise,
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    to become this, to become that,
    always wanting more
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    and I think it's a kind of suffering
    always thinking that you're lacking
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    and this is something that's kind of
    underneath our culture a little bit
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    and with the practise,
    I think it can help all of us to really,
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    to recognize,
    “wow, I'm still alive”
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    there's my eyes,
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    my body is in good condition,
    I'm healthy enough
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    my tooth-ache
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    my teacher shared with us
    about the tooth-ache, it's very..
  • 28:05 - 28:09
    sorry, back to hygiene, but you know,
  • 28:10 - 28:13
    this moment is a Non-Toothache moment
  • 28:16 - 28:21
    it's kind of silly, 'what does that mean?'
    but all you need to do is just reflect and
  • 28:23 - 28:29
    remember that tooth in the back,
  • 28:30 - 28:35
    remember when it was aching
    and the gum was inflamed?
  • 28:37 - 28:39
    Just touching that,
  • 28:39 - 28:42
    even though it's not a great suffering,
    it was suffering
  • 28:43 - 28:46
    and it reminds us like,
    oh, how wonderful!
  • 28:48 - 28:50
    I don't have a tooth-ache now
  • 28:53 - 28:57
    And this is a practise, just like stopping,
    to recognize the breath,
  • 28:59 - 29:04
    recognizing a thoughtless,
    a mind that's clear
  • 29:06 - 29:10
    it's a training to actually be
    present to this moment
  • 29:10 - 29:11
    to this present moment
  • 29:11 - 29:15
    and to recognize that wow,
    the conditions are so many
  • 29:16 - 29:20
    I remember our teacher gave us homework,
    to write down all the wonderful conditions
  • 29:22 - 29:27
    the happy moments in your life now,
    and it's a wonderful exercise
  • 29:29 - 29:33
    and your loved one,
    your brothers, your sisters
  • 29:34 - 29:39
    this is also something, we're there with
    our loved ones, but we're not present
  • 29:43 - 29:47
    my brother made us some tea
    before coming here
  • 29:47 - 29:50
    we were hanging out
    at somebody's place
  • 29:51 - 29:58
    and he brought his tea-set and he made
    one of my brothers, three of us, tea
  • 29:59 - 30:04
    and I recognized like 'wow'!
    we haven't had tea for a while
  • 30:06 - 30:09
    and we sat there and drank tea together
  • 30:10 - 30:15
    so, to recognize that,
    my younger brother is so sweet
  • 30:16 - 30:20
    he brought his tea material
    and we'd just woken up from a nap
  • 30:21 - 30:24
    and the first thing he does is
    make us tea
  • 30:25 - 30:30
    I was reading a book or something and
    I closed it and we looked at each other
  • 30:30 - 30:34
    and we're drinking tea,
    I mean, that sounds like really,
  • 30:35 - 30:38
    what does that have to do with
    my happiness, my career?
  • 30:40 - 30:46
    but that moment actually is the building
    block for the rest of ...
  • 30:48 - 30:50
    that's your living
  • 30:51 - 30:55
    so sometimes we put a lot of goals
    and a lot of things that we want
  • 30:55 - 30:57
    but actually when we get there,
    we want more
  • 30:59 - 31:03
    I give you an example, you have
    a tea cup, you drink your tea
  • 31:03 - 31:05
    and you want to do the next thing, and
    when you get to the next thing
  • 31:06 - 31:09
    you want to do, and so on,
    and this is the way we've been trained
  • 31:10 - 31:14
    and this is where we're at as a coach
    and we need to look
  • 31:15 - 31:20
    so when I say, I will become refugee
  • 31:21 - 31:27
    I mean, in my lifetime we'll see that we
    will need, we will all become refugees
  • 31:27 - 31:31
    and it's a kind of different thing,
    it's not about one nation and another
  • 31:32 - 31:37
    but we will all need a place where
    we can escape a little bit of all that
  • 31:38 - 31:44
    online, and wifi, and you know,
    all this stuff, it's everywhere now
  • 31:46 - 31:53
    and we have no time to be with ourselves
    and to be present for our body
  • 31:54 - 31:59
    be present with the moment
    to enjoy life as it is in the now
  • 32:00 - 32:05
    to be present with our loved one
    and to be present with nature
  • 32:06 - 32:11
    this is where we're heading at
  • 32:11 - 32:13
    besides the climate change and all this
  • 32:14 - 32:16
    there's something happening to our culture
  • 32:18 - 32:22
    we're traveling around the world,
    we see escalating faster and faster
  • 32:24 - 32:29
    and so, I hope you continue to train,
  • 32:29 - 32:33
    to find a refuge within
  • 32:34 - 32:40
    a refugee-camp within
    we all will need that
  • 32:40 - 32:44
    and when you have a strong emotion
    or when you need a break
  • 32:44 - 32:48
    you feel out of touch with
    what you need to do
  • 32:48 - 32:53
    come back, everything you need,
    everything you have is there
  • 32:54 - 32:58
    it's only from that place
    that we can help change
  • 32:58 - 33:04
    where we're at as a society
    as a human on this planet
  • 33:06 - 33:10
    we keep struggling, fighting that,
    but we don't have this refuge,
  • 33:11 - 33:13
    then it will be difficult
  • 33:14 - 33:19
    my sister, Dieu Nghiem will continue
    on this theme for us
  • 33:20 - 33:23
    please take a breath,
  • 33:24 - 33:28
    come back to that refugee-camp inside
  • 33:28 - 33:32
    we all need a refugee-camp
    once in a while
  • 33:37 - 33:41
    (sounds of the gong)
  • 34:30 - 34:33
    There are times where I wonder
  • 34:35 - 34:40
    why can I not go back to my refugee-camp
  • 34:40 - 34:45
    or this place me that I like to call home
  • 34:46 - 34:48
    why can I not go back home?
  • 34:49 - 34:52
    What is preventing me
    from going back home to myself
  • 34:57 - 35:03
    when my mind and body are in
    the same place, I feel at home
  • 35:04 - 35:08
    I've been fortunate enough to always
    have had a roof over my head
  • 35:09 - 35:13
    to have a home,
    but I've not always been home
  • 35:13 - 35:15
    I'm not always home
  • 35:15 - 35:18
    I was reminded of this
    as I walked to come here
  • 35:19 - 35:23
    and I see so many posters saying
    “bring him home” the Martian
  • 35:24 - 35:31
    and I thought, when they bring him home,
    will he be really and truly home?
  • 35:31 - 35:34
    Will he find his true home?
  • 35:35 - 35:37
    So I've reflected on that
  • 35:39 - 35:42
    my true home as my brother said,
    brother Phap Dung, brother Embrace,
  • 35:46 - 35:49
    really truly home with ourselves
  • 35:51 - 35:56
    many years ago, there was a lady from
    Austria that came to Plum Village
  • 35:58 - 36:02
    and at the end of her stay,
    at the end of the retreat
  • 36:02 - 36:07
    we asked some friends to give some input,
    how it had been for them
  • 36:09 - 36:12
    and this lady said
    she came to Plum Village because
  • 36:13 - 36:18
    she had read somewhere
    Thomas Morton's words that said
  • 36:20 - 36:25
    you can see Thich Nhat Hanh is a monk
    by the way he closes a door
  • 36:26 - 36:30
    so she had come to watch us closing doors
  • 36:33 - 36:36
    we didn't know
    maybe just as well
  • 36:39 - 36:43
    however, she must have
    been impressed, because
  • 36:43 - 36:46
    she was scheduled to stay one week
    and she stayed two
  • 36:49 - 36:55
    so, closing a door,
    for me that became like a practise
  • 36:56 - 36:58
    how do I close doors?
  • 36:59 - 37:02
    I think we all have doors somewhere
    that we can close
  • 37:03 - 37:07
    either where this is a swing door
    so, open if you act
  • 37:07 - 37:11
    but closing a door or
    opening a door by taking the knob,
  • 37:12 - 37:13
    turning it, or the handle,
  • 37:14 - 37:17
    and pushing it down
    and pushing open the door
  • 37:18 - 37:22
    so it's very interesting to observe
    how do we open a door?
  • 37:23 - 37:27
    And how do we close a door?
    It's just a door
  • 37:28 - 37:32
    but it is a wonderful way
    to bring us back to our home
  • 37:34 - 37:36
    to put our hand on the knob
  • 37:37 - 37:41
    to feel the knob in our hand, already
    brings our mind back to our body
  • 37:42 - 37:46
    so I turn the knob
    or I push the handle down
  • 37:47 - 37:51
    and I'm aware of
    how much force I use to open the door
  • 37:52 - 37:53
    and to close the door
  • 37:54 - 37:58
    so if you don't have time
    to sit, and breathe
  • 37:59 - 38:02
    maybe, since you're going
    through the door anyway,
  • 38:03 - 38:07
    you can make that your practise
    of going home
  • 38:09 - 38:11
    but coming home also is something else,
  • 38:12 - 38:18
    like coming home to that place
    where it's quiet
  • 38:19 - 38:23
    I've noticed, here in New York
    it's quite noisy, outside
  • 38:25 - 38:28
    and as I was walking,
    I came here on foot
  • 38:30 - 38:34
    I thought, yes, it's very noisy,
    but let me see
  • 38:37 - 38:41
    if I just let the noise be,
    then, is it then quiet?
  • 38:47 - 38:49
    And I realized, I'm thinking
  • 38:51 - 38:55
    and sometimes I find,
    even if there's no noise around me,
  • 38:55 - 38:58
    it's quite noisy inside
  • 38:59 - 39:03
    maybe the most noise is inside,
    the outer noise not so much
  • 39:05 - 39:11
    and when I listen to this noise,
    I see most is just unuseful thinking
  • 39:11 - 39:13
    not helpful at all
  • 39:16 - 39:19
    and then I think, ok, can I close a door?
  • 39:20 - 39:22
    Why am I thinking so much?
  • 39:22 - 39:28
    I've just come out of a meeting and
    I carry things out of the meeting with me
  • 39:28 - 39:33
    I've already closed the door, right?
    Physically, but in my head, no
  • 39:34 - 39:37
    why did she say this in that way?
  • 39:37 - 39:39
    Why didn't she flow along, etcetera
  • 39:41 - 39:44
    the meeting was closed, but not everywhere
  • 39:47 - 39:50
    I continued the meeting in my head
  • 39:51 - 39:55
    so, close the door, the meeting is over
    close the door
  • 39:57 - 40:02
    and then, as I closed the door,
    it's the same as opening a door
  • 40:03 - 40:08
    it means: new possibilities,
    new challenges
  • 40:08 - 40:12
    and can I be there for the possibilities
    or for the challenges
  • 40:19 - 40:23
    maybe we can close the door for a moment
    with the sound of a bell?
  • 40:24 - 40:25
    Just close the door
  • 40:26 - 40:29
    and enjoy an in- and an outbreath
  • 40:29 - 40:32
    and just let the world be for one moment
  • 40:37 - 40:42
    (sound of the gong)
  • 41:06 - 41:09
    closing the door as we hear
    a sound of the bell
  • 41:09 - 41:11
    or as we stop for a traffic light
  • 41:11 - 41:14
    closing the door when we leave the office
  • 41:18 - 41:21
    one retreatant came,
    she would like to have a consultation
  • 41:22 - 41:25
    and she said, my problem is,
  • 41:27 - 41:33
    I feel I'm married
    to my husband's business
  • 41:36 - 41:39
    she said, when he comes home,
    he brings the whole business with him
  • 41:41 - 41:43
    and of course, when we come home,
  • 41:43 - 41:45
    there may be something that happened
    in the office, we want to share,
  • 41:46 - 41:51
    but it was not just that, like something
    shared, and 'this is how I feel about it',
  • 41:51 - 41:55
    it was all about the problems and about
    the things, business, business, business
  • 41:56 - 41:58
    she said,
    I think I'm married to a business
  • 42:00 - 42:05
    so when we closed the door of the office
    and we go home
  • 42:05 - 42:12
    and then we open the door
    of our apartment or house,
  • 42:16 - 42:19
    and we close the door behind us
    and truly close the door,
  • 42:20 - 42:22
    then we can be truly present
    for our loved ones
  • 42:23 - 42:26
    for our children, our partner
    we can be there
  • 42:28 - 42:32
    we can share with them from our heart
    and we can listen with our heart
  • 42:33 - 42:35
    and we can enrich each other's lives
  • 42:39 - 42:47
    I am of Irish and Dutch decent,
    of an Irish mother and ad Dutch father
  • 42:51 - 42:54
    and it took me a while when I started to
  • 42:55 - 42:57
    we lived in Ireland and then
    in the Netherlands
  • 42:57 - 43:00
    it took me a while to find out
    where I belonged
  • 43:02 - 43:05
    I was kind of a little bit up-rooted
    am I Dutch? Am I Irish?
  • 43:05 - 43:09
    Inside the house, it's Irish,
    outside the house it's Dutch
  • 43:10 - 43:12
    where are my roots?
  • 43:14 - 43:17
    And, if we want to live,
    we need to have roots
  • 43:18 - 43:20
    trees have roots
  • 43:21 - 43:25
    if you cut the tree from its root,
    it won't continue to live
  • 43:26 - 43:30
    rivers have a source
    if we cut the river from the source,
  • 43:31 - 43:33
    the river will stop living
  • 43:34 - 43:36
    so if we want to start living
  • 43:37 - 43:41
    we also need to nourish our roots,
    our ancestors
  • 43:43 - 43:47
    so I would say, stop waiting
    and start living
  • 43:48 - 43:54
    also in a way of, start celebrating life
    celebrating our ancestors
  • 43:55 - 44:00
    our blood ancestors
    our adopted ancestors
  • 44:01 - 44:05
    our spiritual ancestors
    our land ancestors
  • 44:08 - 44:12
    to bring them, to reconnect with them
    to be nourished by them
  • 44:13 - 44:16
    we cannot take our ancestors out of us
  • 44:17 - 44:22
    our youngest ancestors, our parents
    they are our ancestors
  • 44:22 - 44:24
    we cannot say,
    I have nothing to do with you
  • 44:25 - 44:28
    no, we have all and
    everything to do with them
  • 44:28 - 44:35
    we are their continuation
    all our ancestors are within us
  • 44:38 - 44:44
    connecting with them inside of ourselves
  • 44:45 - 44:48
    to recognize all their strength
    they have transmitted to us
  • 44:48 - 44:50
    and also all the weaknesses
  • 44:51 - 44:56
    and to nourish their strength and
    to take care of their pain and suffering
  • 44:56 - 44:59
    of the wounded child that was
    in them as well
  • 44:59 - 45:01
    and that is now also in us
  • 45:01 - 45:04
    it's not just our child, our wounded child
  • 45:04 - 45:08
    when we say 'our',
    we mean all our ancestors
  • 45:12 - 45:15
    so, to connect with our ancestors
  • 45:16 - 45:19
    in Plum Village we have Ancestors Festival
  • 45:21 - 45:23
    where we honor our ancestors
  • 45:24 - 45:28
    and where we express gratitude
    to our ancestors
  • 45:30 - 45:35
    recognizing that we are their continuation
    they are our roots
  • 45:42 - 45:49
    we all may like to look into our ancestors
    and find ways to celebrate our ancestors
  • 45:50 - 45:51
    to celebrate our roots
  • 45:52 - 45:56
    in order to find stability
    in order to find freedom
  • 45:57 - 46:00
    in order to be able to be truly there
    and truly alive
  • 46:01 - 46:03
    for ourselves and for our loved ones
  • 46:06 - 46:12
    I know that in New York, you celebrate
    St Patrick's Day much much bigger
  • 46:12 - 46:15
    than in Ireland I've ever seen
  • 46:17 - 46:20
    I think there are many Irish people,
    here also
  • 46:20 - 46:22
    maybe also refugees
  • 46:23 - 46:30
    but staying connected to their roots
    in this way, our roots are tradition
  • 46:33 - 46:36
    a tradition can be renewed, refreshed
  • 46:36 - 46:40
    but a tradition is also our refuge
    and our root
  • 46:45 - 46:47
    so, celebrate
  • 46:47 - 46:49
    in Plum Village,
    we celebrate also the Earth
  • 46:51 - 46:54
    we celebrate Spring, the Daffodil Festival
  • 46:55 - 46:59
    we celebrate Plum Blossom Festival
  • 46:59 - 47:03
    we have Full Moon Festival
    the Solstice
  • 47:05 - 47:10
    they're roots we share all of us,
    and we can celebrate together
  • 47:23 - 47:27
    let's celebrate a moment together
  • 47:29 - 47:32
    by just getting in touch with our roots
  • 47:32 - 47:41
    you can just close your eyes
    and see our roots as the Earth,
  • 47:41 - 47:45
    we're part of the Earth
    and everything that's in and on it
  • 47:45 - 47:50
    although we don't have roots like a tree,
    we are rooted in the Earth
  • 47:51 - 47:54
    we have come from the Earth
  • 47:54 - 47:58
    the Earth is also our roots with
    all and everything that's on the Earth
  • 48:01 - 48:03
    so, just for a moment,
  • 48:04 - 48:08
    connect with our roots of the Earth
    with our land ancestors
  • 48:09 - 48:12
    our spiritual ancestors
    our adopted ancestors
  • 48:13 - 48:15
    and our blood ancestors
  • 48:22 - 48:27
    (sound of the bell)
  • 49:09 - 49:13
    we, the monastics,
    we're rooted in the Plum Village tradition
  • 49:18 - 49:22
    we celebrate every breath
    we celebrate every step
  • 49:24 - 49:26
    whenever we walk, where we walk
  • 49:27 - 49:30
    we walk on the Earth with love
    and with compassion
  • 49:31 - 49:36
    we walk as if we're kissing the Earth
    with our feet, even here in New York
  • 49:37 - 49:40
    as I was walking, I was kissing the Earth
    with my feet,
  • 49:42 - 49:44
    saying “dear Earth, we love you
  • 49:44 - 49:48
    I know we have covered you with stone,
    with asphalt, with tarmac
  • 49:48 - 49:50
    with a lot of things
  • 49:50 - 49:53
    we love you
    we're here for you
  • 49:54 - 49:55
    we want to be here for you
  • 49:56 - 49:58
    because you're here for us always
  • 50:00 - 50:05
    and this walking gave me stability
    and gave me freedom
  • 50:06 - 50:08
    as I was aware of my steps
    I felt the contact
  • 50:08 - 50:12
    between my feet and the Earth
    I created some space
  • 50:13 - 50:15
    some space inside
  • 50:15 - 50:18
    I created some silence inside
  • 50:20 - 50:25
    space to be there
    when our heart is small,
  • 50:25 - 50:27
    Thay says,
    sometimes it's like a peanut
  • 50:28 - 50:30
    I think,
    sometimes my heart is like a mung bean
  • 50:31 - 50:34
    there's no space, neither for myself
    nor for anybody else
  • 50:35 - 50:38
    but walking like this, my heart opened
    and there's space
  • 50:39 - 50:42
    there's space for everything I meet,
    for everybody I meet in the street
  • 50:43 - 50:45
    and I can smile
  • 50:46 - 50:49
    so you walk like this, it's our root
  • 50:50 - 50:54
    in the early years, in the early 1990s
  • 50:56 - 51:00
    friends of Plum Village, practitioners,
    they went to Vietnam
  • 51:00 - 51:03
    and they visited Thay's root temple
  • 51:04 - 51:08
    and as they were walking there,
    they practised walking meditation
  • 51:10 - 51:12
    and a young monastic, a young novice
    came up to them and said
  • 51:13 - 51:15
    “you must be from Plum Village”
  • 51:15 - 51:17
    and they said “yes, how do you know?”
  • 51:18 - 51:20
    and he said, I can see it by your walking
  • 51:21 - 51:23
    it's our roots, our spiritual roots
  • 51:23 - 51:28
    it's our walking, our breathing
    our listening and our speaking
  • 51:29 - 51:33
    we listen to ourselves
    with compassion to others
  • 51:35 - 51:42
    we speak lovingly
    we learn how to truly love
  • 51:44 - 51:49
    how to truly love, how to offer compassion
    how to be loving and kind
  • 51:50 - 51:52
    how to share our joy
  • 51:52 - 51:55
    and how to embrace each other
    with equanimity
  • 51:55 - 52:00
    that is true love
    and we learn how to be truly happy
  • 52:01 - 52:03
    as my brother already said,
    not running after things
  • 52:04 - 52:09
    but to see that we have more than enough
    conditions to be happy already
  • 52:11 - 52:17
    we do not need that other ice-cream
    not the coffee,
  • 52:17 - 52:20
    although we had coffee before we came here
  • 52:25 - 52:26
    we can have coffee,
  • 52:26 - 52:29
    but it's not because we don't have
    enough conditions to be happy
  • 52:29 - 52:33
    it's to enjoy the conditions
    for happiness we have
  • 52:42 - 52:47
    so, celebrate our spiritual roots,
    whatever our spiritual roots may be
  • 52:47 - 52:49
    discover the beauties
  • 52:50 - 52:54
    everything that contributes
    to our own well-being,
  • 52:55 - 52:58
    to the well-being of the others
    and the well-being of the world
  • 52:58 - 53:00
    and the Earth
  • 53:01 - 53:03
    celebrate, connect
  • 53:04 - 53:06
    and we can do this altogether
  • 53:08 - 53:11
    I think my brother wanted
    to add something to this
  • 53:16 - 53:19
    I'm his souffleur
  • 53:22 - 53:25
    she's giving another chance
    to share something
  • 53:25 - 53:26
    yes, please
  • 53:26 - 53:30
    so I'll take this opportunity
    I'll stop being nice
  • 53:38 - 53:42
    our teacher, you know, he was a radical monk
  • 53:42 - 53:45
    he grew up in a time of war
  • 53:45 - 53:50
    he saw the French come
    and the Americans come
  • 53:51 - 53:57
    this is what produced this practise,
    this tradition
  • 53:58 - 54:01
    you know, the classic images of a monk
  • 54:01 - 54:05
    is not sitting in there,
    praying and doing the gong
  • 54:06 - 54:11
    hoping that there will be a better world
    that we can be reborn into
  • 54:12 - 54:15
    but he stood up
    and he gathered the monastics
  • 54:16 - 54:19
    as well as his elder monks and venerables
  • 54:20 - 54:25
    and they went into the villages to help,
    they actively
  • 54:26 - 54:30
    so this is what has moved our teacher
  • 54:31 - 54:33
    and now he's come to the West
  • 54:33 - 54:37
    and he's seeing that some of the roots
    of why those wars happen,
  • 54:39 - 54:43
    and I just want to throw that out there,
    just so
  • 54:44 - 54:47
    as we been around our teacher
    he sees like, you know, what people ask
  • 54:47 - 54:51
    why are you guys speaking against war
    and going out there?
  • 54:52 - 54:57
    like going to the warring countries
    and doing what your teacher did
  • 54:57 - 55:04
    and there is a real teaching to it,
    to ask and to keep that awareness
  • 55:04 - 55:08
    like, why is Thay teaching us to breathe
    and smile, what is that?
  • 55:10 - 55:12
    Some people say that's like Buddhism,
    right?
  • 55:14 - 55:16
    Like, what is that, you know?
  • 55:17 - 55:20
    There is a real challenge
    for our community
  • 55:20 - 55:23
    as we struggle between engagement
  • 55:23 - 55:26
    and also taking, not losing ourselves
  • 55:27 - 55:32
    'cause the war starts when we're actually
    we've lost our roots, lost our refuge
  • 55:32 - 55:37
    we are not happy with just being alive
    on this planet
  • 55:37 - 55:39
    you're going to die,
  • 55:40 - 55:43
    the world will go on, you're going to die,
    you know,
  • 55:44 - 55:49
    so our teacher teaches to really come
    from a deeper,
  • 55:50 - 55:52
    of course you do the social change
  • 55:52 - 55:54
    you do these activities
  • 55:55 - 55:58
    but don't lose these deep moments
    for yourself
  • 55:59 - 56:01
    and to do it together
  • 56:01 - 56:07
    and this is our teacher's challenge
    to our next century
  • 56:09 - 56:11
    I think maybe some of you heard,
  • 56:12 - 56:17
    our teacher sharing about the last
    century as a century of individualism
  • 56:19 - 56:24
    you know, everyone, me and my nation
    and my people and so on
  • 56:25 - 56:28
    and it's caused a lot of stuff happen
  • 56:29 - 56:32
    so the teacher is really emphasizing
    on the collective
  • 56:34 - 56:38
    and it's tough to be in the collective,
    part of this community
  • 56:38 - 56:40
    you know, it's not easy
  • 56:40 - 56:43
    you have to conform and
    you have to be like the rest
  • 56:43 - 56:48
    and kind of like, lose your identity
    I just tell you some of the truth about it
  • 56:50 - 56:52
    it challenges every L.A. seed in me!
  • 56:55 - 56:58
    I want to go out there and
    change L.A. you know,
  • 56:58 - 56:59
    and the brothers say, no,
  • 57:00 - 57:03
    you're going to go breathe and
    walk in the woods
  • 57:08 - 57:10
    sorry my sisters and brothers
  • 57:12 - 57:15
    it's a challenge to be part of a community
  • 57:15 - 57:19
    it is, because it goes
    against everything we know,
  • 57:19 - 57:21
    you know, I have rights,
  • 57:21 - 57:27
    especially when you're right
    you have to just..
  • 57:28 - 57:34
    and this is the root of war
    “I'm right”
  • 57:36 - 57:39
    and to live in a collective,
    to live in a community
  • 57:40 - 57:44
    to live in a family, you know that,
    that's a small little community there
  • 57:44 - 57:49
    in the family, around the kitchen
    around the dining table
  • 57:50 - 57:51
    I was witness to that
  • 57:52 - 57:57
    because we're not able to let go and see
    the 'come on, it's just'
  • 57:59 - 58:01
    so this is the training for us
  • 58:01 - 58:05
    to learn to let go of
    our own ideas or notions
  • 58:06 - 58:08
    of what is right, what is wrong,
    what is just
  • 58:08 - 58:09
    sometimes,
  • 58:09 - 58:12
    even fighting for a just cause,
    we cause a lot of suffering
  • 58:13 - 58:17
    so we have to be careful
    as we come together and help
  • 58:18 - 58:21
    and remind ourselves
    to check in with each other
  • 58:21 - 58:24
    to see that 'hey, is this where we want to go?”
  • 58:25 - 58:30
    so this is a challenge our teacher has
    for our community,
    for our next
  • 58:31 - 58:37
    you know, he's famous for having said
    our teacher has a saying that's pretty,
  • 58:39 - 58:41
    I haven't heard it anywhere
  • 58:41 - 58:45
    “the next Buddha will be your community”
  • 58:46 - 58:48
    that's very beautiful, you know
    can you imagine that,
  • 58:49 - 58:52
    you don't look for somebody leading
    and charging, and
  • 58:52 - 58:54
    oh well the Buddha will
    probably do something
  • 58:55 - 58:59
    but the community that actually
    deals with challenges, suffering
  • 59:00 - 59:03
    but it checks itself, it helps each other
  • 59:03 - 59:07
    there's a sense of love
    and understanding, of septance
  • 59:07 - 59:10
    cause this is all the energy,
  • 59:10 - 59:16
    all the difficulties that we're facing
    as a family as a group of people
  • 59:16 - 59:20
    as a work place right,
    where you look, and your company
  • 59:21 - 59:24
    what are the most challenging things
    at your work place
  • 59:24 - 59:26
    it's all about that,
  • 59:26 - 59:28
    people don't know how to work together
    you have to let go
  • 59:29 - 59:33
    so the collective for us is a challenge,
  • 59:34 - 59:38
    how to learn these practises
    so we don't lose our center,
  • 59:39 - 59:43
    our harmony within
    and then working ways,
  • 59:43 - 59:45
    finding ways to build community
  • 59:46 - 59:51
    because to resist this other energy,
    we need to do it as a community
  • 59:51 - 59:56
    and we need everyone to have
    this kind of training so that you feel
  • 59:57 - 60:00
    I don't need another sweater,
    just because it's a new season
  • 60:01 - 60:03
    or they change color on me again
  • 60:08 - 60:13
    sorry, I remember, it's brown season,
    it's yellow season
  • 60:13 - 60:16
    you know, you got to change your whole
    wardrobe just because they say so
  • 60:18 - 60:20
    so they know, I don't want to say 'they'
  • 60:21 - 60:26
    maybe some of us are in
    advertising media now
  • 60:28 - 60:33
    but they know how the mind works
    and if you don't know how your mind works
  • 60:33 - 60:38
    and if we don't come together
    we're just, you think you're free
  • 60:42 - 60:47
    I'm sorry to kind of lay it out there
    'cause this is our last chance
  • 60:49 - 60:53
    but this is what I've learned from my teacher
    and I just wanted to share with you
  • 60:54 - 60:59
    we need to come together and really
    resist all these temptations
  • 61:00 - 61:05
    these kind of temporary pleasures
    these moments, right
  • 61:05 - 61:10
    more consuming, more stimulation, entertaining yourself
  • 61:10 - 61:15
    this is what is happening
  • 61:15 - 61:20
    we need to find ways to come together,
    to resist
  • 61:21 - 61:24
    so, have a refugee-camp but do it together
  • 61:25 - 61:29
    that's the addition I think
    my sister was inviting me to add
  • 61:30 - 61:34
    so not just you alone on the
    island in a refugee-camp
  • 61:34 - 61:40
    but bring friends, make friends
    come together and make that island, expand
  • 61:41 - 61:45
    and if we can do this together
    here a little bit
  • 61:45 - 61:48
    and a little bit around the planet
  • 61:48 - 61:51
    I think, I'm pretty hopeful
  • 61:52 - 61:58
    and we need to keep that,
    don't let it drag you down
  • 61:59 - 62:01
    we were at the Huffington Post
  • 62:01 - 62:04
    and we learned that they have a
    department for Good News
  • 62:07 - 62:08
    yeah, that is pretty cool
  • 62:09 - 62:13
    and I asked them, so what do you guys do,
    make stories up?
  • 62:14 - 62:20
    'cause I don't see any good news
    in the news and they say, yeah, we shared,
  • 62:20 - 62:27
    they have a small team and actually
    they look at stories out there, and
  • 62:27 - 62:32
    they try to find something positive
    and they go do more research
  • 62:32 - 62:35
    and that's beautiful and
    I was really moved,
  • 62:35 - 62:39
    there was like four or five in that
    department, and that's their work
  • 62:40 - 62:44
    we need to do that, we need to do that
    in our family, within ourselves
  • 62:44 - 62:47
    look, there's something
    happening that's good for today
  • 62:48 - 62:51
    and accentuate it, do it in the family,
    do it at your work,
  • 62:52 - 62:54
    please, do it in your work
  • 62:56 - 63:00
    it's tough to work at a hard place,
    but do it there
  • 63:00 - 63:03
    and then create your work,
    become a community
  • 63:04 - 63:07
    and then begin to come together
    build a sangha
  • 63:07 - 63:11
    a sangha is just a group of people
    coming together
  • 63:11 - 63:15
    to remind each other with the practise
  • 63:15 - 63:18
    so this is our teacher's deepest wish
  • 63:19 - 63:25
    to have a little bit around
    every place for us
  • 63:26 - 63:29
    to remind ourselves and
    remind others
  • 63:31 - 63:33
    thank you
  • 63:34 - 63:36
    I believe there's something
  • 63:41 - 63:50
    oh yes, we now open the mike
    for any questions or any comment or
  • 63:52 - 63:54
    I think there's a microphone around,
  • 63:55 - 63:56
    I think there's some brothers and sisters
  • 63:57 - 64:03
    who'll come up here to join us to add a
    different perspective
  • 64:06 - 64:09
    is there a mike around?
  • 64:10 - 64:18
    Yes, you can come up here if you'd
    like to share or make a comment
  • 64:30 - 64:31
    oh, they have a mike right there
  • 64:36 - 64:38
    I just wanted to thank you
  • 64:40 - 64:46
    gratitude for sharing your love and your
    light with us here,
  • 64:47 - 64:53
    and bringing your stories, your honesty,
    your experience, your humor
  • 64:53 - 65:01
    really grateful for that, it's really
    refreshing to embrace the reflection
  • 65:01 - 65:07
    we all know that we have within us
    and to see a collective
  • 65:10 - 65:18
    as you say, this community that does exist
    and I just wanted to say thank you,
  • 65:18 - 65:20
    I'm really grateful
  • 65:26 - 65:28
    and congratulations
  • 65:49 - 65:52
    sister Jang Nghiem and Phap Hai
    have joined us
  • 65:53 - 65:57
    and they will take personal questions too,
    so if you
  • 66:02 - 66:04
    yes, questions from the heart
  • 66:07 - 66:13
    hi, welcome, I'm actually new to the city,
    I'm from Philadelphia
  • 66:13 - 66:17
    so I drove up this morning, three hours,
    I took the back roads
  • 66:19 - 66:28
    and I go to Weltran Unitarian church and
    every Sunday I'm blessed to have a quote,
  • 66:29 - 66:32
    like there is up on the screen,
    by Thich Nhat Hanh
  • 66:32 - 66:35
    that leads us
    into meditation for five minutes
  • 66:36 - 66:39
    all you need to enter heaven on earth
    is one conscious step,
  • 66:39 - 66:41
    one conscious breath
  • 66:41 - 66:45
    and I really appreciate
    this opportunity to be here with you
  • 66:46 - 66:51
    and my question, it takes me a long time
    to get to my question, is
  • 66:52 - 66:55
    as you talk about refuge inside and
    refuge in community,
  • 66:57 - 67:02
    I'm blessed to have a small community
    that really is building on mindfulness,
  • 67:03 - 67:08
    it's probably the most rapidly growing
    Unitarian church in the country which is
  • 67:09 - 67:13
    tremendous, because it's very open,
    spiritually and we embraced
  • 67:13 - 67:17
    a lot of things, including
    Thich Nhat Hanh's mindfulness
  • 67:19 - 67:24
    How can we, I'm sure everyone in this
    room is from a different place,
  • 67:26 - 67:33
    in our society, in our jobs that are
    not sitting mindfully all day long,
  • 67:35 - 67:47
    how can we bridge this experience into
    the world of wifi and phones,
  • 67:48 - 67:52
    thinking of myself last night when I was
    on my phone with my boyfriend
  • 67:52 - 67:58
    at the restaurant, how do we actually
    try to do that more?
  • 68:21 - 68:24
    So, dear family, life's full of surprises,
  • 68:24 - 68:28
    I stood up to walk off the stage
    to stretch my legs
  • 68:30 - 68:35
    and I was invited, is the kind
    way to put it,
  • 68:35 - 68:37
    to be part of the question-
    and-answer panel
  • 68:37 - 68:42
    so I'm very happy to be sitting here
    and as I received that invitation
  • 68:43 - 68:48
    to be part of the Q&A-panel
    I realized that as a practitioner,
  • 68:49 - 68:54
    the most central practise for me,
    is to learn how to say 'yes'
  • 68:56 - 68:59
    not only to say yes with my mouth,
  • 69:00 - 69:06
    but to say yes to the experience
    that I'm invited to have in this moment
  • 69:07 - 69:10
    to look at the places that I close down
  • 69:10 - 69:15
    or the ways that I try to manufacture
    this moment into something
  • 69:15 - 69:18
    that I believe it should be
  • 69:21 - 69:23
    in our tradition, in the Plum
    Village tradition, we practise
  • 69:23 - 69:28
    what we call 'Engaged Buddhism'
    and we've all heard the stories about
  • 69:28 - 69:33
    going out to bombed out villages,
    building schools,
  • 69:34 - 69:38
    doing flood-work relief work, we've done
    all of those things
  • 69:38 - 69:40
    and we do all of those things
  • 69:41 - 69:43
    and yet, at its core,
    Engaged Buddhism means,
  • 69:44 - 69:49
    choosing to engage in this moment,
    whatever this moment is
  • 69:50 - 69:52
    as a moment of practise
  • 69:54 - 69:56
    we're coming into the Jewish New Year
  • 69:56 - 70:00
    and I'm thinking of somebody called Victor Franco,
  • 70:02 - 70:06
    who wrote in 'Men's search for meaning'
  • 70:06 - 70:09
    something that we also find to be true
    in Buddhism as well
  • 70:10 - 70:14
    we can't always, or very often,
    choose our circumstances
  • 70:14 - 70:17
    but as human beings
  • 70:17 - 70:22
    the one choice we truly have,
    is the choice of how we respond
  • 70:25 - 70:30
    so when we say that we can't
    sit all day mindfully, why not?
  • 70:31 - 70:33
    What does mindfully mean?
  • 70:34 - 70:40
    Does it mean we need to go to a
    mountainside or go to a cave or a hut,
  • 70:40 - 70:42
    a nice retreat-hut somewhere
  • 70:43 - 70:47
    that was my view of what monastic life is
    or life in the practise
  • 70:47 - 70:51
    and it's only ever happened once,
    in twenty years
  • 70:54 - 71:00
    how do I use this moment as a moment
    that I can be fully present in my body
  • 71:02 - 71:06
    with the experience that I'm having
    with the person who's in front of me
  • 71:07 - 71:13
    Can I choose, when the phone rings,
    to take an in-breath and an out-breath
  • 71:13 - 71:16
    bring myself back to my body and
    pick up the phone
  • 71:17 - 71:22
    can I choose to, rather than
    just run from here to the coffee-maker,
  • 71:22 - 71:30
    can I choose to take a few steps
    with each breath, to arrive with each step
  • 71:30 - 71:34
    these are ways that it is possible for us
  • 71:34 - 71:37
    to bring the practise of mindfulness
    to our daily lives
  • 71:37 - 71:43
    so our spiritual life is not something
    compart mentalized to one side
  • 71:43 - 71:45
    that we do inbetween things
  • 71:46 - 71:50
    but it is actually our life itself
  • 71:50 - 71:54
    that's the invitation of Engaged Buddhism
  • 71:55 - 72:00
    to see what we can do, where we're
    planted in this very moment
  • 72:00 - 72:03
    this is something that's possible for us
  • 72:04 - 72:07
    there are some of us, there are maybe
    a few hundred of us in this room
  • 72:09 - 72:12
    we're all sharing the same space together
  • 72:13 - 72:17
    and yet, there are some of us in this room
    who are thinking
  • 72:17 - 72:19
    oh, this talk was so interesting tonight,
  • 72:20 - 72:24
    it was so wonderful to hear from a half-
    Irish, half-Dutch senior disciple of Thay
  • 72:24 - 72:26
    and our brother Phap Dung
  • 72:26 - 72:28
    there are so many interesting spirits
  • 72:28 - 72:31
    and then there's others who are thinking
  • 72:31 - 72:34
    I can't wait until this is over
    why did I come here tonight?
  • 72:35 - 72:36
    This kind of thing
  • 72:36 - 72:38
    some of us are in heaven,
    some of us are in hell,
  • 72:38 - 72:40
    who's right, who's wrong?
  • 72:42 - 72:45
    Now, I mean, some of you might think
    it's a cheap shot,
  • 72:45 - 72:47
    but it really does depend on you, doesn't it
  • 72:47 - 72:50
    it really does depend on our mind
    and the way we interpret things
  • 72:51 - 72:53
    so I invite you to look at that
  • 72:54 - 72:58
    I invite you to engage with that practise
    and see if it's possible for you
  • 72:58 - 73:00
    to make just a small change
  • 73:01 - 73:06
    not ten small changes,
    but a small change in your daily life
  • 73:07 - 73:09
    good luck
  • 73:24 - 73:29
    (sound of the bell)
  • 73:44 - 73:46
    I want to thank you for being here
  • 73:46 - 73:49
    and I'm really grateful for your
    presence here
  • 73:50 - 73:55
    and your presence in the world
    and I think about if there was
  • 73:56 - 74:01
    a beloved community of more people,
    like in this room
  • 74:02 - 74:05
    how much empathy and how
    much compassion
  • 74:05 - 74:06
    could really be present in the world
  • 74:07 - 74:10
    and you've in a way answered
    what my question was but
  • 74:11 - 74:14
    someone like me, I feel overwhelmed
    when I read the news
  • 74:14 - 74:17
    really overwhelmed by for example
  • 74:17 - 74:19
    what's happening to our brothers
    and sisters in Syria
  • 74:21 - 74:28
    how do you balance being internal
    and having compassion internally
  • 74:30 - 74:34
    and balancing that with being engaged
    in the world
  • 74:34 - 74:37
    and something as small as
    keeping up with the news
  • 74:38 - 74:42
    I could easily feel overwhelmed
    and I know we have really beautiful
  • 74:42 - 74:45
    examples with Thich Nhat Hanh and
    Martin Luther King
  • 74:45 - 74:49
    so we can reflect on their example
    but how do you find that balance
  • 74:49 - 74:54
    when it's easy to feel overwhelmed
    by the suffering and the violence
  • 74:54 - 74:57
    and the pain that we know that a
    lot of people are dealing with
  • 74:58 - 74:59
    thank you so much
  • 75:17 - 75:20
    yes, that's a very important question
  • 75:20 - 75:26
    in terms of the amount of information
    that we should expose ourselves to
  • 75:29 - 75:33
    the important thing is, maintaining
    compassion in our heart
  • 75:35 - 75:39
    but more practically,
    I think our human mind is not meant to
  • 75:39 - 75:43
    actually be constantly bombarded
    with so much suffering
  • 75:45 - 75:48
    you hear it in your car or your subway,
    you're driving here
  • 75:49 - 75:51
    you hear it in the morning,
    you hear it while you take a break
  • 75:52 - 75:55
    in the afternoon you hear it,
    I mean when I was driving in L.A.
  • 75:57 - 76:00
    an hour and a half to work in the
    morning I listened to NPR
  • 76:00 - 76:06
    cause people said I should be informed
    I have friends from Berkeley you know
  • 76:09 - 76:12
    so every time they come back
    they always ask me to go to,
  • 76:13 - 76:15
    these picket things,
    they were good
  • 76:16 - 76:19
    it was my way of my getting out of
    my anger, now that I remember back
  • 76:21 - 76:25
    so, we put so high on a pedestal
    'being informed'
  • 76:26 - 76:32
    you got to be 'up to date'
    but how much more do you want?
  • 76:35 - 76:38
    I mean, you hear it in the morning and
    then in the afternoon when driving back
  • 76:38 - 76:40
    it's the same news, but I keep hearing it
  • 76:41 - 76:44
    before I even get to work,
    I'm already angry
  • 76:47 - 76:49
    I haven't seen that secretary yet
  • 76:51 - 76:55
    it's a good question, you have to know
    how to take care of yourself
  • 76:57 - 76:59
    and question the 'being informed',
  • 77:00 - 77:04
    how much should you keep inflicting,
    it's a scar you keep picking
  • 77:05 - 77:10
    ok, this is a balance you need to find,
    each one of us
  • 77:11 - 77:13
    in our workplace as well as in society
  • 77:17 - 77:24
    we had a session, two days ago,
    with news people,
  • 77:25 - 77:29
    it was at the Columbia University for
    journalists at the Dart Center
  • 77:31 - 77:35
    where they take care of journalists
    who have to go to,
  • 77:39 - 77:44
    conflicting sites or tragedy,
    and then have to report
  • 77:44 - 77:48
    and then come back and
    they can't handle it,
  • 77:48 - 77:53
    so this Dart center was formed
    to take care of and bring more awareness
  • 77:53 - 77:57
    to the suffering that journalists face
    as they come back
  • 77:57 - 78:02
    it's kind of like veterans
    and I learned a lot from that
  • 78:03 - 78:07
    and the Dart Center is trying to bring
    more mindfulness and wellness
  • 78:08 - 78:12
    to take care of the journalists
    'cause after you see these images and
  • 78:12 - 78:17
    you've been in places like that
    you see, the mind needs healing
  • 78:18 - 78:20
    it's kind of like, getting inflicted
  • 78:21 - 78:23
    and you know, that's journalists
  • 78:23 - 78:27
    but we ourselves as readers
    we have take care of that as well
  • 78:28 - 78:31
    so be informed, be intelligent,
  • 78:32 - 78:37
    but know what you're doing to yourself
    and what that is causing
  • 78:37 - 78:42
    because that can actually spill out to your
    loved ones who had nothing to do with it
  • 78:43 - 78:46
    but because you keep watering the seeds,
  • 78:47 - 78:50
    in our practise we call,
    we each all have a seed,
  • 78:51 - 78:58
    a seed of anger, a seed of discrimination,
    a seed of blame and so on
  • 78:59 - 79:03
    and if these keep being watered,
    you become immobile
  • 79:03 - 79:10
    you can't really be an activist
    if you are not, like, solid
  • 79:11 - 79:15
    so this is something for us all
    as we want to change
  • 79:15 - 79:18
    and help effect the world in a better way
  • 79:18 - 79:22
    we also need to take care and nourish
    our happiness, our joy
  • 79:24 - 79:27
    so it's how you say,
    pay attention to the mud,
  • 79:27 - 79:31
    but don't forget to also pay attention
    to the flower, to the lotus
  • 79:32 - 79:34
    that's also there
  • 79:35 - 79:38
    so we keep reading books on negativity,
  • 79:39 - 79:45
    and it makes you really,
    you can't move and your mind becomes tight
  • 79:46 - 79:48
    and you start actually
    causing others suffering
  • 79:48 - 79:50
    in a way that's toxic
  • 79:51 - 79:55
    so, nothing is lost, everything you read,
    everything you come in through the sens,
  • 79:56 - 80:00
    the eyes, the things you hear, the conversations I used to have with my friends
  • 80:01 - 80:03
    they didn't make me happier,
    they actually made me more angry
  • 80:04 - 80:07
    and sometimes anger is useful
  • 80:08 - 80:13
    but as my brother or my sister shared
    one time, maybe 5%
  • 80:14 - 80:18
    but I'm still trying to figure
    how much of that energy
  • 80:19 - 80:24
    you know, I know, there's a,
    sometimes it's useful to speak out
  • 80:25 - 80:29
    but how can we do it in a way
    that has a little bit more understanding,
  • 80:30 - 80:31
    more compassion
  • 80:31 - 80:36
    more of that sense of
    embracing the other person rather than
  • 80:38 - 80:43
    so this is what happens
    when we get informed
  • 80:43 - 80:45
    and it's over our limit
  • 80:45 - 80:51
    we actually start to cause more
    trouble than helpful
  • 80:51 - 80:57
    and this is each one of us through the
    practise of taking care of ourselves,
  • 80:58 - 81:02
    nourishing ourselves with good news,
    nourishing ourselves with moments
  • 81:02 - 81:06
    of actually recognizing
    taking a walk in the park
  • 81:07 - 81:09
    recognizing, hugging a tree
  • 81:11 - 81:16
    watching, you know, sitting there
    in front of a flower and feeling,
  • 81:16 - 81:18
    recognizing that flower
  • 81:18 - 81:24
    so these are things that I found helpful
    in my practise in terms of engaging the
  • 81:25 - 81:29
    world as we travel and we hear people
    suffering
  • 81:30 - 81:33
    you know, I have to take a walk in nature
    after a consultation or something,
  • 81:34 - 81:39
    I can't do consultations six right away
    'cause my mind is no longer present
  • 81:40 - 81:41
    for the third person
  • 81:42 - 81:44
    I mean, it looks like I'm there
    but it's too much for me
  • 81:45 - 81:51
    so I'd only do one, and then I go take
    a nap or I go walk in nature
  • 81:51 - 81:53
    and this is just the truth of our mind
  • 81:54 - 81:57
    we're not meant to actually
    know everything that's happening
  • 81:57 - 82:01
    around the world
    I mean, the internet now, you think, oh,
  • 82:01 - 82:05
    we have access, but,
    look what it's doing to you
  • 82:07 - 82:14
    you have access but you're like,
    you're afraid, and you're suspicious,
  • 82:14 - 82:16
    you're fearful
  • 82:16 - 82:20
    and this, you cannot help the world
    in that state of mind
  • 82:21 - 82:30
    so please take a look at your, at the balance,
    we need balance in terms of information
  • 82:42 - 82:44
    we have one last question
  • 82:46 - 82:48
    may we listen to one sound of the bell
  • 82:49 - 82:50
    (sound of the bell)
  • 82:51 - 82:57
    breathing in
    everything we need is here and now
  • 82:59 - 83:01
    breathing out
    we let go
  • 83:02 - 83:06
    this moment, without expectation
  • 83:09 - 83:13
    (sound of the bell)
  • 83:35 - 83:36
    Hi there
  • 83:40 - 83:43
    you know, it's kind of intimidating
    talking to you guys
  • 83:44 - 83:47
    but what I love in the nature
    of how you spoke today
  • 83:48 - 83:52
    was that you're still embracing
    that whole studentness about you
  • 83:53 - 83:56
    'cause sometimes when people that don't
    live in the kind of environment
  • 83:57 - 83:58
    that you live in
  • 84:03 - 84:06
    I guess I'm speaking for myself but I
    have talked to a few other people
  • 84:07 - 84:14
    there's a way that we can feel not
    as spiritual or not as worthy
  • 84:15 - 84:21
    and what I love what you brought here was
    that you're still learning
  • 84:22 - 84:27
    and that you're still figuring it out
    and that you're still on your journey
  • 84:28 - 84:32
    and that's really inspiring to hear
  • 84:32 - 84:37
    because some of us are a little bit
    further back in the road on the journey
  • 84:38 - 84:43
    one of the things I do is I go into
    companies, into the dark, deep scary
  • 84:43 - 84:46
    territory of corporate America
    and I try to bring
  • 84:46 - 84:49
    a tiny bit of mindfulness with me
  • 84:50 - 84:54
    but what you've inspired me to do today
    is, to take it further
  • 84:54 - 84:58
    you know, some of the little teachings
    or some of the things you said
  • 84:58 - 85:03
    like, and I love what you said about
    how being right is the root of war
  • 85:04 - 85:08
    and how we can bring a little bit of
    non-violence to how we talk
  • 85:09 - 85:12
    to each other every day
    by not trying to be so right
  • 85:13 - 85:15
    and trying to be more compassionate
  • 85:18 - 85:21
    trying to be more vulnerable,
    which you guys exhibited today,
  • 85:21 - 85:24
    the vulnerability of showing
    that you don't know it all
  • 85:24 - 85:26
    you're still a student,
    you're still on your journey
  • 85:27 - 85:29
    so I want to thank you for that
    and to let you know
  • 85:29 - 85:35
    there are warriors out here,
    working for the same cause,
  • 85:35 - 85:39
    we might not look the same way
    that outfit would definitely make me look
  • 85:39 - 85:42
    a lot chubbier and that would really
    annoy me
  • 85:43 - 85:47
    but, you know, we're out here
    warriors on the front line,
  • 85:48 - 85:52
    with you and supporting you
    and loving you from our place,
  • 85:53 - 85:55
    so thank you
  • 86:03 - 86:04
    Hi, thank you for being here tonight
  • 86:05 - 86:10
    I've been exploring the value of mindfulness
    in organizations and I was wondering if you
  • 86:10 - 86:12
    could speak a little bit more about the
    benefits that you see
  • 86:14 - 86:19
    to bringing mindfulness into workplaces
    and I'm particularly interested in
  • 86:20 - 86:22
    how it might help to build trust
  • 86:49 - 86:55
    For me, being a monastic is
    something I always wanted to do
  • 86:56 - 86:59
    but in another way this,
  • 86:59 - 87:02
    I agree with my brother,
    there's challenges
  • 87:03 - 87:08
    so when I entered the community
    you know, I love to do art,
  • 87:08 - 87:14
    to sing songs and write poetry
    but I've always been asked to do things
  • 87:14 - 87:23
    that is out of the ordinary
    you know, is not my field, is not my,
  • 87:25 - 87:28
    I feel like it's not even my capacity
  • 87:28 - 87:34
    but recently, the sangha invited me
    to join the finance team and
  • 87:35 - 87:41
    to work with all these figures,
    and it's not what I imagined I would do
  • 87:42 - 87:48
    so I think the practise of mindfulness
    just helps me to just be present
  • 87:49 - 87:56
    and to take things as they are
    and not to have expectation or
  • 87:57 - 88:02
    to have to struggle with it
  • 88:03 - 88:06
    at first I struggled a lot,
    but I feel like
  • 88:06 - 88:11
    when I can just come back to my breathing
    just to be what it is, I can just let it go
  • 88:12 - 88:17
    and whatever comes, I learn from it
    and I build my experience on it
  • 88:18 - 88:25
    so I think that in the workplace,
    we can apply mindfulness
  • 88:26 - 88:30
    for instance, when I am working
    on something that is very challenging
  • 88:31 - 88:34
    for my brainwork
  • 88:34 - 88:37
    then I just take a deep breath
    and come back and smile,
  • 88:37 - 88:41
    and take a break
    and we have the time-out on a screen
  • 88:41 - 88:46
    or a bell of mindfulness that we
    install into the PC or the computer
  • 88:47 - 88:51
    and we just take a break, you know
    you close your eyes and breathe
  • 88:51 - 88:53
    and then smile
  • 88:53 - 88:58
    and I find that also working in a team
    or in a group is very helpful
  • 88:58 - 89:03
    because I see that I have my brothers and
    sisters who have experience in finance
  • 89:03 - 89:06
    and they have all kinds of experiences
  • 89:07 - 89:10
    and when we come together,
    we really make things work
  • 89:10 - 89:13
    without, you know, one having
    to think too hard
  • 89:14 - 89:18
    so I think that try to learn from the
    experience of the others
  • 89:19 - 89:21
    and be mindful, be open
  • 89:22 - 89:25
    and, you know, things can
    become easier that way
  • 89:26 - 89:28
    rather than taking on everything
    on ourselves
  • 89:30 - 89:35
    and also create a space for nurturing
    brotherhood and sisterhood
  • 89:36 - 89:42
    in our monastery, at Blue Cliff,
    when we have finance meeting,
  • 89:42 - 89:47
    I'm always the team-master
    I make sure, I prepare tea and bring some
  • 89:47 - 89:53
    snacks and cookies or some healthy snacks
    and then we start the meeting that way
  • 89:53 - 89:57
    we don't just start by saying
    'ok, what's the agenda'
  • 89:57 - 90:01
    of course somebody will say that,
    but I always do the tea part first
  • 90:03 - 90:08
    and it's so light and nourishing and then
    people feel like, oh, there's a connection
  • 90:08 - 90:15
    you are here for being together, it's
    not just about trying to work something out
  • 90:15 - 90:19
    or trying to go forward with the result,
  • 90:20 - 90:25
    so I think that teamwork and nourishing
    brotherhood, sisterhood
  • 90:26 - 90:30
    and to build the energy of mindfulness,
  • 90:30 - 90:32
    to share that together is very helpful
  • 90:33 - 90:34
    thank you
Title:
"Stop Waiting, Start Living": Public Talk in NYC, 2015.09.12 (Sr. Jina and Br. Phap Dung)
Description:

"Mindfulness: Stop Waiting -- Start Living"

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
01:30:36

English subtitles

Revisions