The Heart Of The Buddha's Teaching - Episode 10

Briefly,

I'll introduce myself.

My name is Sarah Satie.

This is Book Club.

Each week we read from a book that was chosen and then using those readings we discuss a little bit and at the end of the discussion,

At the end of the reading,

I give a brief contemplation practice and then I give some homework for the week ahead.

So today is no different than that.

We're going to be reading today from chapters 25 and 26.

The book is The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings.

You don't need to own the book.

It's by Thich Nhat Hanh.

I'll read from it and then discuss.

I want to go into,

First of all,

What are we doing here together?

So what have we been doing here together?

As we approach the end of this first edition of Book Club,

This question just keeps playing into my mind.

What was the purpose of this?

What matters here?

And why so many teachings at one time?

So The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings,

This book has so many teachings in it.

It's so full.

And how can one ever possibly expect to understand all of those teachings?

And that is the point that I want to make to you today.

I want to simplify it for you.

If you have been asking yourself,

Why so many teachings and how can I possibly ever expect to understand The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings when there are so many,

So many lists,

So many concepts,

I want to remind you that actually what we've been listening to over the course of this book club together is not so many teachings,

But it's one teaching and so many ways to approach looking at that one teaching.

If you imagine that you have a crystal ball in front of you and any way you turn that crystal ball,

That empty sphere,

Any way you turn it,

You see reality from a different perspective.

That is what we have been doing together.

It's not a different reality when you turn the ball and look through it.

It's just a different way of viewing that reality.

And that is how this book has been handled.

We are learning one teaching.

The Buddha's teaching is one teaching.

And then we are given many different inroads to understand that teaching in our own lives and apply it in our own hearts.

And so I want to relieve you of the stress of thinking that you need to understand all these teachings.

In fact,

What may happen is that one teaching,

One chapter in particular,

Really stood out to you.

And that chapter that really stood out to you,

It probably awakened something in you and live in something in you.

And from that awakening,

From that enlivenment,

Then you feel more drawn to that particular practice.

And so I invite you to notice for yourself,

Especially if you've been listening to all of the sessions up until now,

What chapter,

What teaching really sparked something in you.

And then rather than putting all of these teachings into your mind and trying to work to understand all of these teachings,

Rather than that,

Go right into that one teaching.

And pay particular attention there and use that practice in your life as much as possible.

And because every practice contains every other practice in it,

Because every teaching contains every other teaching in it,

Then without a doubt,

We can trust that the heart of the Buddha's teachings will bloom.

And the other thing that I want to touch on is just that we don't get enlightened by going after enlightenment per se.

We don't say,

Oh,

I wish to be enlightened or,

Oh,

I wish that I could get a new job or oh,

I wish that I could find a lover or oh,

I wish that I could be happy.

I talked about this last week in the chapter on the five powers.

What we do is we create the proper conditions for those things to express themselves.

So stop thinking about the end goal and instead create the proper conditions in your life to express the things that you want,

Joy,

Peace of mind,

Equanimity,

Love,

Kindness,

Compassion.

Don't seek those end goals.

Look at the steps that it takes to get there.

It's like getting a degree in university.

If you want to get a degree in university,

You don't say,

Oh,

I wish to one day be a doctor.

You have to enroll in university.

You have to fill out the proper paperwork.

You have to go through an application process,

Write an essay.

You have to take the prerequisite courses.

And then eventually years later you end up with the degree that you were after.

And that is the same situation with the teachings of Buddhism.

You don't seek the end goal.

You create the proper conditions and the end goal seeks you.

Okay,

So that said,

Let's begin with chapter 25,

An especially important chapter,

The six paramitas.

I remind you to listen with the mind of love and compassion,

Listen with an open heart and be very relaxed.

It doesn't matter if things make sense.

You're just allowing the words to come in and trusting that what is important will make its way into your heart.

The six paramitas.

The six paramitas are a teaching of Mahayana Buddhism.

Paramita can be translated as perfection or perfect realization.

The Chinese character used for Paramita means crossing over to the other shore,

Which is the shore of peace,

Non fear and liberation.

The practice of the paramitas can be the practice of our daily lives.

We are on the shore of suffering,

Anger and depression.

And we want to cross over to the shore of well being.

To cross over,

We have to do something and that is called Paramita.

We return to ourselves and practice mindful breathing,

Looking at our suffering,

Anger and depression and we smile.

Being this we overcome our pain and cross over.

We can practice perfection every day.

Every time you take one mindful step,

You have a chance to go from the land of sorrow to the land of joy.

The pure land is available right here and now.

The kingdom of God is a seed in us.

If we know how to plant that seed in moist soil,

It will become a tree and birds will come and take refuge.

Please practice crossing over to the other shore whenever you feel the need.

The Buddha said,

Don't just hope for the other shore to come to you.

If you want to cross over to the other shore,

The shore of safety,

Well being,

Non fear and non anger,

You have to swim or row across.

You have to make an effort.

This effort is the practice of the six paramitas.

Practicing the six paramitas helps us to reach the other shore,

The shore of freedom,

Harmony and good relationships.

The paramitas are giving,

Offering,

Generosity,

Precepts or mindfulness trainings,

Inclusiveness,

The capacity to receive,

Bear and transform the pain inflicting on you by your enemies and also by those you love,

Diligence,

Energy,

Perseverance,

Meditation,

And the last one is wisdom and insight.

The first practice of crossing over is the perfection of giving,

Dhanaparamita.

To give means first of all to offer joy,

Happiness and love.

There is a plant well known in Asia.

It is a member of the onion family and it is delicious and soup,

Fried rice and omelets.

It grows back in less than 24 hours every time you cut it.

And the more you cut it,

The bigger and stronger it grows.

This plant represents dhanaparamita.

We don't keep anything for ourselves.

We only want to give.

When we give the other person might become happy,

But it is certain that we become happy.

In many stories of the Buddha's former lives,

He practices dhanaparamita.

The greatest gift we can offer anyone is our true presence.

A young boy I know was asked by his father,

What would you like for your birthday?

The boy hesitated.

His father was wealthy and could give him anything he wanted,

But his father spent so much time making money that he was rarely at home.

So the boy said,

Daddy,

I want you.

The message was clear.

If you love someone,

You have to produce your true presence for him or her.

When you give the gift you receive at the same time,

The gift of joy.

Learn how to produce your true presence by practicing meditation,

Breathing mindfully.

You bring body and mind together.

Darling,

I'm here for you is a mantra you can say when you practice this parameeta.

What else can we give our stability breathing in?

I see myself as a mountain breathing out.

I feel solid.

The person we love needs us to be solid and stable.

We can cultivate our stability by breathing in and out,

Practicing mindful walking,

Mindful sitting and enjoy living deeply in every moment.

Solidity is one of the characteristics of Nirvana.

What else can we offer?

Our freedom.

Happiness is not possible unless we are free from afflictions,

Craving,

Anger,

Jealousy,

Despair,

Fear,

And wrong perceptions.

Freedom is one of the characteristics of Nirvana.

Some kinds of happiness actually destroy our body,

Our mind,

And our relationships.

Freedom from craving is an important practice.

Look deeply into the nature of what you think will bring you happiness and see whether it is in fact causing those you love to suffer.

You have to know this.

If you want to be truly free,

Come back to the present moment and touch the wonders of life that are available.

There are so many wholesome things that can make us happy right now,

Like the beautiful sunrise,

The blue sky,

The mountains,

The rivers,

And all the lovely faces around us.

What else can we give our freshness breathing in?

I see myself as a flower breathing out.

I feel fresh.

You can breathe in and out three times and restore your flowerness right away.

What a gift.

What else can we offer?

Peace.

It is wonderful to sit near someone who is peaceful.

We benefit from her peace.

Breathing in,

I see myself as still as water.

Breathing out,

I reflect things as they are.

We can offer those we love our peace and lucidity.

What else can we offer?

Space.

The person we love needs space in order to be happy.

In a flower arrangement,

Each flower needs space around it in order to radiate its true beauty.

A person is like a flower.

Without space within and around her,

She cannot be happy.

We cannot buy these gifts at the market.

We have to produce them through our practice,

And the more we offer,

The more we have.

When the person we love is happy,

Happiness comes back to us right away.

We give to her,

But we are giving to ourselves at the same time.

Giving is a wonderful practice.

The Buddha said that when you are angry at someone,

If you have tried everything and still feel angry,

Practice dhanaparamita.

When we are angry,

Our tendency is to punish the other person,

But when we do,

There is only an escalation of the suffering.

The Buddha proposed that instead you send her a gift.

When you feel angry,

You won't want to go out and buy a gift,

So take the opportunity now to prepare the gift while you are not angry.

Then when all else fails,

Go and mail that gift to her,

And amazingly,

You'll feel better right away.

The same is true for nations.

For Israel to have peace and security,

The Israelis have to find ways to ensure peace and security for the Palestinians.

And for the Palestinians to have peace and security,

They also have to find ways to ensure peace and security for the Israelis.

You get what you offer.

Instead of trying to punish the other person,

Offer him exactly what he needs.

The practice of giving can bring you to the shore of well-being very quickly.

When another person makes you suffer,

It is because he suffers deeply within himself,

And his suffering is spilling over.

He does not need punishment.

He needs help.

That is the message he is sending.

If you are able to see that,

Offer him what he needs.

Relief.

Happiness and safety are not an individual matter.

His happiness and safety are crucial for your happiness and safety.

Wholeheartedly wish him happiness and safety,

And you will be happy and safe also.

What else can we offer?

Understanding.

Understanding is the flower of practice.

Focus your concentrated attention on one object,

Look deeply into it,

And you'll have insight and understanding.

When you offer others your understanding,

They will stop suffering right away.

The first petal of the flower of the Paramitas is Dhanaparamita,

The practice of giving.

What you give is what you receive,

More quickly than the signals sent by satellite.

Whether you give your presence,

Your stability,

Your freshness,

Your solidity,

Your freedom,

Or your understanding,

Your gift can work a miracle.

Dhanaparamita is the practice of love.

The second practice is the perfection of the precepts,

Or mindfulness trainings,

Shila Paramita.

The five mindfulness trainings help protect our body,

Mind,

Family,

And society.

The first mindfulness training is about protecting the lives of human beings,

Animals,

Vegetables,

And minerals.

To protect other beings is to protect ourselves.

The second is to prevent the exploitation by humans of other living beings and of nature.

It is also the practice of generosity.

The third is to protect children and adults from sexual abuse,

To preserve the happiness of individuals and families.

Too many families have been broken by sexual misconduct.

When you practice the third mindfulness training,

You protect yourself and you protect families and couples.

You help other people feel safe.

The fourth mindfulness training is to practice deep listening and loving speech.

The fifth mindfulness training is about mindful consumption.

The practice of the five mindfulness trainings is a form of love and a form of giving.

It assures the good health and protection of our family and society.

Shila Paramita is a great gift that we can make to our society,

Our family,

And to those we love.

The most precious gift we can offer our society is to practice the five mindfulness trainings.

If we live according to the five mindfulness trainings,

We protect ourselves and the people we love.

When we practice Shila Paramita,

We offer the precious gift of life.

Let us look deeply together into the causes of our suffering,

Individually and collectively.

If we do,

I am confident that we will see the five mindfulness trainings are the correct medicine for the malaise of our times.

Every tradition has the equivalent of the five mindfulness trainings.

Every time I see someone receive and practice the five mindfulness trainings,

I feel so happy for him,

His family,

And also for myself because I know that the five mindfulness trainings are the most concrete way to practice mindfulness.

We need a sangha around us in order to practice them deeply.

The third petal of the flower is inclusiveness,

Kshanti Paramita.

Inclusiveness is the capacity to receive,

Embrace,

And transform.

Kshanti is often translated as patience or forbearance,

But I believe inclusiveness better conveys the Buddha's teaching.

When we practice inclusiveness,

We don't have to suffer or forbear,

Even when we have to embrace suffering and injustice.

The other person says or does something that makes us angry.

He inflicts on us some kind of injustice,

But if our heart is large enough,

We don't suffer.

The Buddha offered this wonderful image.

If you take a handful of salt and pour it into a small bowl of water,

The water in the bowl will be too salty to drink.

But if you pour the same amount of salt into a large river,

People will still be able to drink the river's water.

Remember this teaching was offered 2,

600 years ago when it was still possible to drink from rivers.

Because of its immensity,

The river has the capacity to receive and transform.

The river doesn't suffer at all because of a handful of salt.

If your heart is small,

One unjust word or act will make you suffer.

But if your heart is large,

If you have understanding and compassion,

That word or deed will not have the power to make you suffer.

You will be able to receive,

Embrace,

And transform it in an instant.

What counts here is your capacity.

To transform your suffering,

Your heart has to be as big as the ocean.

Someone else might suffer,

But if a bodhisattva receives the same unkind words,

She won't suffer at all.

It depends on your way of receiving,

Embracing,

And transforming.

If you keep your pain for too long,

It is because you have not yet learned the practice of inclusiveness.

When Rahula,

The Buddha's son,

Was 18,

The Buddha delivered him to a wonderful Dharma talk on how to practice inclusiveness.

Shariputra,

Rahula's tutor,

Was there,

And he listened and absorbed that teaching also.

Then,

12 years later,

Shariputra had the chance to repeat this teaching to the full assembly of monks and nuns.

It was the day after the completion of the three-month rainy season retreat,

And every monk was getting ready to leave the compound and go off in the ten directions to offer the teachings to others.

At that time,

One monk reported to the Buddha,

My lord,

This morning,

As venerable Shariputra was leaving,

I asked him where he was heading,

And instead of answering my question,

He pushed me to the ground and did not even say I'm sorry.

The Buddha asked Ananda,

Has Shariputra gone far yet?

And Ananda said,

No,

Lord,

He left just an hour ago.

So the Buddha asked a novice to find Shariputra and invite him to come back.

When the novice brought Shariputra back,

Ananda summoned all the monks who were still there to gather.

Then the Buddha stepped into the hall and asked Shariputra formally,

Shariputra,

Is it true that this morning,

When you were going out of the monastery,

A brother of yours wanted to ask you a question,

And you did not answer him?

Is it true that instead you pushed him to the ground and didn't even say you were sorry?

Thereupon Shariputra answered the Buddha in front of all of his fellow monks and nuns,

Lord,

I remember the discourse you gave 12 years ago to Bhikshu Rahula when he was 18 years old.

You taught him to contemplate the nature of earth,

Water,

Fire and air in order to nourish and develop the virtues of love,

Compassion,

Joy and equanimity.

Although your teaching was directed to Rahula,

I also learned from it.

And I have tried to observe and practice that teaching.

Lord,

I have tried to practice like the earth.

The earth is wide open and has the capacity to receive,

Embrace and transform.

Whether people toss pure and fragrant substances such as flowers,

Perfume or fresh milk upon the earth,

Or toss unclean and foul smelling substances like excrement,

Urine,

Blood,

Mucus and spit upon the earth,

The earth receives them all equally without grasping or aversion.

No matter what you throw into the earth,

The earth has the power to receive,

Embrace and transform it.

I try my best to practice like earth to receive without resisting,

Complaining or suffering.

Lord,

I practice mindfulness and loving kindness.

A monk who does not practice mindfulness of the body in the body of the actions of the body,

In the actions of the body,

Could knock down a fellow monk and leave him lying there without apologizing.

But it is not my way to be rude to a fellow monk,

To push him to the ground and walk on without apologizing.

Lord,

I have learned the lesson you offer to Rahula to practice like the water.

Whether someone pours a fragrant substance or an unclean substance into the water,

The water receives them all equally without grasping or aversion.

Water is immense and flowing and has the capacity to receive,

Contain,

Transform and purify all of these things.

I have tried my best to practice like water.

A monk who does not practice mindfulness,

Who does not practice becoming like water might push a fellow monk to the ground and go on his way without saying,

I'm sorry,

I am not such a monk.

My Lord,

I have practiced to be more like fire.

Fire burns everything,

The pure as well as the impure,

The beautiful as well as the distasteful without grasping or aversion.

If you throw flowers or sink into it,

Silk into it,

It burns.

If you throw old cloth and other foul smelling things into it,

The fire will accept and burn everything.

It does not discriminate.

Why?

Because fire can receive,

Consume and burn everything offered to it.

I have tried to practice like fire.

I am able to burn the things that are negative in order to transform them.

A monk who does not practice mindfulness of looking,

Listening and contemplating might push a fellow monk to the ground and go on without apologizing.

Lord,

I am not such a monk.

Lord,

I have tried to practice to be more like air.

The air carries all smells,

Good and bad,

Without grasping or aversion.

The air has the capacity to transform,

Purify and release.

Lord Buddha,

I have contemplated the body in the body,

The movement of the body in the movement of the body,

The positions of the body in the positions of the body,

The feelings in the feelings and the mind in the mind.

A monk who does not practice mindfulness might push a fellow monk to the ground and go on without apologizing.

I am not such a monk.

My Lord,

I am like an untouchable child with nothing to wear,

With no title or any metal to put on my tattered cloth.

I have tried to practice humility because I know that humility has the power to transform.

I have tried to learn every day.

A monk who does not practice mindfulness can push a fellow monk to the ground and go on without apologizing.

My Lord,

I am not such a monk.

Shri Putra continued to deliver his lion's roar,

But the other monk could stand it no longer and he bared his right shoulder,

Knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

Lord,

I have transgressed the Vinaya and out of anger and jealousy I told a lie to discredit my elder brother in the Dharma.

I beg the community to allow me to practice beginning anew.

In front of the Buddha and the whole Sangha,

He prostrated three times to Shri Putra.

When Shri Putra saw his brother prostrating,

He bowed and said,

I have not been skillful enough,

And that is why I have created misunderstanding.

I am co-responsible for this and I beg my brother monk to forgive me.

Then he prostrated three times to the other monk and they reconciled.

And not to ask Shri Putra to stay for a cup of tea before starting off on his journey again.

To suppress our pain is not the teaching of inclusiveness.

We have to receive it,

Embrace it and transform it.

The only way to do this is to make our heart big.

We look deeply in order to understand and forgive.

Otherwise we will be caught in anger and hatred and think that we will feel better only after we punish the other person.

Revenge is an unwholesome nutriment.

The intention to help others is a wholesome nutriment.

To practice Kshanti Paramita,

We need the other Paramitas.

If our practice of inclusiveness does not bear the marks of understanding,

Giving and meditation,

We are just trying to suppress our pain and drive it down to the bottom of our consciousness.

This is dangerous.

That kind of energy will blow up later and destroy ourselves and others.

If you practice deep looking,

Your heart will grow without limits and you will suffer less.

The first disciple I ordained was a monk named Thich Nhat Tri.

Brother Nhat Tri went with his sister Chanh Cong and me on many missions to rescue flood victims in central Vietnam and he spent many months in a poor hamlet because I had asked him to.

We were setting up the school of youth for social service and we needed to learn the real situation of the people in the rural areas.

We wanted to find ways to apply nonviolence and loving kindness to help poor people improve their standard of living.

It was a beautiful movement for social improvement.

Eventually we had 10,

000 workers.

The communists said our Buddhist movement was pro-American and the mass media said that we Buddhist monks were disguised communists trying to arrange a communist takeover.

We were just trying to be ourselves,

Not aligned with any warring party.

In 1967,

Brother Nhat Tri and seven other social workers were kidnapped by a group on the extreme right and he has not been heard of since then.

One day Nhat Tri was walking on the streets of Saigon when American soldiers standing on a military truck spit on his head.

Brother Nhat Tri came home and cried and cried.

Being a young man,

He was tempted to fight back and so I held him in my arms for half an hour in order to transform that feeling of being deeply hurt.

I said,

My child,

You were not born to hold a gun.

You were born to be a monk and your power is the power of understanding and love.

The American soldier considered you to be his enemy.

That was a wrong perception of his.

We need soldiers who can go to the front armed only with understanding and love.

He stayed on with the school of youth for social service.

Then he was kidnapped and probably killed.

Tich Nhat Tri is a big brother of the monks and nuns at Plum Village.

His handwriting looked almost exactly like mine and he wrote beautiful songs for Buffalo Boys to sing in the countryside.

How can we wash away that kind of injustice?

How can we transform the injustice received by whole nations?

Cambodians,

Bosnians,

Palestinians,

Israelis,

Tibetans,

Ukrainians,

Russians,

All of us suffer from injustice and intolerance.

Instead of being brothers and sisters to each other,

We aim guns at each other.

When we are overtaken by anger,

We think that the only response is to punish the other person.

The fire of anger continues to burn in us and it continues to burn our brothers and sisters.

This is the situation of the world and it is why deep looking is needed to help us understand that all of us are victims.

I told brother Nhat Tri,

If you were born into a family along the coast of New Jersey or California,

And if you read the kinds of newspapers and magazine articles that those soldiers read,

You would also believe that all Buddhist monks are communists and you would spit on the head of a monk too.

I told him that American GIs were trained to look on all Vietnamese as enemies.

They were sent here to kill or be killed.

They are victims just like the Vietnamese soldiers and Vietnamese civilians.

The ones who hold the guns and shoot at us,

The one who spit at you,

They are not the makers of the war.

The war makers are in comfortable offices in Beijing,

Moscow,

And Washington DC.

It was a wrong policy,

Born of a wrong understanding.

When I went to Washington in 1966,

I met with Robert McNamara and what I told him about the nature of war was entirely true.

Half a year later,

He resigned as Secretary of Defense and recently he wrote a book and confessed that the war in Vietnam was a terrible mistake.

Perhaps I helped plant some seeds of understanding in him.

A wrong perception was responsible for a wrong policy and a wrong policy was responsible for the deaths of many thousands of American and Vietnamese soldiers and several million Vietnamese civilians.

The people in the countryside could not understand why they had to die like that,

Why the bombs had to fall on them day and night.

I was sleeping in my room close to the Buddha Hall on the School of Youth for Social Service campus when a rocket was fired into that hall.

I could have been killed.

If you nourish your hatred and your anger,

You burn yourself.

Understanding is the only way out.

If you understand,

You will suffer less and you will know how to get to the root of injustice.

The Buddha said that if one arrow strikes you,

You'll suffer.

But if a second arrow hits you in the same spot,

You'll suffer 100 times more.

When you are a victim of injustice,

If you get angry,

You will suffer 100 times more.

When you have some pain in your body,

Breathe in and out and say to yourself,

It's only a physical pain.

If you imagine that it is cancer and that you will die very soon,

Your pain will be 100 times worse.

Fear or hatred,

Born of ignorance,

Amplifies your pain.

Prajnaparamita is the savior.

If you know how to see things as themselves and not more than that,

You can survive.

I love the Vietnamese people and I tried my best to help them during the war,

But I also saw the American boys in Vietnam as victims.

I did not look at them with rancor and I suffered much less.

This is the kind of suffering many of us have overcome and the teaching is born out of that suffering,

Not from academic studies.

I survived for brother not tree and for so many others who died in order to bring the message of forgiveness,

Love and understanding.

I share this so they will not have died in vain.

Please practice deep looking and you will suffer much less from disease,

Injustice or the small pains within you.

Deep looking leads to understanding and understanding always leads to love and acceptance.

When your baby is sick,

Of course you do your best to help him,

But you also know that a baby has to be sick a number of times in order to get the immunity he needs.

You know that you can survive too because you've developed antibodies.

Don't worry,

Perfect health is just an idea.

Learn to live in peace with whatever ailments you have.

Try to transform them,

But don't suffer too much.

During his lifetime,

The Buddha suffered too,

There were plots to compete with him and even to kill him.

One time when he had a wound in his leg and people tried to help him,

He said it was only a small wound and he did his best to minimize the pain.

Another time 500 of his monks went off to set up an alternative Sangha and he took it very much in stride.

Finally the difficulties were overcome.

The Buddha gave very concrete teachings on how to develop inclusiveness.

Maitri,

Karuna,

Mudita,

And upeksha.

If you practice these four immeasurable minds,

You will have a huge heart,

Love,

Compassion,

Joy and equanimity.

Because bodhisattvas have great compassion,

They have the capacity of receiving,

Embracing and transforming.

Because they have great understanding,

They don't have to suffer.

This is a great gift for the world and for the people that we love.

The fourth petal of the flower is virya paramita,

The perfection of diligence,

Energy or continuous practice.

The Buddha said that in the depth of our store consciousness,

Alaya vijana,

There are all kinds of positive and negative seeds.

Seeds of anger,

Delusion and fear and seeds of understanding,

Compassion and forgiveness.

Many of these seeds have been transmitted to us by our ancestors.

We should learn to recognize every one of these seeds in us in order to practice diligence.

If it is a negative seed,

The seed of an affliction like anger,

Fear,

Jealousy or discrimination,

We should refrain from allowing it to be watered in our daily life.

Every time such a seed is watered,

It will manifest on the upper level of our consciousness and we will suffer and make the people we love suffer at the same time.

The practice is to refrain from watering the negative seeds in us.

We also recognize the negative seeds in the people we love and try our best not to water them.

If we do,

They will be very unhappy and we will be unhappy also.

This is the practice of selective watering.

If you want to be happy,

Avoid watering your own negative seeds and ask others not to water those seeds in you.

Also avoid watering the negative seeds in others.

We also try to recognize the positive seeds that are in us and to live our daily life in a way that we can touch them and help them manifest on the upper level of our consciousness.

Every time they manifest and stay on the upper level of our consciousness for a while,

They grow stronger.

If the positive seeds in us grow stronger day and night,

We will be happy and we will make the people we love happy.

Recognize the positive seeds in the person you love.

Water those seeds and he will become much happier.

In Plum Village,

We practice flower watering,

Recognizing the best seeds in others and watering them.

Whenever you have time,

Please water the seeds that need to be watered.

It is a wonderful and very pleasant practice of diligence and it brings immediate results.

Imagine a circle divided in two.

Below is the store consciousness and above is the mind consciousness.

All mental formations lie deep down in our store consciousness.

Every seed in our store consciousness can be touched and manifests itself on the upper level,

Namely our mind consciousness.

Continued practice means training our best not to allow the negative seeds in our store consciousness to be touched in our daily life,

Not to give them a chance to manifest themselves.

The seeds of anger,

Discrimination,

Despair,

Jealousy,

And craving are all there.

We do what we can to prevent them from coming up.

We tell the people we live with,

If you truly love me,

Don't water these seeds in me.

It is not good for my health or yours.

We have to recognize the kinds of seeds not to be watered.

If it happens that a negative seed,

The seed of an affliction,

Is watered and manifests itself,

We do everything in our power to embrace it with our mindfulness and help it return to where it came from.

The longer such seeds stay in our mind consciousness,

The stronger they become.

The Buddha suggested a practice called changing the peg.

When a peg of wood is not the right size or is rotting or in disrepair,

A carpenter will replace it by putting another peg on exactly the same spot and driving the new peg into the old one.

If you have a mental formation arising that you consider to be unwholesome,

One way to practice is to invite another mental formation to replace it.

Many seeds in your store consciousness are wholesome and beautiful.

Just breathe in and out and invite one of them to come up and the other seed will go down.

This is called changing the peg.

The third practice is to touch as many positive seeds in your store consciousness as you can so that they will manifest in your mind consciousness.

On a television set,

If you want a certain program,

You push the button to bring you to that program.

Invite only pleasant seeds to come up and sit in the living room of your consciousness.

Never invite a guest who brings you sorrow and affliction and tell your friends,

If you love me,

Please water the wholesome seeds in me every day.

One wonderful seed is mindfulness.

Mindfulness is the Buddha in us.

Use every opportunity to touch that seed and help it manifest on the upper level of your consciousness.

The fourth practice is to keep a wholesome seed as long as possible once it is manifested.

If mindfulness has been maintained for 15 minutes,

The seed of mindfulness will be strengthened and the next time you need the energy of mindfulness,

It will be easier to bring up.

It is very important to help the seeds of mindfulness,

Forgiveness and compassion to grow and the way to do this is to help them be present in your mind consciousness as long as possible.

This is called transformation at the base.

This is the true meaning of virya paramita,

The perfection of diligence.

The fifth crossing over is dana paramita,

The perfection of meditation.

Jnana is pronounced Zen in Japanese,

Chan in Chinese,

Thi in Vietnamese and Son in Korea.

Jnana or meditation consists of two aspects.

The first is stopping.

We run our whole life chasing after one idea of happiness or another.

Stopping is to stop our running,

Our forgetfulness,

Our being caught in the past or the future.

We come home to the present moment where life is available.

The present moment contains every moment.

Here we can touch our ancestors,

Our children and their children,

Even if they have not been born yet.

Shamata is the practice of calming our body and emotions through the practice of mindful breathing,

Mindful walking and mindful sitting.

Shamata is also the practice of concentrating so we can live deeply each moment of our life and touch the deepest level of our being.

The second aspect of meditation is looking deeply,

Vipassana,

To see the true nature of things.

You look into the person you love and find out what kinds of suffering or difficulty she has within herself and what aspirations she holds.

Understanding is a great gift,

But your daily life conducted in mindfulness is also a great gift.

Doing everything mindfully is the practice of meditation.

As mindfulness always nourishes concentration and understanding.

The sixth petal of the flower is prajnaparamita,

The perfection of understanding.

This is the highest kind of understanding,

Free from all knowledge,

Concepts,

Ideas and views.

Prajna is the substance of Buddhahood in us.

It is the kind of understanding that has the power to carry us to the other shore of freedom,

Emancipation and peace.

In Mahayana Buddhism,

Prajnaparamita is described as the mother of all Buddhas.

Everything that is good,

Beautiful and true is born from our mother,

Prajnaparamita.

She is in us.

We only need to touch her to help her manifest herself.

Right view is prajnaparamita.

There is a large literature on prajnaparamita and the Heart Sutra is one of the shorter discourses in that collection.

The Diamond Sutra and the Ashta Sahasrika Prajnaparamita are among the earliest discourses in that collection.

Prajnaparamita is the wisdom of non-discrimination.

If you look deeply into the person you love,

You will be able to understand her suffering,

Her difficulties and also her deepest aspirations and out of that understanding real love will be possible.

When someone is able to understand us,

We feel very happy.

If we can offer understanding to someone,

That is true love.

The one who receives our understanding will bloom like a flower and we will be rewarded at the same time.

Understanding is the fruit of the practice.

Looking deeply means to be there,

To be mindful,

To be concentrated.

Looking deeply into any object,

Understanding will flower.

The teaching of the Buddha is to help us understand reality deeply.

Let us look at a wave on the surface of the ocean.

A wave is a wave.

It has a beginning and an end.

It might be high or low,

More or less beautiful than other waves,

But a wave is at the same time water.

Water is the ground of being of the wave.

It is important that a wave knows that she is water and not just a wave.

We too live our life as an individual.

We believe that we have a beginning and an end,

That we are separate from other living beings.

That is why the Buddha advised us to look more deeply in order to touch the ground of our being,

Which is nirvana.

Everything bears deeply the nature of nirvana.

Everything has been nirvanized.

That is the teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

We look deeply and we touch the suchness of reality.

Looking deeply into a pebble,

Flower,

Our own joy,

Peace,

Sorrow,

Or fear,

We touch the ultimate dimension of our being.

And that dimension will reveal to us that the ground of our being has the nature of no birth and no death.

We don't have to attain nirvana because we ourselves are always dwelling in nirvana.

The wave does not have to look for water.

It already is water.

We are one with the ground of our being.

Once the wave realizes that she is water,

All of her fear vanishes.

Once we touch the ground of our being,

Once we touch God or nirvana,

We also receive the gift of non-fear.

Non-fear is the basis of true happiness.

The greatest gift we can offer others is our non-fear.

Living deeply every moment of our life,

Touching the deepest level of our being,

This is the practice of Prajnaparamita.

Prajnaparamita is crossing over by understanding,

By insight.

Perfect understanding is present in all the other perfections.

Perfect understanding is like a container.

If the container is not baked well in the kiln,

There will be cracks and the liquid in it will flow out.

Prajnaparamita is the mother of all the Paramitas,

The mother of all Buddhas.

Prajnaparamita is like the wings of the bird that carry it anywhere.

With outright understanding,

None of the other Paramitas can go very far.

These are the practices of the six Paramitas offered by the Buddha.

Each of the six contains the other five.

Understanding is giving,

Meditation is giving,

Continued practice is giving,

Inclusiveness is giving,

And mindfulness training is giving.

If you practice giving deeply,

You're also practicing understanding,

Meditation,

And so on.

In the same way,

We see that giving in mindfulness training,

Understanding as mindfulness training,

Meditation is mindfulness training,

Continued practice in mindfulness training and inclusiveness is mindfulness training.

If you practice one Paramita deeply,

You practice all six.

When there is understanding and insight,

Meditation will be true meditation.

Continued practice will be true continued practice.

Inclusiveness will be true inclusiveness.

Training will be true mindfulness training and giving will be true giving.

Understanding increases the quality of the other five practices.

Look into your situation and see how rich you are inside.

See that what you have in the present moment is a gift.

Without waiting any longer,

Begin to practice right away.

The moment you begin to practice,

You'll feel happy right away.

The Dharma is not a matter of time.

Come and see for yourself.

The Dharma can transform your life.

When you are caught in your sorrow,

Your suffering,

Your depression,

Your anger,

Or your fear,

Don't stay on the shore of suffering.

Step over to the shore of freedom,

Non fear and non anger.

Just practice mindful breathing,

Mindful walking and deep looking and you will step onto the shore of freedom and well being.

You don't have to practice 5,

10 or 20 years to be able to cross over to the other shore.

You can do it right now.

I love this chapter.

Hello,

Alina.

I love this chapter so much because I think the Paramitas have really had a life changing impact for me.

I want to just reiterate that what Thich Nhat Hanh is talking about,

The Paramita is about crossing over from the shore.

Essentially,

We are all living on the shore of suffering.

And then we see a beautiful cruise ship and we think it's going to end our suffering and it has this huge buffet and entertainment.

And it's so incredibly enticing.

And it's very large and flashy.

And all of the interior is very well organized and beautifully designed and art everywhere.

And we think,

Yeah,

I'm going to jump on that cruise ship and that's going to end my suffering.

And all that cruise ship does is go in a big U and come right back to the same shore.

And so you keep jumping on this alluring cruise ship.

This cruise ship looks like over excitement,

Attachment,

Aversion.

It looks like anger or grief or fear.

This cruise ship has all of these qualities that hold us back from true joy.

And we think that these things are going to lead us there.

And instead,

They just lead us right back to the same spot.

The Paramitas are like little dinghies.

They're like ugly little old fishing boats.

There's nothing fancy about them.

There's nothing flashy.

They're not big.

They don't have decorated interiors or buffets with all the drinks you can handle.

They're just what they are,

Pure and simple.

Generosity,

Patience,

Understanding,

Mindfulness.

So we see these little dinghies come up next to this big cruise ship and we don't want to get on them because they aren't very fancy.

So we think they can't lead to my happiness.

Generosity isn't going to lead to my happiness.

It's not going to end my suffering.

No,

No,

No,

No.

Definitely revenge will.

I'm getting on this cruise ship.

So we stay away from these little life rafts,

These little unappealing dinghies,

And we keep getting on the cruise ship and coming back to the place we began.

I invite you to look at the world backwards and see that the cruise ship is always going to lead to suffering.

But that little life raft of generosity,

Of giving,

That will lead to the end of your suffering.

And the paramitas are those life rafts and there's nothing fancy about them.

There's no ticket you have to buy.

You don't have to have a certain amount of money to get on them.

You don't have to have a certain religion to get on them.

You don't have to be a certain race to get on them.

You can just get right on,

Even if you haven't been vaccinated.

Even if you have been vaccinated,

You can just get right on these little dinghies and be taken over to the shore to end suffering and to understand reality more clearly.

So I invite you to bring these paramitas into your life.

I remind you generosity,

Patience,

Inclusivity,

Diligence,

Mindfulness,

Meditation,

And wisdom.

Yeah.

Thank you,

Pauline.

I really feel powerfully about the paramitas.

I would say even for me,

I practice generosity.

Like that's my paramita.

I've attached to it and I really am trying to blossom it in my life because I have a tendency to be selfish,

Especially with my time.

And because I don't have a lot of money,

Sometimes I can feel that aversion of giving generously financially.

Also,

Even though Thich Nhat Hanh shows us all the ways we can give that have nothing to do with money.

And so,

You know,

Pick one and then just dive headfirst into it and watch.

And I really have found that generosity,

It is a gift to myself.

Every time I give in some ways to someone else,

Or even I just remember that my path is to give more,

Then I find that joy blossoms in my heart.

Plus I love this idea of flower watering.

So I'll talk a little bit about that later.

I want to finish with chapter 26.

It's a shorter chapter.

So hopefully you'll hang in there with me.

I do have the final homework for our book club together.

So I hope you'll stick around,

But also I'm recording it.

The Seven Factors of Awakening.

The Seven Factors of Awakening are mindfulness,

Investigation of phenomena,

Diligence,

Joy,

Ease,

Concentration,

And letting go.

Bodhyanga is made up of two words,

Bodhi and anga.

Bodhi comes from the root bud,

Which means to wake up,

To be aware of what's going on within and all around you.

A Buddha is one who has awakened.

Anga means limb.

Sapta Bodhyanga can also be translated as the seven limbs or factors of enlightenment.

After sitting in meditation at the foot of a ficus religiosa,

Known by Buddhists as the Bodhi tree,

When the morning star arose,

The Buddha realized enlightenment and said,

How amazing that all living beings have the basic nature of awakening,

Yet they don't know it.

So they drift on the ocean of great suffering,

Lifetime after lifetime.

It means that the potentialities of the Seven Factors of Awakening are already in us,

But we don't know it.

It is said that the Buddha was reluctant at first to share the insight he experienced under the Bodhi tree.

Only after continuing his meditation did he realize that many beings would benefit if he offered concrete ways to help them wake up.

The Seven Factors of Awakening offer a description of both the characteristics of awakening,

As well as a path to awakening.

Imagine a tree with seven large limbs,

Each representing one factor of awakening.

Every year,

Each of these branches grows longer and sends out new shoots with new leaves.

Enlightenment is growing all of the time.

It is not something that happens once and is then complete.

It is reassuring that the Buddha regarded joy and ease among these seven elements.

The first and main factor of awakening,

The first limb of the Bodhi tree,

Is mindfulness.

Smriti literally means remembering,

Not forgetting where we are,

What we are doing,

And who we are with.

Mindfulness always arises in the context of a relationship with ourselves,

Other people,

Or things.

It is not something we keep in our pocket and take out when we need it.

When we see a friend on the street and recognize her,

We have not taken recognition out of our pocket.

It arose in the context of the situation.

Our breathing,

Walking,

Movements,

Feelings,

And the phenomena all around us are parts of the relationship in which mindfulness arises.

With training,

Every time we breathe in and out,

Mindfulness will be there,

So that our breathing becomes a cause and condition for the arising of mindfulness.

Think Pavlov's dogs.

You might think,

I am the cause for mindfulness being present,

But if you look around,

You will never find an eye.

The telephones ring,

The clocks chime,

Your teacher and your sangha can be favorable conditions for mindfulness being present.

Imagine yourself doing walking meditation on a beach,

When suddenly the thought arises,

Do I have enough money in the bank?

If you return your awareness to your feet,

Making contact with the sand,

That is enough to bring you back to the present moment.

You can do this because you have practiced walking meditation before.

But it is your feet and not I that remind you to be present.

In the discourse on the four establishments of mindfulness,

The Buddha asks,

If you practice the four establishments of mindfulness,

How long will it take to become enlightened?

First he answers seven years,

But then he says,

It can be as short as half a month.

It means that awakening is always available.

It only needs favorable conditions.

The sun is there,

Even when it is behind the clouds.

The Buddha said,

By practicing the four establishments of mindfulness,

You will realize the seven factors of awakening.

Investigation of phenomena is the second factor of awakening.

We humans love to investigate things.

Often we want the results of our investigations to fit a certain mold or prove a certain theory,

But at times we're open and allowing things to simply reveal themselves.

In the later,

In the later,

Latter case,

Our knowledge and our boundaries expand.

When we want to investigate the bud on the branch of the tree,

We might ask,

Where have you come from?

Where are you going?

Are you really that small?

The bud might reply,

I will grow into a leaf green in the summer,

Orange in the fall.

Then I will fall to the earth.

And in two years,

I'll become a part of the earth.

I'm really not small.

I'm as large as the earth.

With mindfulness investigation takes us deeply into life and into reality.

The third factor of awakening is virya,

Which means energy,

Effort,

Diligence,

Or perseverance.

Energy comes from many sources.

Sometimes just thinking about what we might gain in the future gives us energy.

In Buddhism,

The sources of our energy are mindfulness,

Investigation,

And faith in the practice.

When we look deeply,

We see that life is a miracle beyond our comprehension.

But for many young people today,

Life is meaningless.

Many thousands of young people commit suicide every year.

In some countries,

More young people die from suicide than from traffic accidents.

We need to help young people cultivate the life energy that comes from experiencing life and experiencing the wonders of life.

We need to help their lives have meaning.

Even if we are in pain,

If we can see meaning in our life,

We will have energy and joy.

Energy is not the result of good health alone or the wish to achieve some goal,

Material or spiritual.

It is a result of feeling some meaning to our life.

Making an effort at the wrong time or place dissipates our energy.

Sitting in meditation for lengthy periods before we have developed good concentration might cause us to stop sitting in meditation and even to stop sitting altogether.

When Siddhartha practiced meditation under the Bodhi tree,

His concentration was already highly developed.

When Kasyapa told Ananda that Ananda would not be invited to attend the first council of the Buddha's disciples because he did not have a high enough degree of awakening,

Ananda sat in meditation all night,

And by dawn he realized the fruit of Arhatship.

When Ananda arrived at the council,

Kasyapa and Ananda recognized that he had had a breakthrough.

His shining presence was proof enough.

The fourth factor of awakening is ease.

Diligence is always accompanied by ease.

In the so-called third world,

One often feels more ease than in the overdeveloped countries of the first world.

Here everyone is under enormous pressure,

And people need stress reduction programs.

Their stress comes from constant thinking and worrying and from their lifestyles.

We have to learn ways to bring our energy from our head down to our abdomen.

At least once every 15 minutes,

We need to practice letting go.

When we are sick,

We stay in bed and do nothing.

Often we don't even eat or drink.

All of our energy is directed toward healing.

We need to practice resting even when we are not sick.

Sitting meditation,

Walking meditation,

And mindful eating are good opportunities for resting.

When you feel agitated,

If you are able to go to a park or a garden,

It is an opportunity for rest.

If you walk slowly and remember to take it easy,

If you're able to sit and do nothing from time to time,

You can rest deeply and enter a state of true ease.

The fifth factor of awakening is joy.

Joy goes with happiness,

But there are differences.

When you are thirsty and a glass of water is being served to you,

That is joy.

When you are actually able to drink the water,

That is happiness.

It is possible to develop joy in your mind,

Even when your body is not well.

This will in turn help your body.

Joy comes from touching things that are refreshing and beautiful within and outside of ourselves.

Usually we touch only what's wrong.

If we can expand our vision and also see what is right,

This wider picture always brings joy.

The sixth factor of awakening is concentration.

Sam means together.

Ah is bringing to a certain place and di is the energy of mind.

We collect the energy of our mind and direct it toward an object.

With concentration,

Our mind is one pointed and still,

And quite naturally it stays focused on one object.

To have mindfulness,

We need concentration.

Once mindfulness is developed,

Concentration in turn becomes stronger.

Concentration is not wholesome in itself.

A thief needs concentration to break into a house.

The object of our concentration is what makes it beneficial or not.

If you use meditative concentration to run away from reality,

That is not beneficial.

Even before the time of the Buddha,

Many meditators practice concentration to remove themselves from the world.

Practicing this kind of concentration,

The Buddha was not able to liberate himself from suffering,

So he learned to use his concentration to shine light upon his suffering.

And he was able to go deeply into life and develop understanding,

Compassion,

And liberation.

The seventh factor of awakening is equanimity or letting go.

Equanimity is an aspect of true love.

It is far from indifference.

Practicing equanimity,

We love everyone equally.

In the Kaka Kupana Kupama Sutta example of the saw,

The Buddha says,

Even if robbers cut your limb off with a saw,

If anger arises in you,

You are not a follower of my teachings.

To be a disciple of the Buddha,

Your heart must bear no hatred.

You must utter no unkind words.

You must remain compassionate with no hostility or ill will.

As a young monk,

I memorize these words and even put them to music.

This teaching touches our most noble intention,

But it is the opposite of our strong habit energies.

To transform these habit energies and realize our noblest intention,

The Buddha and the venerable Shari Putra taught us.

One,

To practice equanimity in the face of harsh words.

Two,

To learn not to feel annoyance,

Bitterness,

Or dejection.

And three,

Not to feel elated when praised,

Because we know that any praise is not for us as an individual,

But for many beings,

Including our parents,

Teachers,

Friends,

And all forms of life.

In the greater discourse on the example of the elephant's footprint,

Shari Putra shows the way to meditate on the four great elements in order to practice equanimity.

When we meditate on the elements of earth,

Water,

Fire,

And air inside and outside our bodies,

We see that we and they are the same.

When we transcend our idea of a separate self,

Our level contain equanimity,

Knowing that we and others are truly the same.

These seven factors are limbs on the same tree.

If mindfulness is developed and maintained,

The investigation of phenomena will meet with success.

Joy and ease are wonderful feelings nourished by diligence.

Concentration gives rise to understanding.

When understanding is there,

We go beyond comparing,

Discriminating,

And reacting,

And realize letting go.

Those who arrive at letting go have the bud of a half smile,

Which proves compassion as well as understanding.

The seven factors of awakening,

If practiced diligently,

Lead to true understanding and emancipation.

The Buddha said that the four immeasurable minds of love practiced with the seven factors of awakening bring complete perfect enlightenment.

The seven factors of awakening are,

Therefore,

The practice of love.

Okay.

Do you need any more lists?

If you've been with me for a while now,

You see there's list,

List,

List.

I talked about it in my last session,

Which I had some technical difficulties with.

I said at the beginning of the session,

But I think people joined a little bit later,

What are we doing here?

We're coming to an understanding of one teaching,

And we have a million ways to understand that one teaching.

This is another way.

Each chapter has so much depth.

Each teaching has so much richness.

It's always challenging when I go through and I think what I'm going to talk about from the chapter,

What to pick.

And I think in this chapter,

The thing that really stands out for me is that joy is within us at all times,

That nothing should be a barrier to achieving joy.

And actually,

Pauline,

If you're still here,

I would say this is also inclusivity.

The deeper you get into these teachings,

The more you can really see.

It's effortless seeing that each teaching contains all other teaching.

And inclusivity is often translated as patience.

And I love that these two,

I love how Thich Nhat Hanh frames this idea of patience and inclusivity,

Because what we see is that everything is allowed to be at one time.

I prefer this visualization of the plains of Africa,

And there's one big lake or something and all of the animals come to drink from it.

And the lake is not bothered by that.

Thich Nhat Hanh talks about the water or the earth.

The lake lets everybody have a sip.

There's no preference.

The lake doesn't say,

Only the lions can drink here,

Or only the giraffes can have a drink here.

And the giraffes don't say,

Only the giraffes can drink here.

The lions might try to say that,

Right?

But that's because they're fighting a war and that's with their need for survival.

So we are surviving.

We are doing fine.

We can put out the fires of our wars and we can see that everything is allowed.

Everything is welcome.

And joy exists in this moment.

So whether we're sick,

Sickness is allowed.

Whether we're aging,

Aging is allowed.

Whether we just experienced a great loss,

Loss is allowed.

Everything is allowed.

Depression is allowed.

Anxiety is allowed.

Pride is allowed.

Excitement is allowed.

Everything is allowed.

And when we understand that,

We learn to practice now.

We don't wait.

We don't hesitate.

We see that now is the time,

No matter what.

Okay,

We're running long,

But I do want to do a little practice and give the homework.

So if you're still hanging in with me,

We'll just do a short practice together just to allow these teachings to sink.

So wherever you are right now,

Lengthen the spine.

If you're lying down,

It's allowed.

Lengthen the spine.

Lengthen yourself.

Stretch out.

Take up space.

Don't be afraid.

If you're seated,

Take up space.

Sit tall.

And then inside of that lengthening,

Inside of that opening,

Find some ease.

Relax your eyes.

Relax your face.

And just let yourself be.

Just breathe.

Just be with your breath.

Just a few moments here.

No problem.

The mind settles.

The body settles.

Perhaps you drop the mind into the root of the pelvis and you just feel,

Feel the breath there like a gentle rocking ocean.

And you are the boat.

What are you suffering from?

What wars are you fighting?

Who are you mad at?

What do you regret?

In what ways are you unhappy with yourself?

What wars are you fighting internally?

Don't run or hide.

See it and be with it right now.

Don't run or hide.

See them and be with them right now.

Now change the peg.

What is a new way that you could possibly view this situation that could extinguish the fire,

That could stop the war?

This one perspective you have of this war within,

Even if it feels like it's a war without,

There's another way that you could look at it.

There's another way that you could understand it.

Take time now and try to see that other way.

Try to understand it differently.

And in that way,

Change the peg.

I cannot do this for you.

This is deep inner work and you have to do it yourself.

So all I can do is give you space here.

So I'm going to hold this space for you.

It's very important.

Look for the war within.

Maybe there are many,

But settle on one for now.

And look for a new way of understanding that war so that it extinguishes the fire or it pacifies the violence.

And then settle your mind on that new way of understanding and explore it deeply.

Water it like the seeds of a flower and wait for it to bloom.

I give you some time and silence right now for this work.

If your mind wandered,

Bring it back.

Bring it back and water the flowers some more.

See the inner war then shift.

There's a new way of looking at it.

Look at it in this new way,

This new way that allows a flower to bloom and water that seed,

Water that seed.

If you find it's challenging,

It's okay.

Maybe the brain feels pushed to its limits.

How can I see this differently?

How can I see this differently?

That's okay.

If it comes easy,

Also okay.

If you feel resistance,

It's okay.

Just allow whatever happens to happen and do the work that needs to be done.

Water the flower that deserves watering.

There is no need for war.

Relax.

Relax your mind.

See that whether there's a war or whether there's an end to the war,

Both of those things were made in the mind anyways.

Both of those things were created in the mind.

See the magic of the mind.

The mind is so powerful.

You can create wars.

You can create peace.

You can create hatred or you can create love and it's all a matter of the mind.

Just be with your breath.

You want to learn to see the wars.

That's number one.

You want to learn to see the wars you're creating inside of yourself with other people,

With other things.

Well,

We know even if it's with those things,

It's with you.

Step one.

Step two.

You want to see that there are other ways to understand the situation and you want to look deep,

Deep,

Deep at the situation so that you can understand it differently.

Step three.

Once you understand it differently in a way that creates positive experiences in your life and others,

Then you want to water it continuously.

That's it.

Just those three steps.

That's our practice today and that's what I encourage you to be doing.

It's our last homework.

This is our 10th session.

We've been together so much time and I'm so excited for our last session because I just really want to share that experience with people and I feel so happy to have completed this.

It has enriched my life beyond.

I feel almost selfishly like this was really deeply for me and my understanding,

But I'm going to give you your last homework.

As I said,

It's a very simple homework,

I would say.

It's nothing special because I've given so much homework up to now.

Honestly,

There's definitely a homework that appeals to you and you should just dive in and go there.

But this homework kind of piggybacks on other homeworks.

So what's your homework?

Be more generous.

Be more patient.

Practice without fail.

Be mindful.

Meditate.

Do these things every day.

Do these things every day.

Do not wait to act in these ways.

Do not read more about whether you should or should not act in these ways.

There is no more time.

You could die tomorrow.

You could die in five minutes.

If that happens,

If you find out you have a terminal illness or someone you love dies suddenly,

You will want to have practiced.

Do not wait another minute.

You don't need to know more.

You know enough and now the knowledge you seek is actually wisdom and it's found within.

Nobody can write a book that will ever convey what you can learn from practicing.

Nobody can ever give a lecture or a sermon that you can determine that is enough to teach you what you will learn from practicing.

You have to do the work.

So your homework is just that.

Practice.

Do not delay.

Start now.

Shut everything off and go sit in meditation.

And it's hard and it's uncomfortable.

And so you do.

My teacher says short amounts many times.

So don't think I have to sit 45 minutes,

Two hours,

Three hours.

Think I'm going to sit five minutes and then a little bit later I'm going to sit five minutes and a little bit later I'm going to sit five minutes.

You know what?

Right now I'm going to sit one minute and I'm going to work with that practice I did with Sarah on Sunday.

That's it.

That's your homework.

So I hope you accept it.

I hope you begin now.

Stop seeking.

You are already found.

I really enjoy my time doing this with you.

I really appreciate you being here.

The recordings are there.

If you're just jumping into this one and you've never practiced with me before and you came in at the end and you're like,

I liked it.

You can go back and listen to all the other recordings.

Some of them are better than others.

You know,

I get this feedback.

I read too fast.

Flashback to being,

You know,

Seven or something like that.

I talk too much.

I read too fast.

I talk too loud.

You want to change.

You want to be a different person.

And then it just turns out you're like only a little better.

You have this range.

You can be your worst end of that range or you can be your best end of that range and you want to find your way inside of it.

So I'm sorry for those of you who find that I read too fast.

I am doing my best to slow down and hopefully there's a button where you can like press slow down.

Have a beautiful happy Sunday.

Until next time,

We'll be practicing on Thursday.

It's our last session if you can be there.

Otherwise,

I'll be recording it.

Until next time,

Live mindfully.

Be well.

Happy Sunday.