Recorded live at a five-day retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh, sponsored by the Community of Mindful Living, September 1st through the 6th, 1997, in Santa Barbara, California. Tape number TNG6, a Dharma talk with Thich Nhat Hanh. With the chanting by the monks and the nuns, we shall practice together listening to the bell. There will be chanting in Vietnamese, but the translation will be read in English. So we practice breathing in and out with the bell, and then the brothers and sisters will evoke the name of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva who is known to be a person very capable of listening deeply to the suffering of the world. Body, speech, and mind, in perfect oneness, I send my heart along with the sound of this

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bell. May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow. I send my heart along with the sound of this bell. May the hearers awaken from forgetfulness and transcend all anxiety and sorrow. Listen, listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.

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Listen, listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home. May the sound of this bell penetrate deep into the cosmos. Even in the darkest spots, living beings are able to hear it clearly, so that all sufferings in them cease. Understanding comes to their heart, and they transcend the path of anxiety and sorrow.

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May the sound of this bell penetrate deep into the cosmos. Even in the darkest spots, living beings are able to hear it clearly, so that all sufferings in them cease. May my body begin to dissolve. My mind calm, my body relaxed. A smile is born on my lips.

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Following the sound of the bell, my breath brings me back to the safe island of mindfulness. In the garden of my heart, the flower of peace blooms beautifully. Following the sound of the bell, my breath brings me back to the safe island of mindfulness. In the garden of my heart, the flower of peace blooms beautifully. The universal Dharma door is already open. The sound of the rising tide is heard clearly.

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The miracle happens. A beautiful child appears in the heart of a lotus flower. A single drop of the compassionate water is enough to bring back the refreshing spring to our mountains and rivers. Namo Avalokiteshvaraya Namo Avalokiteshvaraya

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Namo Bodhidharmakaya [...]

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Namo Bodhidharmakaya [...] Namo Buddhah Kwan Te Ong Namo Buddhah Kwan Te Ong

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Namo Buddhah Kwan Te Ong [...] Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am, Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am. Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am, Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am.

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Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am, Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am. [...]

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Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am, Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am. [...]

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Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am, Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am. [...]

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Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am, Namo Buddha Kuan Te Am. [...] Children, please bring to me the drawing you made yesterday.

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Bell [...] Good morning, my dear friends. Today is the 4th of September 1997 and we are on our 4th day of the retreat in Santa Barbara.

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Today I would like to propose to you a practice that is very pleasant, visiting the Buddha within. I know of a little boy, 4 years old only, but he practices this very well. Every time he is not very fresh, very peaceful, very loving, and then his mother would invite him to go and visit the Buddha within. You know that the Buddha within is our own freshness. He is the flower within. The Buddha may be a he or a she. He is the flower within. She is the flower within.

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He is the mountain within. She is the mountain within. He is the still water within. She is the still water within. He is space within. She is space within. And that is why we practice flower-fresh, mountain-solid, water-reflecting, and space-free in order for the Buddha in us to appear, to appear more clearly to us. And when the Buddha is there, very clear, we become fresh, we become solid, we become peaceful, we become free. And you need only one minute or two for practice in order to restore the Buddha inside, namely

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your peace, your freshness, your calm, and so on. You sit down, whether you like to sit in a lotus position, or half-lotus position, or even tilip position, or pizzantamum position, it's up to you. With a cushion or without a cushion, it's okay, but you have your own way of sitting. You have to find it, a way that you can sit for a few minutes quietly and beautifully. Why don't we try now? Let us sit up very beautifully like a flower. I see one person sitting in the full lotus position. One person sitting in the half-lotus position.

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And when we are in a beautiful position, we begin to practice. We can call our Buddha, dear little Buddha, are you home? You can use your right hand, or your left hand, and touch yourself, and you say in a very deep kind of voice, dear little Buddha, are you there? And you breathe in. In the beginning, you might not hear anything responding, but listen, listen deeply. Dear little Buddha, are you there? You may hear a very, very small voice responding to you. First, it is not very clear. Something like, I am there, I am here, but not very clearly.

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So you repeat, dear little Buddha, are you there? And you breathe in. And you begin to see, to hear the voice of the Buddha within more clearly, yes, I'm here, I'm here for you. I'm sure that if you breathe mindfully and deeply, you will hear that voice from within. So when you hear the voice of the Buddha responding to you, you tell him something, you tell her something, dear little Buddha, you are my freshness, you are the flower within me, is that right? You remember, we have four pebbles, the first pebble is flower, the second pebble is the mountain, the third pebble is still water, and the fourth pebble is space.

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So you call the Buddha by his true names, at least he has four names. Yes, dear Buddha, dear little Buddha, you are the flower within me, you are my freshness, is that right? And then you hear the answer, yes, I am your flower, I am your freshness, you are right. And then you ask the second question, dear little Buddha, you are my mountain, you are my solidity, is that right? And then the Buddha will say, yes, I am your mountain, I am your stability, your solidity, that is right. And now you call the Buddha by his third name, dear little Buddha, you are the still water within me, you can reflect things as they are, is that right? And the Buddha will answer, yes, I am the still water in you, I reflect things as they

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truly are, you are right. And you will call his name for the fourth time, dear little Buddha, you are space in me, and you make me free, that is right? And the Buddha within you say, yes, I am space within you, I am your freedom, that is right. And you say, dear little Buddha, I am glad you are there, I am glad that you are within me, I need you very much. And the Buddha say that I am always here for you, please come and visit more often. You know that one minute or two minutes of practice, you restore your peace, your freshness, and you will be more lovely, more beautiful, more pleasant to yourself, and to the people

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around you, to your father, to your mother, to your sister, to your brother. Now when you hear the small bell, please stand up and bow to the Buddha in front of you and inside of you, and you go out of the meditation hall and continue your study and practice. Turn around and to bow to your Sangha. Have a good day. Dear friends, some of us are not used to be in a big crowd.

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So we don't feel comfortable. And we may think that with a smaller group, the practice will be easier, and you feel more comfortable. So that may be just an idea, and if we can change our idea, things will appear to be more pleasant. We have come from several areas to be a Sangha here, a community of practice here. And the Sangha is there to support us, and not to constitute an obstacle. Instead of being an obstacle, the Sangha made of different elements is a supporter, is a

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chance, because surrounded by a Sangha, the practice, we find out that the practice will be much easier. If we are not used to being with the Sangha, each person may be an obstacle. But if we are used to being with the Sangha, each person is an opportunity, is a support for us. We might be caught by the idea, I don't know what is the right thing to do, being surrounded by so many people. And that idea may make us very uncomfortable. There are people who are bowing, and I'm not bowing, I'm supposed to bow, and I do not bow, I feel embarrassed, I don't do the right thing. People are walking slowly, I'm walking a little bit too fast, I may not be doing the right

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thing. So that idea that I may not be doing the right thing can embarrass us. I would like to tell you what is the right thing. The right thing is whatever you do, but in mindfulness. To bow may not be the right thing to do, if you don't bow in mindfulness. And not to bow may not be the wrong thing. If you don't bow, but if you know that you are not bowing, you are mindfulness about you are not bowing, that is the right thing. Yes, in a mindfulness practice, whatever you do mindfully is the right thing. Even when people are walking slowly, and if you run, and if you run mindfully, you are doing the right thing. There is no such a wrong thing or a right thing per se.

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The right thing is whatever you do in mindfulness. The wrong thing is whatever you do without mindfulness. And the other person, she is trying to do the right thing. It means that she is walking mindfully, she is sitting mindfully, she is listening mindfully, and she is there practicing that, and she is a source of support to us. She is not there in order to look at us with critical eyes. No, she is there for the practice. So don't think that you are being observed, and you may not be doing the right thing. No, that is only an idea. Every one of us is there to practice mindfulness. And what we can do in order to be of help to other people around, to support the Sangha, is to be mindful in everything we do. So if you walk mindfully, if you speak mindfully, if you look mindfully, if you breathe mindfully,

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you are supporting the whole Sangha with your practice, with your presence. And you know very clearly what is the right thing to do, to be mindful in every moment of our daily life. So if we understand that we will not be embarrassed anymore, everything we do is right, provided that we do it in mindfulness. To bow or not to bow, that is not the question. The question is whether to bow in mindfulness or not, or not to bow in mindfulness or not. I am very glad that you are there. I am very grateful that you are there, walking mindfully, breathing mindfully. Because you are doing that not only for yourself, but for me, for our friends, for everyone in society.

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Because when you can stop running inside, and when you can make a peaceful step, you do it for all ancestors, for all your ancestors, all generations of ancestors. Our ancestors might not have had a chance to stop and to make a peaceful step. Now you are able to stop and make a peaceful step. You are doing it for all generations of ancestors. And you are doing it for your children and their children. So you practice for all of us. Sister Chan Khong yesterday made an interesting remark. We are here five days, and we only eat vegetarian. And in five days we might save thousands of chickens' lives. If two people eat one chicken, and if two people eat vegetarian, one chicken will be saved.

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And one meal like that, when we eat vegetarian, one meal we can save 600 or 700 chickens. And we practice for them too. We practice for them. We practice for the chicken also. There are those of us who have physical pain. And most of us have some kind of pain within our body. So it's rare that there are people who have no pain at all in his or her body. But according to the teaching of the Buddha, we don't have to suffer even if there is pain in our body. And especially we don't have to suffer a lot when there is some pain within our body.

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If there is a pain in our body, we have to breathe in and out, and to be aware of that pain. And not to exaggerate that pain. The Buddha used a very wonderful example. Suppose someone is hit by an arrow. Of course there is pain in the spot where the arrow hit. But suppose there is a second arrow coming and striking exactly at the same point. The pain could not be only double, but maybe ten times more intensive. And if there is a third arrow coming and striking exactly at the same spot, the pain could not be only triple, but maybe 30 times. When you have a physical pain, breathe in and out,

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and recognize that this is only a physical pain, and do not exaggerate. If you begin to worry, and then you double, you triple, you make the pain multiplied by ten times or twenty times. Because our imagination, our fear, our worries, have the capacity of making the pain 100 times more intense. That is why the Buddha's teaching is that when you have a physical pain, just breathe in, breathe out, recognize the pain, and tell yourself this is only a minor physical pain. Avoid to exaggerate with your fear, with your imagination, with your worries.

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This is a very important practice. And if you need a doctor or someone who knows about physical pain, you ask him, you ask her, and have him or her confirm to you that this is only a minor physical pain. This is very important. And if you know the art of breathing in and out, and embrace that physical pain and smile to it, well, the pain will lessen to a very important degree. Smiling to the painful spot in your body is a very wonderful practice. When you breathe in and out and generate the energy of mindfulness, and embrace that painful spot in your body, and when you smile and direct that smile to the spot that is painful,

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you are helping it to lessen and to heal. Of course, you can follow the advice of the doctor to take some medicine, whether it is herbal or not herbal. You may like to do things like using a hot bottle, herbal medicine or anything. But what you can do to help with your consciousness is to practice mindful breathing, generating the energy of mindfulness, embrace the painful spot, and direct your smile to it. It is very helpful. It accelerates, it speeds up the healing of the spot.

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If you know how to practice total relaxation, embracing that spot of physical pain and smile to it, not only you prevent the pain from growing, but you help it to be less intense, and you allow conditions for it to heal itself. This is very important. This is what we can do, all of us can do. The same thing is true, the same practice could be used when you have

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a painful feeling. When you have a painful feeling, you breathe in and out, you embrace that painful feeling, and you say, this is just a painful feeling. A feeling is something that arises, stays for some time, and then dies down. Because a feeling is a mental formation. Every mental formation is impermanent, whether it is a physical formation like a flower, or like a cloud, or a physiological formation which is some pain in your body,

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or whether it is a mental formation, all of them, all formations are impermanent. That is why they will not stay forever, and if you know to help, they will go away more quickly. There are those of us who don't know how to handle our strong emotions, and who suffer so much when they are overwhelmed by that emotion, like fear, despair, anger. When we are overwhelmed by a strong emotion, it is like a tree standing in a storm. When you look at the top of the tree, you can see the small branches and leaves swaying back and forth

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very violently under the effect of the storm. And we have the impression that the tree is going to break at any time. But if you direct your attention down to the trunk of the tree, you have another feeling, you have another impression. You can see that the tree is rooted deeply into the soil, and it will survive, it will stand the storm. So the impression, the feeling has become different. We are somehow like a tree, and the level of our brain and of our heart is like the top of the tree. Whenever there is a strong emotion, whenever there is a storm of emotion, we should not stay on the level of the brain or of the heart.

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We have to go down to the level of our trunk. And that level of the trunk is a little bit below your navel. Next time when you are caught in a strong emotion, don't stay in the eyes of the storm, that is dangerous. Go down to the trunk, your own trunk. Focus your attention below the navel and practice deep breathing. Pay attention to the rise and fall of your abdomen. Breathing in, breathing out. Out. Your abdomen is falling. Do not stay up here, do not think. Go down and pay all your attention to the rise and the fall of your abdomen.

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Breathe deeply, practice belly breathing. In. And wait for the storm to go away, and you will survive very easily. Let us not wait until the strong emotion comes and try. We have to train ourselves first. If you can train yourself during 21 days, each day a few minutes, like 3 or 5 minutes, just bring your attention down to the navel and breathe in and out, paying attention only to the rise and fall of your abdomen. And after that, it has become a habit.

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And if the strong emotion comes, you remember to practice breathing in and out with your belly. And you will be surprised that you can surmount, you can survive the strong emotion very well. There are those who cannot stand their strong emotion. They suffer so much that they think that the only way to end the suffering is to go and kill themselves. There are many young people who are caught in that kind of belief and thinking. When they have a strong emotion, they suffer so much. They don't know how to take care of their strong emotion. That is why many of them have gone to kill themselves. That is a pity. The little thing that they need to know is the art of mindful breathing with your belly.

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So please, my dear friends, practice. Train yourself through the belly breathing. And then you can overcome, you can survive your strong emotion very well. And every time you see a young person caught in a strong emotion, you invite him or her to sit down and breathe with you. Hold his hand and invite him to breathe in and out, paying attention to the rise and fall of the abdomen. You may save his or her life. And if you can teach him or her the techniques of breathing, the next time when he is caught in a strong emotion, he'll be able to do it by himself alone. It's easy. Everyone can do it. After the Buddha got his full enlightenment,

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he enjoyed sitting at the foot of the Bodhi tree several weeks and practiced walking meditation and sitting meditation. You may ask a fully enlightened person, why does he need to practice sitting meditation and walking meditation? You practice sitting meditation and walking meditation in order to become a Buddha. But he has already become a Buddha. What is the use of practicing walking and sitting meditation? The answer is that he practices for his own enjoyment. So we should be able to do the same. Practicing sitting meditation is just to enjoy sitting. Practicing walking is just to enjoy walking. Sitting in a pure land, walking in a pure land is wonderful.

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This morning we walked together to the beach. We walked for the sake of walking. We enjoyed every step we made. It's wonderful to feel alive and to touch the earth with our feet and our mindfulness. After a few weeks, the Buddha thought of going to help people. He went to the Deer Park where he delivered his first Dharma talk. His audience was very small, five people. The topic of the first Dharma talk was about the four holy truths. That talk was very important. He spoke about suffering, about pain, about ill-being and the way out of suffering.

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Several generations of Buddhists studied that text and practiced looking deeply into the first truth, namely ill-being, dukkha, into the second truth, samudaya, the making of suffering, into the third truth, nirodha, the extinction of suffering, and into the fourth truth, magga, the way out of suffering. I would like to speak to you a little bit about the first Dharma talk.

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The four truths are described as holy truths or noble truths. The first is about dukkha. Dukkha is a Sanskrit word. It just means ill-being. Ill-being. You don't feel well. You don't feel well within yourself. We can use the word suffering or pain, but ill-being is a very good word.

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You recognize that ill-being is there. That ill-being may be your sorrow, your depression, your fear, but that is your ill-being. You recognize that it is there. In the discourses of the Buddha, that ill-being is very often described as what has come to be. What has come to be. What has come to be.

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We recognize the fact that ill-being is there, and we practice looking deeply into the nature of ill-being. And if we look deeply into the nature of our ill-being, we see all the other three truths. The second truth is the making of ill-being. How our ill-being has come to be. The making of ill-being. Unless we see how our ill-being is made, we have not seen the nature of our ill-being yet. That is why if there is pain, there is suffering,

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there is ill-being in us, we should be able to hold our suffering, our ill-being, and look deeply into it. Because looking deeply into it, we realize, we understand how that ill-being has been made. Namely, the making of our suffering. And in the teaching of the Buddha, we are encouraged to look at our ill-being in terms of nutriment, in terms of food, because the Buddha said nothing can survive without food. Our joy, also. Our joy cannot survive without food.

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Our sorrow, also, cannot survive without food. Food is being fed. Joy must be fed with food in order to continue to survive. Sorrow, also, has to continue to be fed in order to continue. So the Buddha encourages us to look deeply into our ill-being and find out what kind of nutriment, what kind of food we have used in order to bring it about and to feed it. This is a very important practice. Suppose you have a depression. Depression. And if you try to run away from your depression, how can you find out how your depression has come to be?

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What has come to be? You have to look deeply into it in order to find out the source of nutriment that has brought it in. That is our practice. Suppose we have a depression. We have to hold our depression and to look into it. Because we have some amount of mindfulness, of concentration, that is why we can hold our depression and with that energy of mindfulness and concentration we look deeply into the nature of our depression. And we will see how that depression has come to be. How have we lived our life, our daily life in the past three months or six months? Because it is exactly the way that we live our life in the past six months

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that has brought our depression to us. That is the practice of meditation, namely the practice of looking deeply. We have consumed some kind of food that has brought our depression in and therefore we have to identify the source of nutriment. This is the practice of the second noble truth, the making of ill-being. It is very important that we find out, that we identify the source of nutriment that we have used in order to feed our ill-being, our depression. Once we have identified it, we can confirm that ill-being can be removed.

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We say yes, like a doctor, that this ill-being can be removed. And that is the third truth. Nirodha means the removal of ill-being. We can remove our depression, but there is a way of removing our ill-being, our depression. That is to cut, to cut the source of nutriment. And that is the fourth noble truth. It is Magga, the way. The Buddha talked about ill-being,

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and many other people also talk about ill-being. But ill-being within Buddhism has a special meaning. If you look into ill-being, and if you don't see the making of ill-being, the removal of ill-being, and the way to remove ill-being, you have not seen ill-being yet. The kind of suffering that is spoken of here, the meaning of suffering here, is different. When we speak of suffering, the kind of suffering we are talking about has to do with the making of it, the removal of it, and the way to remove it. And looking at suffering,

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looking into the nature of our suffering is a practice. We have to be very mindful, very concentrated, in order to look into the nature of our suffering, to be able to find out what is the source of nutriment that has brought in our suffering. And if we need, we can ask the help, the support of a teacher, of a brother or a sister in the Dharma, to help us in our practice of looking deeply. We've got to identify the source of nutriment that has brought in our suffering. The Buddha said, what has come to be, namely, suffering, what has come to be, if you know how to look into its nature and identify the source of nutriment, you are already on the path of emancipation.

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So to identify the source of ill-being is very important. It is the key for liberation. And that is why it's so important not to run away from your ill-being. Without ill-being, you cannot find the way out of it. That is why we have to to make use of our ill-being. We have to look directly into it. That is the only chance to find a way out. That is why many of us who are afraid of ill-being, who are always ready to run away from our ill-being, we never get a chance to understand it and to get out of it. Embrace our ill-being. Look deeply into it. That is the only way to get out of it.

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The teaching of the Buddha concerns the four sources of nutriment is very important. There are four kinds of nutriment that we have to discern and recognize. The first one is food. The first source of nutriment is called edible food. The kind of food that grows into us through the way of the mouth. Whatever we can eat, can swallow, whatever we can drink, they belong to the first category of food. And our ill-being

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may be caused by that kind of food. We know that the damage goes to our body. Maybe the food we eat, the good food we eat, damages our body. Maybe sensual pleasure But here, we are talking about edible food. If there are troubles within our body, the trouble within our body may come from the source of edible food. That is why we practice looking deeply into it and we can identify the source of edible food. With or without the help of a specialist,

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of a physician, we can identify the source of edible food that is responsible for our ill-being in our body. Sitting around the table, we might practice breathing in and breathing out and look deeply at what is being served to see whether among the things that are there on the table, there are kinds of food that will contribute to the ill-being of our body. Wow! And after having looked deeply, we have the insight. We know that this kind of food should not be eaten. This kind of food

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could be used. And you make a decision what to eat and what not to eat. And that is Magga, the way out, the way to remove suffering. The Buddha used a very very wonderful example. He spoke of a young couple who tried to cross the desert. The couple wanted to cross the desert with their little boy. And they brought with them some amount of food and of drink.

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But they miscalculated. Half the way through the desert, they ran out of food. And they know that they are going to die. Three of them. And then they decided to kill the little boy of theirs and eat some of the flesh and keep the rest on their shoulders to dry in order to eat each day a morsel, hoping that they can get out of the desert and survive. And in fact, they got out of the desert and survived. But they have lost their son. And they asked each other,

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where is our son now? And after asking the question, they beat their chest, they pulled their hair, they cried, our dear little son, our dear little boy, where are you now? The Buddha, after having told the story, turned to his monk and said, my dear friends, we have to practice mindful breathing, mindful eating, in order not to eat the flesh of our own son. Eat in such a way that we can retain compassion within us, retain well-being within our body. If by eating, if by using the so-called good food, we destroy our body, it means we eat

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the flesh of our parents, of our ancestors. This body has been transmitted to us by our ancestors and our parents. And if we don't know how to eat, the art of mindful eating, we eat things that can destroy this body. It means we are eating the flesh of our ancestors, of our parents, and we also eat the flesh of our children and their children. Eat mindfully so that the amount of compassion in you will not be destroyed. When we drink some liquor, we should drink it

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mindfully. Drinking our liquor mindfully, into the nature of our liquor. A huge amount of grain has been used in order to make the liquor. Countless people on earth are dying because of the lack of food. And the amount of grain that can be used to help people to survive has been used in order to make your liquor. And if you drink that liquor, it is like you eat the flesh of your own son or daughter. The piece of beefsteak that you are eating may be the flesh of your son and your daughter. In order to make that piece of beefsteak, that piece of beef, people have used a lot of grain. And there are

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40,000 people in the world dying every day because of the lack of food and nutrition. 40,000 of them every day. And eating that piece of meat may be eating the flesh of these children. So eat mindfully. Drink mindfully so that the amount of compassion in you will not be A person without compassion within himself or herself cannot be a happy person. Without compassion and love within, it is impossible for us to live a happy life. Without compassion inside, we cannot relate to anyone. That is why eating is a way to preserve our love, our compassion. And this is the Buddha's When we grow our food,

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we grow our food in such a way that we will not destroy the lives of our sons and daughters because these little animals are also our sons and our daughters. Growing food may kill a lot of living beings. Therefore, we have to learn the way to grow food with our compassion, our loving kindness. Eating is a deep practice. By practicing eating mindfully, we restore health within ourselves and we increase the amount of compassion and loving kindness in us. is sense impression.

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Whatever we receive by our eyes, whatever we receive by our ear, what we receive by our tongue, our touch, and our mind are the second kind of food. We are exposed to this kind of food. And this food might contain a lot of toxins. And if we continue to ingest toxic kinds of food like that, there will be ill-being born within our body and our mind. A novel, for instance, can be very toxic. A newspaper article may contain a lot of poisons. Everything we can see

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everything we can hear everything we touch may contain toxins. Driving through a city we may be consuming by what we hear by what we see. We continue to consume images, sounds, touches, and so on. And our depression may be the outcome of that kind of consumption. Remember, there was a time when you only had one hour of conversation with that friend, with that person. And after that hour of conversation you felt like paralyzed because there were so many toxins in the conversation. You didn't want to

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live anymore because the conversation gave you so much despair, so much hatred. And while having the conversation you ingest a lot of toxins within, into yourself. And that is why mindful looking, mindful listening, mindful touching is the practice to help you not to consume the kind of poisons and toxins that go bring about your ill-being. The Buddha brought us another example. Suppose there is a cow who is struck that is struck with skin disease

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to the degree that it does not look to have skin anymore. There is no skin to the cow. If you bring the cow close to a tree to an ancient tree then all the tiny living beings leaving the bark of the tree will fly out and fix themselves to the body of the cow and begin to suck the blood because the cow has no skin to protect itself. Now if someone brings the cow close to an ancient wall then living, small living beings who live among the bricks and stones of the wall will come out and fix themselves to the body of the cow and begin to suck the blood.

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And if you bring the cow into the water the tiny living beings in the water will come and suck the blood of the cow. We are like that, the Buddha said. We are exposed to sense impressions to images, to sounds, to touch, to ideas that are intoxicating us. And if you do not practice mindful looking, mindful touching, mindful listening our depression, we get our illnesses. And that is why if you look into the nature of our ill-being deeply and if you can identify the source of nutriment, the second source of nutriment that has brought it in

[82:26]

to you to cut the source of that nutriment and a few months later that ill-being will go away. Again, the practice of mindfulness, the practice of mindful living, the five mindfulness trainings is the practice to protect yourself from unmindful consumption. Because it is exactly that unmindful consumption that has brought illness into your body and into your consciousness. That is why the five mindfulness trainings are very concrete practices

[83:27]

for our protection, for the protection of our beloved one and the protection of our society. I would like to continue with the four sources of nutriment a little bit later. We are talking about

[84:27]

love. I love you. What does it mean? Does it mean you have become my slave? Or does it mean that I begin to lose all my freedom? I love you. What does it really mean? Does it mean without you I cannot survive? Or does it mean you have become exclusively mine? Please offer

[85:28]

a definition. I love you. Or I would like to make you happy. We can propose many many definitions. Love can bring a lot of happiness, solidity and freedom. Love can also bring a lot of despair and suffering. And the teaching on love by the Buddha is very deep. In the teaching of the Buddha

[86:29]

love is true love is described in four terms. The first term is maitri. Maitri means the capacity to offer joy and happiness. Maitri is not just the intention to offer happiness. Maitri is the capacity to do it. Because the intention is not enough. You may have a strong intention, a good intention, but the more you love,

[87:32]

the more you destroy him or her. So it is not the intention alone. It is the capacity, the real capacity to offer joy. And according to the teaching of the Buddha, you need to understand the person you love in order to be able to bring him or her happiness. Understanding is the word. Understanding means understanding is the substance that is used to produce love. Understanding is the fruit of deep looking. If you have time, if you have mindfulness, if you have concentration, and then you can look into the person you love and out of that kind of deep looking

[88:32]

you can understand the suffering, the difficulties, the deep aspiration of that person. Without that kind of understanding you cannot really love. Therefore, Maitri is also the practice of looking deeply. The second term is Karuna. Karuna is the capacity to remove the pain, the suffering, the ill-being in the person you love. Again, not only the intention but the capacity. It's like a doctor. The doctor should have the capacity to remove the illness, to transform the illness in the person of the patient. Again,

[89:35]

if the doctor does not understand the true nature of the disease, he cannot remove or she cannot remove the suffering. Therefore, Karuna needs also the practice of deep looking. If you do not understand the ill-being, the suffering of the person you love, the intention means to be there concentrated and practice looking deeply. The third element of true love is Mudita. Mudita means joy. In true love there must be joy. If during the process

[90:37]

of loving you and the other person cry all the time, suffer all the time, that's not true love. We can identify true love with these three elements. And then the fourth element is called Upeksha. Upeksha Here, I like to translate it as space, freedom. If by loving you deprive the person you love of freedom, she can no longer be herself, or you lose all your freedom, that is not true love. So love in such a way that you can still preserve your freedom and you can still offer freedom to the person you love,

[91:38]

that is true love. Without the element Upeksha your love is not true love yet. So this is the Buddha's teaching on true love.

[91:50]

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