Bring your cushions, we have cushions, you bring your cushions. Repeat with a song. May I ask the sister Phuong to come and sing us a song. You need the microphone. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's some of the ideas in the song I was going to sing to you.

[01:15]

This song was written by Thay Nhat Hanh during the Vietnam War. We received every day a lot of bad news. And Thay used to teach us that to be in touch with suffering is not enough. And we need to be in touch with many marvelous things of life. And the song is something like Waking up this morning, I see the blue sky. Joining my palms, I feel thankful for being in the wonder of life. I have 24 brand new hours to live. I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. And also is my awareness. I go across a field of sunflowers. Ten of thousands of sunflowers turn toward me and smile.

[02:20]

My awareness is shining back to them. And with my joined hands, I sow the seed of joy for today and tomorrow. Mother Earth gives me basilic, mint, thyme, coriander, and thousands of other kinds of fragrant herbs. She gives me dandelion, poppies, chrysanthemum, and thousands of other kinds of flowers. With palm trees, with rice fields, with the lotus ponds, children will be singing tomorrow. And I sing so that hope be seeded in every path I go today. Waking up this morning, I see the blue sky.

[03:26]

Joining my palms, I feel thankful for being in the wonder of life. I have 24 brand new hours to live. I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. My awareness is shining back to them. And with my joined hands, I sow the seed of joy for today and tomorrow.

[04:33]

I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. My awareness is shining back to them. I have the immense sky.

[06:02]

I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. My awareness is shining back to them. I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. My awareness is shining back to them.

[07:25]

I have the immense sky. The sun is already there, shining on the hills and the woods. I have the immense sky. Thank you, Sister Phuong.

[08:27]

I want to thank the young people who were smiling during the song. It's a very appropriate thing to do in the beginning of a retreat. And we are going to smile a lot during our retreat. Alright. Ladies and gentlemen, during this retreat, we will learn to do together some of the things like smiling, breathing, sitting, walking, looking, eating, and so on. It's not difficult, but I think we can learn from each other a lot.

[09:30]

We talk about realization. Realization is a difficult word, but it's not really so difficult. For instance, when we smile, that's realization. We realize a smile. Just smiling and you realize something very important. So realizing is what we're going to realize. Breathing, sitting, smiling, eating, looking, all these things are realizations. And we do not need a lot of time in order to do so. This is not the kind of realization that we talk about every day, like realizing a project.

[10:43]

Because realizing a project, we need time. But this kind of realization we are going to realize does not need time. Like, we don't need much time to smile. We just smile and then we have realized some very important thing. When we see a flower, when we look at a flower, and if we really see the flower, that means we have realized something very important. Because many times we look at a flower, but we do not see the flower. So we miss it. We don't realize the seeing. So we are going to learn to practice realization in order to see things. To see things in ourselves and to see things around us.

[11:44]

When I look at a flower or when I look at the moon, I should be able to see the flower or the moon, right? Otherwise, what is the use of looking at the flower and of the moon? And realizing means to really be with something or someone. When I look at a young person like this lovely boy, I have to see him and I have to see him really. And if I am able to see him, I am in true contact with him.

[12:51]

He is real and I myself, I am real. This is very important. When you look at a flower, and if the flower is real to you, and then you yourself become real also. This is the secret of realization. Many times we look at one person, but we don't really see that person. So the person is not real and we, the one who looks, is not real either. And what is worse is that sometimes we live with one person for 30 years and 40 years, and yet we have never really seen the person. And that is very serious. And that is not a thing that is rare.

[13:56]

It is very common in our society, in our life. And please believe that if we are capable of seeing things, life will be quite different. And therefore, learning to look at things in order to really see them is a very important practice. There are days when we look at flowers and do not see flowers. And when we look at people and we don't really see the people. But that's not the worst. We don't know even that we are there. You don't see other people, yes, but you don't see yourself. And not to see yourself is a very, very sad thing.

[15:10]

And therefore, we have to look somehow in order to see that we are there. And if we are really there, other people are also really there, and the flower and the moon. I would like to tell you a story that happened to me about 20 years ago. I lived in a hermitage in France, about two hours' drive from Paris at that time. And one day I left the hermitage in the morning. I went down to a wood below and I brought with me a sandwich. And I spent the whole day in the forest, in a wood. When I went back to my hermitage, the wind was blowing.

[16:15]

And before I left, I opened all windows and all doors. And when I returned to my hermitage, I found it very empty, very cold. Because the wind was inside. The wind was making noises with the windows and with the door. Inside it was dark. And then the sheets of paper I put on my desk were blown a little bit everywhere. It was very unpleasant. The first thing I did after I saw that was to close the windows and the door.

[17:23]

The second thing I did was to strike a match and to light the lamp. The third thing I did was to open the window and the door. The fourth thing I did was to make a fire in the chimney. And the last thing I did was to go and pick up all the sheets of paper that were scattered all over. After that, the hermitage became a bright, warm, very pleasant place to be in. I think my hermitage is like me. Sometimes the wind from outside blows in through me. And it makes myself into a kind of mess. It's cold, it's unpleasant. And in order to make myself alright again, I begin to shut the windows and the door.

[18:31]

I light a lamp. I make a fire. I put things in order. And then I feel much better after. So in order for you to be able to see a flower or a person, it's very important that you feel alright, happy, warm, pleasant within yourself. If you are not happy, if you do not feel pleasant within yourself, it's very hard to look at a flower and really see a flower. And closing the windows, closing the doors, making a fire, is not something very difficult to do. It's even very pleasant to do.

[19:33]

And then when I close the window, after I have closed the window and the doors and making a fire, I feel comfortable. I do not feel that I am cut off from the world outside because I know that my hermitage is there, but the world outside is still there. It has become dark. The stars begin to appear in the sky. Although the wind is still there, but I know the trees are still there. Everything is there. And inside the hermitage I feel very happy. So in our daily life, from time to time we feel that we are not alright. We feel that we are in touch with the world, with people, with the cloud, with the flower, with the moon, but it's not correct that we are in touch.

[20:41]

We are not really in touch. Because looking at a flower, we don't see the flower. Talking with a person, we don't really get in touch with him or her. So getting in touch with yourself is a very wonderful way to be in touch with other people and with the world. So I want to sum up what I have said. If the thing that you see is real, you become real. And if you are real, the thing you see, you look at, becomes real also. Very important. For a young man like yourself, a young lady like yourself, you may try to find it out, to see whether what I have told you is correct or not.

[21:44]

Suppose you hug your mommy. And if you are not alright, the hug is not very sweet. If you are worried, you think of many things, and then you hug, it's not a real hug. But if you are happy, you are alright, hugging, you are smiling, you know that your mommy is there and you are really there, the hug is really a hug. Otherwise, it looks like a hug, but it's not really a hug. It's like when you meet someone, you say, good morning, that good morning sometimes is very real. You really want the person to have a good morning. But sometimes you just say that, it does not mean much. So the good morning is not real. So we should make the good morning a real good morning.

[22:48]

Ladies and gentlemen, we have to be in touch with ourselves in order to be in touch with the world. And if we can be really in touch with the world, we will be in touch with ourselves more deeply. I would like to talk to you about arranging a flower. Sometimes the flower you put in a pot does not absorb the water within it, and therefore the flower becomes too withered. There is no communication between the water in the pot and then the flower. Usually, in order to save such a flower, I take the flower out, and then I dip it into the water, and I cut it again in the water.

[23:56]

I know that when I do that, the cells of the stem at the place where I cut will be penetrated by the water. And now when I put it again in the flower pot, I re-establish the communication between the water and then the flower. A few hours later, the flower becomes fresh again, smiling at me again. All of us are flowers like that, and if we are not really in touch, we will die, we will wither. So it's very important that we get in touch. And having a retreat with each other is to learn the art of getting in touch, in touch with ourselves, in touch with the world around us.

[24:59]

Because both ourselves and the world around us belong to the same reality. We do not have much water here at Zen Center, but we have a lot of air. And the first thing we have to do is to be in real contact with the air. If you are not in good contact with the air, you will wither like the flower. And most of us, I don't mean in the Zen Do, don't breathe properly, because we don't use our lungs as we should. We use only one third of their capacity. And because we don't know how to breathe deeply, how to breathe well,

[26:03]

we have so many problems, like the flower. And therefore it's very important that we learn to breathe in order to be in touch with the air. And to be in touch with the air is a good way, a good beginning for us to be in touch with other things, even with ourselves. And breathing is also a realization because when we breathe, we can enjoy the breathing. Let us try. I breathe in and I know that I breathe in. I breathe out knowing that I breathe out. I breathe in knowing that I breathe out.

[27:22]

Last week I was in Los Angeles. The air in Los Angeles is not as good as the air here. And therefore when I came to Green Gorge Zen Center, I find very happy because the air is so pure, clean. And I really enjoy my breathing. If you have a nose, nostrils that are not stuck, I think you can enjoy your breathing. And if you don't enjoy it, that's too bad. Because the air here is so good and you have the capacity of breathing

[28:24]

and renewing yourself. I think if you practice walking meditation around the area for 20 minutes, you become a new person. And if you practice breathing with awareness, enjoying your breathing, you become a new person. I think so. When you become a new person, everything around you, everyone around you, becomes new again. They don't look like before. And therefore renewing yourself is at the same time renewing the world. Maybe the pine tree that you see in the front yard

[29:30]

is old. You know it. You think that there's nothing new about it. But if you practice conscious breathing for some time and if you look back at the pine tree, it's very new. And that is only for your enjoyment. You have established a kind of new relationship with the pine tree. And that relationship I call the relationship of interbeing. Because you are new, the pine tree becomes new. Because the pine tree is real, you become real. That's the technique of realization. I would like to go a little bit deeper into that. I need one young person to come and sit with me here.

[30:32]

Any young volunteer? Thank you. Thao also would like to come. Sit there and don't hide yourself. Please look at the children to see whether they are real or not. You are welcome to smile.

[31:34]

When we begin to breathe consciously, we renew ourselves right away at that moment. We don't need 15 minutes or 20 minutes in order to be renewed. We begin to renew ourselves right at that moment. We begin to breathe consciously. We begin to breathe. The same thing is true with looking. If we look with awareness, with mindfulness, we renew ourselves and we make real everything that we look at. So the practice does not need time. Time is money, we are told. We don't need money, we don't need time, we just need realization. And this is not the realization of a project.

[32:49]

We have no project. It is very important to be with our project. This is a very hard point to make. And after we make that point, there is nothing to be said later. When we look at things, we usually have the tendency to exploit that thing. When we do something, we want to make our action to have the profit. And therefore we always have aim. When we sit, for instance, like this, in this position, half lotus, someone may ask us, what is the use of sitting like that? What is the use of sitting like that? Can you tell me?

[33:50]

That's a very good answer. Sitting like this, we may say, I sit like this in order to practice meditation. I sit like this in order to become a Buddha, an enlightened person. I sit like this in order to do this. But is it really necessary to sit for something? Can we just sit? Because sitting is a very wonderful thing. And if we know how to sit without an aim, that would be very good. The perfect realization. Suppose you are on a hill, and somebody asks, what are you there for? They want you to say,

[34:53]

I am here in order to enjoy the scenery, or I am here to look for someone. And if you say, I am just here, they are not satisfied. But many times we want to be on the hill. In order to be on the hill, we don't want to do anything. So sitting for sitting is very important. And sitting for having fun is very important, right? I think so. So if you are sitting there and thinking that sitting there is something necessary in order to do this or do that, you miss the sitting, you miss the best part of the sitting. And if you begin to sit in that way

[36:04]

without any aim, you already renew yourself. And when you renew yourself, you are yourself, and you are in contact, in touch with the world. Like when we eat, we have breakfast, or we have lunch, or we have dinner. People say, what is the use of having breakfast? Can you give me an answer? To eat. Very good! Eating is just for eating. That's the best answer we can have. We shouldn't say that we have to eat

[37:05]

in order to go to school. We have to eat in order for mommy not to yell at us. We eat and we eat. We enjoy the eating. We enjoy being with the food. Very important. About 20 years ago, I told a young man to eat his tangerine. You know a tangerine? That day, the young man was about 23 or 24 years old. But I told him how to eat the tangerine. He was eating one tangerine after another and he was talking about future projects. He peeled the tangerine,

[38:08]

he took one section of tangerine, put it in his mouth, swallowed it, took the next section and did like that while talking about his very exciting project. I was watching him and listening to him. Suddenly I found that I had to tell him something. His name is Jim. I said, Jim, Jim, he looked at me, what? Eat your tangerine, I said. He was a very intelligent young man. He understood. He stopped talking. He began to peel very slowly his tangerine, took out one section, put it slowly in the mouth, waited until the juice came out, really felt the taste of the tangerine,

[39:11]

making the tangerine real. And his face became very different because now he really eats his tangerine. And he ate slowly like that until he finished one tangerine. The tangerine became real. And he himself became real. And that is life. I said, very good, Jim. Congratulations to you. So when you sit, and if you really sit, that's quite a realization. And when you eat a tangerine, and if you really eat, that is quite a realization. A realization, although it sounds like a big word like that, but nothing very difficult. When we drink

[40:13]

a cup of tea or of coffee, we have to really drink our tea or our coffee. You see? We have to make the tea real. Because in a coffee shop, when the tea is brought to you, you might think of other things, you might listen to the music, there is a lot of noise in the cafe, and you are lost. And the tea is lost also. The tea has no position in the coffee shop. Remember, the man without position, the person without position, the tea does not really exist. And when we take the tea up, we think of other things, so the tea is not very real. And if the tea is not real,

[41:17]

the tea drinker is not real either. So the way I could drink the tea, the tea would be like this. I take the cup of tea in my two hands, I look at it, I smile, and I see really the tea. And I might like to read poetry to the tea. I read like this, the cup of tea in my hands, I am mindful, mindfulness is being held perfectly, my body and my mind dwell perfectly in the here and now. And the tea becomes very real. And the tea is brought to its highest position. And when I drink the tea, I know that the tea is really there. And if the tea is brought to its highest position,

[42:18]

I myself, the drinker of the tea, is brought to my highest position also as a human being. And drinking tea is quite a realization. You see? So, sitting, drinking tea, eating a tangerine, what is the practice of meditation? It's very pleasant, it's a lot of fun. Shall we do that together tomorrow? Yes. I would like to have a whole, a full basket of tangerines. And then we invite each person one tangerine, and then each of us will put the tangerine on our palm, looking at it, smiling, so that it becomes real, you see? You know how a tangerine is made? It's wonderful. Looking at the tangerine and see that first this tiny flower appears on the tree.

[43:20]

And then a lot of sunshine, a lot of rain, a lot of air, a lot of birds singing. And then there is a tiny fruit, and then the fruit becomes bigger, bigger, bigger, with the help of the sunshine, the rain, the earth, and so on. The farmer. It starts changing color. Right, it starts changing the color. And when it's ripe, it was picked by someone. And then now we have it on our palm. And if you look at the tangerine and see all that, the tangerine becomes very real. It's wonderful. And now you smell it, the smell of tangerine, especially when you have peeled off a little bit. It's wonderful. And you take your time. You don't talk too much with other people,

[44:23]

otherwise you don't concentrate on the tangerine. And we peel it, and we eat it the way Jim did 20 years ago. And it takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes to eat a tangerine, but during that time it's wonderful. Shall we do that sometime during the next few days? Yeah, why not? When I was a little child, a little boy like yourself, younger, from time to time I was given a biscuit, a cookie. In my country sometimes they make the cookie square. Do you have square cookies here? You do? I did not have a friend to play with me sometimes,

[45:24]

so I took the cookie out into the front yard. And you know how did I eat it? I ate it very slowly. It can take 2 hours to finish a cookie. The cookie is big like this, but very much thinner. So I began to eat like this, around, a little bit, very... And I was playing in the front yard. I looked at the bush, I looked at the flowers, I listened to the birds, and then when I brought it up to my mouth, I ate it. And I really enjoyed eating the cookie. I ate my cookie, but I didn't mind, because I enjoyed the whole period of time eating the cookie and being alone in the front yard. I think your cookie is still there. If you like, you can find it again.

[46:27]

Tomorrow we shall practice eating in silence. Eating in silence is not a punishment. You know, if Jim was able to enjoy his time in the front yard, he would eat tangerine, because he didn't talk during eating the tangerine. So it may be helpful not to talk during eating. At home, sometimes daddy tells you to turn off the television set during dinner, right? Why did he do so? Because he knows that eating and having the TV on, you lose everything. You lose the TV program and you lose the food at the same time. So it's better to concentrate on one thing. And eating is for eating first.

[47:30]

So it's very important that we turn off the TV in order to really be with the food. Mommy has prepared it with much love and care, and if you don't pay enough attention to it, it's not very nice, it's not very kind to her and to the food. Therefore, looking at the food, really seeing it, eating it and enjoying it, is very important. So it's not a punishment to eat in silence. You can eat in silence and you can be happy throughout the meal. Eat your lunch like I ate my cookie fifty years ago, fifty, fifty-five, sixty years, fifty-five years ago. When you pick up with your fork,

[48:34]

I don't eat with fork, I eat with chopsticks. Ah, I see. When I pick up one leaf of lettuce, I look at it, I look at it and it does not take a lot of time to see the leaf of lettuce. It takes one second, not very long. But when I look at it, I really see it. And I see the lettuce and I put it in my mouth, I chew it, and I still continue to see, to be in touch with the lettuce. I don't let my mind on other things, just on the leaf of the lettuce. And this is important. First, you may ask me, what is the use of looking at the lettuce? You just put it in your mouth, that's it.

[49:37]

But it's very important because if you got to see the lettuce, first you see the size of the lettuce and then if you continue to do that, you can see the color of the lettuce. And sometimes you can see a lot of things in the leaf of the lettuce. One day I looked at the leaf of the lettuce and I saw, guess what I saw? A cloud. A cloud. And rain. Rain. Because just looking at the lettuce, I saw that the cloud became the rain in order to water the lettuce, for it can grow. Can you imagine a lettuce without a cloud? No. If the cloud is not there,

[50:39]

then there will be no rain and if there is no rain, there is no water and the lettuce cannot grow. And therefore, when I look at the lettuce, I see the cloud and I see also the sunshine. Without the sunshine, the lettuce cannot be there. So when I look at the leaf of lettuce, I see it and I can see it deeply too. And we have the verb to be. The lettuce is. And I get in touch with the lettuce because the lettuce is real. So I become real and I find out that between me and the lettuce there is a kind of relationship that we will talk about a little bit later.

[51:45]

But that kind of relationship, I call it the relationship of interbeing. And this is something we discover by practicing meditation, practicing eating, practicing breathing, practicing looking, practicing walking and then we realize the mystery of interbeing between everything, between everyone, between me and you, between me and other people, between me and the bell, between me and the sheet of paper, between me and the leaf of lettuce. So tomorrow at breakfast time or lunch time

[52:46]

we are going to eat like that, silent but joyful. When you hold an empty plate, you look at the empty plate in order to really see the empty plate. Don't tell me that the empty plate is not interesting. It's very interesting. Every time I hold an empty plate in my hands I feel very happy because I know that in a few minutes it will be filled with good food. Right? And also sometimes I feel unhappy. You know why? Because when I look at the empty plate I can see a lot of children who hold a plate like that

[53:48]

for hours and hours, days and days and there is nothing in the plate. You don't know that in many, many countries children are hungry and even they hold a plate like this they have not much hope. You know that in the world children die every day because of starvation, of being hungry. You know how many people, how many people of children who die in the world one day because of starvation? 40,000 children. Have you seen pictures of hungry children on television? Yeah, there are many of them

[54:49]

who die each day because of the lack of food. So when you fill your plate with good food you should feel happy for having good food to eat. Thankful to the food, thankful to daddy, thankful to mommy, and that's real eating. And sometimes you have to see also that there are unfortunate children in the world that have not much to eat. They are not lucky like yourself. So looking at the empty plate you can see many things, many things. You don't have to go very far in order to see. You just breathe, you look, and you see. And as you see like that you are in touch with the world, really in touch with the world. And if you feel sad, painful because of the suffering of these children

[55:51]

you realize the nature of interbeing between you and the world. But I would like to ask you tomorrow to only enjoy your food. Don't think of the children who are hungry in the world. Tomorrow we just try to eat and enjoy our food. Pick up a piece of tofu or a grain of beans or some rice or a piece of lettuce. Look at it in order to really see it and then put it in your mouth and really feel it and eat it. And then take another mouthful and eat in the same way. Eat like I ate my cookie. Please do. And you may like to look at the person

[56:55]

who sits in front of you and smile at that person to say that I am happy. Are you? And we can look at each other in a friendly way because the other person is also practicing eating rightfully like us. Shall we try? I would like to talk to you about standing in line in order to wait for your turn to pick up the empty plate. While you stand in line please don't wait. Please don't spend your time waiting. That's not very wise because standing is for standing, right? You should be very real while you stand

[57:56]

if you think that it takes another 5 minutes for me to arrive at that point. So in these 5 minutes you are not very real. So you have to be real standing in line and I would like to tell you how to do it. Standing in line and breathing and smiling. Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. And it's wonderful to be standing in line. Don't think of it. Think of the breathing, of the air, fresh air here and the togetherness of the community here. Shall we do that? Standing in line but not waiting. Enjoy your breathing, enjoy your smiling enjoy being together with other people

[58:56]

while practicing realization. The realization of breathing and of smiling. And I shall be doing the same thing. I'll be standing in line and I'll practice breathing, smiling and looking at you if you are real and then I'll be real also. And when we have finished our eating we will wash our plate in the same way our plate and our fork in the same way. We have to enjoy washing our fork and our plate. There are people who can enjoy washing a very high pile of plate, dirty plate. And while they wash their dishes they practice breathing, smiling and they wash a little bit slower than other people

[59:58]

but they enjoy the time of washing the dishes. And during that time they are real and the dishes are real. And it can become very pleasant the act of washing the dishes. So please do not lose any minute of your being here. Enjoy, enjoy everything. I would like to talk to you about a little bit more about breathing. Breathing is to renew ourselves to nourish ourselves not only our body but our mind, our spirit. And there is a poem, a gatha for you to use while breathing.

[60:59]

Breathing in I calm my body. So while you breathe in you only think of breathing in exactly like eating a tangerine. Breathing in, just think of breathing in. Breathing out I smile and we feel joyful when we smile. You know that on our face there are hundreds of small muscles hundreds of them and every time we become angry anxious, worried these muscles are very tense. Just look at one person who is angry you can see the tension on the muscles on their face.

[62:01]

But if you are able to smile like that to breathe and to smile like that the tension will be gone. So smiling is a very wonderful thing. Smiling is a realization. Please do not say that why should I smile when I have no joy within myself. You have to smile at your sorrow what else could you do? The smile can be a cause or an effect. When you have joy in yourself you smile, it is an effect. But if you don't feel much joy just smile and then you have some joy after that.

[63:05]

It is like when I do like this I feel something I create awareness a sense of feeling of reverence for the person who is in front of me and also the world. This is a bodily movement. So our body and our spirit we should regard them as equal we should not discriminate against our body anything that happens in the body will have an effect on the mind everything that happens in the spirit will have an effect on the body so accept everything and we should not say that smiling is a matter of our spirit it is a matter of our body also sitting like this is a matter of the body or the spirit

[64:07]

we cannot discriminate in Buddhist meditation body and mind are one Breathing in I calm my body it means I calm my mind so the word body means mind Breathing in I calm my body Breathing out I smile Smiling is to confirm the feeling of peace of serenity, of happiness that you realize during the breathing On a hot day when you drink something very cold ice soda for instance you feel that the ice soda refreshes every cell of your body so the breathing in should realize the same thing

[65:09]

Breathing in I calm my body the breath is renewing all cells in my body and all the cells of my spirit because the spirit the mind is also made up by cells whether they are feelings or perceptions or mental formations, they are cells so breathing in and if I really breathe with awareness I refresh my body and my mind at the same time the length of an in-breath is enough to realize peace, serenity and happiness in the body and in the mind and that is an achievement

[66:11]

and when you breathe out and smile you confirm that kind of achievement and you make it more real more intense Breathing in I calm my body Breathing out I smile Shall we try a few breathing like that? Breathing in I calm my body Breathing out I smile Breathing in I calm my body Breathing out I smile

[67:17]

Breathing in I calm my body Breathing out I smile Breathing in I calm my body Breathing out I smile Breathing in I calm my body Breathing out I smile Breathing in I calm my body I remember that two years ago, I gave a Dharma talk here. And there was a young lady who was in the front row.

[68:21]

She was young, she told me, I was talking about smiling, she said, how could I smile? How can I smile when I have nothing joyful in my life? Why do I have to force myself to smile? I would not be truthful, faithful to myself. And when I hear things like that, I breathe in and out, because such a question is... Such a question you cannot answer by just words.

[69:24]

The lady had a baby inside. I had the image of a child in England at that time while I breathed. I met the little boy, a boy of nine years old. He was very turbulent. He was among about 70 refugees in a retreat in northern England. I think it was in Birmingham.

[70:34]

There were about 12 children, and all the children were wonderful during the retreat. They participated in everything, they were so happy. They were practicing smiling, breathing, eating in silence, eating tangerine very well, except one, the little boy who was very agitated. And the whole community was a little bit sad because of the fact that the little boy was not so peaceful. I didn't say anything, but after the Dharma talk, I talked to his mother, and his mother told me this. They are boat people, you know. And one day, the father of the child took out to the sea on a boat, small boat, to escape.

[71:45]

And the child was still in his wife, in the womb of his mother, not born yet. A few days later, the news came back, and the lady learned that his husband was drowned in the ocean because of the attack by sea pirates. And she suffered very much, but she could not share her suffering with other people, because she was supposed not to know anything about her husband. Fleeing the country is a crime, and she had to tell people that she didn't know anything about her husband trying to flee the country, otherwise she would get into trouble.

[72:51]

So she could not share it with any other people, even close friends. And then the pain penetrated slowly, slowly in her, and got into the baby. And four years after the little boy was born, he could not speak a word, he couldn't say a word. And he's a very retarded child, he's not a normal child. And then later, the mother and his son took out to the sea, and were able to be accepted by England as refugees. And when they arrived in England, there were social workers who were Vietnamese, tried

[73:54]

to take very good care of the child. And the child at that time was able to make short sentences, and he had made a lot of progress already. So after I hear the story, I look at the child, and I see that nobody can blame the child, because it's not his fault. And everyone accepts him, and tries his or her best in order to help the child. So there is loving kindness within the community, and everybody was trying to be kind to help the child. I had that image in mind, and then I told the young lady in the Dharma talk here, I said,

[74:56]

well, you have the freedom not to smile or not to smile, but I would like to warn you that if you do not smile, the baby in you are going to get it. Because everything a mother eats, everything a mother drinks, an expecting mother drinks, everything, every worry, every anger that the expecting mother has in herself will penetrate in the baby. Therefore, it's very important that we smile, that we feel better. Not only for your sake, but for your own child. So please think about it, and give me an answer tomorrow. So, to smile or not to smile?

[76:00]

So I went on with the questions and answers, and tomorrow, looking at her during the Dharma talk, I saw her smiling. Well, first, I think she thought that she had to smile for the child, but if you are able to smile, it's not only for your child, but for yourself. And not only for yourself, the whole community, seeing her smiling, has much more hope in the future. So that smile is for every one of us, and not just for her child or for herself. So please don't forget that a smile is very important. Also last year in Green Gorge, there was a boy who sat in the front line, and he was

[77:07]

smiling very beautifully, like you do tonight. And his name is Tim. I said to him, you have a beautiful smile, Tim. He said, thank you. I said, no, you don't have to thank me, I have to thank you, because your smile is making me so happy. So instead of saying thank you, you should have said, you are welcome. So, because your smile is changing the world, your smile is very important for all of us. Therefore, don't tell me that you cannot smile.

[78:11]

Telling me like that is not very nice, because we, all of us, depend very much on your smile. It's really important. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment. It's the rest of the poem. When you breathe in again, you recite the third line, dwelling in the present moment. That means you get in touch with the present moment. Life is contained, life finds itself only in the present moment. Life is not in the past, life is not in the future. The past is no longer there, the future is not yet there.

[79:17]

So there is only one moment for us to be alive, that is the present moment. So, unless you be in touch with the present moment, you are not in touch with life. So when you breathe in, realize the present moment. That is the most important realization, be in touch with the present moment. You tell me that, well, I have so much worries, sorrow, anxiety, how could I be free in order to be in touch with the present moment? That is why we have to practice the breathing and the smiling. The breathing and the smiling help us to get rid of these things in order for us to be really in touch. You know, if we cannot eat the tangerine, if we cannot breathe in the air,

[80:23]

if we cannot eat the cookie, it is because of the fact that we cannot be in touch with the present moment. Therefore, when you breathe in, saying darling in the present moment, you get rid of everything, you be in touch with the breathing in the present moment. Because if I ask you what is the best moment of your life, you may try to tell me one of these moments. You may tell me that, well, that moment has not arrived yet. It is going to arrive sometime in the future. I will not believe you very much, because in the past 20, 30, 40 years, and if it has not arrived, and then in the next 20 years it might not arrive either.

[81:28]

So the best thing is to make the present moment the best moment of your life. Just only so breathe in a way that you make the present moment the best moment of your life. That is the biggest realization you can make. And you don't have to practice for 10 years, 10 years in order to do that. There is a sheet, you may find a number of gathas, that means short verses like that, for the practice of drinking tea, for the practice of turning on the light, for the practice of looking at the plate, for the practice of sitting down, for the practice of walking. I am sorry to say that tonight we only have a very limited number of copies,

[82:31]

but tomorrow I think there will be copies for everyone. And these gathas are to be learned by heart in order to practice easily. Dwelling in the present moment, you realize the present moment. You breathe out and you say, this is the only moment. The only moment for me to be alive. Challenge yourself like this, if I cannot be alive now, when then? If I cannot be truly alive and happy right now, then when? Challenge yourself, be back into the present moment, be alive, be in touch. And the realization does not need time. Breathing in, I calm my body, breathing out, I smile.

[83:38]

Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment. It means it's a wonderful moment. I know this is a wonderful moment. When you practice walking, you can use that gatha, because that gatha has only four lines. In the Vietnamese version, it has only 20 words. But in English it has more, because I'm not a very good translator. Thở vào tâm tĩnh lặng, thở ra miệng miễn cười, an trú trong hiện tại, giờ phúc đẹp tuyệt vời. And breathing in, I calm my body. The key word is calm, calming. So you can forget other words. You retain only one word, calming. You might practice with that word, just breathing in, calming. And then the second line, smiling. The third line, present moment.

[84:42]

The fourth line, only moment. Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is the only moment. In abbreviation, calming, smiling, present moment, only moment. Only moment or wonderful moment, it means the same. So while you practice walking around in the Zen door, you can use these four words. With your left foot, making a step, you say, calming. With your right foot, you make another step, you say, smiling.

[85:44]

And during the first step, you realize calming, really calming your body and your mind. And then during the second step, you realize smiling. That means you actually smile. It can be a very gentle, subtle smile, but it should be a real smile. And then calming, smiling, calming, smiling like that. And sometime later, you may like to switch into the two other words. Present moment, wonderful moment. When you make the step present moment, you bring body, spirit back to the present moment, the place where you make the step. You are really here, body and mind, on that truth.

[86:45]

Wonderful moment is the same with the other. And if you can realize so, each step will be a joyful moment of your life. It will be wonderful. If you make a tour of this Zen door, you may make 120 steps like that. Don't lose any of them. Each step is a joy. It's like each section of the tangerine. Don't throw away any steps. Kinhan in Vietnamese, Kinhin in Japanese, it means walking through. Kinh means to go through. It's like when you bind a book, you collect the separated sheets and you make a pile. And then you have one thread going through all the sheets.

[87:52]

And when you pick it up like that, not a single sheet is lost. So the thread here is our breathing. And the steps are the sheets of paper. If you maintain, you hold on to your breathing like that, and together, you won't lose any step. Because each step is life. Each step is a joy. Therefore, walking around in the Zen door is a very pleasant, joyful to do. Please don't walk. Don't walk for the future. And when we do walking meditation outdoor, we do the same. Walking but not arriving. We don't want to arrive. We just want to walk. Like he said, eating is for eating. Sitting is for eating. Sitting is for sitting.

[88:53]

And walking, just for walking. There's no destination. Aimless. Usually we go and we want to arrive somewhere, but the final destination is not very nice. The final destination is the graveyard. The graveyard. So each step brings us to life. Not death. Each step brings us to the present moment. That means to life. So realize that each step is a realization. And believe me, it's not difficult to do it. If you are used to other ways of walking, please try. Try this one. Walk naturally.

[89:53]

Don't make it too slow. Naturally, right here in the Zen door, and when you practice outdoor walking meditation, two, three times quicker, so that when people look at us, they see that that's life. That's real life. And not just practicing in order to arrive something. We are in life. So when you begin to lift one foot, you begin to breathe in. Breathe in, breathe in, breathe in, until you finish making the step. And during that time, realizing what you want to realize, calming, and then you begin to lift the other foot, smiling. Breathing out, I smile. Like that.

[90:55]

Each step can be like this. Not a half step. Just a real step to make. And I would like to ask you tomorrow not to practice meditation in order to arrive at enlightenment, satori, the light. Just sitting for sitting, breathing for breathing, eating for eating, looking for looking, without any aim. It's very important. Especially in a civilization where people always strive in order to realize something in the future. Learn not to think of the future. Just to be with the present moment.

[91:56]

And then through that way of life, we establish real contact with ourselves, with life. And the fruit is...

[92:08]

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