How Can One Truly Live in the Present Moment?

[Music] dear s today is the 5th of January in the year 2025 it's the last day of mindfulness the last Dharma Talk of the 3 months rain Retreat and at the same time it's the first day of mindfulness and the first Dhat Talk of the new year I thought this was very interesting it seems like the two events uh from the past and the future are converging right here and now and I thought if I were running the a race the Boston Marathon or 26k something like that which certainly I'm not capable of doing however if I cross the Finish Line first then I don't think anyone would say that I was the last one and if I were the last person to come to the Finish Line I don't think anyone would say I was the first so in terms of space and time first and last and last and first seem to be quite distant quite quite separate however a sister said to me don't worry it's all about the present moment so whatever it whether first or last everything happens in the present moment so I would like to share just a little bit it may be a review to many of you about the practice of the present moment and how Tai has taught the world the joy the the benefits of living in the present moment to the extent that Plum Village has been called the country of the present moment but how do we live in the present moment there are two basic practices that we do and uh the first one is really the practice that high recommended that we all um make part of our Lives both here and then when we return to our the next place we're going to the next destination that is the walking meditation and we remember Tai said that if you come to Plum Village and walking meditation is not something that you have enjoyed or that you're doing then it seems as if you haven't come to Plum Village so he he thought it was such an important uh practice to be able to bring our mind home to the present moment they here and now and we learned that um at the root Temple the acting Abbot for many many many years was the venerable Chetan Chima Chima and he would report uh something that was very interesting and something that Tai enjoyed hearing he he said that when visitors came to the root Temple the THU temple in h Vietnam and he saw the the visitors tourists whatever walking into the temple he knew by the way they walked that they were students of time this is very touching so The Way We Walk has uh has an impact uh has an effect on on the environment and certainly on us it brings our mind to the present moment and we can let go of the thinking and speaking while walking we like to walk peacefully on the Earth right now I'm aware of placing one foot on the earth then I place another foot on the earth and I walk with gentleness and peace I can do it here and we know that in other parts of the earth the earth body uh there is violence there is war um and Mother Earth receives everything because of gravity yes the missiles may be uh uh sent whatever is put out because of gravity it will land on Mother Earth so we have the good conditions of walking peacefully and offering our love to Mother Earth where we are right now and all our ancestors will be walking with us and so the whole strength and force of our ancestors through us we're creating peaceful steps on Mother Earth the other practice the basic practice is mindful breathing and breathing in I experience my INB breath breathing out I'm aware I'm breathing out and I often would say breathing in I know I am alive breathing out I smile to life in me and around me so being a able to smile is a practice of a bodh SATA we don't have to do great things to be a bodh Safa it's just to have the wish to offer happiness remove suffering and sometimes a smile is enough I remember when I was a novice a novice nun just ordained a everything was so new and most of the time I didn't know what to do or how to do it afraid of making a mistake and it was the kindness of a a sister Vietnamese sister who would see whatever expression was on my face I couldn't see it but she saw it and she said one simple thing to me almost every day she said are you okay and I said yeah I'm okay these were beautiful words I'm okay you know a smile a a simple question are you okay this is the heart of a buddhis SATA so when we we have our mindful breathing as our refuge to create relax fation to let go of the tension to give our mind a rest from the thinking the nonstop thinking when mindful breathing is this Refuge we are energized and this capacity to return to our breathing to the island within ourself is really so wonderful in difficult moments what are this some of the difficult moments that we face it could be our emotions fear of Anger of worry and when our mindfulness energy recognizes I'm having an and a strong emotion right now the first practice mindful breathing stop Breathe In and Out Ty wrote calligraphies one of the most helpful calligraphies was breathe my child it'll be okay and that was a Dharma talk breathe my child it will be okay so we have practices very simple practices that get us through the day through our life and they are practices that can be done by anyone anywhere on the planet we don't have to be Buddhists we can be practicing in other traditions and yet they are available for all we're very fortunate that Tai loved music and um one of the ways that sound has been brought into our lives is that instead of putting up the red sign that we see in many uh cities and towns the stop sign or the red light TI has given us the sound of the Bell the sound and when we hear the sound of the Bell we stop we slow down we come back and create this place of safety within ourself with the mindful breathing so the sound of the Bell we hear throughout the whole day inside and outside yeah another wonderful practice for us to enable us to be able to let go the capacity to let go is important I think in in many situations and I believe throughout our life and here we begin to learn the practice slowing down stopping letting go of what my thinking of the past and whatever happened in the past and maybe it wasn't happy I let go or worrying about the future oh where will I go what will my life be like we stop we breathe we let go and when we come back did the here and now the present moment and Tai said that is where life is available only in the present moment so now I'm going to invite all of us to be masters of the practice of mindful breathing so throughout the talk we'll have moments of pausing coming back to ourself breathing and relaxing and I propose this could be a minute a moment where we're going to hear the sound of the Bell be aware of breathing in and breathing out are you willing do you want to try just breathing you know I say it for my sake as well and probably that's the honest reason it gives me a chance to look at my notes where am I and so but please join me in the practice of mindful breathing when we hear the sound of the Bell [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so dear friends how do you feel after you've had a moment to Breathe In and Out do you notice any any difference if you do then this will encourage you to continue to breathe in and out you have uh we say uh evidence that it works the ba the practice is based on evidence the breathing is a way of relaxing and letting go of tension during the three months of the Reign's Retreat this year we were uh returning to Tai's teachings from the Winter r --- it continues that was just an in-house joke all [Laughter] right another definition is an ideally matched companion with a profound spiritual connection providing a sense of deep understanding and completeness so very very short definitions very nice and then a much longer definition uh of a soulmate that describes a soulmate uh bilateral soulmate relationship is a person with whom you have an immediate connection that means you you you may meet and it's love at first sight something like that you didn't plan it you didn't schedule it it's not on your monthly calendar immediate connection the moment you meet a connection so strong that you are drawn to them in a way you have never experienced before as this connection develops over time you experience a love so deep strong and complex that you begin to doubt that you have ever truly loved anyone before this time all right so this is a deeper and more extended definition please don't feel bad if you don't have this we've been in the monastery for 3 months and now we're considering that the Buddha is our soulmate or at least were asking can I be the soulmate of the Buddha can I have this love and respect and connection with the Buddha through the teachings and through Taio gave us the teachings so I'm going to cough if you would like to have a sip of water while I'm having a sip of water please do so please feel free to to uh have a sip of some a warm beverage because the weather is quite damp and cold so in my reflecting on being a soulmate of the Buddha I imagined a conversation with the Buddha I imagined that I was going to converse with the Buddha and um I asked the Buddha Dear World honored one dear respected Buddha will you accept me as your soulmate and I want to say for those of you who are following different paths you can ask the same question if you wish to Jesus to Allah um to God uh or other spiritual Masters in your life will you accept me um and the Buddha replied I imagined my child please share with me your practices especially those that you do um in the early morning please tell me your mindfulness practices that you do ear early in the day to start your day so then I thought of the the practices that that I do personally and I simply want to share just a a few of them very simple um I start the day before actually getting out of bed and I say the waking up G so as part of our practice we we memor Miz these goas that Tai has written to help us bring the mind to the present moment to be aware what our hands are doing our body is doing and it develops our concentration mindfulness and then understanding very short poems and they're found in Ty book called present moment wonderful moment the first one waking up this morning I smile 24 brand new hours are before me I vow to live them mindfully and to look on all beings with eyes of compassion so compassion is the the practice word I hear and I say because I know in the world where there is war where there is suffering there there is very little compassion and I light a candle the candle can represent peace it's the Light Of Hope candle is used in many any spiritual Traditions to offer warmth and light and hope so compassion and peace and the light of a candle are part of an early morning practice I see many of our sisters do this before sitting even they're at their T their desk they're doing a morning meditation and there's a candle and I know a candle was also part part of Tai's practice so compassion means we want to remove the suffering to offer a a aash um relief from suffering and we we can do this simply with the heart of compassion the wish to help others the second G I say now this is just my morning waking up I make my bed okay that's it's always a good practice here is the Gata I make my bed with joy so my life becomes tidy body and mind restrained so afflictions fall away and I thought well that's a pretty easy way to have my AFF I go away I just make my bed and it it's true that uh coming back to your room after a full day and your bed is made why you feel a bit better you know something is smooth and uh has received some kind of your attention now for me the key words in this body and mind restrained so it's the restraint that will help me be aware of my afflictions such as choose your afflictions it could be irritation anger habit of criticizing finding fault rushing whatever these uh emotional obstacles we experience could be the afflictions that I recognize I'm transforming with my practice of restraint and that may mean simply practicing more more silence maybe not speaking so much we have the mindfulness trainings and our precepts that originally were worded more than 2,600 years ago in the former I will refrain from killing that means I will restrain myself from killing I will refrain from stealing I will refrain from from lying I will refrain from uh uh sexual misconduct and refrain from taking alcohol so the early form of the mindfulness trainings was in was worded in the sense sense of I will not do these acts I will not speak that way so we know Tha Revis the mindfulness trainings and helps us be aware of suffering right away aware of suffering caused by and then Tai will give us ways to practice proactively all right that means we learn how to how to speak how to uh consume in in healthy ways but I make my bed with joy because my day is going to start with my awareness of I can I can restrain myself and and this is the mindful manners that all of us are are learning and practicing the best we can so all right that's that's that's enough I think oh one more with the restraint is we're aware of the s six sense organs right Eyes Ears Nose tongue body and the thinking well so there's something called appropriate attention yes I can restrain myself from inappropriate contact with something that's going to water my my seed of U anger craving uh yeah fear okay appropriate attention I will restrain myself from uh looking at too much of the world news restraining too much of the watering of my seeds that will create suffering but also restrain myself from watering the seeds of suffering in others so it's selective watering restraining habit energies that can create suffering now the third G takes me a long time to start the day doesn't it but I'm giving you the third G I go to the bathroom finally I brush my teeth the go for that is brushing my teeth and rinsing my mouth I vow to speak purely and lovingly when my mouth is fragrant with right speech a flower blooms in the garden of my heart and the I believe the Chinese character for Heart is also the mind so the flower is blooming both in my mind in my heart so this is about a reminding for me to to be aware of how I speak and to use loving speech uh that doesn't have judgment or criticism or blaming and when my heart is fragrant with these kind words supportive words then my mind is also kind and at this point you can do a meta meditation send your love to all beings on this planet that are suffering yourself and your your friends your family members so these three are my morning practice that I said to the Buddha in my imagin conversation with the Buddha and the Buddha said my child very good please continue your prce practice um and share continue to share what other practices the Buddha has offered that are helpful let us enjoy a pause we'll give our mind a vacation now you know it's po --- I think that's enough that the your friend is really supportive uh and in so many any ways and uh cares about you your your health your practice your well-being and uh having a calana Mitra is is pretty pretty easy here we talk about uh the having friends along the path your roommate your your group of uh of uh working together on on your rotation team you support one another you're together uh you eat your meals together so this is what is meant it doesn't have to be very complex or um you don't sign any contract it's pretty free and it develops we talk about Brotherhood Sisterhood um siblinghood so this is the c anra we've been practicing together for three months and I believe it has developed uh within the families you have the the sense of friendship uh understanding listening um uh offering uh kind words to one another flower watering yes or if we make mistakes we say I'm sorry I forgot something or I didn't mean to hurt you so the C Andra really includes all of our practices the beginning a new that D is sharing where we share from our heart the listening deeply and um yes it's wonderful to know that we have the a sa a community and for some of you who will be moving on think of creating such a group for yourself you can have one other practitioner one other friend and you will simply enjoy walking meditation enjoying a meal together mindfully um guided meditation so we can create these groups of of friends for ourself now everything Chang changes so sometimes this Citra experience changes and um it's it's human it's normal things change and uh oh I want to mention one thing in terms of kalana Mitra in in the Christian tradition uh Jesus spoke about this in in a similar way he said a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as C MRA friends that you love one another even as I have loved you and that you and by this all men will know that you are my disciples my disciples please have love for one another something like that so it was the same Spirit uh that Jesus spoke uh I think 500 years after the Buddhist talking about Kal Andra that you love one another as I have loved you and when people see that you love one another they will know you are my disciples and people will know we're students of Thai uh Disciples of Thai and the Buddha by the way we we walk we speak uh that we have the virtue of the practice of the mindfulness trainings yeah so sometimes what interferes with this this wonderful togetherness is that we begin to think we are a separate self it's like I don't need anybody like leave me alone um that's one dream we don't realize our connections on a deep level and um we hear uh before the day of my before the chanting begins uh Tai has written a contemplation the S is invited to come back to our breathing so our Collective energy of mindfulness will bring us together as an organiz ISM going as a river all the molecules of water follow there isn't one that's saying no I don't want to go no we go as a river with no more separation let the whole sa breathe as one body chant as one body listen as one body and transcend the boundaries of a delusive self separate self meaning a separate self and when we have a separate self it's very easy to become um I don't want to say victim but to be believe in the three complexes superiority inferiority or equality so um we can liberate ourselves from the superiority inferior prority or equality complex by being together and we we do this with the music with the sound and it's when we're singing or um playing instruments together we have brothers and sisters who are truly musicians as well the violin the cello the the guitar the drum and there's no one leading them they they are beautifully together making the sounds there's no conductor and we also find this within our own body the physiology of our body in the brain there are numerous uh uh connections there the heart and the lungs are working the whole body is functioning without a b saying do this do that mm it's complete interbeing neurotransmitters there's so much happening the heart beating the kidneys are working the liver it's it well it's a miracle but it it's interbeing now in our relationships sometimes when we get a little bit caught up in being a a separate self then the the um the complications arise I want to tell you a story about um uh about peanut butter cookies Tai liked peanut butter cookies he was introduced to them when he went to the United States for one of the tours and yes he liked peanut butter cookies so he gave us some teachings about separate self and how that can be uh uh manifest how that can be manifested so um to make peanut butter cookies you may know you need the flour you need the peanut butter uh maybe some kind of sweetener brown sugar honey maple syrup we're making vegan cookies okay oil I don't know coconut oil something salt and maybe if you want to add a little non-dairy milk almond milk or something you can the key is it gets stirred up it you know all the flour it all gets stirred up then you take a spoon and you put the the dough on the the tray to bake the cookies and I think you press them down all right so they are separate little identities on the tray and then it goes into the oven the cookies are baked and they come out so Tai described one situation where a peanut butter cookie move over brother I'm bigger than you so uh the peanut butter cookies had these complexes I'm a bigger peanut butter cookie than you boom move over now do we do we do this in our lives in some way it's it's the compar the comparing mind or we don't feel as as good as the other uh I'm not as important he or she you know sings better than me uh you know it's it's the idea of comparison but the reality is we all came came from the same mixing bowl but we forget we think we are separate identities we all have the same nose ears eyes you know like water and and the waves in the ocean one wave will think I'm a higher wave than this wave another wave will think oh I'm I'm a small wave I I don't count but the truth is they all come from the water and the water herself the Ocean looks at all the waves and she says oh my darling waves you're high you're low but you're all me so this is the teaching that we are not separate self and we really inter are there is interbeing so things will change the waves come and go peanut butter cookies have a very short life span after the oven don't no longer soft glob they're crunchy they're they're cooked and they have a transformation episode where they go into an empty stomach and and then then they are transformed so the idea of emptiness is that every formation is made from everything anything else a peanut butter cookie is empty of a separate self it is made from the flour the peanut butter the sugar the oil it's empty and then it goes to an empty stomach and wow what happiness for the person who enjoys the peanut butter cookie and we are the same we are empty we're made from our ancestors our life experience uh were made from our Sana from the teachings of the Buddha all of this contributes to to who I am I'm empty of a separate self so um let's enjoy a little another vacation a mental break for another sound of the bell and then we'll continue [Music] for e [Music] [Music] so there is change and impermanence I don't think we can deny that reflect on the seasons the phases of the moon the sun t --- is you may have heard it no man is is an island entire of itself every man is a piece of the continent he lived in England yeah a part of the main if a cloud of Earth be washed away by the Sea Europe is the less that's true yeah as as if also this would be true as if your friend's house was washed away or even if mine the absence makes a difference any man's death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind well this is beautiful this is the voice of a bodh Safa any man's death diminishes me because I am involved with mankind so we want to create peace in the world and we feel very sad at the deaths the destruction and because we are involved we're activists the word activist means I'm involved with mankind so uh it it's really the the call for understanding the importance of connection of uh of wanting to do our best to create peace we may not be able to do it on the political level but certainly within our own lives as practitioners we can create peace in ourself and peace in the world as Tai has has written and made many beautiful calligraphies and then the poem ends uh never send to know For Whom the Bell Tolls in in England in the time of John dun when the church bells were invited it meant that someone passed away it means that there was a death and usually the Young boy in the household was sent to the church to ask the Vic Vicor who died who passed away um there there wasn't radio or internet in those days you know so the little boy would go to the church and find out who passed away in the town and the poem ends by don't send anyone to ask for whom this Bell is told in it tolls for thee so it's it's the statement of you know impermanence our lives are precious and with our practice and our sa we can create much Beauty and we can create happiness realizing that life is impermanent I want to end this talk now it's it's a short talk how nice for for everyone and for me but um it's a quote from Tai yeah and I found it on Facebook yesterday and I want to tell you I don't have a Facebook account but if you open it they'll let you see something before the the message comes please sign in so I I can't sign in but I keep opening the page and then I saw it's a it's a very pretty picture of tha a beautiful picture of Tai and then this this poem so um it's a way of of concluding the three months Reign's Retreat being um a soulmate of the Buddha you know appreciating the teachings the Buddha has given for us to know about mindfulness to develop our capacity to create peace in ourself peace in the world um to have guidelines for our daily lives when our mindfulness trainings the five or the 14 or the monastic trainings uh the the Buddha was a great soulmate of ours wanting to help us and being able having the capacity to share his wisdom of the four noble truths and the eight noble ways of practice that removes suffering prevents suffering and can BR bring happiness so we're deeply deeply grateful to the Buddha and of course to Tai and we can also remember the The Meta uh the discourse on love that the Buddha offered to his monks as a way of protection protecting them in the forest when the tree Spirits were not happy and created problems so the Buddha gave the meta meditation for the for the monks to recite and it calmed the spirit and the Heart of the the angry tree forests and it's may you be happy and peaceful may you be light in body and mind may you be safe from accidents illness and injury may you be free from your UNH wholesome mental formations such as your anger your fear your anxiety may you know how to look at yourself with understanding and love and may you know how to recognize the sources of joy in yourself and may you be able to identify the sources of suffering in yourself may you be able to nurture and water the seeds of happiness in yourself may you be able to live safe happy and free and may you be able to be free from attachment and diversion but not be indifferent don't be uncaring and then it ends with this this is the promising sentence free from wrong views okay we know what wrong views are separate self permanence the right view is interbeing uh nonself emptiness Right View okay um free from wrong views greed okay we're well in the morning we're we're practicing restraint our five contemplations may we eat in moderation yeah we we can practice free from greed free from greed sensual desire again it's restraining our six sensal six senses free from wrong R greed and sensual desire living in Beauty there is so much Beauty around us and when we live in the present moment with the beauty those who practice boundless Love The Meta will certainly transcend birth and death so the The Meta practice is important for being able to transcend birth and death and I think we're all on the path to practicing mea I want to in give you one very beautiful um um experience a beautiful sharing that a venerable monk shared with us when we went to Vietnam when Tha returned to Vietnam after 39 years the Year 2005 and um the venerable Monk and Tai had been uh uh Brothers they were brother brother monks they were friends they had practiced together and gone through so much together and uh the venerable monk said to a group of us who were sitting there enjoying tea tea with him what he said of Tai he said you can trust him and that was the greatest gift that anyone could have possibly given to us the disciples you can trust him so trust is so important and when we trust our own practice when we trust our capacity to come back to the island within ourself to breathe mindfully in and out to know when it's time to do the walking meditation instead of arguing fighting no I trust myself the practice is is uh is very deep the practice Can Transform so trust is a very important word in our life as practitioners we can trust Thai we can trust the Buddha we can trust our sa so now we'll close with the the the the poem that was available on Facebook yesterday I don't know and it didn't give the source so I'm very sorry I can't tell you where Facebook got it but I share it with you now okay let us be at peace with our bodies and our mind let us return to ourselves and become holy ourselves let us be aware of the the source of being common to us all and to all living beings evoking the presence of the great compassion aites I vow to look on all beings with eyes of compassion evoking the presence of the great compassion let us fill our hearts with our own compassion towards ourselves and towards all living beings let us pray that we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other with humility and awareness of the existence of life and of the sufferings that are going on around us happen everywhere let us practice the establishment of peace in our hearts and on Earth take not honey so thank you dear friends for for being with us today the last day of the last armor Talk of the reain retweet and the first dmer talk of the New Year we hope something will be helpful to you as you continue and that it has been um an adequate closure of the 3 months rain Retreat and the closing ceremony will be Tuesday after tomorrow in the upper Hamlet believe so let us enjoy the three sounds of the bell I want to thank uh the translators this morning thank you very much all of you and to our Bell Master to my attendant and to all of you who listened thank [Music] you e [Music] [Music] [Music]