“I have arrived, I am home” is the practice of arrival in the here and the now, the true home where life is available. Mindfulness of presence lights up energy, making the present moment an anchor. Silence during meals is eloquent, helping one to be with food and the community. Regarding difficult decisions, the real problem is not the choice between options, but whether one can improve their way of being; without this, suffering continues regardless of the decision made. Mindfulness acts as a healer, allowing one to look deeply into the nature of suffering, hatred, anger, and fear.

The Five Wonderful Precepts are a concrete manifestation of mindful living, offering protection and leading to peace, joy, liberation, and awakening. The Five Precepts are:

1. To cultivate compassion and learn to protect the lives of people, animals, and plants.
2. To cultivate loving kindness and learn to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants, and minerals, practicing generosity.
3. To cultivate responsibility and learn to protect the safety and integrity of individuals, couples, families, and society.
4. To cultivate loving speech and deep listening in order to bring joy and happiness to others and relieve their suffering.
5. To cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for oneself, the family, and the society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming.

Freedom and interbeing go together; just as a flower is made of non-flower elements like clouds and sunshine, it is impossible to be alone. Alienation from family, culture, and society leads to a state like hungry ghosts, starving for understanding and love. Understanding, or Prajna, is the foundation of love, known as Maitri and Karuna. True freedom is freedom from ignorance, not the license to destroy the body with alcohol or drugs, as the body belongs to ancestors and future generations. Education must descend from the head to the heart, teaching the art of being happy in the present moment. Habit energy pushes us to run away from internal conflicts through toxic consumption of media and conversation, but happiness is possible by practicing self-protection and stopping the course of destruction.

Communication is very important; if it is still there, the situation is not too bad. To keep communication alive, we must learn the practice of deep listening. You have to open your heart, get rid of your preconceived ideas, and listen with patience and compassion. This is the practice of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, who listens deeply to the sound of the world. One hour of listening like that can be very helpful.

To heal difficulties with our parents, two exercises are offered. The first is: Breathing in, I see myself as a five-year-old boy. Breathing out, I smile to that boy with compassion. The second is: Breathing in, I see my father as a five-year-old boy. Breathing out, I smile to that five-year-old boy who was my father. This practice helps us to see our parents as wounded children, allowing compassion to flow from our hearts. Meditation is to look deeply in order to discover things we have not seen. Understanding brings compassion and forgiveness. The talk also includes personal stories from the monks and nuns of Plum Village about their lives and practice.

The Six Paramitas, six practices that can carry us from the shore of suffering to the shore of well-being, are also taught:

1. Đàn Ba La Mật (Dāna Pāramitā): The practice of giving.
2. Tuệ Ba La Mật (Prajñāpāramitā): The practice of understanding. To love someone, you must understand their suffering.
3. Thiền Ba La Mật (Dhyāna Pāramitā): The practice of meditation, which includes Chỉ (stopping, calming, concentrating) and Quán (looking deeply).
4. Giới Ba La Mật (Śīla Pāramitā): The practice of the precepts, such as the Five Mindfulness Trainings, which protect ourselves and our families.
5. Nhẫn Ba La Mật (Kṣānti Pāramitā): The practice of inclusiveness, the capacity to receive and transform, not suppress. It is about making our heart large like a river or the great earth.
6. Tấn Ba La Mật (Vīrya Pāramitā): The practice of diligence or continuous energy. This involves not watering the negative seeds in us and watering the positive seeds every day.

To address the difficulties of raising children in North America, a story told by the Buddha is recounted regarding a lion cub raised by a monkey. After a mother lion loses her cub in a fall, a monkey adopts the baby, teaching it to eat fruit, climb trees, and speak the monkey language. When the mother lion later finds her daughter, the young lion angrily rejects her heritage, believing herself to be a monkey. Realizing that anger and force are ineffective, the mother lion uses patience, loving speech, and apologies to befriend the daughter. Through walking meditation and looking into a stream to see their reflections, the daughter realizes her true nature as a lion, learning to roar and jump, yet retaining the positive skills and appreciation for her adoptive monkey family.

This story illustrates the relationship between Vietnamese parents and their children growing up in the United States. Parents often lack the skill to transmit Vietnamese culture, resorting to shouting or force, which alienates their children. Parents must learn the patience of the mother lion to help their children realize they are both American and Vietnamese. Children are encouraged to profit from the jewels of both cultures, becoming real Vietnamese-Americans who can serve both societies. Practicing the Five Mindfulness Trainings helps in becoming excellent members of both communities.

Introductions are provided for several monks and nuns, including Thầy Tịnh Mãn, Thầy Pháp Hướng, Thầy Pháp Trí, Sư cô Chân Vĩ, Sư cô Hiếu Nghiêm, Sư cô Tịnh Nghiêm, Sư cô Viên Nghiệp, Sư cô Bích Nghiêm, Sư cô Giải Nghiêm, Sư cô Hỷ Nghiêm, Sư cô Từ Nghiêm, Sư cô Thục Nghiêm, Sư thầy Đàm Nguyện, Sư cô Chân Bảo Lâm, and Sư cô Trinh Ngọc. Brief backgrounds are shared for many, such as Thầy Pháp Trí’s landscaping work, Thầy Pháp Hướng’s photography and flute playing, and Sư cô Chân Bảo Lâm’s recovery from cancer through practice and surgery. The books Bước tới thảnh thơi and Stepping into Freedom are recommended for those interested in monastic life.

This is the 3rd Dharma talk by Thay for the Italian Retreat: “The Mind of Love transforms all difficulties” in Lower Hamlet, Plum Village.

In this short teaching Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh answers a question about how to stop having negative perceptions of ourselves, asked on behalf of a group of teenagers attending the Summer Retreat of 2014, in Upper Hamlet, Plum Village France: “I am sure I’m not the only one to feel loneliness or sadness as well as anger towards myself. I have recently struggled with self-hatred, and being overly demanding, impatient, uncaring and mean towards myself. I didn’t take care of my body and I would emotionally and physically harm myself. How do I learn to care for myself and love myself after having this deep sadness become my habit energy. And how do I stop the negative perceptions of myself?”

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Buddhist psychology has existed for 2,500 years, while Western psychotherapy is only about 100 years old; the meeting between these two foundations can enrich both. Western therapeutic principles often rely on bringing up unconscious suffering and using transference onto the doctor to find relief. Conversely, meditation practice is not an anesthetic to escape reality or seek a neutral state, but a method to face the truth and the suffering within oneself. The practitioner does not fight alone but takes refuge in the teacher and friends, avoiding the projection of father-son feelings onto the guide, but building a teacher-student relationship and friendship to support each other in transforming suffering.

According to statistics in the United States, there are four types of people who enter mental hospitals the most:

1. Dentists.
2. Lawyers.
3. Doctors.
4. Psychiatrists.

A human being is a composite of all seeds (bīja). When a seed manifests, it is called a mental formation; afterwards, it falls back down into consciousness to become a seed again. Happiness or suffering depends on the nature of these seeds; if dark seeds are watered frequently, one will look at life through the lens of suffering. Suppressed suffering creates internal formations (formation antérieure), and the practice is to intervene in that totality of seeds with the light of mindfulness. Mindfulness is like a boat carrying a rock of suffering so it does not sink, supporting and transforming anger just as sunshine causes a flower to bloom. In the spiritual domain, it is necessary to let natural elements intervene in the healing process. Good seeds in the consciousness act like antibodies (anticorps), automatically surrounding and transforming painful internal formations when one knows how to dwell in peace, touch the wonders of life, and nourish bodhicitta.

This is the fourth and final Dharma talk of the Dutch retreat “Love is Understanding / Understanding Is Love” with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany. Given in English with consecutive translation into Dutch on August 24, 2014, the talk explores birth and death.

Topics include:

• Homework for the children: seed of corn, a teaching on birth and death
• What happens when you die? Why meditate on death?
• Our cosmic body
• Interbeing of birth and death
• Two levels of truth: conventional and ultimate
• Right View that transcends being and nonbeing, birth and death
• God is the Ultimate
• Teaching of the Flame: birth and death
• Teachings on the Three Recollections, the Six Sense Organs, and No Coming, No Going as given to Anathapindika on his deathbed

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The gatha serving children and adults includes three versions in Vietnamese, English, and French, helping to refresh body and mind. When practicing, the practitioner goes through the steps:

1. In, Out
2. Deep, Slow
3. Calm, Ease
4. Smile, Release
   If practicing “Present moment, wonderful moment” three times, it will take exactly one minute, while practicing the full steps will take two minutes and ten seconds. When inviting the bell, one needs to breathe three times before releasing, keeping the sound of the bell clear, round, and strong. In walking meditation, the left foot always steps first accompanying the in-breath to create a habit of stillness, holding a flower or a bell as a way to celebrate life.

The story of the turtle by Chuang Tzu is mentioned to emphasize choosing to be a live turtle dragging its tail in the mud rather than a precious shell worshipped in a temple, meaning finding peace and joy right in the present moment instead of sacrificing for the future. Chanting texts need to be composed further to be suitable for young people, for example, the Exhortation, instead of just using old repentance texts. The most important thing in organizing a retreat is that the workers must have happiness and peace right while cooking, washing dishes, or organizing, not just aiming to get the work done.

The difficulties and crises in the history of Persimmon Village related to the family of Brother Thieu, Sister Mui, and lay friends like Chan Quan and Chan Khong are recounted in detail to draw lessons about true brotherhood and sisterhood. Without peace and harmony, organizing for others to practice will lack authenticity. Everyone needs the ability to sit down together, use loving speech to resolve internal formations, and nourish collective joy.

This is the third Dharma talk of the “Understanding Is Love” Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany, given on August 22, 2014. The talk is in English with consecutive translation into Dutch. Thay teaches on using the bell and the Noble Eightfold Path.

Topics

• The Bell. How to use the bell in the family. (40-minutes)
• Object of our mindfulness
• Producing Mindfulness, Concentration, and Insight
• Right Thinking
• Right Speech
• Right Action
• Right Livelihood
• Four kinds of nutriments
• Right Diligence

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Impermanence is ceaseless change, neither bad nor good; it is the essential condition for a child to grow up and for a kernel of corn to become a corn plant. To deal with unexpected changes like accidents or illness, the most important thing is to live awake, healthy, and deeply in the present moment. We need to cherish the loved ones around us and realize that we are in paradise with clear eyes and healthy limbs, instead of complaining and not knowing that we are luckier than 60 million compatriots back home. When encountering things that go against our wishes, a calm mind will help our Buddha nature manifest to recognize and fix the problem in a better way.

In the art of living together, people need to be cared for skillfully like a lettuce plant: we do not blame the plant when it wilts, but must check if the amount of water and fertilizer is appropriate, avoiding suffocating our beloved. To keep the mind peaceful in the face of all impermanence, the method of practice based on the 16 breathing exercises in the Anapanasati Sutra is summarized into a gatha:

1. Breathing in, my mind is calm.
2. Breathing out, I smile.

Conscious breathing helps thousands of cells calm down and releases the tension in the facial muscles. Looking deeply into life and death, we see that it is only transformation: a cloud does not die but transforms into rain, into a rose, or a cucumber. When a loved one passes away, it is not just the disintegration of the physical body; they continue to flow through their descendants and the merits they have left behind. The Buddha, the mendicant of old on Vulture Peak, is still there, and the Udumbara flower still blooms every day for those who know how to listen to the sound of the rising tide.

The second Dharma talk of the “Understanding Is Love” Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism (EIAB) in Waldbrol, Germany, given in English with consecutive translation into Dutch on August 21, 2014. Thay teaches on the noble eightfold path, the five mindfulness trainings, and applying mindfulness in the world.

Topics:
• Living in Plum Village and living in brotherhood and sisterhood; what is life like at Plum Village?
• Story of a Bell and Thay’s Dream
• Turning of the Wheel of the Dharma – the Buddha’s first dharma talk; the noble eightfold path
• The popularity of mindfulness in the world today – is it an instrument to make more money and to kill better?
• The Five Mindfulness Trainings
• Applied Buddhism in schools; our experience in France
• Learning how to understand, communicate, and reconcile

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The Four Noble Truths are four noble, wonderful truths and are basic principles of practice: Ill-being (suffering), the Making of Ill-being (the cause of suffering), the Cessation of Ill-being (the absence of suffering), and the Path (the path to end suffering). The first truth addresses sufferings such as birth, old age, sickness, death, the inability to obtain what one desires, separation from loved ones, association with those one dislikes, and the grasping of the five skandhas: form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness. The second truth points out that the roots of suffering are not only craving but also anger and ignorance. The causes of suffering include craving, anger, ignorance, pride, doubt, and wrong view. Among them, wrong view includes five types of erroneous perceptions:

1. View of the body: believing the body is the self.
2. Extreme view: a one-sided extreme view (caught in eternalism or nihilism).
3. Wrong view: a view not in accord with the truth of cause and effect.
4. Attachment to views: being caught in a perception considered to be absolute truth.
5. Attachment to rites and rituals: being caught in prohibitions and rituals.

The teachings of the Buddha are based on the principle of Dependent Co-arising, in which Ill-being, the Making of Ill-being, Cessation, and the Path rely on each other to manifest, just like the interbeing of the 18 realms (six sense organs, six sense objects, six consciousnesses). There is a harmful misunderstanding that the five skandhas themselves are suffering; in reality, the attachment to the five skandhas is suffering, like a dog chasing to bite the stone instead of the person who threw it. Besides the Southern School’s view on the Three Dharma Seals as impermanence, suffering, and nonself, the Dharma Seal Sutra presents three other seals: emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness. Suffering is not the nature of all things but is caused by wrong perceptions regarding impermanence and nonself.

The misunderstanding of “extinction of desire” leads to a dry and lifeless image, whereas Buddhism is a lively reality. The Mindfulness Trainings of the Order of Interbeing are considered modern Bodhisattva precepts, carrying a spirit of openness, not only prohibiting but also guiding practice and nourishing joy. Traditional monastic precepts need to be understood according to the spirit of their content rather than rigid form, including the precepts:

• Not sleeping on high, broad beds (living simply).
• Not using money (avoiding attachment).
• Not wearing cosmetics or adornments (avoiding corruption by material things).
• Not eating at the wrong time (eating one meal a day to nourish health and mindfulness).

This is the first dharma talk of the Understanding Is Love Retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany. The talk, given on August 20, 2014, in English with consecutive translation into Dutch, is the 1st Dharma talk for the Dutch Retreat “Understanding Is Love” in EIAB. In this talk Thay teaches on feeling joy and happiness and on True Love.

Topics include:

• Learning how to nourish and love and have it last a long time
• The cloud in my cup of water
• What does it mean: this is a happy moment?
• Mindfulness of body
• Producing a feeling of joy
• Producing a feeling of happiness
• Mindfulness of Suffering
• Understanding and Suffering
• Four Elements of True Love
• The four pebbles

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Look into your hand to see that you are the continuation of your parents, and that your mother is alive in every cell. The peace and happiness of children and grandchildren are the peace and happiness of grandparents and ancestors. Birth and death are only surface phenomena, like waves and water. From the perspective of the wave, there is rising and falling, high and low, big and small, long and short; but from the perspective of the water, there are no such signs. When we recognize that the wave is water, we transcend suffering and fear, and see the ontological ground of no birth and no death.

A banana tree may die after bearing fruit, but the huge root system underground continues to sprout; life always finds a way to manifest. Facing impermanence and the uncertain accidents that can happen at any time, we need to practice:

1. Living the present moment worthily, with mindfulness and peace.
2. Breathing, smiling, and treating those around us with compassion.
3. Accepting impermanence as the nature of life, because without change, a grain of corn cannot become a corn stalk.

We have undergone rebirth into the ten directions through our descendants and what we have transmitted. Penetrate the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra to see that the nature of all dharmas is empty: no birth and no death, no impurity and no purity, no increasing and no decreasing.

This is the first dharma talk of the “Nourishing Happiness in Our Hearts” retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh (Thay) at the European Institute of Applied Buddhism in Waldbrol, Germany, given in English with consecutive translation into German on August 13, 2014.

Topics include: the story of the corn seed; the realm of Dharma and how everything is a wonder; the kingdom of God and the cosmos; living happily in the present moment; three kinds of energy—mindfulness, insight, and concentration; the art of happiness—being able to generate a feeling of joy and a feeling of happiness; the art of suffering; interbeing; elements of meditation; and freedom and walking meditation.

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The quality of the retreat lies in mindfulness, which is the awareness in daily life to heal the soul, not just to study the teachings. When hearing the bell, practice breathing in and out three times and recite: “Listen, listen. This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home.” When meeting each other, join our palms like a lotus bud to bow reverently in order to see the other person as a wonderful reality: “A lotus for you, a Buddha to be.” Awareness helps us look at our loved ones and all things as brand new, in the spirit of nhất hồi niêm xuất, nhất hồi tân (each time it arises, it is new again) of Tran Thai Tong.

At the age of 39, the Buddha was criticized for saying that love brings worry, sorrow, and despair. When King Pasenadi questioned the enlightenment of a young person, the Buddha taught that there are four small things that should not be underestimated:

1. A newborn prince.
2. A spark of fire.
3. A poisonous snake as small as a chopstick.
4. A young monk.

True love must have the substance of Maitri (loving-kindness – wanting the other person to be happy unconditionally) and Karuna (compassion – wanting to remove the suffering from the other person). Love is understanding each other’s suffering and aspirations; it is not possessiveness or locking the beloved in a tin can, but respecting their horizon of freedom like the clouds and the wind. We need to hold hands and ask if our love is making the other person wither and if we truly understand their suffering yet. To resolve conflict, we need to let go of attachment to views, like the story of the father holding the bag of ashes, and use loving speech to dialogue.

Telephone meditation transforms a source of irritation into a bell of mindfulness. Instead of running, stay where you are, breathe in to calm yourself, and breathe out with a smile, waiting for the third ring before answering. If you are making a call, a poem can be recited: Sound can travel hundreds of miles, and speech can bring mutual understanding and mutual acceptance. Each number dialed corresponds to a breath, because time is life, not money. This practice establishes calm and improves the quality of the conversation and of business.

Driving meditation uses red lights as friends who say “Stop” to dispersion, and the license plate “I remember” to remind us to breathe. A poem accompanies starting the car:

1. Before starting my car, I know where I am going;
2. The car and I are one;
3. If the car goes fast, I go fast.
   We must not become slaves to our instruments or destroy our ecological environment, because within us, there are the trees and the clouds; to destroy the tree is to destroy oneself.

Meditation brings us back to reality rather than being an escape, and we must invent opportunities to practice even in difficult conditions, like political prisoners cutting bamboo. It is essential to know one’s limits and learn to say no, because to make others happy, one must first establish calm and happiness within oneself. Faced with insecurity and suffering, the only answer is to live every minute in mindfulness, treating the person present as the most important one.

The Thirty-Seven Wings of Enlightenment are the essence of the Buddha’s teachings, comprising: the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, the Four Right Diligences, the Four Bases of Success, the Five Faculties, the Five Powers, the Seven Factors of Awakening, and the Noble Eightfold Path. The talk goes deeply into the Seven Factors of Awakening, also known as the Seven Limbs of Enlightenment, meaning the seven elements that lead to awakening. Enlightenment or Bodhi is not something far-fetched that only saints can reach; rather, it is the awakening and understanding that can be attained in daily life. Small awakenings accumulated will lead to Great Enlightenment, helping to untie the knots of fear and superstition and bringing about peace and joy.

The seven elements leading to awakening include:

1. Mindfulness: Bringing the mind back to the present moment to see what is happening in the four domains of body, feelings, mind, and objects of mind.
2. Investigation of phenomena: Deciding and investigating the nature of things through direct contact with the 18 realms, including: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind; form, sound, smell, taste, touch, objects of mind; eye consciousness, ear consciousness, nose consciousness, tongue consciousness, body consciousness, and mind consciousness. The aim is to see the nature of impermanence, nonself, and interdependent co-arising.
3. Diligence: Steady diligence, maintaining a reserve of energy so that the work of looking deeply can be continuous.
4. Joy: The joy and peace arising from the realization that one is on the right path.
5. Ease: The lightness, comfort, and peace of body and mind.
6. Concentration: Body and mind dwelling peacefully, focused on one object, like a lid retaining heat so that the fire of mindfulness can cook the dharmas, helping to see clearly the nature of things.
7. Equanimity: Letting go of discrimination and prejudice between suffering and happiness, defiled and immaculate, birth and death, love and hate; at the same time letting go of knowledge and possessions to attain higher liberation.

The Noble Eightfold Path is the path of eight right practices, discovered by the Buddha under the Bodhi tree and taught throughout his 45 years of ministry. “Bát” means eight, “Chánh” means right or straight, the opposite of wrong, and “Đạo” means the path. Before passing away, the Buddha affirmed to Subhadda, his last monastic disciple, that wherever the Noble Eightfold Path is practiced, there will be the fruit of practice and enlightenment. These eight elements hold a central position in the teachings; they are not separate but inter-are; each element contains the other seven, serving as both cause and effect of one another.

The content of the talk analyzes in detail the first five elements:

1. Right View: The correct view of all things and oneself. It is both the cause for right action and the fruit of the practice. Transmission via language is only a map, not reality itself; the practitioner must personally experience it to transform knowledge into solid insight.
2. Right Thinking: Thinking and discovering the true nature of reality, such as impermanence and nonself; equivalent to the factor of investigation of phenomena in the Seven Factors of Awakening.
3. Right Speech: Speech that accords with reality, capable of guiding, reconciling, and creating peace and joy. One must avoid four types of wrong speech: speaking untruths, speaking with a double tongue, speaking harsh words, and speaking with exaggeration.
4. Right Action: Bodily action; the correctness of action depends on the perception derived from Right View and Right Thinking.
5. Right Livelihood: A right means of livelihood that does not harm humans or nature, nor cause suffering and social injustice.

The Noble Eightfold Path is the path of eight right practices, a discovery made by the Buddha under the Bodhi tree. This is a teaching with a central position, taught by the Buddha in his first Dharma talk and used to remind his last disciple, Subhadda, before he passed away. In the Noble Eightfold Path, each element contains the other seven elements; when one develops, the other seven also develop. The first element is Right View, the correct way of looking at all things and at oneself. Right View is both a cause and an effect; it cannot be transmitted entirely through words—just as a map is not the city of Paris—but requires the practitioner to practice and experience it for themselves.

Next is Right Thinking, the thinking and exploring that is in accord with the reality of impermanence and nonself. Right Speech is speech that accords with reality, capable of opening up insight and reconciliation, avoiding four types of wrong speech:

1. Speaking untruthfully.
2. Speaking with a double tongue.
3. Speaking cruel words.
4. Exaggerating.
   Right Action is bodily action that depends on accurate perception. Right Livelihood is a correct means of living, not harming humans or nature, or causing social injustice. Right Diligence is the diligence and steady distribution of energy to practice daily towards peace and joy.

The center of the practice is Right Mindfulness, returning to the present moment to know what is happening in the body, mind, and environment. Right Mindfulness helps the practitioner avoid wrong mindfulness, such as wishing to live with Brahma without practicing. From Right Mindfulness arises Right Concentration, the concentration necessary for all other elements. There are two types of concentration: wrong concentration to escape suffering, and Right Concentration which helps to look deeply into the heart of reality to attain insight and dispel sorrow.

Having worked for peace in my heart, should I simply sit and walk while waiting for a door to open to help the suffering world?

• Is it easier to attain tranquility together with others, given that I personally find it very difficult to calm myself down?
• How can I follow my breathing and act with mindfulness in daily activities when I have not yet found inner peace?
• How can I overcome a nervous temperament that prevents me from finding peace?
• Are there any little tips for finding the time to breathe at work despite very tight deadlines?
• Are there practical ways to come out of the state of drowsiness that often invades the mind during sitting meditation?
• Is there any advice for a 15-year-old who is having trouble feeling comfortable in his own skin?
• How can we bring calm and mindfulness into the daily work environment when our energy is dispersed by so many demands?
• What elements should be considered during walking meditation, especially when lifting and placing the foot?
• How can I handle the guilt of limiting my energy to my family in order to maintain some serenity, while avoiding thinking about the world’s problems?
• What is our responsibility towards others, and how do we say no when someone asks too much?
• How can the practice equip us to handle the inner conflict created by employers who demand efficiency and speed out of economic fear?
• Do you have any comments on the feeling of being about to explode inside during the practice?
• How can we stay in touch with our body when doing abstract, analytical mental work or dealing with politics?
• How can I handle computer work when logical power is being manipulated by others for their own ends?
• How can I deal with the frightening experience of losing my sense of orientation and the dissolution of identity that sometimes occurs during the practice?
• After losing a son, how can one feel joy beyond serenity, and should one do everything possible to prolong one’s life when facing an uncertain illness?