Thay tells the story of his younger brother named Song, who just passed away in Chicago at nearly seventy years old. Song had five daughters, affectionately called the “Five Dragon Princesses,” and possessed three virtues: gentleness, filial piety, and steadfastness. After many years apart, when Song came to America to study, he gave up beer, alcohol, martial arts films, and cigarettes, listened only to dharma talks and Plum Village music, diligently practiced, and always cherished memories of the old mustard flower garden full of butterflies. Thay affirms that Song continues to be present through us, through his children, grandchildren, and disciples who inherit his three virtues.

Thay shares the plan to publish a message of compassion and forgiveness in the New York Times on September 25th, with a full-page ad costing $40,000 and a quarter-page the next day, calling on America to respond to violence with compassion. According to a survey, 71% of Americans support retaliation, while Senator John McCain declared no tolerance for the enemy. Thay attended a talk at Riverside Church on “responding to violence with compassion,” quoting the Gospel of Saint Luke: “Father, please forgive them because they know not what they do,” and the Sermon on the Mount about loving your enemies, while encouraging two forms of forgiveness—declaration and programs to care for victims.

Thay guides the practice of mindfulness through three basic methods:

• Walking meditation: using “the Buddha’s feet,” synchronizing the breath with each step following The Long Road Turns into Joy to nourish freedom.
• Prostration meditation: three steps—touching (bringing hands to the forehead, to the heart, and to the earth), letting go (opening the hands to show there is no separate self), and receiving (breathing in and opening the heart to ancestors, the Buddha, bodhisattvas, and Mother Earth)—to transform anger, pride, and to continue the ancestral stream.
• Sitting meditation: regulating the body (settling the body), calming the mind (settling the emotions), then either simply recognizing whatever feelings arise, or practicing guided meditation for a specific purpose (for example, chanting the beginner’s mind gatha—“The bodhi mind arises, transcending the world…”). The sangha is encouraged to integrate mindful breathing into daily life so that when sitting in meditation, the mind is not distracted (“like a chicken scratching in a shrimp pot”), and the spirit of spiritual family, teacher and student, brothers and sisters is nurtured through collective practice.

The present moment is the only place where the candle radiates its light, its beauty, and its warmth; if we are busy chasing after the future, we no longer have energy for the present. Pouring all our energy into building projects, degrees, or charity work while forgetting the present moment is to fall into “conceptual nourishment,” which becomes an obstacle to life and to practice. To take care of the present moment, we only need to examine it as we would a grain of rice: take a moment to see whether it contains

• the substance of nourishment for body and mind
• the substance of healing for body and mind
• the substance of joy, happiness, and progress on the path
  If not, then the whole “pot of rice” that is our life is burning or half-cooked.

A monastic is like an orange tree – present to produce the flowers of understanding, the flowers of compassion, and the fruits of happiness right in the present moment; not waiting until the future to offer these gifts. Success depends on two kinds of “retribution” in karmic fruition:

• primary retribution (nature/inborn) – the form, the seeds of consciousness inherited from our parents
• secondary retribution (nurture/acquired) – the circumstances, the environment that nourishes us
  A true Sangha is a wholesome environment of nourishment, building brotherhood and sisterhood on the foundation of the Bodhi mind. Each step, each smile, each word spoken with mindfulness is a gift that nourishes the Sangha, helping ourselves and our elder brothers, elder sisters, and younger siblings to go further on the path of practice.

After the candle has burned out, when there is no more wax or wick, that original “candle” no longer exists, but its flame and energy continue to be present in the form of light, heat, ash, and may even become a leaf or a poem… This is the principle of dependent co-arising: all phenomena do not arise from nothing but manifest when conditions are sufficient, and do not disappear but only become hidden when conditions are no longer present. This view is distinct from two opposing wrong views:

• Annihilationism believes that after burning out, nothing remains at all;
• Eternalism believes that the flame remains unchanged forever.

The teachings also point out two more wrong views: Identity view holds that the two flames before and after are one and the same; Difference view holds that they are completely different. Beyond these four propositions (existence – non-existence – both existence and non-existence – neither existence nor non-existence), there is no other way to answer. The practice is to see the unborn nature of all dharmas, meaning not birth and death, but only manifestation and hiding.

Practicing mindfulness and the insight of the Middle Way helps us:

1. See that the candle, ourselves, and our loved ones are neither born nor die, transcending notions of birth, death, permanence, annihilation, identity, and difference.
2. Understand that past, present, and future inter-are – the past has not disappeared, the future is already present in the now – so we can transform suffering and build happiness in every moment.

In Buddhist language, the following terms can be used simultaneously to clearly distinguish between lay and monastic practitioners:

• Upāsaka: one who is close to the monastic community
• Lay friend: one who still lives at home, as opposed to one who has left home
• Layperson: both lay men and lay women
• Monastic (renunciant): both monks and nuns

The “Beginning Anew Gatha” is a chant that each practitioner must personally record based on their own experience, and recite daily in order to nourish the original source of energy that inspired us to leave everything behind and enter the monastic life. When reading it again, the content should clearly state:

1. The original aspiration and the journey of overcoming obstacles to become a monastic
2. The joy and happiness upon being accepted into the monastic community
3. The details of the longing and contemplation that help rekindle the original flame of aspiration

The “Aspiration to the Pure Land” chant (page 33) consists of eight verses summarizing the teaching of the intrinsic nature of Amitabha, the Pure Land as mind-only, and the practice of mindful recitation of the Buddha’s name with undistracted mind, leading to “the nine grades of lotus flowers manifesting in the present, benefiting both self and others.” Mindfulness of Amitabha in the ultimate dimension, together with the wondrous light of infinite radiance and infinite lifespan, will shine upon and carry the practitioner, helping them to attain peace with every step and to transform afflictions, so that “the Pure Land is walked step by step, steadily and at ease, right here and right now.”