Today is the twenty-fourth of July, 2014, and we are in the Still Water Meditation Hall, Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, during our practice, the summer retreat session.

We have all been a little boy of five years old or a little girl of five years old. Is the little girl or the little boy still there, alive? The five-year-old boy is no longer visible. We do not see him anymore. When you look through the family photo album, you can see the boy. That is yourself, the little girl who was yourself at the age of five. The question that is asked is, “Has that little boy already died? Or is he still alive?” If he is still alive, why don’t we see him anymore? Why don’t we see him anymore? And if the child has died, why are we here? It is because we are a continuation of the child.

The children have already meditated on the corn seed this week. Thầy told them that the corn plant began as a tiny seed. The seed grows into a plant. We no longer see the seed. But we cannot say that the seed has died. The seed is no longer there. And yet, the seed is no longer visible. And when something is not visible, we say it is not there. But that is not true. The seed is still there, in its new form. It is because the plant is the continuation of the seed.

So, the question touches the idea of being and non-being, birth and death. Is the child alive? Has the child already died? Does the child exist now? Does the child not exist, not exist anymore now? These are quite deep questions.