Interbeing of Suffering and Happiness – Ill-being (dukkha) and well-being (sukha) are two organic realities that cannot be separated: only when we experience suffering do we truly appreciate happiness; deep meditation helps us to recognize the roots of our suffering, so that we can transform it and open the door to well-being.

Afflictions and enlightenment also inter-are, like flowers and garbage: instead of running away, we should learn to take care of our afflictions in order to nourish awakening. In the Sangha, brotherhood and sisterhood are precious jewels, nourishing and sustaining our collective happiness – to lose the Sangha is to lose this brotherhood and sisterhood, like “throwing away the baby with the bathwater.”

Two practical proposals were made to UNESCO:

1. “A Global No Car Day” – to encourage at least 10,000 people to make the aspiration not to use their cars one day a week, in order to protect the environment and promote peace.
2. To establish a center for nonviolence training for teachers at all levels, using methods of walking meditation, recognizing and transforming anger, to sow the seeds of a culture of peace right in our schools.