Thầy shares with schoolteachers how mindfulness can become a way of life, and why true education should be based on the insight of interbeing.

He begins with his time as a novice monk, learning short verses by heart for each act of daily life; an autumn leaf stuck to his mosquito net reminded him to recite the waking-up gāthā. Thầy then explores the four realms of mindfulness: the body, feelings, the mind, and objects of mind. He shows how a neutral feeling can become a wonderful one when we remember a toothache, and how mindfulness, concentration, and insight help us see that a rose is made only of non-rose elements.

Because we don’t know how to generate love and understanding ourselves, we look for them outside and try to fill the vacuum with consumption. Thầy describes manas, the organ of thinking, where the belief in a separate self gives rise to complexes of superiority, inferiority, and even equality. He offers the verse he learned for bowing to the Buddha, and the story of his right hand caring for his left after missing the nail with a hammer.

Applying the Four Noble Truths to education, Thầy invites teachers to recognize the suffering of teachers and students alike, speak with one voice, and reconsider what success means. He describes the simple, communal life of Plum Village—mindful walking, stopping at the sound of the bell, and a weekly Lazy Day, when friends greet each other with “Brother, are you lazy enough today?”—and encourages teachers to organize themselves into communities. Habit energy loses its power when we recognize it, and suffering, like the mud for the lotus, has its own goodness.

The last part of the talk looks closely at the Five Mindfulness Trainings as a global ethics that can be taught in school: protecting life, true happiness, true love, loving speech and deep listening—illustrated by retreats with Palestinians and Israelis and a young monk’s letter to his father—and mindful consumption. Thầy closes with his conviction that happy teachers, who know how to generate understanding and love, will help the younger generation change the world.

This is the final talk in a series of four given during the Educators’ Retreat: An Exploration of Mindful Education, on the UK and Ireland Tour in the year 2013. Thầy offered this talk at The American School in London, England.