This à la carte Dharma talk, given in French with simultaneous interpretation into English, begins with several members of the Sangha asking their questions of Thầy. Among the questions raised:

• Is the absolute, or the unconditioned, the same as God, and does it play a role in our lives?
• After a difficult time in noble silence, how can we offer ourselves the love and solidity we are able to offer others?
• Having been raised with the idea of heaven, how can we find happiness in the here and now?
• What is the well-being of an arhat, and how is it shared?

Thầy then addresses those questions—which have to do with enhancing group communication, noble silence, absolute and relative truth, watering positive seeds in ourselves and in others, and the Pure Land.

Thầy shares that communication among members of a group is facilitated by doing group relaxation or practice together. He explores how noble silence can lead to an awareness of mindful, intentional thought and speech, turning Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am” on its head and suggesting a little notepad for the things we feel the urge to say. He also speaks of watering the positive seeds in others and in ourselves, and why the latter can seem harder.

Thầy notes that there’s a continuum between relative and absolute truth. A wave may be seen as representing relative (temporary, historical) truth, whereas the water comprising the wave may be seen as ultimate truth, which is beyond our ability to describe. He speaks of nirvāṇa and God in this light.

He points out that the unconditioned exists in all conditioned phenomena. A wave (conditioned phenomenon) can’t be separated from water (unconditioned). For this reason, he teaches, there’s no birth and no death; there’s only transformation. If a wave can recognise the presence of water in herself, all her fear will disappear.

Thầy states that he doesn’t want to go to a place where there’s no suffering, because in such a place there’s no understanding or compassion—understanding and compassion are born from suffering. He reflects on the lotus that can’t grow on marble, notes that even in the Pure Land Sutra people practise walking meditation, and closes with a few words on arhats and bodhisattvas.

Turning to the Pure Land and the Kingdom of God, Thầy explains why he would not want to go to a place where there’s no suffering. He reflects on the lotus that cannot grow on marble, and notes that in the Pure Land Sutra, those who arrive still practise walking meditation. He closes with a few words on arhats and bodhisattvas.

This talk is from a series given during the 90-Day Fall Retreat in the year 2004. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.