Thầy shows how, as practitioners, we can learn to produce a moment of peace, joy, and happiness whenever we want, because every breath, every step, and every time we sit down is an opportunity to practice. He recalls being ordained as a novice at sixteen and given a book of gāthās—short verses in classical Chinese to learn by heart—and offers the gāthā for opening the water tap, with one line for each in-breath and out-breath. “In order to get in touch with something, you have to be there.”

Thầy shares the gāthā for sitting down, and the image of the Buddha sitting lightly on a lotus flower. As one of the first monks in Vietnam to ride a bicycle, he wrote a gāthā for riding one, and he describes how much easier the practice becomes when we live in a Sangha, where the community reminds us.

Thầy then explores the first four exercises of mindful breathing proposed by the Buddha: knowing the in-breath, following it all the way through, becoming aware of the whole body, and releasing the tension in it. He uses a marker to show what it means to follow the in-breath, and likens mindfulness embracing the breath to sunshine embracing the vegetation. Turning to painful feelings, he offers a way to greet them tenderly rather than cover them up, and points out that we don’t need to wait until the pain is gone in order to have peace.

Thầy describes the Buddhist distinction between joy and happiness through the image of a thirsty traveler who sees an oasis, and invites us to enjoy two minutes of toothbrushing or a cup of tea. Mindfulness, he says, is not sold in the marketplace; we have to produce it.

Thầy also tells the story of Bhāradvāja, a rich landlord who challenged the Buddha and his monks for eating without working the land, and the Buddha’s reply that our mind is our land. He closes with the solidity, freedom, and peace that can be produced in every step of walking meditation, not only for ourselves, but for society.

This talk is from a series given during the Fall Retreat in the year 2009. Thầy offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village, France.