Thầy begins with the advice he once gave a reporter who asked what we should most do: “Go home and take care of yourself.” Taking care of ourselves, he teaches, is also taking care of the world, and with a Sangha it is easier to learn how.

Thầy speaks of the Buddha and Jesus as children of this planet who accepted it as their home, and invites us to take their hand in walking meditation. Touching the autumn leaves on the path, he sees love flowing both ways between the trees and the Earth, and explores how we nourish one another: a mother and the child she carries, the Sangha and its teacher, and, with each piece of bread, our blood and spiritual ancestors, Jesus and the Buddha in us. When we take refuge in the Buddha, the Buddha also takes refuge in us.

Thầy then follows the Buddha in his last months around Vaiśālī, when, aware he would soon pass away, he gave many short talks on taking refuge in the island of self—atta-dīpa. A story of returning to his own hermitage on a hill as the weather turned one autumn afternoon shows what to do on the days when nothing works: close the six doors and light the fire of mindful breathing. Our true home is not really situated in space or time, and with one in-breath we can arrive there, wherever we are. In that island we also find the Three Jewels, and Thầy describes the Buddha as the energy of mindfulness, recalling how he once told a Catholic priest in Rome that the Holy Spirit is the energy of mindfulness.

Remembering how the Buddha turned to look at Vaiśālī one last time “with the eyes of an elephant king,” Thầy reminds us that we have those eyes too. He closes with a Christmas invitation to stop, go home to ourselves, and enjoy every step on this planet, because without taking good care of ourselves we cannot take care of our true home, our planet.

This talk was given on Christmas Eve during the Christmas and New Year Retreat in the year 2007/2008. Thầy offered this talk at the New Hamlet, Plum Village, France.