Thầy offers global ethics as a practice anyone can take up, whatever their religion: “You don’t need to be a Buddhist in order to practice mindfulness of breathing.” He begins by talking about listening to the bell and inviting every cell of our body to listen with us, and to create the healing power of the collective energy of mindfulness. He describes what a good practitioner is able to do: release the tension in the body—since our pain is a function of our tension—and generate joy and happiness at any time by touching the many conditions of happiness available to each of us.

Thầy speaks of the “goodness of suffering”: as the lotus needs the mud, understanding and compassion are born from embracing our suffering, and they are the foundation of true happiness. Having listened to our own suffering, we can listen to the suffering of another person. He describes loving speech and compassionate listening and how mindfulness of compassion protects us while we listen. He then talks about how retreatants are able to accomplish reconciliation on the fifth day of a retreat.

Thầy then goes through the first eight of the sixteen exercises of mindful breathing proposed by the Buddha. He recalls the Buddha telling a group of businessmen that they can be happy right here and right now, and offers the image of a mother holding her crying baby for embracing a painful feeling. Speaking of store consciousness and mind consciousness, he explains how the energy of mindfulness takes care of anger without fighting it, like giving our fear and anger a mindfulness bath.

The talk turns to schoolteachers. Thầy tells of a mathematics teacher in Toronto whose class stopped to breathe each time a boy clapped his hands as a reminder to be mindful. He observes that the way out is in: a teacher begins with themselves, then their family, then their class. The class can become a loving family that provides a second chance for a child to learn what love is.

This is the second talk in a series of five given during the Happy Teachers Will Change the World retreat in the year 2013. Thầy offered this talk at Brock University, Ontario, Canada.