Thầy teaches that suffering and happiness are both arts we can learn. Suffering, he explains, is a kind of mud we need in order to grow lotus flowers, and if we know how to suffer, we suffer much less.

He speaks of the little sufferings of daily life, and of the blocks of suffering that may have been transmitted to us by our father, our mother, or our ancestors. When our own mindfulness is not yet strong enough, we can borrow the collective energy of the Sangha to embrace them. The most precious thing a Sangha can offer, Thầy says, is not hard work but that collective energy of mindfulness and peace.

Thầy shares, “There is no way to healing; healing is the way.” Healing is possible with every breath and every step, but only if we stop. He presents the Five Mindfulness Trainings as a way to stop the kinds of thinking and acting that create ill-being, and describes how light we feel the moment we decide to stop.

Thầy then asks, “Can you create a moment of happiness?” A little happiness, he suggests, is like a soup: with a few ingredients, we can make one for ourselves and offer some to others. He speaks of people who spend hours at the computer and forget they have a body, and of the bell of mindfulness that reminds us to come back to it. He names the non-stop thinking radio that keeps us chewing on our sorrow, fear, and anger, and invites us to feel rather than to think, as when we touch Mother Earth with our foot.

Walking, eating, and sitting together are offered not as duties but as opportunities to heal and to create moments of joy. Thầy closes by recalling that, as many sūtras say, the Dharma is lovely in the beginning, the middle, and the end, so every minute of the practice should be pleasant, healing, and transforming.

This talk was given on the Daffodil Festival Day of Mindfulness during the Spring Retreat in the year 2013. Thầy offered this talk at the Upper Hamlet, Plum Village, France.