Sangha, wonderful brothers and sisters, my heart is beating very, very fast. The door of this heart has opened a little, and thanks to true love, I have caught a glimpse of who I really am. The young adult that I am, with thirty-two years of conditioning and beliefs, has created a very strong image of myself. I still have many wrong perceptions, and an attachment to form that I am very afraid to let go of. How can I heal from this attachment so that I may live deeply in the heart, forever?

Dear Thay, dear Sangha, our friend has shared that the door of her heart is slightly open, and that she has glimpsed her true nature, but with the conditioning of her life, her habits, her perceptions, and an attachment to form, it is difficult to keep, to maintain her heart open and to realize, to live her true nature. How can we free ourselves from the conditioning of the past in order to live our true nature?

We have ideas about happiness. We have an idea of what happiness is. We think that without this or that, we cannot be happy. And we cling to things we believe are essential for our happiness. So it is important to take the time to sit down and look deeply. There are things we think are indispensable to our happiness, but perhaps they are obstacles to our happiness. With the practice of looking deeply into these things, we can free ourselves, we can let go, and happiness comes by itself. This is the practice of letting go, and first of all, letting go of our idea, our notion of happiness. It takes a little courage to be able to let go. And this courage can be born from deep looking. We know that these things, in the past, have never brought true happiness. And we have suffered a lot because of these things. If you have this deep insight into the nature of these obstacles, you will have enough courage to let go.

Freedom is the basic condition for happiness. There can be no happiness without freedom. And freedom is something we have to work for in order to obtain. But here, the work is the practice of deep looking. With this insight, it becomes much easier to let go of the things we have been attached to for a long time.

You may have an idea about the Buddha, or about Buddhism. You may have an idea about God or the Kingdom of God. And perhaps this notion, this idea, is an obstacle. So it is necessary to let go, even of the Buddha, even of God. Because it is not the Buddha himself, not God himself, but only an idea you have about the Buddha or about God. So you need to learn how to let go in order to have freedom. And if you live in a community, in a Sangha, you can ask the Sangha for help. Because a Sangha has an eye that is much clearer than our individual eye. Your Sangha will help you see what you are attached to, and how to let go of all these things, so you can begin to taste true happiness.