Dear Thay, I work as a psychotherapist and I was very interested the other day when you said that as therapists we should bring our understanding of store consciousness into our work. I've utilized this to some extent and it's helped me to not get so bogged down in the causal dimension of the historical part of my clients. I was just wondering to what extent one can utilize that without imposing a Buddhist perspective explicitly on my work.

It is absolutely possible to speak about the practice of Buddhist meditation without using any Buddhist term. And we all know that you don't have to be a Buddhist in order to enjoy practices like walking, mindful walking, mindful sitting, mindful breathing, and so on. I remember last year in a retreat offered to police officers and other law enforcement people in Madison, Wisconsin. We offered people the three refuges and the Five Mindfulness Trainings. And we only used a secular language. There are no Buddhist terms in the text. We did not use the word Buddha, Dharma, Sangha, precepts, and so on.

And these police officers and prison guards, they didn't feel that they have to embrace the Buddhist faith in order to practice. The essentials of the Buddhist teaching can be translated into regular language and anyone can accept. Because Buddhism is first of all a way of life. And anyone can profit from the wisdom of the practitioners, the experiences of the practitioners.

So as a therapist, you don't have to talk about Buddhism. You just talk about the experience of your practice in a kind of language that could be understood by your clients. For instance, you can introduce the practice of mindful walking to them and give them a chance to enjoy walking peacefully and happily. And you might give your support by holding the hand of a friend and channel some of your energy so that that person can also make peaceful and happy steps. And that can be done without mentioning about Buddhism. In psychology they speak of the subconscious and the unconscious. That is part of store consciousness. So you may use these two terms when you want to refer to store. And store is not a Buddhist term. Store is in our common language.

So when you speak of someone who has a high degree of understanding and compassion, then the Buddhist thinks right away of a bodhisattva, of a Buddha, because the bodhisattvas and Buddhas have a very high level of compassion and understanding. But those who are not Buddhist are very capable to visualize a person, a human being with a lot of compassion and understanding.

So instead of using bodhisattvas and Buddhas, you say a man, a woman, a gentleman, a lady, a person. This is possible. But I am convinced that if you practice well and if you get the fruit of the practice, you will be able to convey, to share your experience and give the teaching that has only the Buddhist flavor and content and not with the Buddhist appearance as a religion. This is always possible.

Most of the people who come to our retreats in America, in Europe, they are not Buddhist. They come from a Christian background, a Jewish background, and so on. And they feel very comfortable because they are not told to embrace the Buddhist faith before they can practice. And we tell them that we want them to stay with their own tradition.

Because a person who is uprooted cannot be a happy person. So to encourage people to stay in their tradition, to learn to practice in order to strengthen their tradition and renew their tradition, that is very good for them, for the tradition, and especially for the younger generation who feel a little bit alienated from the tradition.

The best kind of Buddhist is the Buddhist that does not wear a lot of Buddhist appearances. You have heard of signlessness. You do not need to look Buddhist. But you have to be compassionate, understanding, you are a real Buddhist. And we have the chance to listen more to the teaching about the store consciousness.