Dear Thay, dear Sangha, Thay just spoke about the importance of not being carried away by our anxiety about the future and our fear. And one friend has asked what path or what practice can they follow to heal anxiety and phobia? What path and what practice can they use to heal anxiety and phobia? And more generally, another friend asks how can we transform the unwholesome seeds at the base?

When we are really established in the present moment, we can get in touch deeply with what is there. Because we are really established in the present moment, that is why we have a chance to look at everything in ourselves and around us more deeply. And when you look like that, you realize that there is no danger.

There is no danger and you do not have to be afraid of anything. Suppose in the past you were a boat people, you have experienced the danger of crossing the ocean and you run the risk of being sunk into the ocean and eaten by the fish. You may risk being caught in a storm and the whole boatload will die. So in the past you have experienced that kind of thing.

Now you are on land, you are safe. And if every time you think of the past, you suffer of the memory of the past, that kind of suffering can come back and come back again and again. But if you know how to learn to stay in the present moment, you would be aware that the past is already gone and in the present moment there is no danger anymore.

And if you realize that, the fear will disappear. Suppose you were abused when you were a child and that kind of fear continues to be in you. But now you have grown up into an adult. And if you stay in the present moment, you realize that you have become an adult.

You are no longer vulnerable. You can very well defend yourself. You can call the police. You can push the other person away. You are no longer a child that can be abused by anyone. So living in the present moment helps you to realize that there is no danger in the here and the now. And you can overcome that kind of phobia, that kind of fear that continues to haunt, to come back and to make you suffer.

The future also, because we know that we have grown up to be an adult, we are capable of handling the problems in the present moment. And if we know we are capable of handling problems in the present moment, we will be able to handle problems in the future. We will cross the bridge when we come to it. Don't have to be afraid in advance.

So learning to live deeply in the present moment can help us to be stronger and realize that there is no real danger now.

[One sound of the bell.]