[Reading questions.] Dear Thầy, we have two questions about understanding our ancestors whom we do not know. And they are expressed in this one question: "How can I heal the suffering of my ancestors when I don't know how they suffered?" How can we deal with ancestors in the case of being orphans who have grown up without having any contact with their blood family?

I think two questions are related to each other: "We do not understand the suffering of our ancestors. How can we help? We do not physically know our father, our mother. And how can we—we don't have any connection. And how can we love them and understand them?"

There are people who still have their father alive, mother alive. And yet they cannot connect with them. They cannot talk to them. They cannot communicate to them. And there are those who have lost their father, who have lost their mother. They don't know who their father was. The father is, the mother is. And there is no chance to connect because they are no longer there.

So how can we connect with them? How can we understand their suffering, their happiness? How can we be truly rooted in our ancestors? Because a person without roots cannot be happy, we cannot be happy people. So the two questions are related to each other.

And with the practice of meditation, looking deeply, we can connect with our father, our mother, even if he is no longer there, if he refuses to see us. We have a monastic here in our community and her father is still alive, but he refuses to see her. He is in a high position in the society, but he wanted to forget, to entirely deny the past. And she wrote to him that: "Daddy, I am your child and I want to meet you and connect with you, to talk to you and to sit close to you." And he refused.

And there are those of us who are orphaned, who have not had any chance to see our father, who do not know really who is our father, our mother. But with this practice we can connect because looking into your body, your feelings, your suffering, you see the body, the suffering, the hope of your parents. Because the fact is that you are the continuation of your father, of your mother. It's like the plant of corn is the continuation of the seed of corn. And although the plant of corn does not see the kernel of corn, but she is—she knows that she is the continuation of the kernel of corn, the corn kernel. And she knows that in every cell of the plant there is the existence of the corn kernel.

So with someone who practices mindfulness meditation, she can touch her father, her mother, much more deeply than those who still have their father and mother and who cannot talk to them. They have the impression that they know who their father is, who their mother is, but in fact they don't know anything. So connection is impossible. Even the father is still alive, the mother is still alive.

So the answer is that if you practice looking deeply, you can see your father in you, your mother in you. You look very much like your father; you feel very much like your father. We are made of form, feelings, perceptions. And your father has transmitted quite a lot of his form, his feelings, his perceptions to you. And then you feel connected right away. You are the continuation of your father. You are your father.

I remember many years ago walking in the streets of London, I saw displayed in the bookstore window a book with the title, My Mother, My Self. I did not buy the book because I had the impression that I knew what was in the book. We are the continuation of our mother. We are our mother. The continuation is already there. We need only to be aware.

So you can begin already to talk to your father in you: "Daddy. I know you are there. I am full of you in my body. You have had suffering, you have had difficulties transmitted to me. Now I have encountered the Dharma. We shall practice together and transform the negative things in us and we shall develop the wonderful things in us that you have transmitted to me. Maybe in your lifetime you have not had the chance to develop the positive or wonderful qualities in you, but they are still there, already transmitted to me. And now with the Dharma, with the Sangha, we shall practice together and make them manifest. So we'll be breathing together, walking together, sitting together, and get the peace, the healing, the transformation, the joy that we need."

So you can talk to your father, your mother, even if you have not actually seen your father physically and so on. And it's like our spiritual ancestors. You have not seen Jesus personally. You have not met the Buddha personally. But you have received his, their teaching. You have put into practice their teaching. You have the Dharma body in you. So Jesus is alive in every cell of your body. Buddha is alive in every cell of your body. You can talk to them, "Jesus, I know you are there in myself." You don't have to go and look for Jesus elsewhere. He is your ancestor and you are a continuation. You should know how to walk like him, to break the bread like him, to pour the wine like him, mindfully.

On the way to Emmaus, the three travelers did not recognize Jesus. But once they came to the inn, and the other person ordered dinner, and break the bread, and pour the wine, and by looking at him, they recognized that Jesus is not dead, she is still alive. So if you know how to break the bread mindfully, to enjoy the piece of bread in your hand, you touch the body of Jesus. That is the essential of the Eucharist. And Jesus is available to you twenty-four hours a day. If you know how to walk like him, to sit like him, to breathe like him, to break the bread like him, and then you are with him all the time. That is the deepest connection.

So this applies to your blood ancestors, biological ancestors, and to your spiritual ancestors also. I have never complained that I was born a little bit too late, 2500 years after the Buddha. I never complained like that because I know that the Buddha is available in the here and the now. Your father also, your mother also. So that is the insight you got when you practice mindfulness and concentration. The answer is good enough?