Earlier this year, during a retreat in Rome, Italy, with nine hundred adults and over one hundred children, Thich Nhat Hanh invited participants to plant living corn seeds in small pots, water them daily, and dialogue with the young plants as a homework exercise parallel to our own growth in the womb, before ending his Dharma talk and opening the floor for questions on practice, happiness, and suffering.

1. How do we keep the pace of mindfulness practice, like mindful breathing, in daily life for busy young working people and children?
2. How do we inspire large numbers of angry and unhappy people in times of violence and mindlessness to listen and be listened to?
3. How can we help wounded children whose negative seeds have been watered for years, and what is the best way to respond to violence in a child’s art or writing?
4. Having been abused as a child, how can one heal from the inability to give or accept love?
5. Buddhism teaches that attachment causes suffering, so how can we maintain relationships without attachment and avoid suffering?
6. When compassion for others brings us suffering, how can we feel compassion and still be happy?
7. As a seventy-five-year-old in a fast city feeling isolated and lonely, how can I handle old age and loneliness, and when will you return to Delhi?
8. Should we keep our children away from violent news for a more stable view, or do they need to know the world’s suffering to develop mindfulness and compassion?
9. How can we sustain deep, compassionate listening in charity work without becoming exhausted or neglecting self-care?
10. Is having a Sangha a prerequisite for practice, and does destiny play a role in achieving enlightenment?
11. Having achieved everything early and now receiving significant monthly returns automatically, what should I focus on and do next?
12. If the young generation focuses on present enjoyment and lacks a vision for the future, how will growth happen in society and in family ventures like new institutes?
13. How do we stop the process of hate, starting from terrorists who are victims of hatred and generate more hate?