Today is the 15th of October, 2013, and we are in the Deer Park Monastery in the Ocean of Peace meditation hall on our fifth day of the retreat with the theme of Finding Our True Home. Today we have a session of questions and answers. And we know that a good question can profit many people. That is why we should only ask the question of the heart.

A question that has to do with our suffering, our happiness, our practice, our difficulties. This retreat is not a course on Buddhist studies; it is a retreat. And we are here to practice in order to heal and to transform. We are not here to learn about Buddhism, Buddhist studies.

Those of us who have a question are invited to come here and sit close to Thay and take our turn to sit on that chair so that everyone can see him or her before asking the question. In the tradition, before you ask the question, you listen to the bell and you breathe in and out three times with the whole Sangha. And a good question does not have to be very long.

From time to time, there will be a written question that will be read by Sister Dedication here. If you don't want to come, you can write down your question and ask someone to bring it to Sister Dedication, who is on Thay's left. Please come up here and sit around Thay. It is very beautiful from here. The Sangha is beautiful.

[One sound of the bell.]

Dear Thay, dear Sangha. I just want to give some background before I ask my question. My father passed away a couple of years ago. My father passed away about two and a half years ago now, and it was due to prostate cancer, which metastasized into his bones. And he suffered a lot because of that, from the pain in his body, mental unclarity, so it was very hard for me to communicate with him in his later days.

And it was very peaceful for me to let him go, but now I see that it gets harder and harder for me to try to connect with his energy and harder for me to feel grief and feel emotion towards that. So I guess my question is, how can I practice to have a connection with him even though he's passed in this life? And I also have a side question if you have a minute to answer. I'm seriously considering ordaining as a monk, so I was wondering what is the cause of one to do that in a greater sense, and if you can just a little bit expand on what that process is. Thank you.

Dear Thay, dear Sangha. Our friend shared that his father passed away two years ago from a cancer, and towards the end of his illness, that was a very painful time for his father.