dear Sangha. Yesterday, I participated in a sharing on the Five Mindfulness Trainings, on how we practice them in our daily lives, and I was very happy to share about the Third Mindfulness Training on True Love. Then came the Fourth Mindfulness Training on Loving Speech. What another person shared at that moment allowed me to touch a deep suffering within myself, a core of suffering that, until now, I had not truly touched in its nature. I do not know exactly how to free myself from it. At the same time, I know it is a wrong perception, yet I still feel it. That is to say, I experience a very strong guilt for actions I did not commit—actions stemming from the war, from the past, from my mother’s ancestors, who are German. My father had a previous marriage to a Jewish woman. They had two daughters, one of whom committed suicide when I was twelve. I have worked a great deal to overcome this suffering. I think I have partially succeeded. But I am struggling now. I have finally touched something I hadn't touched before: the fact that I carry the guilt of being a survivor. She could not live, but I could. And here I am, and I have so much happiness being here, so much. I want to thank the Sangha—the jewel of the Sangha, the jewel of the Dharma, the jewel of the Buddha, and Thay—for bringing me so much happiness and joy. Yet, I also find it somewhat difficult to accept this happiness. So, how can I free myself from guilt for something I did not do?

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer: We know very well that the suffering of our ancestors is still there within us. The suffering of our parents is also there; they are within us. This suffering has been transmitted to us. At the same time, other elements have been transmitted, such as joy, happiness, experience, and knowledge. And that is why meditation is there to handle, to learn how to handle this suffering within us.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): For example, fear. The fear of dying. At the moment of our birth, we are very afraid. For nine months, our mother breathed for us, ate for us, and it was comfortable in her womb. But when we begin to come out, it is terrible, it is difficult.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): You have to take your first in-breath. The child must do it, and no one has taught him how to do it. To survive, you must take an in-breath, an out-breath. The first one.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): There was liquid in your lungs. You have to do something to get the liquid out in order to be able to take an in-breath. The movement is very dangerous, very difficult. We risk dying. So the fear of dying already exists at that moment, and it continues.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): And along with the fear of our parents, there is the fear of the ancestors. The fear of not being able to survive. Hunger, things like that. Our ancestors knew hunger.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): And this fear is still within us. So, the wounded child is still alive within us. And the child is locked in a room with a lot of darkness. And every day, every night, the child projects the film of the past to watch. And that is why there is suffering in us, day and night. So we must go back to the child. We must speak to the child, we must embrace the child with a lot of tenderness. And that is exactly what a practitioner of meditation must do. We must speak to the wounded child within us, to the suffering that is within us. In the practice, we know that in the present moment, there is sunshine, there are trees, there is the blue sky, there is the Sangha, the Dharma, there is a possibility to be in peace, in safety, and to have happiness. We do not need to be afraid.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): The child may have been abused. She is afraid, he is afraid. We must speak to the child. Dear sister, little sister, dear little brother, the situation has changed, we have become adults. You do not know, but we have become adults, you and I. And we can defend ourselves very well. We can even call the police.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): So, please come out of the past with me. Let us enjoy the present moment together. The Kingdom of God is here. The Pure Land of the Buddha is here. There is rain, sunshine, and birds. All these things are here; you must come out with me.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): You have to speak to the suffering child within you, every day. You have to hold the child’s hand and help him or her come out into the present moment. So every time you practice walking meditation, take the child with you. Every time you sit down and enjoy your in-breath and out-breath, invite the child to do the same with you.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): Do not leave the child all alone in that dark room. The Buddha said the past is gone. But the child is still living in the past. And the past is like a film being projected.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): And the film of the past is always being projected in that dark room. Suppose we are in a movie theater watching a film. There are moments when many people in the theater cry because of what they see on the screen. But what is on the screen is not real. It is only a film. If you were invited to come up with me and touch the screen, you would not touch any men or women. The reality is just light. It is something that is not real, yet it can give rise to pain. The tear you shed is a real tear. But what is happening on the screen is not real. So we must speak to the child. Tell the child that the past is gone, these are only images.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): We must come out. We must come back to the present moment. And this is our daily practice. When we eat, when we walk, when we sit.

Thich Nhat Hanh, Answer (continued): That is the miracle of the practice of mindfulness. To bring the child out so that he or she can learn to be happy. There are brothers and sisters among us who have been able to do that, to perform that miracle. We must save the child. So with a practicing Sangha, everyone will be able to do the same thing, to heal the child and transform the suffering transmitted by our parents and our ancestors. It is possible.