We have only four days for the retreat “Listening to Understand, Looking Back to Love,” and we need to make the most of our time to grasp the basic Dharma doors of practice: mindful breathing and mindful walking. The breath and the step are like delicate lotus threads, yet strong enough to tie up a fierce tiger, to tame the wild mind like an elephant, and to help us return to the present moment, here and now, which is the address of the wondrous life. When you have fifteen minutes to yourself, instead of chatting or taking photos, practice slow walking meditation: breathe in, take a step, invest 100% of your body and mind in each step until you are fully established in the present moment.

Young Buddhists are entrusted with these two “lotus threads” and must continue to practice after the retreat so as not to waste their efforts. At the same time, young people need a concrete ideal to bring the energy of compassion to serve society. Engaged Buddhism has a long tradition in Vietnam, and for over sixty years has established the Buddhist Youth Family with three aspects of education: intellectual, physical, and ethical. At present, in the context of 47,000 young people running away from home each year in France (with 35 suicides every day) and nearly 10,000 missing through the Internet, it is urgent to reestablish a young Buddhist organization based on the Five Mindfulness Trainings.

The Five Mindfulness Trainings:

• The First Training: Reverence for life – protecting human beings, animals, plants, and the environment
• The Second Training: Generosity – not taking what is not given
• The Third Training: True love – practicing fidelity, preventing sexual misconduct and abuse
• The Fourth Training: Loving speech and deep listening – to restore communication and bring about reconciliation
• The Fifth Training: Mindful consumption – not bringing toxins into body and mind through food, drink, books, newspapers, or films

On the basis of the Five Trainings, young Buddhists can establish the European Buddhist Youth for a healthy and compassionate society, to apply the energy of compassion and build a wholesome and loving society.