[Thay reads from a book.] "It is the community that is composed of four pairs of eight kinds of holy people." A real Sangha should be a Sangha, a true Sangha should be a Sangha where the element of holiness exists. We used to refer to the Pope as "His Holiness" and to the Dalai Lama as "His Holiness". But we don't know whether that element of holiness can be in us. Anyway, the element of holiness should be there in the Sangha, in order for the Sangha to be a real one. And what is it, the energy, the element of holiness? What makes the Sangha holy is the presence of the Buddha in the Sangha, the presence of the Dharma in the Sangha, and the presence of the mindfulness trainings in the Sangha. In our first Dharma talk, we have described the six togethernesses, that make a true Sangha possible. And the second togetherness is practicing the same mindfulness trainings. What if people in the Sangha do not practice mindfulness trainings? It cannot be a holy assembly at all, the Sangha.

It is because of the fact that everyone in the Sangha practices mindfulness, the mindfulness trainings, that the Sangha can become a holy community. Because in the mindfulness trainings there is the Buddha, there is also the Dharma. And that is why it's very important to remind ourselves that the practice of mindfulness made it concrete by the trainings, the five trainings, the fourteen trainings, the ten trainings, the two hundred fifty trainings. Very concrete, it makes the Sangha holy and not something else. When you practice mindful walking, you produce the element of holiness. Because in mindfulness there is concentration, and the concentration always brings about insight. And holiness is something that you can produce with each step you make. If you come to a community, and if you feel that there is the element of holiness in it, because members of the community are practicing mindfulness. This is sure.

And every one of us, whether we are young or less young, or men or women, it is possible for us to produce the element of holiness in our daily life. Every time you look at something with mindfulness, every time you smile with mindfulness, you produce the element of holiness. Because mindfulness is the capacity of being there, fully present, fully alive, and touching deeply life. It is like the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is there, life is possible. and God is present.

So in the expression Holy Spirit, there is the word holy, which is the element of holiness. And we don't have to seek for holiness elsewhere. Because there is a seed of mindfulness in all of us. And every time we touch that seed, and that seed becomes an energy of mindfulness, guiding our words, guiding our thoughts, guiding our actions, and then we are producing the element of holiness every minute, every second. Let us not have any complex. We can be holy. And when I look at my disciples, I see many of them have that, have the element of holiness in them. The way they walk, the way they breathe, the way they look at each other, the way they do things silently and in mindfulness, express the element of holiness in their life. So every practitioner can be addressed as his or her holiness. There is no doubt about it.

And if I respect the Sangha, I revere the Sangha, if I look upon members of Sangha with respect because I see the element of holiness in them, even if they are still very young practitioners, they are capable of producing holiness. And if we bring the element of holiness into our daily life, we will change the world, because the collective holiness of Sangha can embrace, can transform, and can bring about insight and transformation into the world.