Thầy talks about the wisdom of nondiscrimination, as well as the three complexes which bring about a lot of suffering: the superiority complex, the inferiority complex, and the equality complex. He teaches that understanding interbeing—where everything is interconnected and contains everything else—leads to liberation through the realization of nonself. With this awareness, all complexes are dissolved.

Thầy shares how, because he did not belong to any country, he found a true home that nobody can take away, where there may be preference but no discrimination. His right hand, which has written all his poems but one, never feels superior to his left hand, and when the hammer misses the nail, it takes care of the left hand as if it were taking care of itself. Olive trees in Italy that look like three or four trees turn out to share the same roots. Looking deeply into a flower, Thầy shows that it is made only of non-flower elements, just as America is made only of non-American elements, and Buddhism of non-Buddhist elements: “As a true Buddhist, you embrace all non-Buddhist elements.”

Thầy also touches on the Four Noble Truths and asks what is so noble about suffering. He clarifies how the Noble Path leading to the cessation of suffering is Right View—the wisdom of nondiscrimination, the wisdom of interbeing—which brings Right Thinking, Right Speech, Right Action, and so on. There is no lotus without the mud, so for Thầy the Kingdom of God is not a place without suffering, but a place where there is understanding and compassion. Like an organic gardener who uses the garbage to nourish the flowers, we are protected by understanding and compassion, and we don’t have to suffer.

This is the first talk in a series of two given during the Colors of Compassion retreat in the year 2004. Thầy offered this retreat at the Deer Park Monastery, California, in the United States.