Good morning dear Sangha. Today is Sunday, the 11th of December in the year 2005. And we are in the Upper Hamlet during our winter retreat.

If you have been in hell, then you have the capacity to recognize paradise. You may be in paradise but you don't, you don't recognize it. You are not capable of touching it.

But if you have already been in hell, many of us have been, and then you have a chance, you have an opportunity. Because being in hell is a very basic condition for us to be able to recognize that we are in paradise, in the kingdom of God, in the pure land of the Buddha.

Suffering is the background. Suffering is the condition.

When you practice mindful walking, you may touch the kingdom of God, the pure land of the Buddha with every step. Because you have had a chance to walk in hell. It's so hot, it's so difficult. That is now you are capable of touching the pure land, the kingdom of God.

Those of us who have been in hell, we are lucky. Because we know what it is like, hell. And if we compare with the situation now, we can recognize that we are very lucky. We now have the capacity of walking in, in paradise.

When you practice walking, you involve your body into the practice. Of course, you don't walk with your mind. If you walk with your mind only, you get lost.

In the Vietnamese Gatha, we read, we recite: đi chơi trong bản môn, nên đi bằng hai chân, không nên đi bằng đầu, đi bằng đầu sẽ lạc. [vietnamese] It means that to enjoy walking in the ultimate dimension, you have to walk with your feet. You should not walk with your mind. If you walk with your mind, you get lost.

So, in walking meditation, you have to involve your feet. You have to involve your body. With mindfulness, with the energy of mindfulness, you turn on every cell in your body.

With the power, with the energy of mindfulness, you turn on every cell of your body, and then you can walk. It is like electricity. You turn on all the, all the lamps.

This is, this is the basic condition for you to succeed.

You might like to bring your mind down to the level of your feet, on the sole of your feet. And you walk as if you kiss the earth with your feet.

Because down there, every cell is turned on. They are capable of touching. You have turned on every cell in your body, including the cells down there on the sole of your feet. And that is why you can walk. You are completely free from your thinking about the past or your worries about the future. You are completely free from your projects, your sorrow, your fear, your anger.