[Three sounds of the bell.]

Good morning, dear friends. Welcome to the retreat. We have three days to live together, and we will have some work to do. The work is the practice. It is something pleasant to do. That is to say, we train ourselves to be able to live more deeply every moment of our daily life, to be able to touch the wonders of life that are within us and around us. And the quality of our life is the fruit of our practice. [Thay looks at his microphone.] A little louder?

The art of sitting meditation. Sitting is to cultivate more solidity, more stability, more concentration. Sitting is to become truly alive. And the practice of sitting meditation must be a pleasure. If you find that the practice of your sitting meditation is hard labor, then you are not practicing correctly.

When the President of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela, came to France for an official visit, the press asked him this: "Mr. President, what is it that you want to do the most?" He said: "What I want to do the most is to sit and do nothing. This is because since I was liberated from prison, I have had to work day and night, and I am obsessed by work. I have not had a moment to rest, to be there, to live my life. So, what I wish for the most is to be able to sit quietly and do nothing."

Dear friends, we have three days to do that. We do that for the President of South Africa, a poor, poor man.