(half bell)
(Bell)
(French)
What is God?
Difficult question
(Laughter)
but I will try
I think that God is everything
God is everything
and...
certainly God is not an idea
or a notion
God is very real
and you can get in touch with God
if you are mindful, concentrated and insightful
when you come to Plum Village
as a practitioner of meditation
you cultivate the energy of mindfulness
concentration and insight
and if you have these 3 energies
surely you can get in touch with God
right in Plum Village
when you go home you continue to get in touch with the God
You know that when you... when you stop thinking,
when you breathe in mindfully & enjoy breathing in
you already get in touch with the God
but when you breathe in like that you enjoy breathing in
and you find out that breathing in is wonderful
As I breathe in, I know that I'm alive
and to be alive is a wonderful thing
and as I breathe in I become very alive
I see my body and my mind are wonderful
and I can get in touch with the sunshine
with the hills, with the sunflowers
with the water running from the water tap
and there's so many wonders of life in me and around me
and when I do walking meditation
I recognize that the path
leading uphill through the wood is filled of wonders
the grass, the tiny flowers, the insect, the sunshine. Everything...
is a wonder
a pebble, a leaf, a flower, a butterfly. Everything is a wonder
and I can see God in everything
you can see God in a pebble
In a piece of dust
in a butterfly
in a sunflower
you can see God in the other fellow
and if you see God like that
you are a happy person
you do not want to do any harm to yourself
and you do not want to do any harm to the other people
even if they are violent even if they suffer
they suffer because they have not been able to in touch with God
but if they practice mindfulness, concentration and insight
If they are mindful, concentrated, and insightful
they have a chance to...
to realize they are in the kingdom of God
we are really in the kingdom of God
and when we do walking meditation
you walk in the kingdom of God
if you do walking meditation correctly
you see that you are walking in the kingdom of God
and if the kingdom is there God is there also
so you can get in touch with God and the kingdom of God
with every breath and every step
and that is what I do during walking meditation
there're monks, nuns and lay practitioners who able to do so enjoy the kingdom of God
it means to enjoy God
so to me God is not an abstract idea
but...
something very real
that you can encounter in every moment of your daily life
your body belong to the kingdom of God
your mind also
that flower, that stream of water, that tree
they're all belong to the kingdom of God
and it's too bad
if we are caught in our anger
in our fear
in our jealousy
that we cannot get in touch with the kingdom of God
and if we don't know how to
get in touch with the kingdom of God and with God
and then our life will...
we will waste our life
so in Plum Village you'll learn
to walk in such a way
to sit in such a way
to eat in such a way
to take a shower in such a way
that we can get in touch with the wonders of life
that belong to the kingdom of God
and I will tell you
everything
belong to the kingdom of God
including this lotus flower
including this little boy
we should continue to learn in order to understand this more deeply
thank you
(Bell)
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