(Half bell)
(Bell)
Dear Thay, dear Sangha,
I'm just wondering, with the Olympics coming up this summer,
what is the role of mindfulness and interbeing in an environment
where competition is an integral part of the very nature of that environment?
I think that will be a chance for people
to do business, to make money...
to consume.
And, when someone wins, someone else will suffer,
that is competition.
And, that is the comparison between self--
"I am better that you."
And so, that will create a lot of discrimination and complexes.
And, that is not only about the athletes
but, also for the crowds, we select the athlete that we love,
and we take sides.
And, we practice in comparing: "Mine, my hero!"
So, that kind of joy, that kind of competition is useless,
we consider that to be a sort of happiness.
And, if we don't win -- if our "hero" does not win, and then we suffer,
because everything is based
on discrimination between self and non-self.
And, if you look deeply,
you see that everything is in that kind of competition,
even in the field of education.
In the field of education,
teachers are being pushed in order to teach more,
to work harder,
so that the students can grow up to be more famous,
and to come "to the top".
And, that is why both teachers and children have to suffer from stress.
They overwork themselves.
And, even if you get to the top,
you have to continue, in order to keep that position on the top.
So, looking deeply, we see that we are going to the direction of destruction.
We destroy our body and our mind
by trying too hard and getting burned out.
And, it is very clear that, in this competition,
there will be no winner.
Those "at the top" would have to die,
and those who have not come to the top,
they suffer also.
So, that the same thing is true in the field of politics,
the field of nuclear weapons...
we are going in the direction of self-destruction.
That is why we need to wake up.
We have to change the course of our civilization.
We are going to our own destruction.
This is very clear.
Our destruction as a race, the human race,
our destruction as an environment,
it's very clear; if we continue like this,
we welcome our extinction.
There is only one thing that can stop it.
That is a collective awakening.
If you want to save the world, to change the world,
you need a huge collective awakening.
You cannot change society and the course of history
unless you can produce a collective awakening.
Without that collective awakening,
you know that you are going yourself towards destruction.
And that is strong enough to help you to stop and change the way of living.
So, the Olympic games give us another chance to reflect on this.
In this competition, there will be no winner.
Everyone will lose and, not we lose as a human race,
but we lose as animals, plants and minerals,
the notion of self - self against no self,
and, it causes a lot of suffering.
And, that is why the wisdom of non-dualist communication:
you are me, and I am you.
You are in me, and I am in you.
That insight of interbeing is very important.
When I was ordained as a novice,my teacher showed me how to bow to a Buddha.
And, that was reversed, the one who bows, and the one who is bowed to.
Both are, by their nature, empty of the self.
You should not proud as Buddha should not be proud when he is said to be a Buddha.
And me, I should not be ashamed that I am not a Buddha.
Buddha, you are made of only "non-Buddha" elements, including me inside of you.
And, I am made of "non-me" elements and you are in me.
And, when you see the nature of interbeing in you and in the Buddha,
you see the Buddha in you, and you in the Buddha.
At that time, you touch the nature of interbeing.
And, when you bow, there is a real, deep communication.
And, if the Buddha is only the Buddha, and you are only you,
no real communication is possible.
And, that is the practice of bowing,
based on the inside, of interbeing.
And, I think of Christian mystics --
there are practitioners who can see
between the practitioner and Jesus Christ.
If they can't see the nature of interbeing between them and Jesus Christ,
I don't think that the communication will be deep enough.
So, the inside of interbeing will help save us.
And, that needs a collective commitment.
So, every one of us should work together for that collective awakening.
If you are a journalist, work as a journalist.
If you are a school teacher, work as a school teacher.
We have to produce that awakening.
(Half bell)
(Bell)
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