(Bell)
(Sister): Dear Thay,
we have two questions about understanding our ancestors
whom we did not know.
They are expressed in this one question:
How can I heal the suffering of my ancestors
when I don't know how they suffered?
How can we deal with ancestors in the case of being orphans
who have grown up without having any contact with their blood family?
(Thay): I think the two questions are related to each other.
We do not understand the suffering of our ancestors.
How can we help
if we don't physically know
our father, our mother?
We do not have any connection with them.
How can we love them and understand them?
There are people who still have their father alive,
their mother alive.
And yet they cannot connect with them.
They cannot talk to them, they cannot communicate with them.
And there are those who have lost their father, their mother,
they do not know who their father was,
who their father, their mother is.
There is no chance to connect because they are no longer there.
How can we connect with them?
How can we understand their suffering, their happiness?
How can we be really rooted in our ancestors?
Because a person without roots
cannot be a happy person.
So the two questions are related to each other.
With the practice of meditation, looking deeply,
we can connect with our father, our mother,
even if he is no longer there, even if he refuses to see us.
We have a monastic here, in our community,
whose father is still alive
bur he refuses to see her.
He is in a high position in the society.
But he wants to forget,
to entirely deny the past.
She wrote to him:
'Daddy, I am your child.
I want to meet you, connect with you.
To talk to you and sit close to you.'
He refused.
There are those of us who are orphans,
who have not had any chance to see our father,
who do not know really who is our father, our mother.
But with this practice we can connect.
Because looking into your body, your feelings, your suffering,
you see the body, the sufferings,
the hopes of your parents.
Because the fact is that
you are the continuation of your father, of your mother.
It is like the plant of corn that is the continuation of the seed of corn.
Although the plant of corn does not see the kernel of corn,
she knows that she is the continuation of the kernel of corn.
The corn kernel.
She knows that in every cell of the plant
there is the existence of the corn kernel.
So with someone who practices mindfulness, meditation,
she can touch her father, her mother,
much more deeply than those who still have their parents
and who cannot talk to them.
They have the impression that they know who their father is,
who their mother is,
but in fact, they don't know anything.
Connection is impossible even if the father is still alive,
the mother is still alive.
The answer is that if you practice looking deeply,
you can see your father in you, your mother in you.
You look very much like your father.
You feel very much like your father.
We are made of form, feelings, perceptions.
And your father has transmitted
quite a lot of his form, feelings, perceptions to you.
Then you feel connected right away.
You are the continuation of your father.
You are your father.
Many years ago, walking in the streets of London,
I saw displayed in a bookstore window
a book with the title: 'My mother, myself '.
I did not buy the book.
(Laughter)
Because I had the impression that I knew what was in the book.
(Laughter)
We are the continuation of our mother, we are our mother.
The connection is still there.
We only need to be aware.
So you can begin already to talk to your father in you:
'Daddy, I know you are there.
I am full of you in my body.
You have had suffering,
you have had difficulties transmitted to me.
Now I have encountered the Dharma we shall practice together
and transform the negative things in us
and we shall develop the wonderful things in us
that you have transmitted to me.
Maybe in your lifetime
you have not had the chance to develop the positive, wonderful qualities in you.
But they are still there already transmitted to me.
Now, with the Dharma, with the Sangha,
we shall practice together and make them manifest.
We will be breathing together, walking together, sitting together
and get the peace, the healing, the transformation, the joy that we need.'
So you can talk to your father, your mother,
even if you have not actually seen your father physically.
It is like our spiritual ancestors.
You have not seen Jesus personally.
You have not met the Buddha personally.
But you have received their teachings.
You have put into practice their teachings.
You have the Dharma body in you.
So Jesus is alive in every cell of your body.
Buddha is alive in every cell of your body.
You can talk to them.
'Jesus, I know that you are there, in myself.'
You don't have to go and look for Jesus elsewhere.
He is your ancestor and you are a continuation.
You should know how to walk like him,
to break the bread like him,
to pour the wine like him, mindfully.
On the way to Emmaus,
the three travelers did not recognize Jesus.
But once they came to the inn,
and the other person ordered dinner,
broke the bread and poured the wine,
by looking at him the recognized that Jesus was not dead,
he is still alive.
So if you know how to break the bread mindfully,
to enjoy the piece of bread in your hand,
you touch the body of Jesus.
That is the essential of the Eucharist.
Jesus is available to you 24 hours a day
if you know how to walk like him,
to sit like him, to breathe like him,
to break the bread like him.
Then, you are with him all the time.
That is the deepest connection.
This applies to your blood ancestors, biological ancestors,
and to your spiritual ancestors also.
I have never complained
that I was born a little bit too late,
2.500 years after the Buddha.
I have never complained like that.
(Laughter)
Because I know that the Buddha is available in the here and the now.
Your father also. Your mother also.
That is the insight you get
when you practice mindfulness and concentration.
The answer is good enough?
(Laughter)
(Bell)
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