Download - The Mindfulness Bell

dharma TALK
who are helping. What is essential is to learn how to do it with
compassion because that amount of violence is part of our legacy,
our heritage. We should make the strong aspiration not to repeat
that kind of action from now on.
But the bombs are not only embedded in the land, they are in
the hearts of many people today. If you look around you see that
many people, even young people, are ready to die and are ready
to punish others.
How to defuse the bomb in the heart of man is very important
work also, how to remove the hate in the hearts of so many people.
So far the war on terrorism has not diminished the number of terrorists.
In fact it has increased the number of terrorists, and each of
them has a bomb inside his or her heart. Terrorists want to die for a
cause, they want to punish others. That is why cultivating compas-
Buddha, to Jesus Christ and all our spiritual ancestors to support
us in this compassionate action. We should think of our children
and their children, and we should clean the Earth and our hearts,
so that our children will have a better place to live.
Thank you for reflecting on this.
An Inoculation of Suffering
A lay woman asks: Dear Thay, dear Sangha: Yesterday you
taught us that we should never give the negative seeds a
chance. I agree with just 90% of that. [laughter] Ten percent
of that is this question: there are young people who grow up
in a very loving and supportive environment but when they
go to big cities or other countries to study or to work, they
will face some really negative pressure and the challenge is
photo by Ton Boelens
sion and helping these people to remove their hatred and anger is
also very important work. That is also to defuse the bombs.
You can see that the situation in the Middle East is very
difficult. Not only are there bombs that explode on the land but
there are bombs in the hearts of very many people. Compassion
is the only answer.
As we help to defuse the bombs, whether in the land or in
the heart, we should keep our compassion alive. I admire those
of us who continue to help removing those death engines from
the soil, but I also urge my friends to practice in order to defuse
the bombs in the hearts of many people around us. We pray to the
8 Winter/Spring 2009
so big that they cannot deal with it. My suggestion is that we
should vaccinate their mind and we should give them a bit
of challenge when they are still young, so that their immune
system is ready. What do you think of this [laughter]
Thay says sometimes that each of us needs a certain dose
of suffering. Remember Suffering can instruct us a lot and help
us cultivate compassion and understanding. So the art is to give
each person an appropriate dose of suffering. [laughter] With too
much suffering people will be overwhelmed and their heart will
be transformed into stone. That is why parents and teachers have
to handle this with care and intelligence.