Thay Giac Thanh June 9, 1947 - The Mindfulness Bell

and loving speech in the congress. In that committee different
parties were represented and also the Prime Minister was included.
Mr. Narayan is no longer the chair of the parliament because he
has become the president of India.
I think we may like to write our senators and representatives
so that in the U.S. Congress they may try to practice deep listening
and loving speech. I would like to vote for those who have
the capacity to listen and to use loving speech. I would suggest
that in the Senate and in the House of Representatives there should
Hatred, anger and violence can only be
neutralized and healed with one
substance. That is compassion.
be a committee on deep listening and loving speech. Not only
should they listen to their own colleagues in the Congress but
also they should listen to the suffering of people in their own
country and to the suffering of people a little bit everywhere in
the world. It is not easy to listen with compassion. The quality of
deep listening is the fruit of practice. If we don't train ourselves it
is very difficult to listen to the other person or people. We know
there are many couples who can not listen to each other. There
are fathers who are incapable of communicating with their sons
and daughters. There are mothers who are not able to talk to their
children, even if they want to very much. They deeply wish that
they could communicate with their daughter and their son or their
partner but they can not do so. They may be determined to use
loving speech and compassionate listening. But without training
they may give up after just a few minutes oflistening or trying to
tell what is in their hearts. The blocks of pain and anger may be so
big and important in their hearts that as they continue to listen,
what they hear touches and waters the seeds of anger, of violence
and of despair in them. They are no longer capable of listening
anymore, even if they have a lot of willingness to do so.
For the person who is determined to speak with loving kindness,
we know that goodwill is there. But as she or he continues
to speak, the block of suffering, of despair, of irritation and of
anger are touched in them. That is why very soon their speech
will be full of judgment, blaming and irritation, and the other person
cannot bear to listen. If we do not train in the art of compassionate
listening and loving speech we cannot do it. But if we
have a great determination, then five days may be enough to
restore communication between the other person and ourselves.
In the case of our Palestinian friends and our Israeli friends, two
weeks was enough for them to understand and to accept each
other as brothers and sisters. Two weeks was enough for them to
have hope.
The Secret of Listening
The secret of success is that when you listen to the other
person you have only one purpose. Your only purpose is to offer
8 Winter 2001 • 2002
him or her an opportunity to empty his or her heart. If you are able
to keep that awareness and compassion alive in you, then you
can sit for one hour and listen even if what the other person says
contains a lot of wrong perceptions, condemnations and bitterness.
You can continue to listen because you are already protected
by the nectar of compassion in your heart. If you do not
practice mindful breathing in order to keep that compassion alive
you lose your capacity of listening. Irritation and anger will come
up and the other person will see it and he or she will not be able to
continue. We have the awareness that listening like this has only
one purpose: allowing the other person a chance to empty his or
her heart. If we are capable of keeping that awareness alive during
the time of listening then we are safe, because compassion
will always be there if that awareness is still there.
We do not try to correct the wrong perceptions of the other
person while listening. We just say, "I am sorry you have suffered
so much." Later on, maybe in a few days or weeks, we will
find an appropriate occasion to offer some information to help the
other person or people correct their perceptions. But we do not
try to correct all of their misperceptions at one time. Truth heals,
but it should be released in small doses over time, like a medicine.
If you force the other person to drink all the medicine at one time,
he will die.
I am sure that all of us here know that hatred, anger and
violence can only be neutralized and healed with one substance.
That is compassion. The antidote of violence and hatred is compassion.
There is no other medicine. Unfortunately, compassion
is not available in supermarkets. You have to generate the nectar
of compassion in your heart. The teaching of the Buddha gives
us very concrete means in order to generate the energy of compassion.
If understanding is there, compassion will be born, and
understanding is the fruit oflooking deeply. Do we have the time
to stop and look deeply into our situation, into the situation of the
other person, into the situation of the other group of people? If
we are too busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects,
by our uncertainty, by our craving, how can we have the time to
stop and to look deeply into the situation? How can we look into
our own situation, the situation of our beloved one, the situation
of our family, of our community, of our nation and of the other
nations? Looking deeply we find out that not only do we suffer,
but also the other person suffers deeply. Not only our group
suffers but the other group also suffers deeply. If that kind of
awareness is born we will know that punishing is not the answer.
Our Basic Practice
All violence is injustice. We should not inflict that injustice
on us and on the other person, on the other group of people. The
one who wants to punish is inhabited by violence. The one who
enjoys the suffering of the other person is inhabited by the energy
of violence. We know that violence cannot be ended with
violence. It is the Buddha who said that responding to hatred