[Dhamma talk] Giving and Loving

Taught by Sayadaw U Jotika on 13/03/1997

May all mindfulness, peace and happiness be with you.

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I thought of reading another poetry to you, but I changed my mind. Maybe next time I’ll read another poetry. Because one thing keeps coming into my mind repeatedly. So, I want to just get it out and give it to you. It’s like a mother whose child in the womb is mature so that it wants to be born. So unless I do that, my mind will not be free.

So before I say what I want to say, I want to tell you something about the Dalai Lama. I took one tape recording of the Dalai Lama and listen to the tape. It is about mettā, about loving kindness. He gave that talk when he came to Melbourne a few years ago. So very inspiring, deep insight about mettā he talks about. I hope some of you have listened to that tape. It’s a very good one. I’m going to listen to it again. And in that tape he talks about meeting one Roman Catholic monk in Italy, I think. And he asked that monk what he was doing. And that monk said he was developing loving kindness, developing kindness and love in his heart. So you see, in every religion, they emphasize loving kindness. It’s very important. Without loving kindness, we can’t live in peace. We can’t be happy. And he said that that monk, the Roman Catholic monk, (his) English was so bad, (the Dalai Lama) couldn’t understand. Even the Dalai Lama couldn’t understand. And he said, compared to that monk’s English, the Dalai Lama said his English was wonderful. Just wonderful he said, very good. So everybody laughed in the hall. So when I listened to that tape, I also laughed. Well, compared to the Dalai Lama’s English, my English is really wonderful. So I’m not putting down Dalai Lama. He’s a very nice, mellow, loving, very cheerful, wonderful person. I love him very much. I read about him since I was very young. He wrote one book, My Land and My People. Is there somebody read that? I read that in English. My land and My people. He wrote that how difficult it was when [his land was over taken] and how he escaped. So I was very interested. I still am very interested in the Dalai Lama, his life also. So after listening to his tape, I feel very good about my English. And I know that you are very interested (in what I talk) and you understand what I mean, although my English, my grammar is very bad.

So what (do) I want to say today? Um, here’s the person’s name. One name only on one sheet of paper. Albert Schweitzer. Anybody heard about Albert Schweitzer? Yes, yes, quite a few of you heard about Albert Schweitzer. I read only a very short article about Albert Schweitzer. Very long time ago, when I was very young, when I was going to the library and reading books. Only a short article about him, because at that time I couldn’t read English very well. And as far as I remember, he was a German, and he studied philosophy first and got a PhD in philosophy, and he taught philosophy in a university. But once in a newspaper, I think he read about people in Africa are sick with many different kinds of diseases. When he read that, he felt a lot of compassion. He thought, so many people are sick and how can I be here (and) just happy? I have to do something about it. So he decided to study medicine. He was already a professor, but he changed his mind and he took medicine, studied medicine. So after getting his first medical degree, he took tropical medicine again, on top of that, specializing in tropical medicine. So after he got this degree again, he tried to raise some money from his friends and then bought equipment, medical equipment, instruments, medicines and put them in big boxes. And then he tried to get a permission to go to Africa, one part of Africa. But at that time, that part of Africa was a British colony. And in Europe there was a war. Second World War, I think. So, being a German, the British government wouldn’t give him a permission to go there. But he didn’t give up. He tried again and again and again and through some of his friends. At last he got the permission to go there. Very difficult journey to go there by ship. So he took all those trouble and went to Africa, went to the place.

It was very undeveloped, of course. So he built a hospital, cutting down trees, making holes in the ground, and put the trees, the stumps there, the poles there, and building a big hut. Not a hospital like this, like modern hospital, just a big hut. So as he was building that hut, some other people were also helping him to do that. He met one person who was a graduate from a university, and he asked that person to do that work for him. And that other person said, I am a university graduate. I don’t do such work carrying poles and digging holes. No, I don’t do such work. I’m an educated person. And educated persons don’t do that. Too proud of his education. So Albert Schweitzer didn’t say anything. He said, well, I’m also an educated person, but there’s nobody to do this, so I’m doing it. So he built a hospital and there were some people helping him, some nurses also. And to cut the story short.

Once, there was a lady who couldn’t give birth to a child for some defect. So the doctor, Albert Schweitzer, knew that this lady is going to die. But the Africans have their own way of treating sickness, so the African doctors won’t allow him to do anything for the for this lady. But Albert Schweitzer, he had so much compassion that he said, this lady is going to die. If we don’t do something, she will die. And the only way to help her is to cut her womb and take out the baby. There is no other way she can deliver the baby. But the African traditional doctors, medicine men, wouldn’t let him do that. For them it is not allowable. At last the doctor said, if this lady die, kill me. Let me do this. He doesn’t get any money for it, you see. He said, let me do this. If this lady die, kill me. He’s giving away his life. You see? So unusual, you know.

When I first read about him, this [wanderer – not sure the word], this appreciation was so big. Even now, I have goosebumps again. Whenever I feel appreciation for something, I have this rapture. Very exceptional. I couldn’t do that. He did that. But I couldn’t do that. He’s big, he’s big. Albert Schweitzer was big and he is still big. He’s living in our heart. And he operated on this lady, took out the baby and treated the lady very well. And then this lady was very weak. And fortunately, the lady’s blood group and the doctor’s blood group, they match the same. So Albert Schweitzer took blood from his vein and gave that lady the blood. And he did that with many other patients, too. He did that so often that he became anemic, weak. So he asked other people to give blood. But the Africans, they don’t want to give their blood to another person. For some reason they are very reluctant to do that. So anyway, he spent his own money, his time, his life, his blood, even his life to help others. How can he do that? Why did he do that? Amazing. Very amazing. Very unusual.

We are so stingy and selfish. Whenever we give something, what will I get back? We are thinking like that. We are demanding something back. But here, look this person. So he is a kind of a figure for us. Look, this is human being. This is human heart. This is what we should do. So he lived his life as an example for us. So for some reason, I don’t know: his name is coming back again and again to me. Want to read something more about him, find out more about him and his thoughts also. How was he able to do such thing? Incredible. Unbelievable.

The giving with hope of reward or pay is direct opposition of the law of love. Albert Schweitzer gave away without hoping anything in return, but he got quite a lot without expecting. To truly love we must give without any desire for reward. So expecting any kind of reward back is a kind of buying it or bartering it. So although we believe in good karma and good result from the good karma, whenever we wish for something, we should look deep into our heart again: What do I want back? When we give away, it’s a kind of letting go. So only when we are big enough, when we are mature enough, we can really think for the betterment, for the good of another person and give away something without expecting anything else.

And when a person is able to do that, look at the quality of his heart. How is that quality of his heart? So noble, so pure, so high. And that’s the biggest reward, actually. Look at that. Feel that. That’s the biggest reward, developing our heart, developing maturity. You feel really big then. If you want something back and if you want something more than you give, then you are very small. You become very, very small. So giving away without expecting anything makes you big.

So I read in one book where the author asks, how big are you? That question really struck me. How big are you? I asked the question myself, how big are you? Are you really big? What are you doing? Why are you doing? What do you expect? So whenever I do something and expect even a recognition or appreciation or praise or any kind of things like that, I look into myself and I see myself very small. Whenever we expect something back, we become small. Look deep and see. You can feel it. But whenever I do something without expecting anything at all, I look deep into my heart and find that my heart was big. So we become big. As soon as our loving is accompanied by the hope of repayments, as soon as we attach any strings at all to what we do for others, any strings attached to what we do for others, we are no longer giving.

So it is not so easy to give, you see. We are giving. Yes, we are giving, all of our life we are giving. But with what motive, with what expectation? What do we want in return? Do we hope that if I give something to this person, this person will be thankful to me and will listen to me and will take my orders? Or maybe he will do something back for me. At least, we expect something. Not to expect anything needs a big heart, a mature mind, wisdom. And Buddha did that. Did many things without expecting anything in return.

So I don’t mean to say that by giving away you will not get anything. I know if you really give away, if you really help another person with real good intention, you get quite a lot. So giving with no thought, but for the betterment of someone else. That is important. Not for the betterment of you. For the betterment of someone else. So look, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, he gave away his life. He went to live in Africa. So much hardship, so much sickness. He got sick many, many times. He gave away money, even his blood, even his life. He bargained his life. If this lady dies, kill me. Who can do that? So giving up ownership. When you give away something, you’re giving up ownership. We think that we own something. We are the owner. By giving away, we let it go.

So this is a way of practicing ourselves to develop the ability to let go. So anytime we learn something very deep and meaningful, look deep inside. Every time you learn something, you are letting go. There is no other way to learn. Whenever you develop some insight, even in meditation, whenever you reach a deeper insight, look deep inside: you are letting go of something. Because without letting go of something, you cannot develop deep insight. So the first insight in meditation is seeing that there is only mental and physical phenomenon, nothing else. So in that case, what do you let go? You let go of I. If you can’t let go of I, you cannot develop that insight. And the same way, once you develop that insight, you let go of this I. Who are you? So here I am, a monk, a teacher, giving you dhamma talks, teaching you dhamma. Well, this is just a figure. So when I am with you, I’m a monk and a teacher. When I’m with my children, I’m a father. When I’m with my brothers and sisters, I’m a brother. When I’m with my friends, I’m a friend. I have many friends, monks. When I’m with my teacher, what do I become? I become a student, a disciple. But when I’m alone, who am I? Nobody around. I don’t even need a name anymore. My name is U Jotika. But this is for you to call me. I don’t need to call myself U Jotika. I don’t even need a name anymore. Who am I?

So I try to understand that very deeply and begin to understand it more and more. Then you can let go of your role, who you are. This role is a prison. This I is a prison. So even when we give, “I am the giver”, look deep inside. If you can let go of that I, your giving will become really pure and it will nourish your heart very much. So giving is becoming more unselfish. So many times we give with a lot of selfish motive. Even when we give something to our children, look very deeply: why are you doing that? Sometimes we do it with totally unselfish motives, but sometimes we do that with some selfish motives too. So it is not really easy to truly give without expecting anything.

People who have no interest in their fellow human beings and their problems always have the greatest difficulties in life. So we need to have interest in other people. Try to understand them, try to find out their difficulties and do whatever we can to help them. People who don’t have that sort of interest, they live a very small life. They are very small, small mind. And they have a lot of problems. So all of us have problems. Nobody is free from problems. I have my own problems. But if I just sit and think of only my problem, or I have this problem, I have that problem and occupy all my time just thinking of my problem and do nothing, my problem becomes bigger and bigger. There is no way to solve the problem. But if I do what I can of my problem and also if I help other people, somehow my problem become very small. So this is really true. When you get together and talk about each of your problems, you’ll find that your problems are not very, very big. And if you help other people, you (will) find ways to solve your own problems too. So when I help other people to learn, to teach, when I help people to learn, when I teach people, when I try to make them see their own problem, overcome their problem, it helps me to overcome my problem too. So understanding others helps me to understand myself and that solves a lot of my problems. So, people who have no interest in their fellow human beings and their problems always have the greatest difficulties in life and end up causing the most harm to others, themselves included. So selfish people cause a lot of harm to others. They don’t want to help others and they don’t help themselves even. They get into trouble.

I perceived the entirely self centered life as not worth living. Entirely self-centered life is not really worth living. By helping other people, we develop our paramī, to use this Pāli word paramī – perfection. There is no other way we can develop our self. But if we want to develop ourselves, we have to do something for others.

And even keeping these five precepts is doing something for others. Buddha even mentioned that. He said, keeping five precepts is a kind of generosity. It’s a kind of dāna. How can that be? Anybody can guess it? How can keeping five precepts be a kind of generosity? I think I’ve made some notes here for that. Well, sīla is also dāna. How can that be? You are giving away harmlessness. You are not harming anybody. You are giving away fearlessness. People are not afraid of you. If you really keep five precepts, nobody needs to be afraid of you. You are giving away fearlessness. If everybody do that, this world will be harmless. People will be fearless. Now the world is becoming more and more harmful. Very dangerous to go out. Here, this place is very good. Once, I was in New York, I didn’t dare to go out of the door. Always closed and locked inside. Very harmful. Why? People are not keeping five precepts. They are not loving. They are not kind. They are not compassionate. So, so much harm. It makes me fearful. I dare not go out, even out of the door. Very dangerous. But the place where I went to live was was called Bronx. Maybe you have heard of it. Bronx. Very dangerous place. When you drive through the Bronx and you got your car stole, leave the car and run for life. So that’s the kind of place it is.

So keeping sīla is giving away harmlessness, giving away fearlessness and giving security, giving peace. Think very deeply, just by keeping five precepts, you are very generous. Not just that. You know, when I go out for a walk in the morning here, people, sometimes they smile at me, they nod at me. Some people say hello, some people say good morning. I say the same thing to you. I smile and nod and I say hello, good morning. I feel very happy. Somebody said hello to me and good morning to me. So generous. I feel really nurtured. You see friendliness, giving away, friendliness, acknowledging me as a human being. Although I’m dressed like a monk and some people don’t know who I am. Still some people… Yesterday, a very old lady, she said hello to me. Oh, surprising. You see, that is generosity actually, giving away friendliness. Mettā also, mettā is also a kind of generosity. So she gave me her mettā, acknowledgement, recognition.

So it is not very difficult to be generous, even when you say thank you really, wholeheartedly, it’s a kind of generosity. And so if what you are doing will not benefit others besides yourself, think it very deeply, if what you are doing will not benefit others besides yourself, it is not worth doing. It really is not worth doing. So whatever we do should benefit ourselves also, but it should also benefit others.

So do you consider yourself a giving person? I think all of us will say yes. So think about it for a moment. Most of us in our society do not really know how to give. Most of us operate on a hidden barter system. So this is not easy. I’m not trying to say that your generosity is not good. I want to make you think more deeply and develop really pure generosity. It will really nourish you. It will really make you feel good. You genuinely ever give anything away without expecting something in return? So it could be money, you give away money (and expect) appreciation, like saying thank you. It could be mettā or whatever it might be.

So here, we are here together. This is a Buddhist society. This is something big. We participate in this society, and a lot of people here are doing a lot of things for the society, which means for all those who are coming here. So we are giving away a lot. Some people give away donations in the box. It is very important. Without this donation, this society cannot run. So this is non profit organization. Nobody is profiting from it. Everything that you donate, every dollar that you donate will be used for the good of all the people. So you give giving away money. But look very deeply, why are you doing that? It’s good to give. Give more even. And time also. Yesterday somebody came and cleaned this room. And this room is so clean now, because somebody come and clean this place.

So some people might think that, oh, I can just give away a few dollars. I don’t have time to go and clean the place. And cleaning is such a insignificant thing. No, it is not an insignificant thing. This place is clean, nice because somebody cleans it. And have you ever heard of one Sayadaw from Burma? Ledi Sayadaw? Yes. He’s a very famous Sayadaw, he was. He got a doctor of literature degree from England, too. And very high degree titles from Burma too. He wrote many books on meditation. So when he was around, when he was living, even when he was quite old, every morning he will go out and clean the toilets. Many other monks said, please don’t do that. He was a great teacher, a great meditator. He said people come and told him not to do that. He said, why not? This is not something insignificant. This is not something very low. So he will fill up all the water pots. He will sweep the monastery ground, doing all those things willingly. Giving sets a very good example too. So such a big teacher and so humble. So no matter what you do, if you do that with real good intention, that makes your act really big, noble.

So when we give from a place of love rather than from a place of expectation, more usually comes back to us than we could even have imagined. So if you really give with that sort of pure heart, it nourishes you. It makes you become bigger, wiser, also.

So giving time… Time is something there never seems to be enough of. Especially these days, people don’t have time. Hurrying, hurrying, hurrying. Doing so much. So time is something they never seems to be enough of. Hence, it is one of our most valuable commodities. And time is life. When you give an hour, that is, you are giving away an hour of your life. So some people come here and help for half a day. That is giving away half a day of their lives, which is invaluable. So how do you give away time? You get involved in something bigger than yourself and become a participating member. So here is a society. You get involved in this society and you come and work. Some are doing work in the library, some are keeping the accounts and Janani is the treasurer is keeping the accounts. And here is our secretary and Dr. Mendis is doing this recording for many, many years. And many other peoples too. They are giving their time. Giving time means giving life. Really important. So become a participating member. You volunteer. So by volunteering, you are giving your life. You’re giving your time. Very important. And also, when somebody is in distress, somebody is unhappy, somebody has a problem and he or she wants to talk about it, you listen to that person with deep understanding, with compassion. That’s also giving your time, giving your heart.

Actually, yes. I have got another note here. The simple act of being completely present… Being completely present means your mind is not distracted. When you are with somebody, it might be your husband or your wife or your children or your friend, anybody, when you are with that person, you give all your attention to that person. You listen to that person wholeheartedly. Trying to feel his feeling or her feeling. And that simple act of being completely present to another person is truly an act of love. So when we love somebody, we pay attention. No drama is required. No need to make it dramatic. Very simple. You listen with whole heartedly. You listen with attention. You try to understand. You try to feel for that person, empathizing that person. So empathy also is a kind of generosity.

So it is important to surround ourselves with giving, loving and nurturing people. So here we are as a body, we are a big body here, the society is a big body. Just like a body, it has got head, eyes, ears, mouth, heart, hands, legs. So all of you are members, like the limbs, the organs of the body. Every one of you is very important and necessary for this society or for any other society which is doing good for people. So all of us do whatever we can do, contribute. So by contributing and working together, you learn and you grow. You learn how to work with people. You learn the difficulties of working with people too. That is also a learning lesson, very important lesson. And by doing that, you become bigger and bigger. You become more and more mature. So that is the only way to become a mature person. A person who lives alone and thinks of himself or herself only never grows up. If you want to grow up, you need to relate to other people, understand other people, help other people, work with other people, even though sometimes it’s very hard, very hard. But because it is hard, it makes you grow up. If it were easy, you will not grow up. So very important to work as a group. Each one person alone cannot do much. But when we get together, we can do something really big. So to get together is very important. So become a member. I’m not advertising it. This is very important because I participate as a member and this work helps me to become bigger. I learned quite a lot. Having been here for just two months. I’ve learned quite a lot here. So it is very useful for me.

So it is important to surround ourselves with giving, loving and nurturing people. But what do you need to do is you must become what you want to attract. If you want loving people, nurturing people, giving people to come near you, you must be loving and giving and nurturing. That’s the only way you can attract, to meet the kind of person you would want to surround yourself with. So when you are a loving and giving and nurturing person, and you come in contact with other people who are also loving, nurturing and giving persons, each of us nourish each other. We nourish each other. And both both of us become really big, mature. So you get a lot of energy. You become very strong. If you live alone, you become weak. You become depressed. You become dried up inside. Nothing inside anymore, all dry. But when you get in contact with loving and nurturing and giving people, you learn to love. You learn to nurture. You learn to give. How do we learn that? By being in contact with people who are loving and nurturing and giving. So get in touch with those who have this quality. Like just now I said about Dalai Lama, he is so loving, so easy to get along with, I think. He has a way of connecting with people. He can make everybody laugh. And everybody that I know who met Dalai Lama expressed that they said they feel very close to Dalai Lama, even though sometimes they couldn’t understand what the Dalai Lama was saying. Once Dalai Lama, he was giving a talk in Tibetan, and one friend of mine, he went and listened to Dalai Lama giving that talk in Tibetan. He couldn’t understand a word, but he said, I just love the talk. Because he loves. Because he can feel the Dalai Lama’s compassion, love. So it is very important to get in touch with people who are loving, kind, generous, nurturing. Then you learn that. And also try your best to be that kind of person.

So too many of us seem to be searching for something out there. We are looking for something out there that will make us feel fulfilled, to make our lives complete. We feel alienated, lonely and empty. Why is that? Because we are not in contact with people. Because we don’t know how to give. We don’t know how to receive even. So learn to give, learn to receive. Then you will not feel lonely. Learn to love. Learn to accept love also. Learn to understand other people and also to understand yourself too. And doing that way, doing those things, we will overcome this alienation, loneliness, emptiness. No matter what we do or have, we never feel fulfilled. Yesterday I talked about this briefly too. We are doing so many things looking for happiness and fulfillment. Have you ever found that out there? No. You will never find that. It will make you happy for a few moments. But even to earn that, to get that, you have to pay so much. So this feeling of emptiness or instant loneliness is our clue that we are off course, we are on the wrong track. And that we need to correct our direction. So if you feel lonely, alienated, empty, that is a good sign actually telling you that do something, you are on the wrong track, correct your direction.

So often we think that the correction lies in a new mate, a new house, a new car, a new job, or whatever. So just finding a new mate or a new house, or a new car or a new job will not make us feel fulfilled. So what we are really searching for is the essence within ourselves, the spirituality in us. We are human beings and human beings are naturally spiritual beings. We have two natures. Lower nature and higher nature. I talk about this quite a few times, so mostly the society encouraged the lower nature. Be more greedy. Enjoy more and more sense pleasure. So encouraging this lower nature. So naturally we develop lower nature. But we have higher nature too. Unless we develop that higher nature, we will never feel our life meaningful. So unless we can see meaning in our life, we will never be satisfied. So to be meaningful, to live a meaningful life is very important. So what we are really searching for is the essence within ourselves, the spirituality in us. Many of us haven’t even been aware that we have a spiritual path, and some people don’t want to hear the word spiritual. Some, when they hear this word, they think this is something unrealistic. So unless you tap that spiritual part within, you will experience perpetual discontent.

So maybe you have met some people who are relatively content. Maybe you might have met some people like that. Study that person. That person has spiritual values. He’s living his spiritual values. So just to have some ideal is not enough. You have to live it. It must become your life. So any kind of spiritual values, loving kindness, compassion, mindfulness, these are all spiritual values, contentment.

So I have some time left. So another thing I want to talk about. This is somebody who wrote this, somebody said this, and I read this when I was quite young again, because since I was in the third standard, third grade, about nine years old, I started reading books. So naturally I read quite a lot. But I read it and forgot it. So now I remember this again, found this again. So I will tell you later who said that. And I want you to guess it too. Maybe some of you are very knowledgeable, well-read. “This is the true joy in life.” What is that? What is true joy in life? This person is saying this is the true joy in life. I just give you a few seconds to think about it. What is true joy in life? “The being used for a purpose recognized by yourself.” By yourself, this is important. “Recognized by yourself as a mighty one”, a purpose. “The being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.” So this is what I feel. This society here in Australia is something mighty. It’s big. It’s been established for about 50 years? How many years? I think it’s about somewhere between 40 and 50 years. So it’s very important. So, that’s a mighty one. “The being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish, little clod of ailments and grievances”… My goodness… hitting very hard. You see… Very strong language. So, “the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish, little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making me happy.” Expecting that make me happy… You are not doing enough for me. You’re not making me happy, looking for others who will make us happy. So if we go around doing that, hoping that, we will never be happy.

This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

George Bernard Shaw

So, “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community.” Do you feel that? So when you feel that you belong to people and you want to do in whatever way, maybe in a small way, it doesn’t matter whether it’s small or big in whatever way you can. If you feel that you belong to the community of human beings, the whole world, or even this, this community, no matter whether it’s big or small, you belong to the community. So, “I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege.” Privilege. Notice this word. “It is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.” So to do for something big, to do for the community is a privilege. It’s not a duty. It’s not a burden. It is a privilege. So I feel like that too, to have been invited to come here is a privilege. So… To do for it whatever I can. “I want to be thoroughly used up”. We want to use others only. We don’t want to be used. Oh, why shall I be used? You are stupid if you let others use you. But here you are not letting others use you. You are using yourself for the betterment of the community, for the betterment of the people. So I want to be thoroughly used up when I die. So one (Sayadaw) teacher in Burma said, “I want to live as long as I can work. And when the day I cannot work, I want to die.” And he really did that. He worked until his last day. “For the harder I work, the more I live”. If you don’t work, you don’t live. And if you live for only for yourself, then you are not living, really. So by working, by doing for others, we learn and grow. If we don’t do something good for others, for the community, we don’t really learn, we don’t really grow and we will not be fulfilled. We will not be satisfied. So we can do quite a lot, no matter how old or young you are, no matter how rich or poor you are, in our own capacity, each of us can do something. So try just to find out what you can do and do that. Even sweeping the ground. You can do that.

“I rejoice in life for its own sake.” This is something to think about. “I rejoice in life for its own sake.” Can you say that? I rejoice in life for its own sake. If you really, honestly and truly able to say that, then I can say you are a happy person. You are happy. So once, I talked about the joy of being alive. I read in one book this French phrase “joie de vivre”. I think the pronunciation is right. I’m not sure. “Joie de vivre”, “joy of being alive”. Sometimes I feel that, although not always. Joy of being alive. What do you think? I am not contradicting myself? Life is all dukkha. What is joy? If you see meaning in the dukkha, then there is joy. If you only see dukkha and no meaning, then there is no joy at all. So learning and growing is joyful. I’m learning and I’m growing. And I know that. I don’t know everything, but I know something. And I know that I can learn something more, every day. Every day I’m learning something more. So, “I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch”, a sort of splendid torch, “which I’ve got to hold up for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations”. So a lot of mighty people, a lot of big people, have done big things for humanity. Buddha, the biggest, I feel, and there are many other people too: scientists and doctors also… Many, many people: authors, writers. They’ve done quite a lot for humanity. And it’s our turn now to do whatever we can for humanity. And if you try to do that, you’ll feel very happy about your life.

And can anybody guess who said that? Who said this? You’ll be surprised to hear that. A very funny man. He made a lot of jokes, very sarcastic, very ironic jokes. George Bernard Shaw and I love him very much. I read a lot of his books, love his [skip the word] and a lot of his jokes too. So think about these things. Becoming a member of a community of human beings and doing something good for the human being, for the community. And that way we develop our inner qualities. We learn from each other. I learn from you and you learn from me.

So that’s about the time that we have. It’s already 10:30 now. To conclude our meeting here today, I’m very grateful to you for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts and feelings. Thank you very much.

So we pay respect to the Buddha.

Imaya dhammanu, dhamma pati-pattiya, buddham pujemi.
I honor the Buddha by the very practice which leads towards liberation.

Imaya dhammanu, dhamma pati-pattiya, dhammam pujemi. The meaning is the same.

Imaya dhammanu, dhamma pati-pattiya, sangham pujemi.

Viet Hung | A Happiness pursuer | Author of The Happiness Journal, Tản mạn về Hạnh phúc and NGẪM CAFÉ
Sách tôi dịch: Thiền cho người mới bắt đầu, Nổi loạn và tự do, Bài chú giải Kinh Mangala Sutta, Sức mạnh của sự hoài nghi và thiền chánh niệm (Vipassana), Những nguyên lý để sống hạnh phúc, Chúng ta đang sống vì điều gì?, Sự cho đi và Tình thương yêu, “Lấy tâm mình làm bạn của chính mình”
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