Harmony

1. LIVING IN A COMMUNITY IS A SHARED CHARACTERISTIC

We know that in the universe there is no thing or phenomenon that can exist independently without a relationship to other things and phenomena. A yellow leaf falling, a tiny ant crawling on the ground, a grain of sand in the vast desert... one might think they have nothing to do with one another, nothing to do with people. But in truth, all of them interact with the environment around them. Perhaps that interaction is too small for us to see. That is the way of speaking in physics. According to the teaching of the Avatamsaka Sutra, all things are "layer upon layer of dependent arising", and a single speck of dust can contain all the Buddhas of the ten directions. That teaching is extremely lofty when it speaks of the close interrelation between a single individual and the whole Dharma realm. That is a way of speaking on the principle of Prajna. In this lesson we are not speaking about the principle of Prajna. Later, when conditions allow, we will take up that matter.

So, whether we speak according to the principle of the Path or in terms of physics, we acknowledge that no one can exist independently in this world; everything must be interrelated. In life, we cannot separate ourselves from the surrounding environment. Even in the case of someone in retreat. A person in retreat has no contact with the people around. But in fact, at the least they still have a retreat attendant who takes care of meals. Through that they still have a thread of connection with the outside world and are not completely cut off. Of course, then the relationship between the person in retreat and the people around them is greatly reduced, because they must turn inward to practise. Or take the case of a criminal in solitary confinement. Because the crime is so grave, belonging to the class of dangerous criminals, they are held separately, almost cut off from all relations with those around them. However, the person in solitary confinement still has a relationship with the officer guarding the prisoners, still a little relationship that is not completely lost.

People often retell the story of Robinson Crusoe to give a precious lesson about intelligence, courage and overcoming difficulty. Shipwrecked and stranded on a desert island, facing countless difficulties and dangers, Robinson nevertheless persevered and invented every way to live in wild nature with the knowledge of his age. However, the author put into the work a black man as Robinson's companion. What does this mean? Perhaps the author wanted to affirm that the need for contact and relationship between people is an indispensable need. We cannot live in isolation, cut off from the connection with those around us. We cannot live without a relationship with the human community. For living like that, people would be sad to death and might even go mad. Especially those who get lost in the forest and live a long time in a remote forest, in the end become frightening "forest people".

Every day, in all our activities, we have close relations with others, so we feel it is quite ordinary. But at some moment, if we were alone in a deserted city, without a trace of a person, with wide-open doors on either side and collapsed houses... imagine how we would live. We would fall into a state of tension and psychological crisis that we could not bear. And perhaps, if that state lasted, we would die in solitude from suffering and boredom. So the relationship between people is a real need in our lives.

In the story "Quiet Sapa", the writer Nguyễn Thành Long created a character very worthy of our admiration. He is the young man working in meteorology and hydrology at Sapa. All day, alone on the 2,600-metre Yên Sơn peak, he measures rain and wind... He lives almost cut off from people. So once, craving the sound of human voices so much, the young man found a way to roll a log onto the road, stopped a passing coach and invited everyone to visit where he lived and worked, which moved everyone. This shows how intense the need to connect and be in harmony with others is in each person.

We have also heard the story of the Holy Master Milarepa. He lived as a hermit for eleven years on a desolate mountain, having contact with no one. When snow fell and whitened everything, he still sat in meditation, silently enduring the bitter cold. We must acknowledge that he achieved a very firm power of concentration that everyone admires. After eleven years living apart from the community to practise, he came out to teach and was very successful. The Tibetans worship him as they would a Sage. That is a very rare and exceptional case. When one has attained concentration in the mind, one no longer feels the need for relationships with people as a pressing matter. But most of us live in relationship and have duties to others.

No one can live in solitude for ever in this life. Now, living together in a group, a community, sometimes we feel there is no need to love one another, and sometimes we belittle the feelings of others. But those who often betray affection and loyalty will never find it again later. Remember that whatever we betray, we lose for ever. That is cause and effect.

For example, a person who still has merit, living in wealth and comfort, often goes to eat at big restaurants. Many times they order food in excess and then have to throw it away. In the end the karmic result occurs. Once, on a bus journey along a forest road, crossing a pass, the bus broke down halfway and had to stay put for three or four days. Then, because they had not brought any reserve food, they had to go hungry for several days in a row. Although their property and money were still plentiful, they too fell into a difficult situation, going without food and water, to repay the karmic result of those times of wasting food. So in the past our grandparents often advised their descendants to value every grain of rice. They are "pearls". When eating, if a grain of rice falls, we must pick it up. That moral principle seems simple but is in fact extremely profound. No one should ever take it lightly.

Reality has given us many lessons about cause and effect. Not a few directors, while in office, did not hesitate to throw money out of the window, plunging into pleasure-seeking and living in dissolute debauchery. They might spend tens of millions of đồng in a single night. Because at that time the assets in their hands were counted in billions, what did those tens of millions mean? So, having despised and squandered money, what karmic result happens to them? At some point their business goes bankrupt and they become people with empty hands. From a distinguished director living in grand style, they sometimes become poor and wretched, besieged by debts, even having to go to prison.

What is easiest to see is that when living in the love of their parents, children often take it lightly and neglect it. One day, grown up and having their own family, becoming a father or mother, they suddenly understand how much their own parents loved them. When they realise and know how to love their parents, it is already too late, and sometimes they cannot meet them again.

Understanding this, we must value what we have today so as not to suffer karmic results. If we live side by side under one school roof, walk the same road, share the same ideal, and yet do not respect the bonds between us, do not respect the affection between fellow students as brothers and sisters, later we too will suffer the karmic result. That is solitude: no friends, no one to share the feelings of life. We may also succeed, and after leaving we may become abbots or go off to preach. But whatever we do, going round and round, we will still be alone, still deeply feeling the solitude.

In life, a good, harmonious relationship is a need and also a factor of happiness. That is, if the relationship is bad, we will suffer. Conversely, if it is a good relationship, we will feel happy. As for bad relationships making people suffer, we have learned of it in the teaching of the "Four Noble Truths". Among the eight kinds of suffering, there is one that people can hardly avoid: meeting what one hates, being brought together with those we hate. Indeed, meeting those we hate is also a great suffering of people.

For example, we, especially lay people, usually have the ordinary feelings of love and hate. But people say: "Whatever you hate, heaven will give you." Usually the people we hate, by a twist of fate, are brought together with us, and we even have to share a room and do the same work. So, coming in and going out, we often feel irritated and miserable. That is suffering, called meeting what one hates. That is, a bad relationship makes us suffer. To overcome it, we have only one way: stop hating them. When we no longer hate, we naturally find everything ordinary, with nothing to suffer over. However, not everything is as simple as we think; it also depends on the strength of past karma.

If meeting what one hates is one of the sufferings of human beings, then meeting and being with those we love is happiness and joy.

As disciples of the Buddha, we must try to build good relationships with the community. While we are still monastic students, with nothing to give one another, let us give one another good relationships and good conduct. That is also a way of helping each other to be happy. We must live so that we can love everyone and everyone loves us. When we say this, some people think we are too idealistic, even to the point of illusion. For they think that people living together always have love and hate, and never have complete love. In other words, we cannot love everyone, and not everyone loves us. That is reality.

In life there are very many reasons for people to hate one another. Some very unreasonable, very petty reasons also make them hate one another and be unable to love one another. So when we say we love everyone, it may seem an illusion. But those are the thoughts of the world. Worldly people usually rely on reality to deal with others. That is, living in this life, they know that some love them and some hate them. So whoever loves them will be loved in return, and whoever hates them will be hated in return. That is ordinary life. Whereas those who practise Buddhism must rise above the ordinary and seek perfection. Speaking of love and harmony in the Assembly, each person must live so as to love everyone and also be loved by everyone. We do not demand it, but being loved in return by everyone is a good sign of our own mind. Although it is hard to achieve, we must still strive for it, and must carry it out no matter what.

However, attaining the Buddhist principle of harmony within the Assembly is still not enough. Our mind must go on to find harmony with everyone in this world. We must see to it that in our eyes everyone is a person for us to love and cherish. That is the dream, the ideal of a disciple of the Buddha. It is a very high ideal that some call "utopian", but we are still determined to reach it and will certainly not stop. For now, we must strive to live a good life, in complete harmony with those around us. And the Mind must extend to everyone in this world.

2. THE SPIRIT OF THE SIX HARMONIES

Speaking of the principle of harmony, in Buddhism there is the teaching of the Six Harmonies. The Six Harmonies are six kinds of harmony. The meaning of the Six Harmonies was often taught by the Buddha to the Sangha in a residence so as to live in harmony with one another. In studying the lesson on Harmony, we cannot fail to study and analyse this teaching.

a. Harmony of the body, living together:

This is the harmony that begins in living together in one residence. This harmony is the starting point for the five harmonies that follow.

We have come from all directions to be present here, in one group, so these bodies, these physical forms (in today's terms, our household registration) must enter a life of harmony. On what points does this harmonious life rest? Although we are many different kinds of people, we must rely on, trust and help one another. That is the spirit of harmony in a living environment. In a temple, we may have many differences in where we come from: some from "the salty and sour-soiled region", some from the countryside "where ploughing turns up gravel and stones"... What matters is that we still let go of all those differences to live together in one residence and be in harmony with one another. But this does not begin with us but with the senior teachers: the Abbot, the Superintendent, the Head of Studies, the Secretary... First of all, in the temple the Abbot must be a person who rises above all differences, loves and treats everyone equally, without discrimination. That very spirit of his will be an example for the disciples in the community to follow. As for us, while we are still in the community, we must observe how the senior teachers work, to learn and draw out their strengths and weaknesses for later. Someone, while still in the community, was asked by their teacher to write material for teaching an abbots' course and wrote it very successfully. The reason they could do so is that they regularly observed how the senior teachers worked and managed and drew out experiences and conclusions.

The senior teachers have set an example and created harmony for us, a harmony that spreads without the slightest discrimination. We ourselves must also rise above all differences, so that the body lives together in harmony, loving one another, relying on, trusting and helping one another. Living like this, if one day we meet again after so many years apart, we will still be glad and full of affection. If we have been through years of close bonds, sharing difficulties, joys and sorrows in life, we will realise that the bond of the Path is even more sacred than the bond of flesh and blood. This is not exaggeration or illusion. It is a deep feeling when we have been through so many years of hard practice. We all have families, parents, brothers and sisters..., and we still live in the loving affection of our families, but on reflection, we still find that the tie of blood is not as sacred as the bond of the Path. This is hard to explain in detail. Only when we can love the fellow monastics around us, and when we mention them, our hearts overflow with love, will we see that indeed the bond of the Path surpasses worldly affection. Even family affection cannot equal it. In truth, family and blood relations are the karmic conditions of many lifetimes. Sometimes people no longer regard that as sacred. In not a few families, brothers have killed one another to fight over the inheritance. Only morality can turn nothing into something. For example, we are strangers, come from all over to be here, without any bond at all. But if everyone has morality, and loves one another on the bond of the Path in the ideal of the Buddha's Dharma, we will find that living together we are happier than living in a family, especially a family without morality. If we treat one another with morality, we will be happier than with anything else in this world.

In short, harmony is only the first step; what matters is that we reach the point of treating one another as flesh and blood. To treat one another as flesh and blood, how must we live? Each person who reconsiders their own attitude and their own way of behaving in the course of living with fellow monastics will see more clearly.

While we are still in the community, if we can live like this, we will be a wonderful moral example for everyone to follow. If we are indifferent and unconcerned towards those around us, when we step out to do the Buddhist work, our Mind will be even more dry and cold. Then we cannot be a moral image for everyone to follow, nor can we be a shady tree sheltering everyone. We must remember that people rely on practitioners because of love, a love for sentient beings that is vast and without discrimination. We studied this in the lesson on the mind of loving-kindness. To develop that, we must regard the environment of fellow monastics as the best environment for us to practise.

b. Harmony of speech, without quarrelling:

This is the harmony that shows itself mostly in speech. First of all, this harmony is shown in not quarrelling with harsh words. In a day, we usually do less than we say. Only a few special people do more than they say. Of course, those people do good things rather than bad. When studying, they stay quiet and say nothing. Such people are very good, with a fairly settled mind. Ordinarily, most of us say more than we do. In establishing relationships with others, speech is an important line. According to the Buddhist sutras, speech should be gentle, refined, and pleasant, pleasing to people's hearts. That is good speech that creates good relationships. We must try to train, must learn to speak well, must strive to guard our speech. For if we do not train and do not correct, we will speak roughly and offend others. Of course, speech comes from the Mind. If we pay a little attention to our speech, we will be able to observe our own Mind.

For example, when a fellow monastic speaks sharply to us, we are irritated and react with sharp words. It is precisely that unlovely speech that stops us from establishing a good relationship. We live not for ourselves but for our temple and for the Buddha's Dharma. If we happen to say harsh words, we must look at our Mind at once and train it so that the words that come out become loving speech that pleases people's hearts. In Vietnamese forms of address, we need to avoid the five words that typify poor culture: "thằng", "con", "mày", "tao" and "nó". That is also one of the factors that make us Vietnamese lose merit compared with other countries in the world. Such forms of address may be used by lay people, but we who practise should not use them at all. When speaking about a third person, we should call them only by name, without needing to use a pronoun. In the Path, when we talk and address one another, we should use Dharma names.

Another expression of harmony of speech without quarrelling is not speaking ill behind someone's back. Speaking ill of others behind their backs is not good. If they hear of it, they will be very angry, which leads to loss of harmony and loss of unity. The harmonious relationship is then lost. Speaking ill behind someone's back usually falls into two cases: with ill intent and without ill intent. A person who speaks ill of another behind their back with ill intent truly wants to humiliate that person and lower their prestige. In the other case, the speaker has no ill intent but unintentionally ends up speaking ill of others. Sometimes it is only a joke, with no ill intent, but in truth it still makes the listener think less of the person spoken about. So whether with or without ill intent, we should not speak behind others' backs. When they hear of it, they will be hurt and the relationship between us and them will no longer be good. If we disagree with someone on some point, we must not speak carelessly either, especially when someone asks about that person. For often, because of disagreement, we cannot restrain ourselves and let slip things that are not good. So, unintentionally, we become people who speak ill behind others' backs. Best of all, when there is a disagreement, we should give our opinion to them directly. If we see that conditions do not allow it or it is not convenient, we should also remain silent and not speak through a third person in a way that damages their reputation.

Another point to note is that we should not quarrel with one another. In fact, this has also happened among the clergy in a few temples. For such heavy quarrelling to happen shows that the practitioners' control of speech and conduct and of the mind is still poor. If we disagree with each other, our hearts should remain calm, and we should look to see whose fault it is. If the fault is ours, we must sincerely admit it and resolve to correct it. If the fault lies with the other, we try to give advice to help them overcome it.

c. Harmony in precepts, practising together: This means keeping the precepts together; with morality, harmony is easily achieved.

When we keep together the conduct and precepts, life is happier. For example, the temple has a rule that stepping outside the boundary (giới tràng, the temple grounds) requires permission. We must comply with that. Even if we go for an afternoon stroll, we go only as far as the gate and then turn back. That way everyone looks at one another with joy because everyone keeps the precepts. Or if we practise matters of morality together, such as compassion and humility, life will be very happy and joyful. When we cultivate a compassionate mind, we love the fellow monastics around us. When a fellow monastic is sick, we will care for them with love. When we are ill, others in turn will care for us. Like this, life becomes more beautiful. If, on the contrary, the practice and training in morality are not shared, life will lose its joy and there will no longer be a harmonious relationship.

d. Harmony of views, sharing understanding: This is sharing understanding with one another, especially of the teaching.

People's understanding is naturally uneven. When we know something good, we do not deliberately keep it to ourselves but want others, want sentient beings, to know it. Those who live like this will have outstanding wisdom in later lives and will have much merit. It is the same with the teaching. When we listen to the teacher's lecture, if we understand the matter deeply, we should not hide what we understand but try to analyse it further so that our fellow monastics also understand as deeply as we do. And thanks to that, the lesson is expanded further. That will encourage our fellow monastics, so that we all progress in practice day by day.

In applying effort in meditation practice, talking about what we have attained would spoil our practice, but if we see a good way of applying effort, we also find a way to point it out to our fellow monastics so that together we reach a state of peace and joy. For example, seeing that regulating the breath is a way of applying effort with good results, we guide our fellow monastics in how to breathe so as to attain a state of lightness, ease, joy and bliss... But we do not tell our fellow monastics that we ourselves practise this way; we say only that we heard others give the instruction. That is also a way of explaining to one another without wanting to keep the good for ourselves.

Not only in the teaching, but in life too, there are small matters on which we can share experience with others. For example, when we make some mistake, we hope that others will never make the same mistake. Or if we have tried to overcome that mistake, we should also analyse it and offer our experience so that others have a way to overcome their mistakes. Our heart is always warm, and whatever good we discover we want to share with others so that everyone benefits and progresses in practice and in life. That is precisely harmony of views, sharing understanding. We who practise have nothing to give one another. So giving one another our store of understanding is an invaluable gift; never keep a thing back for ourselves alone.

Later, if conditions allow us to go teach the Dharma in many places and we are praised by lay Buddhists, we should not be quick to feel proud. In the lesson on Humility, we spoke of secret pride. That is very dangerous, and we need to extinguish it at once with very simple thoughts. We can think that those who listen to recordings of our teaching are mostly ordinary people of low level who find it good. If people of high level heard what we teach, they would find it ordinary, with nothing to praise. Or we can think that our teaching really is good and profound, but we pray that all Preceptors and Lecturers may teach better than we do. And at every time and in every place along all the paths of the Buddha's Dharma, we hope to meet skilled lecturers who teach the Dharma well. Wherever we go, whether lay Buddhists or monastics, may all hear wonderful teachings and increase their faith in the Buddha's Dharma. Higher still, we always pray that everyone in this world may be a Sage, with no one wanting to outdo anyone else. That would be a wonderful, beautiful World. When we hold the aspiration that good things reach everyone, we will see ourselves as utterly ordinary, nothing special, and will extinguish the pride that may rise in our hearts.

e. Harmony of intention, rejoicing together: This means thinking well of one another in the mind, so that joy naturally arises among everyone.

The reason that when we look at our fellow monastics our hearts feel glad is that we know how to think well of them. That is, we usually see their good qualities. This is very profound. Living in an environment where we see that everyone is a good person: one who studies very well and has deep wisdom; one who is very diligent in practice, prostrating to the Buddha, repenting and sitting in meditation regularly; one who likes to do voluntary service; one who often uses words to advise and help others overcome mistakes, and so on..., naturally we will feel joy flood our hearts. Once our mind is always happy with everyone, not looking at faults, not picking holes, not feeling ill will, always tolerant and forgiving, living only by relying on what is good, we will gain more experience of life and more joy. That is Harmony of intention, rejoicing together.

g. Harmony in benefits, sharing equally: This means sharing equally in entitlements such as clothing, food, medicine, bedding, writing notebooks, rest hours, turns for retreat, and so on...

Harmonies that belong to the mind are usually simpler than matters concerning entitlements. If every entitlement is divided equally without care, it will lead to injustice. For example, the entitlements and arrangements for a sick person will differ from those for an ordinary person, and no one can demand to enjoy them equally. Or a person who works a great deal and does heavy work should be given priority in entitlements... So Harmony in benefits, sharing equally, must rest on love.

3. LOVE IS THE ROOT OF HARMONY

As said above, it is not dividing entitlements equally to the letter that is called Harmony. It is love that is the root of harmony. Entitlements shared out of love become reasonable harmony in benefits shared equally. There are special cases that we cannot handle equally. For example, by the standard, each person is allotted one set of clothes to be made in a year. Among them, one monk who is very diligent at work and, whatever happens, rain or wind, plunges in, finds his clothes torn first. If, following a rigid rule, before the time for making clothes for everyone he must wait with torn clothes on his body, it would be unjust and unreasonable. So dividing equally may run against the meaning of fairness.

Yielding is precisely an expression of harmony because it comes from love. So in cases of need, we can sacrifice our own entitlements and yield to others. For example, when the cold season comes, lay Buddhists bring a warm coat to offer to each monk in the temple. But because of a mistake they offer one fewer. In principle, if we distribute from the senior monks downwards, counting seniority, we would still each receive a share, and only the youngest would lose out. That is reasonable, but in morality it is entirely wrong because it lacks love and yielding. If we are the first to know that there will be one coat short, we must accept having no coat to wear in order to yield to someone who needs it more. In this case, yielding is the Six Harmonies, not the rule of dividing from the top down so that the senior in rank is sure to get a share and the junior has to bear the loss. Having the Six Harmonies in form but losing the principle is entirely wrong. So every other aspect of the Six Harmonies needs the root of love.

4. SET ASIDE DIFFERENCES AND TURN TOWARDS WHAT WE HAVE IN COMMON

To seek Harmony with everyone, we must set aside differences and seek what we have in common. If we try to find differences, we will see that between people living together there are differences everywhere.

First, there are differences in appearance: tall and short; fat and thin; those with beautiful faces and those who look hard to behold... In life, not a few people, because they set too much store by appearance, create discrimination and division. Next are differences in voice. Each locality has its own accent; some regions speak in a way that is very pleasant to hear, and some places have an accent so heavy that it is hard to listen to. From this, relying on accent, people feel fondness for those from one place and ill will towards those from another. Because of accent, people can also become distant from one another. Today in a few temples, discrimination by locality and home region is very bitter. This is contrary to our people's saying: "Though of different kinds, we share one trellis." Of course, at first it is only a few people who discriminate, then others follow along and it becomes a movement. When we meet such a case, we must find ways to resolve it and help one another overcome the prejudice of locality so as to live in harmony. For according to Buddhism, sentient beings of the ten directions all share one Buddha-nature.

The course of practice is also a difference that can make people discriminate and divide from one another. One person is proud of having entered the temple to practise longer than another and so sees a difference, sees that the other is not their equal and has no harmony with them. In addition, between people there are also differences of status, lineage, wisdom, physique... If we keep relying on those differences, we will look down on one another, divide and feel ill will, and gradually become distant from one another.

So we try to find what we have in common, and we will see that between people there are not only differences but countless similarities. The greatest similarity is that tears are equally salty and blood is equally red. We remember that in the Buddha's time Indian society was divided into many castes. (Of course, in that period caste division was not as harsh as in Indian society around the 18th and 19th centuries.) And yet the Buddha did not accept caste discrimination and condemned it resolutely. When he saw a person of the Brahmin priestly caste seeming arrogant because of their lineage and caste, the Buddha objected at once. He said: "There is no caste when blood is equally red, there is no caste when tears are equally salty." That statement is wonderful in two respects: in morality and in art.

In terms of morality and philosophy, it is a wonderful thought. In terms of art, it is also a wonderful sentence, with a deep symbolic meaning. Blood symbolises life. In this world, everyone values life. And in this precious life, all people are equal, with none higher or lower. It is not that because one person is rich and another poor, one person's life is more precious than another's. Tears symbolise suffering. Living in this life, we humans all endure very similar sufferings. Everyone must grow old, fall sick, die, be separated from those they love, meet those they hate, and fail to get some of the things they seek... That is, the sufferings of this life are very similar. And it is precisely those sufferings that grind us down and torment us equally. The tears that flow from those sufferings are the same for the wealthy and the poor. That is the first similarity we must recognise in order to love and live in harmony with one another in life.

Another similarity is ideals. When we come to Buddhism, each of us has in our hearts the ideal of awakening and liberation. This is a point on which we can love one another. For there are people who do not share the same ideal, yet on the basis of Buddhist compassion we still must love them, let alone fellow monastics who recite the Buddha's name together, who live together in the pure atmosphere of Buddhism and who turn together towards awakening and liberation.

That is not all; we have another similarity: we belong to the same human species. We are alike in ideals, alike in suffering and alike even in mistakes. Perhaps one person has overcome them and another has not yet, but the mistakes that people have made in this life from ancient times until now are very much alike. Those are the mistakes of rivalry, greed, conceit, attachment to self, resentment, selfishness... Then we also share the same religion, the same teachers and Patriarchs, the same school and class. So when we see that those around us have so many points like ourselves, we must love one another, with no more distance and no more discrimination.

That is love within the Assembly. But even that is not enough. For Buddhism has no borders. Among vast humankind, we must constantly seek what we have in common in order to reach harmony. That is the ideal, the path of Buddhism. For example, between Buddhism and Catholicism there are many differences, but we still find similarities, even very close ones. Reading the New Testament (the Gospels), the teachings of Jesus, we will see that there are many points that resemble Buddhism. We may conclude: "Jesus was a manifested Bodhisattva" who came to reform Judaism. Judaism relies on the Old Testament, and the Old Testament does contain many mistakes. Jesus appeared and reformed it. The Lord's teachings were gathered into a book called the Gospel. Five people wrote about the life of the Lord (the scriptures called the Gospel number as many as five volumes) with similarities and differences, but we find in them very many points like Buddhism. If we study deeply, we will see this clearly.

Or what we fear most today is the problem of Islam. They speak to one another only with bombs and bullets, which is very frightening. At present we have not found many documents on Islam to study, so that we could begin from some common point to transform them, causing them to abandon the path of violence and live in peace with humankind, first of all in theory. At present they only want to destroy all other religions so that only Islam remains in the world. They carry this out by violence and with very great determination. If we are not aware of this, we are guilty towards humankind. So each person in the course of practice must see that there are great problems in the world waiting for very many people to lend a hand in building, and must not practise passively.

As the Path of peace, of tolerance and harmony, of compassion, we must see this in order to transform them. Now we have not found a way to resolve their violent thinking, but we believe that in the future we will have a way to help our Muslim brothers and sisters, who are sunk in error and wrong views, sunk in the ferocity of violence, to return to living in harmony with the world and with humankind. For politicians, Islam is also a great worry. They are looking in every way and forming all kinds of schemes to destroy one another. From the Buddhist point of view, we too see Islam as a worry for us. But unlike them, we rely on principle, morality and tolerance to transform, not on struggle to destroy one another.

As practitioners of Buddhism, we must see the problem of Islam as a big problem. And there are many other big problems in the world of humankind for which we must take responsibility ourselves to solve. Remember that the dream of practising progressively to become a Lecturer, Preceptor, Abbot... is only an ordinary dream. As genuine practitioners, we must rise above those ordinary things and turn towards a higher aim and ideal.

5. IN NON-SELF, EVERYTHING BECOMES ONE

In Buddhism there is a supreme Wisdom, which is the Wisdom of Non-self. We practise a great deal, but in the end we also turn towards Non-self. We may be gathering the mind in meditative concentration, and our Mind will attain concentration. But we must remember one thing: we use this concentration to arrive at Non-self, no longer seeing ourselves. The more we turn towards Non-self through meditative concentration, the more our Mind naturally blends with everyone and everything. We should never claim that we have been Awakened, have Wisdom, have accomplished, have attainments. This is the danger for a person who practises meditation.

Usually, when applying effort brings results, we tend to think of wisdom, supernormal powers, abilities... and see our own value rise. Once we have gathered the Mind into concentration, a whole series of those secret thoughts arise. And it is precisely these that make concentration be lost or make attachment to self increase. So an important thing we must remember is that when the Mind has just entered concentration, we still think that we have not reached what we need to reach, and vow to let go of everything else in order to turn towards Non-self. Only with such a vow will we not be deceived by the feeling of concentration.

When we arrive at Non-self in this way, our Mind will naturally blend with everyone and everything. This is something without argument and without need of explanation. From the start, we sought harmony through argument, explaining why we must live in harmony and love one another. But if a person enters concentration and turns towards Non-self, there is no need to say a word; the Mind will still naturally blend with everyone. Before we have concentration, we see our Mind as being only inside our own head. But once we have concentration, we find that everyone is right inside our Mind, and love and harmony naturally spread. That is precisely the value of concentration, and it must be concentration turned towards Non-self.

Conversely, a person who has concentration but thinks only of differences from others will have increasing attachment to self, will be set apart from everyone, and will move further from Non-self. For Non-self lets us find similarities, whereas attachment to self makes us find differences. Understanding this, each of us tries to cultivate meditative concentration and apply diligent effort until the Mind blends with everyone and everything. Even without speaking, the harmony and love within us will still spread and overflow towards everyone.

In the Shorter Discourse in the Gosinga Sal Forest (the Culagosinga Sutta), the story of the three Venerables Anuruddha, Nandiya and Kimbila, who lived a pure and harmonious life, is introduced and praised. The Buddha confirmed that anyone who hears the names of these three harmonious Arhats will gain much wholesome merit. When the Buddha came to visit the three Venerables, he asked:

• Can you live in harmony with one another?

The Venerables answered:

• We live together in harmony like water mixed with milk.

The Buddha asked again:

• How do you manage to live like this?

• Venerable Blessed One! I do not live by my own mind but by the mind of my fellow monks.

What a wonderful answer! Before the Buddha's time there was no such answer, and in later ages there will never be a better one. "I do not live by my own mind but by the Mind of my fellow monks." The reason those Venerables live in such wonderful harmony is that they live by the Mind of their fellow monks. Once the bodies are different but the Mind is the same, they look at one another with kindly eyes and live happily side by side, without quarrelling over who comes out ahead. That is a beautiful thing in life. Only in Buddhism can those who have realised the Non-self of an Arhat speak in this way and live such a life.

As disciples of the Buddha, we need to turn towards this in order to live in harmony with everyone. That is, even if we have not attained Arhatship or Non-self, if we try to put aside our own opinions to live according to the minds of our fellow monastics, we also sow the Cause for attaining Non-self and the Sagehood of an Arhat. Every day, when our fellow monastics want to do something useful, we should do it together with them. That is, we live in harmony following our fellow monastics, with nothing of our own any more, especially in opinions and thinking. Of course, the principle of the Path must be consistent and cannot be wrong. When our fellow monastics go against the principle of the Path, we resolutely do not follow. Achieving this, we will surely have a wonderfully harmonious life with everyone.