The Art of Suffering Retreat – Question and Answer Session

August 29, 2013. 117-minute dharma talk given by Thich Nhat Hanh from Blue Cliff Monastery in Pine Bush, New York during the 2013 Nourishing Great Togetherness teaching tour. This is a session of questions and answers during the 6-day retreat with the theme Transformation and Healing – The Art of Suffering. Children * Why do people get so angry sometimes and their hearts filled with anger? * Why do people have to suffer? * What do you have to do to have a calm mind? Teens * If you could live your life again, would you choose the same path? * My sister (a monastic aspirant) has been staying with the monastics and it's been hard for me. How do I practice non-attachment? * What made you decide to become a monk? * What is the hardest thing that you practice? * How have you detached from your strongest attachments in life? * Can we be fast and mindful, especially with sports? Adults * A father who has suffered greatly from violence - his son died at Sandy Hook Elementary. What could have happened differently? What could we have done differently? * Another parent shares about the teen child who died from leukemia. Her question is whether or not she can ever truly be happy again. * If you were Obama's spiritual advisor, what would you tell him? Referring to Syria. * UN disarmament negotiator. How can we approach young men who are recruited by groups like Al Qaeda that can offer so much? * How to practice joyfully with physical limitations? * How do I forgive myself because of trusting someone who sexually abused him as a child? * A question on depression and anxiety. http://youtu.be/WcddKkjJG9g