In the morning, we visit the Pedro Apostol school located in Puentealto, a popular suburb of Santiago. After a brief encounter with the principals, we enter the schoolyard and are joyfully welcomed by hundreds of children and teenagers smiling, looking and touching us with great curiosity: “De donde son?” “Como se llama?” “Cuantos anos tiene?”.
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| arriving into the hall |
Then we spend two and a half hours with 300 teenagers aged 14 to 18. The seven of us introduce basic mindfulness practices: following our breath, singing, nourishing happiness, taking care of difficult emotions. We play a game to help us become aware of our steps while walking at different speeds amongst other people. We continue with tangerine meditation and conclude with questions and answers. The more we share and interact with these young people, the more responsive they become and the more we are able to overcome possible preconceived ideas about each other as well as barriers of age and culture. At the end, it is hard for us to find our way out of the 20-minute long session of taking photos with small groups and hugging them goodbye.
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| sitting meditation in the theatre |
We have been told that after the announcement of the evening public talk in a major newspaper of Santiago (El Mercurio), about 1500 people have signed up to attend! As the hall can only host 300, some 200 friends follow the talk on a screen in a nearby room and the staff of the Auditorio Telefonica streams the talk online for the remaining 1000 people. Brother Phap Luu speaks about mindfulness in daily life, the importance of not blaming and not straining oneself in the practice and about the intimate relationship between happiness and suffering. Brother Phap Lieu tells us his personal life story, from growing up in warring Vietnam, immigrating to France and becoming a doctor to ordaining as a buddhist monk. In this way, he shares about healing the emotional wounds of the war kept in the collective consciousness, recognizing the influence our parents have had on us, reconciling with them and bringing a spiritual dimension into our lives in order to overcome feelings of emptiness.
Later we open the space for questions from the audience. Sister Boi Nghiem especially awakens us to the necessity of being truly present for our loved ones when they are in need. At the end of the event, we meet some lay practicioners who would like to ask about more personal issues. It’s very nice to come into closer contact with the Chilean. They are gentle people, full of heart and gratitude.
