Norma, Carlos and Laura are all members of the Order of Interbeing which means they have been practicing in the tradition of Plum Village for many years already. They sit with us to explain the context in which we have landed in Mexico: the whole country is touched by a rather strong emotion after 43 young people disappeared. It is like the last drop of water making the cup overflow because tens of thousands of people have disappeared and been killed in the past years, presumably they were taken by the drug traffickers. Because of this current situation, we introduce to the journalists the methods used to take care of strong emotions like anger, fear, despair, thanks to mindful breathing and compassionate listening. Brother Phap Luu emphasizes the importance of building loving communities to prevent and stop the spread of violence, and he takes the very inspiring example of Maria Gamboa's film ''Mateo'' which came out in Colombia this year and is nominated for the Oscars. In the second part of the press conference, the journalists asked questions concerning the content of our events in the four countries visited before. They also want to know how to maintain awareness of the breathing in each moment of the day; so we invite them to use the ringing of the cell phone as a reminder. Another important question is that of justice in the perspective of our Plum Village tradition. Our answer is to encourage people to stop, to calm the mind in order to listen to the suffering of the victims' families and bring about compassion. This compassion is the basis for true justice, as are the actions taken to protect the young people and to prevent violence, making sure that things like that don't happen again.
For lunch, we have the happy oppportunity to meet Buddhist friends of different traditions practicing here in Mexico City. It is a chance to feel at home and express gratitude to our original teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha. The Sangha of our tradition has prepared a beautiful gift for each person, namely a simple yet artistic pamphlet containing the newest translation of the Heart Sutra by our beloved master Thich Nhat Hanh, and a commentary on why he offered this new version.
