..续本文上一页ound brings me back to my true home." My true home is the home of joy and peace, the home of compassion, so remember the second poem of two lines: "Listen, listen," for my in-breath, and for my out-breath, "This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home." You do it like this three times before inviting the bell to sound again. We need nine conscious breaths--breathing in, breathing out, in, out, in, out, three times--and then you invite one more sound of the bell, and then three in-breaths and out-breaths, and then you invite a third sound of the bell. So in total you practice nine in-breaths and out-breaths.

　　In Plum Village before eating, we practice like this: we invite the bell to sound three times, and then we have the opportunity to breathe in and out nine times, so the water in us becomes calm and tranquil, and so we can touch the peace of the Buddha in us. Every time we start a Dharma talk or a Dharma discussion, we always start with three sounds of the bell. You have noticed it. I hope that when you go home you can continue this practice, but you need a bell, a mini-bell, to practice it. Now, can I invite you all to practice breathing with the sound of the bell with me

　　 Please sit straight, in a solid position, and we”re going to practice together, listening to three sounds of the bell. Breathing in, "Listen, listen." Breathing out, "This wonderful sound brings me back to my true home." I look at the bell, I practice conscious breathing, I awaken the bell, and I invite the bell to sound:

　　(Bell)

　　A second time:

　　(Bell)

　　A third time:

　　(Bell)

　　I have invited three sounds of the bell. I have made nine in-breaths and nine out-breaths, and then I put back my bell like this. I put the stick back, and with my two hands I put the bell on the table, and I pay respect to it. Today you are going to practice inviting the bell together, and I hope you can practice inviting the bell at home.

　　I think that in a modern house, in the twenty-first century, we need a special room in our house so that we can practice tranquility and peace. We live in a civilized society, so we need to arrange our house in such a way that we have a room in which we can practice peace, to restore peace and reconciliation. We reconcile with ourselves, and we reconcile with the other members of our family. We live in peace and harmony with the others, so we need a room where we can restore joy and peace in ourselves. In our daily lives it is easy to lose our calmness, and to make the others suffer, and to make ourselves suffer. We can call this room the meditation room, or the breathing room. This room can be a small room. We don”t need tables or chairs; we just need a bell and some cushions to sit on comfortably. You can ask your mom and your dad to arrange that room. We need a room like that in our house. Each civilized house should have a room like that. We have rooms for our guests, we have rooms for playing, to watch TV, living rooms--we have all kinds of rooms, but we need a room where we can restore our tranquillity and peace.

　　I hope that the young people can help their parents to realize this project, so you have a breathing room at home, in order to take care of your nervous system, your calmness, your tranquility. I would like to have a vase in that room, with a flower. You can arrange that flower yourself, and that flower is the symbol of the Buddha within us. If you have a statue of the Buddha that you like, you can put it in that room, but if the statue is not beautiful, you shouldn”t put it in that room. It”s better to put a flower instead. And every time you feel that peace is not in you, every time you feel agitated or angry, you can go immediately to that room, mindfully. Instead of discussing, talking or crying, instead of dis…

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