This is the second children's Dharma talk offered by Thay in the Open Mind Open Heart Retreat, given in the War Memorial Gym of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday, August 11th, 2011. Thay speaks about giving children in Italy a grain of corn so they could go home to plant it. Their homework, when the seed grows into a plant of corn, is to look at the seedling and say: "Dear plant of corn, do you remember the time when you were just a little seed?" 'The plant says, "Me, a tiny seed of corn? I don't believe it." We have to help the plant of corn to remember. "Dear plant of corn, it is me who has planted the seed of corn in this spot, and I have watered it every day. And you have come from it." And the plant will remember that at one point in history it was a little seed. And you who are a practitioner, when you look at the plant of corn, you can see the grain of corn.' In the same way, we can see our father and mother in us at every moment.
Video and audio published by the Plum Village Online Monastery: monks, nuns, and layfriends making content from Thich Nhat Hanh and the monks and nuns of Plum Village available on the Internet.
