Author: khai.nghiem

Hứa An – Thân Thiện Thí

As a child, I often followed my mother to the temple and bowed to the Buddhas, but no one taught me much about Buddhism. At the age of 8, I witnessed the bloodshed during the 1968 Tet Offensive, then the horrible Vietnam

War, and the agony of countless people who had lost everything. Since then, I have always wondered: “Who am I, and what should I do to help humanity reduce suffering?”

In spite of countless tragic incidents crossing the ocean to escape and growing up in a foreign land, I always turned to Kwan Yin Bodhisattva and prayed for the Vietnamese people to overcome their calamity. However, the bowing ceremony at the temple was no longer as meaningful to me as before, so I began my journey to find a Buddhist master to learn the Dharma.

Years later, my sister Bach suffered from a very serious illness and wanted to learn Integral Tai Chi (ITC) with Thay in the hope of improving her condition. However, she was in San Jose, so she asked me to learn it and then teach it to her. Thus, I started my religious journey without even knowing it.

Not only did Thay teach the Dharma through Tai Chi, but he also made difficult Buddhist sutras and doctrines easy for us to understand and apply to everyday life. I remember well that I enthusiastically learned ITC with Thay in a small room of the Nhuan’s Far East Newspaper headquarters in 2004. Time went by quickly, but that year was infused in my memory.

As a member of the CSS, every year I had always hoped to join the XGVT Sangha but still missed the opportunity to do so for different reasons. Fast forward to 2021—a very high number of people all over the world died because of the Covid pandemic. In addition, our beloved CSS brother Hiển passed away and at the same time my 91-year-old father became seriously ill. I did not hesitate anymore. I asked my husband to let me shave my head and join the XGVT Sangha.

I remember vividly the morning Thay shaved my head. I was the first person to sit in the chair. I felt a sense of peace, serenity, and was very touched as this was my opportunity to step into a new chapter of my life. My heart overflowed with the love for my father, for brother Hiển, and the deep appreciation to Thay for helping me to fulfill my vow to become a nun to pray for those who died during the pandemic, for my father, and for brother Hiển. While cutting my hair, Thay explained: “Karma is much like hair. Visualize that as your hair falls, so does your karma.” The teaching was simple, but very poignant.

The next day, we started the journey to Pine Summit Camp by bus. Sister Hang, sitting next to me, comforted me with her warmth and her friendly reminders of the important activities during the XGVT program. The first day in camp, the precepts transmission ceremony was very touching. I received a robe, sash, bowl, and a precious message to begin to live the life of the Buddha. The most touching moment was when Thay reminded us: “Everything we do in XGVT from practicing the dharma, bowing to the Buddhas, to breathing the fresh air of the high mountain is for those who can no longer do it.”

I shared a room with two lovely dharma sisters. We went to the Buddha Hall every day to study the dharma to expand our wisdom. The team leaders worked very well, keeping everything clean and ready for us. There were days when I saw beautiful snowstorms. Even though it was cold outside, my heart felt warm because our beloved Masters Heng Chang and Heng Der and all our dharma friends were always around me. It was an indescribable joy to follow the footsteps of the Buddha. There were moments I completely forgot about all my normal life!

The days of cultivating with the XGVT Sangha passed quickly. On the last day of the XGVT program, all of us attended the precepts returning ceremony. When listening to Thay’s words of “returning the robe, sash, and bowl to the Buddha to go back to your normal life”, I tried to swallow my tears, but seeing sister Cuc crying, I couldn’t hold back anymore, and my tears fell like rain. It was the appreciating rain for the peaceful and gentle days living according to the Buddha’s teachings. I forgot all about the mundane world as I experienced something sacred and unforgettable. I told myself that I would bring that profound experience into my normal life.

Joining XGVT for the first time, I promised myself to open my heart and be ready to accept all new lessons so that I could absorb the profound experience. Sincerely, I would like to remind those who join XGVT for the first time: “Please open your mind to receive amazing experiences.” For those who have done it many times, each XGVT is a time to let go, to leave behind all the old experiences, so that we can freely open our heart to receive new ones.

I felt as if I had thoroughly understood Thay’s teachings about The Avatamsaka Sutra which always emphasizes “transcending worliness and engaging with the world” as well as constantly evolving. New experiences will help us become a mature person in spirituality and in many aspects of life.

Every one of us needs to give ourselves the opportunity to grow. The deeply profound experiences through XGVT will change ourselves, shake our foundation, and transform our life forever. Let us listen to the aspiration in our mind. XGVT is the journey back to our luminous self-nature, our innate light. I wholeheartedly wish you to have the diligence and success on the Dharma path.

Thân Khai Nghinh Đổ (Lani)

Time flies. This year is the 7th year that I have attended the Altruistic Temporary Monks and Nuns Retreat organized by Compassionate Service Society in Orange County. You must have wondered why I shaved my head so many times? Simply, just because I see that the program has brought a lot of

benefits to myself and those around me.

The benefit for yourself is a healthy body, peace of mind, and a more altruistic mind. The benefit for others is that throughout the days of practice and 3 days of World Peace Gathering, the Sangha has wholeheartedly spread love and prayers to everyone. We pray for the world to be safe; for everybody to treat each other with love; for all the spirits to enter the light of liberation of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. The Sangha also contributed to the building of a community that practice Buddha’s teachings, everyone having the opportunity to sit together, cultivate the path of liberation, to eliminate evil karma, and help achieve a life of happiness and peace.

The benefits of the Temporary Monks and Nuns program are still many, but after talking with some friends, I have come to know that although a large number of them really wants to fulfill the dream of experiencing the life of a monk or a nun, they are still unable to go forth due to obstacles with family, work, or business, etc.. Therefore, my dear friends, when the opportunity allows, please try to register once, especially if you have never attended the Retreat before.

Some other friends confided that another small obstacle preventing them from achieving their dream of living in a Zen environment was the problem of shaving their hair. I sympathize with your hair as an external decoration, not only for women but also for men. Most of you are hesitant because you don’t know how your appearance will be after you shave your hair; will it get worse? how will your daily work with co-workers be affected, etc. Honestly, before 2014 I had the same thoughts as yours.

But by the end of 2014, after my Mother suddenly passed away, my thoughts changed completely; the anxiety, worry, and problem of shaving my head were also completely gone. The only thing I wanted at that time, was just to live my days in silence, in a completely serene environment, so I can pray for my Mother to follow the light of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and be soon liberated. My Mother has sacrificed her whole life, arduously raising me from the time I was a fetus in her womb until I grew up to be a human being; today even though my hair is gray, she still worries about every bite of food I eat and how I sleep. Hence the fact that I shave my head to dedicate to my mother’s liberation is nothing compared to the great love and sacrifice she has for me.

In the first year of Altruistic Leaving Home, I shaved my head mainly for my beloved Mother. Over the years that followed, I was delighted to see my altruistic consciousness begin to expand. It becomes easier for me now to sacrifice my hair, money, effort, and time for others. I am willing to dedicate all the merits of my cultivation to all those who are suffering from illness, those who have left this world without family by their side during the COVID pandemic, victims of war and so on.

After hearing my story, I hope you can join us in this year’s Temporary Monks and Nuns program, so that our mind will be more pure and altruistic every day, leading to a happier and more peaceful life; to transfer our merits of cultivation to our web of affinity so they can always be safe and healthy; to pray for all those in the world who are living in hardship and difficulty to soon find joy in life again; to lead sentient beings who have lost their lives because of sickness, pandemics, wars, terrorism, and natural disasters to soon step on the lotus flowers, rise higher and be drawn into the light of liberation. Let’s make our mind like a garden full of love and fragrant flowers of liberation.