Author: khai.nghiem

  • Why the Altruistic Home-Leaving Program is Necessary Today

    Why the Altruistic Home-Leaving Program is Necessary Today

    (From the book Xuất Gia Vị Tha 2013) – Thầy Hằng Trường

    Why the Altruistic Home-Leaving Program is Necessary Today

    Leaving home to become a monastic has always been a great and noble merit since the Buddha did it and advised us to do it too.

    There are three kinds of home leaving, according to the Buddha’s teachings:

    1. Leaving at home the mundane and shaving the head to become a monastic for life.

    2. Leaving at home the suffering of all attachments, greeds, desires, and selfish habits, cleansing away all mental grief. Those who leave the mundane behind usually succeed in letting go of their suffering, as do those with great virtues although they stay home.

    3. Leaving the three realms of desires, forms, and formlessness. This requires diligent practice.

    In Buddhism, arhats are truly those who have accomplished this. Leaving the three realms is the one of the noblest ideologies of a monastic since it was the main motivation for the Buddha to leave his palace for the forest in search of enlightenment.

    When Mahayana Buddhism developed broadly, the ideology of leaving the three realms is complemented with the concept of returning to the three realms to help and save living beings.

    That is the ideology of bodhisattvas who advocate the path of service, educating, and touching people’s hearts so they can build good, positive, and useful lives. In the Avatamsaka Sutra, this ideology is often manifested in the story of a bodhisattva working as a boatman who constantly and tirelessly ferries people to the other shore. He never thinks of what he will get or gain for himself, but only cares about taking his passengers to the other shore safely.

    The boatman’s spirit is also the essential spirit of the Bodhisattva Path, namely the altruistic spirit. Advancing the Bodhisattva Path is developing the altruistic consciousness of serving others.

    Thus, the so-called short-term home leaving (XGVT) has been created to develop the Bodhisattva Path for home leaving. A short-term home-leaving participant also shaves their head, temporarily leaves home, and practices being a monastic for a week or two, or a month or two. During this time, the short-term monks or nuns will practice hard not for their own sake or liberation, but on behalf of someone else, or dedicate all merits to a person or a group of people who need merits and prayers.

    An essential difference between lifelong monastics and short-term monastics is the precepts. For the former, a monk receives 250 precepts and a nun, 348 precepts. For the latter, both novice monks and nuns receive only 10 precepts, since the practice time is too short to learn and understand fully the precepts’ meanings. Besides, short-term monastics still have families, jobs, and social responsibilities, so the XGVT program only wants to introduce the noble content of the home leaving path instead of focusing on in-depth details.

    In fact, they will be guided so they can easily feel the greatness of transcending worldliness, the beauty of home leaving, the noble spirit of the awakening path, and the purity and serenity of a monastic life. From feeling to experiencing and appreciating, short-term practitioners will unfold their Bodhi minds and resolve to follow the Bodhisattva Path. This is the most important direction of the Altruistic Short-Term Home Leaving program of CSS, so called to emphasize the spirit and foundation of the program.

    Since the inception of the XGVT program in 2006, all participants have left home on behalf of their loved ones, their friends or acquaintances, or a group of people suffering from a natural or man-made disaster.

    Anyone can join the altruistic sangha. Once they resolve to do so, they have to shave their heads, receive and uphold ten precepts, learn about the proper deportment and conduct of a monastic, and bring forth the mind to apply the Buddhist quintessence in daily life. In so doing, they maintain the precepts, continue to practice the Buddha’s teachings, and prove worthy of the help and support from dharma supporters, volunteers, lay people, and believers.

    Thus, the very positive and goodness-oriented nature of the Altruistic Short-Term Home Leaving program can truly develop its benevolent purpose and influence in our family, community, and everyone in our web of affinity.

  • A TALK WITH TEMPORARY MONK – NUN

    A TALK WITH TEMPORARY MONK – NUN

    “When did you first leave home to become a temporary monk?”

    “ I was very active and fearless as a boy. At age 18, I went swimming in the rough sea, arrogant of my youth and strength. When the waves turned tempestuous, they pulled me further out in spite of my effort to swim ashore. Exhausted, I thought I would die for sure. Just before passing out, I remembered what my mom taught me and could only think, “Please Kuan Yin, save me!” When I came to, I found myself lying on the beach, unharmed. At that time, I assumed I was just lucky, not thinking at all about spiritual cultivation. Besides, I didn’t know any Buddhist master to ask for guidance.

    Then I came to the US and eventually got married. My wife often went to Master Hang Truong’s dharma lectures. She kept urging me to go with her. One day, I wanted to please her, so after taking our son to the dentist, I stopped by the place where Master was giving a lecture. Everyone was listening to Master attentively and appreciatively. However, it sounded all Greek to me. I couldn’t understand anything, but I stayed on.

    Toward the end of the lecture, Khai Nghiem stood up to tell the story of dharma sister Lan Huong in OC. She was very ill, living alone, and in her condition, was unable to take care of her young child. So Khai Nghiem appealed to everyone to leave home temporarily and join the sangha to pray for her speedy recovery. At that moment, I looked at our son and thought, what would happen if I were in the same situation as Lan Huong? Suddenly my heart was filled with love for my wife and son, and also for Lan Huong, although I had never met her. I kept thinking about her situation. I tossed and turned all week long. Finally, I decided to ask my wife to let me become a temporary monk to pray for Lan Huong.

    My wife was quite surprised, but very happy. After that, I had a talk with Master Hang Truong. I said, “Though I don’t understand your dharma lectures, I respectfully ask you to accept me to the sangha.” Master Hang Truong laughed and encouraged me. Since then, I’ve been closely connected with CSS, the Compassionate Service Society”

    A story from dharma brother Thân Khai Thông Phát

  • XGVT Outreach

    XGVT Outreach

    Life’s journey is difficult and procuring the correct knowledge, support, and love is integral to our survival. It is the goal of Outreach Group for Altruistic Retreat (XGVT- Xuất Gia Vị Tha) to help people open their hearts, minds, and develop an ethos of helping others. This new group was formed by our Compassionate Service Society (CSS) this year to aid participants attain their goals of altruism and participate in our annual Altruistic Retreat to connect our network of affinity with the web of light of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas.

    Head shaving is no longer perceived as an “exchange” for our prayers to come true, but instead a manifestation of the love for the people we volunteer to go to retreat and this love has touched the hearts of the Buddhas and bodhisattvas so much that they help us fulfill our wishes for our loved ones. Altruistic Retreat is not to sow seeds for future monk-hood or to achieve a supernatural state, but with each XGVT session we emphasize the importance of physical/ mental health & holistic spiritual cultivation. Experiencing a synergy of collective love in actions and words of our sangha members is the goal of our retreat. Gaining maturity through the entire spiritual spectrum, elevate our vision, recognize altruistic of a bodhisattva is to always bring peace and happiness to all living beings.

    The XGVT retreat will guide cultivators in doing good deeds, developing skillful means in self- practice, as well as in helping others to better understand the dharma. Cultivators will also learn how to emanate the light of the Buddha nature to everyone so they can dispel darkness and suffering, especially during the pandemic. As the result, the XGVT Outreach group has been formed.

    We fervently hope that you, your family, and friends will support our XGVT Outreach group and show your love and care to everyone in your communities and elsewhere. Anyone facing difficulties, obstacles in life or health and unable to participate in the XGVT sangha, provide empathy for them and the XGVT Outreach group will help them feel our love and Master Hang Truong’s compassion for them. Please help them feel supported on their spiritual, emotional, mental, and heart opening journey. Helping those that need it believe that their limitless power of love will touch the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and eventually their situation will improve and allow them to participate in the XGVT sangha.

    PLEASE JOIN OUR NEWLY FORMED XGVT OUTREACH GROUP AND HELP US ACHIEVE OUR MISSION TO SUPPORT THE 2022 XGVT.

    With deep gratitude,

    The XGVT Outreach Group.

  • Spiritual Calls

    Spiritual Calls

    It’s just the beginning of July, but we have already heard in our hearts the echoes of the calls from the serene Pine Summit and from the wonderful December Mandala Dharma Assembly. Have you heard their invitations yet? Perhaps you have, more or less, because those spiritual calls are very subtle and silent, yet always stay in our deep consciousness. Those calls might have begun from the days long ago, in Buddha’s footsteps on the dharma propagation path.

    Those calls are like praises of the Bodhisattvas when they see that vows for altruistic services have not been forgotten with time, nor obstructed in the mundane life full of entanglements, suffering, and self- interests. Those calls are like our sick and miserable loved ones’ prayers for help and healing. Those calls also connect people from all over the world to assemble and form a sangha; our motivation is bringing happiness to others, and the concentration power is the foundation of our cultivation. Those calls sound like the noble affirmations that activate our Bodhi mind and transform our egocentric consciousness to altruistic:

    “May I always be the Dharma vessel, the force of goodness, the force of healing, and the force of transformation”

    Thân Hỹ Trường

  • Message from CompaSS Sangha Leader

    Message from CompaSS Sangha Leader

    Dear dharma brothers and sisters,

    Welcome to our first newsletter of the Temporary Monks and Nuns. We are trying something new this year. We hope this newsletter will be a source of inspiration and make a difference in your life.

    What is the spirit of the Altruistic Temporary Home-Leaving (XGVT)? Why do over 200 people like you and me take 14 days of their life in becoming temporary novice monks/nuns every year?

    We will share with you stories, experiences directly from those who have done it before and are in the process. I believe that each will touch our hearts, give us a sense of purpose bigger than our small self. And you, can also be part of it.

    This is an open book; we will offer the philosophy and teachings exclusive to the (XGVT) program. You can follow their journey from now to the end of the year. You can join our weekly meditation and local trainings without being committed to become a sangha member.

    Our wish is that one day we assemble a sangha of 1000 temporary monks/nuns. Why 1000? Because it’s a beautiful, a rounded number ☺ We strongly believe in how much impact it would do to the community. 1000 laymen and laywomen like you and me from different backgrounds, dedicate up to 14 days to a monastic, spiritual lifestyle for the sake of others.

    Welcome to the journey of this bodhisattva path!

    Khai Nghiêm

    CompaSS Sangha Leader

  • The Core of the Mandala

    The Core of the Mandala

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    Hello everyone!

    We are 6 months away from the World Peace Gathering in December. The Mandala will be particularly dedicated for the 3.9M global deceased of COVID-19. With such a tremendous loss, we believe in the synergy of gathering all your sincere heart and mind to bring healing to the world.

    We need you, a lot of you, Thousands of you with your sincerity and deep meditative strength. To be ready, join us every Saturday morning (starting on July 3rd, 2021) from 8:00 am to 9:00 am PST to cultivate the 4 Lotuses, the core practice of this year’s human Mandala.

    You want to give more? Yes, you can! Join the core of the Mandala through the Altruistic Home-Leaving retreat. It is a 12-day commitment in being a full-ordained novice Buddhist monk/nun. Trainings will be announced to learn the virtuous monastic lifestyle.

    We wish the most successful Mandala – bringing peace and healing to the world.

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