Leaving home to become a temporary nun is a topic I dare not think about because I know my concentration is still weak. In 2019, Master Hang Truong held the Mandala in Japan, quite beyond my reach and dream. On weekends, my husband and I…
Every year when I rejoin the XGVT program, I feel like returning to my sweet childhood home full of warmth and happiness because I’ve come back to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, back to Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Leaving my worldly home, I…
Every year since 2013, I attended the World Peace Gathering as a novice nun. What motivates a person to shave off their hair, relinquish the comfortable life, even for a short period, to live in a disciplined environment (or more disciplined than they would have…
My little sister and I work in the same company so we are very close and easily share our joy and sorrow with each other. One early spring day in 2006, while I was at work, my sister rushed over with tears flooding from her…
Like all women, I love to look beautiful, young, well-dressed with good makeup, manicured nails, and beautiful hair. I admire all the novice nuns and monks who joined the yearly Altruistic Home-Leaving program during the World Peace Gathering, organized by Master Hang Truong and the…
First, I want to express my deep gratitude to Thay and the XGVT organizers for your love, generosity, dedication, creativity, and wisdom in creating the XGVT program. I am grateful and happy to have had the opportunity to be a part in this wonderful and…
I have attended the Temporary Altruistic Home-Leaving over 10 times and even though I am occasionally being referred to as a veteran, I always have mixed emotions whenever I receive the novice monk precepts. After a couple of years of program hiatus in California due…
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…
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…
(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…