Let’s meditate each day Practice being relaxed and freeEmanate warmth in every wayTo those sad and unhappyBe physically and mentally peaceful Let go of internal tensionsRelease all social contentions And open wide our heart of compassionBe giving and forgiving For the heart to feel peaceful…
Ngô Thị Viên – Thân Hoà Hoằng 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…
Lê Mẫu Đơn – Thân Hàm Mẫn 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,…
Mai Ly Phạm – Thân Khai Chân Phu 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…
Nguyễn Thị Mộng Vân – Thân Hoá Tự 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…
Kim Bằng Lê – Thân Cảm 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…
Châu Yoder – Tâm Lưu Ly 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…
Sơn Dương – Thân Xuyên 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…
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…
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,…