HOW DO YOU GET STARTED IN THE TITLE?VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.

We know the way to enlightenment is to go from delusion to enlightenment. In order to generate bodhicitta, you must always contemplate first that you are blessed with the luck to be a human body, six complete bases, and the second that we know the Dharma taught by the Buddha. Contemplating so deeply, our bodhicitta arises.

King Tran Thai Tong taught:  “In the six paths, there are only people who are precious. do people. This is the first difficulty . "

So we have to see that we are blessed to be fortunate to be a human being to cultivate, but if we are born into 3 evil paths, we cannot cultivate too much.

In the Zen meditation scene, the story says: There is a monk in Ke Tan mountain, although he can meditate for a long time, he often goes to the kitchen to cook rice for the masses. One day, two monks from afar heard his reputation, so they wanted to come and see a monk burning fire in the lower cave. Two monks asked about the monk, who pointed to the third cave above. They immediately went up to find. He flew back to his room with magical power. The two monks who came in to see him were just below the stove, cooking a rice cooker, surprised to ask why he was famous and still had to cook such a kitchen by himself? He said that if he cut down all his hands and feet to make firewood for the masses to eat, he would also do it, because he recalled 500 previous lives that made the dog's body often hungry, miserable. body. The first time someone was drunk, vomited, and when the dog ate, he died. The second time he was a dog in a poor couple's family, one day the couple cooked porridge in a pot and went out. OK. Angry husband took a knife to cut off the head. So he contemplates his previous lives that he had had to make animals, suffered extremely hard so now being a human being, practicing the fruits of enlightenment should give up this body thousands of thousands of times for his beings and he will not regret it.

Now we are not like Him, but we rely on this story to know that in the past we may have made cows, pigs, dogs. Due to a certain fortunate luck that is now made a human body, we have to take advantage of generating bodhicitta, doing good deeds, practicing inner transformation to become a Buddha of sentient beings.

King Tran Thai Tong continued to teach:  “Having been reborn in barbarous bodies, having a bath in the river, sleeping in the same bed, no religious order, mixed men and women, not being cultivated by pure humanities, nor listening to the monks. Evangelization, this is the second difficult . "

" Being born in prosperity and having six bases is not enough, the body is handicapped, blind, deaf, dumb, lame, crunchy, hunchbacked, his nose is stinking, his body is filthy, he is not near, they are not relatives, although in prosperous places, seem to be outside the countryside. This is the third difficulty . "

If you try to check on yourself, are you blind, are you deaf, are lumb, lame, hunchback… otherwise it is your luck.

In the Art of Life, there was a young man who lost money, desperately wanted to kill himself. On the way across a river, he met an old man who saw him as a teenager so he asked. The old man, after hearing his story, said,  "If you have the courage, sell me your eyes, I'll pay you 1 million dollars.". He thought a million dollars a lot, can help him in this difficult time but without eyes then do nothing, so do not sell. The old man continued to ask him to sell his arms for $ 2 million, and he thought that having $ 2 million without hands would do nothing and not sell. The old man continued to offer to buy his two legs for $ 4 million, he thought it was a lot of money but it was difficult if he did not have legs to travel so he did not agree to sell. At this time, the old man asked the young man how much money he had in himself and how poor he called him poor? After listening, the young man regained consciousness, did not seek death anymore.

We have eyes that see all good, evil, good we do, evil we avoid, and then we are fortunate to see the image of Shakyamuni Buddha, the Avalokiteshvara, Right Turn , has shown the path of happiness and peace for sentient beings. Then we have two hands to do good deeds. So sometimes we see the great suffering coming to us, but in fact in this life there are many beings suffering hundreds of thousands of times of our suffering. Contemplating so deeply, then I am no longer suffering, but I feel fortunate to be a human being, knowing the Dharma and the benefits of generating bodhicitta, so that I can live a valuable day of a day , live a month is worth a month.

When doing good deeds such as giving, offering, etc., we do not expect to pray to the heavens, who must make great efforts because of giving, making offerings ... today as a condition for the attainment of the dark fruits. Lord Buddha. That is true bodhicitta.

"Now made a human body, was born in prosperity, full six where is not precious?" People always follow the path of fame, hard work, and death, bringing this precious body as a servant for despicable money. ”

There are people who do business illegally, earn money illegally and then take money to alms, offerings, do you think they are blessed, have atoned for the crimes they have done? There are also blessings, but tomorrow is reborn in animals, and because of their blessing, they are also happy to eat, enjoy everything but animals, no opportunity to practice.

We don't have much money, but it is enough to know how to meditate, recite Buddha's name, recite sutras, repent and then dedicate to other sentient beings, we don't need to do this, we need to do this, we have to work hard for the mental corpses, then create many bad karma to suffer for yourself.

“Comparing to those who eat cake forgets their wife, sucking rice and forgetting what lips are like Although life is very important, not yet respected by the supreme religion. So Confucius said, "Early listening to the afternoon is also fun. Lao Tzu said, "I have a great reason, because I am close." Aren't the three Saints so disrespectful to that Tao? Alas! Is your life really precious and you still have to discharge to pray for Bodhi Supreme, let alone gold, money and despicable money, but unfortunately? ”

“Having heard this, you need to try to study, do not doubt delay. Sutra said: "A phen loses body, forever cannot be rebuilt", it is tragic. So Confucius said, "He won't do it, I won't do anything, I'm just okay."

Once lost, it is very difficult for him to return, just like a blind turtle meets a tree. Contemplation like this allows us to generate bodhicitta, do good dhammas, and try to practice in order to transform our interior.

In the Zen discipline scene recorded, there is a saint in the West named Xa Da da, one day he led them into the city. When he arrived at the city gate, he was suddenly sad and unhappy. A moment ago, on the way to meet a crow, he suddenly smiled. The disciple marveled and asked, so he narrated the story to say the reason:
Initially, at the gate of the city, he saw a hungry ghost hungry, he waited for his mother to enter the city to find food for 500 years, the empty stomach was miserable, and the life was short. When he entered the city, he met his mother. My mother said: I have been far from goodbye to the city for a long time to find food, but when I was spit a little, I was robbed by strong demons. Having met a person who was vomiting today without any other demons, I was going to want to bring it back, but there were many demons below the gates, afraid of being taken away so I did not dare to bring it out. May the merciful, compassionate Venerable bring me out of the city to bring the vomiting people to the children to eat. He asked again: How long has it been since birth? My mother replied: I have seen this city become seven times and then become ruined. He heard it very sad to say that sarnsara has no edge so sadness and unhappiness appear.

In the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Buddha taught: "Doing all the good dhammas without forgetting the bodhicitta is the action of the ghost". Such as giving, making offerings, doing good dhammas and forgetting bodhicitta, it is a ghost, not a Buddha, because in those things there is a self, a person, a host, a guest, more than a loser. , do not accept to accept it. In the spirit of cause and effect, there are also good deeds to do, but they are smuggled; Also working with bodhicitta is doing all the good dhammas without mind or attachment.

III. THE NATURE OF THE BODY OF MIND

Bodhicitta has three characteristics:

1.       Direct mind : mindfulness of mind as, the mind straight to Buddha's own wisdom. For example, if you go to the temple to bow to the Buddha, listen to the dharma, you can only bow to Buddha, listen to the dharma, without adding anything, where your body is, the mind is there, not disappointing. The driver also only knows how to drive, doing anything that only knows it, from this knowing nature, the output of dhammas does not exist. Tanh, hopeful, is expected to be self-absorbed.

Directly minded once arises will make Prajna's wisdom manifest and reach the realm of non-self. Initially many delusions, attachments, we have to rely on Bat Nha writing. One time contemplating on the interdependent nature of the dhammas, that is, contemplating the Bat Nha, finally penetrating into the truth of the Bat Nha. As Zen master Duy Tin said:  “Before meeting the friendly and helpful beings, one sees that the mountain is the mountain. After meeting with the good of knowledge and instruction, we see that the mountains and rivers are not mountains. Today, after thirty years, we see mountains and rivers again. ”

So one day King Luong Vo De asked Bodhidharma: " What is the first holy meaning ?". He answered, " There is no saint ."

In the realm of "no-thing", there is no saint, no mortal, no cause, no self, the reason for speaking holy because there is a divine, speaking divine because there is a saint, saying Bodhi because of disturbing emotions.

Direct mind is the true mind. True heart diligently strikes evil, doing good. We must make the vow, " A life of doing good is not enough, one day of doing evil is excess ." He Vimalakirti said:  "Online is ashrams mind, the mind is the Pure Direct" .

2.       The mind : the mind often likes to do good deeds to cultivate merit, promote Bodhi, the mind does not allow bad thoughts of greed, hatred and delusion.

In the Sutta describing Venerable A Na Luat who was blinded, once wanted to sew the torn robes but did not know who thanks to the piercing of the needle, the Buddha came to pierce the false metal. He said: The Blessed One is full of immeasurable merits, why do this? The Buddha said: We have to glean a little bit of merit so we can achieve the ultimate dharma.

To Quy Son taught:  "In fact, the most unreasonable geography of the earth, the most virtuous subjects, the most unruly, " means: on the basis of true nature, it is not accepted, not attached to even a single dust, but about door to all things to do, not give up a small job.

For example, if you have a garden, if you do not plant trees or flowers, then surely weed will grow, too, if you do not plant and create good dhammas on the garden of mind, weeds, hatred, ignorance, conceit, suspicion, ants will grow.

We often make vows "Beings boundless vows," all sentient beings, greed, hatred, jealousy, selfishness ..., we have to make a vow not to leave it alone.

"Endless affliction pledged paragraph" ie endless afflictions still vow to end, do not give up unfinished.

"The method of immeasurable vow to study", how do you understand? Is it eighty-four thousand disciplines we all learned? Study is how to learn?

The Zen master Thach Cung, a young monk, was a hunter when he passed by one day to Ma To. Ma To asked: "What do you do?".

- I'm a hunter.

- How many birds can you shoot with one arrow ?.

- One arrow can shoot one. And how did the monk shoot an arrow?

- One arrow will shoot the whole swarm ”.

How many defilements are there so many disciplines to treat, a recitation of greed, you use an arrow of generosity to shoot, a concept of ignorance, or an arrow of joy to shoot. But using an arrow like Mr. Thach Cung, we will never know how to become the supreme enlightenment, but we must use the arrow of Zen master Ma To, knowing that delusions are not real, and that delusion is not by nature. Knowing that, how many thoughts arise regardless, it can not deceive itself anymore, the French left all means an arrow to shoot a flock. Lu To said: " Buddha said all dharma to cure all the mind, we don't mind so we don't need all dharma."

"The unsurpassed Buddhism vows to become": the Buddhist path has to go through three lifetimes, but now you are no longer afraid of samsara, nor do you like Nirvana, in the "no-thing" realm while the concept of space and time, there is only one thought is awareness. In the Lotus Sutra, His Holiness, Maudgalyayana and Sariputra, after being signed by the Buddha, are very happy to know that they will become Buddhas. With such certainty, we are no longer afraid.

A layperson came to ask Zen Master Zhaozhou: "After he died, where were you born?".

- I was born in hell.

- Venerable is good knowledge, why are you still in hell?

- If we don't go to hell, who will save us?

We are afraid of hell but they are not afraid, because seeing hell and Nirvana is one, just like a prison guard goes in and out like a park, a hotel, there is no suffering.

3.   Great compassion : infinite compassion, "from the eyes of the living being", loving and doing everything to help all sentient beings without distinction these are their relatives, followers I, and those are the people I don't like.

Finally, wish Buddhists will always be attached to Bodhicitta until the day of becoming Buddha. END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).WORLD VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST ORDER=GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.22/10/2019.