The power of spiritual practice.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.

The cultivator's strength is not the strength of a thousand pounds, the cultivator's strength is the spiritual strength. How can we withstand all the pros and cons. Having the power is to endure, to endure unpleasant things. So the power of a practitioner is the inner power, not the outward expression like rolling eyes wide.

Looking at a person, the first factor that wins our sympathy is his gentle and virtuous personality. The ancients said " Center of mind emits external appearance ", that means that in what kind of mind, such appearance appears. The person with a gentle and gentle face can also partly express the inner characteristics. So we practice in order to have strong internal forces, to have strength, which the Buddha calls the force.

Why is it called the power of practice the force? Because this power is different from worldly power. People often say strong dependence, weak rape. Cultivators are strong not to bully others, but to comfort and bring joy to themselves and others. The Buddha has a saying "intelligence is incapable of fighting karma" which means that an intelligent person cannot resist karma once it bears fruit. 

But the force can overcome the karma. Therefore, the important job of a practitioner is to transform the karma into the spiritual force. Thanks to the power of the force, we overcome all external difficulties and challenges and eradicate the inner defilements.

Before the day of Venerable Master's retreat, we practiced normally and felt our lives were safe. But since he announced his retreat, we have felt helpless, helpless, even though we are no longer at the age to lean on. Since then, I realize that every day I have no spiritual power, so when we encounter conditions that we don't like to change, we immediately feel down. 

The former security was just reliance on the ancestor only, not the real security of oneself. If the mind is stable, we will be calm or only mildly relieved when conditions change. Obviously, before, I practiced evil, so now I let go of my hand, I'm afraid. Fear of what? I was afraid of falling, because my legs were too weak, because I refused to practice walking alone when I was around.

Our teacher said, first cultivators must guide juniors to cultivate later or the Buddhists to lean back. But my leg is lame, I can't walk, who else can I guide? So to be a monk requires your feet to be strong, to be firm and not to go astray. Venerable Master, throughout his life, taught the benefits of living beings, did not know how many Buddhas, yet he said that his work had not yet been done. 

Now he does retreat for two reasons, the first is because of the teacher, the second is for the monks and nuns, the Buddhists. Because of the Teacher, Thay must nurture strong and strong legs to go all the way. Since the monks and nuns are four, the teacher must hold our hands together. It takes twice as much power to do that. A practitioner is like a fighting general, can only win and not lose. Lose is die. The spiritual force is the power from practice, the Patriarchs and the high masters and masters have used this virtue to sense so many beings.

There were many people from afar, never knowing the Venerable's face, just listening to the tape, yet just meeting him, they cried deliciously. Crying because of being touched by the powerful teacher, the Buddhist felt like the first moment he met him. Needless to say, just by looking at the teacher's face and contemptuous smile, you will get rid of how much sorrow in your heart.

In the past, I was a very young monk. What is sad is also sad, what is not sad is also sad Whenever I feel sad, I ask to go back to the mountain. At that time, Thay lives in Chan Khong, Vung Tau Big Mountain. The intention of meeting Thay will tell you a lot of things, but when you reach the retreat, pay homage to me, all my troubles are falling, even though I have not said a word. What is that? Is the force. 

A cultivator's strength is not a thousand pounds, a cultivator's strength is spiritual strength. How can we withstand all the pros and cons. Having the power is to endure, to endure unpleasant things. So the power of a practitioner is the inner power, not the outward expression like rolling eyes wide. Doing so is very scary, but not necessarily strong. Just scare the kids.

Now how to have that power? Must practice, that is to practice. The Venerable Master often reminded us: There are three classes of monks. One is the teacher chanting, ie the teachers who specialize in worshiping ceremonies. The second is the teacher, ie the teachers only study the scriptures and then go to lecture, do not spend time on cultivation. The third is the priest, or the monk. 

What is Tu? Is to fix. One word is not easy to fix this. If we want the yard to be repaired without the yard, if we want to be sad, we do not want to be sad, we want to ask for this and that and not to fix it. That is tu. Just that. But it is not easy because our practice is so deep, it starts to let me rush into old habits, cannot win back, so we cannot fix it all the time.

If you want to fix, you must have a new one, or a good one, which means that the force must be stronger than the karma. For example, we do not want to do anything, but who touches us shouted before what, then count. That is too strong karma, we could not win, so we fell down the field. We do not want to be greedy and ignorant, but to have too much karma to eat. Buddha taught wisdom to check his brakes to see how it is to worry about fixing it for safety. So the strength of the practitioner is based on wisdom, the meditator specializes in using Prajñā wisdom to correct his brakes. The brakes are the force to counteract karma.

Like someone insulted, I couldn't get angry at them, it was a good win. This set of winnings does not cost money, just lights up the flame of wisdom for yourself. This wisdom is available, if we remember it is light, if we do not remember it, it is dark. Buddhists call awareness or awareness. Want wisdom often shine, awareness must be continuous. People have amnesia, now want to remember to remind themselves constantly. 

Like this morning when we go to the market, we want to buy soy sauce, but knowing we often forget, on the way to the market, we must mumble “remember to buy soy sauce” so that we do not forget. What is important must be engraved in your heart. The story of buying soy sauce but also mentioned like that, even more important matters in our whole life that we do not mention, how can we remember and practice

While having a bit of sadness, I feel sad, and I light up the torch of wisdom, remind myself of sadness, there is no benefit. Again and again, it will naturally be less sad. The feeling of guilt also makes many paths. Buddha teaches seven things, in which chronic paralysis is a kind of inferiority for you to be inferior to people and then birth defilements. 

That is the feeling of guilt. The paralyzed person wrapped himself in a lowly shell and whoever touched it was tears dripping out. Seeing it as gentle, it is actually delusion, a kind of pride that protects you with self-pity, pity, anyone resentment ... very difficult to undo. It is also a way to express the ego, not wanting anyone to touch you.

Of the three roots of craving, ignorance is unique and the most difficult to uproot. Those who see gentle, but they always complain about their responsibility, they are ignorant, not really gentle. Buddha said to correct, let go of the mood and these thoughts to cultivate. We need to practice discernible, cheerful and cool, for ourselves and for everyone. When I'm cool and happy, everyone is happy and happy. If we were too hot, they were also hot, no one dared to get close because they were afraid of being burned. Therefore, cultivators have to keep in mind that they are not sad, have no anger, and no greed. Regular reminding yourself is to create a set to win the championship, to make the force stronger than the karma, to destroy the three karma with anger and delusion.

In this life, there are sufferings that are not brought to us by the outside, the Buddha clearly says birth, old age, sickness, death, resentment, separation, praying of dissatisfaction and warmth of suffering, eight This basic suffering is brought by no one to man. Because of the own karma of beings, having taken the body, there is suffering. Man is very miserable because it is easy to be sad, it is easy to be greedy. 

Without anyone to tease me, I thought I could suffer. Buddha told sentient beings to be deluded, and to be immersed in misery. There are some basic sufferings that force us to endure, but there are sufferings that should not be suffering, but if we try to embrace suffering, it is truly delusion.

Back to the issue of the four basic suffering of birth, old age, illness, and death. Man is born with the cry of "suffering too much", proving that birth is suffering. Aging old, he is absorbed in the suffering of loss of health, the suffering of heartlessness. Being healthy and old is not very painful, but when the body begins to decline, suffering is most evident in the sick stage. So say old suffering, suffering. There are diseases that do not end with medicine.

Many people like mountains still cannot cure diseases, because it depends on the karma that caused this life and previous lives. In the previous life, killing animals, in this life, the body is weak and sick, the disease is constant, medicine cannot be cured. In such cases, both taking medicine and repenting old karma, doing good deeds, helping sentient beings in order to alleviate previous misery and alleviate diseases. Understand the Dharma and accept the karma that you have created, and after paying off the karma, the illness will also go away.

When I was young, when I was in middle school, I had a disease that was very difficult to treat, which was fungus under my feet. It hurts day and night. I drank countless antibiotics, applied all kinds of medicine, green, red, and black and white ... still not all. At that time I was very miserable, my skin was cracked, yellow water came out, I did not walk normally like you guys, just tiptoed. After going to practice, I do not know whether it is because of watering or because of the Buddha's degree that the leg is not good. I think I probably paid off my old karma. So difficult to treat illness is a form of karmic retribution, in addition to ordinary medicine, it is also necessary to convert practice merit.

Practicing is a very good remedy for sickness. Once the sick mind is healed, the sick body is also healthy. Through living in mass, happily practicing according to brotherhood, our health improved. There are difficulties that come to us, we should welcome it happily because this is an opportunity for us to pay off karma, not to fear or worry. 

Thanks to that strong mentality and force, we will overcome everything easily. People I have never met, never bothered them that they do not like me, is a sign of past karma. We keep having fun in our behavior, so we pay off the old karma. On the contrary, I'm annoyed, showing a bad attitude to them, not only failing to solve old debts but also creating new karma. So know when to pay for it?

Whether we cultivate well or not is the result of victory. Something bad is about to happen, then win immediately. The new set of good wins will not slip down and the bad ones will go down the hole. When we use contemplative wisdom, knowing everything is due to our own karma, we take responsibility, happily resolve it, it will end. 

Because in fact karma is not true, if you take it as not, it will become nothing. If you see it important, it will become a real, difficult, although in fact it is only in illusion. So the strength of the practitioner is the power to gently endure all circumstances, happily, not trying to endure and endure suffering.

We do not practice well, and our patience will be inferior to those of the high-patience lay people. That time I went to Dai Ninh in an old car. Departing at the monastery at three o'clock at night, I stumbled until five in the morning, opened my eyes and saw that I had just arrived in Ho Nai. I noticed that other vehicles were passing my own. Even Honda overtook, and the racing bicycle also passed. I was starting to panic, not knowing if the previous teachers were waiting for me? 

The driver looked through the rearview mirror and saw that my face was twisted, he smiled. Seeing him smile, I even angrier. I think this driver doesn't know what, I'm hot as if he keeps running evil, it's annoying. After a while, the car swooped past us. I could not bear it, I let out a sigh, enough to let him know that I was annoyed by his strange speed. Knowing the situation was tense, the man softly said:

- Let me tell you this.

I was angry, didn't want to hear anything, I urged:

- You worry about running, don't tell.

- No, I have to tell you. She heard hot, the new child ran fast.

I think no matter what, what has to offend the driver, what if he doesn't even run? Reluctantly, I heard:

- Miss, when do you know how to fight cock?

From frustration, I turned to worry, maybe the driver is not normal? Why ask the nun a club about this.

However, I still answer:

- Don't know.

- So have you seen a rock cow?

I relented because I did not dare to cause trouble with him:

- Not yet.

- Hey, I told you this is goodwill. Very beneficial. You know, the fighting chicken is the same and the rock cow is the same.

Whoever loses, that child runs away, the rest of the child is delicious.

I don't mind, he says what he wants to say, I don't mind what to do. At that time there was a Honda car passing by, he said: A loser. I also do not know what to lose, a bicycle passed by one breath, he said: Two losers. I started watching, he said:

- Look, there is another guy about to lose.

- Which guy?

- The boy walked.

- Lost who?

- Lose this old man. Just now you see how many cars have passed us, they lost to us. There is no guy playing against me.

I just broke it, so a while ago my car was playing his cockfight. Suddenly I laughed. The driver saw that I had less stress, immediately overcame "four losers, five losers". Suddenly, Thuong Chieu car ran through the mountain. He enjoyed: “Six losers. This guy lost a lot so he ran too fast ”. I was startled:

- The driver! That is the car of Mr. Thuong Chieu. How dare you call by guy!

- Oh, yeah! If not, teacher. He also lost.

Suddenly I found the driver amusing and charming. All four years she forgot to forget and laughed comfortably at her way of acting. When we felt comfortable, the doctor relaxedly said:

- You, you can't run fast. The car can still run. But if you run fast, the lady and the baby will be more tired than running like this.

- What's wrong?

- Because just go crazy one, it jumped about five kilometers to lie flat. The car is too dated, dear. Do not believe, the sky rocket showed her.

- Come on, okay. Running like this is fine.

Suddenly I awoke at that moment, my blessing was only enough to go the speed of the turtle, not the speed of the eagle. When we accept our scene, we feel very comfortable, no longer looking forward or upset at all. It is just a change of look, then we can change our suffering, be all right. The car is moving at a slow speed but I want to go faster, it will break down. I can't go anywhere, even more miserable than just going slowly and then will arrive.

The driver's patience has made me ashamed. The lay person is more calm than himself. I cultivate without a bit of spiritual force or force. I was sitting without feeling tired, feeling angry, while the driver was working hard, the car was still running slowly, he should be very upset but not upset. Finding out about my bad points, I changed from annoying frustration to pleasant fun. The driver was also happy, the car went to Dai Ninh when there was no good time. 

Thanks to the driver who is an intellectual Buddhist, he skillfully transformed the stressful situation, making us feel light and comfortable. That wise manners, helping him to succeed, although the car is still running slowly as before. Just a fresh soul will transform your surroundings fresh.

The dhammas arise as illusory, due to being deluded by deluded existence. Had the full suffering. Once awakened, knowing it is not true, returning to the original emptiness, suffering also ceases. Huyen Giac teaches neither to subtract imagination nor to pray Not except that delusions self-lost, do not pray that true nature self-manifest. We start to subtract, the more we cannot subtract. The reason I feel uncomfortable when facing adversity is because I see myself, have my suffering, have a compliment to make us happy, have a reputation for sadness. If you see me without me, everything is like a speckled flower in nothingness, illusory rebirth, nothing to say.

So we cultivate is how to get the truth of the dhammas. Afflictions are not real, compliments are not real, sad and joy are not real. They are just hallucinations, not real for us to be happy or sad. The old mind is peaceful, because we unconsciously start thinking, then create karma from body, speech and mind. 

Now knowing the dhammas are not true, just don't think about it anymore, no need to use the effort of elimination, it will silence itself. Just like the blooming flower in nowhere is not real. We know that so we don't even look at it, it's okay to mistake it, there's no need to eliminate it. And it also does not allow me to eliminate. This place is very profound and very real, the way of cultivation is here.

Just try to dispel the sadness, there is still sadness to suppress, thus increasing the sadness. Like the speckled flower, which is not real, we cover it all over, the more chaotic the picture becomes. A phenomenon where two layers are mistaken. First class mistake by rubbing the eyes makes you see in nowhere there is no spot flower. The second mistake is to want to take pictures of spotted flowers to remove. We too, the first mistake is that due to unconsciousness, the thought of creating karma creates feeling of life, having sentient beings, karma ... Next time we want to get rid of all that we have with this practice, although it's not real. Now just stop delusions, don't make yourself miserable, stop greed, ignorance, and naturally end samsara.

Buddha said that living beings also meet love, but also meet hate. Love met in good situations, hate met in adversity. If you want to stop seeing it, don't love and don't hate it, that means stop thinking, stop the germ of afflictions, stop the germ of birth and death. People who know how to practice are not sad, unhappy, not calculating, not thinking, living innocently for the rest of this life. Meditators often say that cultivating but not practicing. 

The practice of a meditator is very light, the methods can see how to know that, without thinking about anything. Using the Bat-elegant mind to visualize the body, mind, scene are not real, letting go easily. Practitioners use skillful wisdom then, in the four postures are in the right concentration, thought quiet, calm peace of mind. Just like when not touching the eyes anymore, the speckled flower will kill itself, don't have to do anything more.

We suffer because of compliments of criticism, or love or hate, now it is okay to love and hate. Indifferent. Such a person is the number one strongest, because no one can tease them. We have the right to be angry, the right to be angry, the right to be sad, and the right to not be sad. 

So why not choose good for happiness, choose to do anything bad for suffering, for fatigue. Discharge all attachment, even your body also let go is finished immediately. We often get upset easily with loved ones because we think they are ours. For example, our spoiled neighbor's children do not suffer, but our children spoil us. Therefore, it is necessary to let go of all, to let go, to have nothing to let go, then to be liberated. That person is the number one strength, the champion. Practicing is so old, the disease is not suffering.

The sick old people have not suffered, then there is nothing to suffer from dying, what's so scary! Actually, of the four things of birth, old age, illness, death, people are most afraid of death. Everyone is afraid of death, it is undeniable. But carefully, in the stage of suffering pain, people are afraid to have, but die very quickly, why are you afraid? Actually dying, I know nothing else to be afraid of, but because people are greedy for life, they are afraid of death, so they don't want to die. 

At the moment of dying, the most frightening thing is being forced, but at the same time it is also called illness, not death. Rather, it is not "suffering death" but "suffering from fear of death". We can still tolerate the illness sometimes for years. There are people living for many years is sick so many years, they can also withstand. If you can't stand it, you will die. In addition, many people died very lightly, the Zen masters have a saying: "Being born is like wearing a winter blanket, I am like taking off your clothes". Because they were free, passing through this door is very light. For them death is not scary, only those who want to live and see death will be afraid.

Birth old sickness death is physical suffering. Unfortunate prayers, resentment congregation, loving separation, warm and solitary is mental suffering. Because praying cannot be done, people suffer, so it is better not to pray, to pray for fatigue. Because as the Buddha taught each person to have their own merit, if we have five, we live with five, and if we have ten, we live ten. If you have a bridge, you will only go there, so you can just live casually. You are old and have life experiences that will be very poignant about this. 

Many people have a hard life all their lives, busy, poor still completely poor. There are also people who make it easy, do a little but get a lot. That is due to the difference in karma. We just live depending on conditions, keeping the mind righteous and righteous is good. Do not want to pray, so do not be disappointed, and live a carefree life

The day the Venerable Master was about to be helpless, I said:

- White teacher, before you are lost, I ask you for an advice so that I will weaken my practice.

The Venerable Master taught this:

- You just do all the work but don't be attached to all.

A full sentence, reasonable content. Do all the work without sticking to all the work, that is, get rid of all the human self, try it out, be impervious, immaculate. Do it, you can do it, success is fine, failure is fine, because you do not want to do it, so you don't worry. Thus, there is no defilement so the merit is round enough.

The Buddha loves to separate the suffering that is the one we love, but if we have to leave, we suffer. Resentment assembly is suffering that people you hate but must meet forever. This does not mean that Buddhism has no love. The Buddha loves sentient beings very much, but Buddha's love is a love without borders, without conditions, loving without expecting a response. And we love with the condition that the loved one must be kind to us, and must return our love. If they are not good, they will suffer if they do not return their love. Suffering because of that cost.

Love with the desire to return, after all, love yourself, not love anyone. Loving beings hate setting up charges on their ego. If the object satisfies our ego, we love, if we lose that person, the ego is not satisfied then we are sad. 

Objects that are dissatisfied with or against our ego we hate. True love has no ego figure in it. Just love without any request. This is easy to say above, but above all, that is difficult in life. We don't have people who love and hate people. Why? Because of the causes and effects of many generations of borrowing and resentment, we have already met with hatred.

When we learn to understand the Dharma, we know that cause and effect can be transferred so we do not create more bad karma, happily pay the karmic effects we have caused many generations ago. Do not cultivate more love and hate, to avoid suffering in this life and future lives. Knowing the law of cause and effect, but continuing to love and hate is to know that trying to commit and nurture the seeds of life and death. 

We understand the religion, for those who love and hate people should open their hearts, do not hate more because that will meet again. Each encounter in samsara is one more time of suffering, nothing to delight. Why don't we remember that suffering and try to practice to overcome it!

A practitioner's career is wisdom. Using the Prajñā wisdom light is that all problems fall down, not only suffering. The Venerable Master said that only Prajñā wisdom would cure all worldly diseases. Knocking the Bat-elegant mace once, all defilements fall down, there is no doubt. 

This wisdom we have available, just because we forgot it, we cannot use it. So when we are angry, someone reminds me not to bully people, to thank them, that's right knowledge that tore our ego. On the path of cultivation, there are two classes of intellectual goodness that always support us to overcome obstacles and challenges to attain our karma. The first is knowledge-based, the second is against knowledge.

Usually we prefer knowledge to adversity against knowledge, but it is the knowledge that is against knowledge that gives us a strong momentum to advance. Since knowledge does not indulge the ego, if we receive the guidance of these levels, we will soon come closer to the truth. We should not depend on a fixed good knowledge, so as long as wisdom is open, achieving enlightenment and liberation is the most precious thing. Sometimes adversarial knowledge is someone who sacrifices unwholesome karma to bring us to salvation. We must respect, appreciate and remember these people, so that we increase our strength on the path of spiritual practice.

The five warmth and sorrows are a year of warmth with no harmony, abnormally increasing or decreasing, making our body and mind uncomfortable, so we suffer. Cultivators must be skillful in regulating body and mind, should not let loose, nor be too inadequate. Practice steadily, living a minimum of education to preserve health. Therefore, when cultivating, we cultivate day and night, when we do not practice, we should relax without a bit of elaborate course. Keep calm, live innocently, don't you enjoy it? What to consider, labor, wandering thoughts for defilements arise. It is overcoming the five cozy and lonely.

We generate spirituality to practice, the purpose of which is to be free from all attachments, so there is only disassembly, not additional attachments. How can we stand firmly on our feet, can we go all the way to Buddhism, out of samsara? So it is necessary to prepare for yourself a solid and sustainable spiritual strength.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.25/10/2020.