The Venerable Master Hua Is Always Merciful First of all, I would like to share with you a passage from the Mother Sutras. In the Mother Sutras, the Buddha said,“Beings from the beginning of the world life have been vicious in samsara. If one wants to find a beginning in the cycle of samsara, there will be no starting point when sentient beings first initiate the reincarnation process in the cycle of rebirth or undergo reincarnation in samsara. Beings in samsara are hindered by ignorance and bound by craving. It is difficult to find a person who has never been a mother in the past. Also, it is difficult to find a person who has never been a father to someone in the past. It is hard to find a person who in the past has never been someone's brother. It is hard to find a person who in the past has never been someone's sister. It is hard to find a person who in the past never was someone's son. It is hard to find someone who has never been a girl in the past. Basically, it is about all beings in samsara, not only humans, and not only humans on our earth but in all the realms of samsara, there is not a single being that has never our mother, father, brother, sister , son or daughter. Every being has all six of these types of relationships with us. This is actually a canon of Theravada Traditional Buddhism in Pali. Of course, from the point of view of the Mahayana, we want to do our best, like the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, to have extremely true compassion for all sentient beings who have had close relationships with we are in past lives. Thinking about this, I will tell a few stories from my observing experience of the Venerable Master's compassion. Tonight I was inspired to talk about this because about a week or two ago Spike said at the end of his talk that, after thinking about all of his efforts in learning. his manners of kindness towards others, he thought, “I have always envisioned the Venerable Master as being extremely compassionate". In my experience, especially in daily activities, in real life, He is always kind, with no other exceptions. It was really touching to see how compassionate He was. These stories are little insignificant things that have happened a lot, but when you see it repeated, day after day, year after year, it's really touching. The Venerable Master is always compassionate. The first story is about me personally. This is a story that I have never told in public. It was about my three years of penance and how, in the end, the Venerable Master forgave me and allowed me to be ordained as a monk again. It's a shame, but I hope that by learning from my experience and the Venerable Master's teaching, it will benefit everyone. This happened during my confession. As many people know, there are other monks and I personally have been through a long period of penance and very seriously, starting from 1 end of the month in 1992 and has lasted until August year1994. There was no need to go into too much detail, mainly as both of us spent a lot of money on the university without the Master's permission. In the end the money was wasted away. Therefore, we have created a lot of bad and heavy karma. The penance rites are carried out formally in front of the Venerable Master and the four masses at this temple and take place openly during the four weekends (January to February). From the beginning of the confession and for the next six months, even though both of us had been monks for 10 to 15 years, we were stripped of our vows and had to stand behind them. to show repentance. We also take the vow of mandatory silence. Needless to say, we went through a period of quite strict penance. That is what we have created for ourselves through unwholesome karma. I felt really ashamed during all that time, and to this day, I am still very ashamed of what I did. After the first six months of this particular period of penance, the Venerable Master said, “You two cannot even be my disciples. We will draw. The two men will draw the names of two monks and those two will be your two new teachers ”. And so I was no longer Hang Thuan [Heng Shun], and we also lost the names of the Venerable Master's lineage disciples - we lost the word "Hang" in our names and became disciples. of the two disciples of the Venerable Master. We have a new name - I am Than Ha (xa) [Qin Xiá] and the other monk's name is Than Nhi (near) [Qin Ér]. Therefore, we are no longer direct lineage disciples of the Venerable Master. However, we can still study at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. We still strongly believe in the Venerable Master. We have lost our status as a bhikkhu and become novices. We took up the normal position like the other novices and were also re-dressed in the robes. Once again, we are well aware that the circumstances we are in here are created by ourselves. We have to bear the consequences of our own stupid actions. Despite many difficulties, both of us have unwavering faith in the Venerable Master. We do the best we can, study and practice like novices. That is the setting and formation of the story. So, after a period of six months of silent confession, we drew lots to choose the names of two new teachers. It was July 1992. About 11 months later (June 1993), I received word from my mother that my father was not fit enough to do the things he used to do. He is almost 80 years old. My parents live in a house on the outskirts of the cityChicago. My mother wanted me to come back and help her with some housework because my father couldn't do it. I asked one of the monks to help me ask the Venerable Master if I was allowed to go. I was told that I was allowed to go. I said I would probably leave within a month or two. However, a few days before I returned to my parents' home, the Venerable Master told one of the monks that he wanted to see me. I have not spoken to the Venerable Master since the July event, almost a year earlier. Teacher Hang Thuan So the Venerable Master called me to come and I talked to Him alone. "My problem is still not solved," he told me in Chinese. He was not pleased that I wanted to go and I had a feeling that at first He didn't really allow me to go. At that time, and during the period of more than 2 years of confession, I felt that this burden was really heavy on my shoulder. Those are heavy karma that I have yet to overcome. The Venerable Master made it quite clear that my karma is still very serious and I still cannot make up for the bad karma I have created. Therefore, for my departure, the Venerable Master was not very happy One thing that I also want to mention is that I was previously one of the well-deserved people who worked as Master's assistant and then became Her attendant, for a total of about 15 years. During that time, at the Golden Mountain of the Holy Temple (at 15th Street in San Francisco), I had the opportunity to see Him regularly, and was able to chat privately with Him whenever needed. However, after the fact of my penance, I lost the status and position of a senior monk under the Venerable's teachings. This situation was really difficult already, but now I still want to leave the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas and the Venerable Master's direct instructions to go home to help my parents! And, so I went back to my parents' house. Then a month passed, another month passed, and another month passed. Recalling that the Venerable Master was not happy about me asking to leave for a month or two, but now it has been three months, then four months and even five months. At home, one thing continued to follow. My mother kept wanting me to do one thing, another; My father is not healthy enough to do the usual jobs to maintain the house. It was as if I was trapped there. I am still a monk and keep my vows. I always wear the robe (cassava) and do elaborate sessions and ceremonies (especially reciting the Prayer of Samantabhadra), but I am really stuck. By December, by that time I had been at home for 6 months. Someone at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas told me that the Venerable Master was wondering where I am and when will I return? This is really weird, because I really want to go back, but I'm stuck. By January, that is 7 months already. Then on February 14, 1994, I received a letter from the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Inside the letter was only a small piece of paper that said, "The Venerable Master said you do not need to go back to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas." The essence of that message was that I was not allowed to go back to the Holy City. I can't believe what I'm reading. I was completely shocked. I have no intention of not going back. I said to myself, "What? This is not possible! ”. This is like lightning across the ear. As I pondered and pondered the meaning of that message, suddenly I felt like the network binding me from all sides was interrupted. I could clearly see these ropes of all colors in the space surrounding me being torn to pieces. It must have been the karma net that kept me locked in my parents' house. The Venerable Master's words in the letter are powerful enough to cut these strings. Then I knew I had to go back to the Temple of Literature. By then, I was out of this net and felt like I could go back. Therefore, I immediately phoned back to the temple. I have vowed to devote my whole life to becoming a monk and studying with the Venerable Master. If I cannot return to the temple, I feel my life is meaningless. I can't imagine I won't be at the temple anymore. I called the temple and was quite emotional. I said I really want to go back, please tell the Venerable Master that I have no intention of not returning. I was extremely distraught. In my heart, I felt that the impact of the Venerable Master's message helped me to be free and to return. I was able to leave my parents' home and not be stuck there anymore. After calling the temple, I wrote a letter to the Venerable Master and faxed it to the temple the next morning. In the letter, I asked the Venerable Master to allow me to return to the temple. A week later, I received another letter from the temple. In the envelope there was another piece of paper, dated February 19, which read, “The Master said you can come back. But when he comes back, he will have to work hard and will no longer be a monk (meaning I will be a layman) ”. I am too happy to be able to go back. As one of the Venerable Master's assistants, I have had many occasions to observe how he teaches and transforms people through unexpectedly skillful means, I am so happy to laugh. I am glad that I can return, but I will become a layman. I was told that I shouldn't take off my robe; I should wear robes at my parents' house. Once I return to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, I will be a layman again. Originally, I left in June 1993, I'm so excited to be back. Having had so much experience with the Master and knowing what to do, I worked very hard according to his teachings. All day, I do a lot of physical work. I attended major public sessions. Needless to say, I was ashamed and embarrassed. I am a layman again, after being a bhikkhu for more than 15 years, but only worry about working very hard and do not think much about it. I try to create merit. About 4 months later, I have a dream. It was on August 10 of the year1994. I am in the conference, similar to the great confession conference (of 2 and a half years ago), except that now people say "Good! He did a great job. He has completed his confession ”. It was a very, very dream t vivid clarity. I still felt very ashamed, even in that dream. I feel that it is not worth being forgiven by them. Coming back to reality, a few days later, on August 13, the Venerable Master called the office and said, two monks, Master Hằng Thuận and the other, possibly my disciples, had returned. They can regain the original monastic name. When we have the next ordination, they can become bhikkhus. The Master said, "Anyone also can change yourself." He then led a question biblical criticism Thi mentioned in the Explanatory Note of the University "As cutting croissants, as filings ivory, carved jade as beautiful, as m à i jewels" (1) is one of my favorites in College books. In a talk given at the Master CTTB on July July 31, 1992, he said " C basil we all have pros and cons. We should help each other in the great furnace of the Ten Thousand Buddhas. "As cutting croissants, as filings ivory, carved jade as beautiful as two grinding stones qu standard " , use pearl , using body and blood to t Create widgets so extremely t inh cunning beautiful! . (2) Everything has change. We are forgiven. At that time, the people in the office didn't believe what they heard. Even the Dharma Master, after hearing this, called the Venerable Master to verify it was true. They couldn't believe that we were forgiven so suddenly. It all turned out like that. The Venerable Master made me return as a novice. After that, I finally had to go to see the Venerable Master, I haven't seen him for 2 years. I visited him on December 13, 1994. It was the first time I saw him in a few years and that was the last time I saw him because he later left the world. At that time, I didn't know what my meeting with the Venerable would be like. I bowed to the Venerable Master and he took my hand, something he had never done before for many years when I was his assistant or attendant. He took my hand and said, "I don't blame you, I didn't teach you well." I made mistakes and made mistakes, I wasn't as filial as I should be - filial to the Venerable Master. "How can we hope Americans understand filial piety?" The Master said. This is not really emphasized in American culture. "I don't blame you, so don't worry," he said. Now I have changed a lot. I consider all sentient beings as my past parents ". That is something I will never forget. It is like what the sutras say, to me, that's what the Venerable Master really sees. We listen to the sutras and believe it, but this is the Venerable Master who said it. This is a relationship with all sentient beings in past lives and he said "I consider all sentient beings my past parents." In the end, the other monk and I both became bhikkhus at the ordination in 1995. From left to right: Master Hang Quan, Hoa Thuong Tuyen Hoa, Teacher Hang That This is another story occurred in 1985. In those days ban beginning of temple Gold Mountain Monastery - when I go to the temple in 1974, Mr. Heng Kuan always increase that we're most respected. He is very talented. The Venerable Master said that in his previous life he was the secretary of the Lu Toi He went through penance like me, which lasted several times on weekends. After the first weekend in Ten Thousand Buddhas - in 1985, the Master often in CTTB three days per week and stay at Gold Mountain Monastery temple about four days a week. He usually comes up here on Fridays and leaves on Monday. Master Hang Quan was going through this very hard confession at that time. By the end of the first weekend - I think Sunday afternoon, he should have returned to Kim Son Thanh Tu Temple. The Venerable Master phoned Kim Son Thanh Tu and asked if Master Hang Quan was there. I said to the Venerable "No Venerable Master". "He left for about 3 hours, should have been there now." The Venerable Master said, "Hang Quan is going through this penance and is very frustrating so treat him well, be kind." . I was Hang Quan's assistant for 10 years and we get along very well and he treats me very well like my oldest brother. The Master made it clear - as soon as he comes back, treat him well. It's difficult for him right now. I was thinking in my mind and I waited 4 to 5 hours since he left, he finally entered the door. I was really worried because the Venerable Master made such a call, which means he must be very upset. I was very worried if he said something wrong, he would explode. But as soon as he walked through the door, the phone rang. I didn't even have a chance to say "hello" to him, as soon as he walked in, the phone rang and it was the Venerable Master. I transferred the phone to Mr. Hang Quan and the Venerable Master, making him completely calm. He talked to the Venerable Master for about 10-15 minutes. As soon as he finished talking, he was relieved. He told me why he was late - because he was interested in astrology (star calculation) he stopped and did his astrology calculations for a few hours. How he is looking for good luck in his life. He is going through this time of penance. He was very happy that the Venerable Master was able to make him feel better and the other things the Venerable Master told him. In short, we should never lose faith in ourselves. Each of us truly has the ability to enlightenment. If someone like me, by faith, was able to go through all that I went through and be successful, then we are all likely to be able to do the same. Note: (1) Originally in Chinese: 如 切 如 磋 ， 如 琢 如 磨 - N is like tha , as trac as m a. - Literal meaning: Like cutting like polishing, like filing like grinding . Translated by Nguyen Hien Le: Like cutting ox horns, like files of ivory, like carving beautiful jade, like grinding precious stones ” https://osshcmup.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/luan-ngu-1-15/ (2) Originally in Chinese: 我們都有優缺點,我們應該在萬佛城這個大熔爐裏,互相幫忙,扶互相 持,如切如磋,如琢如磨.用玉,用血和肉,最精造出 美的器具. Organic disciples fall weaknesses , fall subject to withdrawal at V AN P Magistrates T operating fish prices higher d u ng l batches reviews support relative bearing states , mutual proper maintenance , such as setting as forgiveness , as transcendent as m a. D Arrivals pearl , used blood humiliating peace , creating dark crystal manufacturing m Italy purpose instrument.END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.18/2/2021.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.