As we celebrate the Lunar New Year, all members of the Orange County Meditation Center sincerely wish that the Year of Tan Mao will bring health, happiness and prosperity to everyone. We wish that all cultivate diligently, determine to fulfill our goal and responsibility, and continue to maintain an unshakable faith in the Higher Beings.
On the journey of spiritual cultivation, we are not forced by anyone to have faith nor faith is given to us. Only when we go through many experiences of spiritual practice, will we have faith in the Higher Beings. In other words, it is not by chance that faith just suddenly comes to our lives. In the celebration of the Founder Master’s birthday in 2006, our beloved teachers, Thầy Thuận and Cô Hải taught us that, “Disciples must practice meditation and cultivate themselves diligently, striving to serve for the benefit of humankind with dedication an devotion. Only then, will they truly understand the Divine Plan of the Heavens, afterwards they can lead their lives and spiritual practice in accordance with this Plan ...”. This is the moment, when our true faith in the Higher Beings begins to form within us.
Our teachers also taught that, “Faith comes from the depth of our awakened minds rather than from any external source of superstitious power.... Faith plays the most essential role in our spiritual cultivation as well as our daily activities of life”. Without having faith, we will hardly gain success for whatever we do. This is like cooking rice. If we put the pot of rice on a stove and keep removing the pot from the stove before the rice is fully cooked then the rice will become ruin. Thầy Thuận and Cô Hải also taught us that “On the Journey of spiritual cultivation, disciples may be very enthusiastic at the beginning of their practice. However, without having a true faith, they gradually become discouraged and disheartened. In addition, because these disciples do not have clarity of mind to differentiate between right and wrong, they are easily tempted and influenced by evil forces. They stray into the wrong path and eventually destroy their own cultivation.” In this way, they have wasted a lifetime of being human.
Through the dharma lectures from Thầy and Cô, we are taught that, after the initiation of chakras opening, if disciples practice meditation with an ascended mind then their chakras absorb spiritual vibrations of the Higher Realms. The sublime power of the Founder Master will illuminate their entire beings. In contrast, if their minds are still mired in greed, anger, and selfishness then they can only absorb negative energy, and the force of evil will lure them into the path of darkness. This is because “The same frequencies harmonize, the same energies compromise”. Therefore, cultivators who still have much unwholesomeness in their minds often feel that the more they practice the more confused they become. They would not know what is true and what is false.
The immeasurable gift we receive from Thầy and Cô is the teaching of the divine wisdom. They teach us the best way to cultivate ourselves, leading to the elimination of suffering and eventually the attainment of liberation.
Thầy and Cô have said that, “Let us be wise, and search for the right path towards the final destination of liberation. Once we have found the right path, we must dedicate ourselves to overcome obstacles or challenges with determination and courage”. Let make every effort to turn inward, finding true peace and cultivate virtue, gaining wisdom for the soul. Right or wrong, happy or sad, all depends on us. It is we, who decide our future and destiny.
Why bother let the ego wandering around “for the sake of getting closer to the truth”. People always look for the Truth. They do not realize that the Truth is right there within themselves.
Thầy and Cô constantly remind us that when coming to the meditation center, we should refrain ourselves from behaving indifferently or passively. We are to come to the Meditation Center for self-development, practicing good deeds as well as helping others with an egalitarian mind. This type of selfless service comes from goodness of the heart, not ranking or seniority. The essential thing is that the higher the ranking the more responsibility the disciple has to serve for the benefits of humanity. This is because “The ultimate goal of spiritual cultivators is to sacrifice themselves for happiness of every being. This is the virtue of Bodhisattvas”.
On behalf of all members from Orange County Meditation Center, I would like to express our thoughts and wish that everyone will cultivate themselves earnestly so that all can proceed in harmony with the development of the discipline and the unceasingly evolutionary movement of Thầy and Cô.
California 30 Tết Tân Mão
February 02, 2011
Best regards,
Henry Khuu from Orange County