Dear Master Thuận and Cô Hải, anh Điệp and members of the Seattle Meditation
Center.
On behalf of the Ottawa Meditation Center in June at our 5th anniversary we presented our beloved Masters Thầy Thuận and Cô Hải a small token of our deepest respect and appreciation for the sacrifices they constantly make for the spiritual cultivation of us all. We are blessed to finally be able to send this gift to you now. In honour of our Master Dasira Narada, and the only true representatives of Him, Thầy Thuận and Cô Hải, this painting is dedicated to the disciples of the Seattle Meditation Center.
On the anniversary of our relatively young center, we wanted to formally acknowledge the priceless contribution that the Seattle members make in creating a spiritual home in North America for everyone. By following the teachings of the Founder Master, and the example of Thầy and Cô, the Seattle members welcome, nourish and support all of the UHBE family, year after year again, as we return to Seattle to begin and continue our spiritual training.
Whenever new Level 4 disciples return to our Ottawa Center from Seattle, we always ask them to share what they have learned from their experience. Time and time again their stories always start with how profoundly impressed and grateful they are for the genuine kindness and overwhelming support from the Seattle members. When these students nervously step off the plane for the first time in the Seattle airport, sometimes after very long journeys, they all remember being greeted by your smiling faces. They also remember being gently ushered luggage and all into your vehicles under your protective care.
It is the Seattle members who bring us for our first glimpse of the home of our beloved Masters and of the Seattle Meditation Center itself. The first impression usually last forever. None of us forget the first time we were warmly greeted by yourselves, anh Điệp, and Thầy Cô, and the wondrous feeling we had approaching the Grand Master Table. In the Seattle Center, even walking around the meditation hall we have all felt awed by the powerful presence of the energy in this precious sacred room.
Seattle members are remembered in our student stories for their encouragement, advice, and listening. They are remembered for their gifts of translating or explaining the Founder Masters teachings. For the countless meals under the beautiful trees along the driveway, the snack, the endless bowls of soup, and cups of tea, and the driving back and forth to our comfortable hotel accommodation at all hours of all day, Seattle disciples are appreciated. There is no physical need that is left unattended for visiting disciples. Seattle members make us feel welcomed, comfortable, and care for. By your love in action, you give new students the Grand Master’s message that our spiritual cultivation and our success are important to you all. It is the Seattle member’s ongoing timeless efforts, to train with the Masters in a whole new environment, beginning a new stage of our relationship with them and the Grand Master’s Dharma. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you humbly for all of these things.
As students return for Level 5, 6, and so on, our bond with Seattle members and the Center strengthens and deepens. You are our new friends, our spiritual brothers and sisters, part of the One, Same, Spiritual Family. We are also partners and allies as we gradually learn how to give back to others, in the ways that the Seattle have given and continue to give to all of us. Seattle members set the utmost example. We are so grateful to our Masters, Thầy Thuận and Cô Hải, and to all of the Seattle members.
This painting is about “Going Home”. Fine Art forms capture some essential features of our natural world and something fundamental about experience of being human. As we look at the picture carefully, we see that it is very symbolic of the teachings Thầy and Cô generously give to us, through the blessing of our Founder Master. The world around us and within ourselves is full of many kinds of darkness. We must often climb upstream, to go home. We all encounter difficulties within ourselves and within meditation centers as we learn how to make this journey back to the light. We need the purest light from the Dharma of the Founder Master and our Masters, Thầy Thuận and Cô Hải to break the bondage of this darkness, to illuminate us, to guide our way home. We know that the world is full of suffering and there will be more adversity and hardships as time goes on. We are peacefully preparing ourselves and our discipline for these periods of difficulty ahead, knowing that it is a necessary part of our collective evolution.
Thank you Thầy Thuận and Cô Hải for the privilege and blessing of being your disciples. May we work together cultivating in the kind of harmony you hope for us to have. May we remain truly loyal to you both and the Seattle Center, who is the mother to all of our centers, during times of darkness and light as we follow behind you. May we serve, love and give to others as you constantly, wisely and lovingly give to each of us all.
Thank you, very very much. From all members of the Ottawa Meditation Center with our humble thanks, deep gratitude and our abiding love.
Diệu/Lisa.