After the group meditation session on March the 6th, 2020, Mr. Xuyen Hong Tran, the center leader and the management team of the Houston Meditation Center read the announcement from the DDM Headquarters, about the temporary closing of all meditation centers due to the outbreak of Covid-19. All members were quiet and looked so sad that the management team has suggested that everyone arrange their daily meditation at home at the same time, from 5:00 to 9:00 in the morning, and from 16:00 to 20:00 in the afternoon. In so doing, all members can feel themselves meditating together during this pandemic.
The Founder Masters teaches that all members of DDM should increase their meditation time to absorb more vital energy in order to boost up the immune system. This would improve our health as well as prevent the viruses from entering our bodies. At the same time, when we meditate long hours, our mind would become calmer during the time of self-isolation while the Covid-19 epidemic is spreading around the world without any treatment at the moment.
The current pandemic has affected everyone in all nations regardless of religions, races, or social circumstances. It’s likely that the Coronavirus will continue to mutate into different strains with high degree of danger and complexity. Historically, there have been many teachings that somewhat foresee and warn people of such disasters; and what the future will be for humanity is still unpredictable. For this reason, it’s very important that all of us be attentive with our cultivation in order to maintain a healthy body and a peaceful mind.
The Divine Beings, the Buddha, the Lord Jesus, the Grand Master DASIRA NARADA are messengers of the Supreme Being, They had been manifesting in this secular world time after time to help humanity. The symbolic presentation and the Divine Dharma of the Grand Master from the spiritual realm have been taught to humanity in this physical world by our Masters Thay and Co, the Founders of Divine Dharma Meditation discipline. All members of DDM should register in mind that whenever we talk about the history of the Grand Master Dasira Narada, we should also mention about the establishment of the discipline of DDM and our beloved spiritual teachers, Thay Thuan Duc Nguyen and Co Ngoc Hai Nguyen.
The Grand Master’s compassion for humankind is immeasurable, and DDM members are so fortunate to learn His True Dharma through the authentic teaching from the Lineage Masters Thay and Co. The Grand Master’s Dharma is truly sophisticated and divine. The core of His teachings guides us to build a moral foundation of a good human being, to live with dignity, and to develop our inner latent potentials. Following the mandate from the Grand Master, Thay and Co has developed the discipline of DDM. The DDM teachings guide practitioners to follow the path of the Grand Master, cultivating virtues and helping others in order to evolve spiritually.
The discipline of Divine Dharma Meditation has trained practitioners from the early days of their practice. We meditate to absorb vital energy from the universe into our body to clear blockages and illnesses. In addition, we are also guided to understand the benefit of maintaining a healthy diet. It is also good for us to do some walking or gentle exercise prior to meditation.
By nature, we are born with a magnificent brain. It has the ability to produce endorphins. These wonderful substances help boost up the immune system and fight against diseases and illnesses. However, most people are not aware of their natural potential. They have depended too much on medicinal drugs, while their minds continue to experience some sorts of mental problems. As a result, the brain is no longer able to produce endorphins as required by the body. The mental problems are usually caused by feelings of insecurity, anxiety, competition, jealousy, anger, or disappointments. All of these negative emotions will eventually bring about physical problems for the body. It’s a blessing for us to receive the wonderful teachings from the Founder Masters. Our minds have becomes clearer and our hearts have opened wider. We are able to understand the mysterious wonder of Heaven and Earth. We practice meditation daily to calm the mind so that the brain can secrete these wonderful natural defensing substances.
Moreover, when a negative thought arises in our minds, it causes us to do many wrong things, creating negative karma and making us suffer the consequences. The only way to solve this problem is to stop creating negative karma, but what we should do about the past karma that we had created in previous lifetimes? We were born with a predestined karma that determines our current life circumstances as well as our physical constitution. Indeed, everything follows the Law of “birth, aging, sickness, and death”. The laws of the Universe are very fair and unbiased, so is it fair to pray for good health and happiness while we continue to create negative karma? In order to neutralize bad karma, we must change our ordinary lifestyle. We must practice spiritual cultivation to build virtue and merit, so that we can transform our life circumstances for the better, because a wealth of virtue and merit can transform one’s bad destiny.
The Masters teach that the DDM method of cultivation is current innovation that is in alignment with the evolutionary level of humankind. With this in mind, we must learn to detach ourselves from the obsolete customs, habitual formality and ritual of practices. The discipline does not teach us praise the Grand Master, or praying for a miracle so that we can obtain wonderful results without earnest cultivation. Learning must be followed by practices. We do not seek secluded places, living in ideology and theory, for this kind of cultivation is just a waste of valuable time. Proper method of cultivation must be realistic. First, we must practice meditation to restore our health, lead a peaceful life and increase our life expectancy. We should look at ourselves in the mirror every day and ask how to be better with ourselves as well as with life. We should seek to correct our own mistake and try to shape our behavior properly. I'm better today than yesterday, and tomorrow I will be better than today.
The Grand Master teaches that disciples must practice cultivation based on the True Inner-Self, not with forms and formalities. In order to eliminate our suffering, we must lead our lives with dignity, treat everyone with respect and harmonize ourselves with life. His Dharma is a teaching of Truth, a spiritual science. It is not a topic for spiritual research or historical investigation. It is a practical teaching, when followed correctly one will achieve self-realization. Spirituality is the wisdom of the soul. In order to evolve spiritually, we have to follow the same path that the Higher Beings had walked in order to reach the destination of Liberation. They had lived the same life as everyone else, but the only difference was that they did not bind themselves to worldly desires. They have evolved above the ordinary, and led their life with humility, wisdom, and noble virtues.
The symbolic drawing of the Grand Master is a Great Bodhisattva, holding a stick and walking down to earth to save sentient beings, giving joy and salvation. He will bless those who come to the meditation with noble hearts. We receive vital energy from the higher realms and pass on to the patients, this is the principle of like attracts like. At that time, we are able to do many wonderful things for others that ordinary people could not do so. Therefore, let’s cut off our worry about daily activities of life when coming to the meditation center, but wholeheartedly devote ourselves to the service of that higher calling, only then can we help humanity effectively.
The Divine Dharma Meditation is a practical spiritual science. Every day, we come to the meditation centers. We earnestly help others to create merit and develop wisdom. In doing so, our foundation of merits, virtue and wisdom will increase gradually to bring about our overall higher achievements. Afterwards, we utilize this wealth of spirituality to shed light on the path of serving for the benefit of humanity. The Second Grand Master Narada Mahathera once said: “Let us serve to become fully whole. Wholeheartedly serve with compassion and devotion”. This is the Truth that we follow. Truth means that everything on this earth, including ourselves, is aiming towards evolutionary purpose. Disciples wholeheartedly follow the Grand Master’s path and bind their minds with the Founder Masters Thay co, are experiencing many wonderful benefits. We have become healthier and more peaceful. We are ascending with our evolution and definitely our future will be much brighter.
Before saying goodbye to each other, all members of Houston Meditation center understood that even though we do not come to the meditation center, we continue to develop our “inner meditation center” at our own home. We now have more time to meditate longer and ponder on the Dharma deeper, preparing ourselves for the future works of helping others more effectively. This in turn will help us develop much further and solidify our confidence in the continuous development of the discipline.
We were emotionally touched to see all members clapping their hands in response to the advice of the management team. We arrange convenient time so that all would practice meditation at the same time. If more people know how to practice the method of Divine Dharma Meditation, the world situation would be much better than it is now, don’t you agree?
May the Grand Mater’s blessing is always with us, and the Founder Masters continue to guide us with our cultivation as well as to develop the discipline much further so that many more people can enjoy the benefit. We would like to congratulate all fellow members for their dedication and contributions over the past many years for the sacred duties of serving humanity, maintaining and disseminating the authentic teachings of the Grand Master. May all of us always be diligent in meditation, study of the Dharma, understand the Dharma and practice the Dharma correctly to maintain our health and gain more success on the journey of spiritual evolution, for the purpose of Eliminate Suffering and Attain Liberation.
Yours truly thanks with sincerity
Disciple Instructor Tung Hoang Tran
May 15th 2020