For me, going to the US to study Levels 6&7 only exists in a dream. It is fair to say that we all want to advance forward with our cultivation. So when I learned that the Masters had let me to advance to Level 6, Level 7, and then Level 1&2 Assistant Instructor training, I was really excited and happy. At the same time, I was also worried. I could not express these feelings in words really. I worried because I was not sure whether that I could fulfill my task and responsibilities.
Following the spiritual path of Divine Dharma Meditation, the more I practice, the more I realize my knowledge is still limited. I need to learn a lot from the Founder Masters Thay and Co, and all disciples of Divine Dharma Meditation. Through all these years of practicing, I was really satisfied with the teachings and the practice of Divine Dharma Meditation.
After I completed Level 6 training, I learned the following four things
+ The search for good health inspires people to practice meditation.
+ Our hands can help us to reduce the burden of our own karma.
+ The Dharma of the Grand Master guides us towards Liberation.
+ Altruistic service gives us blessed merits.
Seeing alone is not sufficient. I continued to advance to 7. All that I learned only one thing "Be in Control of the Self”. I really felt very happy and very pleased. Now I have to try to learn how to be in full control of the ego self so that eventually I could let this ego go of me completely in order to return Home. This is such a very, very difficult journey.
That’s all I could think of so far. I could not submit this writing to the Masters at this stage because it was too short. So I decided to write a few more paragraphs.
If we happen to look at a mountain of spiritual literatures there are many practices to choose. We may start to pick one book, read a few pages, and pick the next one, doing the same thing; or we may go online and surf the web page after page. I was struggling to find a suitable spiritual path for myself. During that time, my health declined greatly. I was in my fifty. My problem with high blood pressure had made me fall twice while driving a motor cycle in January of 2009. The doctor said "You have to take medication every day for the rest of your life”.
The Grand Master Dasira Narada is an excellent planner. He knows that I am a human being. This means I cannot escape the process of “birth, aging, sickness, and death”…So then I was sick, I had to follow His Path by joining the discipline of Divine Dharma Meditation.On the first day of Level 1 &2 class, after having my chakras 6&7 opened, during meditation, I could feel the sacred energy. I felt blessed and happy. I was very grateful to receive such blessing. The Founder Master Thay Thuan taught that 80% of human illness is due to karma. Therefore, stop creating new karma is not good enough because there is still old karmic debt to be cleared. Only when we have created a substantial foundation of merits will we be able to clear this collective burden of karmic debts. The Grand Master continued to set up a new "code" for the disciples…If you want to take Level 3, your six chakras need to link together, to link your chakras together you need to practice energy treatment.
The Grand Master had helped me treat my own illness. I was also blessed with wonderful hands, the privilege not to get angry at others as well as the ability to help treat illness for others. The Grand Master does not set up any precepts for disciples, but He has guided me wonderfully into the Meditation Center so that I had a chance to serve others. In this ways, I can earn merit to clear my karmic debt. I can bring practical benefits for myself and I could link my chakras together to fulfill the requirement for Level 3 training. My problem of high blood pressure eventually disappeared without my notice. I no longer needed to take the medication.During Level 3 training, I had two more chakras opened, chakras 8 & 9. The Grand Master had lent disciples more practical means to help others. Level 3 disciples could treat two more serious illnesses among the five cases that Level 1&2 could not treated. At the same time, as I came to the Meditation Center to help others, I have a chance to practice ‘Mind to mind transference’. This practice helped me to feel the existence of the invisible spiritual world. With the wish that the Grand Master would give me the answer for the following questions: "Where did I come from? Why am I on Earth and what I am supposed to do? I was inspired to enter the door of spirituality of Level 4 training.
During Level 4 training we learned that chakras 6, 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 are opened 90%. I had an opportunity to learn about the journey of soul evolution as well as to receive more practical means from the Grand Master for my cultivation and altruistic practice. The teachings of Thay and Co seemed short but when I actually practiced the teachings I realized that I could not practice the teachings fully. I could only follow a certain part of the teachings, even so, not completely. Every dharma can indeed give rise to endless manifestations. One particular teaching can provide so many wonderful practices. In a way, little but practical is much better than too many but not practical.I began to understand that when I let my six sense organs run after the surroundings, I suffered self-attachment. As a result, afflictions continued to appear in my life. I understood that these lessons are meant for me to gain precious experience. However, sometimes the lessons are so tough that I could not help from crying inside so many times… Dear Grand Master, I had enough of these challenging lessons…Can I just take a break …Can I just take my time learning these lessons slowly… and then, how wonderful is the Divine Grace of the Grand Master. The Grand Master is teaching us, sometimes with a lot of discipline and sometimes with a lot of caring. When I faced the most struggles, I tried my best to stand up, trying to pretend to live happy to practice the teachings of Grand Master, and I tried to spend more time to serve other. Eventually, blessings have come my way. My problems and struggles gradually disappeared…How wonderful!!!
Because of eagerness to learn more Dharma, actually I felt as if I was addicted to His teaching, I was "drawn" into the whirlpool of cultivation progress. Thay and Co guided me to Level 5 and then Level 6. At Level 5, my minor chakras were opened. At Level 6, the chakra initiation occurs at the level other than from the physical aspect. Thay and Co continued to provide students many extraordinary teachings about innovations and the Divine Will. These teachings provide continuous successive links from one level to a higher level, although brief but practical and beneficial. The students were also equipped with additional means to gain practical benefit for their cultivation. Thay and Co guided students step by step, from ordinary people to gradually moving forward to become a Saint. Just as Thay Thuan used to say, "following the practice of DDM, you would know where you are with your cultivation”. Even when I was at Level 6, I still had this question "How can one achieve Liberation?" By then, I did not comprehend all the teachings of all levels that I had received, but I was lucky enough to be allowed to advance to higher level.
At Level 7, students received another initiation beyond the physical level. Level 7 was an ultimate breakout level. Thay and Co taught Extraordinary Dharma. The teachings explained that besides this gross physical body, human beings also have many other vehicles and divine essence. These teachings are like “the fingers pointing at the moon”. The teachings show students the path towards Liberation as well as the key to open the door of Liberation. The rest is the effort and practice of every student themselves. The mind runs after the surrounding, the mind is erroneous. The mind is in the full control, the mind is free from the physical bondage.Now, I can see the moon, my questions are clearly answered. But for sure, I know that I have to go through many more lifetimes before I can come Home. I have to comprehend all the old lessons and try to complete all the new lessons. I expect that I need to overcome many more difficulties on the way because I still have a lot of karmic debts, but for sure the path of DDM is the right path for me. In fact, everyone can apply the practice of DDM in daily life to end suffering and achieve Liberation. The road ahead is full of challenges and pitfalls, and this will make us to stumble and fall easily, but I remember the song "I have the Grand Master and Thay and Co in my life," and I also remember what Thay taught: "Students have to rely on the spiritual power of Thay and Co for their spiritual progress". We are receiving direct guidance from Thay and Co. We should support each other and try to practice cultivation earnestly so that we can get on the spacecraft of DDM, which is driven by Thay and Co to escape the gravity of earthly life, quickly flying forward to harmonize with the rhythm of the Supreme Being.
The journey returning Home is extremely difficult, and the practice of the teachings is a thousand times more difficult. Indeed, after the training for Assistant Instructor Level, I had had a chance to talk to Co Hai on the way for breakfast. I said: "I know that the road ahead will be difficult, I think that if I did not take this training, my life would go on like the way it was, and then I would be happy”. She said softly:" happy? You think your old life is happy. Her words were like the Divine Thunder striking my heart. These words are the teachings of Divine Wisdom from a genuine Master. I was suddenly wakened up. I stood still a while and tears flowed silently inside. I would like to thank Thay and Co, my genuine Masters, as well as all students of DDM.
Finally, I forever remember the teachings of the second Grand Master, Narada Mahathera, "Serving to become completely whole and completely to serve with compassion". Serving is to transform consciousness, serving is to clear karmic debt, serving is to build dedication, serving is to cultivate Bodhisattvas’ virtues, and serving is to earn merits, the essential requirements for our own evolution in order to come Home. The Grand Master had promises disciples in the poem the Truth “the threads of hair have been lost here and there, they shall be collected and returned to the rightful owners...”
Ho Chi Minh City, 18-06-2016
Dai Canh To from Hong Bang Center