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Public Dharma Talk
The conflict between religions and civilizations creates an urgent need for a message of peace in society, economics, and politics. Anger and fear are two mental formations that make us and those around us suffer. The book Anger and the book Fear address how to transform these negative energies through the practice of mindfulness and mindful consumption so as not to nourish the energy of violence. In love, instead of rushing to commit, young people need time to understand each other and prioritize the cultivation of knowledge and virtue to preserve mutual respect.
To protect the sacredness of the practice center, the family, and the community, we need to practice the five precepts:
- Not killing.
- Not stealing.
- Not engaging in sexual misconduct, preserving respect for the body and soul when there is not yet a lifelong commitment to live together.
- Not lying and causing division, using loving speech to convey the truth skillfully to help others easily receive it.
- Not consuming toxic products such as alcohol, drugs, and television programs, books, and magazines that cause violence and despair.
Consciousness includes 51 mental formations lying in the store consciousness, which contains all the good and bad seeds from our ancestors in every cell. To practice mindfulness is to use the energy of awakening to recognize and embrace our sorrows, just like a gentle mother comforting her crying baby. When facing someone we hate, look deeply into their suffering from childhood to give rise to compassion, or write down their lovely qualities on a piece of paper to read whenever we are frustrated. Instead of using the energy of hatred to change society, we need to nourish love and compassion to keep our minds clear. The Vietnamese Zen tradition is closely connected to Patriarch Tang Hoi, the founding patriarch who established Kien So Temple and transmitted the first bhikshu precepts in China in the third century.
