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Returning to Vietnam
“Returning to Vietnam” here does not only mean returning on the map, but is a return to “our own roots,” the place where we feel “peaceful, at ease” and discover the “true person” within. Many people—Vietnamese youth who grew up abroad as well as those in the country—carry a sense of “rootlessness, alienation,” searching everywhere outside but unable to find lasting happiness. They long to find the “homeland of happiness,” but often only encounter more suffering.
Each individual puts down roots on three main foundations:
- Family – where the initial values, love, and happiness are transmitted.
- School – continuing the role of the family; if teachers and students cooperate, the student will grow up peacefully.
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Society – the third family, which envelops and deeply influences all psychological outcomes, from mental illness to physical illness.
To heal, not only the person with difficulties needs therapy, but the whole family, school, and society must also be cared for. Therapists themselves also need a Sangha—a healthy community—to protect themselves and to radiate healing energy.
There are two ways of “returning” to build an island of refuge for oneself and for the community:
- Entering existing communities with a mind of nonviolence, embracing all members even those who oppose, preserving the “sugar coating” for the mother—for oneself—so as not to be destroyed.
- Establishing new Sanghas, small islands containing two-thirds of members who have discovered their “true person,” to welcome more suffering people in, and then gradually develop into further islands.
Both paths are based on the insight of “interbeing”—oneself and society are one, seeing no one as the enemy, but regarding everyone as family, returning together to take refuge, and to transform together.