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Sanskrit 24
Thay encourages us to walk on the bright path, to keep an endless spring in our hearts, regardless of rain or shine, with simple joy in every moment. The poem by the Abbess likens spring to a hundred blooming flowers, myriad birds singing, lighting up peace and steadfast spirit in everyday life.
In the teaching of the scriptures,
- The Anguttara Nikāya is the fourth collection, compiled according to groups of nine or twelve, among which the Itivuttaka belongs to the Khuddaka Nikāya—the fifth collection—with 112 suttas divided into four Nipātas, including both prose and verses (repetitive gathas) to aid memorization.
- The tradition of lục bát verse and hạnh verse in Vietnam has recorded the vows and practices of patriarchs such as Từ Đạo Hạnh, Quan Âm Thị Kính, and Quan Âm Diệu Thiện for more than a thousand years.
The core teachings of the Buddha:
- Two kinds of happiness—of lay friends with a home and of monastics without a home, with the happiness of the liberated being far greater
- Three roots of action—greed, hatred, and delusion give rise to corresponding results (vipāka)
- The Kalama Sutta—encourages freedom of thought, not believing blindly, but verifying for oneself
- Four kinds of people in life—those who go with the current, against the current, stand firm (in the Brahma realm), and those who cross over to liberation
- Four ways to answer a question—answer directly, analyze the question, ask in return, or remain silent with a smile
- Five contemplations—certainly we will grow old, get sick, die, be separated, and our actions will follow us
- Four means to transform anger—loving kindness, compassion, equanimity, letting go without attachment, and recognizing that those who sow unwholesome seeds will reap the results themselves
- The case of Sona—practice must be balanced, like tuning a stringed instrument to the right pitch—not too tight, not too loose
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The interbeing of mindfulness, concentration, and insight:
- Mindfulness is conscious presence in the present moment
- Concentration is the stable, focused energy that supports mindfulness
- Insight arises when mindfulness and concentration are deep, and in turn strengthens both
- Six deep contemplations—seeing the roots and fruits of sensual desire, feelings, perceptions, mental afflictions, actions, and suffering
- The seven factors of awakening and the Noble Eightfold Path, together with the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment, lead to liberation
The image of the ocean with its eight qualities—tolerance, purity, consistency, not accumulating impurities, receiving all rivers while remaining unchanged in taste—is likened to the Dharma of the Buddha: vast, pure, guiding practitioners from the shallow to the deep.