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Taking Care – Nurturing and Teaching Our Younger Brothers and Sisters
Each person needs two families to have solid roots and happiness: the blood family and the spiritual family. The blood family can easily be broken apart due to conflict, addiction, disharmony, or social circumstances such as war, unemployment, or migration. In contrast, the spiritual family, thanks to the precepts and Dharma doors of practice, is less subject to dissolution due to behavior, and becomes a refuge when the blood family faces challenges. The Sangha is the great spiritual family, including both lay and monastic communities, nurturing brotherhood according to the spirit of “All within the four seas are brothers and sisters,” in order to build lasting peace.
Taking root firmly in the Sangha is likened to planting a tree in autumn and winter: one must have a stable place to dwell, be cared for, and have warm conditions for the roots to grow deep. For newcomers, especially novice monks and nuns, it is necessary to create conditions so that:
- They can stay in one place, not move around restlessly
- They are cared for and nourished in spirit through the loving attention and concern of elder brothers and sisters in the Dharma
- They have a mentor, a guiding teacher, to rely on amidst the storms of life
- There is enough time—one, two, or three years—for the roots to grow deep and for them to become Dharma instruments to serve life
Taking root in the Sangha is a prerequisite; once one is firmly established, all other difficulties can be easily transformed, and the young monastic can grow into a Dharma instrument, continuing the work of the ancestral teachers.