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The Ten Titles of the Buddha (continued)
“Minh Hạnh Túc” (vidyā-carana sampanna) is the fourth title of the World-Honored One, perfectly combining minh (understanding arising from direct experience) and hạnh (practice that is clear and not merely theoretical). Thay recalls the teaching of the unity of knowledge and action, and the gatha “practice and understanding go together” of Master Lieu Quan, to affirm that understanding and doing must go hand in hand; for example, when practicing walking meditation, eating, driving, or even “sitting still on a bicycle, steadily keeping balance, happiness going together with insight, practice and understanding side by side”; if mindfulness is absent, practice and understanding do not correspond, and repeated training will not lead to insight.
The method of reciting the ten titles of the World-Honored One (Tathagata – Worthy of Offerings – Perfectly Enlightened One – Complete in Understanding and Conduct – Well-Gone One – Knower of the World – Unsurpassed One – Tamer of Beings – Teacher of Gods and Humans – Buddha, World-Honored One) is guided as a profound Dharma door: chant slowly, before prostrating deeply contemplate the substance of understanding and practice in the title, invite the bell, prostrate down with three breaths, with the aspiration to connect mindfulness of the Buddha outside and mindfulness of the Buddha within. Avoid mechanical, superficial mindfulness—like the story of eating “pheasant” made of paper—so that each time you kneel is a time soaked with energy, the seed of enlightenment in your own being.