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Where is My Loved One Who Has Passed Away Now? Part 2
The memorial ceremony yesterday at 3 p.m. and the requiem ceremony this morning both invited the spirits to take refuge in the Three Jewels, listening to the choral piece “I Have Gone in Search of the World-Honored One”: “I have wandered through countless perilous paths of life… in my heart, a miraculous faith… The World-Honored One is peace, solidity, and freedom.” Each step of walking meditation lent our feet to the departed, “with each in-breath, two steps, I have arrived; with each out-breath, two steps, I am home,” so that 82 million compatriots may have peace. The intention of three great equalizing requiem ceremonies to relieve injustice, pray for national peace and people’s safety, for the liberation of both the living and the dead was illuminated by the oracle of the Bridge: “Who is there with enough filial piety and righteousness? Now the life of suffering comes to an end here.”
“Filial piety and righteousness” must be watered every day; the six or seven million who died in war remind us to come together in prayer. The great requiem ceremonies at Vinh Nghiem, Quoc Tu Dieu De, and Non Pagoda show that all traditions, including Catholicism and Protestantism, shed tears together, feeling the transformation of heaven and earth. The teaching of no birth and no death was illustrated with the cloud, the raindrop, the sheet of paper, the flame: “I do not come from anywhere, nor do I go anywhere.” Through contemplating no coming, no going, the practitioner touches the World-Honored One and loved ones in every cell, attaining nirvana, the virtue of fearlessness. The story of the American veteran releasing the hammock of the young guerrilla woman into the sacred fire shows that letting go brings liberation.
After the Dharma talk, the refuge ceremony was conducted; the spirits recited the three vows: I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Five Mindfulness Trainings were transmitted:
- to protect life, not to kill
- to maintain honesty and fairness, not to steal
- not to engage in sexual misconduct
- to use loving speech and deep listening
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to consume in mindfulness, not to use alcohol or drugs, not to bring toxins into body and mind
The spirits “wholeheartedly repent… vow to begin anew from today,” and all together chanted Namo Shakyamuni Buddha under the sound of three bells of support.