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Zen Master Thien Chieu
Each practitioner must approach at least six people to offer them guidance with all their heart; these can be teachers, friends, or even someone not present at the retreat. After choosing a trustworthy person, write a personal letter expressing your wish to receive guidance, and ask them to nominate five more people. When you receive the letter of guidance, touch the earth three times before reading it, and receive the advice with a heart of gratitude. The community has fifteen days to practice this ancient tradition of self-examination.
Zen Master Thuong Chieu—belonging to the Vo Ngon Thong lineage but who also served as abbot of Luc To Temple (associated with the Ty Ni Da Luu Chi lineage)—made an important contribution to the history of Vietnamese Buddhism by collecting and transmitting materials that led to the compilation of the book “Thien Uyen Tap Anh.” He emphasized the study of mind: if, in practice, you understand clearly the workings of the mind (simple recognition), you will expend little effort and achieve great success; otherwise, you will become needlessly weary.
The steps of practice according to Thuong Chieu:
- Simply recognize all psychological phenomena (joy, sorrow, anger, fear…) as they arise, just knowing “I am angry” or “I am sad” without judgment or suppression.
- Use the energy of mindfulness to embrace and look deeply into the mental formation, as a mother holds her child, gradually transforming the roots of suffering.
- Maintain mindfulness (of the breath, of the steps, of the Buddha) to invite wholesome mental formations to manifest and nourish them to grow strong, while preventing negative seeds from arising.
The Zen master concluded that the Way cannot be attained—seeking outside only leads to distraction—because the Dharma body (the mind as the Tathagata-garbha) shines throughout the ten directions right in the present moment.
