Dharma Talk at Tinh Xa Minh Quang (pagoda) in Sacramento - United States

In the evening of Oct 25, 2016, the Venerable Thich Chan Tinh had a Dharma talk at Tinh Xa Minh Quang (pagoda) in Sacramento, North California, US.

The Venerable shared that in the time of Buddha’s, he is the master, Vihara (pagoda) is the school, while monks and lay people are students. Hence, we can see Buddha takes the role of the master leading sentient beings to the Path of Enlightenment instead of a god granting favors or bad lucks. But today, due to lack of right-view, a few people misunderstand the role of Buddha. They come to pagoda to pray and beg for the good lucks and cease the bad ones as if Buddha were a God. These practices are inconsistent with the rule of cause and effect as per Buddha’s quote in Dharmapada verse 165: “By oneself is evil done, by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone, by oneself is one made pure. Purity or impurity depended on oneself, no one can purify another”. Thus, in order to live happily and joyfully, we should be awakened, train and lead our body, speech and thought to the good trend, let things go easily, follow Buddha’s example, be close to the Triratna. We should consider Dharma as the school for us to practice and promote our mind, Sangha as our master and Buddhists as our schoolmates. Pagoda is the place for Buddhist to learn Dharma and practice Buddha’s teachings. It is the true and original mission of pagoda.

The talk ended in the joys of all.

Following are the recorded photographs:

BBT Website