One-Day Cultivation in Cambodia

On July 26th , 2015 (June 11th in Goat Year), Hoang Phap’s pagoda branch in Cambodia held the one-day cultivation course as usual.

After breakfast, the monks shared the Dharma talk on the topic â€œThe Four Great Gratitudes”.

 Buddhists who obey Buddha’s teachings always uphold the spirit of gratitude and grace in daily practice. We owe all that exists around us a debt of gratitude, so we must remember and reciprocate it. The content of The Four Great gratitudes stretches from family morality to national and society morality. The Four Great gratitudes include:

1/ The gratitude to our parents: Our parents gave birth to us, brought us up and gave us the education to expand our knowledge. Therefore, we must reciprocate in 4 pious ways (filial heart, filial care, filial duty, filial piety) to make our parents happy, full and prosperous.

2/ The gratitude  to our teachers: Due to the support and guidance of our teachers, we are able to figure our the right path to follow and not fall into the wrong realms. Without teachers’ guidance, we cannot truly understand moral standards. We must respond to this gratefulness by making respectful offerings and diligent cultivation to obtain bodhi fruit.

3/ The gratitude to our nation: We are living in peace, with food to eat and convenient transportation to use, all thanks to the sacrifice of the heroes who built and defended our country; the national leaders who take care of everything, preserve national security for us to live and work in peace.

4/ The gratitude to all sentient beings:  We cannot live  on our own, but we must rely on everything around us, from man to nature, flowers and trees, all things of space and earth. There is not a moment passing by that we do not receive from our surroundings.

Thus, we must acknowledge the Four Great Gratitudes and must repay them by all means. We should not wait until we become wealthy to repay the debts. We repay them according to our own capability, despite our own hardship and poverty. As Buddhists, we can bring the doctrines we have learned to apply to daily life and encourage people to live on Buddha’s teachings, as it is a way to repay the Four Great Gratitudes in the most practical way.

As the Dharma talk ended, the mass started meditative walking and Buddha recitation together.

 Below are the pictures taken from the event: