One-Day Cultivation Retreat at Dong Cao pagoda - Thanh Hoa

On July 24th, 2016 (lunar June 21st Monkey year) Dong Cao pagoda organized the one-day Buddha reciting course. Although the weather was a sunshine day, there were a great many of attendees.

In this cultivation course, Junior Thich Tam Hung preached a doctrine about “Five Desires.”

In the Anguttara Nikaya II the Buddha taught:

 

- Oh monks, Sufferings come from benefits, respects and fame, etc.

- Oh monks, for example, a female goat, with long feathers, went into a cluster of thorny trees. It was caught on these trees or those ones. It was suspended on these trees or those ones; then it was tied on these trees or those ones and this place or those one it wasfallen to the unhappiness, accidence.

As the same, oh monks, here, there were the monks who have had benefits, respects, fames, etc,  affecting in  monks’ mind that ispolluted. In the morning, when they take their robe and  bowl to village for food, their mind prefer at this place to that one; they desire at this place or that one; they addict at this place or that one, then this place or that one,then  they face with unhappiness and accidence.

 

Thus, oh monks, polluting on benefits, respects,    fames, etc is sufferings. All of you have to remember their harmfulness.

 

By simple sutra stories, the Junior helps the mass understand the harmfulness of five desires on human life in general and Buddhists life in particulary. Endintg of preaching, he reminded Buddhists that they should live with the spirit of “less desires and awareness ofbeing enough” to get a happy life at the present and in the future.

After preaching, the mass began one-day cultivation course.

Buddhists were given a VCD of “The Truth Causing Resentment” which was taught by the Senior venerable Thich Chan Tinh.

 These are some specific images: