One Day Retreat for Student

Hoang Phap Pagoda's courtyard and lecture halls were extremely lively on the evening of April 1st, 2023 when thousands of young people eagerly returned to the pagoda waiting for One Day Retreat for Students to be held tomorrow morning.

After registering and receiving pass cards on Saturday night, the students gathered in the lecture halls for cultural activities, and participated in community games.

After that, there was a dharma Q&A program. In the program, the monks shared and answered questions about problems in cultivation, troublems, and behavior in daily life in order to gain benefits, and equip the necessary preparatory materials for the young at the threshold of life.

Nearly 8,000 students from colleges and universities inside and outside Ho Chi Minh City returned to Hoang Phap Pagoda to attend One Day Retreat for Students on April 2nd, 2023.

By the guidance of monks, a meditation sitting session started with cool weather in the morning to receive positive energy for a new day full of happiness.

After having breakfast, they chanted the Six-sense repentant Sutra and sat quietly.

At 09:00, the students listened to a Dharma talk: I can eat any dishes, preached by Junior Thich Khai Tuan, a monk studying at Truc Lam Monastery in Phu Yen, and loved by many young people in the Tiktok channel Buddhist Cuisine.

To nourish and maintain life, our need for food is indispensable. The Buddha taught: there are four kinds of food that help us to survive: Four kinds of food: roll rice (food), food of sensation, thought food, spiritual food.

1. Roll rice (food): is food put into the mouth in solid or liquid form, bringing essential nutrition to the body. We need to have the right view when choosing food, clearly knowing whether it is nourishing or destructive to the body.

2. The food of sensation: is the food by all senses: the eye sees the form; nose smells; ears hear sound; the body touches objects; the tongue tastes smell; the thought discriminates things, and then saves the sensations of senses.

3. Thought food: is the food from thinking and remembering. When the mind is full of hopes or desires for something, even when having no eating, we feel full. There are kinds of thoughts that are really engraved in our minds, affecting our psyche for the rest of our lives.

4. Spiritual food: is food that nourishes the mind by contact and influence of the surrounding environment, like underground water in life, forming personality and karma in the present life and moving to the next life.

In the sharing session, the Junior deeply analyzed choosing foods that nourish the body and mind so that they are as nutritious as possible, forming an intellectual, energetic person, a tonic for everyone; as a fresh breeze of lotuses shows its fragrance-color, bringing joy and happiness to life.

The Workshop program in the afternoon inspired students by talking of Miss International Peace - Nguyen Thuc Thuy Tien.

From volunteering trips, community programs, and practical experiences to succeed, Thuy Tien has spread to listeners positive energy, knowing how to love and share, and find inner peace. In answering questions directly to students, she has further motivated the young to overcome difficulties and pressures in life, be strong in the face of adversity, be more confident, and nurture their gratitude.

The day of practice ended in the joy of participants. Before leaving, all students received a gift of books such as "Special points in Buddhism", "Lessons for teenagers, Lessons of Buddhists" composed by Most Thich Chan Tinh.

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