Sixth day of Summer Retreat 2023

The morning of July 14th, 2023 is the sixth day of the retreat. All students gathered at the lecture halls to listen to teachings named A happy path, preached by Nun Giac Le Hieu, member of Buddhist Culture Department, Member of International Propagation Board, Doctor of Buddhist Faculty in Korea.

The nun expressed her joy when meeting, exchanging and sharing a Dharma talk with students and Buddhists in the Summer Retreat 2023 at Hoang Phap pagoda.

The nun mentioned the current problem among young people in Korea, "dissatisfaction is to destroy lives" but should know "the human body is difficult to obtain, and Buddha Dharma is difficult to hear." Now, we can be human, full of senses, listen, practice the teachings of the Buddha, and take refuge in Three Jewels are extremely blessings. The Buddha said: after death, sentient beings reborn as human beings are as few as the sand on the tip of a fingernail compared with the sands on the globe, being those reborn in the suffering realms. Thus, we should cherish our lives and what we have. Youth is the most beautiful time, we should try to take advantage of our youth to study, practice, propagate and protect the Dharma to cultivate blessings for ourselves in this life and next life.

The nun preached Majjhima Nikaya no 85 of Arahat Subhuti to clearly understand the Buddha about His compassion, wisdom, ethics, and wonderful teachings. Since then, listeners have firm faith in the guru they rely on, believe in cause and effect, are not superstitious, know how to control their body, speech, and mind, study hard, and orient their future life, not depend on anyone, whether it is a parent or a relative, etc.

Contentment is obtained not from asceticism, nor from enjoyment but the middle path. The nun shared five efforts that lead to the end of suffering, bringing peace and happiness to ourselves and others:

To have faith in the Buddha is to believe in the enlightenment of the Tathagata, who has fully accomplished ten parami perfections, is the teacher who guides sentient beings to enlightenment and out of samsara; Having health, no disease is a very important condition for diligent cultivation, because if the body is sick, there is no ultimate practice; Honesty is toward with others and with ourselves; Diligently abandoning unwholesome actions and practicing the wholesome; There is wisdom about the arising and ruining out of dharma. By diligent practice of dharma, it raises wisdom, understands the nature of arising and damage of dharmas, is free from all attachments in the world, and is liberated from suffering. That is the path of happiness and peace we are walking on!

Next, speaker Hieu Linh shared the topic "Living like flowers" to students in the afternoon.

Female speaker reminded young attendees: how to love themselves more, live slowly so that the mind can be quiet, listen to themselves, and feel the existence of life. After moments of contemplation and family stories, the speaker helped young people look back to understand the love of their parents. By her sincere sharing, many tears of regret were shed because of mistakes, or youth’s indifference towards the parents. With so many emotions overflowing, the students thought of their family, cherishing happiness of having their parents, vowing to live like beautiful flowers, worthy of being a good son to continue their unfinished parent's dream. Thanks to the communication Board's connection, listeners hoped to express their most loving, sincere and emotional heart to the parents as their two Buddhas at present.

In the evening, there was a Gala Hoang Phap program, young participants in the groups arts and talents combined with some performances of guest singers.

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