December 2014 retreat reserved for college students

When talking about happiness, various meanings of it have\r\nbeen put forth. But, all of the meanings share the common point  -  that\r\nis, “Happiness is the satisfaction of human material and spiritual individual\r\nneeds. There are five main human needs ranging from lowest to highest levels.\r\nThey are material need, security need, love need, being admired need, and\r\nself-expression need. Nevertheless, human beings do not feel any satisfaction\r\neven these needs are fulfilled.  

From the viewpoint of Buddhism, happiness is the tranquility\r\nand sauntering at all life events. He who wants to obtain happiness, must\r\nunderstand what it is. In other words, the nature of happiness lies in each\r\nindividual’s true awareness, thought and mentality. Happiness appears around us,\r\nin each of our breath. Happiness is also what we can identify, what is present\r\naround us, and what is being possessed by us. Happiness is the simplest thing.\r\nIt is the truest and most eternal thing toward which all of us are directing\r\nourselves.  

After the Dharma talk, lecturer Junior Ven. Thich Tri Minh\r\nin turn answered all the querries relating to the topic. And next to the\r\nquestion and answer part, all the participants were led to recite the Buddhist\r\nsutra named ‘True Happiness’.  

In the evening of the same day, the students had the moment\r\nwhen their heart was accumulated through the ‘seated in meditation moment’\r\ntogether with the monks. These were the precious moments for the students after\r\ntheir tense days they had to spend at school. Finally, the students were led to\r\nkeep some imposing postures that a Buddhist must have so that they may improve\r\nthemselves. 

To end the one-day retreat, each of the students left the\r\nPagoda with a souvenir from the Board of Organisation, comprising a DVD about\r\nthe great festival of the 2014 Ulambana and Showing gratitutde to one’s dead\r\nparents (celebrated yearly on the 15th day of the 7th month, lunar calendar), a\r\nVCD on the topic ‘Internal life force – Key to success’, a VCD about the 3rd\r\nScholarship Granting Ceremony on the topic ‘Knowledge Germination’, and a VCD\r\nentitled ‘Nature of praying’. Specially, the students participating in this\r\none-day retreat also received a present from the Senior Venerable, Abbot of\r\nHoang Phap Pagoda  - unaffected, cheerful smiles and the booklet\r\nentitled ‘Flowery Words on Your Hands’. As such, the students seemed to be\r\ngiven more strength for their studies as well as their cultivation from the\r\nrespectable monk. 

Announcement:

The 6th one-day retreat entitled ‘Directing ourselves to\r\nBuddhist Dharma, reserved for college students’ is to be organized on February\r\n1st, 2015 (13 January of lunar calendar, Year of the Horse). The Board of\r\nOrganization cordially invites all college students to participate in the\r\nretreat at Hoang Phap pagoda. 

Following are some of the pictures recorded. \r\n\r\n

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Translated into English by Mr. Hoang Huan, layman.