One-Day Retreat

On July 07th, 2014 (July 01st Horse Year) more than ten thousands of believers from HCMC and nearby provinces came to Hoang Phap Pagoda to join in the One-Day Retreat.

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Because this retreat was held in the first of July,\r\nBuddhists returned to attend more crowdedly than those before. Early 7:00 AM,\r\nmany Buddhists and their vehicles covered the entrance to the Pagoda. There\r\nwere Buddhists who arrived in the Pagoda in early morning. 

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After breakfast, they had the opportunity to listen to a\r\nDharma from Senior Venerable Thich Chan Tinh of Hoang Phap Pagoda in the\r\nlecture hall. In this talk, he explained the purpose and sense of “Cultivating”\r\nin “the Sutra of Mind” (Sutra of Mind, chapter Ten Dharma, the fourth book of\r\nAnguttara Nikaya Sutra).

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 The goal of reciting is to understand the Buddha’s\r\nteachings then practice them so that we could change our behavior of action,\r\nspeech, thought and purify three retributions increasingly. Most Buddhists just\r\nstop at learning the Dharma, but they are lack of applying to the Buddha’s\r\nteachings, which can’t break out of delusion and suffering.

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 In this Sutra, the Buddha taught us that we should\r\nobserve regularly what in our mind is led to. If we pay attention to eradicate\r\nlust, hatred, exhaustion, negligence, suspicion, anger, infection, etc., which\r\nbeing right methods will produce the benefit of peace. If our mind follows to\r\nlust, hatred, exhaustion, negligence, suspicion, anger, infection, etc., which\r\nbeing evil methods will produce misery things.

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Nobody could make us pollute; also, nobody could make us\r\npure. Polluted or pure is by ourselves. The Buddha’s Dharma is like the finger\r\npointing at the moon and looking at the finger to see the moon. Buddhists who\r\npractice at home or leave home also need to follow the Buddha’s Dharma to\r\ncultivate. Cultivating means changing, observing our mind and correcting our\r\nbad habits. We should know what our mind concerns about, being aware of whether\r\nour cultivation in right or wrong ways. With a right way, we continue to\r\ndevelop; with a wrong way, we have to eliminate actively. Therefore, we will\r\nattain happiness, peace in present and future time.

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After the Dharma talk, Buddhists meditated and recited\r\ntogether in the solemn and restful atmosphere.

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 At 3:00 pm, the retreat ended with pleasure. Before\r\nleaving, everybody was given a VCD of “The Feeling Confidence with the Youth”

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Following are photos taken :

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