One Day Retreat for Students

Approximately 550 students from colleges and universities in Ho Chi Minh City came to Hoang Phap Pagoda to attend "One Day Retreat for Students" on April 25th, 2021 (March 14th, LC).

Before that, all participants had a conversation of interviews with the monks at the lecture hall on the evening of April 24th, 2021. The monks answered the questions such as, how to transform a cultivator's attachments; how to deal with sadness in mind; how a child should react to parental abandonment; understand correctly about vegetarian eating or meat; lifestyle with a mind with no clinging desires; marriage issues with different religions; matters of looking at fortune-telling and understanding like that which is correct.

In the morning, monks instructed the participants to do exercise outside the main hall along with time to meditate. After having breakfast, they swept the leaves together around the pagoda yard. Next, they chanted the sutra Eight Things, Compassionate mind. 

Next, the Quick Guess and Fast Win Gameshow was held at the Dharma Wheel Building. Candidates are divided into 5 teams and go through 3 rounds of competition. The questions are presented in the form of word guessing and used players to arrange answers. This is an opportunity for participants to review Buddhist knowledge and learn about the unknown. Thanks to this, they have a better understanding and its application in everyday life.

In the afternoon, they gathered in the Dharma Wheel Building to listen to the talk from Junior Thich Tam Hiep  with the topic How long does it take to forget an old beloved one? There is pain that lasts over time and it becomes a mark in the mind. How long will it take for us to forget the person we once loved deeply? The monk has pointed out methods in which people respond to pain: Some people find ways to forget by being busy with work, but very hard to forget; Someone who is helpless in the face of pain will hurt themselves; Someone confronts and transcends pain to perfect himself. Over all, the monk has analyzed the nature of love, how to deal with feelings that have broken hearts, how to properly cherish love for others and how to forget the former lovers of past years.

Before leaving, the participants were given dharma gifts, including the book named East and West talent Individuals (part 2) and other gifts.

Some images recorded: