Preaching of Buddha Dharma at Chau Long pagoda – Long An

In the morning of December 30, 2014 (November 9 of lunar year), Venerable Thich Chan Tinh visited Chau Long pagoda located at Binh Thuy hamlet, Binh Quoi commune, Chau Thanh district, Long An province, to preach Buddha Dharma under the invitation of Abbess Thich Ny Thuong Lien.

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During the dharma talk, the Venerable spoke about Buddha\r\nRecitation, which  reminded the practitioners of mindfulness, clear\r\ninward awareness  of recitation. An old saying goes “Reciting\r\nBuddha's names   in an unclear and uncontrolled mind is\r\nmeaningless.” This saying means that it is useless to recite “Namah Amitabha”\r\nall day even until your throat is sore when your mind is  filled with\r\nfalse thoughts. The important things in Buddha recitation are mindfulness and\r\nclear awareness. Knowing what you recite and focusing on the recitation is\r\ncalled  mindfulness and clear awareness. Buddha Recitation  should\r\ncome from the inner  feelings, not from the  outer ones.

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Take it as an example. If we leave the Buddha\r\nrecitation recording machine on by our ears all day without  concentration,\r\nit  will produce  no good results, but nowadays, some\r\npeople use the method of listening to Buddha recitation to control the mind,\r\nwhich only works temporarily instead of long-term.  You are able to\r\nconcentrate due to hearing the recitation from the voice outside; however, can\r\nyou still concentrate without it? Hence, Buddha recitation practitioners  should\r\ndo it with the earnest mind in order to reach mindfulness and clear awareness,\r\nwhich in the long term will help them keep an undisturbed mind. Hearing Buddha\r\nrecitation at all times does not equal maintaining an undisturbed mind. This\r\ncase is similar to listening to the recording of recitation instead of your\r\nrecitation itself. It is essential to distinguish between an undisturbed mind\r\nand keeping Buddha recitation in your mind.. People never achieve mindfulness\r\nand clear awareness if they only depend on the recording machine.

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To end the dharma talk, the Venerable gave copies of the VCD\r\n“Like an elephant in the midst of a battle” to the Buddhists.

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Below are the pictures from the talk.

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