Returning to Our True Home | Sr. Le Nghiem

Transcript

dear respected P dear respected um brothers and

sisters dear respected life

friends today is Sunday March 23rd in the year

2025 we are in the oceans of peace meditation

Hall uh on a day of mindfulness organized by the dipac

monastery

S I would like to express my deep appreciation for my monastic

brother brothers and sisters for being here to support me to sit

here and I also would like to express my deep gratitude for our friends for

coming here today to join us for this day of

mindfulness I have been sitting here for so long and I'm very much aware that uh I

feel shaking inside and my hand is very [Laughter] cold so please uh support give me give

me support this is uh one of my most uh

challenging

I've been cooking um this idea for a little while and

um so I would just try to uh make it manifest in wordss and I don't know how

it goes

um we uh the monastic monastic

s we we are very fortunate that um every

year we have an opportunity to have uh a three Monon rain Retreats that we stay

in one place together to practice and many of us we enjoy and and

uh benefits uh most from the the the r

Retreat and uh every year we also have um many friends uh comes and practice

with us for three months so last year we had um

35 uh life friends stay for three

months and I was mentoring for a group of 13 um friends in Clarity Hamlet stay

with the sisters so

um when we first met for the first time and I invite everyone

to uh to share their aspiration and their intention to uh

come and stay for three months uh to practice is it right

Jenny um my int intentions of um

inviting um people or my um siblings to share their

aspirations or their intention is to invite them to return to themsel and to

connect uh with themsel and to connect with their aspirations and their

intention so that's um it helps us to uh

to to stay focused and to have a Clarity you know

uh why we are here and what we are doing here and uh in my life of

practice um I often uh return to

myself and to connect with my aspirations uh for me it's very it's

very it's very important to me um as monastic

practitioners so is really helping me to stay focused to um to stay

grounded to connect with myself to connect with my aspirations and to have a Clarity and

ease about what's uh I'm doing uh um about my path and my and my

being

here and because I found that it's uh it's

it's uh it's important and that's why when

I'm facilitating a group sharing Dharma sharing or mentoring whether it's for

monastic siblings so for like siblings um I often

uh sharing this and also invite um my

friends to uh to practice together with

me so

um um current

situations our society our world current current

situations um we know that many of

us experience a lot of

difficulties feeling hopeless

feeling U frustrated

worry anxiety and even

despare um and I also reflect on that and I I

see uh coming back to ourself uh to connect with ourself

um to to be grounded is important uh two weeks ago

brotherau offered ad dama talk and he mentioned in his dama talk

that U we the the monastic s we receive

um many um many writing from Friends many people

wrote to us um kind of seeking uh spiritual

support and and guidance

and um reflecting on that uh reflecting on my

experience uh in the practice I thought to myself is

that our spiritual supports or guidance um

in would be returning into

ourself to reconnect with ourself and so that first for us to to to be uh

grounded um to connect with the peace within so

that we have a Clarity uh to know what to do and how to respond to

situations

many friends come to join us for the theme Retreats our seasonal Retreats

um and they often say that they

come to us uh and come to the retreat to to

reconnect to uh five peace

um to learn meditation uh to

heal and so

on because uh they experience difficulties in their

life and also in society so it's very fortunate that they

know we are here so that they come in and we can support each

other um more than

260 uh more than 2,600 years ago Prince

s he was born in a royal family in uh uh and he grown up in his F royal

family and he witnessed he witnessed so much

uh hatred jealousy and uh craving for power in his

U royal family and he Al also

witnessed so much pain uh and

poverty in his um people when he went out of the P of the

palace so [Music] he he

experienced immens immense um suffering in

himself immense pain to the point that he was deeply

overwhelmed uh by his pain he could not bear it

anymore so he decided to to leave his royal

family uh his wife and his newborn son

uh seek uh spiritual support spiritual uh

practice um and to have to find his answers because he he had so many

questions growing up in the gral family and witnessing

pain um in people so he he went

forth and learned meditation so he he met and learned meditation with

many meditation teachers and he owns he had

reached like the highest state of

meditations but he did but he still uh couldn't find his answers

so he decided to stay in one place um under a foot of a

tree and returning to

himself and um through his uh practice of meditation returning to himself

connecting with his uh with himself and the and his

um body and mind mind is also include you know thoughts and feelings mental

formations and after 49 days of medit

of meditations he discovered the path

and he offered that part to us so we are we have the the teachings now to learn

and to follow so uh reflecting on that

and I am very much um trust trust that we are on the right

path however we pain and difficulties we experience uh in ourself in our family

in our in our society in our community

um returning to oneself connecting with

oneself uh that would be the first thing that

we that we should do and and can

do when I experience um pain or

difficulties I always U remind remind myself and remember to first of all to

come back to connect with my body my mind my

breath and to connect with my aspiration iions my

intentions so it helps me to establish my

um um solidity um Peace and have a

Clarity to to know how to response how to uh uh

take care of um the situations

what to do

[Music]

so meditation is first to uh return to uh

oneself to ourself to connect with ourself and to connect with our

body our

breath uh to cultivates um Peace

within and as we practice we

will have

Clarity and um why is having Clarity is is is is

important um because when we we don't have Clarity uh it's hard for us to to

understand and to see thing clearly and uh to know what to do and how to

respond um

correctly um I remember from what I what I

read a student asked asked a Zan

Master uh what is meditation and the teacher uh

replied meditation is to

lengthen the space between two

thoughts I saw some friends nodding their heads so you agree with the Masters

may I just draw something on the boards

this is how I observed uh in my

practice so we we know that uh in

between the inbr breath and the out breath there's a pause right so we

breathe in and there's a little pause before we

we breathe out so I just draw it's kind of the here is the

inbread and here's the outread because uh as I practice I also

notice that the the in breath and the out breath is going going in a circle and it's not in a in a how do you say

horizontal you know so it's kind of in a circle so that's why I I like to draw like this and this is a little

pause sometime we can also lengthening this um this PSE this

PSE this space like we can hold our breath we

breathe in and you can hold our breath before we breathe out so this is kind of you know the that's

point [Music] and we also notice

that in between two

thoughts there a g

can you recall Gap or space and um from the answer of the Zen

Masters meditation is to lengthen this

Gap you know like when we first practice we

uh we uh we found that we have so many thoughts it just like one after another

and kind of it's It's hard so it's impossible to recognize the gap or the

space between two thoughts right this is was my experience when I first

practice so it's just like

this but

then after a while

I also can lengthen that space between two

thoughts sometime it's very long of course sometime it's very short so

sometime it's like this and

that and in between this inin this space do you remember what I refer it

I believe that that is where T call is true home true

home it's a safe space so they always encouraged us to come back to our true

home to take refuge in our true home to stay

safe um some other teachers

also refer to it

as [Music] our original mind

and uh in my sharing today

I refer to that space as um a paradise

within or you or you can say a safe Islands

within so but how to how to how to

return to that space

when I when the when the woods the the paradise within came to my mind and I

also have this image um that we uh we heard from

friends that there um there's a paradise

uh nearby and we are in the living in um

very crowded uh areas area um very crowded very noisy

and we feel you know like overwhelmed by the the the the the chaos the the noise

in the crowded area so a good friend of us say say says that there's a paradise

nearby so we should uh go there to to check it out

and I also imagine that it was an very old time without Google Map without

GPS without smartphon so we had to depend on someone

to uh to help us to guide us uh

there and in order in order to go to that paradise uh we have to go through

you know like crowded and um and I and we have to

follow uh that guide very closely to arrive at at the

paradise and it and it turned out that it's very close to where we

are um and it's very peaceful very

safe very beautiful so we want to stay there to rest and

also to uh to deepening uh our peace and

Clarity and uh connecting to the paradise within

I I see that our breath is our guide

that good friends you know we heard you know from from from

teachers uh returning to the safe Island within returning to the to the safe to

the to the paradise within returning to to our true

home so how to return to that space within the breath is our guide the

breath is our good friend friends so we have to really follow that guide follow

that good friends very closely so that we are we we we will not

be distracted by

whatever on on a on our way which is you

know like the environment um surrounding us our

thoughts and other thing that is uh distracted our mind but we to follow our

breaths very

closely and following our breaths returning to ourself connecting with our in in the

world we will be able to to touch to see to to see to find and to touch that

space between two

thoughts and if we can lengthening that space

as long as long as possible we will be able to

recharge to stay grounded to stay focused

and we have a Clarity having Clarity it will help us

to understand to understand what we are experiencing in our body and mind to

understand the situations that we are living

in and in as we we understand we will be able to know what to do

how to respond how to take care of it and not F being

overwhelmed um by what is happening

for

uh in the metaphor of the paradise nearby uh when we arrived at the

paradise we found that it's very close and um The Paradise within is

actually also very close just one breath we can arried at that paradise

already it's not difficult um but we need

trainings and we need to uh remind ourself to come

back to to that practice to the training as often and as much as

possible over 20 years of practice um in the

monasteries I have I haven't been training myself

doing just this sometime it's very easy as I sit

down I can already return and being in

the paradise within sometimes it takes a

while so I'm I I'm I am keeping training

myself to do this

um and I have def faith in my practice because um I have a the faith

in the Buddha and my and our teacher K I always encouraged us to come back to

ourself to to return to our true

home and other teachers also touch the same

[Music] thing it thiss

trainings it needs a lot of uh

courage because sometime we we just we we we feel

overwhelmed by the pain difficulties and suffering in ourself and and in the

environment around us and we don't have the courage the

patience to do this you know I have I have no time and energy to do to do this

to meditate though I want to take action I want to do something that that

is quicker you

know but I haven't

got I didn't see for myself there's any quicker way

a fast faster or safer way of um instead of

returning to oneself yet if you if you know please share with

me [Music] so the original mind

it's our true home and we can always come back to it and to take refuge in

it to uh reestablish our our

solidity to uh to reestablish our

peace and Clarity in the middle of um

very difficult situations you know having peace is very important right

because we when we are when we are not peaceful when we have a lot of anxieties and worries and fear and dispair we

really don't know what to do and we just

react and most of the time it's you know it's not helpful it it can be harmful

harmful to ourselves and harmful to others and harmful to the

situations so having Clarity and peace and and and and being

solid um it's import you know uh that would be the first thing that we that

that we should come back to and generate in ourselves as uh

and the and and and that's Paradise within our original mind when we say the

original mind it means that it's it's there from the

beginning it's there from beginning when we just manifest on this uh in this life

but because we didn't know how we didn't know that is there we

didn't know how to to be in touch with

it and thanks to uh the teachings from the Buddha from our

ancestors ancestral teachers that now we are on the path of

practice so we come together to practice and to train ourself to learn that there

is a space that is within and that is our original

mind that is our original nature but now uh we we have been living

with our habits energy with the way that that that we uh

we um we learned we uh um being transmitted

form the societies so we thought that this is

this is ourselves but actually it is not but our original nature our original

mind that was the beginning of of our being that that that that is the the

ground of our being the ground of of all beings

so now we come we come back to

reconnect with that inside of

us I Al uh in as I practice I own when

I'm in touch with with with that par with that paradise within with that

original mind and I I also see that it's like it's always it's always is clear

and bright as a clear blue sky as the

sun on the sunny

day and many times I really enjoy being there

resting and thoughts manifest from the

mind it's just like the clouds

manifest in in in the sky in the

sky it's it's also just like the waves manifest from the O the ocean the Deep

oceans so when

on somay that the cloud that the the sky is is very clear without

clouds there are days um the sky has a lot of clouds if

we call cloudy day or stormy

day but it doesn't mean that the the Clear Blue Sky is not there it's there

above the the the the the

clouds we know that right we know we know so deeply so well that the cl that

the cl that the the clear sky the sun is always up there but because of the you

know the cloudy day the stormy days that we don't see the the clear sky we don't

see the Sun so our our original mind our true

home is like that it's always there but most of the time we

is it's been covered by thoughts and thoughts give rise to uh

emotions and we being Carried Away by by our strong

emotions overwhelmed by strong emotions when

we encounter very difficult situations within in the family in our

society knowing that then we

have the patience the courage to come back to ourself to come back to the

practice we know that you know causes and

conditions that give rise to these thoughts and

these feelings and emotions we also know sometimes the

ocean is very very calm clear you can hardly see any any

waves but when on the on the very windy day um other conditions I actually don't

know much about it but we can we see that the waves is so high so

loud on the surface of the ocean but deep down in the ocean the ocean is is

calm and peaceful and clear if we can die very deep down into

the into down to the ocean we experience that that clear water

calm peace peaceful deep down in the

ocean and and and we can we can in in danger we can actually hide you can seek

ref Refuge

in difficult moments um like

this coming

together reminding each other encourage each other and support

each other to come back to ourself to connect with that

peace solidity and Clarity

within is very important because alone we don't

remember and it's hard for us to to to do

this but with the supports our friends on the path you know we have the

courage the strength and Faith

confidence to do do this and first of all we need to take

care of ourself first you know and

together we would know better what to

do this is the path of uh s dat

and later on uh we know that the Buddha had gone had went went and then

he he transmitted to so many generations of ancest ancestors and

teachers to us now so we have this path

already when the Buddha when the when sidat practice um and we also heard in many of

our teacher T that my talk the way out is

in the way out of difficult situations the way

outs

of suffering is not seeking from the

outside but have to return to ourself

I have a very deep faith in the in in the practice and in my

practice because um I've been able to more or

less to experience to realize for

myself some not all what the

Buddha and our ancestral teacher my our

teacher taught us

so I have a deep faith in the in in the practice and I will never stop practicing

as I share that um the practice is not difficult you know coming back and to

connect with our breath is not difficult we just need to bring our awareness to

our breath we can already in touch connect with our INB breath and

out breath is not difficult at

all but it's just like we don't remember to very often are always doing

that so when we when when we see many friends come to join us on a

day of mindfulness like this uh on a retreat we are very

happy we are very very happy because we have the an opportunity to share the

practice and to practice together with

you so we we have each other we remind each other we support

each other to come back to ourself yeah to be safe

first let us just take a couple of minutes just

to uh to come back to to our to to come

to ourself to connect with our breath just just try and practice this very

wholeheartedly and deeply

together will invite one Bell for us to start with and then we see when another

side the Bell

e e

dear Beloved Community it's not difficult isn't it

the space between two thoughts is the the

space of no thoughts it's very peaceful

right so I invite all of us to practice this together whether we

are here or at home you may like to uh to make some some size to remind

yourself to do this my my in my life of practice I also doing that putting sides

here and there to remind myself to come back to the peace

within I'm one of uh the member of the

community uh who speak very who have a very little

words so that's all I have

today I really try to to put in words you know my practice

and what I would like to to share with you but it's very hard so I hope that

uh I could deliver my my my message

somewhere what thank you so much dear monastic um

siblings your friends for joining us and joining me

today um the day the day before yesterday one

of one of the sisters asked me to to share this so um today we will have a

group group of brothers and sisters monastics uh leaving the monastery to go

to Boston to Harvard um for a symposium

uh at the center uh in public health that we

have every year and then after that they go to uh New Hampshire for different

Retreats and um and also offer Retreats and events at that M

uh University um and after that they will go to New York City to participate in

the inauguration in inaugurations of

U the the the path uh on T's in T's name

so many years ago the s in the east coast they work together to to

apply uh to have um a a road is they call the way uh

inti's name so on the um April

13 will be the inaugurations of of of the of the way that int name so take way

so there will be the integration uh to put on the the the name of the of of the

of the roads and then after that would they the S organize kind of a day events

for Sanaa members and also whoever come to join on that day to have kind of D

sharing or just being together to celebrate that um and U our Monastery

will come from you um Europe from Magnolia Monastery and Blue Cliff

Monastery also our delegation from here and people also you know fly from

different place so just to let you you know that and if you have a friends up

there over there you can also let them know and also announcing this kind news

um all together we celebrate this thank you very

much sorry uh April

11 yeah thank you so we will listen to Three Sounds

of the bound to close our section today thank you