(This is a Dharma talk by Most Venerable Thích Thanh Từ at Trúc Lâm Thiền Monastery, on February 5, 2000, the New Year Day, the year of the dragon)
My Aspirations
Today is the Lunar New Year Day which the Vietnamese highly value, and celebrate in both monastic and secular lives. Children and grandchildren usually visit their parents and grandparents to wish them a Happy New Year. Our temple also follows the same tradition, so monks, nuns and lay people have gathered here to celebrate and share best wishes. Today’s ceremony began with New Year wishes, followed by a Dharma talk which helps to remind us to put more efforts in our practice, and to prepare for a better New Year.
You have already sent me your best wishes; it is now my turn to wish you and to remind you to practice. My talk consists of two parts: The first part is about my New Year wishes. Secondly, I’ll talk about my aspirations, so that you know what I wish to accomplish, and what I am currently doing and you will continue to do in the future.
First, I wish a Happy New Year to all monks, nuns, and lay people. We are Vietnamese, living in our country, we naturally follow our national tradition and customs. Our ancestors considered the first day of Tet (the Lunar New Year) the most important. For instance, a person with a bad name could not be a guest to any house on that day, for fear that s/he might bring bad luck to the household. Therefore, only those with good names could be visitors. So you can see how important the first day of the Lunar New Year is! In temples we should transcend such customs and beliefs, but we should also maintain beautiful traditions passed down from our ancestors. Although we have denounced the secular world, we cannot ignore such traditions, except meaningless customs. Therefore, on Lunar New Year days we wish one another the best, use kind words to encourage one another to practice the Dharma better in the New Year. Then looking back to this day, we will strive harder in our practice and become more useful.
You have sent me your New Year wishes. Now it is my turn. I wish the Three Gems would always well protect all of you, so that you may enjoy a peaceful and happy New Year, with much progress in your Dharma practice and mindfulness at all time. I wish your mind would not be veiled by illusions. I pray that you always carry the ethical torch, which will be maintained and spread and passed down to your successors. When you have found the Way with your torch, you wish others would also find it, and successive generations would be well lit, too. The true Dharma torch that we have received we must never neglect, or let it die out, but we must maintain and pass it on forever. That is my sincere wish, and also my own vow. I hope you all will remember it with all your mind and heart.
Having sent you my New Year wishes, now I would like to talk about my aspirations. What are they? Those who want to know them should ask the question: Why did I name this Thiền monastery “Trúc Lâm”? At first, you may think I am talking about something else, not today’s topic. But when I name a Thiền monastery, I do it with all my heart and aspirations. The words I select reveal my aspirations; it has been cherished deep in my heart, not selected by chance or according to any previous model.
Therefore, if you want to know why I chose the name Trúc Lâm Thiền Monastery, you must go back in time and examine the past up to now, then you may understand the meaning and its implication. Let me now go further back. Learning Vietnam history, all of us know that we were under the (northern) Chinese domination for over one thousand years, then under the French colonialism for one hundred years. I came into this life towards the last part of the colonial period. Living in the French colony, my generation experienced national pains and shamefulness inflicted upon our people by foreign rulers. I had been longing for the day when our country could enjoy a true and lasting independence, so that there could be enough time for such painful wounds to heal.
Therefore, I always nourished my aspirations, and prayed for the day when our country would regain its true and lasting independent, and our people would enjoy peace and happiness. Those were my aspirations for our nation.
A truly independent country is one that is independent in terms of politics, military power, culture, and economics. In many previous lives I must have had activities only in Buddhism. And in Vietnam, too, I have been serving only in Buddhism, not in other areas. Therefore, I have tried my best in hope that Vietnamese Buddhism will make a major contribution to our nation, and that the bright Dharma torch will shine on the way for the Vietnamese people to follow, so that they can see with wisdom, and avoid pitfalls, traps, and other obstacles as they proceed. In order to guide the Vietnamese people, Vietnamese Buddhism must use its own wisdom, and become a shining guide torch to the people. It is my role to provide favorable conditions to monks and nuns to practice and disseminate the Dharma to the lay people. The time has come with all the ripe conditions, and now I am able to have this monastery established.
Before building any new monastery, I usually look back in the history of Vietnamese Buddhism to discover the milestones that are also the best fit to(appropriate to) the current national situation in order to establish a landmark. We need to practice, and disseminate Buddhist Dharma, so that others know and practice it, too. That way our activities are appropriate to our national spirit in our times. I selected Buddhism in the Trần dynasty, for I found it a great milestone. It is a valuable and exemplary period in our history, which we should emulate and develop for the benefits of our nation. We need to contribute all our intellectual and spiritual abilities to disseminate the Dharma to our people, train and educate young generations to become bright and healthy inheritors of our nation. That is why I selected Buddhism of the Trần dynasty.
When the monastery construction was completed, I named it Trúc Lâm Thiền Monastery, after the original name Trúc Lâm Yên Tử. Trúc Lâm has two meanings:
1. Trúc Lâm in the Buddha’s times: The dwelling place for the Buddha and his Sangha built by the King then was called Trúc Lâm.
2. Our Trúc Lâm now is Trúc Lâm Yên Tử, the Buddhist dissemination center and system in the Trần dynasty. What is so special about this system that I selected? I will share with you later.
The name Trúc Lâm Thiền Monastery implies a Buddhist Dharma-oriented heart, which the Vietnamese people have chosen. This choice was intended for Dharma dissemination and practice, and would benefit everybody. The name Trúc Lâm Yên Tử is very popular, but not many could understand its spirit thoroughly.
As aforementioned, an independent country has to be independent politically, militarily,culturally, and economically. During the Trần dynasty our nation defeated the Yuan-Mongol aggressors. Thus, politically and militarily under the leadership of the Trần Kings, our people had successfully fought against foreign invasion, and brought glory to our national history. Culturally, the available archived texts reveal that the Trần Kings were well aware that the Vietnamese people must maintain and preserve their own culture, independent from the Chinese influence. One crucial element in national culture is its written language. Therefore, although the Chinese character/script continued to be used in our country at that time, the Trần Kings encouraged and valued the use of the Nôm, an authentic Vietnamese script that had been around, and was highly developed during this period. That is the why King Trần Nhân Tông wrote his Living in the Mundane World and Having Joy in the Dharma (Cư Trần Lạc Đạo) in the Nôm. This is a valuable text about Buddhist ethics which has been well preserved until today. Through it the King set a good example to his people. He wanted to maintain our Vietnamese national culture, independent from the Chinese. As his successors, we must recognize his implications, and feel proud of this shining point in our history.
Today we need to contribute our parts to Buddhism, so that it will continuously shine brightly. In order to do this we must provide the conditions for Buddhism to help to improve the mundane world. We should not focus on the improvement of the internal Buddhist affairs while neglecting our responsibilities to the mundane world. We should improve both Buddhist affairs and the mundane world’s affairs. The Trần Kings were Thiền sư (zen masters) who understood Buddhist Dharma profoundly. They were also patriots who protected national rights and sovereignty from aggressors. While accomplishing such heroic and honorable deeds, they never neglected their Buddhist studies and Dharma practice.
Thus Buddhism under the Trần dynasty was proactive and socially engaged. It penetrated the royal leadership and the political system at the time. Buddhist ethics was applied to bring happiness to the people. It is worth noticing that when the Trần Kings had to fight against foreign aggressors, they never said they did that on behalf of Buddhism. Buddhism was in their hearts. They fought against the aggressors, because it was their responsibility as patriotic citizens, and as national leaders. They never fought in the name of Buddhism; hence they never contaminated it. This is another shining point of the Trần dynasty.
(to be continued)
Source:
Most Venerable Thích Thanh Từ. All My Life(Tron Mot Doi Toi)
http://www.thientongvietnam.net/kinhsach-thike/dirs/tmdoitoi/index.pdf
