As for monks and nuns, “If you don’t understand the Fundamental Suchness, you simply waste your life.” Whose life is it? Do you know? You became monks and nuns in order to be liberated from birth and death, if you do not realize your True Mind, then all your spiritual practice is for nothing, and you just waste your life. What is your ultimate goal in life, if not to be liberated from birth and death? How pitiful! I feel very sorry for those monks and nuns who failed to realize their True Nature. How regretful!
The last four lines are the conclusion. The master warned two kinds of people: the first are those who are enjoying worldly pleasures, wealth, fame and prestige, and who should be awakened to realize that such pleasures are like a dream, or they are unreal, so why waste their whole lifetime chasing after them? The second are monks and nuns, those who denounced the world, but who failed to realize the True Emptiness/Void, hence wasting their lives and spiritual practice. The master’s advice is very sincere and caring.
As Buddhist practitioners, from lay people to monks and nuns, when we read these poetry lines, we must believe and try to be awakened from our illusions, and dualistic discriminations. However beautiful they may seem, they are unreal.
To conclude this talk about the words “chân không,” I would like to say that the name is just from the Sixth Patriarch’s “bản lai vô nhất vật”—the Fundamental Suchness that has nothing. It is the True Nature. I found this place, and I named it, so that when we look at the abbey, we are reminded of our ultimate purpose. We became monks and nuns to realize this True Mind, not just expecting any merits from our good deeds, nor mere wisdom. Good deeds and wisdom are initial, not the ultimate.
The establishment of Chân Không Thiền Monastery is the goal I had when I first built the abbey. From here there arose Thường Chiếu, then Trúc Lâm. Chân Không is the Nature/Fundamental; Thường Chiếu, Trúc Lâm are the Use or applications. Once there is the Fundamental, the Use can be realized. Without this, there would not be those. Therefore, the names I selected for the monasteries imply the conscious way we practice as I see it. I did not select names on an impulse; nor did I imitate others. I think the name of a monastery must imply what is necessary, the ultimate goal or purpose, for monks and nuns living there to cherish in their hearts and to follow. They need to practice so as to be liberated from birth and death. Other things are not important, such as praises or blames, etc. The most important thing is whether you have realized the True Mind, the True Emptiness/Void.
So, chân không is my goal right at the beginning. You have followed me along this path, and you need to remember this goal, never go off the track, never get lost. That is the true meaning for the life as monks and nuns, the Buddha’s followers who must be liberated from birth and death. That is the fundamental. Never go after any other thing, for they are not our goal.
Such are my explanations of the meaning of the words chân không. I hope all of you, monks, nuns, and laypeople know this and strive hard to achieve the goal we have, so that we deserve to be called the Buddha’s followers. That is also my expectation from you.
Sources:
http://www.thientongvietnam.net/kinhsach-thike/dirs/tmdoitoi/index.pdf
