Meeting with Vietnamese CEOs

Theckchen Chöling, Dharamsala, HP, India, 15 May 2015 - His Holiness the Dalai Lama met with a group of 112 Vietnamese from the Vietnam CEO Club at his residence today. The group consists of about 60% women and 40% men. Most were in Dharamsala for the first time. To begin with the visitors offered His Holiness two large volumes containing Shantideva’s ‘Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ one in English and the other in Vietnamese. They were the work of 600 contributors. In his acknowledgement, His Holiness said:

“I received an explanation of this book ‘Bodhicharyavatara’ from Khunu Lama Rinpoche in 1967, at which time he asked me to teach it as many times as I could. And I’ve tried to do that. I have found it very helpful for transforming the mind. I read it and study it whenever I can.“What this book teaches is really helpful for reducing the self-cherishing attitude and feeling attachment for things we see as inherently existent. We all have negative emotions and, since we want to be happy, it helps to reduce them. Whether we formally follow a religious tradition or not we need to pay more attention to inner values.”

He went on to say that when we talk about happiness, we usually associate it with sensory pleasures, beautiful sights and soothing sounds. We pay insufficient attention to our mind that is the source of happiness within us. He mentioned that the first item on the BBC news this morning was about migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa in rickety boats, many of them dying on the way. This is an example of a man made problem. Many of these arise because of the division we feel between ‘us’ and ‘them’ and our tendency to work only for ‘our side’. ‘The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ teaches us how to counter this tendency.

The first of several questions from the audience asked how we can see our minds in order to change them. His Holiness explained:

“To begin with you can focus your eyes and mind on an object. When you close your eyes, an image of the object remains. This is a generic image and you can learn to hold your attention on it to sustain it. Later, you can change your focus to the mind itself.

“Chapter 6 of the ‘Guide’ talks about patience. We tend to rely on and trust our negative emotions, but if we read this chapter it becomes clear how harmful they are and how we need to control them. Chapter 8 explains the disadvantages of attachment and a self-cherishing attitude as well as the advantages of cherishing others instead.

“Whether or not we formally follow a spiritual path, it’s important that to investigate the causes of unhappiness, which are the negative emotions, and ways to counter them. We also need to pay attention to the causes of happiness, such as love and compassion, and ways to develop them.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama meeting with members of the Vietnam CEO Club at his residence in Dharamsala, HP, India on May 15, 2015. Photo/Tenzin Choejor/OHHDLHis Holiness asked the group about rates of suicide in Vietnam and was told they were quite low. He further enquired whether most cases took place in cities or in rural villages. Hearing that most take place in cities he suggested that people feel isolated and lonely more easily in cities, whereas in villages there seems to be more social support and a sense of community. He remarked that love and affection have a role in this. As social animals, friendship is very important for human beings and friendship is based on trust, which grows when we show concern and respect for others. He added that there is a need everywhere to educate people about the value of warm-heartedness.

He asked about corruption and the gap between rich and poor in Vietnam and the answer to both questions was, “Large”. He remarked that clearly material development is necessary, but equally important is inner development. We all have problems, he said, but we have to find ways to deal with them.

The question of suicide came up again and he recalled hearing about a monk in Tibet who was arrested and subject to ‘class struggle’ by the chinese authorities in 1958 or 59. When the monk was being transferred to another place and the party stopped to rest, he engaged in the practice of transference of consciousness and in effect took his own life. His Holiness said that we have to consider cases of suicide according to their circumstances.

A question was asked about the 5th and 6th verses of the ‘Eight Verses for Training the Mind’, which deal taking defeat upon yourself while giving the victory to others and coping with those who harm you despite the good you have done them. His Holiness stressed the importance of not getting angry with people who do you harm, but also of not being complacent about their wrong doing. You can and should intervene.

When a member of the audience requested a very simple explanation of emptiness, His Holiness replied that things do not exist as they appear.

Someone else asked how to deal with the negative emotions that arise in the course of doing business. His Holiness advised him to try to conduct his business less for his own profit, and not in order to cheat, exploit or deceive others, but in order to contribute to society at large.

“Learn about negative emotions and how to counter them. Be practical about it. It’s not only businessmen who are subject to negative emotions, even hermits is the hills can be subject to jealousy and competitiveness. But if you become familiar with recognising them you can learn to deal with them.”

View the original article here

Schism rocks Utah’s Vietnamese Buddhists

Home The Americas US West

Painful divisions among Utah’s Vietnamese Buddhists about ownership of the Pho Quang Temple in west Salt Lake City appear to be worsening.

West Valley City, Utah (USA) -- Recent weeks have seen a protest outside another Buddhist temple and break-ins targeting the West Valley City offices of one of Pho Quang’s original founders.

<< (Chris Detrick | The Salt Lake Tribune) Nam Quoc Nguyen leads other members of the local Buddhist congregation of Pho Quang Temple as they protest outside the Temple Lien Hoa Buddhist Members of the local Buddhist congregation of Pho Quang on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. They hoped to highlight their conflict to the monks, who belong to the California-based Vietnamese-American Unified Buddhist Congress, which is seeking to take control of Pho Quang.

A judge ordered opposing factions to share the temple at 1185 W. 1000 North in Rose Park while litigation about who controls the property deed inches forward in 3rd District Court. Groups are holding competing worship rituals on Saturdays and Sundays, but it remains an uneasy arrangement.

"A lot of members cannot participate on Saturdays," temple co-founder Hoa Vo said. "That is very tough on us. So many people are suffering."

The conflict pits Vo, other temple organizers and their supporters against a California-based corporation known as the Vietnamese-American Unified Buddhist Congress, which is seeking control of the property on behalf of a group of Buddhist monks and nuns. Nearly two years into litigation, the case is moving slowly, punctuated by a series of motions for temporary restraining orders and protracted fights about potential evidence. A trial — if it comes to that — is unlikely until well into 2013.

Frustrated backers of the temple founders staged their street protest last month outside the Lien Hoa Temple in West Valley City, hoping to draw the attention and sympathy of visiting monks from the Congress meeting inside. About 50 demonstrators chanted and waved signs near the temple gates, but the monks inside did not respond, in what several protesters pointed to as another sign that their local Buddhist community is being betrayed by religious leaders they once trusted.

"They were silent and didn’t reach out to us," protest organizer Victoria Dang said. "They don’t even talk to us."

For their part, Congress members say they are asserting legal control over the temple and its management in hopes of restoring religious stability to its adherents and bringing into line spiritually wayward congregation leaders. They often note that a significant portion of the Pho Quang congregation has sided with them.

The Congress, a U.S. branch of a religious organization outlawed in communist Vietnam, has sought to keep a low profile throughout the dispute, with its representatives saying the group is uncomfortable about publicity for what it views as more of a private religious affair than a legal matter.

"They don’t like to have these types of battles and have sought to resolve this amicably," Salt Lake City attorney David Mortensen said. "The Congress is confident in its position and doesn’t feel it is necessary to litigate it in the media."

The conflict is embarrassing to both sides and out of step with Buddhist tenets favoring harmony and compassion. It also highlights tensions between orthodox and secular aspects of Buddhist traditions transplanted from Asia to the U.S. and reaches deeply into Utah’s growing urban Vietnamese immigrant community.

It may also be part of a bigger picture. The quarrel is uncannily similar to a fight in south Philadelphia among Vietnamese Buddhists about the Bo De Temple. There, too, temple members have clashed in court with the Vietnamese-American Unified Buddhist Congress about an attempted eviction, religious control, finances and temple ownership in a long-running schism that has left deep scars.

In Utah, Vietnamese Buddhists began worshipping at Pho Quang in 1996, when a group of as many as 100 first- and second-generation immigrants pooled resources and bought a former library after years of community fundraising. Through the years, they retrofitted the 5,952-square-foot structure with a worship hall, cloisters, classrooms and a shrine for ancestral ashes.

About 12 years ago, temple founders signed over the building’s deed to monks belonging to the Congress. The transfer was partly a religious offering and partly a move to ease mutual distrust among members about management of the congregation’s finances.

But the Congress never followed through on promises to send a resident monk to Pho Quang, leaving key ceremonial duties to lay worshippers, founders say. Financial disputes also emerged, coming to a head with construction of an $80,000 pagoda-style gate for the temple, which the Congress never authorized.

In 2011, the San Jose-based Congress transferred its ownership of the Pho Quang deed to a little-known group connected to head monk Thich Tri Lang, who oversees the Lien Hoa Buddhist Temple in West Valley City. The new deed holders moved last year to have local temple founders and their followers evicted. That ouster was halted in court.

Since then, the two sides have squabbled repeatedly about use of the temple, while they ready their cases before 3rd District Judge Kate A. Toomey. Court documents describe shouting matches, an altercation near the Rose Park temple’s altar involving one leading nun and rancor about how to handle celebrations of Vietnamese New Year.

Recent weeks have seen a protest outside another Buddhist temple and break-ins targeting the West Valley City offices of one of Pho Quang’s original founders.

A judge ordered opposing factions to share the temple at 1185 W. 1000 North in Rose Park while litigation about who controls the property deed inches forward in 3rd District Court. Groups are holding competing worship rituals on Saturdays and Sundays, but it remains an uneasy arrangement.

"A lot of members cannot participate on Saturdays," temple co-founder Hoa Vo said. "That is very tough on us. So many people are suffering."

The conflict pits Vo, other temple organizers and their supporters against a California-based corporation known as the Vietnamese-American Unified Buddhist Congress, which is seeking control of the property on behalf of a group of Buddhist monks and nuns. Nearly two years into litigation, the case is moving slowly, punctuated by a series of motions for temporary restraining orders and protracted fights about potential evidence. A trial - if it comes to that - is unlikely until well into 2013.

Frustrated backers of the temple founders staged their street protest last month outside the Lien Hoa Temple in West Valley City, hoping to draw the attention and sympathy of visiting monks from the Congress meeting inside. About 50 demonstrators chanted and waved signs near the temple gates, but the monks inside did not respond, in what several protesters pointed to as another sign that their local Buddhist community is being betrayed by religious leaders they once trusted.

"They were silent and didn’t reach out to us," protest organizer Victoria Dang said. "They don’t even talk to us."

For their part, Congress members say they are asserting legal control over the temple and its management in hopes of restoring religious stability to its adherents and bringing into line spiritually wayward congregation leaders. They often note that a significant portion of the Pho Quang congregation has sided with them.

The Congress, a U.S. branch of a religious organization outlawed in communist Vietnam, has sought to keep a low profile throughout the dispute, with its representatives saying the group is uncomfortable about publicity for what it views as more of a private religious affair than a legal matter.

"They don’t like to have these types of battles and have sought to resolve this amicably," Salt Lake City attorney David Mortensen said. "The Congress is confident in its position and doesn’t feel it is necessary to litigate it in the media."

View the original article here

Congregational Of Vietnamese European Unified Buddhist Association Retreat to be held for the first time in UK

Home Europe

Birmingham, UK -- Every year the Congregation of Vietnamese European Unified Buddhist Association holds a ten days Buddhist teaching and retreat event in a different European country. The aim is to teach and encourage the practice of Buddhist philosophy to international Buddhist fellowships of all age ranges and sexes.

More than a hundred Buddhist monks and nuns from all over the world will be present to deliver Dharma talks to about one thousand participants.

This year the UK gets to hold the 24th Anniversary of Vietnamese European Congregation Unified Buddhist Association retreat of the first time. 

The  Venerable Thich Phuoc Hue, who  is a President of Midland Buddhist Association is responsible for hosting the event. The 10 days of European Buddhist retreat will be held on 27th July 2012 to 5th August 2012.

Important dignitaries from Birmingham who will be attending the event includes The Lord of Mayor, Chair of Governor’s Miss D McllMurray, Business Manager’s Ms S Birmingham, Head Teacher’s Ms Roan and Site Manager’s Mr John Edward.

If you go:

What: Congregational Of Vietnamese European Unified Buddhist Association Retreat 1st Time in UK

Venue: Hillcrest School, Bartley Green, Birmingham B32 3AE.

When: 27th July 2012 to 5th August 2012

For more information, please contact:

Ms Hue Le, Tel: 07714021713.
Email: huele24@yahoo.com.

View the original article here

Czech Vietnamese plan for Buddhist temple in Prague

Home Europe

Prague, Czech Republic -- A big Buddhist temple might be built on the outskirts of Prague as part of the planned Vietnamese cultural centre, Vu Thi Thu, head and priest of the Vietnamese Buddhist association in the Czech Republic, has told journalists.

<< A humble temple in Prague-Libuš. (CTK)

Czech Vietnamese already have a small temple in Prague-Libus, one of Prague's southernmost districts.

About four-fifths of Vietnamese adhere to Buddhism. After Slovaks and Ukrainians, Vietnamese are the third strongest ethnic minority in the Czech Republic. According to the Interior Ministry's data, 55,585 Vietnamese stayed in the Czech Republic legally as from end-November 2011, 37,497 of whom had permanent residence in the country.

"We want to build a cultural centre for us to have a place to pray in. We've already bough 12,000 square metres of land. However, we haven't gained the construction permit yet," Vu Thi Thu said.

Vu Thi Thu came to Bohemia 26 years ago to work at the Vietnamese embassy. After retirement she remained in the Czech Republic and took up care for the small Buddhist temple in Prague-Libus.

Apart from it, there is another Buddhist temple in the Czech Republic, which stands in Varnsdorf, north Bohemia.

Like Prague's planned big temple, the small one is situated in the Libus neighbourhood, known for a dense concentration of Vietnamese residents, near Sapa, the local giant marketplace run by Vietnamese. The Sapa complex also includes hairdressers' shops, restaurants, a kindergarten and traditional shops, apart from vendors' stands.

Tereza Kusnirakova, from Charles University's Geoemigration Centre, said Sapa plays a role in Vietnamese's integration in Czech society. It is visited practically by every Vietnamese coming to Prague, who gain here basic information about stay and conditions in the Czech Republic, Kusnirakova said.

View the original article here

Vietnamese Buddhist group evicted from Utah temple

SALT LAKE CITY — A complicated legal dispute has left members of a Utah religious group out in the cold.

Members of the Vietnamese Unified Buddhist Association of Utah worshiped outside Sunday morning, displaced from the temple at 1185 W. 1000 North.

A legal battle is brewing about who owns the property, and members of the congregation of more than 100 fear it could take the beloved temple away them.

The congregation was notified Saturday morning that it would not be able to access the temple until the matter is resolved in court.

Members of the congregation say their church is being threatened by religious abuse, greed and real estate fraud.

"I think we cherish the place of worship very seriously," said Thuan Tran, founder of the Vietnamese Unified Buddhist Association of Utah.

About 10 years ago, the Utah organization agreed to donate the property to the American-Vietnamese Unified Buddhist Congress in the USA, based in Monterey, Calif., for safekeeping and to provide spiritual guidance.

Last year, that deed was transferred to Buddhist monk Thich Tri Lang without the Utah group's knowledge. Now, the monk has evicted the group, and the temple is being used by a handful of the his local followers.

"Suddenly we were forbidden to do our service on the property where we (have been meeting) for the last 15 years," Tran said.

The eviction has been heartbreaking for those who have worshiped at the temple. The temple serves as a church as well as a sacred burial ground for loved ones who have passed on, including Tran's mother.

"We have the moral duties to safeguard and care for the ashes," he said.

The ashes of Diep Ngoc Thi Veong's husband also are at the temple. Veong, whose husband was a colonel in the former South Vietnamese armed forces, visits the site every Sunday and prays for him.

"Because I want him to hear every Sunday my prayers for him," she said through a translator.

Today, members of the congregation pray that their church will be returned to them.

"They love this place, and they love their religion," said April Nguyen, a member of the congregation, "and they will come here every day if they can."

On Sunday morning, the adult members of the congregation prayed outside the temple, while the children had Sunday school in the parking lot.

It's a testament to their faith, which has been unwavering in this time of hardship.

"Like today, it's very cold, and winter's coming," Tran said.

There are about 15,000 Vietnamese people in Utah, and about 75 percent to 80 percent of those are Buddhist, Tran said. The temple at 1185 W. 1000 North is one of several in the Salt Lake Valley.

Attempts to reach the attorney representing the American-Vietnamese Unified Buddhist Congress in the USA and Thich Tri Lang have been unsuccessful.

Contributing: Jared Page

Email:

View the original article here

For Vietnamese Buddhists in south Alabama a goddess of mercy is a powerful figure

Home The Americas US South

BAYOU LA BATRE, Alabama (USA) -- Down a gravel road, on the grounds of a Vietnamese Buddhist temple, the statue of a female figure rises 30 feet tall. Her name is Bodhisattva Quan Am.

<< At the Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Bayou la Batre, Al., the Bodhisattva Quan Am rises among the pines. A bodhisattva, says the temple's monk, Thich Thien Thai, is an enlightened being who helps show people the path to understanding and knowledge. Quan Am, found throughout many Asian countries, can be likened to a goddess of mercy, says the monk. (Roy Hoffman/Press-Register)

A bodhisattva is an enlightened being who helps show ordinary people the path to understanding, says the temple’s monk, Thich Thien Thai.

Lighting incense, people kneel before Quan Am, recite prayers, and ask for blessings. Women are especially prone to beseech her favors, he says.

Thai likens her to a goddess of mercy.

"You have no son, you pray for son," Thai says in his basic English. "No daughter, you pray for daughter.

"If there is danger in family, you pray for safety."

While rare in south Alabama, Quan Am’s image is prominent in many parts of the world, including China, where she is called Quan Yin. Other countries that practice Mahayana Buddhism — including Japan and Korea, along with Vietnam — invoke her.

In countries rooted in Theraveda Buddhism, like Cambodia and Laos, Quan Am is rarely found, Thai says. Her name in Sanskrit, Thai explains, is Avalokithesvara, meaning "hearer of cries."

Quan Am, says the monk, "listens to the sounds of the suffering people."

To Thai, who arrived in this coastal fishing community two years ago, Quan Am is a daily presence.

As the monk sits in his residence adjacent to the temple, he looks up at a wooden replica of Quan Am on his kitchen table.

When Thai rises and walks through the sanctuary to the front door, he passes a brightly colored statue of Quan Am sitting next to the Buddha.

On the temple’s landing, at the top of stairs, he looks out at the giant statue of Quan Am across the yard. She stands on a lotus flower with a lotus leaf over her head, symbols of purity and enlightenment.

In her left hand, he points out, is a pitcher. 

"It is filled," he says, "with the water of compassion."

Her right hand, by tradition, makes the sign of the Buddha, palm facing outwards, thumb touched to middle finger.

But this Quan Am’s right hand is missing — a vandal knocked off her hand, he says sadly.

Thai, 44, grew up in the Vietnamese coastal city of Nha Trang, in Khanh Hoa province.

After deciding at age 13 to become a monk, he says, he studied Buddhism, going to India and other places, then returned home.

Prior to south Alabama he was stationed at a Buddhist temple in Houston.

A local Vietnamese association brought him to the bayou area "to teach knowledge," he says.

Ten years ago, the statue of Quan Am was brought to the bayou and erected near the temple. She withstood Hurricane Katrina and other storms, Thai says.

Quan Am will be moved in the near future to a new temple being constructed several miles away. Across the street from the temple is a seafood processing plant; a few blocks away is Alma Bryant High School.

Over a fence are mobile homes and small houses. A block further are shrimp boats and fishing docks.

The encircling property of the temple — named Chua Chanh Giac, meaning, says the monk, "temple of enlightenment" — is like a world apart.

On the wall of a reflecting pool in front of the large Quan Am — the water is muddied by weather — another figure of the bodhisattva sits, small and serene.

To her right is a bowl with sticks of incense burned out.

Thai lifts the small Quan Am gently, moves her back toward the edge of the wall, then situates the incense in front of her. He pauses, regards the arrangement, evens up the statue and the bowl.

Several days have passed without rain, and Thai takes up a garden hose and begins to water the flowers around the pool.

Bamboo acts like a curtain around parts of the pool.

Squinting in the afternoon sun, he peers up at Quan Am.

A person who comes to her feet may look up and implore, he says: "I have hurt. I have pain. I need for bodhisattva to listen."

Then the sun passes behind Quan Am and she gazes down, as though ready.

View the original article here