DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

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Many of you think about modern times with a very positive and happy attitude. I also think that the new year and the years to follow will be better than the previous ones. This is what I feel, and I wish everyone had this feeling. I wish they would have an optimistic attitude about the future, it is better to be optimistic, although this is not really in the spirit of Buddhism. Because in the spirit of Buddhists, if you hope too much about the future, you will lose reality. But then again, life will have no meaning if you do not have a positive feeling about it. Therefore, you should have a positive feeling about the future because I always feel that anything you experience in this life has a cause.

The world today has experienced countless natural disasters and catastrophes, and all over the world, there are still many difficulties and obstacles. Recently, plane crashes have occurred in many countries around the world. According to those in the aviation industry, they can hardly imagine a worse situation than this. And whenever you turn a page of a newspaper or turn on the TV, you will almost always see bad news about natural disasters, wars, social evils that are not as expected...

You believe in karma, but talking about good luck and bad luck is just a way of expressing things. In a case like yours, who are currently in Seattle, have never experienced difficulties and obstacles such as wars or natural disasters, and you consider yourself a very lucky person. However, as a Buddhist practitioner, you do not believe in luck because there is no such thing as luck or misfortune. Instead, you believe in karma, but saying good luck or bad luck is just a way of expressing things because of their effects. Anyway, you should say that you are a lucky person, because you have not experienced all the natural disasters that others have experienced.

Indeed, for those who are going through a war, an earthquake, a fire, or a plane crash. They are suffering extreme loss and misery. However, you should also have a more optimistic way of thinking about everything. Not only thinking more optimistically, but actually, it is time for you to have better experiences in life. A better time needs to come because you cannot have anything worse than now! What you are experiencing in the world is the worst!

In modern times, you have to have an optimistic attitude and feeling, not only in the religious aspect but also in daily life. As a normal lay Buddhist, you should think and believe that you are moving towards the greatest achievement, which is a better world and better experiences. You must have a very strong, optimistic feeling that this is what you should feel. Recently, I have found that people are becoming more and more interested in and focused on spirituality. Over the years, in the media, you may have noticed that around the world, Buddhism has spread everywhere. You can see that there have been many changes among the indigenous people. They are more interested in and focused on spirituality than on religious beliefs. I think this is a very positive change and also a promising step forward. I believe that this is a very positive change because throughout the history of Buddhism, you can see that most of the conflicts and disasters have been caused by fighting and killing between people. This is also true; if you study history, you will see a lot of religious conflicts, and a lot of bad things have happened in the name of religion. People of one religion often fight and kill people of another religion. They have done all kinds of bad things like slander, fight, and kill each other. Countless disasters in this world are caused by religious bigotry. All these fights are because people who have faith often do not have spiritual understanding or do not have the desire to practice spirituality. I do not know why, but they are not aware of the spiritual path.

In recent times, many people all over the world are becoming more and more religiously agitated, religiously fanatical; they are becoming completely agitated by religious dogmas, religious rules, and so they become fanatical. They label themselves religious and naturally become fanatical. When their minds are so limited, they see no other way, and they become angry and very selfish.

Indeed, if you sit here all day and night without being allowed to look at anything other than the limited scene in front of you, then your nerves will be inhibited. You will become stubborn because your views are too narrow. Your perception is too superficial, so you are very desperate and angry. Although you are a good person by nature, these limitations have made you bad. Religion is similar; it often pushes you into a one-way tunnel, making you stubborn and one-sided. From a religious perspective, there is only one way to approach and perceive things, and there is no other way, so you become fanatical. You do not know why you are bound and dragged in this way, but when you are a religious fanatic, you cannot sympathize and share with anyone else.

But no matter what, you are fortunate people in an advanced society with full facilities in life. That is why I feel optimistic about modern times. What I am saying is that there are positive concerns present in your mind, and that makes me feel very happy. Therefore, spiritual practice and spiritual understanding must go hand in hand. That is why, for many years, I have been trying very hard to convey the importance of spirituality and the essential points in modern life to share with everyone. Of course, I am not saying that a religious person is necessarily a good or bad person, because there are many good things about religious belief, but there are also many evils about religion that eventually lead people to fanaticism. However, you need to always consider the good or the bad, which is healthier. But at least you need to be aware of the balance between these two qualities. To find balance in life, spiritual practice and spiritual understanding must go hand in hand. As soon as you lose this balance, you will not achieve anything! Then you will not have any true understanding of the world around you, except for rigid stubbornness.

To avoid rigidity in precepts, or religion, as in the practice of this view. I myself have practiced for many years, but I have never strictly forbidden any disciple to be like me. I do not force them to do this or that, but only call for self-awareness, or voluntary. If I force them like that, it will become a form of religion, so it is better to let them choose for themselves what they want. If you know the negative or unwholesome things and realize the good or positive things of practice with your awareness, you will naturally and happily become a good practitioner. In my opinion, this is very encouraging! However, if you do not have awareness in the positive direction, you will not happily become a good practitioner. If so, you should wait until you have a better understanding of the importance of practicing. The master must just wait and guide.

In Buddhism, there is a saying:

- The path is smooth but difficult to guide

It must be up to the person who is determined to walk

Therefore, each person must discover the spiritual path for themselves. I, as a teacher, am here simply to support and teach you the Dharma. For example, I can share with you my experiences about how to live and how to improve yourself, but then you have to think and decide for yourself about these things. The teachings I say here are just conceptual discussions, and you have to decide for yourself whether they are really beneficial or not. I do not want to be someone who just gives orders. I also do not want to be a dictator who tries to force you to change according to my method.

As a master, I feel that it is necessary to share whatever I have experienced and exchange understanding to help, improve each person in different ways to improve themselves. For example, the benefits of chanting:

- Namo Buddha, Namo Dharma, Namo Sangha

Every time you recite like that, it is a great blessing. However, it is better when your faith comes from your true understanding, when you have a pure motivation to practice reciting this mantra, then this is a very good opportunity. This is a positive opportunity for you to really reflect on your spiritual development. What makes me very happy is that I am witnessing a gradual change now, which is good for all of you. This is why people in today's society are looking for something else in Buddhism. I don't know much about what is going on around, maybe you know more than I, but I think there is a wide range of practices available to have an optimistic vision of the future, which is a real thing. In Western countries, I don't know many types of practices in different religious traditions, but you read a lot of books and you know many things that I don't know. The Eastern people do not know what is in the supermarket, but you know a lot about spiritual life, because many practices were discovered by the Buddha and transmitted to humanity, and are being silently transmitted to the West. In any case, it is a good thing that you are seeking something else.

I think that for many generations, our Western friends have been seeking something other than their religion, but there are not many true teachers who can guide the practice of the mind. Although many teachers have taught the Dharma and practiced true spirituality, they are not present in the West.

All religions have many good things that you can practice, but the prerequisite is to have wisdom and spiritual understanding. Therefore, when our Western friends see that Buddhism is very useful in life, they warmly welcome it, because Buddhism is one of the means that you can apply to transform your life. Of course, many things are extremely useful in Buddhism; however, while all the useful things that you can practice, the prerequisite is to have wisdom and spiritual understanding. Otherwise, it will be something like eating food without spices. If you just put vegetables in water and boil them without adding salt, chillies, and other spices, you will find that it is not a delicious dish. You have to add many other spices to make it more delicious. Similarly, religion also needs spiritual spices. If you have this spice, you can follow any religion without encountering any obstacles or troubles. Therefore, you do not have to be a Buddhist or a follower of any other religion. You do not have to believe in any religion to practice the spiritual path.

Practicing spirituality means participating in the process of improving your life. This is the most important thing. If you understand how to improve your life, then naturally you can know how to help and care for others. Once you understand the importance of caring for your life, you will know that other people are just like you; they need support and help. You will feel that you can take care of them, because they cannot take care of themselves. In this way, you will not only be able to sympathize and share love towards humans but also extend it to animals!

This is a very positive thing to do, because when compassion comes, love comes, and evolution is also present. You can call this faith, but I don't want to describe it as faith; I want to call it sincerity. You can become a very good and devoted person! However, the only thing you are missing is the spiritual process of cultivating and improving your life. You don't know how to improve your life, and you don't know how to love yourself. If you don't know how to love yourself, you won't know how to love others. Although you can pretend to love others very much by saying things like:

- I love you very much,

- I love everyone very much

- I love this person, that person

- I love this and that,

But those words are not true. If you look deeply into what you are feeling, you will see that you do not love anyone because you do not know how to love yourself. If so, you do not know how to love others. So first of all, you must understand that loving yourself is important, and then naturally you can also love your family, your village, your homeland, and all sentient beings.

Although you are still in the process of reaching enlightenment to share your enlightenment, you can share your love and warmth with others right now. If you want, you can bring harmony, happiness, understanding, and enlightenment to the whole world. Although you are still in the process of reaching enlightenment to share your enlightenment, you can share your love and warmth with others without any hindrance.

Many people have so many noble qualities that when you are close to them, you can feel the peaceful and happy energy flowing from them. However, some people are indifferent or even very cold, so when you are in contact with them, you feel like you are in contact with a rock, or something like that. You may feel reluctant to be around them. So, being close to them does not make you feel warm and enthusiastic at all. Because they lack the courage, they do not even know how to love themselves, because their minds are full of negative thoughts, so nothing is inspiring to share. That is why you feel heavy and negative when you are close to them.

You need to know how to love yourself, but to do this, you must know how to go through the process of improving your life. To do this, you must first know the value and importance of this life. If you don’t know what life is, then you certainly don’t know how important it is to experience the process of improving your life. However, for many of you, this is not important at all; you don’t care to find out what life is. So, although you still walk, you still talk, you still do many things, you are just like a robot without understanding the spiritual life inside each person, and the people around you.

You just copy each other, you just imitate what your friends are doing, and you just follow everything your guru teaches without reflecting on it. This is what I always say! You just imitate the way other people live, copy other people’s eating habits, and other people’s dressing styles. You imitate everything! You mistakenly think you are very smart, but in fact, you are just imitating, copying other people. That is the way many of you in today's society live, and you often encounter it.

You feel that you cannot prolong your life if you are always copying and imitating! You are completely controlled and have no freedom for yourself. You do not do anything sincerely from the bottom of your heart, I would say almost nothing. So, although the life you are living may be very interesting, I would say that you have no freedom in the sense that everyone is imitating each other. Everyone is dragging others to copy and imitate their way of life. The East imitates the West, the English imitate the French, and the French imitate the English. However, if you think about it carefully, you will see that this way of life does not make any sense. You may think that there is nothing wrong with the way of life, because that way of life has existed since time immemorial until today. So you don't bother to think about what that way of life is like, you just keep imitating it.

If you think about it, you will see that you are not only stupid but also extremely ignorant, although you keep claiming that you are a wise person. Of course, many of you may seem wiser than others and may also seem to be less wise than others, but you are all really on the same level because you are all more or less living the same imitative way of life. So you should not think:

- I am a very stupid person, and he is a very wise person.

You are happy while many others are suffering, but in general, you are all equal. You are equal in the sense that you are all very stupid. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that you are bad people.

You really experience life without making any assumptions about good or bad. You do not judge what is good and what is bad. Yet you keep making distinctions:

- This person is good, but that person is bad. This couple is beautiful, but that person is not, etc.

You live in this world, and you create things like that. It may be good, it may make for interesting conversation, it may be part of life, so you continue to live that way, but it does not make any sense. As I have always said, it is your discrimination that creates something as good or bad. I can say:

- This is good,

But the other person may not agree. Then it can turn into an argument that goes nowhere. This is the way you are living in this world. However, you cannot live in the world in this way anymore; you need to make a change. That is why you should experience life without speculating about whether everything is good or bad. Your life may be good or bad, but it will not be a problem if you do not speculate about what is good or bad. That is why I do not want to label everything as good or bad.

Religion always says that this is good or that is bad. This way of looking at things can help you in the beginning, but if you cling to it, it will bring you countless difficulties and obstacles. So life is like a square box:

- No is no, yes is yes, good is good, bad is bad… life can become so dogmatic, there are so many things that you are forced to believe.

If you consider Buddhism as a religion and you see that the Buddha taught something is good, then you will have to believe that it is 100% good. If the Buddha taught that it is bad, then it will become 100% bad. That is your way! You will not consider, contemplate thoroughly about everything, you are not allowed to do that! This is the typical way of religion when it comes to the issue of each person's spiritual beliefs.

The true Buddha is the reality of your own life. However, the Buddha himself taught in the scriptures:

- If you consider me the Buddha, you will never see the Buddha. If you listen to my teachings and consider them as the Dharma, you will never understand the true Dharma.

This is indeed a great message, but unfortunately, many of you have misunderstood this truth. You are missing the Buddha's teachings. Even if you are a great scholar, knowing a lot of Buddhist teachings, you still do not understand this teaching. You keep considering Buddha as Shakyamuni Buddha. Meanwhile, Shakyamuni Buddha taught you not to consider Him as Buddha. Buddha is within yourself. You must understand that the true Buddha is the reality of your own life. This is what Shakyamuni Buddha taught, and this is the Dharma that I am discussing. The true Dharma is the reality within yourself. The natural, true, and fundamental Dharma that is happening within yourself and the world naturally. The so-called Dharma, such as what I am discussing, is only a guide. This is also what Buddha Shakyamuni once taught:

- If you think that my teachings are the Dharma, you will never understand the true Dharma.

The reason is that His teachings are only guidance; however, if you think that the Dharma is the ultimate, then this attachment to the Dharma will become an obstacle, a great barrier. This mistaken perception will prevent you from realizing the nature, the truth of the Dharma.

In short, if you really want to have an optimistic attitude towards life or an optimistic outlook on the future, there is only one way to cultivate and improve your life, and that is to first improve your mind. It is similar to seeing a girl on the street who may be very attractive, but a beautiful object will not necessarily bring you satisfaction, fulfillment, happiness, or any lasting joy. They may even bring you a lot of trouble.

That is why if you really want to have an optimistic life as you wish, then you cultivate and improve your life, and first, you must improve your mind. Improving and transforming your mind means really entering the flow of life and the nature of life. If you realize that the nature of life is the mind, you will be able to improve and cultivate yourself. Then your mind can naturally transform without using language or any method, but you still have a very optimistic life.

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