DHARMA IN EVERYDAY LIFE

By Nhat Quan

---o0o---

Vietnamese people have a saying:

- The house is tight but the stomach is not tight

That is, it means people who have an open heart to receive opinions and are willing to help those who are down and out.

Westerners also have a saying:

- Open mind

Mean:

- I also want to say that this person's mind is always open and spacious.

Talking about an open heart, everyone can do it, through progress and willingness to strive towards goodness. The image of the person who strives towards goodness is represented in the Buddhist tradition by no one but Buddha Shakyamuni. Thereby a beautiful image of the Buddha remaining absolutely silent while meditating. It is that silence that gives rise to the deepest love for human beings. From then on, He brought salvation to humanity without losing his heart.

The question is why he did not meditate on a mountain in a deep forest, but instead meditated beside the Golden River or Nairanjana?

According to the explanation of the venerable monks:

- When Buddha sat by the Golden River or Nairanjana river in silence with an open mind, His heart became gentle and the love in His heart could flow with the river.

Similarly, when you silently look up at the stars in the sky, you feel connected to the stars. When you listen to your heart in silence, some invisible door is created, some curtain is drawn aside, so that your mind and heart can be wise, intelligent, understanding, and find. get glory.

It can be said that in social life there are many aspects, but few people can find true value without the flow of compassionate energy flowing through the heart. The mind can grasp all knowledge about science and philosophy, but without compassion and an open heart, they are also empty scholars. Life has little true meaning and satisfaction, but when the energy of compassion is aroused, a stream of fresh emotions will appear. And all contact is healthy. Once the heart is opened, life will naturally open up beautifully and harmoniously.

The brain can think about fantasy and adventure, but the heart is always real. The mind always creates countless problems and then finds ways to solve them. That's why there have been too many problems happening in society, too many seminars and conferences but the problems cannot be resolved satisfactorily. Because you have little listening and little understanding of the sources of suffering and happiness. You often solve the problem at the top of the branch and rarely know its roots.

An open heart and understanding are the source of light to guide you to the shore of happiness. Love turns all troubles into simplicity. Once your heart is open, all problems are no longer so big for you. Thanks to inner silence and calmness, you will easily face yourself when you lose all your wealth, all your friends, and all your support. Even when facing death, you are still secure, free, and at peace. Therefore, you need to grasp the key to expanding your soul and arousing warm, positive emotions in your heart. The warmth brought by love is not a superficial emotion but it gives you physical and psychological balance. It helps you stay calm in every situation rather than panic.

Your brain can run to find advice, material joys, and other entertainment to fill loneliness and sadness, but only temporarily. You can find something beautiful, but there is always disappointment and frustration in it. So if your heart is still closed, life will still be lacking, even if you read books, seek advice from friends and relatives, or find joy in entertainment, in material things, but eventually, you will feel anxious and dissatisfied. In the end, you are still alone.

There are rocks in deep streams, or in the ocean, covered with water day after day, or over thousands of years, but inside they are still dry and solid. Likewise, even if you try to understand yourself, through searching through many different thoughts and philosophies, if your heart remains closed and cold, you still cannot get in touch with meaning, and the authenticity of life. If you are not open, no matter where you are or what you do, you will not be able to reach anyone, and no one will be able to contact you, including the greatest Master. When you read through the scriptures, you see that although the Buddha is a noble teacher of all living beings, you still see that there were times when he still spent a little time on needles for his older disciples,...

So when your heart is open, everything will naturally come and harmonize with you. When the heart is full of loving nutrients, it is self-sufficient and does not need any other joy. Then you certainly don't need anything else while you are enjoying true happiness.

In life, everyone likes happiness. So the moment of real happiness is the main purpose of your life. All problems in life are for peace and happiness. However, all your efforts to find happiness have largely been misguided and seem to be illusory. Because you thought that the answer to happiness was too mysterious and far away, you thought that the race to find happiness outside was not enough to grasp it, but few people expected that it was all so simple for your life's purpose.

True happiness is a feeling of contentment in the present moment. Eternal happiness is to continuously maintain a state of contentment in every passing moment. That cannot be sought from the outside, it can only be found within your heart. Every moment passes with complete love for reality. No matter how great any happiness is, its feeling is only a moment filled with love in the present. If you maintain loving mindfulness at all times, you become the essence of love, of boundless bliss. Happiness is not something to talk about, to look far away, even happiness when you realize something is the same.

Simply, as long as your mind is quiet and your heart is understanding and loving, happiness will appear. Even though there are thousands of ways to find happiness without stopping all ambitions and not listening to the voice of the heart, if you go a little further and don't know how to open your heart, happiness can never come to you.

In life, you cannot lack a quiet warm love, and a clear look can give you. If there is a time when faith loves life more than money and power, then those small but extremely precious moments of the present are more than a bright promise. At first listen, you might think it's absurd. But true happiness that is found from the outside is very fragile and difficult to grasp. Because what doesn't belong to you will never stay with you forever. Happiness can only be found in the palm of reality. Love with an open soul and free mind are the happy emotions of your own heart. That is the only feeling you can experience. If you accidentally forget the most precious treasure in human life in the present, it is an extremely unfortunate thing.

Poverty is something no one likes, pain is something no one ever wants. But on the one hand, you run to find happiness, and on the other hand, you often try to destroy it. On the one hand, you want to open your heart to receive joy, but on the other hand, you want to stay away, and not let anyone know the deep secrets of your evil self. And by holding on to negative energy, you unintentionally hold toxins in your body. Remember:

- Wealth, poverty, joy, or sadness are only temporary; they do not belong to your true nature.

Meanwhile:

- True love is eternal joy. It is far beyond all misery and happiness in everyday life. When noble love is achieved, all else is no longer necessary. Philosophy, reason, freedom, charity, and salvation are all considered unnecessary.

Wealth can come and go, and misery can fill life, but when you don't be stubborn, don't despair, and be afraid, everything beautiful will wait for you. And so there is no need for it when you are enjoying a blissful joy. The greatest gift of life is love, open hearts, and tolerance of people for each other. Therefore, you do not need to be afraid of the suffering and evil things of life, but only afraid that you will not be able to sanctify your own life. You do not need to be afraid of old age, not afraid of death, or not afraid of the suffering that surrounds you, but only afraid of your heart locked in four ego walls. If your heart is open, all blessings will appear. 

By holding on to all your ambitions, anger, narrow-mindedness, and selfishness, no one can save or bless you, and you cannot run to find happiness anywhere. When you start walking on the path of love, happiness will be there. You will have beautiful experiences that will deepen and expand with new shades, new flowers, and new fragrances.

Remember, life is full of difficulties, challenges, disappointments, and sadness. Therefore, with an open heart, sharing and spiritual encouragement have a very important meaning. It is the open hearts and loving sharing arms that will support and help you courageously overcome pain and loss to look forward to a beautiful tomorrow with great dreams and ambitions, and at the same time help You experience life more fully. That is the noble idea of open hearts, unique, deeply meaningful, close to life, and highly self-aware and educational.

Actually, in this life, everyone desires to receive everyone's attention and affection. Only ignorant people dare to loudly declare:

- I can live alone in this world without needing any sharing or love from anyone.

So how should you live to get that attention and love? Remember, understanding and love are sacred and close emotions in your life. No one can live in this world without love. So if you want people to love you, you must first love those around you. Open your heart and care for people, let them notice your existence. Just like you, everyone is also a human being who craves love and care, and you can completely give everyone all of those things. Your life will be much more meaningful when you know how to give love, know how to use your heart to warm, and make the lives of those around you warmer and happier.

In everyone's life, there are moments of sublimity and moments of despair. When you face loneliness as the greatest misfortune, it is better for you to have love and spiritual support. The experiences and lessons about love, sharing, and caring for each other will motivate you to open your arms to share lovingly with friends and relatives and will brighten your moments overcoming yourself will be a comfort and relief when you are mentally stressed. In addition, you also awaken your desire, encourage you to persevere in nurturing your dreams, and be ready to overcome the difficulties and challenges that you will certainly encounter on the journey to turn your dreams into reality. Then, you can find yourself, have more faith and energy to realize your dreams and aspirations, know how to share and sympathize with the pain of those around you, and feel the true value of life.

In short, life is inherently full of difficulties, challenges, disappointments, sadness... Therefore, sharing and spiritual encouragement are very important. It is the hearts that can open up to receive understanding and love. Opening your arms to share love will support you and help you bravely overcome pain and loss, towards a beautiful tomorrow, with great dreams and ambitions, and at the same time help you feel better and receive life more fully. So I would like to repeat:

- Living in this world, everyone desires to receive attention and affection from everyone.

So how should you live to get that attention and love? And when you have such care and love, you must try to preserve it and not lose it.

---o0o---