Dear disciples,

What is a joyful attitude? How to turn the attitude (subtle element) into the pure secret essence?We first learn the meaning of the word “joyful attitude or enjoyment”. “Joyful”means happy, pleased or having fun. Enjoyment means having pleasures (for the eye, mind, and other senses). It means enjoying by looking, enjoying by knowing, enjoying by distinction. In short, joyful attitude means gaining pleasures from six sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind), unlike the other lineages of “closing six sense organs, avoiding six senses of consciousness, stoping six sense objects”. The story about a zen master and a female boat sailor still has practical meanings, not to be window dressing but the heart is actually stirred up by the six sense objects (all things are revealed by six sense organs).

Dear disciples,

In our daily life, we often have attitude of enjoyment for affairs of life such as weddings, birthdays, opening ceremonies, … Those pleasures should not be neglected, but should be considered as conditions to invite us to be long-term “friends” with gross elements, which inherently have great effects on us. One of my friend lamented that the birth of his son was a great joy for the whole family; but now he does not want to see him because his son has committed crimes that involve the whole family. There was another woman whose face was so distressed lamenting that recently her daughter’s wedding has been an honor to her family, but now she wishes they would not have married because her daughter and her son-in-law do not want to live with her any longer and desire to move to another place to avoid meeting her.

Contrary to the secular life, Pure Mind Yoga practitioners are taught by Buddha how to live with joyful attitudes as mentioned in Eight Great Causes of Enlightenment Sutra “always stay content, with modesty, retain the path, take solely wisdom as career. Thereby, we can see the spirit of freedom and peace with no hindrance as Buddha’s teachings: be happy to live a life in simple conditions with clothing, food, seats, shelter, and medicine. How to overcome the material difficulties to have joyful attitudes? Because Buddha taught his disciples not to cling to the gross elements (see the “Elements” series), or subtle elements, but just “appreciate” them which test the virtues of the Yoga practitioners. There is a story that a torrent of rain destroyed partly the roof of the hut where two monks stayed. The young monk grumbled all night and complained why he had to sleep in the thatched roof that was ruined. The old monk clasped his hand together and gratefully said: “Thank Buddha for your virtues, luckily the hut has not yet collapsed, there is still room for us to stay overnight. After that, he rested peacefully, while the young monk woke up with an emaciated face.

Dear disciples,

In Song Nguyen Tantra House, we do as Buddha taught: don’t be ascetic nor give free rein to emotions. In Mahaparinirvana Sutra, Mahāvairocana Tathā-gata to the noble king, Buddha asserted that who wants to achieve the results of reaching the realms of Nirvana, he first needs to avoid ascetic attitudes and behaviors, then he needs to have four necessary and sufficient conditions as follows: (1) be close to the kalyanamitra (2) listen, read and understand sutra(3) review the real meanings (4) practice and follow what has been taught. The real meaning of the sutra is to honor wisdom, not to recommend the practitioners what do eat, where to live, how to dress, how head needs to be shaved. If you cling to “what do eat, where to live, how to dress, how head needs to be shaved”, it is contrary to Buddha’s teachings. Why? Because Buddha taught that wisdom is to attain enlightenment. Then Lama Thogme Zangpo raised his voice like the lion’s roars to make the foxes in the “forest” of wrong views to show trembles of fear: “If there are only five paramitas (charitable giving paramita or danaparamita , observing moral precepts or silaparamita, peaceful patience or kshantiparamita , diligence or viryaparamita, meditation or dhynaparamita), without the Wisdom or prajnaparamita, they cannot attain enlightenment. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the vehicles with Wisdom in order not to fall into the three realms (Kama Loka, Rupa Loka, Arupa Loka) in the cycle of samsara (cited from 37 Bodhisattva Dharma actions)

Thus, there are a great deal of fools and those who have no wisdom or shame, “do not know well what he has known”, but not as the Buddha taught “know what to know”. After they were counter-argued, or their accounts were withdrawn, or they were removed from Song Nguyen Tantra House, or they were demonized with psychological disorder, they immediately raised the voice of incorrect attribution that Song Nguyen Tantra House’s dharma methods were too simple to get enlightment. Song Nguyen Tantra House’s dharma journeys with intellectual articleson the policy of ” worldly enjoyment goes hand in hand with Dharma happiness”, which Lama Thurten Yeshe taught in the work “Tantrayana under the view of emptiness” immersed in the spirit of “dharma is life” … but the fools considered them as “greeds for fun”!? We have good transportation vehicles, beautiful costumes for dharma practice, photos of magnificent scenery posted onchanhtuduy.com, but they were “jealous” to criticize that we were “showing off”!? However, I would like to ask: “Being beautiful and rich, enjoying beautiful scenery, feeling happy with the rejoice of sentient beings, posting pictures to introduce to readers … are received with their jealousy instead of the feeling of happiness?”. Then I would question: “Whether they are so poor that they have to sell their self-esteem for 200,000 Vietnam dong, whether they are living in a slum or a dilapidated house, or they have ugly faces like starving demons … so that they feel heartbreaking to be jealous? I also want to question: “Why are there too many monks under the appearance of bald heads and yellow robes or cassocks, who want to rove but have to disguise, want to eat non-vegetarian food but have to eat in a sneaky way, want to look at beautiful things but have to do it stealthily; desire to seek wisdom but only copy or ask others to write for them under their names instead of writing themselves, wish to have a lot of disciples by speaking sweet things or flattering protagonists… Why do they not ask themselves that they chose that way, no one forced them to do so? Why do they arouse jealousy, talk bad, have a slander, or distort the truth? when they find other people practice in other ways because of different paths (See “Talking to those who stay in the prison of samsara”onchanhtuduy.com).

Dear disciples,

I teach you to “maintaina good balance in mind and have joyful attitudes” following the spirit of Vimalakirti. Mat Kien once said “Have worldly pleasures but don’t be lost in pleasures. Separate from worldly life but don’t be out of it.” I also raised the spirit “Tradition of ignorance is not worth following. Treating sentient beings according to the worldly attitudes can cause sufferings. The wise who understand it can have peace in mind. Enjoying life leisurely shows a real bhikkhu”! This is the last time I seriously warn about the consequences for those who have false speaking (either slander, false boasting, or deception), which Dieu Hien called “cunning language”, which is “cunning rhetoric”. Who does that will bear the consequences due to the law of Cause and Effect no matter who they are. You have been taught “bodhichitta”, so your food, drinks, sleep, rest, daily activities are derived from bodhichitta, you do not need to worry about malicious rumours.

In this article, I would quote the verse in the Dhammapada:

“The fool who knows that he is a fool

is for that very reason a wise man;

the fool who thinks that he is wise

is called a fool indeed.”

I pray that all sentients beings have humble qualities and sense of shame. Om mani padme hum!

A raining afternoon on the peak of Phu Van mountainon 19th September 2018

Thinley – Nguyen Thanh

Translated by Mat Hong Quang