Dear Brothers and Sisters

Happy New Wood Dragon Year of 2024!

New Year, a new chapter of our life. We Vietnamese have a very good custom of cleaning everything very well at the end of the old year – from the house, to the garden, clothing, pots and pans, tables and chairs, beds and bed sheets and pillows… and many folks get new hairdo, new manicure and pedicure, in addition to new clothes for the new year. That is to start another year anew. A new chapter of our life.

Each Tết is a major opportunity for us to start again wholly fresh.

First, cleanse off the old emotional debts – they owe you or you owe them. Forget the debts and make peace. However, many times you cannot make peace (because the others don’t want to), then still forget your debts. Start the new year with an empty and light heart, not heavy-laden with the old debts. What happened happened. You cannot do anything about it now. Probably tell Heaven to “Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt him/her.” Then let it go and start the new year with a light and empty heart.

Second, have some commitment, some New Year resolution, to better yourself in something. Just one resolution is enough, two means crowded, three means too many. Have some serious resolution for your heart and soul, such as:

– I shall really study the Heart Sutra the entire year so that I can really master it in my everyday living.

– I will write an exposition on The Lord’s Prayer.

– I will practice constantly not to get angry.

– I will practice to be cool, quiet and in control under any circumstances, good or bad, that come my way.

– I will practice to be quiet, calm and fearless in any situation.

– I will practice to love everyone of the world
…

You also can have two resolutions – one is spiritual as the above, and the other one is for material advancement, such as:

– I will master English to find a scholarship this year.

– I will save [this much] money during this year.

– I will buy a house this year
…

I think two resolutions, one for spiritual life and one for material life, is good. Just make sure your give your spiritual life the first priority. The heart and the mind are the root, everything else are branches and leaves.

The most important thing is not to forget that New Year is a great opportunity to start everything again with a clean board.

Happy New Year! Fly and spit fire like a Dragon.

With compassion,

Hoành

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Trần Đình Hoành
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