Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Confucius said: “Among three persons walking together, one must be my teacher” (Tam nhân đồng hành, tất hữu ngã sư). It means, you have at least 1/3 of people in the world to be your teachers. That is a reminder for you to remember that many people around you can teach you one thing or another.

However, my own experience is a little different: If you are a good learner, Everyone and Everything around you are your teachers. It means, the entire universe can be your teacher.

Anyone who says anything can teach you something in what s/he says, if you really want to learn – baby, old people, the rich, the poor, king, beggar, the educated, the uneducated… No exception. If you want to learn, you will learn from a 4-month-old baby – looking at her reacting to you and the sight and the sound around her, you can learn a lot about human development. Touch the hand of the beggar when you gives him 20 thousand đồng, and look at his eyes, you will have much deeper understanding of human emotion.

Everything – bird, tree, flower, cloud, rain, sunshine, mountain, valley, sun, moon …- constantly teaches you something, if you want to learn. The Buddhists call it “Nature’s dharma” (giáo pháp thiên nhiên), which is a big part of Zen training – contemplating on anything and you will advance in Zen, to Enlightenment.

If you have the ability to learn from everyone and everything around you, of course you will have much deep knowledge, not 10 times or 100 times, but at least a thousand times more than an average person.

And that is the truth I know.

With compassion,

Hoành

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