Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good versus bad is not necessarily the Devil versus God as people imagine. Oh, maybe once in a blue moon, it is the Devil v. God, but most of the time in our daily life, it is chocolate or no chocolate.

I want to be slim and good looking, I try to stay away from sweets, but this piece of Swiss chocolate with Cognac and truffle inside smells so good and looks so deliciously inviting – to eat or not to eat? How could I waste such a culinary master piece? Continue reading Good v. bad – the chocolate battle →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In everything we do, simplicity is the best route to go.

We are all familiar with the red tape in government—complex forms and procedures that make dealing with the government very time-consuming;

Or, user-unfriendly computers that make using them like going through a maze; Continue reading Simplicity →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You have heard about living here and now – real living means living right here at this minute. The past, even only five minutes ago, is a memory, and the future is only an imagined image. The past and the future are not real. Real living is living here and now.

That is Zen. Focus on here and now. Focus on what you are doing here and now.

Read this Zen story in the series 101 Zen Stories. Continue reading Here and Now →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Vietnamese term for spirituality is tâm linh (sacred heart), which means your sacred heart – the original, deepest, and purest part of your heart – which is your true self that can understand and touch the sacred hearts of others. Continue reading Spirituality in a nutshell →

Chào các bạn,

Các bạn đã thừa biết là thế giới quanh ta có nhiều điều tiêu cực – tham sân si, kiêu căng, giành giật, nói xấu, đâm sau lưng, phản trắc… Những tiêu cực này đương nhiên có thể ảnh hưởng đến tư duy của chính ta và làm ta thành tiêu cực.

Cho nên việc của ta là phải luôn tạo năng lượng tích cực cho chính ta để chặn đứng mọi ảnh hưởng tiêu cực từ bên ngoài vào. Continue reading Tạo năng lượng tích cực cho bạn và cho thế giới →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

How to have a peaceful aura, so that whoever sees you would have a feeling of peace with you?

Naturally, to have an aura of peace you need to have peace in your heart.

But how to have peace in our heart?

To have peace in your heart, you must have no fighting, no grabbing, no judging, no criticizing, no rushing, no running, no fearing… in your heart.

In sum, nothing of a stressing nature in your heart.

No stress.

That is a hard thing to do, because most people are constantly stressed with so many things in their heart. Continue reading How to have a peaceful aura? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Many people have the common thinking that “I will start doing when I have done with learning.” To them, learning and doing are two separate stages – stage one: learning, stage two: doing.

But that is not how life works. In real life, learning and doing are one thing and one stage. You learn to be a dad by doing a dad’s child raising work – learning and doing are the same thing at the same time.

Why this issue is important to us? Continue reading Doing when done with learning? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Probably the worst thing that may happen to us is that we don’t have confidence in ourselves. You’re confident, you win; without confidence, you lose. C’est la vie.

But how to gain confidence? Continue reading No confidence in yourself? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Dhammapada (Kinh Pháp Cú) starts with this verse: “Mind leads all things. Mind is the master, mind creates.” (Ý dẫn đầu các pháp, ý làm chủ, ý tạo).

This short verse carries the most important truth for our living. Let’s study it.

1. Mind leads all things.

Your mind leads everything in your life – your job, your love, your car, your house, your pain, your happiness, your misery… Everything. Continue reading Mind leads all things (The Dhammapada – Kinh Pháp Cú) →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are extremely busy. You race against the clock every minute of the day, to get everything done, and you never have enough time for everything you need to do.

That is the story of the human world called rat race, isn’t it? Just a bunch of rats racing in a maze.

Do you ever feel sorry for yourself? Continue reading Slow down →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

There is the secular culture and there is the spiritual culture.

Secular culture focuses on the mind and logics. Spiritual culture focuses on the heart. Continue reading Heart and mind →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Do you love your mom? I love my mom dearly. Almost everyone loves his/her mom. What’s the news? Well, sometimes I meet somebody who says s/he hates her/his mom. Of course, I would understand they have their own reasons, about which I usually don’t ask, just to respect their privacy. Continue reading Do you love your mom? →