Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We talk about justice a lot. But justice for who? For ourselves? Or for some others?

Let me tell you. If you care about injustice for you, you are in a very bad mental shape, because there are thousands of people constantly throwing dirt and all kinds of rotten eggs at you for no reasons (or for their weird reasons, who knows?), especially when you have a little public name.

Let me tell you some of the things people have dumped on my head over the years, (just some, because we don’t have enough room for me to write them all down). Continue reading Justice for who? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Your family is poor, what do you do?

I imagine many of you will say, “I will study hard and will work my butt off to make a lot of money for my family.”

That’s right. I can’t imagine the other answer: “Well, a king’s child will be a king, a monk’s child in pagoda will sweep banyan leaves.” (Con vua thì lại làm vua, con sãi ở chùa thì quét lá đa). Sometimes you may meet some negative people like that, but I imagine the majority of people will positively say they will work hard to lift their family up in the world. Continue reading Your country is your family →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are good at heart, so when we see that a guy doesn’t know something, we tend to try to teach him that thing.

Now, the teaching and learning are not really from the teacher; they are totally in the hands of the student. Continue reading Don’t be the teacher when the student is not ready to learn →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Do you want to see Việt Nam known in the world as a strong, powerful, rich and honest country? If yes, then all you have to do is to be a strong, powerful, rich and honest person yourself.

This is simple and basic logic: A country is only a collective of all its citizens. If most citizens are strong, powerful, rich and honest, then the country is strong, powerful, rich and honest. Continue reading You are the country →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We see often in the movies a scene of leaving and loneliness – a person, man or woman, for some sad reason, leaves town – waiting at the bus station, boarding a bus, taking a seat by the window, and quiely looking out the window with trees, cars, houses and people flashing backward, while his/her memory also flashing back the memorable scenes from his/herpast. That is movie directors’ familiar scene of leaving in loneliness. Sometimes the bus is replaced by a train. Bus or train, the idea is the same – when you make a break from the past, you are lonely and your past life flashes through and away from your mind, probably for the last time. Continue reading The Road Less Travelled →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Many people we meet, we feel that they are either reserved or insincere. Once in a long while we meet someone with an aura of sincerity. If you are sensitive to people, you will understand a person fairly well, just by talking with the person for a couple of minutes. That skill is natural. If you’re sensitive to a person, you’re sensitive to everything about him, the way he sits, the way he talks, his eyes, his head, his body movements, the tone of his voice… All those things say a lot about the person. So, if you’re sensitive to people, meaning sensitive to everyone, you can understand everyone very well. Continue reading Be good in interpersonal communication →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Whatever we do in life, all of us want the same thing: peace and happiness. However, most of us go the wrong way to find peace and happiness. We think money, big house, big car, big power, big position, big reputation, big love, big marriage, all those big things give us peace and happiness. So, we chase after them, fight for them, and when we have them, we hold tight to them and protect them with all our might. Continue reading Peace and happiness →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The idea about Devil (chúa quỷ) probably exists in all cultures. The Devil is usually known as a very bad and powerful guy (or gal?) whose only job is to destroy, hurt and kill humans.

In Buddism, it is Maara (ma vương), the demon that tempted Buddha away from his path of enlightenment. Continue reading The Devil →

Father,

New Year, I pray for this suffering world – Russia v. Ukraine, Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, Sudan conflict with 4 million people on the edge of starving, migrants at US borders, migrants die on the boats to Europe, the stateless Rohingyas from Bangladesh and Myanmar, war everywhere from the Middle East to Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and Europe, everywhere is conflict, injustice, death and famine… This is such a sad scene for the human race.

My heart is so hurt. Continue reading The New Year Prayer →

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. Continue reading New Dragon Year Resolution →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Your personality is the way you think and act. Each of us has a personality that we know and many other people know, even though each person will look at our personality a little differently.

Your personality, for example, may be described as easy going, pleasant, friendly, disciplined, serious, highly principled… You agree to that, and many people would agree to that too. Continue reading Your personality →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We have so many faces that writers and philosophers have talked about each person wearing a dozen of masks in a day, as an actor playing many different roles in a drama. The implication is that our life is not real, we are only acting, presenting different faces to different people in different situations – we are not honest, no one knows our true self, true face. Continue reading Always the same person →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We all know that everything in the world requires right timing. Since you were very little, you have learned that if you want to ask mom for some money to buy something, you have to wait for the right time, till she is happy and ready to hear your request and your explanation for the need, and hopefully she would agree to pull some bucks out of her pocket. You may have a very good idea, but doing it at the wrong time, you will fail. Continue reading Wait for the right timing →