Dear Brothers and Sisters,

If you look back on your life, you will find that most sad and painful experiences gave you a lot of wisdom, and most happy experiences taught you little. That is called lesson – you have to pay high prices for good lessons.

I have never hated painful lessons. Obviously, I don’t enjoy pain, but every time I am in a painful situation, I always thank God for sending me another lesson to endure and to overcome. Continue reading Pain and sorrow →

Chào các bạn,

Giữ lời hứa với người là quan trọng nhưng quan trọng hơn là giữ lời hứa với Chúa Phật.

Lời hứa với Chúa Phật là lời hứa nào?

Là lời hứa trước khi bắt đầu con đường tâm linh tích cực. Continue reading Có lời hứa và giữ lời hứa với Chúa Phật →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You see a lot of lawlessness in Vietnam – big corruption cases involving lots of VIPs, lots of cheaters in the marketplace (from taxi drivers, to venders everywhere, even big companies lying on the packages of their products), everywhere you go you are afraid that someone is cheating you, big businesses do illegal development projects and the poor people in the area have no voice to protect themselves and their environment, people drive motorcycles and cars on the sidewalks, people drive aggressively, impolitely and dangerously… Too many things to list here. You guys and gals know much more than I do.

What is the cause of all these? Continue reading What is the fundamental issue of Vietnam? →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Every time I think back about my time in primary and high schools, I always feel sad. Not because those were sad times. Actually, you all would agree that primary school and high school were the best time of our life – we were young and only did eating, sleeping, schooling and playing. But most of the boys of that time of mine died very early, during various stages of the war – many at 18, some a little older, 20, 22… By the time I was 20, I could hardly have any friends left. College time was a lonely time. I felt all alone in the city – a couple of friends still alive were in the army, but you never knew when one would drop dead. Continue reading Remembering the old friends of the old days →

Chào các bạn,

Người nổi tiếng ở đây có thể là tổng giám đốc đại công ty nhà nước hay tư nhân có yếu tố nước ngoài, hay viện trưởng viện này viện kia, hay bộ trưởng này thứ trưởng kia…

Đây là bài test: Gặp người nổi tiếng, ta thế nào? Tim đập mạnh? Tay run run? Đêm hôm trước trằn trọc mất ngủ hay ngủ không ngon? Mặc bộ đồ đẹp nhất, tóc tai chỉnh tề nhất, đi đứng tác phong hoàn hảo nhất?… Continue reading Gặp người nổi tiếng →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Vietnam has always been poor because our culture has been teaching us to hate the rich.

Have you read a lot of Vietnamese fairytales? Almost in every Vietnamese fairytale, when a rich person is mentioned, s/he has to be a bad person – greedy, stingy, oppressing and cheating. Business people are always described as cheaters. Teachers are always poor and their poverty is a medal of honour. Continue reading The myth of rich and poor →

Chào các bạn,

Hầu như ai cũng thích sống với điều họ thích: được ăn món ăn ưa thích; được cha mẹ lắng nghe; được làm những việc mình thích và giỏi; được sếp và đồng nghiệp tôn trọng… Continue reading Vô chấp với sở thích →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

How do you want your children to be? Honest? Wise? Gentle? Loving? Be respected and loved?…

Then, be the parent with those qualities for your children to learn from you.

Children learn the most from parents, from watching their parents and imitating their parents. Continue reading How do you want your children to be? →

Chào các bạn,

Chúa Giêsu nói:

“Hãy xem chim trời: chúng không gieo, không gặt, không thu tích vào kho; thế mà Cha anh chị em trên trời vẫn nuôi chúng. Anh chị em lại chẳng quý giá hơn chúng sao? Hỏi có ai trong anh chị em, nhờ lo lắng, mà kéo dài đời mình thêm được dù chỉ một lúc? Continue reading Đừng lo →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Everyone of us is familiar with the term “global village.” The term was coined in the early 1960s by Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan, who was writing about the newer technologies of his day, such as radio and television. It became popular some time at the beginning of 1990s, at the birth of what we call Internet today.

But, do you really understand and “feel” about the global village? Continue reading What world are you living in? →

Chào các bạn,

Chỗ ngủ 2m2 và chỗ ngủ 100m2; chỗ làm việc chẳng ai biết và chỗ làm việc thành phần cấp cao nhất của nước đều biết; công việc chẳng mấy ai muốn làm và công việc quản lý cấp cao có yếu tố nước ngoài…; khi tâm ta không phân biệt, chốn nào cũng như nhau. Continue reading Chốn nào cũng như nhau →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Most of the world think in duality – right v. wrong, true v. false, white v. black and, of course, corporal v. spiritual.

So, people divide our human life in two separate parts: the corporal part which is our body and the spiritual part which is our soul or our spirit. Many religions despise the body and glorify the spirit. They consider the body – the flesh – weak and sinful, and the spirit pure (if it doesn’t allow the body to commit sin). The body is temporal – it disintegrates after we die; the spirit is perpetual – it stays on for a different world and/or a different life. Continue reading Corporeality and spirituality →

Chào các bạn,

Chân tay thiếu tĩnh lặng là chân tay không yên, thường ngọ nguậy đụng chạm cái gì đó, thường nhất là sờ mó điện thoại. Điện thoại thường ở ngay trước mặt, vài phút lại cầm một lần hoặc luôn cầm trên tay, không cầm là cảm thấy mất kết nối với thế giới. Continue reading Chân tay tĩnh lặng →

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Diplomacy usually conveys a sense of public work between governments. But diplomacy may have a larger meaning of interpersonal relations – when you do a contract negotiation or a sale representation, you are doing diplomacy.

The only purpose of diplomacy is to make people trust you and believe in what you say. Continue reading The art of diplomacy →