12/30/2025
โThe same Wisdom, the same Compassion,
All lived out for the Great Vow โ for the sake of all beings.โ
With each passing day of this retreat, we feel these two lines ever more deeply through the living presence of Awakening manifested in Awakened Zen Master Thรญch Diแปu Thiแปn and Awakened Zen Master Thรญch Thรดng Hแปi.
Today marks the third day of the five-day Youth Retreat. What the young participants received today was not merely a moral lesson or a set of life skills. It was an invaluable inner inheritance for stepping into life โ where they were not taught how to become โbetter people,โ but were awakened to return to who they truly are. Even more profoundly, it was a doorway opening onto the path of Awakening โ liberation from the endless cycle of birth and death โ a rare blessing that not everyone encounters in a lifetime.
Under the illuminating guidance of the Awakened One, the youth were pointed directly to see for themselves:
what is the clouded mind โ the ego,
and what is the clear, luminous mind โ the Buddha Nature within.
Beyond conceptual understanding, they were guided to live and play within life itself through seated meditation, walking meditation, Dharma dialogue, Wisdom-based games, and experiential activities โ all with the compassionate support and accompaniment of the Venerable Sisters.
As they worked together on a shared project, through interaction, discussion, and differing viewpoints, the clouded mind began to surface:
the urge to control,
irritation,
inner pressure
when things did not go according to oneโs own will.
Right in that very moment, with the gentle guidance of the Venerable Sisters and the illuminating presence of the Awakened One, the youth were awakened to turn back and recognize themselves. In that instant, they reconnected with the clear, luminous mind within โ and directly realized: this is who I truly am.
When this light turned on, they saw clearly at the root that it was attachment, clinging, and egoic positioning that had bound them into suffering. The problem had never been the situation or others, but the grasping itself within. Like the sun rising as the mist naturally dissolves, when Who I Truly Am became clear, all inner constraints fell away.
From this clear, luminous mind, the youth expressed a heartfelt aspiration to be awakened even more deeply by the Awakened One โ so that the Buddha Nature within could enter and merge with the Source of Awakening, where the two Awakened Ones are living โ bringing liberation from the very root of ego.
The moment of direct realization โ โWho I am, and who I am notโ โ is not something every practitioner has the karmic conditions to experience without the illumination of an Awakened One. Yet today, while still in their teenage years, these young people possessed the full blessings and conditions to touch this priceless inner treasure.
With deepest reverence and gratitude, we bow to the Two Awakened Ones โ who never rest for a single moment, who live fully the Great Vow to liberate all beings, illuminating and guiding todayโs younger generation to directly realize their Buddha Nature and step onto the path of Buddhahood and liberation.
