Hai Nguyen, 1735 Sauerkraut Road, Wardensville, WV (2025)

11/19/2025

Mindfulness is aware of the mind not just the objects

Mindfulness (chánh niệm) is often mistaken as knowing clearly the surroundings moment-to-moment in the here & now. True mindfulness is actually about aware of the mind view to experience life moments accurately. Life circumstances don’t create suffering or wellbeing, the mind does. We can be in front of a beautiful scenery but if what we have is a worry, unsettle mind; we won’t be able to truly experience the wonderful moment. Therefore, don’t focus too much on creating, finding great life moments to experience but do aware of the mind view (thái độ tâm) to fully be and experience life moments as they are. Do you know your mind view? (:-))

P.S. - Sharing with you photos when I was wondering, discovering the city of Regensburg on the Danube River in southeast Germany and found myself at the magnificent 13th century Gothic architecture medieval cathedral of St Peter.

11/01/2025

Saturday 6 December, a Day of Nurturing Well-being in Fairfax, VA

Let’s take a journey to discover the magic of practical mindful living. The essence of practical mindful living is not about practicing, training to be better or to be aware of everything that are happening moment by moment as it is not possible, but about being in touch with the natural awareness existed in all of us. As hard as life can be sometime, mental suffering is not caused by life circumstances but heavily depended on the view of the mind. We will share with you that it is possible to experience peace right in the turbulence of life. It is possible to experience well-being in the midst of life crisis. We will learn to recognize that heaven or hell, happiness or suffering are labels of the mind and not reality. The Day will be conducted in a warm, friendly, and supportive environment and structured with a balance of practical teaching talk, awareness meditation, insightful storytelling, light wellness exercises, group discussion and Q&A.

Light lunch and water bottles will be provided. Online registration is required at https://forms.gle/d92A8rfJ1cmgz94d8 Please sign up early, so we can adequately prepare.

10/30/2025

True Freedom and True Happiness

We often work very hard to establish a stable living conditions and practice diligently to be skillful to transform life challenges when they arrive. These life and spiritual efforts can be exhausting as life chaotic and crisis are like waves in the ocean. They continue to show up and would not stop!

True freedom and true happiness are not depended on life conditions to be optimal. True freedom and true happiness are not achievable through doing but instead by being …

“Freedom is being at ease within constraints
Happiness is being at peace amidst suffering”

These are not only possible but very doable (:-))

P.S. – Would like to share with you a few beautiful photos from the autumn weekend retreat at Sinh Thuc Meditation Center with nature showing off its magnificent colorful mountain forest. Additional photos can be viewed at https://photos.app.goo.gl/hAWAU7Lac4t9eAZX8

10/15/2025

Let be Present and Ready to be Amazed

Looking forward to welcome you to the last mindfulness weekend retreat of the year on 24-26 Oct at Sinh Thuc Meditation Center. Please sign up at https://forms.gle/PR95U2hiLzJjqsPC8

09/23/2025

24-26 October Fall Well-being Weekend Retreat

The Weather is getting cooler. The leaves have started to change color. At the Sinh Thuc Meditation Center, we are busy getting things ready for the Fall weekend retreat. We are looking forward to welcome you and together we will take a journey in self-discovery to learn to be in touch with the inherit well-being, stability in the mid of the chaotic of life. We will learn to recognize that difficulty, bad or happiness, good are labels that we put on life situation. This realization will enable us to embrace life with the spirit of openness to discover the true-life experiences and our view, responses to the situation. And awakening to the fact that life challenges can be invaluable opportunities to wake up and learn to be free from our attachment and mental imprisonment.

The retreat will be structured with a balance of awareness meditation, teaching talk, storytelling, wellness Taichi & Chi-kung exercises, group discussion, Q&A and personal relaxation in the beautiful fall nature. Buffet-style vegetarian meals, drinks and dormitory lodging accommodation will be provided. Online registration is required. Please sign up early at https://forms.gle/PR95U2hiLzJjqsPC8 so the staff has adequate time to prepare for the retreat.

08/29/2025

Nirvana is Here and Now

On a late Summer wandering day in San Antonio, TX; I found myself sitting in deep contemplation in a small 1700s Historical Mission Church with beautiful catholic Latin chanting. The environment is so unique and nurturing that transforming the moment into a magnificent spiritual bridge effortlessly connecting me to the natural well-being that is present in all of us. Nirvana (Niết Bàn) or Heaven (Thiên Đàng) exists in everyday life moment. It is up to us to uncover the mind clutters that are covering it up to realize and be in touch with this beautiful and refreshing nature of well-being.

08/16/2025

Looking forward to spend a day of well-being with you on "Liberation from Suffering is Here and Now" Saturday 23 August from 9 AM to 4 PM at Fairfax Government Center 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, VA 22193 - Conference Room 2&3

Light lunch and water bottles will be provided. Online Registration is required at https://forms.gle/ypLKtkeepRrfpaCe6

08/03/2025

Vietnamese Teaching Talk on the Essence of the Spiritual Path (Tinh Hoa của Sự Tu Học)

Ngày nay, chúng ta có hàng ngàn kinh điển truyền thừa từ truyền thống Nam tông và Bắc tông cũng như rất nhiều những phướng pháp thực tập và tông phái như Thiền, Tịnh, Mật … Ngay đến Thiền Tông thì cũng có rất nhiều những tông phái, phương cách khác nhau. Là một người cư sĩ, nếu không có nhiều thời giờ nghiên cứu, trải nghiệm rõ ràng thì rất là khó để chúng ta biết được sự tu học nào là thích hợp và lợi ích nhất cho chính mình. Trên con đường tu học, chúng ta không nên hoàn toàn dựa vào phương pháp, hình thức tu học vì đó chỉ là phương tiện chứ không phải là cứu cánh, mà phuong tiện thì cần luôn thay đổi cho thích hợp, lợi ích tùy theo hoàn cảnh, nhu cầu sống. Xin chia sẻ những câu chuyện thực tiển để trình bày, nêu lên một số những đề tài quan trọng như sự khác biệt giữa hiểu và biết, căn bản cần thiết để có sự giác ngộ ngay trong đời sống, và nhận biết chính xác về Niết Bàn … Xin chia sẻ với quý thân hữu là “Người đời thì thường chuyển hoàn cảnh để được an tâm. Người tu thì thấy tâm để tâm an trong mọi hoàn cảnh.”

Kính mời quý thân hữu lắng nghe bài Pháp Thoại Việt ngữ tại trang Spotify hay tải về (download) để nghe sau tại https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/sinh-thuc/episodes/Tinh-Hoa-ca-S-Tu-Hc-e36b5vh

07/21/2025

A Day of Spiritual Learning on "Liberation from Suffering is Here and Now" on 23 August at the Fairfax Government Center in Virginia

We are inviting you to join us at a day of mindfulness to learn about Awareness Meditation to be wholehearted present with life moments, to experience fully and accurately, to really live life, and to bring about well-being. The Day will be conducted in a warm, friendly and supportive environment nourishing the mind and body. The insightful teaching will be shared with realistic stories and practical examples applicable to the life of a layperson with career and family obligations and responsibilities. The Spiritual journey is not about finding ways to escape from everyday challenging world but to recognize the nature of well-being and fully engage with the world right where one is with the wisdom understanding and accurate experience to not get caught in life difficulties and attached with unrealistic expectations.

The Day is offered free of charge. Voluntary donation is suggested to cover the cost the day and help supporting Sinh Thuc Meditation Center. Light lunch and water bottles will be provided. Registration is required online at https://forms.gle/ypLKtkeepRrfpaCe6 For additional information, please visit https://www.sinhthuc.org/e_index.htm

07/10/2025

Discover the Existed Awaken Mind

You are invited to listen to the teaching talk on " Discover the Existed Awaken Mind" on Spotify at https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/sinh-thuc/episodes/Discover-the-Existed-Awaken-Mind-e357p4s

The Teaching talk is from a Day of Mindfulness in January of 2025 in the Fairfax, Virginia area. During this snowy day, I shared a beautiful story from the 9th Century on the teaching that the awaken mind is already present in everyone. There is no need to search for it or practice to create it but simply aware and be in touch with the awaken mind. In life, there are so much distraction that we often do not really experience life moments accurately and typically mistaken the perception as real life. Let us look at a practical path of being not doing to recognize and be in touch with the existed Awaken Mind. We often believe that by working hard, studying diligently that we would be successful, however, on the spiritual path, “One does not need to do or remember anything but understand everything to realize the well-being in life.”

06/23/2025

July 25-27, a Weekend of Well-being on "Being Free from Attachment and Imprisonment of the Mind" in Wardensville, WV (an hour and 45 minutes from Northern Virginia).

This event is a great opportunity to take a break from the busy routine, to reflect on what are really important in life, to learn and practically integrate the thousand years old Wisdom teaching on cultivating well-being in everyday busy life. The event will be structured with a balance of talk on the teaching for Well-being., practical meditation, storytelling, wellness exercises, group discussion, and Q & A providing an optimal learning and nurturing environment.

Online registration is required at https://forms.gle/dzyw6UZuDUwD8iqd6 Dormitory lodging and Nutritional vegetarian buffet style meals are provided. Email to information@sinhthuc.org for additional information.

06/16/2025

A Beautiful Day of Spiritual learning and celebrating Sinh Thuc Meditation Center 20th Anniversary on 6th June. More great photos are at https://photos.app.goo.gl/zLv3FytyUkCaAUPTA

Hai Nguyen

11/19/2025

11/01/2025

10/30/2025

10/15/2025

09/23/2025

08/29/2025

08/16/2025

08/03/2025

07/21/2025

07/10/2025

06/23/2025

06/16/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category