“What brought me to Buddhist practice was essentially emotional and psychological pain. Nothing worked, nothing could alleviate it, and nothing would make it subside. It just felt awful. I felt like I was hurting inside, my heart hurt, and I felt empty. There were multiple days when I felt like…
“When I grew up, I found that everything in life is temporary. When I saw a flower, I thought it was very beautiful at that moment, but some days later it faded away. I realized we could not keep anything in our hands, like the water flowing through our fingers.…
“In our culture, when a young boy is ordained, it means the family is losing the child. My mother would not be able to call me son anymore, she would have to call me Banthe. I still remember that during the ordination ceremony, one of my sisters was holding my…
“I was 12 years old, and I didn’t know anything. I just followed my dad. He said I should become a monk. At that time I didn’t know what a monk does, but when I became a monk, I studied and I practiced – now I understand. I am happy…
“When I was a child we didn’t have enough food, so my parents argued every day. Whenever I left our house, I felt light and happy, but as soon as I returned I felt very heavy because of all the arguing. Twice a month, we went to the temple. At the…
“Cooking is my favorite work. I like it when people eat my food. That is my life. I cook at the temple, but I also like to cook outside of the temple. Cooking is my chanting, I don’t get a chance to go up to the Dharma hall much, I…
“One day, when I was a child in Vietnam, I was walking with my grandmother to the temple. A monk was coming downhill as we were walking uphill. He held his reed hat sideways to cover his face from the sun, and he looked very relaxed, very beautiful. It is…
