Reflecting back, I can clearly see the phases of my maturity and understanding as I progressed over the years at chua. I remember starting out at the lowest level of Buddhism when I was first exposed to Buddhism and its philosophies. From the fundamental basics of respecting the life of all beings, including animals, to more complex teachings such as “Luc Hoa” or “Tu Dieu De”, as I grew, my knowledge of Buddhism also expanded. Regardless of the level of understanding, learning about Buddhism has truly impacted my growing up and the development of my character and morals. At a young age, I was taught to respect all those around me, from my parents to the ants crawling at my feet. I did not join in when my peers entertain themselves by means of torturing the ants or thoughtlessly killing bugs or insects. By gaining knowledge at temple, I tried to pass it on to my friends and expose them to the teachings of Buddhism and to have compassion as well as respect for all living beings. Although I did not do anything dramatic to change the world, I believe that the knowledge I’ve gained from GDPT allowed to me influence my friends and in turn bringing forth in them kindness and understanding to be a better person.

      Now, as an 18 year old, I still share with my friends interesting things that I learned about Buddhism, but more importantly, I use what I learn more to deal with everyday life. From all that I’ve learned in the past years, there are certain philosophies that had great impacts on how I turned out today. First and foremost is the foundation of Buddhism, that life is full of sufferings. Birth, old age, sickness, and death or “sanh, lao, benh, tu” are all basic sufferings of life. Learning this at a young age changed my perception of life and truly opened up my eyes as well as mind. By understanding at a young age that life is simply a process full of sufferings made it a lot easier for me to deal with hardships that came my way, especially when approaching teenage years. Just recently, during a Phat Phap lesson with Anh Khoe, my views of life broaden. Through a story, he explained that one way of looking at life’s problems or hardships is to think of it as one’s debt being paid off from our previous life in the cycle of cause and effect or “nhan qua”. The impact of this simple idea struck me hard, I realized that when something happens, despite how we react, it already happened and is not within our control to alter the past, however, we can control our own reaction to the situation. Rather than looking at it in a pessimistic light, why not with optimism which will allow us to deal with the situation better. This is was such a simple philosophy of life, yet it took me close to 18 years to realize its true meaning, in a way this is how Buddhism is. In reality, the concepts and philosophy of Buddhism are very simple ideas that we should all know along with common sense, but sometimes the simplest things turns out to be the most complex.

      Learning how to handle problems was especially important these past years in my young adulthood when I came to face many life changing experience. Just last year I witnessed my mother’s relapse in her medical condition. With my sister away at college, and my brother constantly busy with his own life, I was pretty much the one responsible for looking after her. It was the most testing period of my life, and I remember it being the time I shed the most tears. Suffering from schizophrenia, my mother’s condition created an uproar in the household, and me being the “glue” that had to keep everyone together. It was during this traumatic time that I turned to Buddhism as my only hope. I must admit, outside of chua I’m not extremely religious in my practice, yes I uphold the philosophies in my actions and character, but I do not pray everyday or light incense or such practices. However, during this time I turned on the Kinh everyday since it was the only thing that had the ability to calm my mother down as well as instilling peace in myself. I lighted incense nonstop and prayed daily, gaining a peace of mind as well as hope while the gentle aroma of the incense comforted me. I go to sleep with fear and stress, but it was only hearing the soothing words of Buddha’s teaching that truly got me through that whole ordeal. In my time of desperation, on the brink of breakdown, it was Buddha’s philosophies and beautiful words that kept me going and staying strong. And undeniably if I was not fortunate enough to get involved and take part in GDPT, I know for a fact I wouldn’t have had the strength to handle the situation like I did.

      Being a member of Kim Quang Youth Group have dramatically impacted my life and shaped the outcome of my successes today. It helped me deal with simple everyday stress to more complicated matters of life. Regardless, I am truly grateful to have been able to be a member of GDPT Kim Quang or GHPGVN in general. Without a doubt, this part of my life has played a huge role in my development and who I have become today as well as who I will become tomorrow. I will go on in life with the philosophies and all that I’ve gained at chua, for it is what we have in knowledge that we can put through into action.