In October one of my friends called me and sought confirmation whether I was still alive. When I picked up the phone and said hello, she said: "Thank goodness you are still alive!" I asked: "Did you expect me to be dead?" She told me someone started this rumour about I have been to heaven. Someone even said my ashes had been placed in Thien Tu Hy Xa. She said the Chinese temple knew about this news. I was wondering who started this rumour.
Last night I went to a Vietnamese fundraising dinner. I bumped into a friend. She grasped my hands and said thank goodness I look well. I laughed out loud and asked, "Did you also expect me to be dead?" She went on and said, “So-on-so said you are dead and told so-on-so about this. Now at TAFE (my previous workplace) knew you are dead. So I asked a friend of yours at the Chinese temple about your ashes. She said that your ashes must be at Thien Tu Hy Xa because you go to that temple." I said: "Ah.... I understand who spread this rumour now." She asked: "Aren't you upset? You should tell that person off about this rumour." I said: "No, I am not upset and I won't tell that person off." She asked: "Why not?" I laughed and said: "It is all up to that person to say what she wants to say. I have no control of her speech. If she wants to say something, let her. Maybe she has psychic power that she has seen me transform from an old me to a new me in some way. The old me has dead and a new me has born."
After I have joined this new group of Thien Tanh Khong, I feel I have reformed. This group opened a door to my own treasure cave. I have learnt so much and yet more to come. The beauty of this group is to provide me with some tools to dig up my own treasures within. The theories they provide are clear and concise, easy to understand and follow, not just base on belief.
At Buddha's time, he gave a dharma talk on Kalama sutra. Here is the text:
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
In Thien Tanh Khong, no belief is involved. I only need to work on myself to achieve what I want to achieve! I only need to practise daily and maintain my four postures (sitting, walking, standing and lying) full awareness with wordless cognition. No secret or back doors that I can go for. Yes, the old me with all the misunderstanding about the phenomenon and the Buddha dharmas is dead and this new me has reborn in a world of Không nói (Silence).
