Every year after the full moon day of the fourth lunar month, monks and nuns in California gather in a monastery to attend the summer retreat. I often meet Ven. Bhikkhuni Giới Hương at Phật Học Viện Quốc Tế Temple (North Hills), sometimes at Huệ Quang Pagoda or Bảo Quang Pagoda (Santa Ana), sometimes at Niệm Phật Đường Fremont (San Jose), sometimes in Như Lai Thiền Tự Temple (San Diego), sometimes at retreats in North America, and so forth.
Ven. Bhikkhuni Giới Hương is ranked at the "top" of sisters in old Dharma age, even if her worldly age is rather young (she became a nun at the age of fifteen and received full ordination very early), so that she usually keeps a position among the administrators or preachers in the nuns’ Sangha. But what shines in our eyes is her simplicity and sense of harmony in her interactions with young nuns, such as when she joins in arranging the table for meals, labors, and chants with the young nuns. She holds many high academic degrees from secular universities and Buddhist institutes, but she doesn't think of it. She has a high religious age but works as a fresh bhikkhuni; one time, she came to stay in a tent with young nuns (such as at the summer retreat at Phật Học Viện Quốc Tế Temple in 2013), refusing to stay in a proper room in a building for nuns who were ordained a long time.
Once she was a leader in a nuns’ group—there was a farewell party at the end of the retreat, and she mobilized the nuns to rehearse the song "Về mái chùa Xưa” (Return to the Old Temple) by the teacher, Trường Khánh. She then stood and sang with our young nuns to make the program fun. Her dedication and sense of harmony in working with nuns, without considering high or low positions, young or old age, big or small things: whenever there is a work, she engages in it to bring forth the best results. This proves that she forgets herself to harmonize with everyone and every task for the sake of many, as the Buddha taught in the Mahā Nibbāna Sutta, Digha Nikaya 16: "Bhikkhus, when monks are among fellow practitioners, in a crowded or remoted place, they keep body, speech, and mind in harmony with others. From this, the Sangha will be prosperous and not decline."[1]
On the occasion of Ven. Bhikkhuni Giới Hương’s fortieth anniversary of study and service, we wish her and the nuns of Hương Sen Temple peace and happiness: always rise to victorious achievements in the spring of 2020.
Winter in California, Đại Bi Pagoda, December 27, 2019
Sister in Dharma, Bhikkhuni Phước Từ
[1] Digha Nikaya 16, Trường Bộ Kinh 16, Kinh Ðại Bát-Niết-Bàn (Mahàparinibbàna sutta), translated into Vietnamese by the Most Ven. Thích Minh Châu, https://www.budsas.org/uni/u-kinh-truongbo/truong16.htm. Quote translated into English by Bhikkhuni Giới Hương.
Rev. Phước Từ (below stage at far right)
Bhikkhuni Giới Hương (standing in the middle, sixth from left)
Conference of Vietnam America Fellowship Buddhist Sangha
Anaheim, California, December 15, 2019
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