My Indian pilgrimage started from a word, “duyên” (predestined), because my heart (Tịnh Binh) and my wife (Quảng Trí) in Connecticut always prayed that we wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Buddha’s land. At the websites www.huongsentemple.com and thuvienhoasen.org (Lotus Library), there were announcements of the organization of three pilgrimage groups to five Buddhist countries, of which the second delegation to India was headed by Venerable Giới Hương, abbess of Hương Sen Temple in Southern California, Perris, so we made contact and registered.
Through the website www.huongsentemple, we learned that Ven. TN Giới Hương is a smart nun (as seen in her education) who meticulously and strictly practiced according to the tradition of the late Most Venerable Hải Triều Âm, a well-known nun in Vietnam. Thus, we were excited to join.
The delegation consisted of twenty-one people from many states of the United States visiting the Kuan Yin Bodhisattva at Putou Mountain, China and then the Indian Buddhist holy places. Due to the skillful arrangement of the leader, the trip ran smoothly; people enjoyed good health, food, and transportation, and recited sutras, listened to Dharma talks every day, recited Buddha's name, and listened to the history of relics. She also called on all three delegations to make charitable contributions to a primary school in Kushinagar, where Buddha entered nirvana, and distributed basic supplies and food to 150 poor families at the monastery of Venerable Dr. Sumedha in Sarnath. With kindness, Venerable Dr. Sumedha personally took our delegation to visit the Deer Park, Sarnath, explained some history at special places, and gave souvenirs to our group before we left for the United States. After visiting the four holy Buddhist places, there was another memorable highlight: our delegation visited and presented gifts to twenty-seven Vietnamese monks and nuns studying at New Delhi University under the organization of Venerable Dr. Thích Hạnh Chánh, chairman of the Student Council of Buddhist Studies. We know that with the merit from this offering, our group will reap many favorable conditions to generate merit and wisdom because these student monastics are sowing the seeds of Buddha's awareness. Through this meaningful visit, we learned that in the past, Ven. TN Giới Hương also attended Delhi University for ten years (1995–2005), at the same time as Venerable Hạnh Chánh, but he stayed in Delhi to teach, while Venerable Giới Hương continued to study in the United States.
Here Ven. TN Giới Hương’s heart and aspirations were clearly expressed: she does not forget her beloved old university and the difficulty experienced by the next generation of monastics, so she sometimes organizes a pilgrimage to India also for the purpose of visiting and encouraging the spirit of the student monastics in a Buddhist relationship. At the same time, she shares experiences of studying at a US university in a bachelor's program in literature and preaching in the United States. She was willing to guide and support the accommodations for them, especially nuns who after graduating in India wanted to study in America following her lead.
Going back to the journey, the patience of the personnel, climate, environment, food, work force, and the loving kindness of Ven. Giới Hương extremely impressed us. This is a silent, powerful manifestation of Ven. Giới Hương’s deep practice and great vow for the sake of future generations. Therefore, she has a plan to build a nunnery at Hương Sen Temple in order to train future nuns who can succeed their predecessors, promote the teachings, and bring the light of the Buddha's wisdom outside the scope of the Vietnamese Buddhist community.
Venerable Giới Hương guides enlightenment to serve human life in many ways, such as writing books, composing poems, making music, giving lectures here and there, including for inmates at US prisons, and teaching Buddhist classes in English at Vietnam Buddhist University in HCMC. With a clear, modern roadmap, she is a source of spiritual strength for many nuns in the world and in their homeland, who vow to follow in her footsteps. We are extremely grateful to Ven. Giới Hương for working hard to organize the pilgrimage to the land of the Buddha, visiting the four holy places related to the life of Buddha (birth, enlightenment, turning the wheel of Dharma, and entering nirvana), so that we could experience the sacred relics as mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures and generate strong faith in the Triple Gem. In addition, during the pilgrimage, for fifteen days except for when we slept, we were engaged in ten wholesome deeds depending on predestined conditions, using the circumstances to give rise to good deeds (bodhicitta) such as donating alms, keeping precepts, practicing mindfulness (vedanānupassanā), chanting, doing walking meditation, and being close to respectable monks and nuns, especially listening to Ven. Giới Hương’s teachings on long-distance trips often. We had many opportunities to share our experiences in practice and study with other groups in the transitional days in China. We were very happy with the good things that we had personally and the whole team in general had done. At the same time, we did not forget to dedicate these merits to our parents and children to be happy and to have the good predestination to generate wisdom and happiness in life, and we also often reminded each other to confess if we committed mistakes during the pilgrimage process.
When we took up a pen to record our journey starting with the word “duyên” (predestined) with Venerable Giới Hương, gentle joy arose and infused our mind. The memory of theory and practice sessions on the bus thoroughly taught by Venerable Giới Hương, as seen in her scholarly knowledge of both traditions, Theravada and Mahayana. As a result, we have a greater understanding of the ideology, common denominator, and special difference in practical aspects between the two traditions in general. We promise to try our best to study and follow the example of Venerable Bhikkhuni Giới Hương, and according to our humble ability, we will contribute to support her aspiration to build a Buddhist institute in Perris, Southern California.
Connecticut, November 30, 2019
Best regards,
Mrs. Quảng Trí and Mr. Tịnh Bình This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
At Indo-Sri Lanka Temple, Varanasi
Left: Chánh Hảo, Ven. Giới Hương, Rev. Diệu Nga, Rev. Diệu Hoa,
Mrs. Quảng Trí, and Mr. Tịnh Bình with two Tibetan nuns
Tibetan University, Sarnath on September 14, 2019
Please read all articles and view all photos:6.7._A_Word_of_Duyen_-_Predestined-_Quang_Tri_va_Tinh_Binh.pdf
