Dear Venerable Bhikkhuni Giới Hương,
I congratulate your forty years of study and propagation! Time has passed quickly, from the day I was a little child often following you to a temple. After that, you went to India and the United States, while I became a nun in Vietnam.
Dear auntie, I have a good predestination to be born in a Buddhist lineage in which many people became nuns according to the Buddha’s teachings. When I was six, seven years old, I didn't know anything about Buddhism, but I remember that whenever you visited my mother (your older sister, you are the third in the family), “Đen” (Black, my nickname at home) used to go with you to temples, while my younger sister, “Nâu” (Brown), who was about three or four years old, just burst into tears at seeing you come in because she thought you looked a strange one with a bald head. My childhood was very beautiful; with the arrival of every summer, after school closed, you came and picked me up (little black girl) to go to Linh Sơn Cổ Tự Pagoda (Vũng Tàu, Bà Rịa) to listen to a lecture and swim at the beach together. You like the sea, so that once we were on the beach, we spent around four hours, because Saigon and Delhi do not have the sea. Along the way, for a few days, you often introduced the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha to my immature mind and taught me little by little about prostrations and rituals. When I followed you, I was able to eat delicious vegetarian food and brought back fruits of mangos or bananas (fortunes from Buddha’s gifts), so I liked it a lot. You were the first one to plant the Bodhi seed in my mind since I was a child. It is a beautiful memory; I’ll never forget it.
Just like that, the image of nuns and the Triple Jewel crept into my mind, which I didn't acknowledge at all when I grew up and had a private life. Each person has her own life, and I was too busy for a while to remember the temple and you. At that time, you went to study in Delhi and the United States to expand your knowledge of Buddhism and devote yourself to education. One day, suddenly the great honor of the Three Jewels arose in my heart; I suddenly really wanted to live at the temple to listen to the dharma daily, and the thirst to become a nun was nurtured from there.
Finally, I decided to follow in the footsteps of my two real aunts, Venerable Bhikkhuni Giới Hương and Bhikkhuni Trí Minh, who have been nuns for a long time. My parents and my family are devout Buddhists, so they supported my wish.
That's why I think that the holy seeds planted since childhood have not been lost. When predestined conditions are replete, they will sprout and develop. I feel happy being a nun; there is no higher happiness. This is the only way leading to a peaceful and lasting liberation for the benefit of myself and others.
I pay homage to the grateful Venerable Bhikkhuni Giới Hương—a spiritual teacher, a precious aunt—who has graciously sowed Bodhi seeds since I was a child. Although you said nothing, your simple, pure monastic image silently lifted my mind.
I pray wholeheartedly to study and follow you to success on the Buddhist path that you left at Huong Sen Pagoda in Bình Chánh, Sàigòn. I will try to complete the path and develop in the way I can. May the Three Jewels bless you and Bhikkhuni Trí Minh, and may all nuns at Hương Sen (in Vietnam and the United States) be peaceful and long-lived to benefit everyone.
I also pray that the two Hương Sen temples be developed into great nunneries, the ideal spiritual places for monastics and laypeople relying on the way of liberation. It is one kind of repayment for the hard work and the establishment from your beginnings.
Namo Sakyamuni Buddha.
Dedicated to Venerable Bhikkhuni Giới Hương on the occasion of your
40th Anniversary in the Dharma and Service
Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, November 22, 2019
Respectfully,
śikṣamānā Viên Khuông
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śikṣamānā Viên Khuông (far right)
Samaneri Viên Hoàng, śikṣamānā Viên Khuông,
Venerable Thích Nữ Giới Hương, and Mother Phương (from left to right)
Please read all articles and view all photos:3.10.Nurture_a_Bodhi_seed_since_childhood-_Rev_Vien_Khuong.pdf
