- English Section
Venerable Thich An Hue
Dieu Hoa
(On the occasion of Venerable Thich An Hue’s 84th Birthday)
The Sunday morning prayer rituals just ended. Venerable Thich Vien Ly reminded all the members of the regular
weekly schedules at the temple. Every night there is a prayer session at 7pm and on Sunday a lecture at 11am followed by a prayer session remembering those who have passed away as well as wishing good health and long life to those who are still living.
Then he introduced Venerable Thich An Hue. Venerable Thich An Hue is an American. He is 84 years old and has followed in the path of Shakyamuni Buddha for almost over five decades. The members listened to the accomplishments of Venerable An Hue and were all fascinated by the miracle that saved his life.
Venerable Thich An Hue was born 84 years ago, as Claude
- Ware. He graduated with a Master degree in music, and then obtained the highest degree in higher education, a Ph.D. in Psychology. This multi-faceted, multi-talented man became a professor and taught at several universities and colleges.You can say that he was at the highest peak of his career. There was
no way else but up for this highly educated, highly motivated and well-read young man. As “he was going up the ladder,” so to speak, of his profession, he got married and raised a family. He has the best of both worlds.
But then, one day his worlds collapsed. With the daily stress of every day life, his health deteriorated to the point that his visits to the hospital became more frequent. His whole world crumbled around him. It’s no longer a laughing matter. He needed a miracle. Where to turn, what to do? In the darkest moments of his life, his prayers were answered.
After the rain, comes the sunshine. A bright light appeared at the end of the tunnel. This bright light came in the form of an old friend. This friend told him that in order to save his life, he needed to turn practice meditation.
“Meditation”, he asked. “Me?????”
“Give it a try,” said his friend, “you will see how it can help improve your health.” Perplexed but hopeful he listened to his friend and soon thereafter his health improved significantly. That was the story of a few decades ago, when Claude C. Ware first learned about meditation. As he was attending meditation classes, he got more and more involved in the Buddhist activities at the temple, became so interested in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. He was no longer doubtful about the sacredness of the teaching, the path to the truth, the cessation of the sufferings, the eternal deliverance from death and rebirth, etc... In fact, his belief grew so strong and so powerful that he became a disciple of the Buddha, received the Buddhist name of Thich An Hue and later joined the sacred Sangha. For over five decades, Venerable An Hue continues to practice the dharma and the tradition of sharing his learning to all people in his path.
Patiently waiting for the applause from the members who
were listening to his life story to stop, Venerable An Hue greeted all the members to the temple, reminded them to always live by the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and to become true Buddhist disciples. He concluded his five-minute talk by reminding everyone that every Saturday night, he conducts a meditation session for about one hour, then a half hour talk on the practices and theories of meditation and a Q& A session for all students.
I have listened to this reminder for the last two and a half years, and every time, I could not help saying to myself, “Please do not waste your time on us. We are lost in this material world. No teaching, no meditating, no praying will ever save us. We just want Buddha to give us everything we ask for, and expect nothing in return.”
But today, something strange just churned away my thought and stopped it dead in its track! How many times has this patient man said those same simple few words and how many times more will he say them? Why does he care so much about us that he does not mind sounding like a broken record? Who gave him so much compassion, patience and love in his heart to keep offering to us, strangers, the way to salvation, to deliverance, to stop suffering, to rejoice in the light of Buddha?
What have I done? Who am I to judge anybody, let alone this gentle old priest, with the bright eyes behind his worn out spectacles, draped in yellow garb made of pieces of fabric sewn together? Did he sense my disrespectful thought and was he glaring in my direction? I sheepishly raised my head and with all my courage looked at him, expecting the worst. But no, with his back straight, with a little white hair starting to show on his shaved head and with the most indescribable gentle smile on his lips, Venerable Thich An Hue stood there, as merciful and as insightful as his Buddhist name depicts.
Then I looked beyond him and my eyes could not stray away from Shakyamuni Buddha, who sat up there on the stage, with the halo of resplendent lights around him and with a gentle smile on his lips.
As my heart skipped a beat, I recognized the same smile, the same garb, and felt the same sensation of ever overflowing love, compassion and peacefulness.
Why did his “many” reminders make such a profound impression on me this morning? Why did he have to remind all of us so “many times” to learn and practice meditation? These words brought me back to the memory of a few months ago, when I attended a lecture at a three-day Buddhist retreat at Bao Phap temple. I remembered how these same words brought tears to my eyes while I listened to Venerable Thich Nguyen Sieu’s lecture about the indignities that Buddha was subject to while carrying his message to the world.
In his lecture, Venerable Thich Nguyen Sieu recounted one of the many stories from the lives of Shakyamuni Buddha from the prayer book “Agama Sutra”. While Buddha was teaching at a village, he stayed in the forest nearby. Adhering to the daily rituals, Buddha would go to the houses in the village to “beg” for food. For four days, Buddha on his route came to the same house for food. The noble, owner of the house, for four days had reverently offered his food to Buddha. However on the fifth day, he became annoyed with the rituals and finally could no longer hold his tongue. He asked of Buddha “Why did you so many times come to my house and beg for food? I already gave you food the many days before, how many more times will you be asking me to give you food?”
Buddha gently replied, “Many, many, many times more.”
Then Buddha preached to the noble: “How many times has a human being gone through death and rebirth? Have you ever
seen anybody do something only one time? How many times do you eat, sleep, wake, walk, run, love, hate, cry, arrive, depart? How many times have you been to a cemetery to say goodbye to loved ones? How many times have you been disappointed because your desires did not come true? I will be doing this for many times more so I can create opportunities for people to learn and understand the four Noble truths, the Eight Rightful Paths, the Purification of the Mind, the Impermanence of all things, etc... and only until my message has been received by all, then shall I rest.”
How appropriately did those same words resonate in Venerable Thich An Hue’s gentle reminder. He will not rest until all of us learn to practice meditation, to find peace in our mind, to understand the dharma, to purify our hearts and to reach nirvana. And like Buddha, he shall many, many, many times more carry the same message across the land.
For years, I have thought that persevering in the use of prayers will help me attain the final goal. But I found out that prayers alone are not enough. In order to reach the ultimate goal, I must control my passions and calm my mind. And how can I do that? By meditating. Venerable Thich An Hue just showed me a path to my destination, starting with this lifetime and in preparation for many more to come. I decided to participate in his Saturday night meditation sessions. “I’ll give it a try,” I said to myself.
The few times that I arrived early for the session, I expected to find nobody in the main prayer room of the temple. But I was mistaken, Venerable An Hue was there, sitting calmly and serenely on his pillows, in front of Buddha, eyes closed, with his right hand caressing the beads of his chain, one by one. The room was imbued with the smell of burning incense. The dim light created a sensation of reverie, mystery and peacefulness. I bowed to Buddha, silently pulled a pillow and sat down.
Strangely I felt like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. A feeling of abandonment, like nothing else matters anymore, embraced me. All exasperation, frustration, anger and anxiety suddenly vanished. What were left was complete silence, complete stillness, and complete harmony with the surroundings.
“Breathe in, I calm my body.” “Breathe out, I clear my mind.”
Meditation should not be a task to which we force ourselves “with gritted teeth and clenched fists,” it should rather be something that draws us, because it fills us with joy and aspiration, wrote Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda, in his book “What Buddhists Believe.”
As I was contemplating from the corner of my eyes the devoted figure of Venerable An Hue in deep concentration in front of the Buddha, I suddenly felt so blessed that my heart is engulfed with appreciation. Appreciation for the chance to practice the teaching of Buddha, to have the guidance of the Sangha, and most of all to benefit from the gentle and consistent push from Venerable Thich An Hue. Through him, I now realize that to have a healthy body and mind and to have peace in life, I should strive and learn how to practice meditation as this is the way towards enlightenment.
Thank you Venerable Thich An Hue for showing me the way. Nam Mo A Di Da Phat
(California, USA)
