Category: Dharma
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From Monastery to Canada
Yesterday marked six months since I left the monastery. It’s was also my son’s 24th birthday. And my dad arrived for a short Father’s Day visit. This seemed like a good time to reflect on what’s been happening these past months. I’ve settled into a very nice 2-bedroom apartment in Abbotsford that’s within walking distance…
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Living a Spiritual Life
A teaching on living a spiritual life by looking at volition, sense impressions, and consciousness. Supported by the Fourteen Verses of Meditation.
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Living in a Monastery
It was 2020 and I was living alone in a studio apartment and working remotely. The covid pandemic had fully settled in to our society and I was feeling lonely, upset and not well. I had spent the prior year trying to get better from my clinical depression and in February 2020 I had left…
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Whiteness and Healing Racism
Recently I have been engaged in a conversation with a dharma friend who is questioning the idea of white people talking to each other about white supremacy and if it’s possibly doing more harm than good. What you will read below are my thoughts in response to my friend. It felt important to share some…
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Practice through Darkness
This is a talk I offered on May 11, 2020 to the Be Here Now sangha in Montana. An audio version is available at the bottom of the post. Ancestor Acknowledgement Before we begin, I want to acknowledge and embrace the many generations of Vietnamese who carried Buddhism to us through our Teacher, Thay, and…
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Buddhism in Everyday Life
This is part two of a talk I gave at the Vista Buddhist Temple on November 9, 2019. You can listen to part one here. In the second part, I explore what mindfulness means, how to practice mindfulness, how to maintain mindfulness, and the Five Mindfulness Trainings.
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Touching Ancestors: Guided Meditation
“For over 4 billion years the earth has been here, holding and feeding single-celled organisms, dinosaurs, plants and flowers, and humans. We acknowledge and embrace the many generations of Vietnamese who carried Buddhism to us through our Teacher, Thay, and helped build the sangha in new lands.” Thus begins a guided meditation offered at the…