Written by Bonnie Osborn

We invited Brother Chuc Thanh to come with us to Satchidananda Ashram, a Yoga Ashram in Buckingham, VA, for their Thanksgiving celebration.  We left early Thurs at 5 AM in order to arrive in time for their “All Faiths Celebration”. 

The main goal of the L.O.T.U.S. Shrine (Light Of Truth Universal Shrine) is to bring the different religions together in their message of Truth.  They had representatives for Islam, American Indian, Christianity, Hinduism and All Other Faiths, but did not have a representative for Buddhism.  So when we arrived and brought Brother Chuch Thanh to the main hall where the ceremony was to take place, we introduced him to W. Dayananda, who immediately asked if he would give the presentation for Buddhism-How Perfect!  He graciously agreed.  He was given a beautiful prayer to recite when presenting an offering of rice: “By the power of the Buddhas and the ancestors may this rice be purified.  We offer it wholeheartedly to all beings.  We pray that all will partake of this offering and, letting go of selfishness, realize the true mind.  May all beings enjoy happy and prosperous lives!”  and chanted the Heart Sutra in Vietnamese.  Then the mike was passed around the room for individuals to express their wishes of thankfulness. 

People were so moved by his energy and presence in doing this they profusely thanked him afterwards and asked him to give a talk that night.  Thinking, because of the holiday there might only be 6-8 people there, we were surprised to find a roomful of about 40!
He gave a very concise talk about thanking ones family, caring for them, and each other, the four categories of thanking from the Buddhist perspective-the triple jewel (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha), the Teacher (spiritual and educational), the parent, and national and local providers and security.  There was a question about describing emptiness to which he talked about when you look into a mirror and you see yourself.  When you walk away you are no longer there.  The mirror is empty, it only reflects.   He asked us the Kohan about who came first the father or the son, which everyone thoughtfully received.   Following, a time of questions, he received such questions about his practice, a particular type of meditation he would recommend, to which he said the Buddha talked about there being 84,000 different types of practice meditation.  One he opened up to the room regarding the Karma involved with trying to help someone who doesn’t seem to want to be helped.  Many opinions were expressed including the necessity to allow them to go thru their Karma probably containing lessons they need to learn and the Karma of the helper to stand back and not control the situation.  It ended with Brother Chuc Thanh chanting the Heart Sutra and a peaceful meditation.

Bonnie Osborn