As we have announced regarding the Vietnamese Dharma class, Dong Hung Temple had an opening class at 8:00 PM on Tuesday, August 31^st 2010, with the theme “Basic course on Buddhism” for the Vietnamese Buddhist followers.

Eventhough we had just finished the Ullambana event on Sunday, and everyone was still exhausted and barely caught up with sleep, teachers and students alike - no one wants to cancel. So members of the class gathered at the Temple on time and with enthusiasm and curiosity for the first session. Thầy Chúc Thanh – a main teacher for the course - went through the agenda for the 12-week course, touched on the rules and regulations, and gave advices for studying Buddhism, and so on…

After the short question and answer period, the first class ended with happiness and joyful moment for everyone.

On August 7, 2010 the second class began with focus on the Three Jewels - both in theory and in practice. Although everyone present in the class already took refuges in the Triple Gems and was familiar with this topic, however, when the teacher went into more details on the subject, everyone felt very surprised and interested. As usual, the class has two parts: the first part focuses on the teacher’s sharing and the second part is for everyone to discuss and learn together. We witnessed the happy atmosphere when everyone participated in the second part of the class. For the Vietnamese Buddhists living in America, they rarely have the chance to write in Vietnamese because they mostly always use English in their daily life, so when taking notes, they have some difficulties with writing in Vietnamese, especially with Buddhist terminology such as “Thế gian trụ trì Tam Bảo, “xuất thề gian Tam Bảo”, etc… So this class is also a chance for Vietnamese Buddhist followers to review and practice their long-forgotten Vietnamese writing skill.

Most of the attendants have taken refuges and received their five precepts but most didn’t have a chance to study correct and pragmatic Buddhism before this class. Therefore, the course is a welcome to all to satisfy the Buddhists’ quest and desire to formally study Buddhism as necessitated to be official disciples of the Tathagatha.