-
The Peaceful Spring
(The Year of Mouse – 2008)
Thích
Trừng Sỹ
Yearly,
just every time the spring that comes informs us of old-gone year and
new-arriving year, we each have a new spring, new vitality, new
peacefulness, and the new-going direction for life.
“The
spring brings us much source of unutterable joy,
The
jubilant spring is full of feast and amusement,
All
long year comforts only spring,
The
spring and Lunar New Year arrive, my life adds lively source.”[1]
According to Buddhist view of insight, when the spring comes, we have
one more year of age, that is to say, we cut down on one year old. Human
life, we stipulate temporarily, has about eighty years of age. For
example, at the present time, we live to be twenty years of age, that
is, we reduce twenty years old, we only remain sixty years of age.
“This
morning everyone says one more year old,
I
tell them this day cuts down on one year.”[2]
In the
past twenty springs and in the forthcoming and coming sixty springs, the
things we did, we are doing, and we shall do, do not go beyond the main
purposes, that is, bring the benefits for us, bring them for others, and
bring them for all, we are happy to do. Conversely, the things we say,
think, and do, do not bring the benefits for all, we are determined not
to do.[3]
We know human life dies and lives in every breath, we try to make an
effort to cultivate, to learn, and to practice the Buddha’s teachings to
steady on the way of life, to advance on the way of the dharma to bring
peacefulness and happiness for others and for ourselves.
“Today
passed,
Our
life shortens,
Look
at it carefully,
What
did we do?
The
great assembly, make an effort together,
Practice the Buddha’s teachings wholeheartedly,
Live
deeply and leisurely,
Remember impermanence,
Do
not let months and days
Elapse uselessly.”[4]
As the
Buddha’s disciples, we cultivate the Buddha’s dharma, we know human body
that is formed by four great elements and five aggregates[5]
dies and lives in every moment, we have our firm heart to learn the
dharma, to understand it, to practice it, to protect it, and to
propagate it.
“The
body is like a flash of lightning at sunset,
In
the spring, grass and trees are verdant, in the autumn they fade and
wither,
Despite the vicissitudes of life, I fear nothing,
The
vicissitudes are like drops of dew on a blade of grass.”[6]
Spending the springs, we say what the Buddha has said, think what he has
thought, and do what he has done, we understand and have right
confidence. We take steady refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha,
and we are aware to protect the precept of no killing, no stealing, no
adultery, no telling a lie, and the precept of no taking alcohol, beer,
drugs, and smoke. Aware of practicing so, our life is joyful and happy,
we actually bring the peaceful spring for all living things and living
beings. Now, let us read out a verse of the Maitreya Spring
together:
The
spring has already arrived; thousand flowers are everywhere gorgeous,
Lotuses
open slightly, young baby’s laughter resounds,
In the
spring, going to Pagoda, we pervades our sincere heart,
In the
Maitreya Spring, the heart with the heart loves together.
The
spring has already come; celebrating the cool singing sentence,
Paying
homage to the Buddha, picking flowers I offer to him.
The
spring loves life in the warm sunlight of native land,
The
Maitrya Spring is the heart spring of tens of thousands of the
directions,
The
spring which comes is happy, yellow apricots are thorough the way,
Oh,
you, do not forget to cultivate the good things,
Giving alms, mercifulness, patience, sympathy,
Tens
of thousands of the hearts are connected; everyone takes refuge in the
Precepts.
The
spring comes the spring goes, and the spring exists forever,
People
who come go, bring a feeling of peacefulness,
Vigour
and smile cherish compassion,
Quickly illuminate Buddhism - the practical and valuable path in our
native country together.”[7]
We know
when the spring comes; hundreds of flowers display the bloom, all things
in the universe change and move, but there are the everlasting things
unchanging, viz. the sincere heart, the dharma path, the devout
heart, and brotherhood, etc.
“Several tens of years before, we are not born yet,
Several tens of years after, we were born and shall be die,
Our life that appears in about the time will disappear,
There is only our sincere heart forever.”[8]
“Virtuous
fragrance pervades near and far,
Flower-garden of the dharma path blossoms all year round.”[9]
“Although
we walk ten thousand the worldly ways,
Our devout heart
does not leave a part of consumption.”[10]
Or:
“Despite ten thousand -mile-long roads
Brother-hood
that is far from the ten thousand directions is near as well.”[11]
Indeed,
the sincere heart, the dharma path, the devout heart, and
brother-hood we have enough, all things we can do, if short of
those things, certainly we do not easily succeed in all the fields of
our life. On the route to enlightenment and freedom of the spirit, we
each know how to cultivate and water the fresh seeds, the peaceful
spring in your heart and in our heart flourishes in all the directions,
and we hold our hands together to go for a stroll in life-and-death,
death-and-life.
“When our heart has the spring, everything in the universe has the
spring,
When
our heart is peaceful, every place in the world is also peaceful.”[12]
“The
spring day the spring in the mountain,
All
the spring matters are the spring,
In
the spring lake the spring light radiates,
The
spring air is full of the spring cloud,
The
spring visitor the spring heart touches,
The
spring verse the spring is the fresher,
Only
the spring knows the spring,
All
kalpa a spring.”[13]
Lunar
New Year - Tết of the Vietnamese people that comes back is to remind us
of Ancestors, Grandparents, Parents, fatherland, and ancestral land,
where we were born and grow up. Directing our sincere heart towards
native country, we respectfully wish the Honoured Monks, Nuns, and
near-far Buddhists full enjoyment of the Maitreya Spring –
peacefulness and happiness.
“The
spring that comes already goes, but the heart spring is immortal,
Flowers that bloom already fade, but devout flowers keep all fresh,
Wish
for everyone and wish for me as well,
The
Maitreya Spring is the eternally happy spring.”[14]
Bản dịch tiếng Việt
http://www.buddhismtoday.com/english/vietnam/country/thepeacefulspring.htm