ABOUT THIS LIFE – VEN. THAY THANH

Some Observations about This Life

Teaching in Virginia Beach in 2016, Ven. Chuc Thanh said “Everything comes from your mind. Life does not disturb us.  We are the ones who disturb life.”  Later in the same discussion he observed that This life is left over from previous lives.  Unless we do good things in this life, we will exhaust our merit.”  Later in 2016 when teaching in Southern Shores, NC, he shared “The quality of living is not counted in years. It is counted in the quality of your practice.”

When thinking about these observations, a definition of “merit” is important to know.  Chuc Thanh teaches us that one definition of karma is that it is intentional (volitional) thoughts, words and actions.  The results of our volitional thoughts, words and actions are merit (positive), demerit (negative) or neutral (neither positive or negative).  The only thing we take from life to life is karma, the merit or demerit we develop during each lifetime.

(Venerable Thich Chuc Thanh is the Dharma Master at Dong Hung Temple. These quotations were collected from 2015 through 2018 as he taught in Virginia Beach, VA and Southern Shores, NC.  The quotation titles and commentary are by Mark Palamara.)