My family members were all Buddhist practitioners, from my grandmother to my parents, and I just went along with them. But I didn’t really know much apart from the fact that we are Buddhist. We would go to the temple once in a while, mostly for the New Year, or…
My spiritual teacher is Thich Nhat Hanh. I started reading his work maybe 30 years ago, but until recently I was just an intellectual Buddhist. I read it, I really appreciated it, it resonated with me, but it wasn’t something I practiced in a diligent manner. Then, 6 years and…
“I was raised in a Catholic family, but over the years I became disenchanted. It just didn’t fit with me. I was very cynical for years, anti established religion and any religious institution. Then I came to meditation through my Aikido teacher. I was aware enough to realize that I…
“Becoming a practitioner was a gradual process for me. I first learned about Buddhism in the youth group at Kim Quang temple, attending a lot of Dharma classes. Later I started seeing those things manifest in my own life. For example, when I was a young boy, I used to…
“I am 9 years old, and I am an only child. I like it, but I would like to have a little brother or sister. It can get lonely sometimes. When my friends come to visit me, we play house, we pretend, or we ride our bikes. Riding my bike…
“What brought me to Buddhist practice was essentially emotional and psychological pain. Nothing worked, nothing could alleviate it, and nothing would make it subside. It just felt awful. I felt like I was hurting inside, my heart hurt, and I felt empty. There were multiple days when I felt like…
“I have been going inside the prisons for about 12 years. The reason I started is because it is my karma. My eldest son is in prison. It was a struggle when he was younger, dealing with his addiction problems. We couldn’t help him, as much as we tried. And…
