Aaron Taylor
“Already in High School I thought about Buddhism, not because I questioned the validity of my faith, because I grew up Catholic, I just didn’t believe there was anything wrong with other religions. When I was growing up, my parents separated and got a divorce. It wasn’t an easy divorce,…
Banthe Seewalimala
“In our culture, when a young boy is ordained, it means the family is losing the child. My mother would not be able to call me son anymore, she would have to call me Banthe. I still remember that during the ordination ceremony, one of my sisters was holding my…
Yuttasak Thammajali
“I was 12 years old, and I didn’t know anything. I just followed my dad. He said I should become a monk. At that time I didn’t know what a monk does, but when I became a monk, I studied and I practiced – now I understand. I am happy…
Helen Hobart
“I am a chaplain at a psychiatric center at an acute care facility, where people are mostly involuntarily, because they have tried to harm themselves or sometimes others. So I often meet people in a time of near death, brought from the ER. They are facing the consequences of…
Thich Quang Thuan
“When I turned 2 years old, my father left Vietnam. He was a boat person. So I grew up without a father, and the traditional thinking is that children growing up without their father will get into trouble. When I was 13, my mother worried about me and sent me…
Bob Andresen
“I had experienced Buddhism while I was in the Navy. I had a girlfriend in Japan and went to some temples there. It always stayed in the back of my mind. When I was a youth, there was no religion in my house, and when I got married, my wife…
Great Compassion Mantra – Chu Dai Bi
Thich Hanh Tri chanting the Great Compassion Mantra or the Mantra of Avalokiteshvara