New Year's Eve at Phat Quang Pagoda

Outside the pagoda's veranda, the cold night wind of New Year's Eve carried the faint fragrance of agarwood incense. Candles flickered on the altar, casting a warm glow that bathed the quiet space in golden light. Inside the main hall, several Buddhist practitioners sat in quiet retreat, their faces contemplative yet their eyes shining with an indescribable joy. The temple bell rang out into the night, like a reminder that the new year had arrived, and that each person was in a truly special place.

Thay Thich Chan Quang sat among them, his gentle gaze sweeping over each familiar face. He spoke, his voice deep and warm, each word carrying weight: "New Year's Eve is the time when we give our closeness and love to the people we cherish most. For most, that is family. But there are those who have chosen the pagoda as their warmest home of love to return to and welcome the new year. That is a truly precious heart."

Thay recounted that some practitioners could not abandon their families, yet did not want to abandon the pagoda either, so they found a unique solution: they brought their entire households to the pagoda to welcome the new year. Some came as couples, others brought the whole family with three children in tow. "And there are those who are especially simple—unmarried, coming up to the pagoda all alone. That is the most streamlined of all," Thay said with a smile. The pagoda is not only a place of practice, but has become a true home, sowing seeds of good cause and effect (karmic law) for the future.

Thay reflected, remembering: "In the past, on New Year's Eve, I chose the pagoda rather than staying home. My home was nearby, but I did not return. I stayed overnight at the pagoda, and that very year I ordained." His voice suddenly grew serious: "I ordained that year because the cause and effect (karmic law) had already been set in motion. So those of you present at the pagoda this New Year's Eve—watch out, you may all ordain this year!" Laughter erupted, but behind it lay a profound reminder about karma.

Then Thay turned his gaze toward the outside world, a year filled with tragedies. He mentioned the Malaysian airplane that vanished mysteriously, flying across the Indian Ocean before plunging into the deep sea without a trace. Then the plane shot down over Ukrainian skies, and another that crashed into the sea after losing control. Thay's sigh merged into the stillness: "The same Malaysian airline—a Ukrainian pilot flew up, mistook it for an enemy aircraft, fired a missile, and everyone perished, not a single soul survived."

Thay also spoke of the brutality of a group calling itself an Islamic state in the Middle East, with barbaric acts such as beheadings and burning people alive, enraging the entire Islamic world. "We do not understand what people in this world are thinking, and if they think this way, where will this world end up?" Thay said, his voice full of concern.

He then turned to economic matters, noting that falling oil prices had left many oil-exporting nations reeling. "Our country is also an oil and gas exporter. So if we extract oil from our fields and sell it at such low prices, we take a loss—we simply stop extracting." Thay emphasized, "This chaotic, suffering, cruel world at times slips out of the hands of the divine."

Thay explained that the celestial beings in the heavens have a duty to care for humanity, but when humans are not good, when they are too cruel, the celestial beings turn away and let humans bear their own cause and effect (karmic law). "Divine intervention, wonders, or miracles only occur when there is the action of the divine. And the divine only intervenes when humans have a kind and wholesome mind/heart." Thay made it clear: "We must first live virtuously, and naturally we will attract the attention of the divine. Then miracles will happen."

Thay told of a film called "Covery" (perhaps "Galaxy Wars" or a similar film), in which a priest taught his followers to pray to heaven for everything. A nonbeliever came to ask about a child born without arms or legs, and then burned down the church to prove there was no heaven or earth. In the end, the priest was shot dead out of sheer frustration. "That film is very bitter," Thay observed, "because people fell into an extreme. At first, we attribute everything to heaven, so when disappointment comes, people turn completely against it."

Thay emphasized the importance of believing in cause and effect (karmic law). "Because we believe in cause and effect (karmic law), we see that everything good or bad has its own causes and results. When we succeed, we are not arrogant; when we fail, we are not in anguish. Keeping the mind/heart at peace like this is something most precious in this life."

Thay spoke of Vietnam's good fortune, that because so many people practice spiritual cultivation, the nation is protected by the divine. He recounted a trip to Quang Binh, where a pagoda had been destroyed by a storm. He gave a talk on "how to stop a storm," and afterward, a super typhoon with winds of three hundred sixty-five kilometers per hour approached, but suddenly veered ninety degrees and dissipated. "It seemed to be a confirmation that what Thay taught was right: when humans use the spiritual and moral mind/heart, they can transform karma, transform even heaven and earth."

Thay also mentioned a story from the Old Testament of Christianity, about the city of Sodom, where people lived in indulgence, degradation, and deceit. The divine decided to destroy the city, but an angel descended to find ten virtuous people to spare it. In the end, only one old man was found; the angel told him to pack up and leave, and the city was wiped out. "This story fits reality very well," Thay said. "If this world were full of evil people and evil deeds, the end of the world would come at once."

Thay explained that the goodness in the world, though enough to keep the earth from being destroyed, is not yet enough to overcome evil, so people still suffer from disasters and epidemics. "Therefore, we must strive to cultivate our minds so that we become ever more saintly. And the goodness in our hearts must spread to everyone around us." Thay emphasized, "A good deed is only truly called good when it can pass on to others."

Thay told of a hermit high in the mountains, living gently and saintly, eating wild vegetables, drinking spring water, never once raising an evil thought. "But in truth, that goodness is still not good enough, because it is good only for himself. Only when his goodness spreads out into this world is he truly a good person."

Thay also shared that in the old days, when he first came to the pagoda, he too had thought about living as a recluse. "But fortunately, somehow, Thay thought one way while his Buddha-nature planned another. Looking back now, I am startled. If that thought had come true, Thay would have gone down the wrong path. Because we may imagine ourselves to be good, but if in truth we are good only for ourselves, that does not yet count as good."

Thay concluded, "When we practice and also help others practice, that is precisely protecting the world. Goodness is the shield, the invisible armor that guards this earth."

Thay distinguished between the joy of the saints and the joy of ordinary people. "We ordinary people rejoice over worldly matters—for example, a child getting married, having a grandchild, meeting an old love, or a poem winning a prize. The saints rejoice because their practice has progressed over the past year, because their meditative concentration has deepened." Thay emphasized, "When the mind/heart is purified, and one uses that purity to remember that this body is subject to impermanence (anicca), to remember that this mind/heart is non-self (anatta)—only such a person has the joy of the saints."

Thay asked the assembly, "In the past year, is there anyone who has made no mistakes at all? Raise your hand." Then he said, "If someone without any mistakes raises their hand, that person would destroy this world. Because that person is deluded. Only a Buddha is free of faults, only an Arhat is free of faults—we all still have faults. When we look at ourselves and see our own faults, then we are people of wisdom who know how to practice."

Outside on the pagoda's veranda, the wind still blew, but inside the main hall, each person could feel a quiet strength—the strength of a wholesome mind/heart, of awareness. The new year is not only a time for celebration, but also a moment to look back, to practice, and to spread goodness into the world.

The Meaning of the Story

This story emphasizes the importance of living virtuously, cultivating the spirit, and believing in cause and effect (karmic law). Every good action, every wholesome thought can contribute to protecting the world, making our nation and our lives more peaceful. True joy does not come from material success or fame, but from progress in practice, from recognizing the impermanence (anicca) and non-self (anatta) of body and mind. And true goodness only has value when it spreads to others, not when it is kept for oneself alone.

Compiled from a dharma talk by the Venerable Thich Chan Quang