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Dear beloved Thầy,

I still endlessly reread letters that you sent to the monastic students and Vietnamese Buddhist youth. Every time I read your letters, I’m drawn into deep thoughts, reflecting on the challenging period of Vietnamese Buddhism and the century-old challenges that youth must face. Each reading offers fresh inspiration and profound empathy for your shared issues. Each letter not only paints a picture of the current situation but also serves as a map, guiding us toward the worldly future of Vietnamese Buddhism.

From the bottom of my heart, I’m grateful for your illuminating insights, revealing your wisdom on societal matters that youth is accustomed to and tends to overlook in this ever-changing world. You’ve shown us the path Vietnamese Buddhism is moving toward with Western influence - a path filled with obstacles but also with hope. We are fortunate to be nurtured by the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association and to live in the United States, the land of freedom and where profound Buddha teachings shine. Preserving Vietnamese culture has always been a core integration objective of our organization. Your warnings of the decline in spiritual morality serve as a wake-up call. You advise us that while embracing societal changes, it is crucial to retain the essence of our culture and Buddhist teachings and consider it the duty of Vietnamese Buddhist youth. Your eloquent and profound letters help us understand the balance between growth and preservation.

Dear beloved Teacher, I’m moved each time I feel your loving concern for the youth both at home and abroad. You are pained when you see that we are caught in the turbulent wave of globalization, influenced by politics and societal pressures, when we are lost and at risk of losing our cultural and spiritual roots. Your words are a call to action, urging us to transcend the apathy in education and the “sleeping pills” traditionally prescribed. We must see ourselves as educators and religious leaders.

Generations of Vạn Hạnh leaders in the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association have been exposed to your works, Vimalakirti Sutra and Srimala Sutra. Through your work, we see the grand vision of an integrated Buddhism firmly supporting us with the presence of Father figure Vimalakīrti Nirdeśa, Mother figure Queen Srimala, and Thiện Tài Đồng Tử figure our brothers and sisters. Despite knowing the challenges ahead, you place your trust and hope in the potential of our youth, wishing us to grow, stay connected with a moral and spiritual foundation, and act confidently with wisdom and compassion. This is a testament to your unshakable faith in us and the enduring strength to restore and elevate a unified Vietnamese Buddhism.

“Studying Buddhism to youth isn’t about becoming a Buddhist scholar, but rather about nurturing sharp and agile thinking in order to look directly into the nature of life,” you’ve wholeheartedly shared. Your letters act as a compass, prompting introspection, self-adjustment, and fostering a commitment to guide younger generations and preserve our precious spiritual values.

Through your letters, I grasp the worldly nature of the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association. Buddhism exists for the people and, with them, finds ways to alleviate suffering and lead to a harmonious world. This realization affirms the “miraculous” formation of the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association, seamlessly integrating worldly and spiritual perspectives according to the Buddhist way. The organization’s existence speaks to the innovation of our predecessors, who conceptualized Buddhist education for the youth. Yet, with societal shifts, if the organization only adheres to administrative norms and loses its essence, it risks becoming a just label. For the sake of humanity, Buddhism always transforms itself in the mission of “alleviating suffering” – pushing back metaphysical views and dry, abstract philosophies to be in sync with the world. For the sake of its youth members, the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association must also transform itself to integrate into different cultural contexts continuously. Failing to meet the needs and understanding of the young generation of our time, the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association will “age,” “withdraw,” and cede its position to other educational organizations; this is an inevitable outcome.

Through your letters, I understand that Bodhisattva’s aspiration isn’t something that can be built in a day or two, but it is a path filled with blood and tears, imprisonment, and the weight of chains. The Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association is present in countries with democratic freedoms, which is all the more reason to nurture the essence of “living the Dharma in life.” Buddhism teaches us that, with great compassion, we come to the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association and shoulder the responsibility of educating Buddhist youth; with great wisdom, we build a larger vessel to carry more, go farther and safer; and with great Perseverance, we have the courage to evolve and ensure that ship is equipped with the conditions of “self-benefit and benefiting other” ‘in order to preserve the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association.

The Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association, and we ourselves, are undergoing daily changes and innovations to integrate into American society. This demands a multifaceted transformation to allow the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association to fulfill its educational mission abroad. We have chosen the path of the GRAY color uniform in a foreign land, which means we have chosen the generation of young people born and raised on this land as the elements to inherit the traditions of Vietnamese Buddhism and develop the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association on a different scale. This foreign land demands from us a continuous search for new knowledge about the organization, new skills, new developments in our own hearts and souls, and new aspects of mindfulness and happiness… Only through this can we truly Understand and Love our younger generation. Hence, only through this can we hope to contribute to the evolution of the Vietnamese Buddhist Youth Association in the United States.

Years may pass, but the teachings of your letters still remain. Despite temporal shifts and the ups and downs of the Dharma and our country, the responsibility of sowing and nurturing the Bodhi seed always rests on the shoulders of successive generations in the history of Vietnamese Buddhism. Your message reminds us that the New Era and the New Society naturally give rise to a generation of youth facing new ethical demands and challenges. Regardless of where they are, religious leaders are confronting necessary changes to uphold their noble missions. Understanding the principle of Dependent Origination, with a clear human-centric vision, allows us to lead a meaningful life, weathering the chaos of life to continue Bodhisattva’s aspiration.

Tonight, once again, I read your letter. Sitting and breathing with you, I find my heart overflowing with affection. Each exhale and inhale makes me cherish you even more, thinking of the pain you endure. And I fear… fear of death, fear that you’ll depart forever.

Though I am aware of life’s impermanence and that, eventually, all that remains is a vague memory, a footprint in time, your legacy stands firm and immortal amidst this transience.

I’m reflecting on the power of a letter – written with dreams, hopes, and genuine love. I hear your heart’s whisper in these loving lines. Such a letter not only contains words spoken; it holds the rhythm of your heart. Even if tomorrow you depart, as decades turn into centuries and the world transforms, reading these letters is like an open window, offering a glimpse into a heart, a Trường Sơn dream, a lighthouse that once shone and will shine forever.

With all my deep respect and love,

Your student,

Nguyên Túc Nguyễn Sung

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