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Thich Dieu-Thien Bio | Interview | Photos | Travel Schedule | Quote of the Week | Thich Thong Hoi
Our Teacher
Zen Master Thich Dieu-Thien
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Zen Master Thich Dieu-Thien was born and raised in Vietnam and is now living in the United States. She is the founder and the primary teacher at Universal Door Meditation Center in Houston, Texas. She is a Buddhist nun devoted to teaching the direct path to True Happiness and True Freedom. From her early childhood, she had a sense that somehow someway we have unconditional, True Happiness within us, yet she observed that all things around her were conditional and changed all the time. She questioned within herself why life was like that. She was completely consumed with this question, unable to find interest in any other activities around her. She struggled and suffered deeply, longing to find the answer to this enigma, and be truly happy. |
From there, she dedicated her life to this quest by learning and practicing countless methods from many different teachers and books of various traditions and cultures. However, nothing resolved the quest. Consequently, she clearly knew the way to answer her question could not come from outside but must come from within. Nevertheless, she was still unclear about exactly what, why, how. Her unyielding question grew ever stronger and forced her to the breaking point, to realize what has often been written and talked about but so rarely experienced... how to live with unconditional True Happiness and why life always changes. In the process of that, she also discovered with certainty what is suffering, the cause, the system, the nature, and the end of suffering, which were deeply connected to her ultimate question. That realization leaves us with only True Happiness and True Freedom.
Through her own direct experience, she introduces students to the goal of waking up in this lifetime, and guides them throughout every step of the journey, without relying on intellect, concepts, books, sutras or other people’s experience.
Everything she teaches aims to the purpose of knowing your problem and discovering more about the system within us that creates and perpetuates it in order to end it and be truly happy. This exploration can be applied constantly in every moment. After you realize the system, there is only our inherent true happiness and true freedom, now completely unblocked, permanently radiating into every moment of our lives. This automatically inspires others to discover it for themselves, and like a ripple effect, transforms lives, one by one.
Zen Master Thich Thong Hoi
| Thich Thong Hoi was born in Vietnam, and began living in America in 2004. He is the founder of Nhien Dang Meditation Center and is teaching in Dallas, Texas, and is a visiting teacher at Universal Door. Ever since his childhood, he had questions about living, dying, and other essential aspects of life. Seeing all the normal changes of life, like situations moving between fair and unfair, relationships full of understanding and then misuderstanding, right and wrong constantly shifting, how we can love so much and then hurt so much when separated from what we love…. He saw all things around him changing, which brought up suffering, made him question life, and want to find out the answer for those questions. From there he stood up and started searching for the way to help him address this problem. Throughout his searching and application, he realized all the suffering came from within. But he did not truly find out the mechanism, the system and the source of it. Until one day he realized if he kept learning from books and from this and that methods from outside, they would only point a way to proceed, but could not bring him to find out the real answer within himself. |  |
Because nothing and no one could show him the final steps. He saw at that time that he must continue to search by himself and find the way to unlock or uncover more. His own question generated the motivation to discover more. The longer his question was unanswered, the stronger the question became, until finally he realized the cause and source of suffering. That moment was also the beginning of living everyday with True Happiness and True Freedom, as well as his enthusiasm to teach this to all people.
Together with Thich Dieu-Thien, the two teachers guide students through the inner work to realize the system of suffering in order to live with true happiness and true freedom anytime, anywhere, and always.
Thich Dieu-Thien’s travel schedule:
November 10 - 11, Saturday - Sunday, Two day meditation retreat in the Dallas area. Contact Universal Door at 281-565-9718.
October 13 -14, 2012 Weekend meditation retreat in Dallas, TX. Contact Chi Phuong
817-995-1229 for details.
September 15 -16, 2012 Weekend meditation retreat in Dallas, TX. Contact Chi Phuong
817-995-1229 for details.
August 13-19, 2012 Deep practice meditation retreat for senior students - Colorado. Contact Pho Chon at 713-530-2262.
August 7 and 21, 2012 7:30-8:30 pm On-going meditation class at Houston Yoga and Ayurveda Center in Cypress, TX.
For more information contact Sharon at 281-256-8461 or Universal Door at 281-565-9718
August 11-12, 2012 Weekend meditation retreat in Dallas, TX. Contact Hung at 408-829-0444 for more information.
June 11-15, 2012 Meditation retreat in South Padre, TX.
Contact Universal Door at 281-565-9718 for details.
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Quote of the Week:
“We need to see the difference between the picture of the way we want things to be and the reality of how things really are. To assume that our picture is reality is unrealistic.”