[hoasentrenda]

"May I dedicate all my merits and virtues to those who are keen to listen, so they could quickly attain Nirvana regardless of what may come to me". HL

*****

Dear All,

The original image of ‘Hoa Sen Trên Đá’ [1], the lotus flower on a big rock, was presented to Ms. Trang on 24 November 1991 by Vairocana Buddha (‘Đức Phật Tỳ Lô Giá Na’) [2] when she had just finished editing a recorded cassette tape about a group of Buddhist lay-followers (a.k.a., the ‘lubu’) leading a strenuously pious but incredibly simple life in Dalat, Vietnam.


The Meaning of This ‘Lotus on Rock’ Image



The lotus flower is a symbol of an ability to overcome all obstacles and rise above all sufferings to achieve purification and enlightenment. The muddy waters out of which the lotus flower grows represent not only external hurdles and worldly temptations but also impediments existing inside human beings such as greed, hate, stubbornness, and selfishness.

Vairocana Buddha foresees that these negative traits of humankind would become more and more defiled until they become as hard as rocks, extremely difficult to bend and get rid. This foresight is seen as the big and bulky rock in that image. Despite such deadly defilement, a beautiful and shiny lotus flower can still blossom from it. The uprising flower means that enlightenment is still achievable as long as piety and perseverance exist. The ‘lubu’ group in Dalat is a powerful proof of this ‘Lotus on Rock’.

The Hoasentrenda website, http://www.hoasentrenda.com, is created firstly for members of this special group to keep in touch more easily after some have migrated to different parts of the world, and secondly to share the effective and practical meditation techniques to those who desire to learn.

Hoasentrenda’s Philosophy [by Master Tibu]

From the Story of Jeet Kune Do …

In traditional martial arts, when Bruce Lee (without any college degree) launched Jeet Kune Do everyone thought it was a new martial art! But in fact, this was an inevitable result in the development of the human martial arts system.

Master Lee cleverly mixed altogether the most effective and essential techniques of the world’s various martial arts (including Wing Chun Kuen, Muay Thai, the Philippine Arnis, Judo, Aikido, Jiu Jitsu, and the European Savate). He ridded of all unnecessary movements of these martial arts and merged the useful ones into different sets of combative tactics and strategies for his students to practice. With this training system, which was far different from other systems with an apparently more focus on learning postures and ineffective moves, Master Lee became very popular.

Those who practiced Master Lee’s techniques were of two types:

Type 1: Those who learned directly from the master. They were among the fourth to eighth degree black belt holders. This group was kind of 'Masters learn from other Masters'!

Type 2: Those who did not want to enrol due to the fact that Jeet Kune Do does not have a system of hierarchical titles and belts (for Master Lee, the belt is merely a tool to hold your pants from slipping down!). They thought of this martial art merely as spontaneous and street-fighting skills. However, after a while of distant observance, they realized that under the master’s guidance all students could perform some finesse martial arts. Hence came the dilemma: “If I enrol to learn from him that would be very embarrassing! … Because I am the grandmaster of a mainstream martial arts system with a highly respected rank and title…How could I lower myself and humbly accept an unknown, unestablished, apparently masterless, and non-college-educated man as my master! What about the name and fame of my martial arts system? …They should all vanish into thin air if I would do so.” …And so they learned Jeet Kune Do stealthily.

… To the Philosophy of Hoasentrenda

1. Eliminate all unnecessary and flowery details [in the practice of meditation and piety], which include, but are not limited to, incense, flowers, bells, drums, and even altar. These things are more for decorative purposes than for attaining enlightenment and emancipation. And,

2. Develop thoroughly the four bases of spiritual power (‘Tứ Như Ý Túc’ in Vietnamese, or Iddhipāda in Pali), especially the DESIRE (‘Dục Thần Túc’ or Chanda) one [3]. Out of the 37 qualities that Shakyamuni Buddha originally discoursed about the path to enlightenment, this desire quality is certainly an essential one. Unfortunately, His teaching has long been deliberately forgotten and uncultivated by other sects of Buddhism.

Since 1992 Dharma discourses on the above two matters have been pouring into many Buddhist forums. Through perseverance in meditation and self-realizations, things that are thought to only happen in fairy tales and the Monkey King movie have been rediscovered one by one, including visions of Avalokitesvara Boddhisattva [4], the experiencing of enlightenment, various formulas for attaining the cessation of sensations and perceptions (Nirodhasamāpatti), methods of spiritual cloning (i.e., creating multiple copies of one’s spiritual self), and the ability to communicate with and transport souls of sentient beings to the Pure Land (Sukhāvatī) of Amitābha Buddha. These methods and techniques are now presented in a ‘down-to-earth’ writing style.

The uniqueness of this home page is that mistakes could be made in recounting the long history of Buddhism (often quite intentionally). However, mistakes about the practical methodologies have never happened, not even once!

Of course, you can observe and learn the techniques and practical methods of Hoasentrenda in a stealthy mode as the type 2 kung fu masters in Jeet Kune Do mentioned previously. But, success is only for meditators who have left at least one of their meditative bodies (i.e., relics) on this planet. In addition, although the presented methodologies seem 'cool' and 'very easy to follow', unexpected developments and difficulties often arise during practice. In those cases, even an excellent meditator could find it hard to overcome without proper guidance. This situation will not happen... if and only if he/she has left one of his/her meditative bodies on earth.

If you have any questions, please join our forum, or the Q&A section to discuss 'fairly and equally'. Here, well... we have no belt towards each other.


End Notes
[1] https://storage.googleapis.com/storage.hoasentrenda.com/images/TapAnhHoasentrenda/LinhAnh-HSTD.JPG
[2] https://storage.googleapis.com/storage.hoasentrenda.com/images/TapAnhHoasentrenda/TyLoGiaNa.jpg
[3] See https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%E1%BB%A9_th%E1%BA%A7n_t%C3%BAc, or https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanda_(Buddhism).
[4] Avalokiteśvara Boddhisattva is manifested in a large number of forms, one of which is The Goddess of Mercy. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avalokite%C5%9Bvara.