Congress “Courage and Practice”
Oct 27-Nov 3, 2001
Disney Magic, Port Canaveral
 
by Luong Si Hang (spiritual name ‘Vi Kien’)

Translated by Xuan Mai
 
 

Practice With Courage

With courage and determination, we devote our hearts and minds to spiritual practice,
By understanding Divine Grace, our blindness is removed,
  When our Yin and Yang energies are united, we are rewarded with divine blessings,
As we continuously learn, our ignorance is gradually eliminated.
With positive hearts and minds, together we enjoy great happiness,
 The ship leaves port to sail on open seas,
Though separated by thousands of miles, with sincere hearts we are able to come here,
To be reunited with joy, mutual respect and affection,
 The ocean guides us, travelers, in our spiritual awakening,
Practicing with perserverance, we understand the divine wonders,
During this spiritual reunion, we develop loving feelings,
Together we celebrate the Vo-Vi New Year’s Festival,
The ship brings all strata to the same true origin,
Awakening our consciousness, we’ll advance appropriately,
Without passion and agitation, we now enjoy peace and purity
By adhering ourselves to the eternal order.



Practice with courage:
This means to advance with determination within Divine Order.

With courage and determination, we devote our hearts and minds to spiritual practice:
When we practice with courage, our minds must be determined. We must devote ourselves to perfect our hearts and minds in order to evolve spiritually.

By understanding Divine Grace, our blindness is removed:
We understand that the Almighty Lord grants us everything. We are no longer blinded by passion and delusion.

When Yin and Yang energies are united, we are rewarded with divine blessings:
When our  Yin and Yang energies are in perfect balance, we’ll receive divine blessings, i.e., our minds will become bright and clear.

As we continuously learn, our ignorance is gradually eliminated:
Through various worldly experiences, we study and learn how to advance spiritually, thus we reduce our mistakes and our ignorance.

With positive hearts and minds, together we enjoy great happiness:
Our determination to improve heart and mind results in opportunities to enjoy Divine Grace together.

The ship leaves port to sail on open seas:
The ship leaves port to start its voyage on the open sea.
  
Though separated by thousands of miles, with sincere hearts we are able to come here:
Despite the enormous distance, when we practice with a sincere heart, we will arrive at our destination.

To be reunited with joy, mutual respect and affection:
All brothers and sisters are reunited. We watch the natural beauty to appreciate the love of heaven and earth, the love of the Almighty Lord with His blessings.

The ocean guides us, travelers, in our spiritual awakening:
The ocean guides us, travelers, in our spiritual awakening, from one scene to the other. In a gentle way, our consciousness awakens with purity and lightness.
 
Practicing with perseverance, we understand the divine wonders:
Every day, we practice positively to develop ourselves and become less earthbound. We feel the divine wonders; we see that divine order is truly wonderful.

During this spiritual reunion, we develop loving feelings:
In this spiritual reunion, brothers and sisters greet each other with joy. How loving are our feelings!

Together, we celebrate the Vo-Vi New Year’s Festival:
When we are reunited, there is a lively atmosphere. We celebrate the VoVi New Year’s Festival by turning our minds toward the World Above and releasing all passion and perverseness.

The ship brings all strata to the same true origin:
The ship will bring all people, all strata to the same destination. 

Awakening our consciousness, we’ll advance appropriately:
We awaken our consciousness, i.e., we understand how to advance appropriately in our life, how to evolve toward infinity.

Without passion and agitation, we now enjoy peace and purity:
When we are free from passion and agitation, we can truly enjoy the lightness and purity of Heaven and Earth.

By adhering ourselves to the eternal order: In order to maintain a lasting order, we must always be disciplined and develop ourselves toward infinity. When we respect order and discipline, our understanding will greatly increase.



Practice with courage: Only when our consciousness awakens and we gain a clear understanding, will we begin to practice with courage.

With courage and determination, we devote our hearts and minds to spiritual practice: Our hearts are determined; we are resolute to devote ourselves to perfect our hearts and minds spiritually in order to attain lightness and purity.

By understanding Divine Grace, our blindness is removed:
When we eventually understand that all things come from the Grace of the Almighty Lord, we will release our blindness.

When our Yin and Yang energies are united, we are rewarded with divine blessings:
We all possess Yin and Yang energies. We are currently traveling with our bodies, microcosms blessed by the Lord. The Lord bestows His blessings on us, i.e., He gives us happiness.

As we continuously learn, our ignorance is gradually eliminated:
We continuously learn the spiritual lessons.  We see the beauty of nature that is far different from our homes. Our minds are opened and our hearts are developed. Thus, we gradually reduce our ignorance.

With positive hearts and minds, together we enjoy great happiness:
When our hearts and minds are positive, together we will enjoy the pure and light air on the vast ocean.

The ship leaves port to sail on open seas:
The ship leaves port to take us toward the boundless ocean.

Though separated by thousands of miles, with sincere hearts we are able to come here: Our goal seems far distant, but through practice and sincere cooperation with each other, we will reach the goal.

To be reunited with joy, mutual respect and affection
When we are reunited with joy, we truly appreciate the love of Heaven and Earth.

The ocean guides us, travelers, in our spiritual awakening:
The ocean and the ship bring us to different places. Our consciousness awakens when we see the new and beautiful scenery of nature.

Practicing with perseverance, we understand the divine wonders:
We must be determined to practice with our own efforts and perfect ourselves spiritually in order to understand the innate wonders of Heaven and Earth.

During this spiritual reunion, we develop loving feelings:
Brothers and sisters rejoice during this reunion in an atmosphere of lightness and purity; we develop affectionate feelings and mutual respect when seeing each other again.

Together, we celebrate the Vo-Vi New Year’s Festival:
We understand that we come here to celebrate the Vo-Vi New Year’s festival. We return to emptiness, and we no longer harbor rivalry and perversity. We no longer experience sorrow and self-pity.

The ship brings all strata to the same true origin:
The ship brings us to our destination, from one place to the other, from one island to the other so that we can learn and rejoice together. 

Awakening our consciousness, we’ll advance appropriately:
Every consciousness awakens. To advance appropriately means to advance with peace and serenity, in accordance with the common development.

Without passion and agitation, we now enjoy peace and purity:
We no longer hold to passion and agitation; we clearly enjoy purity and lightness. Like the vast ocean, divine love is immense and measureless.

By adhering ourselves to the eternal order: Everything is very orderly. Heaven and Earth have perfect order. Lasting order is observed through the karmic law of constant birth and rebirth so that all living beings on earth can share the divine good.



 Today, we celebrate the Vo-Vi New Year’s festival on the vast ocean. We clearly feel the love of the Lord and the Buddha in our heart guiding everyone in their progress toward serenity. The farther the ship travels, the happier we feel. When the ship arrives at its destination, we feel an even greater happiness. We will never forget this voyage. We will remember each other and recall this lively and unique Vo-Vi festival on the open sea. Brothers and sisters come together once each year in order to experience leisurely travel like this.

As we sail, we can see the subtle and intricate work of Heaven and Earth to provide humanity great enjoyment in every small detail. We feel joy and infinite purity and lightness. This proves to us the genuine sincerity of the Organization Committee in their effort to provide us with an opportunity to live together peacefully, so that our souls may evolve toward infinite awakening in an extremely clear manner.

Through our earthly emotions we rejoice together and direct our minds toward infinite purity and lightness of the World Above which is guiding us in our continuous evolution. Our souls will become wiser each day as we develop ourselves positively.

Dear Friends, you rejoice together and you will remember this precious and unique voyage. Back home you will tell your friends and relatives that you have traveled at sea and felt the infiniteness of Heaven and Earth. Thanks to the love of Heaven and Earth, we are given this wonderful opportunity to live together peacefully. We now understand that our soul descends to earth from the thirty-third level of Heaven, and that this place cannot create our soul.

 We have arrived on earth but we know our path. Those who cultivate themselves spiritually through meditation know their path. We know how to return to the thirty-third level of Heaven, how to return to our roots, and we must advance toward infinity in order to see the supreme nation of the World Above. Our origin lies in the World Above, and not on this earth. The more we perfect ourselves spiritually, the more we understand that we come from the sphere of emptiness and we will return to emptiness. No one can take the slightest thing with him. Matter is limited; only spirituality is infinite. Today, we are traveling on this cruise to see that our soul is infinite. We comprehend that order and discipline have brought peace and security to humanity, and that we have the very rare opportunity to develop ourselves spiritually. Humans on earth rarely have spiritual opportunities. Today, we have this opportunity, and we have been practicing in an understandable manner. We cooperate with each other and advance positively at each step. We clearly see that at the beginning, the Vo-Vi community was small, but now the number has greatly increased. A thousand people are living peacefully together at sea. How happy we are!

 Now, we are happy and feel the warmth of love. We believe in the miracles of Heaven and Earth that will bring us more health and goodness. After this cruise, we will have the opportunity to attend the Vo-Vi spiritual concert (Thien-Ca) to analyze the original principle of spiritual perfection. Everybody contributes with joy and advances spiritually through practice. We do not use mere theories to abandon them afterwards. Each of us in the Vo-Vi community must practice. The members of the Organization Committee all worked with a sincere vow to help others. When you receive the books and CDs, they come from the sincere vow of people to serve others. When you listen to them, they are different from those coming from other places. Everything is clear and righteous.

 Today we are truly happy. This is a Vo-Vi New Year’s Festival of joy and happiness. We advance more clearly each day. Each day, there are more and more brothers and sisters who practice with joy to advance clearly on the spiritual path. Each year we organize the Vo-Vi New Year’s Festival to mark a year of constructiveness and cooperation, where each person clearly can contribute for the common enjoyment. Our hearts will become happy and serene. We will understand clearly the value of compassion; we will learn to become compassionate and realize compassion.
If the Almighty Lord does not provide us His infinite guidance, how can we be reunited today?  Our achievements are based on the principle of spiritual practice, not on empty theories and arguments. We succeed because we practice. The Organization Committee has only a few members, but they worked well to sincerely serve a great number of people. Everyone is happy; together we enjoy inner peace and we purify our inner consciousness to advance further. What a great joy! We love and respect the Lord and the Buddha. The more we love and respect the Lord and the Buddha, the more we love our Vo-Vi friends who cooperate and work constructively. Our next reunion will be even better!

When we speak of money, we are not wealthier than others, but eventually we are able to pay the necessary fees to participate in this cruise. Our joy is immense. The greater our joy, the more we love and respect the Lord and the Buddha who guided us to peace and safety. We have traveled safely from our arrival to departure, and everyone will be able to attend the Vo-Vi spiritual concert on the last day. Our intellect will be brighter and purer each day, and we will attain greater wisdom and clarity of mind.

 Dear Vo-Vi Friends, you can see that order is of greatest importance. The ship carries a multitude of passengers, but everything is orderly. If there is no order, there will be anarchy. We live in the present order, and this order provides enjoyment for all in a constructive manner.

 We rejoice together with serenity. We advance in a clear and constructive manner. We practice with courage and maintain our serenity. We no longer harbor passion and agitation. We are determined to progress spiritually and win our spiritual battle. We must practice to achieve infinite progress. The sphere of purity and lightness is the domain of the soul. Every night, we perfect ourselves so that our soul can further evolve. Those who have abandoned wordly life to devote themselves to spiritual life also participate in our Vo-Vi New Year’s Festival. We all work and rejoice together to provide infinite guidance to others within their cycle of evolution.

 This time, Oh My Friends, you rejoice at each stage of the cruise on this ship: How we are reunited. How brothers and sisters embrace each other with happiness. We awaken our own consciousness. When we return to our respective regions, we should practice with greater effort. We should be resolute to perfect ourselves spiritually and advance toward infinity. We will no longer feel aimless during our meditation practice. We must practice with courage and determination, then we will certainly obtain good results in the future. Looking at the past, we have practiced the Vo-Vi method for spiritual perfection and successfully organized 19 Congresses. Now, we advance toward the 20th Congress, and we will only continue forward and never step back. We are resolute because we see that our path is the path of liberation in order to return to true knowledge with meditative contemplation.

 The source of infinite guidance, the divine principle, gives us limitless direction and assists us in our spiritual evolution. The flow of energy from the Lord of Great Compassion is never limited. It always shines upon us and helps us constructively. Even though this Congress has not ended, our Vo-Vi friends already plan for the next Congress. They always think about working for the benefit of all. The Organization Committee takes care of everything. Everyone expresses the sincere vow to contribute. Most precious is the fact that they are not paid any money, but through their devoted service we see the present achievements. We should be grateful toward the Organization Committee, and love and respect all people who work with sincerity and devotion. The Almighty Lord provides His Grace and infinite guidance in all of their work. We do not work aimlessly and waste our time in a senseless manner. Money is important, but when you have paid over one thousand dollars for this voyage, you already have a resolute mind. “I am determined to be here to enjoy lightness and purity, so that my consciousness regains inner peace”.  You have chosen to follow this path with resolution, and you will no longer regress.

 This voyage has great value for the spiritual development of the soul, and we will never forget that our spiritual consciousness is unique. If we possess a body and have the right to govern it, but we ignore our soul, we won’t be able to bring peace and harmony within ourselves, nor will we be able to help others. We should make sacrifices to advance with determination and achieve good results. The Organization Committee has worked with full devotion to perform all necessary tasks and serve our Vo-Vi friends today. The more we serve others with dedication, the more we understand the Lord and His power. The Almighty Lord is the infinite power to guide the evolution of all souls in this era of unification. We must be resolute to advance in a clear and definite way toward the universe of great harmony through the practice of love and forgiveness, and to work for the common benefit. At that time, we will accomplish great work for the benefit of all.

 There are many people who would like to attend this Congress, but they cannot because of their deceptive minds and unrighteous thoughts. The World Above must perform the selection so that these people have time to reflect on their own mistakes.  Together we advance with lively peace. We do not advance with a blind and agitated peace, which still contains rivalry and intolerance. This situation is not acceptable. We must work collectively in a clear manner. We must work together so we can all enjoy the peace of Heaven and Earth. Our three spheres: Superior, middle, and inferior, must unite in their effort for advancement. Everyone is ready to contribute when needed. You have seen how the recording of my voice has improved. In the past, the recording was not perfect. Now the sound becomes clearer and clearer thanks to the work of specialists. From this example, you can understand clearly: With technological advances, there must also exist people willing to serve others in order to provide improvements. Without people willing to serve others, the recordings will remain unclear.

 In this Congress “Courage and Practice”, everything from the material to the spiritual evolves in harmony and order. You see that as soon as the ship leaves port, it is sailing with freedom and ease on the vast ocean. We are currently enjoying the blessings of the Almighty Lord. Thanks to His Love, we are traveling in peace and safety, from our departure to our return.

 Dear Friends, I sincerely thank you for your participation.

Luong Si Hang
(spiritual name “Vi-Kien”)