Recently the press reported: An old woman who makes dried noodles and vermicelli to sell in small markets, unexpectedly is a billionaire, with assets of more than 1,000 billion VND. It's hard to imagine, it took two months to check the books and papers. She has a half-Cambodian adopted daughter, leaving a huge fortune to her without giving it to her children and relatives, did she forget? Therefore, a dispute and lawsuit arose.

Society immediately paid attention to the court's decision. I'm also curious, but not curious about lawsuits and money, no matter how much it is. Money is just temporarily stored and at some point it will be transferred from one pocket to another, sometimes even bringing disaster. If you're poor, then bear it, why care about things that don't belong to you? Why not think about the so-called karma and virtue of a person? Why do some people struggle and struggle all their lives, while others are blessed with good fortune?

Reporters learned... it turned out that when she was alive, the old woman had gone to an orphanage to ask for a child to adopt. She walked back and forth, observing many children but was not satisfied with any of them. Then there was a child who looked at her with an innocent face and smiled. And the child's eyes were so strange. There was something about it that seemed to emit light that held her feet back and prevented her from moving. She stopped to look and picked it up.

The second story was in 1965. Doctor Do Hong Ngoc, when she was a student, interned at the hospital. But the baby's face and eyes moved the young student to write the poem "Letter to a Newborn Baby": "When you came into the world, I represented life to greet you with a smile. When you grow up, don't ask why some people laugh and others cry. In the same situation, listen to me. I dropped brown medicine into your eyes, saying it was to prevent eye pain... At that moment, you didn't see life through real eyes. Remember, don't ask why life is dark. When I cut your umbilical cord, I sincerely apologized, because from now on you will be alone. You will have to leave the paradise of your mother's heart..." A beautiful poem, translated into many foreign languages, set to music. Fifty years have passed, reading it again, I still feel the same emotion from the first day. The letter to the newborn baby also has the sentence: "Remember not to ask who I am when I grow up - and don't be surprised that life has so many labels."

Through two examples, the question is: Is that the sacred feeling of a person when looking at a newborn baby or is there something else? Please allow me to say quickly, or is it the enlightenment of a person. Partial enlightenment leading to great enlightenment to meet Buddha?

What is partial enlightenment? By chance, reading Ekhart Toll, I found a new idea: Human society is led by "three enlightened objects" which are flowers, crystals and birds. Crystals symbolize purity. Birds symbolize the desire and will to fly high and escape from oneself. Flowers are considered the first creation of nature with the ability to attract and captivate humans. Flowers are not related to human life and livelihood, but they are an endless source of inspiration for people and poetry. Why are there only “three objects” of enlightenment? Perhaps Ekhart Toll did not list them all for us to find out for ourselves. For those with a spiritual heart, everything is a dharma. For example, water, looking at water, one realizes its endless flow. Starting from a clear stream, the water flows away, dissolving many impurities, then evaporates and returns to the source, the water becomes clear as before. For example, looking at the thin and waning moon, one sees it waning and at the same time filling itself. When the moon season comes, the bright and full moon covers everything...

Now, returning to the eyes of a newborn baby, what do people realize... The innocent, innocent crying and laughing... Because of the need to survive, hunger cries out, not knowing whether it is delicious or not. Clothes are also like that, because of warmth and cold, not distinguishing between beauty and ugliness. Raising a baby is not easy, it is very hard, everyone is busy because it pees on the bed or cries in the middle of the night, disturbing the whole family's sleep. However, the presence of the baby makes the house warm and happy. Everyone unites together to take care of and protect it. What power does the child have, what special power? Another question. It turns out that the child has no power, it's just that those little eyes reflect the secret desires deep in the human soul. Being a human is very difficult, having to struggle to find something to put in the mouth. Because life forces people to shake and exchange, then black and white, yellow and brass are mixed with greed, anger, ignorance, and suspicion of each other. Through the baby's eyes, people suddenly realize. Distant memories let people know that there is a world where they have been to live happily. If they didn't go, why would their memories record it? The billionaire old woman adopted her daughter because of this. The poem by Doctor Do Hong Ngoc is actually a poem written for herself. Looking at the child's eyes with the level of a student at that time, the doctor realized that adults were prisoners of reality, of life. Slaves to what they saw and what they knew:

From inside the prison bars, looking out at life, the waves from the distant lake of memories come from somewhere. Haven't we lived a free life, a world of cool breeze, clear moon, filled with birdsong, and innocent children's laughter? Is that a dream, an illusion, or have we experienced things from memory? I seem to have digressed, from the eyes of a child leading here. Yes. There are things that are intuitive, but when describing, we have to go around and around, get lost, and then find the way to the main door. People always carry many questions in their hearts. Some questions follow people back and forth, sometimes they disappear when they get old. Waiting for the right time for them to appear becomes the final question. Is there a heaven or hell? Hell is easy to answer because almost everyone knows how their actions are retribution, except for those who do not know shame, but heaven is diverse. Cultures and religions have pointed it out through many names although the essence is only one. Folklore calls it Thien Thai. It is the paradise of Islam. In addition to heaven, Christianity also has a garden of Eden. Buddha Shakyamuni introduced sentient beings to the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. Buddha alone has the realm of Nirvana. Because he wanted sentient beings to be enlightened rather than because he hoped for benefits, when talking about Nirvana, Buddha did not describe or promise any external scene, but showed the path to Nirvana from within. That is a place that, in short, has only joy, endless joy (joy without remainder) because the ego has been eliminated. A pure mind controls greed, anger, and ignorance. People who go beyond reason cannot say there is nothing and also cannot say there is nothing. It is the magical number zero, nothing is everything, standing behind a number increases the level of that number.

Meanwhile, the image of Amitabha Buddha's Pure Land is described specifically. It is a realm of houses built with treasures such as gold, jade, lapis lazuli, crystal, and agate (coincidentally the "enlightened objects" of Eckhart Toll). The earth and sky are filled with the fragrance of flowers blooming all year round, and music is soothing. Time seems to stop, and all around are delicious and strange foods. People in the Pure Land have ready-made clothes, no one fights over them, so there is no greed, anger, or ignorance. They are kind and friendly people who love each other without distinction between high and low.

In short, the two realms of Ultimate Bliss and Nirvana have in common the elimination of ego, a pure mind, quiet like the moon not covered by clouds, shining brightly in the sky. Both the realms of Ultimate Bliss and Nirvana come from the mind. Each comes from the mind. Why do people stray here and then become immortals and return to the mortal world? Almost every culture has stories to tell. For example, China has Liu and Nguyen. Vietnam has Tu Thuc who once strayed to heaven. The fairy Giang Huong dropped a broken jade cup and was banished to earth. The Christian Bible has a story about the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, a story originating from the Middle East. Those stories, according to Buddhism, are because people in such a joyful realm cannot control their body and mind. Tu Thuc, in heaven, still feels homesick because his love still exists, love gives birth to desire. There is no shortage of treasures in the heavenly realm, so how could the fairy be banished to the mortal world because of a tiny cup of lapis lazuli? It was simply because the fairy Giáng Hương was banished because she was still deluded and had no mindfulness, so she could not move lightly and could not control her limbs, causing her to drop the cup. Many people wonder why Adam and Eve listened to the snake's advice to eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge and were banished from the Garden of Eden. It was simply because knowledge is a state of letting go and letting go. Knowledge without letting go will give rise to greed, stubbornness, discrimination, and comparison of all kinds of things, and sooner or later the Garden of Eden will be in chaos. Well, let's invite the two of them to come down to the mortal world. People in the Pure Land with so many delicious and strange dishes, do not need to worry or be concerned. It is like a baby who does not ask for anything but is still taken care of by his parents from food to clothes. All comparisons are often lame, however, cultures confirm that the mind of a baby and the mind of a person in the Pure Land are connected. And it is affirmed that adults have a harder time finding paradise than children. Sometimes when they get there, the door to paradise is closed, and they knock and knock but it does not open.

Is Paradise real? Is it real or is it just an illusion? While many people are looking towards it, some are skeptical. People are skeptical because of their subjectivity, always thinking they are number one, masters of all species, passionately conquering nature and conquering the universe. Seeing is believing, people rush into searches. For example, if they find paradise, paradise, they immediately find ways to exploit precious stones and metals (just like they are currently trying to exploit the moon and Mars). That is the nature of people, so Paradise becomes far away - like the moonlight right before their eyes, reaching out to grab it but not touching it. The monks live in a spiritual world without borders, so they are superior to people, not searching for Paradise like that.

But why do monks still have doubts and jump into arguments about whether there is a paradise or not? At the age of sixty, their ears are already at ease, let alone those who truly practice. Every day, they face the Buddha, face their true heart. Surely you also realize that the more orderly and peaceful the sky is, the more chaotic and thorny the human world is. Isn't there a proverb that says "the sky is level, the earth is level"? Then you monks guide people's spirituality not only by looking up but also by looking down. Even if there is no paradise, according to the Buddha's teachings, "you cannot say it doesn't exist, but you also cannot say it doesn't exist." Why don't you imagine the paradise to exalt and praise it? People who turn to the paradise to find peace of mind and develop the bodhi mind to become good people, isn't that better than a mind that doesn't know where to go? It's true that there are many people who only have an outer shell, saying they practice, saying they understand, but in reality they don't know where they are going? Drifting brown sails, sails...