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We arrived at Huyen Khong Monastery early in the morning because when we made an appointment the day before, Venerable Nguyen Thien told us that today she had a dharma talk scheduled from 10 a.m., and could only meet us during the time before that. As for us, we also wanted to take advantage of more time to talk with the Venerable, whom I had the good fortune to meet in 2016, during my first trip to the United States as Secretary General of the United Buddhist Association.

Entering the monastery gate early in the morning, we saw a nun gently sweeping the temple yard. The temple grounds were quiet with lots of flowers, ornamental plants, especially many Bodhi trees planted in pots. It was known that Venerable Nguyen Thien herself brought the seeds from the Bodhi tree at the Bodh Gaya holy site in India to grow here. The nun has planted thousands of Bodhi trees like that.



The monastery grounds are quite large but still very wild and empty. Most of the structures currently in use are temporary designs, including the main hall to worship Buddha, which is built with iron frames and roofs, and the partitions are just stretched canvas sheets.

In reality, the fact that the nun Nguyen Thien had enough good fortune to buy this "golden land" in the middle of San Jose city around the end of 2014 was also a very favorable opportunity. However, since then, difficulties in obtaining permission to build a religious facility here as well as some other obstacles have caused everything to stagnate, not as expected.

Looking back at the images when we visited Huyen Khong Monastery and met the nun in August 2016, more than three years have passed and the construction of the monastery seems to have made little progress. The main hall was temporarily built from that time, and until now it has remained as temporary as ever.





Visiting Huyen Khong Monastery in August 2016 and taking souvenir photos with Venerable Nguyen Thien in front of the monastery gate and in the main hall



The main hall in 2020 is still not much different from when we visited in 2016

However, what made us most happy on this return was to talk with Venerable Nguyen Thien and the nuns Thien Ngoc and Thien Tam, through which we learned that, although the form of practice The monastery has not changed much, but the content of the practice activities has improved a lot, especially the direction of education and propagation of Dharma.

It was by chance that we visited Huyen Khong Monastery this morning, Dr. Bach Xuan Phe from Sacramento also arranged time to visit the monastery with us before he had to attend an education conference this morning. Thanks to this predestined relationship, the meeting became a small discussion among all of us on the current topic of education and Dharma propagation.



Bhikkhuni Nguyen Thien and Bhikkhunis Thien Tam and Thien Ngoc



From left to right: Tam Thuong Dinh Bach Xuan Phe, Nguyen Minh Nguyen Minh Tien, Bhikkhuni Abbot Thich Nu Nguyen Thien and Quang Hai Phan Trung Kien

In recent years, it is a fact that many pagodas and monasteries have been built at a fairly rapid pace everywhere, both inside and outside the country. But among them, many places have not been able to carry out regular and specific Dharma propagation programs, but only focus on organizing year-round ceremonies. This situation has led to many Buddhists around the temple losing the opportunity to listen to teachings and be guided to the path of practicing the Dharma.

Talking with us about this issue, Venerable Nguyen Thien said that Huyen Khong Monastery currently not only maintains regular practice and Dharma study schedules for the nuns in the temple, but also regularly has Dharma teaching programs, especially teaching Dharma in English for children, led by Venerable Thien Ngoc.

Venerable Thien Ngoc also shared with us the difficulties in teaching Dharma to children. Among them, there are two main difficulties that she must always strive to overcome. The first is the difference between the two Eastern and Western cultures, which requires a lot of flexibility and creativity in conveying Dharma to children. The second is the lack of cooperation from parents. According to nun Thien Ngoc, the time children are educated at the temple is too short, but when they return to their families, their parents do not continue to nurture them, so what they have learned is often not reinforced. Therefore, every time they return to the temple, the nun has to spend a lot of effort to remind or sometimes re-teach the children many issues. Meanwhile, most of the children's parents have a passive mentality, wanting to entrust everything to the temple without knowing that the family's role and responsibility in educating their children is extremely important.

However, teaching Buddhism to children also shows many positive aspects, such as being obedient and studious, which according to nun Thien Ngoc are "Bodhi seeds" that are always available in all children, as long as we take care of them and nurture them properly, tomorrow they will certainly be tall Bodhi trees that provide shade for life.

Discussions on this issue show that educating children really needs the support and guidance of parents. And to achieve this, it is necessary to have parallel Dharma propagation and education programs for these parents. Only when the whole family learns about Buddhism and is guided on the path of practice, can the practice achieve the best results. And of course, to do this, although the human factor is the most important, the physical foundations such as schools, teaching equipment, reference libraries, media, etc. are also indispensable factors.

Participating in the discussion on this issue, Dr. Bach Xuan Phe said that he could cooperate and support by introducing and providing some necessary Buddhist books for the educational program of Huyen Khong Monastery. Dr. Bach Xuan Phe is one of the organizers of the program Co Mat Cho Nhau to introduce good and useful books to the community. Currently, the program Co Mat Cho Nhau has more than 300 good books available, which can be used in teaching and reference, including both English and Vietnamese books.

On this occasion, Venerable Nguyen Thien invited Dr. Bach Xuan Phe to participate in teaching some lessons in the students' curriculum. Dr. Bach Xuan Phe also promised to cooperate and support Huyen Khong Monastery to establish a library of Buddhist reference books for teaching and learning. Regarding this project, our United Buddhist Publisher will also participate in supporting by providing additional Buddhist scriptures at low cost to the library when needed.

Also revolving around the topic of Dharma propagation and education, with the practical experience of the United Buddhist Association in the past time, we have shared and encouraged the Venerable to develop more modern media to support the cause of Dharma propagation and education. Specifically, currently the teaching programs of Huyen Khong Monastery are maintained very regularly but have not been recorded or broadcast live to share with the public via the Internet. We have given Huyen Khong Monastery a tripod used to fix the camera to easily conduct live streams via Facebook. Next, we will also support Huyen Khong Monastery to develop the monastery's website as an official means of transmitting information to the global public and build a Youtube channel to share all of the monastery's Dharma talks and community events.

It is with great joy that, as we are writing these lines, Huyen Khong Monastery has had its first successful test broadcasts on Facebook and has had thousands of views. Moreover, many Buddhists from afar, after listening to the Dharma, called to thank the Venerable and wholeheartedly supported these live broadcasts. Thus, it is clear that the media has helped the propagation of the Dharma to bring greater effectiveness.

From these initial results, the next steps will certainly be even more favorable and effective. With the motto "connect and serve", we hope that our contribution will create positive changes for the propagation of the Dharma of the Abbot as well as the nuns at Huyen Khong Monastery.

However, we cannot deny the fact that listening to the Dharma directly with the Dharma teacher in the solemn and pure space of a Zen monastery is still an irreplaceable blessing. Therefore, Buddhists who are living in Northern California, especially in San Jose, should take the time to come directly to Huyen Khong Monastery to attend the Dharma lectures and practice sessions that are still held regularly here. In this fragile, unstable and impermanent life, listening to the Dharma once will be a time to accumulate valuable capital for this life and the next. Only these values can help us transform karma and have a better life in this life and many future lives.

You can contact us for more details at the following address:

Huyền Không Monastery.
14335 Story Road
San Jose, California 95127
Phone: (408)824-5696




The entire monastery is still wild in a large area but has not been built. If there is enough affinity, this will be a spiritual support for many Buddhists in the region as well as spreading the Dharma to Buddhists everywhere.

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