Naming Ceremony, Ordination, & Head Shave for Dharma Brother Pháp Thanh

Ven. Thích Trừng Sỹ

NAMING CEREMONY, ORDINATION, AND HEAD SHAVE
FOR DHARMA BROTHER PHÁP THANH
On the occasion of Vesak Day,
Buddhist Calendar 2565 on June 6, 2021

Dear Dharma Brother PHÁP THANH

Today, on the occasion of Vesak Day, under the witness and support of the Sangha, you have enough good conditions to officially become a novice practitioner. Thanks to the virtue of merit and wisdom of merit you have sown, planted, and created in your previous lives. Now, the seeds of the Buddhadharma and enlightenment in you have ripened and germinated well and freshly.

At present, you start to officially become a novice practitioner and make the vow to shave off the head hair and beard; monastic person means the one who is born in the Buddhadharma has the ability to cultivate, nurture, and develop wisdom, morality, and meditation strongly and well in daily life. You vow not to do unwholesome things in spite of mind, thought, and word, and vow to benefit oneself and other people right now and right here in the present life.

With the above-mentioned meanings, a few days ago, you took refuge in the Three Jewels at PHÁP NHÃN BUDDHIST TEMPLE and had the Dharma name MINH ĐẠO; MINH means lucid, bright, right, righteous, and clear; ĐẠO means the way, the path, the direction, the Dharma, the truth, etc. So MINH ĐẠO means a person who has enough good conditions chooses the bright path, the right way, the right direction, the right Dharma, etc. Today, I have a new Dharma name PHÁP THANH; PHÁP THANH is your Dharma title called after the name of Pháp Nhãn Temple; PHÁP means the Dharma, the truth, and teachings of the Buddha; THANH means the sound, purity, purification, clarity, lucidity, clearness, the sound of the sea tide, the sound of lion’s roar, etc.

Thus, PHÁP THANH means the sound, purity, purification, clarity, lucidity, clearness, etc., of the truth, the Dharma, and the teachings of the Buddha originated from your right Dharma learning, Dharma practice, Dharma understanding, Dharma joy, Dharma happiness, Dharma achievement, and Dharma development.

PHÁP THANH is your steady Dharma name you can use here and there throughout your whole monastic cultivation life. In near future, when you become a novice monk (Śramaṇa in Sanskrit, Pali in Samaṇa) or a monk (Bhikṣu in Sanskrit, Pali in Bhikkhu), at that time, you will add THÍCH in front of PHÁP THANH = THÍCH PHÁP THANH. Later on, around two years, through the process of your ripened and fluent Dharma learning and Dharma practice, you will be able to receive this Dharma title in the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition at Pháp Nhãn Temple in Texas, the United States of America.

A few weeks ago, you already received the ten methods of practicing mindfulness from the Pháp Nhãn Temple. Today, because we do not have enough time, we do not repeat them here. For more information, please read the website: phapnhan.org via the following link.

https://phapnhan.org/en/receiving-the-ten-methods-of-mindfulness-trainings-from-the-three-jewels/

To become a perfect disciple of Buddhism, please answer and repeat slowly and clearly one by one the whole question in front of the Sangha. The ten following questions a couple of Dharma Masters will ask you in your ordination right on Vesak Day, on June 6, 2021.

First, are you a debt evader or a debtor without paying?

Second, are you an alcoholic, a drug addict, a smoke addict, a criminal?

Third, are you a person with infectious diseases?

Fourth, are you a good, ethical, and filial person with your parents in your family?

If yes, to express your deep gratitude to your parents, please lead your wholehearted mind to your parents to pay homage to them three happy prostrations right in the Ceremony of this monastic Ordination.

Fifth, are you a useful person in the family, school, and society?

Sixth, are you a well-trained disciple of the Buddhadharma?

Seventh, are you an engaged Dharma propagator?

Eighth, are you a Dharma supporter, a Dharma protector, a respectful person of the Triple Gem, a Sangha builder, an inheritor, and a person with the ability to connect the light, lineage, and lifeline of the Buddhadharma in the present as well as in the future?

If yes, to express your respectful heart of the Triple Gem, please lead your wholehearted mind to Monastic people to pay homage to them three prostrations on both sides happily right in this Ceremony.

Ninth, are you a person with the decided ability to give up ignorance, wrong view, wrong thought, wrong speech, wrong action, wrong livelihood, wrong effort, wrong mindfulness, and wrong concentration?

Tenth, are you a person with the decided ability to apply and practice the Noble Eightfold Path which interrelates very closely with Wisdom, Ethics, and Meditation in your daily life includes right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration?

Fortunately, through the ten questions you just answered above, please vow to practice and repeat three times as follows.

I try to apply and practice the Buddhadharma in my daily life to benefit all sentient beings. (Repeat x 3) Bell

A FEW WORDS OF INSTRUCTIONS TO BEGIN
SHAVING OFF THE HEAD HAIR AND BEARD

As you know, for secular people, the hair and beard are the human roots; For monastic people, beard and hair represent defilements. To shave off hair and beard means to shave off defilements from the body. Today, I have enough good conditions to shave off the bodily defilements. In order to eliminate defilements from the mind, you need to study the Dharma, practice the Dharma, understand the Dharma, and apply the Buddhadharma in your daily life to benefit yourself and others.

Dear Dharma Brother PHÁP THANH,

You should know that a monastic person who must shave off his hair and beard completely separates from worldly people, does not wear worldly clothes, and does not wear silk jewelry in a worldly fashion. Be aware that the real beauty of monastic people is made of majesty substances and cultivation of harmony, solidarity, peace, and relaxation through Dharma learning, Dharma practice, Dharma understanding, Dharma joy, and Dharma happiness.

Now you are a very lucky person to make the vow to shave off the head hair, beard, and non-good habits under the support and witness of the Sangha at the Pháp Nhãn Temple, and you officially become the true novice practitioner, the devout disciple of the Buddha in the new age, today.

To support the removal of a novice practitioner PHÁP THANH’s head hair and beard, we would like to invite you all to read and recite the following verse together happily.

VERSE OF SHAVING OFF HEAD HAIR AND BEARD
Shave off the head hair and beard
Pray for all sentient beings
Keep far away from all kinds of afflictions
Attain Nirvana, joy, peace, and happiness right now.
Namo The Original Master Sakyamuni Buddhaya