—Dhammapada Verse 50

We invite you to join us live every Sunday Morning, either in person or on Zoom, for meditation, Dharma talks, chanting, and discussions. Past Dharma talks and special event speakers will be uploaded to both our YouTube channel and Facebook page.

As always, we are grateful for your ongoing support.

Dana is the virtue of giving. It is the practice to overcome lower fetters, such as greed and ignorance and the way to accumulate merits, that will support the practice of meditation. Without preliminary effort to establish virtuous actions, the practice of meditation often become fruitless. Don't hesitate and seize any opportunity to develop this virtue.

To volunteer for food offerings to the monastics during winter retreat, please contact office@maba-usa.org

As 2022 comes to an end, first, thank you for your support and for joining us in serving the

Dharma and sentient beings. May you and your family and others become more mature and capable amid the great upheaval of the world with the pandemic and war. As we look toward 2023, I would like to make three brief remarks:

First, please be pragmatic in your work and learn and train a wider range of academic and

technical skills to serve the community. My advice and encouragement to those of you who have not done so, are:

I. Start this project as soon as possible or even immediately.

II. To improve as soon as possible the ability to anticipate and respond to the difficult days ahead.

III. To learn and raise the level of spirituality and thinking so that we can better cope with the short-term and long-term shocks and stresses of an open society.

IV. The most important value of life is to never lose the advantage of moving forward in a highly competitive environment.

Second, you cannot lie flat in your spiritual practice. The careful planning and active actions for the setting and implementation of ideal beliefs:

1. To devote yourself to the practice and cultivation of Dharma, to perpetuate the Buddha's wisdom, and to attain the Dharma body and the fruit of the path.

2. To do more to introduce Buddhism to the society and to guide beginners.

These two points are the practical things for self-benefit and benefiting others, let's do something about it! No more excuses and laziness.

Third, to sum up the first and second, pragmatic people living in the real world must take the interests of their own lives as the starting point and strengthen their strengths to face the imbalance and huge changes in the social relations and stand in an invincible position. For those who believe in Buddhism, their goals need to be great, and their purpose must be clear to move forward in a steady and determined manner.

Finally, in the new year, I pray that the Three Jewels will bless you with good health, good life, and safe travels.

In the Dharma,

Venerable Jì Rú

Abbot

will receive a monastic ordination from Master Jiru. Our community is very happy to accept such young and yet very determined man into the monastic order. XiǎnQín, spent most of his life in Missouri, and is experienced in construction work. Hopefully he will be of a good help to master Jiru in his projects.

Please join the ordination ceremony and as part of the traditional Chinese way of celebrating a new monastic make small offering in the form of 紅包 (Hóngbāo) to XiǎnQín

Sunday, January the 1st, 2023

(There is no regular Sunday Morning Program)

Vegetarian Lunch at Blue Lotus House at 11.45

Please consider making your tax-deductible end-of-year contributions today.

Thank you for your generosity!

and may be sent to office@maba-usa.org. Thank you!

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Please visit our Event Calendar for upcoming events.

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