Turtle Mountain

Sitting in the car for 16 hours you don’t know what to expect when you reach a stop. Your body is exhausted, but you want to run laps everywhere and anywhere. This is how I felt when I went on an Oregon retreat to Buddha Root Farm. It had to be the most amazing experience of my life. Before coming to the retreat I have to be truly honest, I was not a good kid. I had straight A’s and I respected elders, but I argued with my parents and fought with my siblings. In just one week of meditating, listening to Master Heng Sure when he gave lectures and read sutras, I became someone else. It’s not that I have changed completely or that I have become brainwashed, but after realizing my faults I understand life a bit more. I don’t burst into chatter as how I would before and I see things in a new perspective. I’ve read Buddhist books and once coming home from the retreat I hugged my parents tightly and thanked them. I apologized for everything I’ve done to sadden them. I’ve learned to appreciate. I would usually go to a Vietnamese temple every Sunday, but I admit that I never understood most of what they were teaching. Once going on the retreat I finally understood the basics of Buddhism; knowing human kindness. It was that simple yet I didn’t discover that until now. I guess my story is to just explain to people that when you realize all your mistakes, it’s not to late to fix them and become a better person.