Pháp Lý Vô Vi

Biography of Master Đỗ Thuần Hậu (Excerpt from the Book “Vô Vi Meditation”)

Master Đỗ Thuần Hậu was born in 1883 in the city "Sa Đéc" of the province "Lai Vung", Viet Nam. His father was Mr. Đỗ Hạo Cừu, Vice Governor of the region An Thới under the French colonial government. His mother was Mrs. Đào Thị Bòi. He lost his mother at the age of 9, and lived with his father and stepmother until adulthood.

He only left the family home after being married for a few years. Under the harsh living conditions of that period, he had to learn different trades to earn a living and care for his own family. He learned Traditional Chinese Medicine, Traditional Vietnamese Medicine, various trades such as making talismans, telling horoscopes, selling antiques, dyeing fabrics, painting, and so on. Before getting married, he also tutored French and Vietnamese to youths in the village in order to earn extra money for his marriage. He had 8 children in total: 1 son and 7 daughters. His eldest son was Mr. Đỗ Vạn Lý, who was an ambassador in India and also an ambassador in the United States under the presidency of Mr. Ngô Đình Diệm. His son was also an eminent scholar in the school teaching the doctrine of Caodaism in Vietnam.

In his youth, Master Đỗ Thuần Hậu had encountered many hardships, which inspired him to ponder upon the human existence, and pushed him to search for a spiritual path. After learning a while with Master Cao Minh Thien Su, he was still not completely satisfied as he was not able to get answers to all his questions. He returned to his family and researched further on his own about the Vô Vi Dharma. During this period, he often entered the state of meditative contemplation and often saw the picture of Buddha on the wall. He became even more motivated and dedicated himself more diligently to spiritual practice. When he started his spiritual practice, he was already 55 years old, but he feared neither death nor poverty. He was resolute to practice in order to break the mysterious Vô Vi curtain and enter the domain of the Vô Vi method of Esoteric Science and Dharma of Buddha. He was able to travel by soul to the Vô Vi sphere, and he had the opportunity to learn directly with the Buddha, as he has related in his book "The Method To Travel By Soul".

Master Đỗ Thuần Hậu (also nicknamed as Master Tư) had transferred his knowledge to Master Lương Sĩ Hằng (also nicknamed as Master Tám) in order to continue to preach the dharma. Master Đỗ Thuần Hậu passed away on 12 November, 1967 (the 11th day of the 10th lunar month, Year of the Goat) at the age of 84 years old (85 years according to the Lunar Calendar). He had authored the following books: Parallel Practice of Social Life and Spiritual Life, The Method To Travel By Soul, Mysterious Dreams, Love In The Four Oceans, The Scriptures of Buddha A Di Da, and The Sutra of Spiritual Practice.

Excerpt from the book “The Scriptures of Buddha A DI DA - Part 2 - Questions and Answers”, Author: Master Đỗ Thuần Hậu

QUESTION: You are a worldly person, so why do you cultivate yourself spiritually?

ANSWER: When I was 45 years old, we were a French colony, and I saw the loss of our country and our homes. I saw that the rich people as well as the mandarins from high to medium levels, were oppressing others and fighting among themselves to gain profit. Even the lower ranks were also greedy, deceitful, easily angered and filled with blinded passions. People abused each other, generated hatred and vengeance, and killed each other. Even within the family, people fought against each other because of money, children did not respect their parents, and the same happened among siblings. At that time, I was working for the mandarins to capture the crooks and investigated the brutal people who murdered others. I was able to get from the souls of the victims of injustice the names and ages of the culprits.

I became very sad, and abandoned this job to be an ordinary peasant, and searched for a path of liberation, to free myself from this darkness. There was no better path than the path of spiritual cultivation in order to avoid all these lies. But I had a family with many children. In the Buddhist tradition, one must leave behind all family ties to become a monk, or one could stay home to recite prayers and the mantra Nam-Mo-A-Di-Da-Phat. I thought a lot about many things, such as, if there were no social life, how would spiritual life exist?.... O, such a difficult dilemma....!

I started wandering, visiting many pagodas, and traveling to many mountains to search for spirituality. Then I met the Meditation Master Cao Minh. I became his disciple and got initiated to the Vô Vi Dharma - a method to attain soul travel, to cultivate the mind and character, and I stayed home to earn a living and practice spirituality.

I saw that the Vô Vi dharma to cultivate the soul was an acceptable method, but it was not possible to satisfy the condition that a male person had to stop procreating. So, even though I borrowed from this dharma, I also did some further research in the spiritual domain. At that time, I understood that living in this earthly world made us all sinners. Similarly, a fish swimming in water could not avoid getting wet. I was not discouraged, even though I felt world-weary, as I realized all our sins. I accepted to cultivate my heart and character, but as I was already married, I could not follow my fellow disciples. After much thinking, I realized that spiritual cultivation was indeed a way of spiritual perfection, but the family order as taught by Master Confucius was also a way of spiritual perfection. Therefore, I created the "Parallel Practice of Social Life and Spiritual Life". I thought about the meaning of the word "TU" (Spiritual Perfection) as follows:

"TU" (Spiritual Perfection) means to create a stable foundation, to transform a wicked person into a benevolent one. One would earn a living by one's own efforts, one would not generate conflicts, one's conscience would be tranquil and not agitated. "TU" also has the meaning of making a solid, beautiful, smooth foundation. The word "TU" also means to improve oneself, for example to make the Pearl of our mind, the "Mo-Ni-Chau", shine brighter, like our soul. This is done through the practice of the exercise "Cyclical Breathing without Retention" where we strive to unblock our energy and purify ourselves, in order to brighten our soul. When we attain clarity of mind, we will become intelligent and will no longer fail in our daily work, and as we keep enlightening our mind, we will abandon our blinded passions and dark habits, to become a wise person. This is the foundation of spiritual cultivation, the root of spiritual perfection: We continue to work daily to care for our family, while practicing the meditation exercises at night to perfect ourselves spiritually. This is called the "Parallel Practice of Social Life and Spiritual Life".

**Master Đỗ Thuần Hậu on the bank of river “Hau”**

Auto Biography (Excerpt from the Book “Parallel Practice Of Social And Spiritual Life”)

My name is Do Thuan Hau, I am currently 78 years old, and live in SaDec (Southern Vietnam).

Dear Friends,

Before I write these words, I am not afraid to talk about my own cowardice, impurities, and weaknesses, since people living in this earthly world are necessarily tainted by worldly matters. In the earthly world, we talk about the material, but when we talk about "Vô Vi", it belongs to the spiritual domain of the soul. The soul is sacred, while the spiritual path is profound and boundless, and is also called Spiritual Energy. Therefore, it cannot be seen, and talking about it, is similar to a liar trying to fool you.

But I am not afraid of being misunderstood, so I have collected many sutras to bring to you the following words of truth, even though I do not believe them to be true until I practice by myself. If you also practice correctly the exercises that I am presenting and dedicate yourselves for one whole year, you will see whether you will get the results as I have told you or not. If you practice but do not get any results, you do not need to continue your practice.

Here are the results of the practice of Vô Vi Meditation:

1. Those who do manual and tiring work, will feel healthier and stronger.

2. Young adolescents who are restless and hot-tempered will become calmer and more lucid.

3. Practicing meditation at night will require some of your time, but in the morning, you will feel more energy, your health will improve as if you have taken a fortifying potion. You become stronger because you have breathed in the pure oxygen.

4. The meditation practice will regulate the heat energy inside the five organs, and thanks to the pure and clean energy of the universe, the energy of the body is purified and becomes stronger. When the energy is focused on the top of the head, it will illuminate the 9 points and unblock them. Anger, greed, blinded passions, are all caused by the blocked heat energy of the body. When your energy is blocked, you will feel angrier, and you will also become greedier.

For the body, we practice the exercises of Concentration of Spiritual Energy, Cyclical Breathing, and Meditative Contemplation. For the mind, we practice the silent invocation of the six vibratory words (Nam-Mo-A-Di-Da-Phat). These exercises combined with the oxygen and pure energy of Heaven will dissipate the shortcomings in our brains, and both our mind and character will become calmer and stronger. Thanks to the Vô Vi Method, we will be able to release our anger, passions, and greed, and become more spiritual and compassionate. In order to allow us to free ourselves on our own, the Buddha has given us the six vibratory words to cure us from the sickness of greed, anger and passions. However, during the Qin Shi Huang dynasty, they burned all books from Buddha. Thankfully, some sages salvaged the book "Sutras of Buddha A Di Da" which contained the original teachings of Buddha Di Da, while all other books about meditation were lost. When I researched about the six vibratory words, I did not find any clear method either. When I studied with my Meditation Master Cao Minh, he taught me about two books of the great sage Confucius "Tanh Mang Khue Chi" and "Thanh Tinh Kinh"("Sutras of Serenity") which still did not explain clearly the practice method. Finally, when I was able to travel by soul and attained a greater wisdom, I learned more thanks to the Buddhas who enlightened me. However, I still did not believe in myself, so I studied the idiograms of the Chinese characters to learn more. When Buddha communicated with Confucius, they created a system of ideograms, so that common people could understand them from generations to generations. Similarly, I had to study the ideograms in the Chinese characters to understand the thoughts of the Buddhas and the Immortals inside their sutras to further my spiritual practice. I was able to understand more clearly the "Scriptures of Buddha Di Da" and the six vibratory words "Nam-Mo-A-Di-Da-Phat", and I was able to practice better to achieve a greater enlightenment.

When I was able to travel by the soul, I wrote the book "The Method to Travel By Soul" and "Mysterious Dreams", so that you would practice the Vô Vi method more easily, without hesitation. However, I do not just trust myself, but I must attain wisdom through my spiritual practice. Similarly, you should not just trust yourselves. You should study every day and contribute your spiritual experiences to people who come after us. Only then will this book be of benefit to you as a spiritual foundation. If you learn more through your spiritual practice, you can add to this book, so that people who want to know about the spiritual path, will understand more easily.

Dakao, the 15th day of the lunar month of January 1961 (Year of the Ox)

(Translation by Hue-Mai)