I will briefly talk about the meaning of Kalyana Mitra. In a more simple and direct term Kalyana Mitra means a good spiritual friend. It is through a spiritual friend in the form of a human being that we come to contact with Buddhism. Of course, there are different grades as well as different levels of Kalyana Mitra. For example, the Buddha himself is the greatest Kalyana Mitra of all. If he had not decided to share his enlightenment experience, then we would not be sitting here today. There would not be a religion, a universal religion that had been passed down from his time for over 2500 years. So the Buddha himself, when he decided to teach and share his experience, was the first Kalyana Mitra, and he was the greatest Kalyana Mitra of all.

By following a teacher, we can learn the proper Dharma and progress faster than if we tried to learn it by ourselves. Therefore our spiritual teachers belong to the second level of Kalyana Mitra.

However, at the next level, the very ordinary level, all of us are Kalyana Mitras to each other. Therefore we are kalyana mitras and It does not matter who we are, we may be temple residents or full time staff working in Than Hsiang Temple, or a member in any of the sections of this great family.

The reason we are holding this retreat is that, first and foremost, we are a religious organization, so spiritual practice is very important. We call this a Kalyana Mitra retreat, because we want everyone to inculcate the spirit of Kalyana Mitra, of being good spiritual friends to each other. When we practice together there is a strong energy that lifts us up. If you were to practice alone at home it is very easy to become lazy. When you feel tired you say to yourself ‘let’s have a rest, and ten minute later I will come back and meditate’ or ‘I will come back to do Buddha recitation’. But those ten minutes become ten hours. That is the way it is. But when we practice together, the energy is very strong. It is important for us to practice together and with the energy that we derived; we should continue to practice on an individual basis.

This Kalyana Mitra day or retreat is a day for sharing experiences and feeling as well as developing better and deep communication with our spiritual friends. And it is hoped that this Kalyana Mitra circle will grow as we continue carry out this activity well.

The common practice that we have chosen is recitation of the Buddha’s name, so we have arranged for this to be done during the morning session and afternoon session. The evening session will be mainly a sharing session, since we expect more people to join us in the afternoon and evening. I will continue to share with you some of my thoughts on this Kalyana Mitra day later on today. Amitabha!