On the occasion of the New Year of 2026,
May you all have happiness and progress,
With well-being of both body and mind.
May you have the Dhamma as a refuge in your hearts.
May you have strength of faith,
Effort and determination in building goodness and developing wisdom both in the world and in the Dhamma.
May you succeed and progress in right livelihood,
And may everything go well through following the teachings of the Buddha.
May you meet with true happiness of the heart.
May you come to understand the world according to the truth.
That according to nature,
When we practice Dhamma,
We wish for a pure heart.
But when we begin to practice,
We must fight with all the moods,
Mental states and feelings that we have accumulated in the heart over a long time.
When they arise,
We try to let them go and try not to let them arise again.
We strive to build goodness with right effort,
Which brings benefits.
The effort that has not yet arisen,
We try to arouse.
The effort that has already arisen,
We maintain and strengthen,
Making it firm and stable.
This is called supreme effort,
Effort that has power and energy to develop our sati,
Mindfulness and bhajna wisdom,
Allowing them to grow level by level.
We need the intention to build goodness from the very first day,
From the very first moment.
It may be a small step,
But it is a great step.
Even small acts of goodness,
Giving arms,
Listening to Dhamma,
Sitting meditation and chanting,
When done often,
They accumulate.
They are like small drops of water,
Falling drop by drop into a vessel until it becomes full.
In the same way,
Our continuous efforts without stopping will lead to success.
The goodness in our hearts without stopping gives rise to joy,
Happiness and purity,
Supported by mindfulness and wisdom.
It is normal that we don't have the wisdom to overcome all the defilements immediately.
At the beginning of practice,
We understand it is not like that.
Sometimes wisdom is small,
And our concentration is even less.
So we must endure through our sila,
Moral conduct,
And kantiparami,
Our virtue of forbearance.
We forbear and restrain the mind,
With determination,
Continuing to build goodness until it takes root.
Ultimately,
The virtue of our moral conduct becomes stronger,
And greed,
Anger,
Delusion gradually decrease.
We gain the strength to endure and overcome them.
This is the first step on the ladder of building goodness,
Which is very important for our lives as Buddhists.
If we continue building in this way without stopping,
Our moral conduct becomes firm,
Our samadhi concentration becomes stable,
And wisdom arises.
Eventually we see the truth of our lives,
That being born into this life is for the building of goodness,
And for true benefit.
As for the unwholesome actions we may have done in the past,
Now is the time to begin anew.
We start the year new.
We start the day new.
We wish for new things,
And a new mind.
When we have a new house,
New clothes,
New utensils,
We feel happy and at ease.
Since the mind is so important,
Why should we not also make the mind new?
We make the mind new through the quality of moral conduct,
Through spiritual virtues and goodness that we practice,
Train in and develop.
In this way we increase our store of merit and goodness.
The more goodness we build,
The more the chaos in our minds will diminish.
By the power of the Sammasambuddha,
The Dhamma and the Sangha,
May all the goodness you are determined to build give rise to purity and strength,
Protecting you from all dangers and causing them to disappear.
May only good things come into your lives.
May you meet with success.
May you have good health and strong bodies.
May you succeed in your work and responsibilities,
And may you succeed in your Dhamma practice.
May all your wholesome aspirations be fulfilled.
