Huỳnh Quang Pagoda, Tịnh Biên, An Giang: Gifts and Wheelchairs, Spring 2025

On March 15, 2025, the Compassionate Hands team visited Huỳnh Quang Pagoda in Tịnh Biên, An Giang, giving gifts and wheelchairs and hearing a Dharma talk from a monk of the pagoda.

On March 15, 2025, the Compassionate Hands Foundation (Hội Từ Thiện Bàn Tay Nhân Ái) visited Huỳnh Quang Pagoda in the border district of Tịnh Biên, An Giang province. The team gave material gifts to poor villagers and listened to a Dharma talk by a monk of the pagoda.

From Đồng Tháp to the border

After the distribution at Phong Hòa Pagoda in Đồng Tháp, the group passed through Long Xuyên and stayed overnight, then continued toward the Tịnh Biên border area. When they arrived, the villagers had already gathered in the temple yard under a heavy sun. The sight of frail, sick elderly people weighed on the whole team.

Huỳnh Quang Pagoda has a saying its monks hold dear: the religious path and daily life are two sides of one, and living in peace brings lasting happiness. The video's narrator calls it a compass for the whole charity journey.

Two gifts

A representative of the foundation told the villagers it brought two gifts: a material one and a spiritual one, the Dharma shared by the monks. He repeated what had been said at other pagodas. People on monthly rice support now receive 5 kg instead of 10 kg, and he asked them to wait a year or two while the foundation tries to restore the full 10 kg.

For students, the foundation used to give scholarships, but with funds short this time it could only give one-time gifts. He also pointed out people in the yard with disabilities who had never had a wheelchair. That day the team gave wheelchairs to them, along with the same gift packages as everyone else.

Most of the people here are elderly people living alone, with no one to look after them.

A monk speaking at the pagoda

A monk on reciting the Buddha's name

A monk of the pagoda thanked the head monk for caring about this faraway border area. He urged the villagers to recite the Buddha's name and explained why: it wakes a person up, brings calm, slows the rush, and lets one notice whether one is hurrying. He also encouraged a vegetarian diet alongside the practice. At the end of the talk, everyone in the yard recited the Buddha's name three times with him.

He said that the best way for villagers to repay the head monk and the team is to recite the Buddha's name. He closed with a prayer that the visiting monks stay at peace in body and mind, and that their Buddhist work succeed.

The order of the distribution

The team gave out gifts in a set order. First came people who cannot walk and need a wheelchair. Next were those on the regular list, meaning people the foundation supports with monthly rice. Then the students. Last were gifts for poor neighbors in the hamlets, even those not yet on any support list.

Members had arranged the rice, noodles and goods in advance. The younger members of the team, who had traveled from half a world away, pushed wheelchairs one by one and walked elderly people out to the yard.

Eighteen years, and the work ahead

The narrator notes that for 18 years the foundation has sponsored charity homes for families with nowhere to turn, and kept up bags of rice for elderly people living alone who can no longer work, so that on the full moon each month they have a little more food. Calling for support is still hard, the narrator says, but one grateful look or one smile from the villagers gives the team reason to keep going.