The powerful Great Vow of Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien is like a vast ocean, constantly overflowing in all directions, Waking Up every being, no matter what, without discriminating or judging, opening their wisdom mind to end the source of ignorance.

Upon hearing the cries for help from sentient beings, like the Bodhisattva Quan Yin, the boundless Compassion of Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien immediately holds out her hand to help all people end their suffering, transforming their karma, and right there, they experience the ultimate truth: “what they truly are and are not”, where is their True Home, and why they need to return to the True Awake Home in this lifetime. 

The Awake Light shines on this world dispelling darkness everywhere. In that bright and immaculate light, there is only purity and clarity, completely free from all contamination.

After she Awakened in Thailand in 2001, Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien returned to Houston for a short visit, with plans to establish a meditation center in another city. Even for only two weeks, during her stay in Houston many people were instantly drawn to her serene energy, and asked for her help. When she opened their wisdom mind, challenges in mind and body began to open, their lives started to transform right away, living with true happiness and true love, healing all conflicts and relationships. They chose to become her students, and started to invite her to their houses to connect all their friends and extended families, creating the chance for them to meet her so she could wake them up as well. When Awakened Zen Master Thich Thien spoke about the previous plan to move on from Houston, all the students pleaded for her to stay. The Great Vow always goes wherever people need her the most… so Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien stayed back in Houston, continuing to teach in students’ houses and local temples.

In 2003, as more and more students started to follow her, they stood up and supported the establishment of Universal Door Meditation Center on Charles Lane in Sugar Land, Texas. Universal Door was recognized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization by the IRS, and the center opened its doors to people of all backgrounds, cultures, races, religions, and ages.  Soon, under the guidance of Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien, the center started to offer classes and retreats for all students and lay people.

In 2004, Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien and Awakened One Thich Thong Hoi met in Hawaii, and immediately knew they both had returned to the original Awake Source. Right there, their Great Vows merged, and together, they stepped into the world to Wake Up all people. Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien invited Awakened Zen Master Thich Thong Hoi to Houston and he joined her at Universal Door Meditation Center to open mind for all people through dharma talks, classes and retreats. 

The original property saw many “firsts” in Universal Door history…  The first classes, ceremonies, and retreats were offered there to help students connect with the Awakened Ones and to realize the Awake mind to end suffering. The first seven nuns were ordained there; they were American, Vietnamese, Canadian, Indian, and from other cultures. The first Parent-Teen workshop that was offered, transformed the conflicts and suffering between parents and their teenage children, saving families from losing their children to depression or suicide. This was followed by the first of many Youth & Teens 1-day and 5-day camps that changed lives forever. The first outdoor evening gala event, organized by students, to bring together large groups of supporters to cultivate the Awake seed and help the center to develop was also celebrated there.

As word spread about Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien’s powerful dharma talks and the transformational power to Wake Up and open wisdom mind, more and more people started to appear seeking her help to wake them up. The original center was outgrowing its capacity and we needed a larger space to host the new students.

Again, the students stood up, supporting the purchase of a vast 9-acre property on Dora Lane in Sugar Land, Texas, to accommodate all the new students that were stepping in. The property used to belong to a trash and recycling company with a worn out metal building. From the wisdom of the Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien, that metal building was revolutionized into a vibrant center to hold all daily activities, including a serene and spacious meditation hall in less than eight months. The new property, also known as the Wake Up Center, was inaugurated at the Grand Opening Ceremony in August 2017, opening its doors to the whole world.

The Wake Up Center has become the hub for many miraculous moments. From seven, the number of monastics has grown to 20. Several core students have pre-ordained and renewed their vow to Wake Up and fully liberate the source of ego.

Several destination retreats with travel to India, Canada, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand were born out of the Wake Up Center after students requested these international retreats from their Awake love of wanting to spend more time with the Awakened Ones and to have their Awake potential opened more deeply. From there, students again asked for extended Awake road trip retreats as well, sometimes 5-days, to 14 or 17 days. Traveling all over the U.S. to any conditions, giving them a chance to step out of familiar comfort zones and realize the truth within themselves, Awakened Ones were right there in the key moments to open wisdom, penetrate and dispel illusion, often allowing students to connect with and experience Awake.

Several nuns and core students had their “merging with Awakened One’s World” moment in 2019 and 2020 at the Wake Up Center. Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien allowed students to merge with Awake World, dissolving the source of ego. Every student experienced the vast, open, bright spaciousness of Awake World, the Five Natures of the Awakened One, and True Happiness that is indescribable by mere human words. From that sample experience, we each knew that Awake World is real, Zen Master is truly the Awakened One, and yes, that we truly have the capacity to Wake  Up in this lifetime.

Not only that, the Wake Up Center was the first to use livestreaming to run over a hundred retreats online when Covid brought the world to a halt. The Great Vow of Awakened One could not be slowed down, even by a pandemic! Students from within and outside of the USA, regardless of the time difference, day or night, joined the online retreats, as Awakened One Thich Dieu Thien sharpened our Awake potential, week after week. The power of Awake continued to grow exponentially, as the real life crisis fueled the urgency to Wake Up and liberate all illusion, to end the core attachment that causes all suffering and continuous tumbling in the cycle of birth and death.

The Wake Up Center not only welcomes people who come looking for Awakened One and the chance to Wake Up, but the monastics and core students go out into the community to reach out to people in their everyday lives, who are sometimes too busy or tired to search for help and answers to their inner questions. From salons, to restaurants, businesses, offices, wellness center, expos, and markets, the students of Awakened One Thich Dieu Thien wholeheartedly reach out to share with others, inviting them to the Wake Up Center, so they too can have the chance to realize and experience the profound, life changing results of having their Awake potential awakened and bringing tremendous benefits back to their families, friends, coworkers, and community. 

The current meditation hall has the capacity to seat only about 80 people. Especially on days of events and ceremonies, the hall is overcrowded, requiring some to listen outdoors or in another area. The makeshift dining hall is very limited in its capacity to hold the large crowds that come to attend the Awake activities there, especially when Awakened Ones continue to open wisdom for all people in any environment, awakening their Awake potential.

There is not enough room for students to sleep at overnight retreats. The limited physical space for students is clearly a need to be addressed. But there are more reasons…

After experiencing many Wake Up moments, the monastics and students have developed and stabilized their inner work, clear about their Awake Destination and purpose to Wake Up and liberate. That foundation is finally in place, creating a capacity to grow and welcome more to join. So both monastics and students combined together, stood up with the vow that all people in this world should also have the opportunity to come and meet Awakened One Thich Dieu Thien to experience the Wake Up and liberation moment, just like us. Hence the idea of an International Retreat Center appeared!

With little experience in design and development, but with an outpouring of Awake love, the monastics and students have come up with a rough draft of the future International Retreat Center that would be a timeless masterpiece open for all people and the future generations, to host and house over 150 people from all over the world. Not only that, it will have a new meditation hall large enough to seat 1000 people who can listen to Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien’s wisdom mind opening dharma talks, and have their Awake potential awakened.

When one person in a family connects with the Awakened Zen Master, once their Awake potential is opened, the clarity and brightness from them spreads to their extended family, from there, to their culture, community, state, country, and one day, to the whole world… The more people Wake Up, the more this world will be filled with True Love, True Peace and True Harmony for all.

We invite you to connect with the Awakened Zen Master Thich Dieu Thien’s pure Essence and pure Purpose to watch these videos born out of Awake love, and join us to contribute toward this project… through design, development, volunteering, donating in-kind or monetarily, or in any other way that fits for your situation.

See you in Awake World soon!