Anniversary Stage
CHARTRES (FR)
Many things remain from this Stage: the workshops in which the Stage was organised, Kim Lang Nguyen’s great hospitality, the participation of Master Tue Ho from Brazil, the visit to Chartres cathedral with the Master’s reflections and a magical Dai Lao accompanied by the church bell, performed in the evening in the dark in the square in front of the cathedral at the end of the visit. The Master tells us:
GM Phan Hoang
“I first visited Chartres Cathedral more than 30 years ago and the parish priest explained to me then that it took a good 150 years to complete its construction. My question was, ‘what needed to be done so that people of different generations would continue the construction work?’
The parish priest explained to me that if the work could be completed, it was because the one who started it developed a good plan and laid a good foundation, gave a clear message, and, after that, it was possible to continue the work generation after generation.
For me, a young man still searching for the truth, this was like a revelation. In other words, in life all important works have required the work of several generations. The important thing is to pass on the message and motivation to future 
generations and, above all, to lay a good foundation. And this gives me the courage to say that I can design any work as long as I am convinced that future generations will continue my work. But in order for this to be possible, it is necessary that I myself have a deep motivation and that I am animated by absolute interests because, otherwise, things cannot be seen in the long term.
To build a cathedral, great technical and even esoteric knowledge was needed. Look at these vaults: they are the point of concentration of energy. Inside a cathedral you can always find a place of peace and elevation of the spirit. So architecture has also played a role in the dimension of energy, not to mention the religious field.
For the past 30 years, every time I go back to Chartres, I take a picture in the same spot, so I can then make a comparison.”