ENLIGHTENING The Tree of Enlightenment

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PART ONE

FOUNDATION OF BUDDHA (continued)

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CHAPTER SEVEN 
INTELLECTUAL (HUE)

With this chapter, we will complete the study of the Eight Noble Paths. In Chapters 5 and 6, we look at the first two groups, or practice, things about virtue and spiritual development. Here we look at the third practice, which is wisdom (wisdom). At this point we find ourselves in front of a paradox: In the list of eight steps of the Eightfold Path, right understanding and righteous thinking appear first, but to the extent of the three ways of practice, the intellectual group comes last. . Why is that?

In the past, we used analogies about mountain climbing to explain the correlation between the steps of the path. When you prepare to climb the mountain, you must see the peak in sight. It was the view of the mountain that divided the direction into steps. For this reason, right from the start of climbing, you have to keep an eye on the top of the mountain. So, right view is recorded right at the beginning of the path. But in terms of practice, you have to start climbing from the lowest slope, then to the higher places before reaching the top of the mountain, that is gaining wisdom. In practical terms, wisdom comes later in the practice of the Eightfold Path.

The described wisdom is an understanding of the Four Noble Truths, an understanding of the Noble Truth, and the same thing. What we explain when we say simply is that wisdom is the transformation of things of a doctrinal nature that are only objects of intellectual knowledge into actual personal experience. In other words, we want to change the knowledge of the Four Noble Truths and the same thing learned in books into vivid reality truths. This goal is achieved first by cultivating virtue, and then especially by cultivating spiritual development.

Anyone can read in the book of the meaning of the Four Noble Truths, Reasonable Causes, etc. ..., but does not mean that he can gain wisdom. The Buddha himself said that due to the ignorance of the Four Noble Truths and the Causes and Causes, we have to drift forever in the cycle of samsara. Clearly when He said this, He wanted to imply something more profound than merely to point out the failure to absorb intellectual teachings of these doctrines.

Therefore the term "understanding" must be understood in the sense of right understanding, that is immediate and direct understanding. It may be like a simple cognitive action (life) ï, like looking at a blue membrane. Perhaps this is why the way of looking back is often used to describe intellectual attainment. We talk about wisdom by "seeing truth", or "seeing everything right" because gaining wisdom is not an intellectual or academic exercise. It is the knowledge or "seeing" directly of those truths. When this kind of direct understanding of the nature of reality is achieved, it is equivalent to the attainment of enlightenment. This opens the door to liberation from suffering and nirvana.

Two steps in the Noble Eightfold Path in the Hui group (wisdom) are (1) right understanding and (2) righteous thinking. Right view is to see everything in its true nature, to know the true truth of everything, not to see them seem like that. In practical terms this means wisdom, deep understanding, or seeing the underside of things. If we want to explain this with the word doctrine, we have to talk about the Four Noble Truths, the Causal Reason, the Impermanence, the Selflessness, etc. But now, let us talk about the means of reaching Right view, and leave content about that understanding on another occasion. Here, again, the scientific attitude in Buddha's teachings is obvious because when we examine the means of attaining right understanding, we see that we begin with the objective observation of the world around them. me and ourselves. Moreover,

In the process of gaining right understanding, we see two types of understanding: (i) understanding by ourselves, (ii) understanding gained by others. Understanding thanks to others includes facts presented by others. In the end, these two types of understanding integrate because of the ultimate explanation, true understanding (or righteous knowledge) must be our own. At the same time, we can distinguish the knowledge gained by observing the data on daily experience with the knowledge gained by the study of the doctrine.

Likewise, in our personal circumstances, we are encouraged to observe objectively the things around us and consider their meaning, so when we approach the Buddha's teachings, we are encouraged first. study and then review and examine the doctrine. But whether we talk about observing and investigating the truth about our own experience or studying and examining the scriptures, the third and final step in the process of acquiring knowledge is meditation. At this point in the process of collecting knowledge, I mentioned the above two types of understanding become indistinguishable.

To summarize, the ways to achieve right understanding are as follows: (1) at the first stage, you must observe and study, (2) at the second stage, you must intellectually examine what you have observed and studied, and (3) at the third stage, you have to focus on thinking about what you have previously investigated and decided intellectually. Use a practical example. We plan to go somewhere. To prepare for the journey, we need a road map that we must follow to get there. First we look at the directions on the map, then we have to review what we have observed, read the map carefully to make sure we understand the instructions. Only then can we begin our journey to the intended destination. The final step in this process is to promote a journey comparable to meditation.

For example, you have to buy a new device for your home or office. You read from the beginning to the end once the instructions for usage are not enough. You have to read and reread and thoroughly survey that you have thoroughly understood the instructions. Only when you are sure you understand the instructions will you be able to use the new tool. Successful use of tools is similar to meditation. In the same way, want to gain wisdom, you must think about knowledge gathered by observation or research and verification by examination. At the third stage of the process of attaining right understanding, the knowledge we previously collected becomes part of our life experience.

Next, we have to spend a bit of time considering the attitude of cultivation when we approach the Buddha's teachings. It is said that to do so, we must avoid the three mistakes explained with the example of a vase. In this context, we are the vase, while the doctrine is what is poured into the jar.

Now let's first assume that the pot is covered with a lid, obviously we will not be able to pour water into the jar. This is similar to the situation of a person who hears the teachings with a closed mind, that is, it is full. In such circumstances, Dharma cannot enter and fill his mind.

Moreover, for example, we have a jar with a hole in the bottom of the jar: If we try to pour milk, milk will flow out. This is similar to a person who does not keep what he hears, so no catechetical impact can be used.

Finally, for example, if we pour fresh milk into a jar without seeing if the bottle is clean and there are some bad milk left in the previous day, the new milk poured into the bottle is of course also damaged. Also, if one hears the Buddha's teachings with an impure mind, the teachings will not bring any benefit. For example, when someone hears the Fa for a selfish purpose, as if being eager and boasting, it is like an impure vase.

We must avoid the above three mistakes when we approach the Buddha's teachings. The right attitude applies when listening to the Fa like a patient paying close attention to the advice of the physician. Here the Buddha is like a physician, the doctrine is medicine, we are the patient, and the teaching of the doctrine is the means by which we can heal the diseases of disasters such as attachment, anger, and ignorance, they are the cause of suffering. We will certainly achieve some degree of right understanding if we approach the study of Buddha Dharma with this attitude.

Right understanding itself is usually divided into two aspects or two levels: the level and the level. In chapter 4, I mentioned that the goal given by Buddhism is also in two levels: the goal of happiness and prosperity in this or the next life, while the goal of liberation, or nirvana, is the dark goal. post-practice. The level of right understanding corresponds to the mundane first goal of Buddhist practice, while the higher level of right view corresponds to the supreme goal of Buddhist practice.

The first common aspect of right view involves an accurate assessment of the relationship between cause and effect, and is closely linked to the moral responsibility of your behavior. In short, this means that sooner or later we will experience the consequences of our actions. If we act good - keep the value of respect for life, property, truth etc ... - we will experience happy results for good deeds: in other words, we will enjoy the happiness and luck in this life or the next life. Opposite. If we act in unwholesome ways, we will experience unhappiness, poverty, and unfortunate circumstances in this life and the afterlife.

The higher second aspect of right view involves the proper view of the nature of things and belongs to the ultimate goal of the Buddha's teachings. What does it mean when we say "seeing things true"? Again the doctrinal answer may be as follows: To see things properly means to see things as impermanent, predestined, non-self and so on ... All answers that's right. All have something to say about seeing things properly. But to get to the understanding of the first step and to a certain meaning, the last step of the Noble Eightfold Path, we must seek all manifestations of this doctrine of right understanding that have something in common. What we find is that all descriptions of the meaning of right understanding are contrary to ignorance, attachment and attachment in samsara.

The Buddha attained enlightenment mainly the experience of breaking ignorance. This experience is often described by the Buddha himself about the Four Noble Truths and the causes and conditions, both of which are related to the ignorance of ignorance. In this sense, ignorance is a central issue of Buddhism. The main concept in both the Four Noble Truths and the Causal Reason is ignorance, consequences and eliminating it.

Let's take a look back at the formula of the Four Noble Truths. The key to transforming the experience from the suffering experience to ending suffering is knowing the second noble truth, the truth about the origin of suffering. Once we understand the origin of suffering, we can act to end suffering. As mentioned in Chapter 4, the Four Noble Truths are divided into two groups: the first group consists of the truth of suffering, and the truth of the origin of suffering, to be eliminated; the second group, including the truth about the end of suffering and the truth of the path, is to be achieved.

Understanding the origin of suffering makes us able to accomplish this. This can be clearly seen in the Buddha's own description of his experience on the night of enlightenment. When Buddha recognizes the source of suffering - when he understands love, anger and ignorance are the causes - this opens the door to liberation and enlightenment for him. Love, anger and ignorance are the causes of suffering. If we want to limit our survey to the most essential component, we must aim at ignorance, because ignorance and anger arise because of ignorance.

Ignorance is the concept of the ordinary, the independent personality or the self. Due to the concept of "I", separate and opposed to people and things around us, it is the fundamental source of suffering. Once we have the idea of ​​such an "I", we tend to naturally lean into our empirical facts to maintain and support this "I", and the natural dimension. Stay away from things we imagine they threaten to "I". That is the concept of an independent self, which is the fundamental source of suffering, the root of harmful emotions: love, anger, greed, anger, craving and jealousy. hate. It is the ignorance of the fact that I or the self is only a convenient name for a group of elements that are always changing, dependent and interdependent,

But is there a forest separate from the trees? It's not the "I" or the self, it's just a generic name to call a set of processes. When the self is accepted as true and independent, it is the cause of suffering and fear. In this range, trust in an independent self, like mistaking that the rope is a snake in the dark. If we happen to see the rope in a dark room, we can assume that the rope is really a snake, and this mistake is a cause of fear. Similarly, because of the darkness of ignorance, we give temporary, selfless processes of feeling, awareness (life), etc., as true, independent self. The result is that we respond to situations with hope and fear, yearning for some things and not liking other things, liking these people and not liking others.

So ignorance is a mistaken idea of ​​an eternal Ta, or true self. This unselfish doctrine or without the I, does not contradict the doctrine of mental responsibility, karma. In short, you will recall before, we have described right understanding in two respects - understanding the law of the law, and seeing the right things. Once the concept of the wrongness of the self - the theory of being the center, the defeat of the right understanding, the love, the anger and the other emotional disasters do not arise. When all this stops, the end of suffering will be achieved. I do not expect all of this to be clear. Of course, I also spent some chapters on the concept of ignorance in Buddhism and about its correction.

Now let us continue with the next step of the Noble Eightfold Path which belongs to the intellectual group (wisdom) called righteous thinking. Here we begin to see reintegration or re-application, in the intellectual aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path of virtue because thought has a great influence on our moral character. The Buddha said if we act or speak with a pure mind, happiness will follow us like a shadow with a picture, if we act and speak with impure mind, suffering will follow me like a foot-like wheel ox pull car.

Right thinking means avoiding attachment and anger. The origin of suffering is known as ignorance, attachment and anger. While right understanding eliminates ignorance, righteous thinking eliminates love and anger; so right understanding and righteous thinking together eliminate the cause of suffering.

In order to eliminate attachment and greed, we must cultivate to let go, while eliminating anger and anger we must cultivate love and compassion. How do we cultivate the attitude of abandonment and love and compassion, help repair sexuality and anger? Let go of development by contemplating the unsatisfactory nature of life, especially the unsatisfactory nature of sensory pleasures. Sensory pleasures are like salt water. A thirsty person who drinks salt water hopes to be thirsty but only to increase his thirst.

The Buddha also likened the sensory pleasures as a very attractive fruit outside which is aromatic and delicious but very toxic when eaten. Likewise, pleasure is attractive and fun but harmful. So, in order to cultivate renunciation, we must consider the unbearable consequences of sensory pleasures.

In addition, we must appreciate the reality, the special nature of reincarnation, the cycle of birth and death is suffering. No matter where we were born, in this cycle of birth and death, our situation will be full of suffering. The nature of samsara is suffering, just like the nature of fire is heat. By understanding the unsatisfactory nature of life, and recognizing the unpopular consequences of sensory pleasures, we can cultivate renunciation and attachment.

Similarly, we can develop compassion and compassion by recognizing the essential equality of all sentient beings. Like us, all sentient beings are afraid of death and also trembling before the punishment. Understanding this we should not kill other sentient beings or cause other sentient beings to be killed. Like us, all beings want to live and be happy. Understanding this, we should not consider ourselves higher than others or evaluate ourselves with the way we value others.

Recognizing the essential equality of all sentient beings is the basis for cultivating compassion and compassion. All beings want the same happiness and fear of pain that we do. Recognizing this, we must treat all with love and compassion. Moreover, we must actively cultivate the wish that all sentient beings live happily and out of suffering. In this regard, we can all cultivate a useful attitude about letting go, loving and compassion, this attitude corrects and ultimately eliminates attachment and anger. Finally, by practicing the intellectual aspect of the Noble Eightfold Path that includes not only righteous thinking but also right understanding, we can eliminate the harms of ignorance, attachment of attachment, anger, and liberation and happiness. the ultimate blessing of nirvana,

-ooOoo-

CHAPTER EIGHT 
NOW

With this chapter, we begin to consider two related concepts that are familiar in Buddhism: karma and rebirth. These concepts are very closely related, but since this topic is so wide, I intend to devote two chapters to the problem. This chapter and a later chapter.

We know the elements of our imprisonment in reincarnation are disasters: ignorance, attachment and anger. We discuss this when we consider the second noble truth, the truth of the cause of suffering (see Chapters 4 and 7). Those disasters are something that every sentient being in this world has to suffer, whether they are beings or beings in other realms that we are often unaware of.

All beings are the same when dominated by disasters, but there are many differences between beings that we all know. For example, some people are rich, while some are poor, some are strong and healthy while others are weak and sick, and so on ... There are many differences between children. people, and there are much bigger differences between humans and animals. These differences are the result of karma. Ignorance, attachment, and anger are common in all people, but in special circumstances each person finds himself a result of the karma, this particular karma determines the particular state of the person. there.

Karma explains why some people are lucky while others are unfortunate, why some are happy while others are unhappy. The Buddha clearly said karma explains the differences between beings. We also recall a part of the Buddha's experience in his enlightened night including understanding of how karma has decided on the rebirth of sentient beings, sentient beings who have transformed from happy to non how happy, and vice versa due to the consequences of their karma. Therefore, only karma explains the different circumstances that the beings themselves see.

Since we have talked a lot about the function of karma, let us look closely at what karma is: say another way, so that we can define it. Perhaps we should start by determining what is not karma. Often people misunderstand the meaning of karma. This is especially true when it comes to people using this word every day. You often see someone speaking patiently about a special situation with a thought that is due to karma, so you must endure. When people think karma in that way, karma becomes an exit, and thinks that most of the characteristics of belief are predestination or destiny. But this is certainly not the true meaning of karma. Perhaps this misunderstanding is the result of the idea of ​​destiny very popular in many cultures. Perhaps because of popular belief, the concept of karma is often confused and obscured by the concept of predestination.

If karma is not fate or predestination, what is karma? Let's look at the meaning of this word. Karma means "to act", that is, to do one or the other. Immediately we have a clear manifestation of the true meaning of karma that is not destiny, rather karma is action, and literally motivation. But karma is not just about acting because it's not a mechanical act, it's not an unconscious or unconscious act. On the contrary, karma is a deliberate, conscious, intentional act motivated by will or will.

How can a deliberate act determine whether our condition is better or worse? It can do so because every action has a reaction or a consequence. This truth was proposed about the physical universe by the great classical physicist Newton, who invented a scientific law that determined that each action must have an equivalent reaction and vice versa. In an environment of attention or spiritual responsibility, there is a division corresponding to the law of action and reaction that governs changes in the physical universe - called the law of action that must pay attention. have consequences. For this reason Buddhists often refer to the action of its intention and its ripening effect or its intentional action and impact. Therefore, when we want to talk about attention-taking action with its ripening consequences, or its impact, we use the word group "

At the most basic level, the law of karma teaches certain kinds of special actions that inevitably lead to compatible results. Take a simple example to illustrate this. If we plant mango seeds, the grown up tree will be a mango tree and eventually the tree will carry mangoes. Instead, if we plant pomegranate seeds, the fruit becomes a pomegranate, and its fruit must be pomegranate. "Sow what to reap": according to the nature of our actions, we will have corresponding results.

Likewise, according to the law of karma, if we do good deeds, sooner or later we will have good results, or results, if we do evil deeds, we will not avoid having bad results or results that we do not want. This means, we say in Buddhism, the special cause of special consequences is the same as the nature of those causes. This becomes clear when we consider special examples of good deeds and unwholesome actions along with their corresponding consequences.

Understanding in a general sense, summarizing in two ways: good kamma or good kamma, evil or unwholesome. In order to avoid misunderstandings about these words, let us look at its original words about the so-called good and bad kamma, kushala and akushala - To understand how these words are used, need Knowing its practical meaning, kushala means "smart" or "clever" while akushala means "not smart" or "not clever". Understanding this meaning, we can see that these words used in Buddhism are not in the meaning of good and evil, but in the sense of intelligence or intelligence, talent or incompetence, good and unwholesome.

What are good and unwholesome actions? Good deeds mean actions that are beneficial to you and to the people, and are not motivated by ignorance, attachment to anger, but motivated by intellect, let go, or attachment to attachment and love and merciful.

How can we know that a good act will produce happiness, and an unwholesome action will bring unhappiness. The short answer called time will tell. The Buddha himself explained that as long as unwholesome deeds have not been suffering, the foolish person for that action is good, but when that unwholesome act results in suffering, he will be aware of that action. is unwholesome. Likewise, as long as the act of goodness does not produce happiness, the foolish person can give that action akusala, only when it produces a happy result does one realize that the action is good.

Therefore we need to judge good or evil actions from the viewpoint of their consequences after a long time. Very simply, sooner or later, good deeds bring happiness to oneself and others, while unwholesome deeds bring suffering to oneself and others.

Especially, the unwholesome action must avoid involving the three so-called action gates: body, speech and mind. There are three unwholesome actions in the body, four places of speech and three places of mind. The three unwholesome actions of the body are (1) murder, (2) robbery, and (3) prostitution; the four unwholesome actions of the speech are (4) lying, (5) saying evil words, (6) saying two-dimensional tongues and (7) saying the words of weaving; and the three unwholesome actions of mind are (8) greed. (9) pitch and (10) si. By avoiding these unwholesome actions, we can avoid their consequences.

The common result of these unwholesome actions is suffering, suffering can take many forms. The ripe fruit of unwholesome action leads to rebirth in the lower realms, the realms of suffering - hell, devils and animals. If the crime of unwholesome deeds is not enough to fall into the lower realms, the result must still be in misfortune despite the birth.

Here we can see that the operation of this principle has been alluded to before - that is due to the principle of cause which leads to adequate and appropriate consequences. For example, if we often do actions that are motivated by malice and anger, such as robbing someone else's life, this will lead to rebirth in hell, where it will be tortured and die again. many times. If the unwholesome act of killing other sentient beings is not a habit and continues many times, such action also results in premature death even though we were born as human beings. Otherwise, the actions of this type will lead to alienation from relatives, fear and even paranoia. In this case, we clearly see its consequences like the nature of the cause. Killing is killing others, causing them to leave their relatives,

Likewise, robbery motivated by the calamities of attachment and greed, can lead to rebirth in hungry hungry ghosts, where absolutely nothing we want, not even essential things like food and shelter. Although robbery does not result in hungry ghosts, robbery also results in poverty, relying on others to live, etc. ... As for adultery, it will lead to difficulties in marriage.

Therefore, unwholesome actions produce unwholesome results in many forms of suffering. while good actions are good or happy. We can explain good actions in two ways, negatively or positively: We can consider good deeds as actions to avoid unwholesome things like (killing, stealing, adultery) or us. may think that good deeds mean generosity, prudence, meditation, respect, service to others, dedicating merit, rejoicing others' merits, listening to the Fa, teaching the Fa, and repairing Our own misconception.

Here again, the consequences of action are similar to their causes. For example, generous results, listening to Dharma results, etc. ... Good actions have the same results as their causes. In this case, good or beneficial - like akusala action has an unwholesome effect, just like those actions themselves.

Karma whether good or unwholesome can change by the conditions that it accumulates. In other words, a good or unwholesome act of good or light depends on the condition that the action is performed. The situation of heavy industrial decisions can be divided into industries related to the subject, or the person who is involved in the object or the being must take action. Thus, the circumstances that determine karma apply to both the subject and the object of the action.

If we take an example of a murder, five conditions must be met to act in full force: (a) a being, (b) the sense of life of a being, (c ) intent to kill, (d) try, or act to kill, and (e) the death of sentient beings.

Here we can see the conditions that apply to both the subject and the object of the act of killing: the subjective condition is the consciousness of the living being, the intention to kill, and the act of killing that being, while objective conditions are the presence of a being and the death of that being.

Likewise, the five conditions alternately change karma: (i) stubbornness or recurrence, (ii) intentional, (iii) no remorse, (iv) quality and (v) gratitude. In addition, these five conditions can be divided into subjective and objective categories. Subjective conditions are actions taken with stubbornness, actions taken with intention and determination, and actions taken and without regret or anxiety. If you do an unwholesome action again and again, with intention and without regret or anxiety, karma will increase.

Objective conditions are the quality of the object - that is the being that acts towards - and is indebted, or the nature of the existing relationship between the object of action and the subject. In other words, if we do good or evil deeds on sentient beings with special qualities such as Arhat or Buddha, good deeds or good deeds will be very heavy. In the end, acts of good or evil will be greater when these actions are carried out towards those we are as grateful to as parents, teachers, and friends who have benefited us in the past.

Subjective and objective conditions together determine karma. This is important because understanding this will help us remember that karma is not simply a black and white or a good and bad problem. Karma, of course, is a deliberate and spiritual responsibility, but the operation of the law is very well balanced to align the natural and fair consequences with the cause. Industry assesses all subjective and objective conditions affecting the exact nature of action. This ensures that the consequences of an action must be similar and equal to the cause.

The consequences of karma can be both short and long-term. Traditionally, karma is divided into three categories determined by the time it takes for its consequences to manifest itself: right in this life, the next life, or after many lives.

When the consequences of karma manifest immediately in this life, they can be seen in a relatively short period of time. The consequences of this kind of karma, anyone of us can directly see it. For example, when a person refuses to study, falls in love with alcohol, drugs, or starts stealing to satisfy his bad habits, karma will naturally develop in a short time. These karmic manifestations manifest themselves in the loss of livelihood, friends, illness and the like.

Although we ourselves cannot see it, karma results after a long time, but the Buddha and his outstanding disciples with open mind through meditation, can see. For example, when the Bishop of Lien Lien was beaten by thugs, blood flowed to the Buddha, the Buddha could see what happened as a result of the Pastoral Order created in the previous life. In this life, Section Kien Lien brought his elderly parents into the forest to beat his parents to death and believed that thugs killed his parents. The aftermath of akusala action done in previous lives, it manifests itself only in the life of the Venerable Bishop.

When we die we have to leave everything - property, and loved ones - but karma follows us like a shadow with a picture. The Buddha said whether it was on the ground or in heaven did not escape the karma. When these conditions are present depending on the mind and body, karma will manifest itself, as depending on the right conditions, mangoes appear on mango trees. We can see that, even in the natural world, some consequences take a while to manifest longer than the other consequences. If we plant watermelon seeds, we will have watermelons for a shorter time than if we planted walnut seeds. Likewise, karma results in itself in a short time or in a moderate time to a long time, depending on the nature of the action.

In addition to the two types of kamma, good and bad karma, we should note the neutral karma or the void of karma. Neutral karma is an act that does not carry a moral responsibility because of the special nature of the action with no moral significance, or because the action is carried out accidentally and unintentionally. Examples of this type of career include walking, eating, sleeping, breathing, making crafts and so on. Similarly, the action taken does not deliberately create ineffective karma, weak Critical willpower factor is not present. For example, if you step on an insect when you are completely unaware of its existence, such an action is considered neutral or ineffective.

The benefits of understanding the law are very clear. First of all, such an understanding discourages us from doing unwholesome actions that bring suffering, which is inevitable. Once we understand that, throughout our lives, every intentional act will produce a similar and equal response - Once we understand that, before and after, we will have to experience the consequences of our good or bad deeds. - We will refrain from doing unwholesome deeds, because we do not want them to experience the painful results of those actions. Similarly, knowing the actions of good and happy results, we will try to cultivate such good deeds.

Reflecting on the law of karma, about action and reaction in the area of ​​conscious activity, encouraging us to give up bad deeds and practice good deeds. We take a closer look at the special consequences of karma in the next life, and it precisely determines how the nature of rebirth comes into the next chapter.

-ooOoo-

Chapter NINE 
REBIRTH

In this chapter, I will look at the consequences of karma in the next life, or, put it another way, describe in detail the concept of rebirth. But before we start talking specifically about Buddha's rebirth doctrine, we should spend some time on the concept of rebirth in general.

Rebirth is a concept that many people think is difficult. This was true in the century before we became more and more conditioned to believe in the so-called scientific conditions, which is what many people consider to be scientific. This attitude has led many people to reject the notion of rebirth as being superstitious and belong to the way of looking at the old-fashioned outdated world. For this reason I think we need to restore the balance by creating an open mind about the concept of rebirth in the general conditions before we begin to consider the Buddhist teachings on this topic.

There are several ways we can apply to prove the truth of rebirth. One argument is that remembering most of the major cultures in the world at some point, there was a strong popular belief in rebirth. This is true in India, where the concept of rebirth is traced back to the early stages of Indian culture. In India, all major religions, theistic or atheist, Hinduism or non-mainstream doctrine like Jainism - accept the truth about rebirth. In many other cultures, belief in rebirth is also universal. Take only one example, in the Mediterranean world, the belief in the truth about rebirth spread before and during the early centuries of Christ. Even today, this belief persists in the Druze, a Muslim sect in the Middle East. Therefore,

Then there is evidence of competent authorities of many religious traditions. In Buddhism the Buddha himself taught the truth about rebirth. We are told that, on the night of enlightenment, the Buddha attained the three kinds of knowledge, the first is knowing his life in the past. He recalled the circumstances of his birth in the past, He remembered both his name and career in many past lives. In addition to the testimony of the Buddha, we know that his disciples also remember their past lives. For example, A Nan was able to recall the past life, shortly after he was ordained a Buddhist monk. Likewise throughout the history of Buddhist tradition, those who are religious can remember their past lives.

However, none of these two arguments can convince the rational and scientific environment in which we live, so perhaps we have to look a little at ourselves, so to speak. . Here we get help from an unexpected source. Some of you may have heard about the event in the past three decades with many surveys on regeneration questions. This study is in charge of psychologists and psycho-psychologists. Through their exploration, we have gradually established a very reliable case of the reality of rebirth, a case exploited in a scientific way. Many books have been published in which the details of these surveys are described and discussed.

A scholar who is very active in this area in recent years is Professor Ian Stevenson of the University of Virginia in the United States. He published his discoveries about about twenty cases of rebirth. One case that has received much attention is the case of a woman who remembered her past life more than a hundred years ago in a foreign country, under the name Bridey Murphy - a country she never visited. visit ever in the past. I do not go into details here about these cases, because if anyone wants to have scientific proof of rebirth, please read it for yourself. However, I think that we have now reached the point where even the most skeptical of us must accept a lot of thorough evidence of the truth of rebirth.

However, building a case of truth of rebirth, we can look at ourselves - in our own experience. We just need to remember and investigate that experience in the right way to see what conclusions we can draw. We all have unique abilities, interests and disgust, and I think it is fair to ask whether all these things are truly the result of luck and social status at the interval. adolescence. For example, there are some who are more athletic than others. There are some talented mathematicians, some are talented in music. Some people like to swim, while others are very afraid of water. Is all such difference in ability and attitude due to luck and body?

There are often dramatic and unexpected turns during personal development. Please take my own case. I was born into a Roman Catholic family in the United States. Absolutely nothing in my biography when I was young showed that I traveled to India at the age of twenty, and I lived the next two and a half decades of my life only in Asia, where I went to Deep relatives into the study of Buddhism.

Then there are situations that sometimes we feel we have been somewhere before, even though we have never visited this place in our present life. On other occasions we feel we have met someone before: we have only met this person for the first time, but in just a moment, we feel we know all his life. . On the contrary, we know that person for many years, but we still feel really not knowing that person. Such experiences, when we feel that we are in a special, very common and universal state, even at the contemporary culture of France, this culture does not know anything about rebirth, yet there is a famous sentence - the expression "dejà vu" means "seen".

If we are unspeakable, when we summarize all those signs and opinions, the belief in rebirth in many cultures and through the age of human cultural history, the Buddha's testimony with his disciples, the evidence provided by scientific research, and the inner introspection we have here before - I think we will have to confess at least A strong ability to be reborn is actually a fact.

In Buddhism, rebirth is an integral part of the process of constant change. Of course we are not only dying and reborn, we are reborn at any time. This, like other important teachings in Buddhism, is easy to verify by referring to personal experience with the doctrines of science. For example, most of the cells in our bodies have died and have been replaced many times with new cells throughout our lives. Even a few living cells throughout their lives suffer from constant changes inside. It is part of the process of birth, death and rebirth. When we look at the mind, we see mental states (such as anxiety, joy, or the like) appearing and losing every time. They die and are replaced by new and different states. So,

Buddhism teaches many realms, realms, or aspects of life. Some sutras list 31 realms (realms) or living planes, but we only use a simplified system that refers to the six realms.

These six realms can be divided into two groups, one group is relatively lucky (good faith) and the other group is unfortunate (evil path). The first group consists of Heaven and God (A Tu La) and people. Rebirth in the fortunate realm is the result of good karma. The second group includes the realms, ghosts and hell. Rebirth in these realms is the result of evil karma.

Now let's look at each realm starting from the lowest realm. There are a few hells in Buddhism, including eight hot hells and eight cold hells. In hell, we suffer unspeakable suffering and unspeakable pain. It is said that the pain of a mortal person was stabbed with three hundred spears in a day just by the pain of the brief moment of the inhabitants of hell. The cause of being reborn in hell is due to repeated acts of violence, murder, cruelty, and the like.

Such actions are born out of anger, sentient beings who suffer in hell until they pay off the negative karma they cause. This last point is very important, because this gives us the opportunity to remember that in Buddhism nobody is punished forever. When the evil karma is over, the people in hell are reborn in a more fortunate realm.

The next realm is the hungry ghost realm. You can live in this realm of great suffering mainly because of hunger and thirst, hot and cold. They are completely stripped of their favorite things. It is said that the hungry ghost saw a mountain of rice or a river with clear water, but when it ran there, they saw that mountain of rice was just a pile of gravel and the river of water in it was just a strip of green stone. The same is said for them, even in the summer the moon is still hot and the winter is even cold.

The main reason to be reborn as a ghost is because of greed, miserableness, giving up attachment and greedily eating. Just like the inhabitants of hell, those who live in this realm do not have to endure eternal despair as hungry spirits, because when they are evil, they will be reborn in a fortunate realm.

The next is the realm of animals, the things that live in this realm suffer from many unfortunate circumstances. They suffer because of fear and pain as a result of constant killing and eating each other. They suffer because people kill them for meat and skin. take their pearls and teeth. Even when not killed, pets are forced to work for humans, being chained and whipped. All these things are the source of suffering.

The main cause of rebirth as a animal is ignorance. Blind people, unintentionally chasing after the greed of animals, only worry about eating, sleeping, and satisfying sex, not interested in expanding the wisdom and practicing virtue - all these things resulting in regeneration as a animal.

Now, when we say anger is the cause of being reborn in hell, attachment is the cause of being reborn as a ghost, and ignorance is the cause of rebirth in the animal realm, which does not mean one The act of merely being motivated by anger, attachment, and ignorance will lead to rebirth in the corresponding types of life. That means there is a certain correlation between anger, hatred and rebirth in hell, as well as a correlation between attachment and greed and rebirth as a demon, and between ignorance and regeneration as animal. If it is not prevented by compensated moral actions, if you keep accustomed to actions motivated by such unwholesome attitudes, it will inevitably lead to rebirth in these three agonizing states.

I temporarily ignore the human realm at this time to step to the realms of the gods. (A Tu La). These gods are stronger and smarter than humans, yet they suffer from jealousy and like to fight. According to ancient Indian mythology, A Tu La and the gods share a tree in heaven. While the gods enjoy the fruit of this tree, A Tu La must guard the tree. So they were jealous of the gods and constantly wanted to take the gods' fruits. They conflict with devas but lose and as a result they suffer a lot. Because of jealousy and conflict at all times, rebirth is an unfortunate and unfortunate A La La.

As is the case in other realms, there is a reason to be reborn in this A Tu La realm. On the positive side, the cause is generous, while on the negative side, the cause is envy and jealousy.

The realms of devas are the happiest realms of the six realms. As a result of good work in the past, keeping precepts and practicing meditation, sentient beings are reborn in the gods, where these beings enjoy many sensual pleasures, spiritual happiness, and purity at the highest , depending on the high and low heavens they reincarnate. However, the celestial realm is not really desirable because the happiness of the gods is not permanent. No matter how much you enjoy in life, when kusala kamma is exhausted, the effects of virtue and the practice of meditation are exhausted, the gods must also fall, renounce heaven and reincarnate into the realm. other. At this time it is said that the gods must suffer more mental suffering than the physical pain of other living beings.

The gods are reborn in heaven as a result of the preservation of virtue and meditation practice, but there is also a negative factor related to rebirth in the heavenly realm and that is arrogance.

As you can see, we have suffering or defilements related to one of the five realms - hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, monks and gods - those squares are corresponding to anger. , attachment, ignorance, jealousy and arrogance. It is not desirable to be born in any realm. The three lower realms are not desirable for obvious reasons - both because of the constant suffering in it and the utter ignorance of sentient beings in those realms. Even coming to reincarnate in the A Tu La and Chu Thien realms is also undesirable, despite enjoying some degree of joy and power, life is not permanent. In addition to the pastimes and sensual pleasures in these realms, sentient beings never find their way out of samsara. This shows why people say in the six realms, the fortunate realm, the most advantageous is the human realm.

The human realm is the most favorable realm of the six realms because, as a human being, we have the motivation and the opportunity to practice the Dharma and attain enlightenment. We have this motive and opportunity because of the circumstances that lead to the practice right now. In the human realm, we experience both happiness and suffering. Suffering in this realm, though formidable, is not equal to the formidable suffering of the three evil realms. Bliss and happiness are enjoyed in the human realm which is not as great as passion and happiness that are extremely enjoyed by the gods in heaven, and humans also do not have to endure the unbearable suffering of local beings. prison. And unlike animals, people have enough intelligence to realize the need to find ways to end suffering completely.

According to some judgments, being born to be very difficult. First it is difficult from the point of view of its own cause. Virtue is the main reason for being reborn as a human being, but true virtue is rare. The second born is a very difficult person from the point of view of numbers, because people are only a very small number in the number of people who live in the six realms. Third, not simply being born as a human is enough because there are not many people who do not have the opportunity to practice the Dharma. So not only need to be born as a human, but also have the opportunity to practice Dharma, cultivate virtue, develop spirit and wisdom.

Buddha used a comparison to illustrate the rarity and precious nature of the opportunity to be born as a human being. Suppose the whole world is a vast ocean and on the surface of the ocean there is a floating buoy floating in the wind. Suppose there is a blind turtle on the ocean floor every hundred years that floats on the surface once. The Buddha said it was so difficult to know how many people had the opportunity to make a person like that turtle able to put his head into a buoy on the sea. Another example, it is said that being born as a human being has the opportunity to practice Dharma very rarely like throwing a handful of dried beans into a cliff but only one bean is stuck on this wall.

So it is unwise to waste life as a person in lucky circumstances in a free society that gives us the opportunity to practice Dharma. It is very important that when we have the opportunity, we must use it. If we do not practice Dharma in this life, we do not know which realms to be born in the six realms, and when we will have this chance again. We must strive to free ourselves from the cycle of rebirth or we will have to drift forever in these six realms. When kusala kamma or akusala kamma causes us to be reborn in any of the six realms that have ended, rebirth continues, and we find ourselves in another realm.

It is said that we all drift in these six realms from beginninglessness. It is also said that if our bones are piled up through lifetimes, these piles of bones must be higher than Mount Tu Di, and if breastmilk that we drink through many lifetimes does not tell us, it will be collected. more water in all oceans. Now that we have the opportunity to practice Dharma, we must practice immediately without hesitation.

In recent years, people tend to use psychological terms to describe the six realms. Some professors believe that it is possible to experience the six realms right in the present life. This is true to some extent. Men, women, imprisoned, tortured, killed, etc. are different from the circumstances of sentient beings in hell. Those who are keen and stingy are different from hungry ghosts; those who have minds like animals are different; those who have a strong mind, are hungry for power, are different from A Tu La; and those who have a pure mind, freedom and serenity are different from gods.

And although the experiences of the six realms are real to some extent to us in this human life, but I think it will be a mistake to believe that the other realms are not real, these realms are as real as human realms. The hell realm, hungry ghosts, animal realms, A Tu La, and the gods are all as real as our human realms. You remember the mind is the creator of everything. Actions that are made with a pure mind (motivated by tolerance, love, etc.) lead to happiness, or a similar state in the human realm and gods. But actions that are made of impure mind (motivated by attachment, anger, and similarities) lead to unhappiness like those of the hungry and hungry ghost realms.

Finally I want to distinguish rebirth and reincarnation. You may not know, in Buddhism often say rebirth, not reincarnation. This is because we do not believe in a permanent or material entity that is reincarnated. We do not trust what we go for rebirth. So why, when we explain rebirth, we use examples that do not need the reincarnation of a substance or an entity.

For example, when a seed is born from a seed, no substance is born. Seeds and germs are not the same. Similarly, when we light a candle from another candle, no substance moves from one to the other, even though the head is the cause of the second. When the billiard ball hits each other, there is a continuation, the thrust and the direction of the first fruit to the second left. The first fruit is the cause of the two fruits moving in a separate direction and at its own pace, but not the same billiard fruit. When we step twice into a river, it is not the same river, but it has continuation, continuation of cause and effect.

So there is rebirth, but there is no reincarnation. Mental responsibility exists, but not an independent and eternal self. The continuation of cause and effect exists, but not permanently. I want to end this problem because we will consider the example of the seed and the sprouts, and for example the flame of the kerosene lamp, in Chapter 10, when we discuss the reason of karma. Later we will better understand how karmic predestination creates the moral responsibility and the non-selflessness. END=NAM MO SAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.28/12/2018.