Buddhist monks and nuns.VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.
[09] Chapter nineSangha with society-ooOoo- SAfter seven weeks of peaceful enjoyment of the quiet Nirvana, the Buddha decided to bring religion to life. Inside the Bodhi tree, the Buddha gave a lecture to the two merchants Ballika and Trapusha. Later, Ballika went to the Buddha to take the ordination, join the Order and obtain Arahantship. Trapusha is a lifetime of good life as a layman in the whole life. This incident defines the basic meaning of the relationship of the Sangha (of the founder, leader, the supreme representative of the Buddha) to the society: bringing Dharma to society to call upon people to come. with the Sangha, or let everyone follow the Dharma to live happily. The Buddha refused to re-enter Nirvana as soon as he attained enlightenment, but returned to the world because of his great compassion to save sentient beings from samsara. So the Sangha's relationship with society is due to that compassion. The image of a monk going alms, receiving offerings, giving teachings to everyone; the image of ordinary people making offerings to the Bhikkhu, listening to him preaching the dharma, starting to believe and living according to the Dharma, clearly highlights the relationship between the Sangha and the society on two material meanings and spirit. The idea should also be discussed about the opinion of some people who are not familiar with Buddhism, claiming that almsgiving is a form of non-work, laziness, that the Sangha's non-production is a burden on society. Such a viewpoint is indeed lack of dialectic, indecent, superficial. First of all, we must consider the physical and spiritual situation of the society where the monk's alms is being and his personal situation. As is known, the groups of monks, wandering alms have appeared in India long, before the time of the Buddha and this incident continues forever until now in many parts of the world. The lay people continue to make offerings to the monks, which shows that the longing to hear the Dharma, to be offered to the masters is a practical requirement of society. Every day, people often give away some money, a little entertainment to satisfy spiritual needs such as reading, watching movies, music, sports ... or other less practical needs, less beneficial. The need to be taught, to counsel, to be selfless, to be kind, to respect, especially to to be liberated, indeed noble and very real. Furthermore, if society dedicates a fortune to make offerings to the monks in return for a fulfillment of the noble's need of the spirit, it is indeed a "fair" return. On the other hand, the Sangha coming to the society, as said, is due to the motive of compassion and sacred duty. They have given up all their private property, just live poor, pure, diligently practice "for the benefit of sentient beings", they do not expect redundancy, and do not know private profits. Moreover, see in the Sangha of the Buddha's time, many monks were kings, kings, officials, great merchants, and rich people; you have the means to use the money you have to feed yourself and many other monks, but you have given up everything, practicing selflessness for the ultimate goal: liberating yourself and freeing them. born. This is a noble sacrifice, and on a social side, it takes a worthy return. After all, if a society is so poor that no one can make almsgiving, if the offering to the Sangha really causes problems for the benefactors, alms alms can distort the form, only is symbolic, and the monks themselves have to produce for themselves, support themselves by their labor as in some places, at some times there have been remote monasteries, where monks grow themselves. I cultivate, gather, and take care of my daily meals. And in this case, the devotion, loyalty, and almsgiving of the lay people are more difficult to express, the spiritual requirements as mentioned above are more difficult to satisfy. The Itivuttaka Sutta (Such Buddha Theory) has the Buddha's teaching: "There are three classes of people appearing in life, bringing happiness to the majority, for the peace of God and for him." The Buddha explained that these three classes were the Tathagata, his Arahant disciples, and the student monks. In short, the Sangha appears in the heart of society for the sake of life. The sermon to create peace, spiritual happiness for people in society is a triumphant meaning, but at the same time, the Sangha also outlines for the society a way of life, a specific activity, sometimes physical character for everyone to minimize obstacles, suffering in society. The Sangha goes into the society to spread the Dharma. The society is still very suffering, obscure karma, so propagation includes creating a good society, consisting of moral people, with good human-to-human communication, with a healthy lifestyle. strong, stable physically and mentally. First of all, the Sangha advocates building a morally stable society in accordance with the spirit of compassion, compassion, joy, equanimity, peace, non-violence, no hatred, no jealousy, no deception. Island ... That is the moral viewpoint that has been accepted by mankind from ancient times up to now, but has not been implemented properly because the mind has not been gathered, yet to be seated. The Bhikkhu-stilts go from house to house, crowds to preach the Buddha's teachings, raising moral and moral lessons that may be very popular, but due to the compassionate, gentle personality, the words of They are easy to enter into people's hearts, easy to cause obedience. But the main obstacle to the life of Indian society at that time was the caste division, the spirit of violence, the wrong expression of the leader ... Actually, it is also the obstacles of any society, all time. The Buddha and his disciples expressed a clear and correct view of these mistakes. The composition of the Sangha includes all kinds of people, all levels, demonstrating the spirit of equality and reconciliation of Buddhism, different from all "discrimination" in life at that time and quite popular to this day through the distinguish caste, color, composition of position, family background, lineage ...
A young Brahmin intelligence was sent by other Brahmins to question the Buddha about the Buddha's equality policy. By questioning, the Buddha came to the conclusion that all classes of society are equal in all aspects:
The Venerable Kaccayàna also strongly criticized the caste division in society, reiterating the Buddha's opinions when giving a lecture to King Madhuraràja. Compassion, nonviolence is inherently entrenched in many religions, but perhaps most evident in Buddhism. Many Buddhist sutras mention compassion, non-violence. This property has been mentioned in chapter IV, where we would like to remind two more teachings of the Buddha on Kindness:
Buddha is compassionate, advocates non-violence, peace. He made direct arrangements to stop the war between the Sakyas and the Koliya; it was he who indirectly dissuaded King Ajatasattu when he prepared to conquer the land of Vajjì; He himself negotiated for King Ajatasattu to be released when the king was captured in the war between Magadha and Kosala ... The leaders of society and country have a great influence on the well-being of the people. The Buddha and his great disciples often acted as advisors to the kings of that time such as Bimbisara (Qin-ba-sa-la), Ajatasattu (A-ra-ra), Pasenadi (Ba-n-nac), and Suddhodana ( Tinh Sanskrit), Madhuraràja (Ma-dollar) issues of philosophy, ethics, water rule, etc. The ideal leader, according to the Buddha, must be like a Cakkavatti, capable, virtuous, righteous in accordance with the Dharma, and bring happiness to the people. Here, we do not discuss the description of the happiness of the ideal kingdom led by the reincarnation of the king, but only emphasize respect for the Dharma, the whole-hearted protection of the entire people of the leader. The Sutra of the Wheel of Life in the School (Dìghà Nikàya, 26-Cakkavattisutta) records the Buddha's teaching:
In Jataka Nikàya I, II, III, V, the Buddha mentioned ten virtues, or ten duties of a king that we see can be applied to any leader to this day. . In general, the Suttas have a few different details, but the main ideas can summarize the ten virtues as follows:
Monk Nhat A-ma, volume 42, records the ten virtues of the leader as follows:
A good leader, good government will build good society. But mainly the efforts to build the lives of the masses. A member of society wants to live happily, must have a sense of building his own life. Journal of A-function IV and A-function IV record the Buddha's teaching to a young Brahmin named Byagghapaja that wants to be peaceful in life need four conditions: Sutras School III tells the story of the Buddha teaching to the Venerable Anathapindika about the four kinds of happiness of the Unforthgoing Ones:
The Buddha also taught that of the four kinds of happiness, the fourth (spiritual) happiness is the highest, while the first three (physical) happiness are not equal to 1/16 of the fourth. The Four Photography Method is a method of propagation of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, but also a method of human-to-human communication to properly collect the human mind, in accordance with the morality. These are:
Communication, duties, and human-to-human behavior are analyzed very fully in the Singàlovada Sutta. The sutras were copied in many copies, in many places, recorded in Truong Bo, A-Ham book 11, Central Vietnam 33 ... some details are slightly different, but the content is unified. Kinh tells the story of a young Brahmin, Singala's name is very rich, very pure, filial. Since his father's death, Singala has followed his father's teachings. Every morning, every morning, we celebrate the six directions of the East, South, West, North, Upper, and Down. The Buddha entered Rahagaha alms alms, saw him worshiping, and immediately taught him a very important moral about the dangers of life, about the correct relationship between people and people, from there need to be corrected. change the meaning of the six-way worship.
The Buddha explained further: the four harmful actions in action are killing, stealing, adultery, and speaking out; The four motives for bad action are desire, anger, ignorance, fear; The six ways to consume wealth are: alcohol, street hangover, geek, gambling, socializing with bad guys, being lazy. In all, fourteen lousy things. The Buddha also carefully analyzed the harm caused by alcohol, explained more about the causes of wasting wealth, about what is a bad friend, a good friend. The next part of the Sutra aims to highlight the meaning of the four-way worship, through which the main meaning is duty, relationship, behavior between parents, teachers, spouses, owners and employees. public, monastic and believer:
The last part of the Sutta discusses the virtues required to succeed in life: virtue, gentleness, humility, gentleness, courage, wisdom, freedom, selflessness, generosity, equality ... . Another time, seeing another Brahmin sacrifice the Three Fire, the Buddha changed the meaning of the Three Fire to:
The Buddha and the bhikkhus went to each dharma teacher in many different circumstances. The sutras record many instances of the Buddha and his disciples going to the poor, the sick, the dying, the mourning person, the unruly, even women struggling for childbirth. Difficult ... Sàriputta, Moggallàna, Ananda, Punna ..., the female Venerable Mahapajapati, Patacara ... are famous as the dharma sermons of thousands of people into faithful lay people or monks. -Buy achieved Holy results. The whole thing that they taught to the masses were not empty theories, reasoning, and analysis but concrete ways to avoid suffering, but the ethical, easy-to-understand reasoning. real, ways of living, indirect ... These are eloquent proofs of practicality, education, The immediate goal of the Sangha is to build a society of faithful lay people and true Buddhist followers. In that way, the throne of the Three Jewels will be respected, protected, and the path of liberation from suffering is easy to follow. From the realization of life as suffering, determination to liberate, a person turns to the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha - that is, take refuge in the Three Jewels - to take his lifelong dependence on the Three Jewels:
Since he sincerely took refuge before the Buddha or before the bhikkhus, he becomes a disciple of the Buddha living at home, not ordained - or layman - an Superior , or Uu-she-di (Close to the female) belongs to the four Buddhist disciples: 1) Bhikkhu-stilts; 2) Monks and nuns; 3) Prosperity-principle; 4) Pros-grandmother-di. Since then, Buddhists receive the teachings and support of the Church and have the duty to protect the Church. Refuge is accompanied by the five precepts. Lifetime layman of the five precepts: 1, Don't kill.In a certain number of days in the lunar month (1st, 8th, 14th, 15th, 23rd, 30th), lay Buddhists call the boy's precepts (Uposattha), the day of diligent practice and preservation. preserve three more precepts, plus eight precepts (ie Bat Quan Trai).
Eight precepts of the layman in the male gender day are eight of the ten precepts of the Sa-di, ie people preparing to take the Great World as a monk. So on the youth day, the lay person learns the spiritual life of a monk. On this day, lay people often go to the nunnery to get close to the Buddha or the monks, to hear the Dharma, to contemplate life in the Sangha. The relationship between the Sangha and the society appears to be the giving, that is, the form of giving and receiving. The monks gave the Dharma and accepted the offerings; homeowners receive the Dharma and offer offerings. An additional meaning should also be mentioned that while receiving the homage of the household's items, the bhikkhu is encouraged in his practice, worthy of the owner's loyalty. From a value point of view, the generosity of the Sangha is more noble, shown by compassion and selflessness. The Buddha also taught that giving Dhamma, many benefits of Dharma are more valuable than giving, many benefits of material. The Buddha once said to the Venerable Anathapindika: "Hey homeowner, the Holy disciple uphold the monks by offering clothes, food, sieve and medicine". And obey the operating principle of the Dharma, once receiving the Dharma, the lay person has to worry about practicing the Dharma, spreading the Dharma. The sutras mentioned that there was an extensive Buddhist movement among lay people. Layman Citta Macchikasandika heads a lay assembly of thousands of people, studying and discussing the Buddha's Dharma, highly praised by the Buddha. The Buddhist Sangha I, the title "The Most Victory", has listed a number of lay men and women praised by the Buddha as supreme among the Buddhist lay masses, as follows: Male lay people:
The lay women:
Of course, the above-mentioned list of famous Buddhist male and female lay men and women should be much longer. according to the importance of each taste. The above-mentioned ones also have at least achieved the Holy results of the Reserve, have a higher taste, obtain Arahantship, some later join the Congregation, receive the ordination of monks and obtain Arahantship. Here, we would like to list a brief biography of some lay people often mentioned by the Sutras and most of them have been named scatteredly in this book. Anàthapindika (Class of Solitude) He is a wealthy owner in Sávatthi, Kosala. He met the Buddha at Rajagaha of Magadha and invited the Buddha to Sàvatthi. He returned to Sàvatthi, bought land and built the famous Jetàvana monastery (Thang Lam or Ky Hoan) with full amenities and made offerings to the Buddha and the monks. He is the biggest and most devout benefactor, every day he provides comfort and food for five hundred bhikkhus, in addition to giving alms to countless poor and sick people. His generosity was so great that his enormous inheritance was almost dissipated with unrelenting mental manifestations. The Buddha taught many sutras to him, he attested to Reserve results. He was eager to study and wise, debated and won many pagan monks, defending the Buddha's teachings. When he was about to die, the Venerable Sariputta came to teach him. The sutras say that after taking his last breath, he was born into Tusità (Tusità) and that evening he appeared to pay homage to the Buddha. Bhallikà and Trapusha (Bath-le-ca, and De-le-rich-woman) They were the first two lay people to take refuge in the Buddha at Bodhigaya (Bodhgaya). When the Buddha was just enlightened, the two men led a convoy of goods passing by, seeing the Buddha meditating, feeling his majesty, immediately offered a meal and honey. The Buddha preached to the two men, they immediately asked to take refuge. The Buddha accepted, giving a handful of hair, which they kept carefully as a sacred treasure. Thereafter Trapusha was still a faithful layman. And Bhallikà, please take the Bhikkhu-stilts and attain A-la-Han. Bimbisara (Qin-ba-sa-la) King of Magadha (Ma-masterpiece-da). The king used to visit the Buddha when the Buddha was an ascetic monk at Uruvelà and asked the Buddha to stop in Ràjagaha for the king to worship after he attained his enlightenment. The king himself made offerings to the Buddha and the Bhikkhus Veluvana (Truc Lam) as the first monastery of the Sangha, shaping a new lifestyle with a settled character, with concentration in summer settlements. The King is a successful layperson, attained to Save, wholeheartedly supporting the Sangha, helping to open the means for the Dharma to be expanded. The king's son, Prince Ajatasattu, heard Devadatta's incestuous words (Ðề-Bà-attain-multi) against the king to take the throne. Revealing, but the king did not punish Ajatasattu, abdicated to let the crown prince ascend to the throne. Later, Devadatta again instigated King Ajatasattu to harm his father. So King Bimbisara was locked in jail, starved to death. Ajatasattu (A-xà-thế) King of Magadha, son of King Bimbisara. Devadatta is a non-virtuous monk, who is a cousin of the Buddha, who wants to replace the Buddha to lead the Church, so he incites the king to harm his father and harm the Buddha, seeing that he is still safe, the king is afraid, remorseful, immediately chase Devadatta away. Shortly after, following the advice of the physician Jìvaka, the king came to the Buddha expressed repentance, sincerely listening to the dharma. The Buddha kindly received the king, taught the king, the king proved very intelligent, asked to take refuge in the Buddha and proved to be an effective guardian of the Sangha. The Buddha once said that if he did not commit a crime against his father, the king would obtain the results of reserve right at the place where the king first heard the dharma. Later, the king was killed by his son Udàyin to take the throne (Udàyin was born on the day that King Bimbisara died in prison). Pasenadi (Persia) King of Kosala (Kieu-all-la), which communicated with the Buddha's father, King Suddhodana (Pure Sanskrit) of Kapilavatthu. To get closer, the king asked to marry a princess of the Sakya lineage of the Buddha. The Sakya surname is proud, selfish, and sent to a female slave in disguise. When the king discovered the truth, was very angry, intending to wage war with Kapilavatthu, the Buddha had to stand up and make peace. The king is a faithful layperson, wholeheartedly helping to support the Sangha, often coming to ask the Buddha and his disciples about ethics, about water rule ..., becoming very loyal to the Sangha- old. Later, the king was occupied by his son Virùdhaka (son of the king and a slave sent by Kapilavatthu). The king had to run to Rajagaha to stay and was treated kindly by King Ajatasatta and finally the king died there. Jivaka (Bahamas) When he was born in Ràjagaha, he was put in a basket, thrown in the garbage, brought in by Prince Abhaya to study medicine and architecture in Takkasila. When he was successful, he returned to Ràjagaha, greatly admiring his talent. He healed King Bimbisara and became a royal physician. He also often came to treat the Buddha and the monks, and also became a physician specializing in visiting the Buddha's illness. He heard the dharma, very religious. He also came to cure King Candaprudyota in Ujjayimì. He built a great monastery, the Jìvaha monastery at Ambavana and made offerings to the Buddha and bhikkhus. He also went to the medical clinic to help the poor come from different places (there are documents stating that he is the unofficial son of King Bimbisara, there are documents stating that he is the son of a prostitute). Mahanama (Ma-ha-nam) He belongs to the Sakya lineage of the Buddha, is the biological brother of the false Buddha Anurudha (A-na-law or A-nậu-long-da). He was praised by the Buddha as a believer, as the first lay almsman. He was taught by the Buddha many times about the virtue and practice of lay people. Throughout his life he was pure, practicing according to the Dharma, at the end of his life he was a shining example of a compassionate, nonviolent and brave layman. After the Buddha's death, King Virùdhaka of Kosala pulled troops to attack Kapilavatthu, killing many people and the Sakya family. He went to the king, asking to die for everyone by being immersed in the water. Thinking that he could not have done so, the king agreed. He stepped into the water, submerged himself, tied his hair to a tree under the water and died. The king allowed the person to pick up the body, knowing his compassion and courage, he was very respectful, Visàkhà Migàramàta (Bhikkhu-sam-khà Loc Mau) She is a laywoman who is praised by the Buddha as the ultimate lay woman in terms of almsgiving. She was born in Badrika in Ariga. She met the Buddha when she was only seven years old, and immediately expressed her devotion. When she grew up, she followed her parents to Saketá and then married her husband, Migàra, the son of a treasurer in Sávatthi. The couple live happily in Sàvatthi. She was able to feel that his father-in-law, who was a follower of the Nun-Buddhist sect, made him a devout Buddhist. She lived happily and was respected by everyone: beautiful beauty, healthy old age, fresh, full of children and grandchildren. Every day, she wrote five hundred monks to take a son at her house and then she came to listen to the Buddha's sermon. She provides a lot of supplies, medicine, food for the Sangha. She built a large monastery to dedicate herself to the Buddha, which is the famous Migaràmata monastery at Purnarāma, Ambapàli (Mango Garden Girl) She was born under a mango tree in the flower garden of the king of Vesali, and was found and raised by the gardener. Growing up, she was very beautiful, her karma pushed her to practice a prostitute and become rich and famous. Then she was passed into the palace of King Bimbisàra and had a child with the king, giving birth to a prince named Vimàla Konanda, who later ordained and attained Arahant. She built a large monastery in the garden, called Ambapalìvana, and offered to the Buddha. Later she asked to take the Bhikkhu-stilts-ni, endeavor to practice and attain Arahantship. * * * The above are just some typical cases in many cases of devout lay people who wholeheartedly support the Sangha in a whole Indian tradition of support and offerings to all the Buddhist monks. The above mentioned above are to show that the Sangha has really entered the heart of society to educate, lead and strive to build a society that minimizes the suffering of those who suffer, and facilitates the implementation of liberation by means of teachings of the Buddha. The Sangha is truly respected, maintained, and has really brought social benefits. The relationship between the Sangha and the society is practical and close. Of course, except for a few cases where monks, after receiving the Buddha's teachings, have entered the forest of retreat, living in seclusion in leaf huts, in caves ... living by cultivating, picking, gathering, most of the other bhikkhus are living by the offerings of the Buddhists at home with objects, food, medicine or even to accommodation. The contribution of the lay masses is also very great, enough to create a lasting relationship. Society can change over time, according to locality, from which the form of offering, giving lectures and activities can change. But as long as Buddhism exists in this world - in a way, it can be said as long as sentient beings suffer - the Sangha will remain. Meaning of teaching, saving suffering, practice, giving, offering, that is, the meaning of the relationship between the Sangha and the society still exists. END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.24/8/2020. |
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