- THE 5TH LESSON: GENDER

UNIVERSAL BUDDHISM 1

Sa Mon THICH THIEN HOA.

Course I: BUDDHISM OF BUDDHISM

Lesson 5: GENDER .VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH CHAN TANH.

A .  OPENING  .

After taking refuge in the Three Jewels, the lay Buddhists must live according to the Buddha's regulations, in order to advance on the path. That rule is the Five Precepts. Those who follow the Confucianism must live according to the Three Diamonds and the Five Elements and the Buddhists must also live according to the Three Precepts and the Five Precepts. Those who follow the Confucianism cannot follow the Three Diamonds and abandon the Five Elements, then the Buddhists cannot just take the Three Precepts without observing the Five Precepts. 

The one who has taken refuge in the Three Jewels is that he has stepped on the steps of liberation, but if he does not keep the five precepts, he only takes one step and stops, unable to reach true liberation. 

These five precepts not only lead the strong on the way to liberation, but also bring order, peace, and peace to the family, nation and society as well. The five precepts are the true bonds that make happiness for individuals and groups, it is the teacher that prevents us from doing bad things in the Dharma-ending period. Therefore, Buddha Shakyamuni had the following urgent will before he entered Nirvana: 

"After our extinction, spiritual practitioners have to respect the precepts of being a teacher; even if we remain in the world to teach you thousands of generations, we have nothing more to do than the precepts." 

The Buddha's precepts are very numerous, because they need to be applied to many types of spiritual practitioners: Bhikkhu-stilts, Bhikkhu-ni-ni, Sa-di, Sa-di-ni. As for the lay Buddhists, there are only 5 precepts. But if you can keep the 5 precepts, the benefits for you, for the unspeakable. 

B. BACKGROUND 

I. DEFINITIONS 

The Five Precepts are the five prohibitions that Buddha invented, in order to prevent evil memorials, say bad things, and act unrighteously. The five commandments are: Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not commit adultery, Do not lie, Do not drink alcohol. These five things are based on compassion, equality in the aspect of eliminating personal sins and bringing order and peace to the society that is founded. The Buddha did not force us to obey it completely and did not threaten him if we did not comply. The holding or not holding the precepts is because we are completely self-absorbed. Buddhism is different from other religions in that the Buddha is not a supreme judge who holds the right to reward and punish. A thought, a word, an act of good or evil has brought with it a germ of punishment. Buddha was just a very compassionate guide, and very wise. 

But if we do not follow the bright path but want to go on the dangerous path, then of course we will encounter natural disasters, but Buddha will not create disasters to punish us. The court is the law of cause and effect. If we do evil, we will bear bad effects; we do good, then we get good results. The five precepts are the five strongholds that prevent us from straying into evil ways, the five barriers that prevent us from falling into the abyss, while we go on the path of liberation. 

II.- YEARS ABOUT 

1. Do not kill . 

The first prohibition that Buddha advised us, is not to kill lives, from humans to animals. Life is a valuable value, especially human life; killing that life to pay for that life is an evil and unreasonable act.  

Buddhism prohibits killing for several reasons:  

a) Respect fairness .  

We consider our lives to be precious, an absolute treasure. If anyone conspires to be harmed, he or she is to defend against life completely. I know how to treasure my life, why would I want to trample on my life? By extension, animals also appreciate their lives. Like a cow or a pig about to be hit on the head, bloody, we see their fierce resistance, their extreme pain, with screams and struggles to escape death! According to righteousness, that we do not want anyone to do for us, then we should not do for others, or other species. Buddha taught: "Everyone is afraid of the sword, everyone is afraid of death. Therefore, let your heart be broken, don't kill, don't kill!" 

b) Respect for Buddha-nature equally. 

We each have different bodies, but still the same Buddha nature. The Buddha nature that is equal cannot claim any reason to say that Buddhahood in a person is more valuable in things, in one class, one skin color is more valuable than the other, the other skin color. To kill a creature is to kill Buddha nature. 

c) Cultivate compassion. 

The compassion of the Buddha sees all beings as children, so He does not allow His disciples to kill creatures, in any case. Because the mind that kills one's life is cruelty, the compassionate mind is strangled to death. Mercilessly killing an animal for nothing, as cruel as killing a human. Mercilessness causes others or other things to struggle, groan, writhe in peach blood, in hot tears before taking the last breath, is to kill one's own compassion, is to kill the germ of love very much precious in our souls. Thus, it is difficult to practice to attain the righteous result. Duc Confucius taught: "Van thanh bar any real comments, any comments born of any ants". (Listen to the cry of an animal, not willing to eat its flesh; to see it live, to see it die). So people with compassionate heart or kindness can not kill people or things. 

d) Avoid karmic retribution and revenge. 

When we kill a person or an animal, their resentment overflows hard to quell. They were because of her, because of her weakness, they were killed by me. Meanwhile, they embrace their hatred, wait for revenge, or the children of their relatives will take revenge. So every day we are sowing hatred for people and things, accumulated for a long time, the injustice is bigger than our strength, as long as we are killed again. The more you create karma, the more you plunge into suffering. The Buddha taught: "Ordinary people kill the mind, the more they develop miserable karma, the more they turn in samsara, there is no day out" (The Lankavatara Sutta). 

Benefits of not killing. 

For these reasons, the Buddha forbade Buddhists from killing. Without killing, there will be the following advantages: 

a) Personally. 

A person who is not cruelly murderous, harmful, non-cruel to shed blood, not skinned, cut flesh, beheaded, or strangled, is not uneasy, remorseful, mindful, gentle, receptive, sleep is peaceful, facial expressions are peaceful, pure. 

b) Socially.  

If all mankind in this world holds the first precept of Buddha's teaching, then war will not be, but the karma of samsara is also set free. So the old Ancestor taught: 

"First of all, the sentient beings kill karma, 

The northern land of the war of war, 

Households and households of fellow practitioners,

The galaxy is melancholy and uneasy ” 

Mean: 

'' For all sentient beings without karma, 
Ten directions will have a war. 
Every home, every place is virtuous. 
No worries about peace in the world. ''  

Limitations:  Still know that killing is creating misery, but people at home are still eating salty, still doing other things, it is difficult to avoid committing suicide. It is not mandatory here to be as thorough as that, just keep the important part from killing people, and large animals such as buffaloes, cows, horses, dogs, pigs, ... And small animals If you can avoid killing as many as you do. We should go slowly. Especially should not kill animals unreasonably, kill to satisfy the desire to kill. While observing the precepts, one should be aware of the following two things: 

a) Do not let malice arise. To slay a large animal for the sake of inadvertence or self-defense, its fruit is lighter than killing a dragonfly with evil intentions to kill for pleasure. 

b) Practicing should be avoided in circumstances of killing: Children aged 3 and 5 go to the yard to meet dragonflies, catch butterflies and then snap their wings and tear their heads if parents see without scolding; up to 12.13 years old, they were shopping for a gun, shooting birds, and at the age of 20, 25, they stabbed a pig's throat, killed a dog, still not banned then later, accustomed to brutality, in anger, they can kill without disgusting hands. So not only should we not let our children get used to the killing of living creatures, we should not allow them to watch killing scenes in cinemas or in the middle of life. 

2. Do not steal . 

Everyone knows that robbery is taking things that belong to one's property, without consent, or forcing people to consent with force or power. Valuable objects such as houses, gardens, money, pearls ... until such humble things as betel leaves, chili ... people who do not give themselves are robbers. 

Burglary comes in many forms: Ỷ a strong raid is a thief; relying on dependence to make money for the weak is to rob; arrest people in times of need to lend heavily, paw barging is selling money; hoarding speculation to sell black market prices is robbing. Using stalking tactics, sneakily stealing from people is stealing; a young person's weight, lack of measure, hide-and-seek, piracy, and without seeking to return is theft. It can be summed up to say that any form, due to the greed of the unrighteous, is robbed. 

If because of poverty, the wife is sick, the child is ill, and the rice is lacking in medicine, so it must be forced to be arrogant, the crime will be repressed; But when he was rich, and ate well, got on the chariot, and deceived him, and took away from him, to plunder, to live registiously in the sweat of the poor, the cruelty was heavy! 

For what reason Buddha banned thieves? 

Buddha banned robbery for the following reasons: 

a) Respect for fairness : We do not want anyone to take our own, why do we take care of us? Our personal property, we respect, why do we trample on the property of people? Doing so is unfair. A society without justice cannot last long. 

b) Respect for equality : Everyone has the same Buddha nature, why do we want to torment others so we can be happy? Why do we want to enjoy unrighteous privileges when we are just a human being like so many other human beings? 

c) Cultivating compassion : Once you inadvertently lose an object or a sum of money, you are rich in sorrow, unhealthy eating, restless sleep, why do you have the heart to take one's heart to make someone cry? coal, suffering for us? People often say: "Money is the lifeblood". Thus, the bandits of people that rob people of human blood, killing people. Only those who have no compassion for people, bury their conscience to do such dark things. As for me, being a Buddhist, I am trying to cultivate compassion, I cannot rob anyone. 

d) Avoid karmic retribution : In an organized society, respecting fairness, the crime of robbery is always punished. Theft is taken to a misdemeanor court, robbery goes to a felony court. Before being arrested, thieves have to find hundreds of thousands of plans to escape, living in the shadows. When arrested, thieves must be tied up, interrogated, imprisoned and locked up. My destiny was extremely miserable, making my family, parents, and children also sad, ashamed, and lost all hope in the future. 

But if worldly law is not punished, then thieves also cannot escape from the law of karma and retribution. Theft of people will be robbed by thieves, causing many enemies and resentment. Buddha taught: "The person who is attached to the talent refuses to leave, just as the child regrets a little bit of honey on the blade, sticks out his tongue, must be severely painted by the tongue" (Sutta of the Four Deces). Therefore, because of greed for money, many people have immersed themselves in the examination of the road, into hell. Let us listen to the poem of King Tran Thai Tong: 

Carving the wall through the wall of the mind, 

Thien ban urgent design, glorious suffering; 

Kim gave birth to free things, 

Unconscious general natural life code horse. 

Translate:  

Where to find the wall of the wall, 
Thousands of plans to greed; 
Of people who have this life now, 
Life is always buffalo horse.

Because of the above reasons, the Buddha prohibited his disciples to steal. 

The benefits of non-robbery  

a) Personally. 

People who are greedy in the present life are at ease, not required, imprisoned, imprisoned, and trusted by others, entrusting them with important positions. The people of greed, the next generation enjoy the wealth of wealth, happiness, and descendants also thanks to inheriting the qualities of grandparents and parents to be glorious. 

b) In terms of mass organizations. 

If one day in society, no one has the heart of greed and theft, then the house does not need to be closed, from taking care of and preserving, the object will not be lost, there is nothing more happy! People suffer because there is no wealth, but those who have much are still suffering, because they have to take care of them. If a person doesn't rob, that is, he has quietly given others peace. The Confucianist has a saying: "Nhon is unconvincing, unrighteous and immoral", let us be Buddhists to steal and steal? 

3. Not to commit adultery . 

Adultery means to talk about lustful, unlawful lust. The law of secular renunciation must be completely eradicated, while laypeople cannot have sexual misconduct. When married couples have enough wedding ceremonies called chief; In addition, covertly wanderer working illegal with the opposite sex called evil. But if the husband and wife officially go to bed, they don't have to live together. That is to say in a crude way. In a more subtle way, all the distractions of the mind, the unrighteous thoughts, the indifferent play, all belong to the type of adultery. 

Buddha forbidden adultery for the following reasons:  

a) Respect for righteousness. 

Everybody wants his family to be peaceful, happy, his wife and children respectable, then why go destroy the family, humiliating subjects, put his wife and children on the road of lust.

b) Protection of family happiness. 

Nothing is more painful, darker, when a family whose husband or wife has private privacy, so evil. Happiness is no longer, when husband and wife do not believe each other! When a family falls into that situation, the children will be ashamed, neglected, orphaned, unrelated to their children, their jobs will be shattered, their villages will be disparaged, their reputation will be tarnished. The essential condition for maintaining family happiness is the faithfulness of the couple. It is said: "Prosperous husband and wife, slapping the East also empty". Because of the adultery of one of the two street friends, jealousy, quarrels and beatings often occur in the family. Sometimes, for revenge, people often see the scene "he ate rolls, she ate rolls". If a husband cares about his wife, his wife and children will fence off to another's house. They destroy the happiness of the family, 

So forbidden adultery is a necessary condition to build happiness for his family and his family. 

c) Avoid hatred and evil retribution. 

Buddha taught: "The one who embraces craving is like a torch-bearer who goes against the wind and is determined to suffer burn-out" (The Four Elements Chapter). In fact, people with evil desires love lust, or sooner or later they will be harmed: if they do not lose their home after losing their country, they will also lose their legs by guns, swords. So far the catastrophic dark results caused by sexual indulgence are not missing; We just need to unload the stacks of history books or daily newspapers, and we will see the labels in each page and paragraph. 

In hatred, there is no more resentment than the resentment caused by the secondary cheating of love. Murders occur daily, mostly as a result of adultery. 

Benefits of not adultery. 

Therefore, observance of the precepts of adultery will have the following benefits: 

a) Personally.  

The Cross said: "Worldly people without misfortune are entitled to the following four benefits: 

- Six bases (ears, eyes, nose, tongue, body, mind) are completely.  
- Lifetime is respected by people.  
- Deduct all annoyance stirring.  
- A love affair in a lifetime no one dared to violate. " 

b) In terms of mass organizations.  

In a society where everyone is unhappy, the family is happy and happy, the morality and destruction will dissipate, scenes of hatred and killing will no longer occur; The children are healthy, cherished, the society will be prosperous. In short, this mundane, miserable Ta-ba realm will turn into a pure and peaceful world. 

4. Don't say untrue . 

There are four ways to tell the truth: lie, lie, speak two-dimensionally, speak cruel words. 

a) Lies or lies , is not telling the truth, the story is saying no, the story is not saying yes, the right is saying wrong, the wrong is saying right; what heard and heard did not hear, what did not hear and heard; or fake in front of compliments, behind the insult; Or when you like, say sweet, sweet, when you hate bitter bitter. In short, the thought of the words before and after work contradictions, top and bottom different, inside out most, belongs to lie at all. 

b) Spreading embroidery , which is less of a fascist, makes the listener angry; is cultivating words, cultivating good voices, raising the voice down and down to make the ears cool and cool to tempt listeners, making passionate enthusiasts; sometimes it is satirical, gossip, say magnet, prick making the listener miserable. In short, so many words that are not true, adding or subtracting to frivolous and polished literature make the listener confused, born of disturbing emotions, all are called embellishment. 

c) To say two-dimensional tongue , or more roughly, is to say "sharp double-headed shock", that is to say here to speak to one side to speak ill of the other side, to the other side, then speak to that party to say bad side, making friends are close to each other against each other, people gracious, people who oppose, hate each other. 

d) Cruel speech, which is vulgar and abusive language, makes listeners suffer, sad and afraid. 

Why does Buddha forbid telling the truth? 

Buddha forbids telling the truth for the following reasons:  

a) Respect the truth.  

Buddhism is the true religion; People who practice Buddhism must respect the truth. People accustomed to lies, not necessarily finding the truth, can hardly witness it. We are living in delusion; the main job of a practitioner is to try to shatter that delusion to see the vow; if it is not possible to do so, and it adds up to that delusion with deceitful lies, then it is extremely immoral. 

b) Cultivate compassion. 

The main motivation of lies is selfishness, cruelty, and desire to harm people to satisfy their dark desires. Those who are deceived and mislead must suffer because of them, sometimes with hatred and resentment. Practitioners who do so have buried their conscience and died of love in their hearts. Once compassion is no more, that is, the main motivation is lost, then the practice is only a lie, a trick, and of course, never good results.

c) Preserving loyalty in society. 

In a family, a community, a society that no one believes in anyone, then everything from small to large fails. In Confucianism, one of the five basic virtues is faith. "Unbelievably unbound", that is the teaching of Confucius. Family and social happiness cannot be achieved in suspicion, jealousy.  

d) Avoid karmic retribution. 

The word is not a blade, but it is more dangerous than the blade, because it has two sharp points, one stabbing into another, and the other stabbing into the person who uses it. Everyone probably hasn't forgotten the story of the shepherd boy wanting to fool his neighbors, by shouting "Fire! Fire!", But he only managed to fool him once; The next time his house was on fire, even though he cried out in pain, no one came to the hospital for treatment. See, deceitful people only make themselves ill. Therefore, the Buddha taught: "The sorcerer was behaving in the middle mouth, the body died due to the evil language", which means "Everybody in the world, the sharp blade lying in his mouth, the reason for slashing himself is by words. evil. "Had to say separating cockroaches, misrepresentation is to harm people, but when people do harm, then people also harm themselves." Evil evil report "is like that. To avoid hatred, avoid bad karma , we should not lie, exaggerate. 

Benefits of not lying: 

a) Personally. 

Be respected, trusted, no one resentful hatred; Wherever you go, people around you give you a position of trust and welcome. In a business career, genuine people are given many clients, and are entrusted with many precious responsibilities. 

b) In terms of mass organizations. 

Family and society are united in trust. Every joint work, promoted, has good results. Compatriots love and sympathize more. 

Limitations:  Lying is a great disaster for yourself and society. However, there are a few cases where you should lie. That's when compassion must lie to save people or things. Lie is a crime in the case of greed, the pitch motivates. On the contrary, if you are motivated by compassion to lie, then you are not guilty. 

5. Do not drink alcohol . 

All things that contain yeast that make people drunk or poisonous people must not drink. I myself did not drink, but did not force others to drink. Urging, encouraging others to drink, sin is more serious than drinking it yourself. When falling seriously ill, taking unhealthy medicines, and the physician told to mix alcohol into the medicine, he could temporarily use it. But before using it, we need to tell them. When the illness is over, do not continue taking drugs mixed with alcohol anymore. 

For what reasons did Buddha ban drinking alcohol? 

Buddha forbids drinking alcohol for the following reasons: 

a) Preserving intellectual seeds. 

Alcohol is more dangerous than poison. A jars of poison we drank right away, but only died a current body, rather than drinking alcohol, causing loss of wisdom, must die and go back to countless lives. Therefore, in order to preserve the seeds of precious wisdom, Buddha banned alcohol. 

b) Prevent the causes of sin. 

Alcohol itself is not a sin such as murder, robbery, and adultery, but it can cause other sins to be born. When you are drunk, you can commit any crime. Here is a story to prove it: A farmer who was plowing in the middle of the field, suddenly appeared in front of him a huge, bizarre god, intimidating him. He was terrified, crying for his life. The hung god said: 

- If you do any one of these three things, then I will spare them death: either kill your father, or beat your mother or drink a liter of wine on your table. 

The farmer thought for a while and answered:  

- Please give me a liter of wine. 

Hung finished listening to sound satisfied and then disappeared. That afternoon, the farmer came home, saw the liter of wine that his grandfather bought to treat guests, because the house was about to die, he hurriedly grabbed it, drained a little. His father saw the insolent son, biting sticks and scolding him. The sorcerer has absorbed, he no longer knows right or left, takes his father's stick, hits him a good dead tree! The mother ran to hug the village mule. He hasn't angry yet, hit his mother dust bag. Villagers ran to catch him leading to the crime of killing his father and mother. When he regained consciousness, he knew that drinking alcohol was the worst of the three things that the evil spirit made him do. 

In short, alcohol causes many sins. The following are 10 harmful effects of alcohol that are mentioned in the sutras: 1 - The fallen wealth; 2 - Growth of killing intent; 3 - Weak intellect; 4 - Career failed; 5 - Body and mind many sufferings; 6 - Body or disability; 7 - The mind of anger and anger, bickering; 8 - Blessed and dissipated; 9 - Life expectancy decreases; 10 - Common life goes to hell. 

Benefits of the ban on drinking alcohol: 

a) Personally . 

People who do not drink alcohol can avoid the above 10 harmful things: no loss of money, less illness, no malice, less anger, intellectual growth, higher life expectancy, etc. 

b) In terms of mass organizations. 

The family is at peace, the children are less sick, the society is mixed, the race is strong.  

C. CONCLUSION 

1. Buddhists who do not observe the precepts are not Buddhists. We have seen the practical uses and benefits of the five precepts in terms of individuals and groups. If the three rules are the foundation, then the five precepts are the five rungs of the lay Buddhists to step up to the fruit. In the first step, if a Buddhist can vow to keep all five precepts, the better; If because of many attachments, the five precepts cannot be maintained, there are some precepts that we feel are possible to practice, such as not drinking alcohol or lying. Then with diligence and strong bodhicitta, we continue to make vows to keep more other precepts such as no stealing, no adultery ... But having made vows to keep the precepts, to be honest, don't take a step two steps back and forth, using it forever like that, never going anywhere. If Buddhists don't observe any precepts, then what is it called Buddhists? Ordinary people, not following the Buddha but also being able to keep the right status like not drinking alcohol, not lying, not stealing instead, let alone being a Buddhist? We come to Buddhism and want to rise above the ordinary life of the people. If we are already religious and continue the old floating life, or worse than the ordinary life of the lay people, then it is that we want to be religious, not admired. So Buddhists must try to keep the precepts in order to be worthy of their names, to bring happiness to themselves and to sentient beings. 

2. Non-Buddhists should also observe the precepts . The five precepts above are not sublime or mysterious. It is a common civic lesson that any society, any country that wants to prosper and be strong, cannot overlook. Therefore, these 5 laws are not only applicable to Buddhists, but also to all who want to live a healthy, happy, polite and progressive life. 

A society where all members can carry out those 5 precepts is the best and most civilized society in the world. . END=NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).WORLD VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST ORDER=GOLDEN AMITABHA MONASTERY=VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=THICH CHAN TANH.AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.3/1/2020.