Re: Tie^?u thu+`a va` DDa.i Thu+`a (fwd)

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

>From Anh Bi`nh a1@bpworld.com :
-----------------------------------

Tha^n cha`o ca'c anh chi.,

Anh Ba?o Tro.ng dda(.t ca^u ho?i:

+ Dda.i thu+`a xua^'t pha't tu+` dda^u
+ Tie^?u thu+`a xua^'t pha't tu+` dda^u
+ Chu'ng kha'c nhau ra sao

Khi na`o tie^.n, to^i se~ tra? lo+`i 3 ca^u tre^n.  Ho^m nay, to^i xin 
tra? lo+`i 1 ca^u ho?i cu~ng lie^n he^. vo+'i dde^` ta`i na`y:

+ Tie^?u thu+`a va` DDa.i Thu+`a gio^'ng nhau ra sao


Tru+o+'c he^'t, trong PG VN, ngu+o+`i ta ca`ng lu'c ca`ng du`ng chu+~ Nam
To^ng (hay PG Nguye^n Thu?y) va` Ba('c To^ng dde^? thay the^' cho chu+~
Tie^?u Thu+`a va` DDa.i Thu+`a.  Trong gio+'i tre? PG, ngu+o+`i ta ga^`n
nhu+ 0 co`n pha^n bie^.t NT hay BT nu+~a.  Ca' nha^n to^i 0 pha^n bie^.t
NT hay BT.  Trong die^~n dda`n, VN-Buddhism va` ca'c home page PG ma` to^i
bie^'t, PG chi? la` mo^.t. 

Ca' nha^n to^i ho.c dda.o tu+` tha^`y be^n Nam to^ng va` Ba('c To^ng, va`
to^i tha^'y hai be^n qua' gio^'ng nhau. Ca'ch dda^y tre^n 100 na(m, o^ng
Olcott, mo^.t vi. dda.i ta' ngu+o+`i My~ dda~ go'p pha^`n ddoa`n ke^'t PG. 
Ba`i vie^'t du+o+'i dda^y dda~ ddu+o+.c ta^'t ca? ca'c nu+o+'c PG ddo^`ng
y'. 

Regards,

Binh

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URL: http://saomai.org/~binhp/vn-buddhism


                 Fourteen Fundamental Buddhist Beliefs

1)  Buddhists are taught to show the same tolerance, forbearance, and
    brotherly love to all men, without distinction; and an unswerving
    kindness towards the members of the animal kingdom.

2)  The universe was evolved, not created; and it functions according
    to law, not according to the caprice of any God.

3)  The truths upon which Buddhism is founded are natural. They have,
    we believe, been taught in successive world-periods, by certain
    illuminated beings called Buddhas, the name Buddha meaning
    "Enlightened".

4)  The fourth teacher in the present world-period was Gautama Buddha,
    who was born in a Royal family in India about 2500 years ago. He is
    an historical personage and his name was Siddhartha Guatama.

5)  Gautama Buddha taught that ignorance produces desire, unsatisfied
    desire is the cause of rebirth, and rebirth, the cause of sorrow. To
    get rid of sorrow therefore, it is necessary to escape rebirth;
    to escape rebirth, it is necessary to extinguish desire; and to
    extinguish desire, it is necessary to destroy ignorance.

6)  Ignorance fosters the belief that rebirth is a necessary thing. When
    ignorance is destroyed the worthlessness of every such rebirth,
    considered as an end to itself, is perceived, as well as the
    paramount need of adopting a course of life by which the necessity
    for such repeated rebirths can be abolished.  Ignorance also begets
    the illusive and illogical idea that there is only one existence
    for men, and the other illusion that this one life is followed by
    states of unchangeable pleasure or torment.

7)  The dispersion of all this ignorance can be attained by the
    persevering practice of an all embracing altruism in conduct,
    development of intelligence, wisdom in thought, and destruction of
    desire for the lower personal pleasures

8)  The desire to live is the cause of rebirth, when that is extinguished
    rebirths cease and the perfected individual attains by meditation
    the highest state of peace called Nirvana.

9)  Gautama Buddha taught that ignorance can be dispelled and sorrow
    removed by the knowledge of the four noble truths, which are,:
        1. The miseries of existence,
        2. The cause productive of misery, which is the desire ever renewed
           of satisfying oneself without being able ever to secure that end;
        3. The destruction of that desire, or the estranging of oneself 
           from it;
        4. The means of obtaining this destruction of desire. The means
           which he pointed out is called the Noble Eightfold Path:
           Right Belief; Right Thought; Right Speech; Right Action; Right
           Means of Livelihood; Right Exertion; Right Remembrance; Right
           Meditation.

10) Right Meditation leads to spiritual enlightenment, or the development
    of a Buddha-like faculty which is latent in every man.

11) The essence of Buddhism, as summed up by the Buddha himself are:

         To cease from all sin,
         To get virtue,
         To purify the heart.

12) The universe is subject to a natural causation known as Karma. The
    merits and demerits of a being in past existences determine his
    condition in the present one. Each man, therefore, has prepared the
    causes of the effects which he now experiences.

13) The obstacles to the attainment of good karma may be removed by
    the observance of the following precepts, which are embraced in the
    moral code of Buddhism: (1) Kill not; (2) Steal not; (3) Indulge in
    no forbidden sexual pleasure; (4) Lie not; (5) Take no intoxication
    or stupefying drug or liquor. Five other precepts which need not be
    here enumerated should be observed by those who would attain, more
    quickly than the average layman, the release from misery and rebirth.

14) Buddhism discourages superstitious practices. The Buddha taught
    it to be the duty of parents to have his child educated in science
    and literature. He also taught that no one should believe what is
    spoken by any sage, written in any book, or affirmed by tradition,
    unless it accords with reason.

    Drafted as a common platform upon which all Buddhists can agree.


                                    Jan, 1891

                                    Henry S. Olcott


PS: H. S. Olcott was born on 2-Aug-1832 in Orange County, New Jersey, USA.
    He was a major colonel in the US army.  In 1875, he met Mrs. H. P.
    Blavatsky, a Russian Buddhist.  This was a historic meeting because
    from that point on, under the guide of Mrs. Blavatsky, Mr. Olcott
    loved Buddhism and became a Buddhist scholar.

    To restore Buddhism which was being declined in Sri Lanka as a result
    of discriminatory policies of the colonialist governments for four
    centuries, Mr. Olcott and Mrs. Blavatsky arrived in Sri Lanka.
    Thousands of Sri Lankan greeted him.  A week later, both of them
    pledged to walk the path of the Buddha.

    Olcott helped bring organization skills to Buddhism, unite various 
    sects of Buddhism, create the Buddhist flags, and do a lot of other
    things.  In my opinion, Olcott was one of the greatest friends 
    of Buddhism in modern history. 

    My father retyped the Fundamental Buddhist beliefs from the Buddhist
    Catechism by Henry S. Olcott.  I edited for clarity.

    Aug 26, 96

    Binh
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