From: nguyen@drutx.ATT.COM (Christopher Chu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese
Subject: Re: Gia'o Ly' -Da.o Pha^.t
Summary: Just some random thoughts
Date: 8 Sep 92 06:01:44 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Denver, Colorado


Dear Thomas Nguyen,
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| From: lephan@media.mit.edu (Vu L. Phan)                                    |
| Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese                                         |
| Subject: Re:Gia'o Ly' -Da.o Pha^.t                                         |
| Message-ID: <1992Sep6.223531.27627@news.media.mit.edu>                     |
| Date: 6 Sep 92 22:35:31 GMT                                                |
| Distribution: usa                                                          |
|                                                                            |
| >From: tdn7039@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Thomas Nguyen)                          |
| >Subject: Re: Gia'o Ly' -Da.o Pha^.t                                       |
|                                                                            |
| >Ba'c Tien va` nhu*~ng ai bie^'t nhie^`u ve^` pha^.t gia'o la`m            |
| >o*n cho tui bie^'t la` pha^.t Thi'ch Ca or any buddha co'ba('t buo^.c     |
| >ngu*o*`i ta su`ng ba'i, ta.c tu*o*.ng tha('p nhang, tho*` ho.  hay        |
| >kho^ng?? Ne^'u co' thi` ta.i sao?                                         |
|                                                                            |
| >Gia'o ly' nha` pha^.t cho ra(`ng "pha^.t ta.i ta^m" thi` ta.i sao         |
| >thie^n ha. tho*` tu*o*.ng pha^.t -de^? la`m gi`? (what's the point)??     |
| >                                                                          |
| >   2.  Who/what gives birth to the soul ? (in buddhist's point of view)   |
| >   3.  or is it from "nothing" gives birth to every living things?        |
|                                                                            |
| To my understanding, Pha^.t Thi'ch Ca or any buddha kho^ng co' ba('t       |
| buo^.c ngu+o+`i ta su`ng ba'i, ta.c tu+o+.ng hay tha('p nhang tho+` ho.    |
| These practices come about as a part of our culture. These practices are   |
| means to express one's respect and devotion.                               |
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I understand the same thing: the workship of Buddha like we usually see done
by our vietnamese people is cultural but is not a part of Buddhism teaching.
One can consider himself or herself to be a real Buddhist by studying and
practicing Budhism at home; he/she does not have to directly learn it from
those who practice it and "su`ng ba'i tu+o+.ng pha^.t" in a buddhist temple.
This is a part of "pha^.t ta.i ta^m."
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| What we believe is of very little importance unless we live in the way     |
| that Buddha taught us to live.                                             |
|                                                                            |
| The entire Buddhist teachings rest on the basic teaching that "nothing" in |
| all the world happens by accident. Buddha taught us that everything comes  |
| from a cause. If we wish to change our lives for the better and be happier |
| and healthier and more prosperous,then we must change all the causes so    |
| that we can have better effects. In Buddhism this is known as the law of   |
| Karma and in science it is called the law of cause and effect. Buddhism    |
| advocates there is no such thing as luck. Good causes produce good effects |
| and bad causes produce bad effects. Many say that they lead good lives and |
| yet have unfortunate things happen to them. Buddhism teachs that this is a |
| result of the bad karma of past lives that is being reaped in this life.   |
| Therefore, a buddhist should not practice nor look for answers to their    |
| destiny via fortune tellers or anything of this sort.                      |
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It's quite another manifested and practical view of Buddhism.
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| >   2.  Who/what gives birth to the soul ? (in buddhist's point of view)   |
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Buddhism is a religion. The fundamentals of any religions always call for
human belief. Scientific questions to the the human belief is not appropriate:
one can always ask the question "who/what creates who/what first" and keep
on asking the same question forever. Anyway, let me answer your question in
the buddhism context: the soul is a part of the universe; it is there just
like time, if you can really think about time, no beginning and no end.

If you were born in a religious buddhist family, do you think that it is
likely that you would be the religious person you think of you are today?
Similarly, if you were born in Harlem and your parents were both black
people, do you think you would not love to play basketball and do well with
break-dance? And, what would happen if Buddha had been born in Bethlehem
and Jesus Christ was found preaching in India? Do you think that the God
Father ceremony would be carried out in a Buddhist temple or a Catholic
church in this case? :-)))

I think that knowing why you trust your own religion may not be as important
as knowing very well why others trust theirs; I can see not much here to
argue. In my *own* opinion (please pardon me if my opinion is against any
other's religious teaching but I think I have the rights to state my opinion
here) in order to master one's religious value, he/she should be able to
learn and respect others': when there is no comparison available, religious
belief, like any other beliefs, such as "the earth is square", can be very
blindful.
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| >   3.  or is it from "nothing" gives birth to every living things?        |
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Even "nothing" is an abstract entity just like any godly things or living
things that you could have ever imagined. In Buddhsim, the concept of
"nothing" like you have written in your own word is really the highest
priciple truth of life and the universe that not all people can fully
understand.

According to the theory of Buddhism, one can start to understand the essence
of this truth when he/she starts to practice Buddhsim. Further more, one can
only fully *master* the essence of this truth when he/she breaks from the
human form and become another Buddha. When one becomes a Buddha, he/she and
people will all know, just like in the case of the original Buddha himself.
BTW, please note that Budda did not believe in god and he himself is not a
god. Budda was the human-being who first discovered the buddhist understanding
and view about life and the universe.
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| This touches upon another trait of Buddhism. There is no beginning nor end |
| to birth and death. If we want to know what kind of life we shall have     |
| when we die and leave this world, we need only look at our present lives.  |
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This is another manifested and practical view of Buddhist practices.
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| Regards,                                                                   |
|                                                                            |
| Sy~                                                                        |
| syd@kphpux.att.com                                                         |
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Just a few thoughts that I would like to share with you.

Regards,

Chris
Newsgroups: soc.culture.vietnamese