Xem trong Thư phòng    Xem định dạng khác Xem định dạng khác    Xem Mục lục Xem Mục lục 

SÁCH AMAZON


Mua bản sách in

Entering the new millennium, in the ten years of the first phase (2006-2016), Buddhism has exploited many opportunities but also had to face many challenges in a turbulent world.

Let me identify some opportunities: The trend in which people in the two continents of Europe and America accept Buddhism as both a humanistic philosophy of life and an effective therapeutic science has gone beyond the stage of scholastic research to spread into many other practical application areas of life. – The phenomenon of individual national Buddhist organizations smoothly joining international Buddhist networks has become tighter. – Research and survey works on Buddhist scriptures are increasingly numerous and of higher quality thanks to the application of information technology in processing documents. – Buddhist art and literature have been discovered and confirmed by intellectuals around the world as a mainstream contributing to the humanistic values of humanity – …

However, let me also point out some challenges: In three countries in South and Southeast Asia, there are still social forces that use the name of Buddhism to intervene violently in politics, creating local religious disputes. – In the field of interpreting scriptures, transnational conflicts between sects, traditions, and sects still smolder, with no sign of ending. – In some undemocratic countries, Buddhism is still controlled by the government, pushing the Church-Government relationship into a mechanism of asking and giving, causing the moral character of a part of the Sangha to degrade. – It is rare to see Buddhism take an attitude and boldly propose solutions to global sufferings such as human rights violations, genocidal wars, environmental destruction, and human trafficking. – …

In that vivid and complex context, like looking through a kaleidoscope of contrasting colors, in general, we still see Buddhism increasingly becoming a leading historical agent, gradually rising to create great positive trends to contribute to peace and human civilization.

Among the countless events happening in the human world, there are ten great and meaningful events in the first ten years of the 21st century that have contributed to the speed of Buddhism's spread in the world. And these ten events also affirm that Buddhism is a religion of truth, mainly for people to live with, not just to believe in.

-- () –

1. October 2006: The restoration of Nalanda University is an opportunity to promote Buddhist wisdom at a global level.

From the fifth to the twelfth centuries, Nālānda University was a leading Buddhist institution of learning, with a vast library containing many valuable texts. At one time, the school enrolled tens of thousands of monks, mainly from China, Korea, Tibet, Indonesia, and other Central Asian countries. Famous Buddhist scholars who came to study or lecture there included Indian masters such as Shantarakshita (750-802) and Padmasambhava (lived in the second half of the eighth century), or two profound Chinese monks, Xuanzang (600-664) and I-jing (635-713). Nālānda University flourished throughout its 700-year history until it declined around 1200 CE due to the destruction by two invading armies, Afghanistan and Turkey. Today, the ruins of the monasteries are located 60 miles southeast of the Indian city of Patna.

In 2006, the East Asia Summit, which included several Southeast Asian countries as well as Australia, New Zealand, China, South Korea, Russia and the United States, decided to undertake efforts to restore Nālanda University. Eight years later (2014), a new Nalanda University was established in Rajgir by a group of international scholars, including two Harvard University professors, Amartya Sen (Nobel Prize in Economics 1998) and Sugata Bose (Indian historian), with the aim of creating a world-class educational institution with dedicated researchers to complement teaching and learning at a high academic level.

According to the official website of Nālānda University ( www.nalandauni.edu.in ), there are currently nine groups of lecturers from different countries teaching in three faculties: (i) Historical Studies, (ii) Environment and Ecology, and (iii) Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions. These three faculties will actively cooperate with the European Association for Asian Field Studies (ECAF, France), the Department of History of Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and Peking University in China. The next stage of development will be the establishment of schools of Economics and Management, Oriental Languages and Information Technology.

The reconstruction of Nālānda University is a great archaeological and architectural feat. But more importantly, because Buddhism is the religion of Wisdom, with “Literature” at the forefront of the process of cultivating Literature-Thinking-Practicing, the revival of Nalanda University is a great opportunity to create an environment for promoting wisdom for Buddhism on a global scale.

[Updated and written according to Buddhism Today ]

2. May 2008: Discovering ice and snow on Mars helps explain the concept of birth in the Six Realms.

After 7 months of traveling in space, the Phoenix spacecraft controlled by JPL/NASA landed on Mars. Two days later, on May 31, 2008, when digging a small area of land, the spacecraft's camera saw a sparkling white pool of light. Research director Peter Smith said that while landing, the Phoenix spacecraft blew away a patch of sand and dust, revealing a layer of ice and snow. On June 19, 2008, scientists compared two photos of the white glow at two points in time (4 days apart), then compared the temperature, atmospheric pressure and many other scientific parameters between the two periods of time, they declared that these "glowing pools" were actually frozen water, now melted. Thus, combined with the presence of Methane gas found later (2014) on Mars, according to Biochemistry, if there is water, there must be four elements (solvent, temperature buffer, metabolite and living environment) to create an ecosystem for microorganisms (living microbial organism) to appear and exist.

Up to now, Western science and theology have believed that living organisms only appear on Earth. Even the Old Testament, the book of Genesis of Christianity, affirms that all living beings (including the first two “humans”, Adam and Eve, and all species) were created by God in the “Garden of Eden” on this earth only about 6 thousand years ago (according to the genealogy of Jesus’ family, listed by the Apostle Luke, who was the 77th generation descendant of the human ancestor Adam). Buddhist scriptures believe that the “form” of living beings is the result of the combined effects of causes and conditions and karma, and is created in 4 types of environments: Viviparous, Moist, Oviparous, and Transformative, in which Moviparous is a humid ecosystem with water. In addition, also according to Buddhism, depending on karma and conditions, living beings can be reincarnated into one of the 6 realms of the Six Paths, including the “heavenly realms” outside the earth in the Three Thousand Great Thousand Worlds.

Thus, the event of the Phoenix spacecraft discovering traces of water on Mars, creating a biochemical premise for the presence of living beings, is consistent with the teachings of "Low birth" and the heavens in the "Six paths" mentioned in Buddhist scriptures. From that, we can see that nearly 26 centuries ago, when humanity was still ignorant and fearfully bowing before nature, or when human knowledge was still controlled by mysterious theories about divine creation, the Buddha, with his wisdom, knew that there were living beings present in the vast universe. He only spoke the truth, exactly as he had said before entering Nirvana: "There is no secret teaching, no hidden meaning. All my teachings are given honestly and transparently."

3. January 2009: Black President Barack Obama and Equality in Buddhism.

From 1862, when President Abraham Lincoln read the Emancipation Proclamation, to 1964, when black Pastor Martin Luther King became a Nobel Peace Prize winner thanks to his struggle for civil rights for African-Americans, 100 years have passed, but the status of black Americans is still that of a persecuted minority and on the margins of American society. Until now (2016), they are still discriminated against in almost all areas of life, and even in many states, they are oppressed by violence and repressed by administrative measures.

Yet in January 2009, an African-American was sworn in to become the 44th elected President of the superpower United States of America. That person is Mr. Barack Hussein Obama II. He was born in Honolulu and lived with his grandparents since childhood. His mother is British-American and his father is Kenyan. He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, and was active in the community as a young man. He was active in the community in Chicago, then worked as a civil rights attorney and taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. In 2008, Mr. Obama defeated Republican candidate John McCain in the general election, and was sworn in as President of the United States on January 20, 2009. Nine months later, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And in 2012, he was re-elected President for a second term. This is a symbolic case of equality of citizenship in a Western democratic political system.

Throughout the Buddhist teachings, we learn about the equality of all living beings. The Majjhima Nikaya, the Brahmavihāra Nikaya (translated by Venerable Thich Minh Chau) states that “… All people of those hundred different races can bring bath powder to water and bathe, thoroughly removing all dirt and impurities… all people of those hundred different races can use any kind of wood as a fire starter, then use a stick to make a fire and burn it big.” “Remove all dirt and impurities thoroughly”, “use any kind of wood as a fire starter” and you will see the true nature, and you will reveal the Buddha nature. Therefore, all sentient beings in the six realms already have the Buddha nature within themselves because “All sentient beings have Buddha nature, all sentient beings are willing to become Buddhas”. The true nature is inherent in each species, because sentient beings may be different in all aspects but the Buddha nature is not different. Therefore, the Buddha declared: “I am the Buddha who has become, all sentient beings are Buddhas who will become”

There is truly no religion, from Eastern Polytheism to Western Monotheism, whose founder respects and promotes equality for his own disciples like that! The fact that an American citizen of black origin, whose father is a foreigner, whose parents divorced when he was young, was elected President of the United States by the people is a rare phenomenon in the secular world, but it is consistent with the principle of equality in Buddhism: If all citizens are equal before the opportunity to become head of state, then all sentient beings are also equal before the effort to reach enlightenment to attain the highest fruit of becoming a Buddha. Taking human beings, not gods or religious leaders, as the center of the subject of liberation, Buddhism is therefore called a humanistic religion. Buddhism is considered a humanistic religion because it has escaped the status of being a "humble" creation of an arrogant God to stand up, take control of one's own destiny, and achieve equality with the gods.

4. March 2011: His Holiness the Dalai Lama was ranked second in the list of 100 most outstanding spiritual figures in the world.

On March 1, 2011, Watkins Books in London (UK) published the Spring issue of Watkins Review, No. 26, in which the Editorial Board established a list of 100 living figures who have the greatest spiritual influence in the world. Every three years, Watkins Books updates the list once to send to their 30,000 selected readers. Selecting scholars and spiritual teachers whose contributions to the spiritual field have had a profound impact on the world is a complex and difficult process.

This year, the person topping the list is Mr. Eckhart Tolle, a Canadian, author of three famous books: Stillness Speaks, The Power Of Now and A New Earth. He develops the phenomenon of consciousness transformation as a spiritual awakening which he believes is the next step in human evolution. The second person is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The third person is Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, an American expert on positive thinking. The fourth person is Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, who used poetry and literature to call for peace during the Vietnam War. And the fifth person is Indian-American speaker and author Deepak Chopra. He is an endocrinologist, using the relationship between body and mind as a treatment method. His most successful works are Ageless Body, Timeless Mind and The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success.

To show the seriousness and rigor of this Selected List, we see that South African President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela is ranked 19th. Anglican Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu is ranked 28th. Pope Benedict XIV, the head of the Roman Catholic Church's more than one billion followers, is ranked 34th. Tibetan Lama Sogyal Rinpoche, founder of the Rigpa International Tantric Network, with more than 100 centers in 23 countries, and author of the famous book The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, is ranked 82nd. (See more about the 2011 Watkins List here)

In honoring His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Watkins Books not only acknowledges his personal wisdom and compassion, but also affirms his positive impact on the world. the effectiveness and spread of the spiritual elements of Buddhism throughout the world.



5. September 2011: Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was honored by a statue in the United States.

On Tuesday, September 6, 2011, at Fox Square Park in Oakland, California, a ceremony was held to inaugurate a group of bronze statues of 25 world-famous figures. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk, and 24 others were honored for their contributions to humanity and world peace. The “Remember Them: Champions For Humanity” monument, created by sculptor Mario Chiodo, pays tribute to civil rights fighters and celebrates humanity around the world.

The sculpture consists of entwined busts or full bodies of 25 figures who fought for civil rights and humanistic ideals. They include the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ms. Coretta Scott King, Lawyer who led the non-violent struggle for Indian independence, Mahatma Gandhi, 32nd US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Vietnamese Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Native American Chief Joseph, Mother Teresa, Human Rights Journalist Frederick Douglass, Mexican-born Labor Leader Cesar Chavez, Black female poet Maya Angelou, Civil Rights activist Rosa Park, Nobel Prize Laureate for Literature of Jewish origin Elie Wiesel, German benefactor Oskar Schindler who saved thousands of Jewish prisoners during the Holocaust, ...

When erecting a statue of a non-violent peace fighter like Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh next to other famous figures from around the world over the past 100 years, the members of the Selection Committee could not help but seriously consider the spiritual starting point of this fighter. What is that starting point if not Buddhism with a tradition and history of loving peace, a fundamental commandment not to take life or cause suffering to any living being, even indifferent grass and rocks (see also deep ecology and Buddhism), and a motto of "using love to resolve hatred". Through the conduct of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhism has been declared a Champion for Humanity, as the name of the monument suggests.

6. October 2012: Nobel Prize in Chemistry clarifies the theory of Twelve Links of Dependent Origination.

The 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to two American scientists, Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka, for their research on "G-protein-coupled receptors" (GPCR). The work of these two scientists is based on Chemistry, explaining how GPCR works in the human body, thereby decoding the chain of chemical reactions that create human feelings and emotions. The work is closely related to the field of Medicine and Pharmacy, especially promoting the research and development of pharmaceuticals.

"The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination" is a series of 12 stages that concretize the theory of Dependent Origination to explain the formation and development of karma, of life, especially of suffering. Buddhism was born to eliminate suffering, so "The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination" first outlines the process of ending suffering, but at the same time clearly states the formation of humans and the world. The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination are twelve stages that make up a human life, the previous stage is the premise for the next stage, this stage is born then the other stage is born, this stage dies then the other stage dies, the stages follow each other to create the cycle of birth and death. That is, Ignorance gives birth to Actions, Actions give birth to Consciousness, Consciousness gives birth to Name and Form, Name and Form give birth to the Six Entrances, the Six Entrances give birth to Contact, Contact gives birth to Feeling, Feeling gives birth to Craving, Craving gives birth to Grasping, Grasping gives birth to Existence, Existence gives birth to Birth, Birth gives birth to Aging and Death.

The stage of "Six Entrances give birth to Contact", that is, when people come into contact with the external environment and have emotions such as love and fear, has been decoded and clarified through scientific research works, the culmination of which is the work of two scientists who just won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The discovery of receptors and their role in transmitting messages (when this one is born/dying, that one is born/dying) not only brings great benefits in human health care, but also helps people better understand the origin and mechanism of the arising of feelings, and then their own emotions. It is believed that the 2012 Nobel Prize contributed to clarifying the theory of “The Twelve Links of Dependent Origination”, in explaining “The Six Entrances Give Birth to Contact”.

[Excerpts from: Nguyen Huu Duc, Nobel Prize in Chemistry Clarifies the Theory of the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination]

7. September 2013: Founding members of the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) held their first meeting.

The “First Founding Members” Conference of the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) was solemnly opened in the capital city of New Delhi, India on the morning of September 9, 2013. Attending this Conference were about 600 delegates from 100 delegations of 39 countries, including many Supreme Patriarchs and presidents of major Buddhist Sangha organizations in the world. On the guest side, there were Ms. Sheila Dixit, Governor of Delhi, Princess Ashi Kesang Wangmo Wangchuck and former Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley of Bhutan, Mr. U Soe Win, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Myanmar, Mr. Somboun Aliya, Director of the Department of Buddhism of the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Laos, and many other guests, etc. Congratulatory messages from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, messages from Pope Francis, messages from Ms. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, messages from former Prime Minister of Bhutan, messages from His Holiness the Dalai Lama and messages from the Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Thich Pho Tue, etc. were read out or projected through a projector at the Conference.

As a legal entity, the largest Buddhist organization in the world that unites and manages Buddhist affairs, the Alliance has five missions: (i) To be the unified voice of all Buddhist organizations on global concerns; (ii) To preserve the world's Buddhist traditions and cultural heritage and to coordinate the knowledge, experience and resources of Buddhists everywhere; (iii) To create understanding among Buddhist organizations, sects and traditions to address all forms of violence; (iv) To promote social equality and gender equality. To encourage the spirit of compassion and interdependence in the Buddhist world; and (v) To act as a network to lobby governments and international institutions on issues of Buddhist concern.

This is the second time the Alliance has met at the global level after two years of operation. It is a great step forward if we know how great obstacles the Alliance had to overcome in its early stages. According to the report at the Conference, the Alliance has achieved great results in the projects approved at the previous Conference to demonstrate the five tasks set out by the Alliance.

8. May 2014: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu, helped revive Buddhism in India. Prince Siddhartha was Indian, became Buddha in India and the first Buddhist Sangha was established in India. Buddhism as an organized religion reached its peak in the 3rd century under Emperor Ashoka and began to decline in the 12th century when Nalanda University was destroyed. After more than 18 centuries of taking root and developing into many sects and schools, Buddhism in India declined for many objective and subjective reasons, of which the main cause was the decline in morality of Buddhist leaders. Currently, according to the 2013 Pew Research Center census, the number of Buddhists in India is 9.25 million, accounting for only 0.8% of the total population of the country, and only 1/3 of the number of Christians (Roman Catholics and Protestants) in India.

In that twilight of Buddhism in India, a strange "savior" suddenly appeared: Mr. Narendra Modi, a Hindu. He was born in 1950 in Vadnagar village, Mehsana district, Northwest India. He is the third of 6 children of a tea shop owner. Studying political science at Gujarat University, he graduated with a master's degree. He is the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (People's Party), and served as Governor of Gujarat state from 2001 to 2014. Mr. Narendra Modi is a Hindu nationalist and a member of the National Volunteer Society (RSS). He is praised as a visionary and decisive leader, whose economic policies created an optimal environment for sustained high economic growth.

Although a Hindu, he especially admired the Buddha and his teachings, especially when applying the content of Buddhism to deal with social and human crises. He once declared before religious forums that “Buddha is India’s crown jewel. He is a great reformer who gave humanity a new world view.” Leading a complex, multi-class society with many overlapping spiritual traditions of more than a billion citizens, he did not hesitate to assert that “Buddha was the first human being to give this world a complete system of morality,” and “Buddha was a great preacher of equality.”

As a reformer, in many dialogues with Buddhist monks and lay leaders, he urged and challenged Indian Buddhism to boldly undertake a radical revival to return to its leading role in ethics and spirituality for the Indian people. His grand and long-term vision was presented in 2010 at the International Buddhist Heritage Conference in the Cultural Capital of Gujarat, Vadodara, in the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other religious leaders, where he spoke of a cultural alliance between India (majority Hindu) and Asia (majority Buddhist) to counterbalance in peace and development the European Union (a Union of Christian-based countries) and the Islamic Organization (an Association of Muslim countries).

On May 16, 2014, his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a landslide victory over the Congress Party in the national elections, winning 350 (out of 543) seats in the National Assembly. Ten days later, on May 26, 2014, Mr. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the (15th) Prime Minister of the Republic of the Union of India.

The revival of Buddhism in India will benefit greatly from this victory because the new leader Narendra Modi wholeheartedly praises the Buddha and is very concerned about the great contribution of Buddhism to the elevation of spiritual and moral standards of humanity all over the world.



9. October 2015: Message in support of the “2009 Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change” ahead of the COP21 Conference in Paris.

On October 29, 2015, fifteen Buddhist leaders signed a Message in support of the Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change (Copenhagen, 2009), calling on world leaders to completely end the extraction and use of fossil fuels. This message is the latest effort by the Global Buddhist Climate Change Collective (GBCCC), which was established in September 2015 to express Buddhist contributions to COP21, a United Nations Climate Conference held in Paris on November 30, 2015.

The message supporting the “Buddhist Declaration 2009” begins as follows:

“We, the undersigned Buddhist leaders, gathered on the eve of the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Paris, add our voice to the call for world leaders to work together with compassion and wisdom to reach an ambitious and effective agreement on climate change…. We are at a critical juncture, a moment when the survival of our species and that of all other species on this planet is gravely threatened by our own actions.”

After setting out “targets for phasing out fossil fuels, reducing unsustainable consumption patterns, and the moral imperative to address the causes and impacts of climate change, especially on the world’s poorest people”, the Message calls for: “To achieve these targets, we call on world leaders to demonstrate the political will to close the gap on national emissions targets and to ensure that the increase in global temperature is kept below 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels… For these reasons, we call on all parties to the Paris negotiations to:

1. Always be mindful of the moral implications of climate change, as set out in Article 3 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

2. Agree to phasing out fossil fuels and transition to 100% clean and renewable energy.

3. Resolve to close the gap on emissions targets that countries have committed to and ensure that the global temperature increase is kept below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.

4. Achieving a common commitment to step up financial resources beyond the $100 billion that developed countries pledged at Copenhagen in 2009, through the Green Climate Fund (GCF), to help developing countries cope with the impacts of climate change and accelerate the global transition to low-carbon emissions.

The time to act is now.”
Co-signers:
1- His Holiness the Dalai Lama Tenzing Gyatso - The 14th Dalai Lama
2- Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh - Founding Master of Plum Village (France)
3- His Holiness the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa - Head of the Karma Kagyu lineage
4- Venerable Dharmasen Mahathero - Supreme Patriarch, Buddhist Sangha of Bangladesh
5- His Holiness Hakuga Murayama - President of the Japan Young Buddhist Association (JYBA)
6- His Holiness Jaseung Sunim - Head of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism
7- His Holiness Bhante B. Sri Saranankara Nayaka Maha Thera - Buddhist Sangha of Malaysia
8- His Holiness Khamba Lama Gabju Demberel - President of the Buddhist Sangha of Mongolia
9- His Holiness Bhaddanta Kumarabhivamsa - Supreme Patriarch, President President of the Maha Nayaka National Sangha Committee, Myanmar
10- Venerable Agga Maha Panditha Dawuldena Gnanissara Maha Nayaka Thera - Supreme Patriarch of Amarapura Maha Nikaya, Sri Lanka
11- Venerable Thich Pho Tue - Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha
12- His Excellency Lama Lobzang, Secretary General of the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC)
13- His Excellency Olivier Reigen Wang-gen, President, Buddhist Federation of France (UBF)
14- His Excellency Bhikku Bodhi - President of the Buddhist Association of the United States (BAUS)
15- Princess Ashi Kesang Wangmo Wangchuk - Kingdom of Bhutan

10. October 2016: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the process of cell regeneration and the Buddhist concept of impermanence.

On October 3, 2016, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to a Japanese scientist, Professor Yoshinori Oshumi. He is currently a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is the 4th Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and the 25th Japanese person to be awarded the Nobel Prize. This year's prize recognizes a discovery related to the mechanism of cell life and death, named in English as macroautophagy, but often abbreviated as autophagy. The term autophagy comes from Greek, meaning "self-eating", but perhaps translated into Vietnamese as "self-eating". In fact, the correct and full meaning is the process of cell regeneration.

Every day, to maintain normal health, our body must eliminate a certain amount of damaged protein and replace it with new protein. In general, our body needs to replace about 200 to 300 grams of protein every day. But while we only take in about 60-80 grams, and more than half is eliminated, so where does it come from to replace it? That is the "secret" of the body. Professor Yoshinori Oshumi discovered that replacement mechanism. It turns out that the cells and proteins in us have the ability to self-recycle. In other words, in conditions of shortage, proteins regenerate themselves to meet the amount of protein the body needs. This regeneration mechanism is called autophagy. The meaning of "autophagy" is understood from that mechanism.

The concept of cell birth and death is very close to the concept of "impermanence" in Buddhism. The Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters recounts a story in which the Buddha asked the monks how long a human life lasts. Some answered 100 years, some said 70 years, and some said a few months. Only one monk said that a human life lasts only one breath! The Buddha praised the monk for correctly understanding the law of impermanence of life. The law of impermanence here can be understood as the cycle of formation-existence-destruction-emptiness. This cycle takes place continuously without stopping in our bodies.

Indeed, in biological reality, we all live and die in a second, and this process of birth and death takes place continuously until the day we leave this world. Therefore, saying that we die and live in every second is not a metaphor, a religious euphemism, but a biological reality. Professor Yoshinori Oshumi's discovery, although not new, explains the mechanism of the law of impermanence through modern scientific methods.

Professor Yoshinori Oshumi's discovery of the autophagy mechanism is not only of scientific significance but also reflects Buddhist philosophy. The process of cell regeneration is an aspect of the concept of impermanence. In fact, many of what today's scientists call "discoveries" or "discoveries" are actually just illustrations and explanations of concepts expressed by the Buddha more than 2,500 years ago. But the beauty of modern science is that its sophisticated and precise methods can help us verify and better understand the classical ideas that the ancient sages thought of.

[Excerpted in part from: Nguyen Van Tuan, Nobel Prize in Medicine and Biology, which reflects the idea of Impermanence ]

-- () --

Ten years have passed. The ten significant events mentioned above are like ten lapis lazuli beads added to a pearl necklace of wisdom, sparkling with the inner meaning of the three Buddhist scriptures. Each moment of manifestation is each moment revealing more of the subtle Truth of the Buddha's teachings, going beyond and above conventional knowledge to penetrate from the most subtle of the seed of life to the immense Greatness of the vast universe.

The Buddha's advice long ago, before he bid farewell to his disciples, still seems to echo somewhere in the endless length of space-time, in the deep depths of the minds of billions of living beings. Let's open our hearts and minds and read it again to persevere and diligently walk together on the vast and peaceful path that the Buddha has walked:

“My disciples, you should be your own torches to light your own way, rely on your own strength; do not depend on anyone. My teachings will be your guiding torch, your refuge; there is no need to depend on any other teachings.”…

“The human body must perish, but the Wisdom of Enlightenment will last forever in the entity of the Dharma, on the path of practicing the Dharma. If anyone only sees my body, he does not truly see me. Only those who accept my teachings can truly see me.”…

“After my death, the Dharma will replace me as your teacher. Knowing how to follow the Dharma is the way you show your loyalty to me. In the forty-five In the last years of my life, I have not concealed anything in my teachings. There is not a single secret teaching, not a single hidden meaning. All my teachings are given honestly and clearly.

My dear children, this is the end. In a moment I will enter Nirvana. These are my final instructions to you.

Tri Tanh Do Huu Tai

California, December 2016

References from: daophatngaynay.com/vn, en.wikipedia.org, giacngo.vn, giaodiemonline.com, ibcworld.org, intpolicydigest.org, langmai.org, lotuspro.net, nalandauni.uni.in, rsc.org, space.com, theosophical.org and thuvienhoasen.org.

View the PDF version with full images here.