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SÁCH AMAZON


Mua bản sách in

The night is quiet. Looking out the window, all one sees is a dense blackness. Trees, hedges, flower pots, lawns, stone benches, and the winding path in the park, it may be difficult for pedestrians to recognize their location and nature. Trees by the roadside may be mistaken for thieves to the police, and for the thieves to be the police (1). A rope or a snake. A bird or a crow. A squirrel or a cat. A man or a demon. Everything is black.

In the dark, everything easily becomes ghostly, illusory.

Adding to the imagination and attracting memories of the uncertainties of life, people are more easily frightened when passing by a dark garden, without lights or torches. It seems that there are ghosts or evil people lurking, lurking, watching passersby.

But in the same scene, when the sun rises, everything returns to normal, nothing important, nothing scary. Under the morning light, the leaves still rustle in the early wind, birds chirp on the roof, squirrels cross the neatly trimmed hedges, the smell of toasted bread somewhere blends with the fragrance from hanging orchids, stone benches are still wet with dew, and the winding path still winds around the green grass banks.

Seeing the true nature of all things, people will no longer worry or fear.

The true nature, or reality, essence, is emptiness, is not having an independent individual nature, but all are dependently arisen (depending on each other to arise), dependently arisen (depending on each other to appear). Due to dependent origination, all dharmas are impermanent and selfless; To experience the nature of impermanence and non-self right in the present reality is to reside in the peaceful nirvana (2).

The path is like that. But first, one must see the path. Seeing is the first step to lifting the veil of ignorance, seeing the path (seeing the path), and one will no longer be lost. But this seeing is not simply understanding the principle of dependent origination through the explanations of scriptures or lectures from masters. That seeing must be the awakening of perception after going through a process of practice and deep observation.

Seeing and knowing as it is (truly knowing) is to see things as they are, without any labeling, naming, or discrimination from one's own perception. But to see like that, the ego must disappear. For the ego to disappear, one needs to practice deeply and for a long time. Without ego, there is no more ignorance. But without ignorance, one has only begun to step onto the steps towards selflessness.

That is standing on the level of reason, talking about practice, introspection, to realize selflessness, to reach nirvana. On the level of the relative world, the practitioner enters real life with common knowledge, must understand and deal with people and society within the limited framework of rules and conventions. That means, when the sun rises, the rope is clearly a rope, so one must know it is a rope, one cannot, because of prejudice and illusion from last night, insist that it is a snake. That means right-wrong, good-bad, true-false need to be clearly distinguished. That means, this is a good thing, one knows it is a good thing to do, this is an evil thing, one knows it is an evil thing to avoid. Do not, for the sake of ego, my relatives, my organization, my party... confuse the false with the true, speak against the truth, act against conscience, trample on the rights and lives of others.

Buddhists see and know the truth in the Absolute Truth, and see and know the truth in the Conventional Truth. The Conventional Truth is the state of the Absolute Truth, a clear phenomenon on the surface of the profound and mysterious essence. What is clearly and easily seen but not thoroughly understood, then the knowledge of Emptiness, of the true nature of Tathagata, needs to be reconsidered. Talking about profound teachings while ordinary perception and behavior are obscure and biased, it turns out that following Buddha for so many years is a waste! Preaching the true teachings while the mind is full of wrong views and biased views (3): false is considered true, true is false; wrong is considered right, right is wrong; worshiping the evil, slandering the good; If we waste our time and energy on the illusions and lies of the world, how can we have the will to reach the ultimate supernatural level?

Like the sun appearing after a long night of illusion, the true doctrine opens up to us the true knowledge of the impermanent and egoless nature of the world of living beings, leading us straight into the essence of nirvana right in that impermanent and egoless state.

Under the sunlight, all illusions and mirages disappear. Everything is revealed. Nothing is hidden. Nothing can arouse doubt or fantasy. Birds still perch on trees. Trees still stand by the road. There is no such thing as ignorance; nor is there such a thing as the end of ignorance (4). No veil of darkness is lifted; only the sunlight appears, bright and clear.

The Buddha entered this crazy world in such a way. A thousand years of darkness, in the blink of an eye, vanished.

Buddha's Birthday, Buddhist calendar 2565
California, April 24, 2021
Vinh Hao
www.vinhhao.info

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(1) A metaphor from a Western fable, I don't remember the author or work.

(2) Impermanence, non-self, and nirvana are collectively called the three Dharma seals (three Dharma seals). These are the three things that confirm the true teachings of the Buddha. The understanding of these three Dharma seals can also be seen as the initial branch of the Noble Eightfold Path (Right view - true knowledge). Any theory that goes against this knowledge is erroneous and not taught by the Buddha.

(3) Wrong views and extreme views are two of the five evil views – also known as the five mental factors, which are types of clever afflictions, related to cognition, and easier to eliminate than the fundamental afflictions (five mental factors). These five evil views include 1. Self-view: clinging to the existence of the self, the ego; 2. Extreme views: clinging to one side, such as thinking that the ego is permanent (permanent view) or disappears completely (annihilation view) after death; 3. Wrong views: not believing in cause and effect; 4. Attachment to views: clinging to errors as true. 5. Attachment to precepts: clinging to unnatural, untrue rules or precepts, believing that one can follow them to attain nirvana.

(4) “There is no ignorance, nor is there the end of ignorance,” there is no ignorance, nor is there the end of ignorance (Heart Sutra).

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