Culture
UNDERSTANDING BUDDHISM
In some religions, sin is the origin of human suffering, in Buddhism there is no sin: the root cause of human suffering is AVIDYĀ“ Ignorance”.
KEY BUDDHIST CONCEPTS The Buddha was not concerned with satisfying human curiosity related to metaphysical speculations. Topics like the existence of god, the afterlife, or creation stories were ignored by him. During the centuries, Buddhism has evolved into different branches, and many of them have incorporated a number of diverse metaphysical systems, deities, astrology and other elements that the Buddha did not consider. In spite of this diversity, Buddhism has a relative unity and stability in its moral code.
“ THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS” The most important teaching of the Buddha is known as“ The Four Noble Truths”, which is shared with varying adjustments by all Buddhist schools. In general, the Four Noble Truths are explained as follows:
1. The First Noble Truth is generally translated as“ all life is suffering”, which can be easily understood when it comes to painful situations like death, illness, abuse, poverty, and so forth. But suffering also may arise from good things because nothing is permanent, everything is changing, and whatever gives us happiness will sooner or later come to an end. It seems that all pleasures are temporary and the more we enjoy them, the more we will miss them when they end.“ Nothing lasts forever”, is one of the insights of the Buddha.
2. The cause of suffering is desire. Suffering comes from desire, also referred as“ thirst” or greed. Our desires will always exceed our resources and leave us unhappy and unsatisfied. All suffering originates in desire, but not all desire generates suffering. Only selfish desire generates suffering: desire directed to the advantage of the part rather than to the good of the whole.
3. By stopping desire, suffering also stops. The idea is not to get too attached to material goods, places, ideas, or even people. Non-attachment to anything is the main idea behind the third noble truth. It means that since all changes if our attachment is too strong, we will inevitably suffer at some point. After all, we will all get old, decay, and die; this is a natural cycle, and there is nothing wrong with it. The problem comes when, by attaching too much, we do not accept the changes.
4. By following“ The Eightfold Path”, desire stops. The Eightfold Path is composed of: right views, right intentions, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
24 The MAG Vung Tau
Buddha is a spiritual name of prince Siddhartha Gotama.
He is regarded as the Supreme Buddha.“ Buddha” meaning“ awakened one” or“ the enlightened one. Vietnamese literally pronounce“ But”.” Buddha lifetime was as c. 563 BC to 483 BC. Buddha was born in Lumbini, modern Nepal today in the Royal family.
To Learn more about Siddhartha Gotama— Buddha check out the webpage below. http:// www. buddhistedu. org / en / index. php / dhamma-class / 14-class-lessons / 101-the-life-ofsiddhartha-gautama-