Buddhism
Buddhism is about not doing evil, but cultivating good and purifying one's mind.
"Do not look at the faults of what others have done or not done; observe what you yourself have done or not done. " Buddha
Of course, Buddha also quoted that we should end hatred with love..., but I particular like the quote above, don't know why, probably because it's not easy to achieve while the later is easier...I guess it's because the Vietnamese people have been living in harmony, so we just try to avoid conflict or fight as much as we can. Taking the Vietnam war, for instance, compare to any other wars, it is quite recent, and if you have visited the War Museum in Saigon, you would have been deeply touched by how the orange agent did to many Vietnameses...However, when you start discussing about that with local people, it was a bad dream for us, but it's now gone. Nobody talks about it with hatred (not it's because we won the war-considering the number of Vietnameses who died in that war, whether they belonged to South army or North) .
Although when being asked of what religion I am, I always say I am buddhist, but I am like the rest of the majority of Vietnameses belongs to Tam Giao religion ("three religions"), which is a mixed of Taoism, Confucism, and Buddhism. Confucism is about to balance relationship hierarchy, Husband to Wife, Parents to childrens, elder brothers/sisters to younger brothers/sisters, Emperor to objects, and relationship among friends. It has introduced into the society as a political system that remains until now, it limits the people in these five relationships. If you are students in Vietnam, the teacher is your second father. We have to respect everyone who is older than us, and we do not call uncle with their names, we always have to add "uncle", "sister"...including our uncles' friends. In the past, a peasant had little to say because of his relationship towards the emperor...Buddhism, therefore, brings in the form of brotherhood, where everyone becomes equal instead of the world ruled by certain persons. Taoism is about balancing our inner spirits, when they are balanced, we find perfect happiness. Thus, it is a religious that based heavily on meditation, Taoist suggests we work with our problems, obtacles instead of fighting against them at every turn. We should listen to the world around us in order to understand the inner harmonies of the universe, and since the Tao (natural force that flow through every living object including the whole universe) surrounds us, we must listen to it to find our happiness. We have to mater the circumtances, find balance of the opposits instead of working against them.
In conclusion, the Vietnamese Buddhism is an integration of these three traditions. It is about the social order using Confucism, peace, brotherhood, and the calmness of our mind through meditation and contemplation. It is a combination of Pure land and Zen.
"Do not look at the faults of what others have done or not done; observe what you yourself have done or not done. " Buddha
Of course, Buddha also quoted that we should end hatred with love..., but I particular like the quote above, don't know why, probably because it's not easy to achieve while the later is easier...I guess it's because the Vietnamese people have been living in harmony, so we just try to avoid conflict or fight as much as we can. Taking the Vietnam war, for instance, compare to any other wars, it is quite recent, and if you have visited the War Museum in Saigon, you would have been deeply touched by how the orange agent did to many Vietnameses...However, when you start discussing about that with local people, it was a bad dream for us, but it's now gone. Nobody talks about it with hatred (not it's because we won the war-considering the number of Vietnameses who died in that war, whether they belonged to South army or North) .
Although when being asked of what religion I am, I always say I am buddhist, but I am like the rest of the majority of Vietnameses belongs to Tam Giao religion ("three religions"), which is a mixed of Taoism, Confucism, and Buddhism. Confucism is about to balance relationship hierarchy, Husband to Wife, Parents to childrens, elder brothers/sisters to younger brothers/sisters, Emperor to objects, and relationship among friends. It has introduced into the society as a political system that remains until now, it limits the people in these five relationships. If you are students in Vietnam, the teacher is your second father. We have to respect everyone who is older than us, and we do not call uncle with their names, we always have to add "uncle", "sister"...including our uncles' friends. In the past, a peasant had little to say because of his relationship towards the emperor...Buddhism, therefore, brings in the form of brotherhood, where everyone becomes equal instead of the world ruled by certain persons. Taoism is about balancing our inner spirits, when they are balanced, we find perfect happiness. Thus, it is a religious that based heavily on meditation, Taoist suggests we work with our problems, obtacles instead of fighting against them at every turn. We should listen to the world around us in order to understand the inner harmonies of the universe, and since the Tao (natural force that flow through every living object including the whole universe) surrounds us, we must listen to it to find our happiness. We have to mater the circumtances, find balance of the opposits instead of working against them.
In conclusion, the Vietnamese Buddhism is an integration of these three traditions. It is about the social order using Confucism, peace, brotherhood, and the calmness of our mind through meditation and contemplation. It is a combination of Pure land and Zen.
posted by Vagabonder @ 2:34 PM
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