Basic Stuff of Buddhism (the totality ,start from the stream
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To all young ppl out there
there is collection of book worth mentioning to understand the
basic Buddhist concept
1.The Teaching of Buddha (Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai)
Japanese Hokke(Buddhism) society
2.2500 years of Buddhism (Prof V.P Bapat)
3.Buddhism for dummies (the dummies guide series to Buddhism)
4. What Buddhist Believe by Ven K Sri Dhammananda
Here are some of the book i have in my collection
Birthdate
It is a sad thing in this world becos of different tradition
there is two different views abt the birthdate of Prince Siddhartha
who later become Sakyamuni Buddha
The Mahayana represented by Japan, Korea and China strongly pointed to the Chinese lunar Calendar 15th of the 5th Lunar Month
The Theravada represented by Thailand,Burma,Laos and cambodia stick to the
Sri lanka Calendar 15 of the 5 lunar Month
In Singapore , all traditions exist ,we celebrating as the Theravada monk agreed upon. -
Buddhism is from the term Buddha in Pali mean "Awakened One"
Awaken from wat ? the falseness of the world
the falseness of this body that we conveniently attached to
there is no true and permanent "I"
learning Buddhism is to understand the world we live in
the Buddha pointed out all battles and war are inflicted from the root source,our mind
"Mind is the forerunner of all states;Mind-made are they,If one acts with a Wholesome mind ; happily follow one , like the shadow which never leave the body .
"Mind is the forerunner of all states ;Mind-made are they,If one acts with a
impure mind ;suffering follow one ;as a bullock-cart follow a buffalo
Ironically it has the same echoes in the United Nation logo
"It is the mind that creates war ....."
Buddhism does not believe in a Creator-God ,but admit the existence of even the highest God in the Saha world , the lord Brahma
If there is a Creator-God ,can He create a rock that he cannot move by himself?
if He can move the rock by himself , then the rock is not so heavy,
if He cant move the rock by himself , then what is the power of this Creator-God?
Some challenge that Buddha should be like a God to "plugged "
ppl out of their sufferings ,if so ,then why would Buddha need to said so much
teachings .Then what is the purpose of the teachings ,if he can go against the
nature of it ? -
Simple is the beginning of Buddhism
Buddha preached the Simple truth
the Four Noble Truth
No matter u are Great Entrepeneur , King of a rich nation ,
Millionaire , Student ,teacher ,spiritual teacher
u will still have one thing in common .... suffering
the first noble truth talks abt the truth of suffering
the second noble truth talks abt the cause of suffering
the third noble truth talks abt the end of suffering
the 4th noble truth talks abt the path to the end of suffering -
I will elaborate some of the posting in future posting
Mahayana - the Noble path of Exalting other on the Bodhi path
Arhatship is about self-liberation ,but the limited strength of an arhat makes Them unable to save their parents and many past-lives parents who were
still "stuck" in the sea of suffering
So the Buddha preached the Path of the Mahayana "the Great Wheel"
the path of helping others on the path of Bodhi path , becos so many many many living beings have not been able to hear the teachings of the Buddha
when Buddha lived in India
the central idea of a Mahayana Buddhist is to walk the Bodhisattva path
(Bodhi mean awakened , sattva means sentient being )
many Great Models of the Mahayana path are Avalokiteshvara
Manjushri , Maitreya and so on ..
Avalokiteshvara is popularly known as Guanyin
Manjushri is commonly known as Wen shu pu sa
Maitreya is known as mi le pu sa -
Gd Bodhiruci... hope to see you around and help out the forum!
Thanks