Threefold Doctrine of buddhism
Threefold Doctrine of Buddhism
Johnny
It’s
Sunday, and the day begins early for Johnny. The light is slowly sawing; people
are having breakfast; children are crying and laughing, and the sound of dogs
barking and bird chirping can be heard. Johnny is twenty years old. On most
days he goes to school. Today though, there are no classes. So Johnny helps at
home. Later he goes to the temple where his grandmother helps prepare the meal
for the monks and Johnny attends Sunday
School.
After
helping to give food to the monks one Sunday, he asks his grandmother, “Grandma
why don’t the monks work?” “Well, they do not work because their lives depend
on lay people like you and me”, a surprised grandmother said. “Why so?” asked Johnny.
“According
to Buddhism,” said grandmother. “monks have to leave their homes and become
homeless. They dedicate their lives to studying and practicing the Buddha’s
Dharma for mind development. They teach the Dharma to lay people.”
“What is the Dharma, grandma?”
“It’s the teaching of the Buddha who founded Buddhism.”
“What kinds of Dharma did he teach?”
“Oh, many!”
“What’s the most important one?”
She paused, but then the lines in her face relaxed and a
sudden admiration for her grandson dawned in her eyes. “Johnny”, she said, “you
are so curious! Well, It’s said that all of Buddha’s teachings are important.
Anyway, all those teaching can be simplified into three groups, sometimes
called the Three Essentials of Buddhism.”
“What are they, grandma?”
“The first is to avoid all evil deeds, she second is to do
all good things, and the third is to make the mind pure.”
The little boy
felt confused. Then he asked “Grandma what do you mean to avoid all evil
deeds?”
“Well, it means not to kill, not to steal, not commit
sexual sin, not to lie, not to drink intoxicants or take drugs, not to use
impolite words or to gossip, and never to think ill of others.”
“Grandma. Tommy and Billy quarreled with each other at
school one day. Did they do a bad thing according to this doctrine?”
“Oh, yes, they did.”
“I see, well, what about the second one?” “To do all good
things is to love others as you love
yourself, to help others if they need your help, to go to school and do your homework
regularly, and to be obedient wisely to parents and teachers.”
“That is all?”
“No, there are many. But just remember the important part
of this doctrine is not doing or speaking anything that will not cause trouble
to you or others. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do. And what about last one?”
“To make your mind pure means getting rid of greed and
anger in your mind. To follow this doctrine, whenever you get greedy or angry,
just remember that it’s not good for you to behave so, then your greed or anger
will disappear.
“O,K, grandma,” and what are merits of Buddhist essentials
grandma?”
Merits of the three Buddhist Essentials
1.
You and other people will not get
into trouble because of your deed or speech.
2.
You will have no enemies.
3.
Your life is happy and peacrful.
Demerits of a person without the Three Buddhist Essentials
1.
His or her life is full of trouble,
nd sometime he or she may become a criminal.
2. Nobody loves such a person.
How to follow the Three Buddhist Essentials
As a
young Buddhist, you can follow the three essentials of Buddhism by taking the
following steps:
1.
Always tell the truth to member of
your family and keep your promises.
2.
Do things willing for member of
your family, teachers and friends without pay or reward.
3.
Be honest to your parents..
4.
You should be friendly and polite
to everyone regardless of age or position
5.
Be obedient and cheerful. Obedience
begins in your home. If your parents have warned or advised you or made rules
for you to follow, follow them cheerfully and wisely.
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