Page 40 - 加拿大佛教会湛山精舍杂志季刊第76期

法脈摭實
D HARMA COLLECTION

point is particularly important for the student to Bud- herents were concerned with their own salvation, the
dhist history in order to avoid biased views. It is diffi- expedient teaching was what later became the Ther-
cult to assure perfect delivery of the teaching in every avada. To this day, that tradition has remained domi-
single instance and it is twice as difficult to adjust it nant in India and in the countries of south-east Asia.
to the capacity of the audience in each case so the two The Buddha’s teaching, however, contained not only
mesh without residue. Teaching that matches perfect- the beginnings of Theravada, but of Mahayana as
ly the potential of those who listen is perfect Dharma. well. Some of those were subsequently reiterated by
Because of the varied potentials, there are dissimilar Manjusri, Maitreya and others who attained the Bo-
versions of the teaching and therefore Mahayana and dhi mind. The Tathagata was self-enlightened and he
Theravada are unlike each other. guided countless others to enlightenment by teaching
them his method; the Venerable Mahakasyapa and
A rule of conduct for bodhisattvas advises them to “be Venerable Mahamaudgalyana were among them.
particularly cautious on two points: First, one should When the World Honored One raised his hand hold-
not expound small teaching to a great potential lest ing a flower and Mahakasyapa smiled, the astonish-
he/she give rise to doubt. We need to keep in mind ing Dharma-transmission independent of words was
there is only one source of all teachings and remind initiated at that moment.
ourselves that is why all of the dharmas are perfect;
the differences come from diverse formulations mesh, During the five hundred years immediately follow-
providing us with a configuration of check-points, ing the Buddha’s final nirvana, two schools of Bud-
helpful to our orientation when we first encounter dhadharma predominated, namely the Mahasanghika
Dharama. The result is similar to a map, where lon- and Mahasthavira. Both adhered to the Âsmall’ Vehi-
gitudes and latitudes intersect at specific points. They cle (Theravada). The aspect of the Buddha’s teaching
are interdependent and the one cannot attain full sig- subsequently formulated as the Great Vehicle or Ma-
nificance are interdependent and the one cannot attain hayana remained latent and emerged gradually. Close
full significance without the others. There are really to nine hundred years after the Buddha’s Parinirvana,
no grounds for without the others. There are really no Bodhisattvas Nagarjuna, Asangha and Vasubandhu,
grounds for disagreement; a square table, when ob- assisted by their teachers Manjusri and Maitreya gave
served from diverse vantage-points, offers dissimilar that part of the Buddha’s teaching its present form. In
views; yet though dissimilar, they all related to the India, the surviving remnants of Buddhadharma have
same table. The same may be said in respect to Ma- ÂSmall’ Vehicle for their bases; Mahayana sustras
hayana and Theravada. Although they are dissimilar, written in Sanskrit, discovered in northern India and
both truthfully related the same teacher’s teaching. Nepal, were damaged. Furthermore, no centers for
the dissemination of Dharma were in existence there.
Buddhadahrma makes true reality of all existence in The sutras made available to us by the school of Ther-
the universe comprehensible. The flux of life has no avada were written in Pali and preserved for poster-
beginning and no end, as witnessed by all buddhas ity in Ceylon (present Sri Lanka) during the reign of
past, present and future in the ten directions. In our King Asoka in India. These sutras and commentaries
era, the teacher we learn from is Shakyamuni Bud- serve as textual foundation for the Dharma centers in
dha on whose ocean of enlightenment we have been Burma and Thailand as well. Many Buddhists from
drawing for over two thousand years. Today, his North America and Europe travel to south-east Asia
Dharma is known and practiced in the greater part of study Theravada Buddhism there.
the world with some variations due to time, place and
to personalities. The third major system of Buddhist thought has head-
quarters in Tibet. The lamaic “Red Sect” was estab-
The history of early Buddhism sheds light on what lished by means of “Born in Lotus Flower” Bodhisat-
motivated Buddhist practicioners then; since most ad- tva Mahasattva and somewhat later Tson-kha-pa

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