..续本文上一页saint and to be reborn in heaven
Sympathy to living beings
Worldly knowledge
In Two Vehicle Practice
To leave the deluded world
Sense of universal altruism
one-sided dogma
In Bodhisattva Practice
The Bodhi vow
Mind of loving kindness and compassion
Wisdom of Prajna
As we begin practising the teachings of the Buddha, either as a lay person or as an ordained follower, we should learn the practice of the Bodhisattva as this is the only way to Buddhahood. The real merits of the Bodhisattva are within these three themes. We should always reflect on ourselves: "Have I practised
Have I put effort into the practice of these three themes
" If not, how can we call ourselves a Bodhisattva
We should always remind ourselves to practice and to look upon the Bodhisattvas as our example.
2. A Comparison of the Confucian, Christian and Buddhist approaches to the Three Essentials
The main themes in the practice of the Bodhisattva way are faith and determination, loving kindness and compassion and wisdom. They constitute in fact a process of purification and improvement of the human mind according to its natural ability. These have some similarity with the other worldly practices such as Confucianism and Christianity. However, the worldly practices or ideologies tend to cling to one aspect and regard that as the whole, or adopt one aspect and neglect the rest. Hence the practice becomes incomplete.
Confucianism, which represents the mainstream of Chinese culture in China, advocates the Three Virtues, namely knowledge, benevolence and bravery. It takes them as they become moral values for dealing with people and living life in society. In brief, knowledge may be compared with wisdom, benevolence with loving kindness and compassion and bravery with faith and determination.
There is a saying in Buddhism, "Faith instils determination and determination instils diligence (right effort)". With sincere faith we can arouse our greater determination. And with sincere determination, one will naturally become diligent and put right effort into practice. In short, faith leads to determination and determination will lead to bravery and diligence. This is the development of energy from faith. Diligence and bravery are needed in all meritorious deeds, but it has to begin with faith and determination.
Confucianism over-emphasises the common relationship among human beings, and lacks inspiration. Hence, it is difficult to arouse sincere faith and determination in its followers. Without strong faith, the virtue of bravery cannot be fully expressed. The concepts of "being wise", "being the saintly", "the Law of Heaven", "the conscience", and "the fear of Heavenly commands, fear of the saint and fear of commandments of the authority", all weaken the cultivation of faith and determination. The idea of bravery becomes "one who knows how to feel ashamed is close to being considered brave". This ideology is difficult to spread among the general population, and the faith that arises from this ideology of "to be reborn in heaven" or "to attain Buddhahood". The Chinese nation which has long been under the influence of Confucianism is withering and becoming weaker each day. It has failed to arouse the virtues of bravery from faith, and the Chinese lack strong motivation and enthusiasm for life. From the view of promoting human nature or strengthening the Chinese nation, and cultivating of sincere and dedicated faith and bravery, this decline is something that the Confucianists should take note of.
Christianity (Catholic and Christian) conditions the contemporary culture and spirit of the West. It also has three main themes: faith, hope and love. Christians believe in the existence of God and because of their faith in God there is hope of a bright future for t…
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