Chua Duoc Su

The entire Dharma is preserved in the Sutra called the Tripitaka. The Tripitaka contains the teachings of the Buddha spoken by the Buddha himself for more than 49 years, from the time he became enlightened until he entered Nirvana.

The words uttered by the Buddha, originally known as the Dhamma, consist of three aspects, namely:

- The doctrinal part is also known as the dharma study.

- The practice part is also called Dharma practice, and

- The part of the dharma of realization is also known as the Dharma of Enlightenment, or the Dharma of Accomplishment.

Of the three aspects, the first is to learn the teachings, the second is to practice, and the third is to attain. So first you learn about the word Dharma. The Dharma is the teaching of the Buddha recorded in the Tripitaka. Dharma is the path or method, the morality to open the confusion of the mind and have the ability to transform suffering into peace, liberation, and nirvana.

Thus, the Dharma or the right Dharma is a method to help you practice and grow kusala, enlightenment, and liberation. The typical dharmas are as follows:

- The Four Noble Truths

- The Twelve Conditions of Cause-and-Effect

If you joyfully listen, joyfully think, joyfully receive and maintain, and joyfully share for others to hear, the more people listen, the more blessings you will receive. Therefore, as a disciple of the Buddha at any time, if there is a Dharma assembly, you should come to listen or call together to listen. In order for the cultivation path to be steady without obstacles, not to be discouraged, and to always keep a peaceful and pure soul, you need to rely on four factors:

1- Close to Goodwill Knowledge:

Definition of knowledge. Hearing the sound of virtue is called tri, and seeing and visualizing respectfully is called consciousness. This is meant to refer to a gentle, good person. Beginners who want to achieve results must be close to good knowledge. Because of relying on good knowledge to be taught. Close to a good friend to hope for help to improve, to get all the help to study the Way with peace of mind. Therefore, good knowledge is an important factor for people to achieve their careers. Moreover, when you are close to the wise and knowledgeable, you are always blessed to hear new things you have never heard and to cultivate more understanding and experience for yourself.

Good knowledge is of three types:

- Teaching Spiritual Advisor: The preaching of the sage's words is called teaching, hoping for those who understand the practice, it's called receiving. A preceptor is a person who skillfully adapts the means, and communicates the dharmas to open all false obstacles for the student. The enlightened and expanded student should be called a teacher of good knowledge.

- Companion of good knowledge: Being a close friend who always helps and advises you throughout your life of practice. As jade is often sharpened, knives are often sharpened, training a steadfast character, self-confident character, and a common goal. Like living in a house, traveling in a boat, it is called a companion of good knowledge.

- Outer household of good knowledge: Is everyone, directly or indirectly, far or near, co-facilitating you in many aspects of life? Either material, or spiritual, all thanks to the good knowledge of the outside you are safe, so it is called the Outer household of good knowledge.

2- Faithfully listen to the Dharma:

Whatever you do, you must have faith, as the sutras remind you:

- Belief is the mother of merit.

Indeed, when doing something, whether it is a big or small thing, you must always have the belief that it will be successful, then of course it will be successful. On the other hand, if there is no trust, even a tiny thing will be difficult to accomplish. So the ancients often reminded:

- No matter how big or small

If you don't make a will, you won't succeed.

Therefore, when listening to the practice of learning for liberation, it is even more necessary to generate strong faith, you always have indestructible faith in the wonderful dharma. The mind does not give rise to doubts or hesitations about the Buddha's doctrine of liberation.

3- Mindfulness thinking,

Considered the true Dharma, of course, the truth does not change. So when you hear the Dharma, you must concentrate on thinking about it, don't be distracted, and don't let deluded thought and false thinking dominate.

4- As Real Practice:

When you have heard the Dharma, with mindfulness and thinking, it is like the Dharma that you practice. Apply in all situations to experience holy moments during practice, through which you must skillfully combine three factors:

- Listen, think, practice.

Listen to what the teachers say about Buddha's teachings. Must listen and understand in order to practice and achieve the full meaning of the practice of the holy path of liberation.

Listening to the Dharma is an opportunity to approach and understand the teachings of the Buddha, in order to apply them to practice, purify the body and mind, and advance on the path. This is an opportunity for you to form a predestined relationship and cultivate good roots for the Buddhadharma. Although there are many Dharma assemblies, with many magicians giving lectures or different methods, as a practitioner you should not compare the good or the bad. Because of this, you inadvertently turn the issue of going to listen to the Dharma into an object of discussion without being able to penetrate the truth from the Dharma talk and lose the meaning and practical benefits of listening to the Dharma.

In order to avoid entanglement in this situation, according to the Yogacara series, there are five objects of teaching that should not be discriminated against by listeners, namely:

1- Do not despise shamans who do not keep precepts

When listening to the Dharma, no matter who the preacher is, if you have the predestined relationship to meet and hear the teachings, you should receive them with one heart. It should not be thought that this shaman did not observe the precepts, so now I should not listen to the Dharma. If you start thinking like that, you have a mind of disdain.

2- Don't despise the mage's family background

When listening to the Dharma, you should single-mindedly listen for self-discipline to practice, not listen for self-seeking to find a place to criticize. Shouldn't distinguish, whether the shaman belongs to a rich family, or the poor, the lowly clan... I should not listen to the Dharma now. If you start thinking like that, you're called disdain

3- Do not despise the Mage's race

When listening to the Dharma, you should single-mindedly understand, not assume that this shaman is white, black, colored, handsome, or ugly in appearance, ugly in the image, now I should not listen to the Dharma. If you have such an idea, it is said that you have aroused disdain.

4- Do not despise the literature of the Shaman:

When listening to the Dharma, you should not compare this shaman using unpolished words, to the other using polished literary terms. I should not listen to this shaman now. If you have such thoughts, you are called disdainful

5- Do not despise the shaman's words that are not flowery

When you listen to the Dharma, you should understand it with one mind, you should not envy this shaman whose speech is rough, not kind, and not gentle, so I should not listen to the Dharma now. If you think like that, it's called disdain.

Once you go to listen to the Dharma, you shouldn't make discriminations, thinking such things, because when you give rise to such thoughts, first you are uneasy while listening to the Dharma, then you are not at ease, difficult to practice. Because when there is no respect, no matter how much the shaman or teacher teaches, you will not get much benefit. So when you listen to the Dharma you want to fully understand the meaning of the Dharma hearing and will apply what you hear in your life, you should reflect:

- When listening, you must remember that this is the precious, rare, and rare Dharma, so you must cherish it.

- When listening to the Dharma, you should think of the Dharma as an eye, opening your darkness, causing wisdom to arise.

- When you listen to the Dharma, you see the Dharma as the bright sun, illuminating the whole earth.

- When you hear the dharma you think that this dharma causes you to reach nirvana and the sublime merit of Bodhi.

- When listening to the Dharma, you should know that for the present dharma, although you have not yet attained nirvana and the path to bodhi, you should practice contemplation as the real thing, you will eliminate the offenses, and gain great joy.

Listening to the Dharma, you should think to understand and understand the Dharma, not just for discussion and study, but once you understand it, you should apply the practice to achieve peace of mind and body, that is, you have understood the Way and experienced it by way of practice. Therefore, attaining the Way is the result of studying and understanding the Way. Because of studying the Way and understanding the Way properly, you will reach the true attainment of the Way.

In the midst of life with many sorrows, you are always bound by ignorance and craving in the cycle of suffering, your soul has many deadlocks and constant resentments. Listening to the Dharma is an opportunity for you to settle down in your heart, an opportunity to reflect on the miraculous truth to wash away the impurities of the mind and remove all attachments. The light of the Buddhadharma will illuminate you firmly through the dark night of ignorance, opening the stream of wisdom to advance on the right path to liberation. Only then will you not be distracted, and know how to guide you to a practice that is suitable for your own capacity. And the most important thing is that the mind of dharma in you is still irreversible. So always turn your mind back to take refuge in the Dharma, take the Dharma as a teacher to show you the way to overcome the ocean of samsara's suffering.

Today, you live too far away from the Buddha's time on earth, so you can't listen to the noble teachings of the Buddha or the Arahant saints. Now, you can only hear Dharma from Dharma masters who have knowledge and experience in the path of practice. Sometimes you hear teachings from a famous shaman with high morals, but sometimes you hear teachings from an ordinary shaman or knowledgeable people who show you. However, when you hear the Dharma from them, you should have a respectful mind to listen. Any shaman should be respectful to listen to the Dharma. Because they are the people who are presenting the wonderful truth of the Dharma to guide you to the shore of peace and liberation. If you know what you need to hear and practice, you will surely generate merit

In short, wherever you go, listen to any teacher or shaman preaching the Dharma. You should know that:

Listening to the Dharma is both an opportunity to understand the Dharma and practice it, bringing peace and liberation to oneself and at the same time gaining outstanding merit.

Because according to the Buddha often taught:

- There are three difficult things in the world, that is: the human body is difficult to obtain, the Buddha Dharma is difficult to hear, and the Sangha is difficult to meet.

You can become a human being, hear the wonderful Dharma, and meet the monks, you have met the causes and conditions that prevail. Therefore, you need to know how to cherish to listen to the wonderful dharma.

People suffer not because they do not have or lack the means to live, but because they do not have a way to live and the right direction for themselves. You clearly understand that when you listen to the Dharma, you must listen with a respectful mind, a pure mind, a joyful mind, and a single-minded mind, without doubts, and without slandering the Dharma. At the same time, always think that you are suffering from the disease of samsara, need to listen to the Dharma, take the Dharma as a lamp to illuminate it, and practice the Dharma to escape the suffering of samsara