MAITREYA ERA - Page 2

At that time, during President Thiệu’s administration, after submitting an application to the Home Affairs Department, within one- or two-months Prime Minister Trần Thiện Khiêm signed the decree according to the official directive, granting permission for wide publication of texts and scriptures, dissemination, and Dharma practice.

A Sangha Leader may freely choose whichever Dharma practice is most effective. At that time, as I sat and reflected, I realized that when one guides the path of cultivation for all practitioners, one must adapt to the way of life of each group of people in order to truly lead them.

Therefore, in this period, I used “the Buddha Dharma without leaving the secular world to be enlightened.” With this, Dharma practitioners could be either monks and nuns, who renounce their families, or laypersons, who stay in their families, providing that, being in the form of richness, they are not attached to that rich form; having either good or bad reputation, they do not sulk.

“Form–Sound–Scent–Taste–Touch–Dharma.” When something of these six kinds provokes us, stirs our anger, we must keep our temperament from rising up in hatred. That is true Dharma practice. For example, even if one practices vegetarianism or maintains certain forms, but when touched personally or temperamentally one becomes hateful, behaves wrongly, or acts against the principles of Buddhism, then that practice is not acceptable. Therefore, we must engage with “Form, Sound, Scent, Taste, Touch, and Dharma without becoming defiled by them,” so that the Dharma practice becomes easier.

Otherwise, in this period, practicing the Dharma also meant renouncing the family. This renunciation is also really good. However, this requirement goes against the reality that most people today simply cannot abandon worldly life. In this time, people must work to earn a living; they must live among other human beings. Because of that, in order to bring an understanding to Dharma practitioners that allows them sit in meditation regularly. That is why I set forth the principle and objective of the Dharma Constitution.

Official decree granted by the former Republic of Vietnam to the Dharma Constitution Vietnamese Buddhism Association, signed August 2, 1971.

Reverend Sangha Chief Tịnh Vương (seated on the chair)

delivering teachings at the Dharma Precious Place in Bình Định, Qui Nhơn (1970).

The principle and objective of the Dharma Constitution consist of three main points for Dharma practitioners within the Dharma Constitution.

First, within oneself, one must build virtue. When one has virtue, then upon hearing the teachings, those teachings are the teachings of the Buddha. If one lacks virtue, yet listens to the teachings and tries to grasp them, then those teachings become the teachings of the devil. A wise person—with virtue—is truly wise. But wisdom without virtue is the cunning of devils. That is why the essential need in Buddhism is virtue.

Therefore, the most essential and important foundation is virtue, so virtue needs to be cultivated first; doctrine can be developed afterward. Only then can the practice of sitting meditation be deepened, allowing a practitioner to enter into meditation and realize understanding in all directions. Of course, this unfolds differently according to the level of each practitioner.

At times, before the decree was issued, starting from 1967, I wandered from place to place to execute the Dharma. I sowed the Tao-Dharma cause in Bình-Định, where there were quite a large number of followers, then continued to Đà-Nẵng, and from there to Huế.

When the decree was finally issued in February 1971, I invited all those whom I had long guided and taught in Dharma practice to return and establish the Dharma Constitution.

There was an Administrative Council, along with members from all levels. There was also an Editing Poem Committee to aid in dissemination, and a Ritual Committee to offer prayers for peace or blessings to those who wished for them.

Ways of practicing the Dharma are offered in accordance with each person’s individual inclinations. I never imposed my own preferences or forced anyone to follow a system based solely on what I liked. This is the central purpose of the Dharma Constitution, and that is why our members cherished it greatly.

Having the decree from 1971 until 1975, at that time, I saw the situation… I voluntarily assimilated with everyone to temporarily disband the Dharma Association because I could not firmly guide the Four Followers.[3]

Today, seeing a peaceful and favorable opportunity, I would like to speak about the history of the Dharma Constitution so that people may understand it. For those who are practicing a Dharma subject but do not really understand what the subject is or what the way of the subject’s practice is, then how can they cultivate it? When one has entered a subject, the knowledge of that subject must become one’s specialization in order for him or her to cultivate it.

This year, I am tired. I have reached the old age of 74. My voice is thus not as clear as before, but my guidance is more rigid, with results that are many times greater than before. This is because Buddhism is not old; the truth doesn't get old. Therefore, all of the Four Followers who have faith just follow exactly the guidance to practice.

I use the same principles and the same guidance of the Buddha. The ‘same guidance’ means that, wherever I myself stumbled, I must teach those who follow to avoid that same stumbling. That is called the same guidance.

I say hello to the Four Followers: I wish for you to generate the Bodhi Mind and Vow, the great vow following the Bodhisattva conduct, to use “Form-Hearing-Scent-Taste-Touch-Dharma without being defiled by them.” That is the path of the Bodhisattva conduct, the highest rank among all other Dharma Subjects.

Dear Four Followers and all true Buddhist disciples! Someone asks, “What is the Dharma Constitution?” I would like to answer this question with the following explanation:

Each ONE who comes into the world—whether in physical form or in manifestation from HIS seeing[4]—possesses Buddha-Nature.

This Buddha-nature is a wholesome essential nature, free from erroneous passion, fundamentally suchness, and fully capable of realization—that is the Tathagata.[5] However, it is enclosed by the Constitution, that is, the Consciousness Mind, which seals it within the cycle of ambition; ignorance obscures it, driving human beings insanely confused.

If there is no Constitution, like a vehicle with a coordinated engine, it is running smoothly. When something becomes clogged, the vehicle begins to jerk and malfunction. The Dharma Constitution path is the same as this.

I use means to help all Four Followers to practice the Dharma in a way that is appropriate to their time and to their circumstances—Only when it is well suited can true cultivation occur. Therefore, the religious path I use is called the Dharma Constitution, which means the Tathagata Constitution.

When the Constitution is completely dissolved—when obscuring ignorance is eliminated, the enlightenment of the Original Truth is restored. In this restoration, the Dharma practitioner returns to the Tathagata and enters the present path of awakening, which is THE DHARMA CONSTITUTION VIETNAMESE BUDDHISM.

The Dharma Constitution’s opinion is that each person takes the Tathagata Constitution as their root. Every person embodies the essential nature of the Tathagata, but because of Consciousness Constitution, the path of birth and death is formed. Demolishment is then necessary in the Dharma practice…

The first is to demolish ignorance—that is, to demolish attachments and doubts, and to transform the mind so that the Self-Nature, Awareness of Nature shines forth.[6] At that time, the being capable of seeing the nature with one’s bright mind is achieved. As one’s nature is revealed, one’s ignorance is also gradually eliminated; as ignorance is eliminated, the Constitution is broken. One’s Constitution, when dissolving, naturally returns to the Essential Nature, which is called the Tathagata. Therefore, the foundation of the Dharma Constitution is taking the Tathagata Constitution as its direction. This path is called the Dharma Constitution.

The Dharma Constitution came into the world from 1971 until 1975, not having many years, then ending! The Dharma Constitution’s members—the Four Followers—could be up to three thousand people (three thousand Dharma practitioners). One can see that the Dharma Constitution developed very quickly.

Because the Dharma Constitution uses “Form-Hearing-Scent-Taste-Touch-Dharma without becoming defiled by them” and “the unification of the spiritual path and worldly life,” practitioners of the Dharma Constitution can practice either at home, being laypersons, or at a temple, renouncing the family and becoming monks or nuns, providing that they enter “Form-Hearing-Scent-Taste-Touch-Dharma without becoming defiled by them.” In life, a male practitioner knows how to fulfill his obligation of being a husband, a father; for a female practitioner, she knows how to fulfill her obligation of being a wife, a mother.

That is the practicing path of the Dharma Constitution: Using the Buddha Dharma without leaving the secular world to be enlightened, NOT using the renunciation of the secular world to be enlightened—staying in the secular world to be enlightened, living together with all to be awakened, not avoiding the secular world. Definitely not!

For that reason, there are two ways of practicing the Dharma. From the present position, there are two paths: THE PATH OF DHARMA FLOWER and THE PATH OF DHARMA CONSTITUTION. The path of Dharma Flower is leaving the family and avoiding love, whereas the path of Dharma Constitution is abiding within lay life while remaining undefiled.

[3] The Four (kinds of) Followers: Tao Believers, Wealthy Followers, Dharma Protectors, and Attendants.

[4] His manifestation is the opening of His Dharmas to save a disciple, helping that disciple readily know and see the Buddha.

[5] Tathagata (Như Lai), a Sanskrit term rendered in Vietnamese as “Returning Suchness.”

[6] “Self-Nature, Awareness of Nature” refers to “Self-seeing our own nature to become aware of nature.”

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