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Finding the Path to Go Forward
Studying the history of the original Sangha is not for accumulating knowledge as in taking exams, but for contemplating the present, seeing clearly our own path of practice, determining what needs to be continued or abandoned, and making a firm commitment to practice what the future requires. While listening to the Dharma, we need to reflect on our own position, recognize suffering inside and outside, and from there apply the teachings to resolve those sufferings.
The diversification of schools in Buddhism is healthy because it brings a diversity of insight. From the split into the Sthavira and Mahāsāṃghika schools 140 years after the Buddha’s Parinirvana, to about twenty schools after several hundred years, there was a “hundred flowers blooming” without conflict. For twenty-two years, Plum Village has been both conservative in preserving the essence and progressive in renewing, offering practical fruits:
- The Earth Touching Practice responds to the aspiration for repentance of both monastics and laypeople
- The Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Ten Novice Precepts are presented clearly, practically, in non-religious language
- Prostration meditation and the second body renew the methods of practice
- The novice monastic code textbook has been compiled to replace the 400-year-old version
- The Vietnamese Chanting Book continues the tradition, carrying the essence of the Dharma
The Interrelationship of the Vinaya between the Mahāsāṃghika and the Dharmaguptaka Schools