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Treatise on the Wheel of the Tenets of Different Sects 8
The American Dream of wealth and freedom is not enough to bring true happiness, as many successful people still live in anxiety, violence, and hatred. In the United States, the number of people in prison is greater than the number of full-time farmers. Instead, the dream of brotherhood and compassion is the path that helps people live without fear, embracing all species and the Earth. The three mottos of France, including liberty, equality, and fraternity, also reflect this ideal. This practice is based on the four elements of the Four Immeasurable Minds:
- Maitri (Loving-kindness): bringing joy and happiness to others.
- Karuna (Compassion): helping others overcome suffering.
- Mudita (Joy): rejoicing and being happy with the joy of others.
- Upeksha (Equanimity): having no discrimination.
Unifying people’s hearts through brotherhood is an art that was successfully practiced by kings such as Ashoka, Ly Thai To, and Tran Nhan Tong. King Tran Nhan Tong, after passing the throne to Tran Anh Tong, became a monastic, studied under Tue Trung Thuong Si, and traveled to encourage the people to practice the teachings of the Ten Wholesome Actions, while also marrying Princess Huyen Tran to King Che Man to build peace. In daily life, building a Sangha and generating brotherhood through actions such as walking, standing, speaking, smiling, cooking, or washing the dishes are opportunities to nourish happiness and eradicate corruption and the collapse of ideals.
Sectarian history records that in the year 140 after nirvana, Buddhism divided into the Sthaviravada and the Mahasanghika schools. Around the year 200 after nirvana, the Vātsīputrīya or Sammatiya school appeared, advocating for a self called Pudgala. Among the 254,000 monastics in India during the time of Master Xuanzang, up to 66,000 followed this school because their reasoning about a subject of practice and receiver of karmic retribution was very sharp. They used the image of fire and wood (the burning and the burnable) to explain that the self is neither identical to nor separate from the skandhas (not the skandhas, but also not non-skandhas), while quoting the Buddha’s words: “O bhikkhus, there is one person whose appearance in the world brings benefit to countless others in humanity. Who is that person? That person is the World-Honored Buddha.” This view was later refuted by great minds like Master Nagarjuna in the Mulamadhyamakakarika and Master Vasubandhu in the Abhidharmakosha. To prove the existence of the person, the Vātsīputrīya school relied on:
- The Five Skandhas: form, feelings, perceptions, mental formations, and consciousness.
- The Twelve Ayatanas: the six sense organs and the six sense objects.
- The Eighteen Dhatus: the six sense organs, the six sense objects, and the six consciousnesses.
- The Eight Types of Noble Persons: path of Stream-Entry, fruit of Stream-Entry, path of Once-Returning, fruit of Once-Returning, path of Non-Returning, fruit of Non-Returning, path of Arhatship, and fruit of Arhatship.
