SUTRAS ARE INFORMATION – VEN. THAY THANH

Information:

Teaching in Virginia Beach, Chuc Thanh said “The Buddha never asks us to believe anything. His teachings, the sutras, are information. It is how we use the information that makes the difference in our lives.”

This observation by Ven. Chuc Thanh reminds us that the Buddha’s teachings are not a summary of mandatory religious rules of life by which we will be judged in some manner. Rather, the Four Noble Truths, the Five Precepts, the Noble Eightfold Path and all of the other concepts contained in the Buddha’s teachings serve as guidelines or suggestions for practitioners to consider making part of their lives.  In The Dhammapada in the part titled The Self, the Buddha tells us “You yourself can turn from wrongdoing; only you can purify you.  Pure or impure, it is yours to choose, for no one can purify another.” 

(Venerable Thich Chuc Thanh is the Dharma Master at Dong Hung Temple. These quotations were collected from 2015 through 2018 as he taught in Virginia Beach, VA and Southern Shores, NC.  The quotation titles and commentary are by temple member Mark Palamara.)