How to See Yourself as You Really Are

Original Title in English

By Author His Holiness the Dalai Lama
About the Book:

According to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, we each posess the ability to achieve happiness and a meaningful life, but the key to realizing that goal is self-knowledge. In "How to See Yourself as You Really Are", the Dalai Lama shows readers how to recognize and dispel misguided notions of self and embrace the world from a more realistic - and loving - perspective. 
Through illuminating explanations and step-by-step exercises. His Holiness helps readers to see the world as it actually exists and explains how, through the interconnection of meditative concentration and love, true altruistic enlightenment is attained.
About the Authors:
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was born in 1935 to a peasant family in northeastern Tibet. The world's foremost Buddhist leader, he travels extensively, speaking eloquently in favor of ecumenical understanding, kindness and compassion, respect for the environment and, above all, world peace.
Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph. D. served for a decade as the interpreter for the Dalai Lama. A Buddhist scholar and the author of more than thirty-five books and translations, he is emeritus professor for Tibetan and Buddhist studies at the University of Virginia.
Contents
Part I: The Need for Insight
1. Laying the Ground for Insight to Grow
2. Discovering the Source of Problems
3. Why Understanding the Truth is Needed
Part II: How to Undermine Ignorance
4. Feeling the Impact of Interrelatedness
5. Appreciating the Reasoning of Dependent-Arising
6. Seeing the Interdependence of Phenomena
Part III: Harnessing the Power of Concentration and Insight
8. Focusing Your Mind
9. Tuning Your Mind for Meditation
Part IV: How to End Self-Deception
10. Meditating on Yourself First
11. Realizing That You Do Not Exist in and of Yourself
12. Determining the Choices
13. Analyzing Oneness
14. Analyzing Difference
15. Coming to a Conclusion
16. Testing Your Realization
17. Extending This Insight to What You Own
18. Balancing Calm and Insight
Part V: How Persons and Things Actually Exist
19. Viewving Yourself As Like an Illusion
20. Noticing How Everything Depends on Thought
Part VI: Deepening Love with Insight
21. Feeling Empathy
22. Reflecting on Impermanence
23. Absorbing Yourself in Ultimate Love


Selective Readings by Authors:
HH The Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Translated and Edited J. Hopkins. 

• How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships. New York: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, 2005.
• How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life.  New York: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, 2002.
• Kindness, Clarity, and Insight. Coedited by Elizabeth Napper. Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications, 1984, rev. ed. 2006.
• The Meaning of Life: Buddhist Perspectives on Cause and Effect. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2000.
• Mind of Clear Light: Advice on Living Well and Dying Consciously. New York: Atria Books, Simon & Schuster, 2002.

Jeffrey Hopkins

• Buddhist Advice for Living and Liberation: Nagarjuna's Precious Garland. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1998.
• Cultivating Compassion. NY: Broadway Books, 2001.
• Emptiness Yoga. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1987.
• Meditation on Emptiness. London: Wisdom Publications, 1983. rev. ed. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1996.

Geshe Sonam and Ruth Sonam Rinchen

• Yogic Deeds of Bodhisattvas: Gyel-tsap on Aryadeva's Four Hundred. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1994.

Tsong-kha-pa

• The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenments. Vol. 1-3. Translated and edited by W. C. Cutler and Guy Newland. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 2000 & 2003.

Vesna A and B. Alan Wallace

• A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Live.  Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1997.

About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Business & Management. Titles are available in English, French, German and Vietnamese.

YourVietBooks is a Division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd - Singapore.

Find out more about our translation and consulting services under YourVietnamExpert.com

Dharma Space Series: Thich Nhat Hanh, All in One, One in All - The Nature of Interbeing

Original Title in English, By Author: Thich Nhat Hanh, ISBN 981-05-1143-4

Reprinted by Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (Singapore)

Published for Free Distribution Ad Graphic Pte Ltd: The free publication has been made possible trhough the contributions of generous donors. Email: ps@adgraphic.com.sg

This book is offered with the humble wish that it may be a guide to your life. 

About the Book: This book contain transcripts of the Dharma talks given by the world-renowned Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. These teachings show us how mindfulness practice can bring about freedom no matter where you are, and bring joy and hope to ourselves and others.

Content

• Taking Good Care of Our Habit Energies
• All in One, One in All
• Going to the Shore of Non-Suffering
• Overcoming the Fear of Death
• Five Mindfulness Trainings
  

 Plum Village Meditation Practice Center

The Most Venerable Thich Nhat Hanh (Thây), our spiritual teacher, founded the Unified Buddhist Church (Eglise Bouddhique Unifiée) in France in 1969, during the Vietnam war. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, a poet, a scholar, and a peace activist. His life long efforts to generate peace and reconciliation moved Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. He founded the Van Hanh Buddhist University in Saigon and the School for Youths of Social Services in Vietnam. When not travelling the world to teach “The Art of Mindful Living”, he teaches, writes, and gardens in Plum Village, France, a Buddhist monastery for monks and nuns and a mindfulness practice center for lay people.

The Unified Buddhist Church established Sweet Potatoes Community in 1975, Plum Village in 1982, the Dharma Cloud Temple and the Dharma Nectar Temple in 1988, and the Adornment of Loving Kindness Temple in 1995. Thich Nhat Hanh’s sangha (community of practice) in France is usually referred to as the Plum Village Sangha.

More info about Plum Village: Click here

Vietnamese Classical Literature - 19th Century

Vietnam Classical Literature is not known to the outside world as Chinese Literature. For the younger generation, the study of Vietnamese literature seem to fade away, leaving place to contemporary authors on topics on modern existentialism. In my attempt to "come back to source", I have started a collection of books on Vietnam, and classify them under various topics such as Culture, History, Vietnam War, Politics, Biographies, Contemporary Vietnam, International Relations, Doing Business in Vietnam, Reference and Languages, Zen Buddhism, Philosophy, Art and Literature. 

Here is a short picture of the literary world under the last dynasty of Vietnam: the Nguyen. 

Indeed, the 19th Century was a flourishing century for literature and the arts in Vietnam. It opened up with the Kim Vân Kiều  by Nguyễn Du (1765-1820) and closed with the anonymous Song of True Patriotism (Chính Khí Ca :1900). 

Three outstanding talents, Nguyen Du, Mdm Ho Xuan Huong and Nguyen Dinh Chieu contributed to the Vietnamese Classical Literature with the greatest masterpieces: The Tale of Kieu, and Luc Van Tien, two epics and selected poems.

• Nguyen Du (1766-1820): It is necessary to keep in mind his historical and social background in order to understand both Nguyễn Du and his main work, The Tale of Kieu (Vietnamese Truyện Kiều), which was based on an earlier Chinese work known as Kim Vân Kiều and was originally titled Đoạn Trường Tân Thanh (lit. new accents of a heart-rending song).  Nguyen Du's main work is Kim Vân Kiều, (English title:The Tale of Kieu). The Tale of Kieu was written under a pen-name as the story was quite critical of the basic tenets of Confucian morality. It is a tragic tale of two lovers forced apart by the girl's loyalty to her family honor. Nguyễn added his own pain and guilt over the self-betrayal of his own code of honor, and the result is one of the greatest masterpieces of Vietnamese literature. What made the Story of Kiều a masterpiece is the refined, subtle, and yet simple way the author arranged his verses in a popular and genuinely Vietnamese cadence of six upon eight syllables that renders the recitation harmoniously rhythmic and the excerpts easily committed to memory. More Literature on Kieu

• Mdm Ho Xuan Huong (1772–1822) Mdm Hồ Xuân Hương must have lived under three different dynasties, --the Lê, Tây Sơn and Nguyễn-- and must have owed her fame to her poems composed almost exclusively in nôm.  In between husbands, Hồ Xuân Hương managed a kind of salon frequented by writers and poets, where her talent shone in polished, elegant, but also daring, and  sexually evocative poems and retorts. To view Online selected readings in Vietnamese by Mdm Ho Xuan Huong, click here. More on Ho Xuan Huong on vnthuquan.net

• Nguyen Dinh Chieu (1822-1888) Nguyen Dinh Chieu was a Vietnamese poet who was known for his nationalist and anti-colonial writings against the French colonization of Cochinchina, the European name for the southern part of Vietnam. He was the best known opponent of collaboration in the south of Vietnam and was regarded as the poet laureate of the southerners who continued to defy the Treaty of Saigon which ceded southern Vietnam to France, disobeying the royal orders of Emperor Tự Đức to continue harassing the French forces. His epic poem, remains one of the most celebrated works in Vietnamese literature. While Nguyễn Du's style was elegant, sophisticated, Nguyễn Đình Chiểu's words were easily understood by the common people and many of his verses sound just like a chat between two people in the streets. Nguyen Dinh Chieu main work is Lục Vân Tiên, perhaps one of the two most recognizable and influential epic poems in Vietnamese history. The poem praises the power of true love, applauds bravery and fair justice. Lục Vân Tiên, named after the main character, was written in nôm in 2080 six-upon-eight verses.While Nguyễn Du discoursed about the dichotomy between talent and fate, about the sufferings every human being had to endure, Nguyễn Đình Chiểu warns his readers to scrutinize the past so as not to make mistakes in the future. Young men should put loyalty and filial piety on top of all values, whereas young women should make chastity and faithfulness their ideals.
  To view the Online Vietnamese version: Click here. More on Nguyen Dinh Chieu on vnthuquan.net

• Other classical Authors: Chinh phụ ngâm khúc - The Complaint of the Warrior’s Wife, by Authors: Ðoàn Thị Ðiểm (1705-1748) /  Ðặng Trần Côn (1715?-1745). view You Tube 
• Cung oán ngâm khúc -  The Complaints of an Odalisk, By Author: Nguyen Gia Thieu (1741-1798), view article under buddhist view by Ven. Thích Pháp Như

• Famous Selected classical works by Bà Huyện Thanh Quan (1805-1848), Nguyễn Khuyến (1835-1909), and Tran Te Xuong (1870-1907) can be found under the source indicated hereafter: wikipedia, maxreading.com, youtube, daophatngaynay.com.

(Compiled by Anh Tho Andres)

About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Business & Management. Titles are available in English, French, German and Vietnamese. Find out more about our translation services, contact yourvietbooks@gmail.com

Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East

Original Title in English
By Author Dr Baird T. Spalding
Vietnamese Title: Hành Trình Về Phương Đông
About the Book:
Tác phẩm "Life and Teaching of the Masters of the Far East" (1935), hồi ký của Dr. Baird T. Spalding (1857 – 1953) Một phần của hồi ký đã được Nguyên Phong chuyển ngữ với tựa đề “Hành Trình Về Phương Đông”

Nguyên tác có tất cả sáu quyển ghi nhận đầy đủ về cuộc hành trình gay go nhưng lý thú và tràn đầy sự huyền bí ở Ấn độ, Tây Tạng, Trung hoa và Ba tư. Ba quyển đầu ghi lại những cuộc thám hiểm của phái đoàn từ Anh sang Ấn, sự gặp gỡ giữa phái đoàn và những vị thầy tâm linh sống ở Á châu, và ở dãy Hy Mã Lạp Sơn . Ba quyển sau là những ghi nhận riêng của giáo sư Spalding về các cuộc hành trình. Sự trao đổi kiến thức giữa phái đoàn và các vị thầy tâm linh, với bản tường trình của phái đoàn đã đưa đến những cuộc tranh luận sôi nổi. Cuối cùng thì ba người trong phái đoàn đã trở lại Ấn độ sống đời ẩn sĩ . Hồi ký của giáo sư Spalding là một công trình nghiên cứu nghiêm túc với nhiều dự kiện được phái đoàn ghi nhận đầy đủ một cách khoa học, và cho đến nay vẫn còn nhiều đọc giả hâm mộ, nhiệt liệt tán thưởng các quyển hồi ký này.

Great Classical Vietnamese Literature Masterpieces: Cung oán ngâm khúc

Cung Oán Ngâm Khúc

  09/12/2010 10:19:00 Thích Pháp Như

Trich dan bai dang tren Dao Phat Ngay nay

Cung oán ngâm khúc là khát vọng muốn đạp đổ tất cả những áp bức bất công của chế độ phong kiến của cung nữ biểu hiện tinh thần phản kháng, căm hận tột cùng của con người trước thực tại buồn đau để có được sự tự do hạnh phúc. Nàng cung nữ mong muốn có được tình yêu thương giống như bao người phụ nữ bình thường khác. Đó là một lý do chính đáng mà bất cứ một người phụ nữ nào cũng ước mơ. Nhưng đối với nàng là một điều không thể với tới. Cung oán ngâm khúc còn phê phán quan niệm “trọng nam kinh nữ” thông qua việc đa thê của vua quan phong kiến đã biến phụ nữ thành đồ chơi rồi ruồng không thương tiếc.

Qua tác phẩm Cung oán ngâm khúc, Ôn Như Hầu đã dùng lời than oán của người cung nữ để bày tỏ tâm sự của một kẻ sĩ đã nhìn thấy  cuộc đời đầy tang thương biến đổi với những thăng trầm mà chính ông là người đã sống trong thời đại lịch sử ấy. Tâm sự của Nguyễn Gia Thiều là tấm bi kịch tiềm tàng những mâu thuẫn nghiệt ngã đến nối ông muốn thoát khỏi sự bức bách đó để sống một cuộc đời siêu phàm thoát tục. Tâm sự của ông cũng chính là tâm sự của bao người trong xã hội đương thời khát khao có được một cuộc sống bình yên. Nhưng xã hội lại bế tắc làm cho bao nhiêu người đau khổ đến nỗi nhân phẩm con người bị chà đạp đến đau lòng. Ước mơ được yêu được sống tự do được hạnh phúc là ước mơ chung của tất cả mọi người nhưng đối với người cung nữ điều đó thật xa vời. Ôn Như Hầu cảm thương cho thân phận người cung nữ cũng như là cảm thương cho thân phận của bao nhiêu người phụ nữ khác và cũng chính là thương cho thân phận mình. Đây là tư tưởng nhân đạo mà Nguyễn Gia Thiều đã gởi gấm qua tác phẩm.

Với những quan niệm của Phật giáo, Lão Trang, Khổng Tử, Mạnh Tử đã làm cho tác phẩm đa dạng về tư tưởng làm nỗi bật lên triết lý hư vô dẫu biết cuộc đời là bể khổ, là bến mê, tất cả những hạnh phúc chỉ là phù du ảo ảnh nhưng vẫn hy vọng một ngày mai tươi sáng. Dù ước mơ không trở thành hiện thực thì con người vẫn phải sống và sống với những khát vọng của mình. Sống sao cho đúng nghĩa để không phải bị tiếng đời mai mĩa và không phải ân hận khi chết đi. Giống như nàng cung nữ dù có oán trách vua ruồng bỏ mình nhưng vẫn giữ một tấm lòng trung trinh không thay đổi dù có sống trong cảnh cô đơn nơi hoàng cung. Cũng vậy Nguyễn Gia Thiều cũng giữ một lòng trung thành với vua cho dù chế độ phong kiến có nhiều điều bất cập. Đây cũng chính là quan niệm sống của Nguyễn Gia Thiều và cũng là quan niệm sống của tầng lớp tri thức phong kiến lúc bấy giờ. 

TÀI LIỆU THAM KHẢO

            1. Nguyễn Đăng Thục, Triết lý xuất thế và nhập thế trong thi ca Việt Nam, www.newvietart.com.

            2. Trần Văn Thương, Chất dân gian trong Cung oán ngâm khúc của Nguyễn Gia Thiều, www.vanchuongviet.org

            3. Trần Mạnh Hảo, Cần trả lại giá trị đích thực cho kiệt tác “Cung oán ngâm khúc”, www.phiem-dam.com

            4. Nguyễn Trọng Trí, Đôi điều về Phật giáo trong văn học Việt Nam, www.phapluanonline.com

            5. Vũ Gia Khánh, Nguyễn Gia Thiều, tác giả Cung oán ngâm khúc,

            6. Vân Uyên, Quan niệm về trời trong Cung oán ngâm khúc, www.giaoxuvnparis.org

            7. Bách khoa toàn thư mở Wikipedia, Nguyễn Gia Thiều, www.vi.wikipedia.org

            8. Bách khoa toàn thư mở Wikipedia, Cung oán ngâm khúc, www.vi.wikipedia.org

(Source: http://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/phatgiao-vn/van-hoc-vn/5762-Cung-Oan-Ngam-Khuc.html)

About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Business & Management. Titles are available in English, French, German and Vietnamese.

YourVietBooks is a Division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd - Singapore.

Find out more about our translation and consulting services under YourVietnamExpert.com

The Other Side of Midnight: The Fundamental Principle of Polarity.

Original Title in English
By Author: Dillon Masters 

About the Book:

 

“The Other Side…” tells how the principle of polarity, when correctly understood, can transform our sense of conflict into harmony and show us how to solve the many problems we face today. This vision moves us from delusion to clarity and provides us with the means to meet our challenges with respect, dignity and truth. Moving from bad dreams (our present reality) to good dreams (our opportunity) is a matter of waking up to the integral nature of connectivity between ubiquitous polarity, regardless of venue ⎯ physical or metaphysical. While primarily a Zen thesis, the author employs material from Christian mystics, other Buddhists and even quantum physics to state his case. Read More



About the Author: 
Dillon Masters was born in 1940 and cut his Zen teeth 30 years ago while living in a Zen Monastery in the Catskill mountains of upstate New York. It was there at Dai Bosatsu that he awakened to the Buddhist understanding of reality following a major spiritual and emotional crisis which brought him to the edge of death. More details

Other books by same author:

• The River: An Allegorical Take of Becoming 
•  MoreOver. Finding Your Worth between Excess
• The non-Identity Crisis

About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Business & Management. Titles are available in English, French, German and Vietnamese.
YourVietBooks is a Division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd - Singapore.
Find out more about our translation and consulting services under YourVietnamExpert.com

Philosophy: Analysing The Causes and Effects of Life

Original Title in Vietnamese. Quán xét nhân duyên đời sống
By Ven. Thích Toàn Châu
Proposed English Title: Analysing The Causes and Effects of Life
By Translator : Anh Tho Andres @yourvietnamexpert.com
Backcover:


Original text in Vietnamese:


Nhận thức đổi thay thì định hướng đời sống cũng theo đó mà đổi thay. 
Phật học gọi đó là CHUYỂN.
Muốn chuyển đời sống, phải chuyển nghiệp;
Muốn chuyển nghiệp, phải chuyển tri kiến hay nhận thức,
Hay khai sáng tri kiến la điều cần thiết nhất của sự chuyển hóa đời sống.


English Translation by Anh Tho


Changing your perception will change your orientation in life. 
In Buddhism, this process is called CHANGE or TRANSFORMATION;
To transform your life, you have to change your karma/kamma;
To change your karma, you have to change your knowledge or perception.
Enlightening your knowledge is the most important thing to do in order to change your life orientation.

Contents
Part One: Nguyên lý và hiện tượng đời sống
1. Nhận thức định hướng đời sống
2. Phật pháp đối với nhận thức
3. Tội lỗi của xấu ác với mê muội
4. Tu, một tiến trình chuyển hóa
5. Đời sống đứng trước thời đại khoa học
6. Thảm họa đầu tiên, lớn nhất đến với Phật giáo và nhân loại
7. Đời sống là pháp duyên sanh
8. Đức Phật là vị siêu tôn giáo, siêu tư tưởng
9. Bổn giác chẳng giữ tự tánh


Part Two: Tập đế với đời sống
1. Nhân và duyên của đời sống tập đế
2. Tâm thức là nhân tố của mọi hiện tượng
3. Căn nguyên của nghiệp thức mê vọng
4. Bất giác với nghiệp nhân sanh tử
5. Năng kiến với năng duyên
6. Tập đế qua duyên khởi pháp
7. Trước thực trạng mê vọng của chúng sanh 


Part Three: Cần dùng phật pháp di chuyển tập đế
1. Cần lìa xa ác pháp
2. Do đâu khó lìa ác pháp
3. Phước thiện hữu lậu còn xa thánh đạo
4. Xác định rõ thiện ác trong ta
5. Giải trừ xấu ác cần dụng đức hạnh
6. Càng nhiều ác nhân, càng lắm khổ quả
7. Y báo xấu bởi chánh báo xấu
8. Giá trị của chánh tri kiến
9. Nhiếp thọ chánh pháp
10. Vọng tưởng với chánh kiến
11. Hết thảy đều từ duyên khởi pháp
12. Pháp duyên khởi đầu tiên của chúng sanh.


Đạo hửu Nguyên Duyên chép và dịch sách này ra tiếng Anh - nguyện hồi hướng công đức này cùng tất cả chúng sanh đều chóng thành phật đạo. English Translation by Anh Tho Andres, alias Nguyên Duyên, as a contribution to the buddhist community (coming up).




About YourVietbooks.com
YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Business & Management. Titles are available in English, French, German and Vietnamese. We promote Higher Education & Young Talents of Vietnam.
YourVietBooks is a Division by Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd - Singapore. Find out more about our translation and consulting services under YourVietnamExpert.com

Le Petit Livre du Zen, Un guide pour vivre instant par instant

Original Title in English: Simple Zen, a guide to living moment by moment

By Authors C. Alexander & Annellen Simpkins

Publishers: Tuttle Publishing House, Boston MA

French Version translated by Michelle Lecoeur

Editions La Table Rond, Paris (2000)

ISBN : 2710309262

Propos de l'Auteur:

Quand vous suivez

la voie du zen

A travers l'action,

avec le coeur

Les mondes chaotiques

de discorde

Sont une vraie symphonie

(C. Alexander Simpkins)

Psychologues, C. Alexander & Annellen Simpkins enseignent la méditation. On trouvera, des mêmes auteurs, dans la même collection, 'Le Petit Livre du Tao'.

About the book:

Vous trouverez dans ce livre 

• une introduction claire et accessible au bouddhism zen, son histoire et ses origines; 
• des conseils et des exercices simples pour la pratique du zen: la méditation, la poésie et les arts.

Introduction

Le bouddhisme zen est un moyen dynamique d'améliorer l'existence. La vie moderne mobilisant toute notre attention, il nous reste généralement peu de temps à consacrer à autre chose. L'intérêt du zen tient au fait qu'il peut nous aider à développer le calme intérieur, nous permettant ainsi de mieux vivre, même au milieu d'un monde agité. Il n'est pas nécessaire de prendre du temps pour pratiquer le zen - il nous accompagne tout le temps et enrichit le moindre de nos actes.

Le zen vous ramène à votre vie intérieure, illuminant votre vraie nature. Plus vous deviendrez un adepte de la méditation zen, plus elle s'intégrera dans votre vie, que ce soit pendant votre travail ou vos loisirs.

Content

Première partie:

Le Zen dans le temps (Les origines, zen en Chine et en Corée, au Japon, dans l'âge moderne);

Deuxième partie:

Les thèmes Zen (Vers l'éveil de soi-même, la vacuité, mode de vie correct, accomplissement de la sagesse);

Troisième partie:

Vivre le Zen (méditation, arts, ikeban, Cha-no-yu, poésie, calligraphie Sumi-e, arts martiaux, psychothérapie)

Bibliographie

Conclusion

La forme du zen s'est toujours modifiée en fonction de la culture qui l'adoptait. De son côté, le zen a changé la forme de la culture. Les Chinois ont interprété le bouddhisme indien à l'aide de leur passé taoiste et confucianiste pour finalement créer le zen. Les Japonais, trouvant le zen utile, l'ont transformé en une expression pratique de leur esprit artistique. Nous, le Occidentaux, pouvons harmoniser le zen avec notre individualité, partie de l'unité.

Le zen est aussi illimité qu'il est sans forme. La forme est le vide, le vide est la forme. Le vide a un grand potential, découvert à travers la méditation. La méditation enrichit votre esprit intérieur, vous aide à atteindre votre potentiel dans la perspective de l'éveil.

A travers la méditation, la somme et la substance du zen, vous apprenez à vous accorder à votre nature intuitive, à ne faire qu'un avec votre vie. Les arts zen offrent un moyen de pratiquer le zen à travers une implication active. Par la méditation, vous devenez conscient en vous immergeant dans toutes vos actions. Cette façon d'aborder votre art devient votre façon de vire une vie éclairée.

Engagez-vous pleinement dans votre vie et vos talents pourront développer tout leur potential. Recréez votre vie quotidienne dans tout ce que vous sentez et faites. Vous obtiendrez plus en vivant simplement zen, instant par instant!

Même si le chemin sans carte tourne encore et encore,

Vos pas seront de plus en plus sûrs

Dans le vase inconnnu, avec le potentiel de l'esprit.

(C. Alexander Simpkins)

Merci à Natalie d'avoir été là dans mes moments difficiles. Anh Tho

French translation by Michelle Lecoeur

Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan, Kim Hoang, Bich Hong, Bao Han 

German translation by Han Dang-Klein 

Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh 

Japanese translation by Hong Anh 

About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com

Dhammapada, A Practical Guide to Right Living

Original Title in Pali

Translated by Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita

Reprinted by Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (Singapore)

Publised for Free Distribution by Sukhihotu (Malaysia) : The free publication has been made possible trhough the contributions of generous donors.Email: sukhihotu@quantrum.com.my

This book is offered with the humble wish that it may be a guide to your life. 

May you read it then - again and again; reflect and ponder over the words of the Buddha; investigate and put His principles into practice and see if it works.

"As the wise lest gold by burning, cutting and rubbing it on a piece of touchstone, so are you to accept my words after examining them and not merely out of regard for me" - the Buddha.

Backcover by Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita

"Hatred never ceases through hatred. Only through love does it cease". This and many other beautiful teachings of the Buddha can be found in the Dhammapada.

"The way to end sufferings it not to increase cravings and desires but to reduce and eliminate them".

"The worst of all taints is the taint of ignorance".

"Purify the mind".

Profound wisdom and messages for a confused world, the Dhammapada, which enshrines the spirit of the Buddha's teachings, is a book for all time, a book to be cherished and loved. 

May it be a light to your life!

The Translator Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita is an Indian monk, meditation teacher and scholar, who is firmly committed to walking the Buddha's path.

Preface by Venerable Acharya Buddharakkhita

The Dhammapada, an anthology of four hundred and twenty-three verses, compiled approximately six hundred hundred years before Christ, belongs to the Khuddaka Nikaya ("Compact Collection") of the sacred Buddhist scripture, the Tipitaka. Handed down in the Pali language, in which the Buddha spoke, the Tipitaka (lit., "Three Baskets" has preserved the original teachings of the Englightened One.

The Buddha enunciated his Dhamma (Teachings) in two different forms. Though distinct, they ultimately converge in the unfolding of insight into the realities of existence and the Beyond. One approach was in philosophical terms, incisive and analytical. The other took the form of discourses in simple, direct language intelligible to the masses, and often precipitated by a specific question or incident. It is from this body of material that the Dhammapada was compiled. Each verse was prompted by a particular episode, accounts of which are preserved in the Dhammapada Atthakatha, one of the commentaries of the Pali canon.

What the Gita is to Hindus, the Bible to Christendom and the Koran to Islamic people, the Dhammapada is to the Buddhist world. For the simple and unsophisticated, it is a sympathetic counsellor; for the intellectually overburdened its clear and direct teachings inspire humility and relfection; for the earnest seeker, it is a perennial source of inspiration. 

Insights that flashed into the heart of the Buddha have crystallized into these luminous verses of pure wisdom. As profound expressions of practical spirituality, each verse is a guideline to right living. The Buddha unambiguously pointed out that whoever earnestly practices the verses of the Dhammapada would taste the bliss of emancipation.

In preparing this volume, I have had access to numerous editions and translations in various languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali, Sinhalese, Burmese and Nepali. While consulting a number of English editions, it was observed that the renderings were often either too free and inaccurate or too pedantic. It was therefore felt that a new edition of the Dhammapada, avoiding these too extremes, would be beneficial to readers.

There are editions of the Dhammapada by noted scholars such as Max Muller and Dr S Radhakrishnan. However, the teachings of the Buddha inevitably suffer some distortion when presented from a non Buddhist frame of reference. Erroneous ideas have sometimes resulted from an unfortunate selection of words in translation, and foot-notes have at times been judgmental. The present translation by a praciticing follower of the Buddha is a humble effort to transmit the spirit and content as well as the language and style of the original teachings.

Where a few of the verses are conundrums or contain analogies not immediately evident to the reader, the meanings are provided either in parenthesis or notes. For interpretation, I have relied on the classic 5th century A.D. commentary by Bhadantacariya Buddhaghosa, the great Buddhist savant.

The Pali literature is a veritable storehouse of knowledge. It includes not only the Buddhist scriptures but also commentarial literature and independent treatises containing rich material on the science of mind, medicine, the history and geography of ancient India and surrounding countries, literature, poetics, prosody, the prevalent technology and civics, sports, martial arts, etc.

Students of psychology, sociology, anthropology and cosmology will find the Pali literature a mine of source-material for their disciplines. It is to be noted that much of Asia, particularly Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, built distinctive civilizations inspired by the Pali tradition.

I am grateful to Upasika Karunamma, an esteemed American pupil, for the most devoted service and help in going through the manuscript and suggesting improvements. Without her unreserved help, this edition would never have materialized.

In grateful memory of my teachers, parents and relatives, departed and living, I humbly make an offering of the Punya (spiritual merit) accruing from the effort of preparing this work. May they attain Nibbana!

May all beings be happy!

Ven. Acharya Buddharakkhita

Maha Bodhi Ashram, Bangalore, India

16 October, 1986.

Podcasts on Dhammapada, translated version by Gil Frondal can be downloaded under Zencast.org. With many thanks to Gil Frondal, my spiritual guide to re-discover Buddhism for many years. Anh Tho Andres

French translation by Anh Tho Andres @YourVietnamExpert.com 

Vietnamese translation by Cuong Phan, Kim Hoang, Bich Hong, Bao Han 

German translation by Han Dang-Klein 

Italian translation by Phan Cong Danh 

Japanese translation by Hong Anh 

About YourVietbooks.com

YourVietBooks is a collection of books on Vietnam for Readers who are interested in Vietnam's History, Culture, Language, Economy, or Business. Most titles are in English, but some are only available in French or Vietnamese. We can provide interested parties an accurate translation of some parts of the books for your research purposes. Translations are done by YourVietnamExpert's qualified and experienced translators. contact@yourvietnamexpert.com