True religion, healthy faith

The essence of true religion is always to guide people to Truth-Goodness-Beauty, that is, to the best human values. In terms of doctrine, religion guides people to do things that are valuable for life, to create noble human values, to overcome the boundaries of different religions, people strive to be more beautiful, to share the best things with each other. Buddha, God, or Saints... all have the same desire to lead people to a world of happiness, to goodness, even though their concepts have differences between them.
Entering a true religion, following the footsteps of Buddha, God, Saints... makes people more beautiful, more valuable and treat others more humanely. There is no doctrine or idea that the Supreme Beings of true religions can guide people to the path of wildness, brutality, and cruelty. Because the nature of true religion is to lead people to the right path, the good path. The major religions in the world, which have existed for thousands of years and are believed by millions of people, are based on their good doctrines. That is why they have created universal values, important ethical standards to guide people to goodness, create a better life, and fight against evil, cruel thoughts that destroy human personality.

Venerable Thich Dinh Tue - abbot of Duc Hau pagoda gives gifts to people in Anh Son district. Photo: Duc Anh

A true religion needs three basic elements to ensure that it always brings people to the best values ​​of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. First of all, it is a system of true doctrines. As mentioned above, the doctrines of most major religions, which have had a strong vitality through many ages, of course have true values ​​that have been affirmed. The religious values ​​pursued do not go against the universal values ​​of humanity in the development process. On the other hand, religions themselves also contribute to creating universal, progressive values ​​of humanity. Although the concepts and terms of religions are different, they still meet at one point: guiding people to live honestly to achieve happiness, to reach the destination of a good world that meets the needs and desires of people (Heaven, Nirvana, ...).

Buddhists rejoice on the day of welcoming and installing the Buddha.

Second, those who perform the function of managing and practicing religion have a profound understanding and strictly adhere to the teachings, live for the ideals that the religion pursues and guide the followers of that religion towards good human values.

In Catholicism, to become a priest, one must study hard, undergo many years of training, read many books, acquire a lot of knowledge and of course, the chosen person must also have strong faith in God, in the doctrine and live an honest life that is respected and loved by the parishioners around them.

Their process of training a priest is very strict and long-term, it contributes to ensuring the qualifications, abilities as well as the beliefs and behaviors of the priests are very suitable for the doctrine and the parishioners.

Priest Chu Dinh Truong, Parish Priest of Ban Thach, performed the ceremony of laying the foundation stone for the construction of Ban Thach Parish Church. Photo: Hong An documents

In Buddhism in the past, to become a reputable monk, one had to be ordained for many years, accumulate virtues, do good deeds, study Buddhist scriptures, and go through many challenges to build up prestige and gain respect from fellow Buddhists and followers. Talented monks who could preach to a large number of followers were learned people and they themselves had to live a pure life to keep the religious rules.

Monks and Buddhists of Duc Hau Pagoda welcomed 150 monks and nuns from the Vietnam Buddhist Academy in Hue.

The third factor, which is also very important, is the healthy faith of the parishioners, followers and Buddhists. Those who have chosen a religion for themselves naturally have faith in the doctrine and the organizational system of that religion. But a true follower of a true religion must also have his or her own healthy, genuine faith.

Healthy faith is believing in the goodness of the doctrine, and that faith guides us on the right path, adjusting our behaviors in a reasonable way, living closely, integrating and creating many good values ​​for life. In other words, it is a religious belief that is in harmony with social life and creates many positive values, contributing to making the lives of individuals, families and society better. On the contrary, if faith exceeds the normal level (superstition) and creates extreme behaviors, negatively affecting social life, then it is contrary to the doctrine, to the religion they follow. And any religion that encourages its followers to do such things is not a true religion, it is a heresy. Besides those basic factors, the socio-political environment also has a strong influence on religions. But those are objective conditions that all religions must accept...

The ceremony to pray for national peace and prosperity at Duc Hau Pagoda attracted tens of thousands of Buddhists and people from inside and outside the locality to participate. Photo: Duc Anh

Nowadays, we are facing many problems in religious life in particular and spiritual life in general. Social life needs religion but true religion to guide people to a good life.

In order for religion to promote good values ​​in social life, in addition to managing religious activities well on the basis of the law to ensure people's freedom of religious belief, it is also necessary to raise people's awareness of religion. We must fight and limit opportunists' activities that take advantage of religion for personal gain and cause disunity, while also encouraging people to approach religion with healthy beliefs. Only then can people build good religious beliefs and religion also contributes to building a better society.