THE PERSPECTIVE OF HUMAN MORALITY IN BUDDHIST THOUGHTS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CURRENT VIETNAMESE EDUCATION By Huu Trieu Em Nguyen Supervised by Prof. Salvatore Fava PhD A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Arts & Humanities Program at Selinus University Faculty of Arts & Humanities in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy & Critical Thinking 2020 1 DECLARATION I do hereby attest that I am the sole author of this thesis and that its contents are only the result of the readings and research I have done. Student’s signature Nguyen Huu Trieu Em 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The first word I would like to sincerely thank Selinus University and the teacher who directed me to implement the topic. He has been dedicated to helping me navigate research, gain knowledge, give me valuable advice and suggestions so that I can complete my research.
I would like to thank the faculty of the Faculty Arts & Humanities, the experienced and enthusiastic lecturers of the school for providing, imparting knowledge, practical experience and useful scientific methods throughout the time study at school. Besides, I would like to thank my close friends in the class for sharing, wholeheartedly helping, encouraging me during the past time. I also thank my friends and colleagues for directly and indirectly assisting me in participating in group discussion research, helping to answer and collecting survey questionnaires for this thesis. Your contribution is important to the success of your research.
Finally, my deep gratitude to my Parents and family members who have always encouraged and supported me to complete my thesis. 3 ABSTRACT The education of Buddhism is very rich in humanity, because it helps people to have true faith, determination to practice the Dharma to become perfect people, people with a noble life, with two qualities. Highlights are compassion and wisdom. In line with the direction of educational development in the new era, the United Nations Commission on Science, Education and Culture (UNESCO) has initiated the purpose of learning: "Learning to know, learning to do, and learning to live together", learn to assert yourself.
"In a nutshell, it is: Learning to develop comprehensively, intellectually, skillfully, morally and lifestyle. Today, while people are making great strides along the path of development towards a knowledge society and an open society, there are many "great risks" for the whole society, in which moral degradation, lifestyle is becoming a global problem, sadly it happens most often in the younger generation, students, students - the future owners of society. And Vietnam is one of the countries that need to raise an alarm about morality and lifestyle. Facing the country's sustainable development requirements, Vietnam needs to build a new ethical foundation, consistent with the era on the basis of inheriting the good traditional moral values of the nation.
After about 20 centuries of existence and development with the nation, Buddhism has left a profound impact in the history, culture and society. With the philosophy of compassion, rejection, and encouragement of the people towards goodness, Buddhism has easily entered the hearts of people, has the 4 effect of perfecting the moral personality, directing people to a life of altruism, equality and charity. The fact has proved that Buddhism conforms to the morality and lifestyle of Vietnamese people, and it has made positive contributions to the cause of national construction and defense. Today, in a complex cultural, economic and political context, we need to strongly promote the positive values of this religion in order to contribute to building the moral foundation of Vietnamese people in general and student generation in particular.
Young people play an important role in the nation's construction and development in each country because it is a guaranteeing force for sustainable development. When he was still a student, during a talk with students, President Ho Chi Minh asserted that "Talented without virtue is useless, having virtue without talent is difficult to do." However, an alarming fact is that the moral lifestyle of a part of students is going down for many reasons, including both subjective and objective causes. But if we continue to find solutions to prevent the effects of being objective and not strict with ourselves, the problem cannot be solved. Therefore, this article will generalize the ethical situation of students, analyze two causes that are considered basic, and propose a few solutions drawn from practical observation results and from studies in both domestic and international.
Key words: Human morality, Buddhist thoughts, Vietnamese education. TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 ABSTRACT DECLARATION. Background of the study. Rationale of the study.
Objectives of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Theoretical and practical meanings of the thesis.
Structure of the study.21 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Philosophical commentary on ethics. Buddhist thought about morality and lifestyle. The Buddhist thought of compassion and joy leads people to build a pure and healthy life, a true direction of goodness.
In the relationship between people, Buddhist thought always aims to build relationships of equality, moderation and mutual respect. In the relationship between people and nature, Buddhist thought directs people to respect and build sustainable environments. Role of The perspective of human morality in Buddhist thoughts in Vietnamese education. Overview of the ethical status and lifestyle of Vietnamese students - students today.
Some features of the profound influence of Buddhism on the lives of Vietnamese people. Buddhism is an educational system.47 CHAPTER 3: INFLUENCE LEVEL OF BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND MORAL STATUS OF VIETNAMESE STUDENTS. The influence of Buddhist thought on the thinking of Vietnamese people 3. The reasonable values of Buddhist thought in our country.
The integration of the spirit of compassion, joy and rejection with the patriotism of Vietnam .2 The influence of Buddhist morality in relations of conduct and communication.3 The influence of Buddhist morality in fairness and equality.4 The influence of Buddhist morality on honesty.5 Influence in goodness, gratitude and love .6 Influence in the vast tolerance .7 Influence in the spirit of self-reliance and autonomy of each person. The current status of ethics and lifestyle of Vietnamese students – students. Families lack the right to care for or educate their children. Ethical education at school has not really been effective, and has not yet achieved the goal of educating people towards the good.
Current solution to educate Buddhist ethics education method for students. Limitations and Suggestions for further studies. 75 9 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Vietnam is a country located at the crossroads of international circulation in Southeast Asia, and is the destination of the merchants of the Mediterranean region. From such an advantageous geographical position, the countries in this region have established economic, commercial, cultural and religious relations.
through the two pepper roads, ie the sea crossing. Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China, Vietnam and Dong Co roads, which are roads, originate from Northeast Asia and cross Central Asia, Mongolia, Tibet, Vietnam and China. Therefore, the major religions, including Buddhism, have many advantages to enter our country. As soon as it was introduced, from the first century, Buddhism quickly adapted to the river way of the Vietnamese people and in the process of formation and development in this country, Buddhism did not encounter any obstacle in integration into all strata of Vietnamese society.
Buddhism permeated the Vietnamese civilization naturally and easily as water permeates the soil. Buddhism has spread throughout the cave along the alley in Vietnam and has a certain foothold from the court to the Vietnamese village. The morality of Vietnamese Buddhism has also been ingrained in the lifestyle and thinking of the Vietnamese people and has become invaluable spiritual values for people in this country. Throughout the history of the eighteenth century, Buddhism has proved its existence in almost all fields of politics, economy, culture, society.
and has contributed, influential influences pole on the aforementioned sides. In line with the direction of educational development in the new era, the United Nations Commission on Science, Education and Culture (UNESCO) 10 has initiated the purpose of learning: "Learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together”, learn to assert yourself. "In a nutshell, it is: Learning to develop comprehensively, intellectually, skillfully, morally and lifestyle. Today, while people are making great strides along the path of development towards a knowledge society and an open society, there are many "great risks" for the whole society, in which moral degradation , lifestyle is becoming a global problem, sadly it happens most often in the younger generation, students, students - the future owners of society.
And Vietnam is one of the countries that need to raise an alarm about morality and lifestyle. Facing the country's sustainable development requirements, Vietnam needs to build a new ethical foundation, consistent with the era on the basis of inheriting the good traditional moral values of the nation. After about 20 centuries of existence and development with the nation, Buddhism has left a profound impact in the history, culture and society. With the philosophy of compassion, rejection, and encouragement of the people towards goodness, Buddhism has easily entered the hearts of people, has the effect of perfecting the moral personality, directing people to a life of altruism, equality and charity.
The fact has proved that Buddhism conforms to the morality and lifestyle of Vietnamese people, and it has made positive contributions to the cause of national construction and defense. Today, in a complex cultural, economic and political context, we need to strongly promote the positive values of this religion in order to contribute to building the moral foundation of Vietnamese people in general and student-student generation in particular. Background of the study As a form of social consciousness, Buddhism as well as all religions, also carries in it the ideological value, as a reflection of humanity's desire to reach the truth - good - good, but the difference is more in focusing on the goal of freedom from suffering. The morality of religion, from the meaning of a socially conscious form, is also the accumulation of mankind, which religions with different positions are systematically reflecting through Cause of each particular religion.
From such a relationship, between religious morality and social morality, there is always a common point and a difference, and in every person there are two (dual) dualities that are both a citizen of the society and a believer religion. There is no morality apart from people, outside society, so the dissection or distinction between religious morality and social morality is only relative. "The greatest values of religion are the values of morality and culture." Ethics is always specific history, it was born, existed and developed due to certain human needs in relation to society and their natural world. When social existence changes, social relationships change, morality also changes with ethical rules and behavior standards that can sometimes be reevaluated or redefined.
But the common goal of every ethical system is to perfect human dignity and reach to build the typical truth - good - beauty, Buddhist morality is no exception to that general rule. Buddhist ethics is the crystallization of ideas, ancient Indian culture, but now it has become an example of Eastern morality in all moral values of mankind. In which there are many contents of educating the religion to be active people in modern society today. 12 Buddhist morality is the result of a selective succession and development of the concepts, moral categories and practices of ancient India.
And Buddhism's man-made virtues are highly self-conscious people. In particular, as a religion based on the belief of "freeing people from suffering of immorality", Buddhism is a religion with atheistic tendencies. Buddhism advocates suffering because it is man who creates karma and is conditioned into it. Therefore, liberation is one's own career by accumulating good karma and eliminating all negative karma, not by the gift of any divine beings.
So in Buddhism, the goal of liberation is also to cultivate the human being. In particular, Buddhism has a moral view of the progressive environment.