In the Nikayas, it was written the Buddha mentioned that His Teachings - The True Dhamma will become adulterated,
And it will degenerate and become very difficult to distinguish the true teachings from the false.
Why?
To explain, The Buddha used the simile of gold trading :
There was a time when people buy gold because only pure gold was sold in the market.
Then, seeing how profitable gold trading (Buddhism) is,
Greedy and deceitful merchants (ie. Monastics and lay) start making artificial gold (False Dhamma) which seem like the real thing (True Dhamma) itself, when in fact, they're not.
Not knowing that these are actually fake, people blindly bought them.
At a high price.
When they realised what they've bought was not the real stuff,
People felt cheated and become disheartened and disillusioned,
And gave up buying gold completely, cos they do not know if what they buy may actually turn out to be the false.
Likewise, in Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha said, in the future, the Dhamma - His Teachings, would become so polluted and distorted that it will be very difficult to distinguish the True from the False.
(read 'The Future' - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2008/11/future.html
As such, people will lose faith and interest in The Dhamma (Truth).
As practitioners, it is our duty to use our power of discernment and The Buddha's Kalama Sutta
(read 'Kalama Sutta - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2006/12/kalama-sutta-karma.html ,
'How Foolish Can We Get - Part 6 ( The Monkeys ) : http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-foolish-can-we-get-part-6-monkeys.html )
To guide us, and to distinguish what's True Dhamma, and what's false,
(read 'Myths or Truths - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2007/03/myths-or-truths.html
and 'Teacher and The Teachings - Part 3 : http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2008/05/teacher-and-teachings-part-3.html)
And not blindly 'buy' into the false Teachings.
(read Talk Talk Talk - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2009/01/talk-talk-talk.html ,
'Teacher and The Teachings - Part 1 : http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2008/04/teacher-and-teachings-part-1-teacher.html ,
'Teacher and The Teachings - Part 2 : http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2008/05/teacher-and-teachings-part-2-teachings.html , and
'The Guru & His Bowl - http://maitre-light.blogspot.com/2008/07/guru-and-his-bowl.html
"Gotami, the teachings of which you may know, 'These teachings lead
To dispassion, not to passion;
To being unfettered, not to being fettered;
To shedding, not to accumulating;
To modesty, not to self-aggrandisement;
To contentment, not to discontent;
To seclusion, not to entanglement;
To aroused persistence, not to laziness;
To being unburdensome, not to being burdensome';
You may definitely hold,
"This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction."
- The Buddha. Anguttara Nikaya VIII.53
"Ananda! I have taught the Dhamma without an inner or an outer version.
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The Tathagata has no closed fist with regard to teachings."
- The Buddha, Digha Nikaya 16.
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"The Teaching of the Buddha is a teaching for intelligent people.
It isn't a teaching for someone to believe in blindly without reason."
- Ajahn Puth
"Those who easily (and blindly) believe others are foolish."
- The Buddha
"Only people of real integrity can truly comprehend Dhamma's true worth."
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu
"Avoid being too quick to agree and accept;
Avoid being too quick to dismiss and reject.Always look, observe, analyse, question and investigate."
"Paccattam veditabbo vinnuhiti -
To be self-realised only by the wise, each for himself."
- The Buddha
"For those who - now or after I am gone -
Remain with their self as an island ........
The Dhamma as their refuge,
Without anything else as a refuge,
They will be the highest of the monks who desire training."
- The Buddha, Digha Nikaya 16
"The Buddha taught that whether his teachings will flourish or degenerate depends on those who practise them.
The teachings degenerate when meditators get just a little bit of knowledge and then go bragging to other people, talking about external matters with NO substance at all ........
When they do this, they make the religion degenerate without their even realising it.
Those who make the religion flourish are those who speak about things which are useful and true."
- Ajahn Tate
"If a person isn't true to the Buddha's Teachings, the Buddha's teachings won't be true to that person -
And that person won't be able to know what the Buddha's TRUE teachings are."
- Ajahn Lee
"Only by following The Buddha's instruction and mode of practice, will a mind then be able to see BOTH The Dhamma and The Buddha."
- Venerable Ajahn Maha Boowa Nanasampanno
"The Buddha's path was intended for all who cared and dared to take up the challenge."
- Venerable Ajahn Mun
"Behold Ananda !
If everyone practises the Dhamma in accordance to the True Dhamma, there will be no lack of Arahants in the world."
- The Buddha
"Are we, or are we NOT practising correctly in accordance with the teachings of Buddhism?
We shouldn't just do as we see fit.
There is only ONE Teaching, ONLY one Buddha -
But nowadays his disciples are following different paths.
It is a great shame and disgrace.
- Ajahn Tate
" ........ Dhamma is timeless, not limited by time or place,
Except by a person's own laziness.
It's because of laziness that the Dhamma of the Buddha will be lost to the world."
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- Venerable Chao Khun Upali
"It is useless pretending to forget the power of Kamma,
Or pretending that one is superior to the Buddha.
One who does so is sure to be cornered by his own foolish pretensions and assumptions."
- Venerable Ajahn Mun
"A gathering of bhikkhus that does not respect one another (or others),
Or that does not behave in accordance with the Dhamma and the Vinaya (Discipline Code) appointed to be their Teacher in my place,
CANNOT be called the Tathagata's bhikkhus.
They are FALSE bhikkhus, only pretending to be real ones."
- The Buddha
"Thus the ultimate authority in judging a teaching is NOT whether the teaching can be found in a text.
It lies in each person's relentless honesty in putting the Dhamma to the test and carefully monitoring the results.
The survival of Buddhism and the survival of the Dhamma are two different things.
People like Ajahn Mun - willing to make whatever sacrifices are needed to discover and practice the Dhamma on its own terms - are the ones who have kept the Dhamma alive.
Of course, people have always been free to engage in Buddhist traditions in whatever ways they like,
BUT those who have benefited most from that engagement are those who, instead of reshaping Buddhism to fit their preferences, reshape themselves to fit in with the customs and traditions of THE NOBLE ONES."
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu
