Sunday Times 2
Three distinctive features inherent in Buddhism
The Buddha was an extremely intelligent human being with an enlightened wisdom above others. He lived an ordinary life with his disciples and preached to the intellectuals as well as the ordinary people on the reality of worldly things.
The Buddha discovered the cause of suffering and how to escape from suffering. In his first sermon, the Buddha spoke of two extremes to be avoided; that of devotion to the pleasures of sense and that of self-mortification, both of which were described as unworthy and unprofitable. Avoiding the two extremes, he said he had gained knowledge of the middle path or Madhyama Prathipadawa which led to enlightenment.
In his public address in New York in 1925, Anagarika Dharmapala had eloquently summarised the message of the Buddha as follows. “The Buddha Dhamma encompasses the power of universal love, meaninglessness of prayer, rituals and sacrifices, evolutionary nature of the cosmic process, freedom of thought, the law of universal change, the supremacy of the law of righteousness, happiness punctuated renunciation, identifying ignorance as the prime cause of human misery and that miseries can be annihilated by the power of wisdom and altruistic service for the good of humanity”.
Today, we are living in an age of science; an age where man is inclined to accept the truth of anything by observation and experiment rather than by mere belief. With the recent advances in science man is becoming more rationalistic in his outlook and blind belief is fast disappearing.
The truth is the same in any age, even if the methods of understanding vary. When we consider the evidence in the light of modern science, we shall find that the results achieved have been the same. For instance the Buddhist view of mind and matter phenomena is that they are all illusions; not real. “Maya” is what the Buddha called the illusory nature of material phenomena. The uniqueness of Buddhism is reflected in three distinctive features inherent in the teaching of the Buddha. Firstly, it is not an orthodox and regimented religion but a way of life which is free and open. Secondly, it is an ethical and moral system which guarantees freedom of thought and action. Thirdly, its, rationality lends itself to logic, examination and inquiry.
Buddhism a free and
open way of life
A religion is defined as a system of faith and worship which recognises omnipresent superhuman controlling power and existence of a personal god entitled to unquestionable obedience. Accordingly, the hallmarks of a religion are the existence of a personal God, an unchanging and immortal soul and the necessity for the salvation of the latter by the former. These three factors are entirely absent in Buddhism; hence Buddhism cannot be classified as a religion. In essence, Buddhism is a way of life which paves the way for man to be righteous and noble while maintaining human dignity and intelligence and eventually attain final liberation through mental purity. Buddhism is unique among the different religions of the world in having no criteria for orthodoxy. It has no Pope, no dogma which must be believed and no Bible in the Christian sense of inspired revelation. It has no equivalent of Christian baptism nor can anyone be expelled from its fold. In brief a “Buddhist is as a Buddhist does.”
Buddhism as it exists today may not be absolutely authentic or accurate as the teachings were first committed to writing some four hundred years after the passing away of the Buddha. Since then for well over two thousand years the doctrine would have undergone considerable changes in the process of interpretation and communication. However, the canon as it is taught today is rational, coherent as a whole and sufficient to inspire a large proportion of mankind. It is subjective in its analysis of the nature of life in particular of the cause of suffering. Also, it is subjective in the way it sets out for the removal of the root causes of suffering. It is above all supremely self-reliant, relying upon no outside power, divine or human to save the individual from the consequences of his own hatred, lust and illusion.
The purpose of Buddhism is the realisation of the consciousness known as Enlightenment and the eradication of suffering through the process of extinction of its causes. The Buddha attained enlightenment and taught the means leading to the ultimate realisation of reality to all mankind. In the field of religion this path is unique for it has no dogma; everything is open to inquiry and analysis and indeed as open as any scientific thesis offered to the world today. As Buddhism brings good results without the dependence on mere belief or imagination then let us not waste time splitting hairs about it.
Freedom of thought and action
According to Venerable Narada Maha Thera, one of the distinctive features inherent in Buddhism is that it makes man stand on his own feet and rouses his self-confidence and energy.
The Buddha denied the fundamental teachings of most religions which incidentally are based on the fear of the unknown and on blind faith. He expounded a rational and tolerant teaching that could be verified by personal experience. It is founded on the fundamental truth that men are born free to exercise their reason freely with regard to all aspects of mind and matter.
Hence, it is to the glory of the Buddha that he allowed his followers freedom boundless as the free sky above which makes every man’s own reason the ultimate standard of his belief.
The Buddha has given us one of the best ways of solving problems which is to think and think for ourselves and to think originally and not to be governed by what goes on around us. This is what makes us true practising Buddhists; an exciting experience in life indeed!
The fact of the matter is that no one can grant deliverance to another who merely pleads or begs for it. Others may lend a helping hand indirectly; but nevertheless the highest freedom is attained only through self-realisation and self-awakening to the truth.
Self-realisation can come only to one who is free to think out one’s own problems without let or hindrance. Each individual should make the appropriate effort and break the shackles that have kept him in bondage thus winning freedom from bonds of existence by perseverance, self-exertion and insight and not through prayers and petitions to a supreme being.
In the Kalama Sutta addressing the Kalamas the Buddha had admonished them as follows. “Do not accept anything on mere hearsay. Do not accept anything on mere tradition. Do not accept anything on account of rumours. Do not accept anything because it accords with your scriptures. Do not accept anything by mere supposition. Do not accept anything by mere inference. Do not accept anything because it agrees with your preconceived notions. Do not accept anything because the ascetic is respected by us.
The Buddha had admonished that purity and impurity are both dependent on oneself. No one can purify another. This fact is further clarified in verse 165 of the Dhammapada as follows. “By oneself is evil done. By oneself is evil defied. By oneself alone is evil avoided. By oneself alone is one purified.”
This concept is further elucidated in verse 103 of the Dhammapada as follows. “Though one may conquer a million men in the battlefield, yet he is the noblest victor who has conquered himself”.
It is through the practice of the Dhamma that the real Buddha can be known. In fact the Buddha has said that “he who sees the Dhamma sees me”. The Dhamma is not a set of teachings for us to blindly accept and believe in but to try out and see for ourselves. Thus in summary, Buddhism is always a question of knowing and seeing, and not that of believing. The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as “Ehi – Passiko”; inviting you to come and see, but not to come and believe.
Rationality is the Hallmark of Buddhism
Buddhism promotes rationality. It is not only a way of life but also a way of logic; of reasoning and a way of seeing a given situation from all angles. The Buddha used the word “Yonisomanasikara” which means “concentration from the very origin.” “Yoniso” means from the origin. “Manasikara” means concentration, insightful investigation, thinking and analysis.
Accordingly, we should investigate right from the bottom; right from the beginning. Therefore, a good Buddhist is one who engages in the act of “Yonisomanasikara” all the time, on all the issues.
There is a tendency to compare and contrast Buddhism as a philosophy. Philosophy is the search for knowledge; especially delving into the nature and meaning of existence. Dhamma is not mere philosophy, because philosophy is empirical by nature. The Dhamma is not founded on mere views or theories. Buddha’s doctrine is not dry philosophy for people to argue about using cold intellect. It is a methodical system for self-development centred on love, selflessness and compassion.
In Buddhism, there are three types of bias. They are desire, ill will and skeptical doubt. Desire makes one see only what one wants to see. It bends the truth to fit one’s preferences. Ill will makes one blind to whatever is disturbing or disconcerting to one’s views. Also, it distorts the truth by denial. Sceptical doubt stubbornly refuses to accept those truths which are not only plainly valid but also brazenly obvious because they fall outside of one’s comforting world view.
The Buddha Dhamma strongly urges the avoidance of extreme views and prejudices as they would hold one as a captive. On the other hand a rational person would remain unencumbered and free. The whole thrust of the Dhamma is to release a person from bondage caused by mundane thoughts and views. The Buddha has stated that each person is his own saviour; “attahi attano natho.” Invariably, one’s freedom would depend only on the thoughts one entertains.
Furthermore, rationality embedded in Buddhism encourages democratic ideas and institutions. The Buddha made the Sangha; the community of monks, an absolutely democratic institution. He delivered the Dhamma freely and equally to all. He kept nothing back and never wished to extract from his disciples blind and submissive faith in him or his teachings. He insisted on discriminative examination and intelligent inquiry.
A Buddhist treatise on logic has further explained this attitude of true inquiry as follows. “As the wise test gold by burning, by cutting and rubbing it; so are you to accept my words after examining them and not merely out of regard for me.” Indeed, Buddhism is the only great religion of the world that is consciously and frankly based on a systematic and rational analysis of problems of life and of the way to its solutions.
In fact, the Buddha has been compared to a physician who makes a diagnosis of the illness, its causes and decides on the antidotes and the remedies and then proceeds to treat the patient systematically and with great precision.
In the same manner the Buddha has taught the Four Noble Truths namely; the realization of the nature of suffering, the cause of suffering and the method to bring an end to the suffering and achieve liberation. Accordingly, when a person realizes the Four Noble Truths he takes steps to overcome his unhappiness or suffering by reducing his craving and aversion which are the root causes of all evil actions.
(The writer was secretary to President Ranasinghe Premadasa)