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Title: Religion and Spirituality/Buddhism/What Is Buddhism - Buddhism As A Religion Is Buddhism a religion? An extensive analysis of Buddhism and its religious and non-religious aspects.
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Buddhism As A Religion Buddhism As A Religion   By Late Ven Dr.K.Sri Dhammananda Nayaka Maha Thera JSM  Since there are already so many religions in this world. Why is it necessary for us to have another religion called Buddhism? Is there any extraordinary characteristic or contribution or significant feature that Buddhism has which other religions do not have? There is a school of thought which says that all religions are essentially the same There are no significant differences The only difference is in the interpretation and practice After all in the final analysis, all of us end in one place, either heaven or hell That is the common belief of most religions Does Buddhism share this viewpoint? To answer this question we have to examine what is meant by religion Definition In the academic study of religion as a phenomenon in history the term 'religion' can be considered in its different aspects: as an inner experience as theology or intellectual formulation of doctrine. An a basis or source of ethics and as an element in culture. Different scholars have given different views and opinions of its nature and meaning According to Aldous Huxley religion is, among other things, a system of education, by means of which human beings may train themselves. First to make desirable changes in their own personalities and in society. and second. to heighten consciousness and so establish more adequate relations between themselves and the universe of which they are parts Modern Indian philosophers like or Radhakrishnan, have expounded the theme that religion is not a set of doctrines but that it is experience and religious experience is based on the realization of the 'presence of the divine in man'. H. G. Wells says 'religion is the central part of our education that determines our moral conduct' The German philosopher. Kant. stated that 'religion is the recognition of our moral principles as laws that must not be transgressed.' The Buddha's message as a religious way of life: "Keeping away from ail evil deeds, cultivation or life by doing good deeds and punfication of mind from mental impurities." For our purposes, religion may be defined in a very broad sense as a body of moral and philosophical teachings and the acceptance with confidence of such teachings In this sense. Buddhism is a religion. Buddhism however does not neatly fit into the general categories outlined earlier because it does not share common features with other existing religions in many ways To consider this matter further let us first of all briefly examine how religion could have come into being. Beginnings Why did religion originate? You might have heard that the origins of religion lie in man's fear. suspicion and insecurity In the days before organised religions began. people did not have adequate knowledge and they could nor understand the real nature of this life and what would happen to them after their deaths They could not understand even the causes oi natural phenomena or naturaloccurrences According to their limited understanding. They suspected there must be certain unknown forces which created all these pleasant or unpleasant things Eventually. They began to notice that there is an energy behind the forces of nature which they called 'shakti' They experienced an inexplicable sense of awe and dread towards these powers which they felt could harm them in some way They therefore felt that these powers must be placated and used to protect or at least to leave them alone Not trusting their ability to "talk" to these forces in ordinary language. they thought it would be more affective to mime their messages. Finally the actions to enlist the favor of these forces became ritualized into forms of worship Some people were identified as having special powers to communicate with these forces and they enjoyed great power in the group. After worshipping and praying early men thought they could control the undesirable occurrences and at the same time ensure a degree of protection as reward from these unseen forces or energies To help them better visualize what they were trying to communicate with they gave each force a name and a form - either conceiving it in human or in grotesque non-human form. but always evoking a sense of awe and fear As time went by. They forgot the original significance of these representations and look them for real and eventually accepted them as deities. Different cultures translated ideas and concepts into physical form and developed particular r tuals to honour and worship theseimapesasgods Lateraseariyurban settlement began and social control became neiessaiy certain practices were used as the bases to develop moral behaviour and to guide citizens in the correct path to ensure the well being of the community Thus developed concepts such as humanism. Human responsibilities and human values such as honesty. kindness, compassion. patience. tolerance. devotion unity and harmony. To ensure that these qualities would be further enhanced. the leaders instilled fear in the believers. threatening them with punishment by the gods in the life hereafter ii they did not behave in an accepted manner Religion was the result oi the fusion of moral behaviour and belief in the supernatural We will discuss Morality in greater detail later Concept of Cod This is how imagination and humanism eventually fused together to become religion Some people say that it is difficult to believe that any god created religion Perhaps we could say that man created religion and later introduced the concept of a god into religion An American philo- sopher Prof Whitehead. once stated that originally man crea:ed god and later god created man What he meant was that the concept oi god was created by man and later this concept was transformed into divinity On the other hand. a French philosopher. AnJtole France said that if the concept of god did not exist some how or other man would have created one because it is very irnpol?ant fur Iris psyche A divine power ii necessary to allay our innate fear. Suspicion worries. disturbances, anxiety .craving. To avoid problems we depend on an external force to give us solace Knowing the nature of the human mind. thereiare. Anatole France said that if a god did nor exist we would have to create one. In this sense we are just like children When a small baby is trying and tne mother is too busy to carry it, what she does is to pur a tear in its mouth to comfort it That will stop the baby from crying The concept of god helps many people in this manner. To stop their worries and dry their tears they develop various pacifiers in the form of religious beliefs and practices. The Buddha It was in a religious climate such as this that the Buddha appeared As a prince living in the lap of luxury he started to think very deeply on why living beings suffer in this world What is the cause of this suffering? he asked One day while he was sitting underr a tree as a young buy he saw a snake suddenly appear and catch a frog As the snake and the frog were struggling. an eagle swooped down from the sky and took away the snake with the irog still in its mouth That incident was the turning point for the young prince to renounce the worldly liie He began to think about how living beings on the earth and in the water survive by preyingon each other One life form tries to grab and the other tries to escape and this eternal battle will continue as long as the world exists This never-ending process of hunting and self preservation is the basis of our unhappiness It is the source of all suffering The Prince decided that he would discover the means to end this suffering. Renunciation He studied under various religious teachers and learnt everything they had to reach but was unable to discover how to end suffering He spent many years pondering this quest on Finally at the age of 29 he seriously contemplated on old age. sick ness. death and freedom through renuncia tion and decided that without giving up his worldly preoccupations and his responsibilities and pleasures it would be impossible for him to find the answer That s why he had to leave the palace in what is known as "The Great Renunciation'. After struggling for six years, which represented the culmination of endless life cycles of cultivation and struggle for spiritual development, he finally gained enlightenment and understood the secret of our suffering This was the beginning of another 'religious system'. But it was a religion like nothing anyone had known in the past In fact many people today do not even like to call Buddhism a religion. btùcause the word religion evokes a great many negative emotions in their minds. Beliefs and Practices in Ancient India There was no reason at all for the Buddha To introduce another religion because at that time 2000 years ago there were already 62 religious cults in India alone Since the existing religions during his time could not provide the answers to his questions he decided not to use the ingredients or concepts i,f these religions to introduce what he himself had realised What was the rrligious thinking in India at the time? 'God created everybody: god is responsible for everyfhing; god will reward: god can forgive all our sins: and god is rrsponrible for our lives a/ler our death: god will send us to heaven orhe will send us fo hell' These are the basic ingredients of al religions even today At the same time there were certain other religions also in India which taught that it was necessary for believers to torture their physical bodies. thinking that they could wash away ail their sins during their lifetimes so they could go to heaven after death Another religious group encouraged religious rites and rituals .and ceremonies and animal sacrifices to please their gods This group believed that through these practices they could go to heaven Some others again introduced prayer and worship and asked forgiveness for the sins committed The Buddha did not recognise the efficacy of all these practices Did The Buddha Make Any Promise? The Buddha did not promise heavenly bliss and rewards to those who called themselves his followers nor did he promise salvation to those who had faith in him To him religion was not a bargain but a noble way of life to gain enlightenment and salvation The Rurldha did nor want followers ùhùith blind faith; he wanted human beings to think and understand Buddhism is a noble path for living where humanism equality justice and peace reign supreme Revenge fulness, animosity. condemnation and resentment are alien to the Teaching. The world is indebted to the Buddha for the rise of rationalism as a protest against the superstitions of religion If is he who emancipated man from the thraldom oi the priests It is he who first showed the way to free man from the coils of hypocrisy and religious dictatorship. During the Buddha's time no religious practice was considered higher than the rites rituals and sacrifice of living beings to the gods: but to the Buddha no practice could be more humiliating or degrading to man A sacrifice is nothing more than bribery: and salvation won by bribery and corruption is not a salvation which any self respecting man would care to get. Religious Terminology But in introducing his doctrine. the Buddha did ustù Lhe existing religious terms current in India at the time because in this way he would he on familiar ground with his listeners They would grasp what he was alluding to and then he could proceed to develop his original ideas from this common ground. Dharma. Karmu. Nirvnna. Moksha. Niraya, Samsara, Atma are some words which were common to all religious groups during his time But in his teaching the Buddha gave very rational and unique meanings and interpretations to those existing religious terms. Dharma Let us take a look at the word dharma (or dhamma), for example The ancient interpretation given to the word dharma is 16 B.ddhlsnrsrrRellgion that it is a law given by the pod According .to ancient belief the god promised to appear from time to time to protect this dharma by taking different incarnations. The Buddha did not accept that any god could have given doctrines and commandments and religious laws The Buddha used the word dharma to describe his entire teaching Dharma means that which holds up. upholds. supports. The Buddha taught the dharma to help us escape the suffer ng caused by existence and to prevent us from degrading human dignity and descending into lower states such as hell. animal. the spirit or ghost or devil realms The dharma introduced by the Buddha holds and supports us and frees us from the misery of these realms It also means that if we follow the methods he advocates we will never get into such unfortunate circumstances as being born blind. crippled. deaf. dumb or rrad So in the Buddha's usage dharma is the advice given to support us in our struggle to be free from suffering and also to upgrade human values Western philosophers describe Buddhism as a noble way of life or as a religion of freedom and reason' . The Dharma is not an extraordinary law created by or given by anyone Our body itself is Dharma. Our mind itself is Dharma; the whole universe is Dharma. By understanding the nature of the physical body and the nature of the mind and worldly conditions we realize the Dharma The Buddha taught us to understand the nature of our existence rationally in a realistic way It concerns the life. here and now. of each sentient being and thus interrelatedly oi ail existence Usually when people talk about religion they ask, "What Is your faith?" They use the word "faith." The Buddha was not interested in, the development of "faith" in an absolute sense. although it can be useful in the preliminary stages of one's religious development. The danger of relying on faith alone without analytical knowledge is that it can make us into religious fanatics Those who allow faith to crystallize in their minds cannot see other peoples' point of view because they have already established in their minds that what they believe is alone the truth The Buddha insisted that one must not accept even his own Teachings on the basis of faith alone One must gain knowledge and then develop under;standing through study, discussion. meditation and finally contemplation Knowledge is one thing. understanding a another if there is understanding one can adjust ones life according to changing circumstances based on the knowledge one has We may have met learned people who know many things but are not realistic because their egoism their selfishness, their anger, their hatred do not allow them to gain unbiased mental attitudes and peace of mind When it is necessary to compromise we must know how to compromise When it is necessary to tolerate. we must know how to tolerate When it is necessary to stand firm we must stand firm, with dignity Karma Let us take another example. the word karma (or kamma) It simply means action If a person commits a bad karma it will be impossible for that person to escape from its bad effect Somehow or other he or she must lace the consequences that will follow According to ancient belief there is a god to operate the effect of this karma God punishes according to oneo bad karma god rewards according to own good karma The Buddha did not accept this belief He said there is no being or force which handles the operation of the effects of karma Karma itself will yield the result. as a neutral operation of the law of cause and effect He said we can avoid and. in some cases, even overcome the effect of karma if we act wisely He said we must never surrender ourselves fantastically thinking that ulre we have done bad action there can be no more hope Other religions teach that god can negate the effect of karma through forgiveness if the followers worship and pray and sacrifice But the Buddha teaches that we have to effect our salvation by our own effort and mental purity. "The Buddha can tell you what to do but he can not do the work for you." You have to do the work of salvation yourself The Buddha has clearly stated that no one can do any thing for another for salvation except show the way Therefore we must not depend on god. and not even depend on the Buddha. We must know what are the qualifies. duties. and responsibilities of being a human being He said that if we have committed certain bad karma. we should nor waste precious energy by being frustrated or disappointed in our effort to put it right. The first thing to do is to firmly resolve to stop repeating such bad karma by realising the harm it can do The second thing is to cultivate more and more good karma Thirdly we must fry to reduce evil thought. selfishness. hatred. anger jealousy. grudges, and ill-will In this way we can reduce the bad effect of the bad kaima that we commit This is the Buddha method for overcoming the bad effects He did not say we must pray to and worship him and that he would forgive all our sins. Purify and impurity of our mind depend on ourselves Neither god. Buddha. nor human being can pollute or purify one's mind I cannot create impurity In your mind. I cannot purify your mind But by taking my word or my action you create either purity or impurity within yourself Outsiders cannot do anything for your mind if your mind is strong enough to resist it That is why knowledge and understanding are important. The Buddha taught that what man needs for his happiness is not a religion or a mass of theories but an understanding of the cosmic nature of the universe and its complete operation according to the laws of cause and effect Until this fact is fully understood, man's understanding of life and existence will remain imperfect and faulty. 'The path that the Buddha showed us is believe. the only path humanity must tread If it is to escape disaster". ~ Jawaharlal Nehru Nirvana The Buddha never claimed to have created the Dharma What he discovered was the universal truth of the real nature or existence In fact some religious terms were already well known in India at that time But the Buddha's uniqueness is that he took existing concepts and gave them very refined meanings and much deeper significance For example. before the Buddha's time. "Nirvana" (or Nibbana) simply meant peace or extinction But he gave it entirely new dimensions oi meaning NI means "no" and VANA means "craving": No more craving no more attachment and no more selfishness We cannot experience Nirvana because we have craving. attachment and selfishness When we get rid of these defilement we can experience Nirvanic bliss It is difficult to experience true bliss because we have emotions and we crave for sensual gratification So long as we live this world of sensual pleasures we will never experience true happiness Of course it is true that we experience some kind of happiness in life but it cannot be termed "happiness" in the absolute sense of the word because it is not permanent We cannot gain bliss by harbouring anger or hatred, selfishness or delusion Occasionally. we do experience certain degrees of emotional satisfaction. But the nature of this happiness is lust like lightning. it is fleeting It appears on a moment and disappears the next True bliss is not like this If there is true bliss we will experience a permanent sense of calmness. satisfaction and tranquillity So the real purpose of our lives should be to purify ollr clouded, deluded. misled minds and free ourselves from worries and disturbances So long as we spend our time constantly solving problems, always looking over our shoulders. always wondering what to do next. we can never be at peace Develop the Mind The Buddha's advice is that we should be free from these distractions if we want to experience bliss This release must however be obtained by our own effort and come from within ourselves We cannot gain salvation from a god or the Buddha or from heaven We cannot get ultimate freedom through external agents Supernatural beings cannot help us to gain wisdom and final liberation no matter how much we worship them or praise them through penances. charms. mantras incantations and invocations and animal sacrifices. 'We are the results of what we were and we will be the results of what we are." Actions condition our happiness or unhappiness and finally secure our salvation Salvation or deliverance is an individual affair. just as each human being has to eat drink and digest and sleep for himself All karmic actions are maintained as part of our mental formations and remain there submerged We remain obvious of these past actions because the other mental activities cloud the mind which therefore cannot recall actions in the past When we develop our minds through meditation we arrest the distractions provided by the five senses When the mind is clear it reduces anxiety. craving. anger. jeaiousy and delusion The mind that is clear becomes energetic and alert This is when we can influence the mental activities and release enormous latent power This is psychic power IT is present in all of us: we only have to learn to release it through meditation. Another way of reaching the deposited melllal activities is by hypnotism Through hypnotism some people have developed a degree of psychic power. But it is not recommended because hypnotism depends on another agent and does not effect purification of the mind The Buddha advised his followers to cultivate and develop the latent power within them and showed them how to make the best use of their willpower and intelligence without being slaves to an unknown being to find eternal happiness Without blaming anybody else Buddhism also teaches that man is responsible for his own action Man should face the facts of life. and shoulder the responsibilities of iiie by fulfilling his duties and obligations to himself as well as to others His pain and pleasure are created by himself and he has the ability to get rid of his sufferings and maintain peace and happiness by understanding his weaknesses and using his own effort to overcome them Man's untrained mind is responsible for all the troubles. calamities; disturbances. unfavourable circumstances and even the changes of elements and matter Conversely man's mind can change unfortunate situations in the world and also can make it a peaceful. prosperous and happy place fur all to live This can be done only through the purification of mental energy. The Buddha's Method The Buddha's technique of teaching was different from that of the others He never gave prepared "public talks" or "lectures He always decided on a topic based on an immediate incident or observation One of the marks of the Buddha s genius and his skill as a teacher was his well-tried pedagogical practice of proceeding from the "known to the unknown." For example on one occasion as he and his followers were walking along a river bank he noticed a piece of wood floating downstream. He stopped and asked "What do you think of that piece of wood? What will happen to it?" One disciple answered. "it may land on an island in the middle of the river"; others said. "lt may get saturated with water and sink": "People will take it and cut it up for firewood" and 'It will complete its journey to the sea." Now who is correct? Who can accurately predict the fate of the piece of wood? The Buddha then explained that our life is lust like a piece of wood floating downstream, full of uncertainty. No one can say what will happen to us the next day or the next month His method was to take lessons from everyday life so that his teachings were always rooted in the here and now and totally relevant to human experience. In this way, he gave due credit to human beings to think freely, by using their common sense He did not introduce a religion to be practised slavishly out of fear and craving for any worldly gain. According to the Buddha a beautiful thought and word which is not followed by corresponding action is like a bright flower that has no scent and will bear no fruit. The eight fold path introduced by the Buddha is a planned course of inward culture and progress. By merely resorting to external worship. ceremonies and prayers, one can never make progress in righteousness and inner development Mere prayer for salvation. the Buddha says. is like "asking the farther bank or a river to come over so that one may get to the other side without personal effort." Self-Discovery Many religions claim that messages were revealed to mankind by a god However some rationalists ask. if there is only one god, and he had given his message for the benefit of all mankind. why are there so many different beliefs in the world? If the message was meant for the whole of the human race what was the difficulty for the god to announce his message publicly so that there would be no room for doubt or misinterpretation? Everybody would accept the message and there would be no religious friction and the whole world could just follow the one message of the god Many years ago, there was a religious seminar at the University of Malaya There were five speakers. One from each religion After they had talked. one student asked. "When we study our religion we get some information about this world and the universe and life. When we study science we get entirely different information This information contradicts our religions concepts. So 1 do not know what to accept. the reaching of my religion or the teaching of science." One of the speakers replied, "Well I believe that god gave his doctrines in the form of a message to one man who then spread it to others. so we mast believe the word of god." But the student persisted. "How do you know that the people to whom this message was conveyed understood it correctly? Could it not have been distorted and misinterpreted in their minds and then passed on to postenly?" The Buddha on the other hand never claimed anything like receiving knowledge from outside sources throughout his ministry he always asserted that his listeners were free to question him and challenge his teachings so that they could personally Iraiire the rru:h He said. "Come and see" (Ehipassiku). He did not say "Come and believe." Whenever he spoke anything, it was because he had personally tested the validity of the saying for himself as an ordinary human being He claimed no divinity He understood everything because he knew how he had to suffer during so many previous births for all the bad deeds he had committed through ignorance. He had learned the hard way. He advised his followers through his own experience He had done tremendous service to mankind by practising and observing the great (perfection) PARAMIS over countless lifetimes and finally experienced the supreme bliss We have to ask ourselves which is more reliable. the testimony oi one who speaks from personal experience or that of one who claims to have heard it from someone else who is always invisible. Section II Next Home |
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Is | Buddhism | a | religion? | | An | extensive | analysis | of | Buddhism | and | its | religious | and | non-religious | aspects. |
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