The direct encounter of the neutral mind is to make you sublimely calm, tranquil and serene. That tranquillity transforms the personality completely. Once that calmness settles in, you have achieved the miracle. The miracle of being the master of your mind. No one can intimidate you with attractions of the material world. The lustfulness of the world.
What attracts you is the welfare of the other. When your neighbours make a request from you, you are happy. The sounds and noises from the neighbours make you joyous as you empathise with them in their various chores. You help a family and like a bolt from the blues you learn that its breadwinner is not very honest. The pleasure of helping is somewhat shaken, but you continue to help on behalf of the children in the family who foster good values. One can enjoy a game of cricket and cheer your side but at the same time empathise with compassion the sad emotions of the loosing side. Your tranquil mind is poised in harmony at all times. If you are concerned about the country and its people you try to keep alert to learn from the external sources, whatever it be, market place, reports or the daily news to gather as much information on the progress, specially of the poor in the country. This way your heart is open with concern and looking for an opportunity to give your assistance, how-over small it is. This way you are living in the reality of your heart with its spontaneous flow of love, caring and concern for the other. The reality of living in ignorance is to cyclically, habitually, whirl on with wants for yourself and your family only. The inner flexibility and universal energy that is longing to be released In each one of us is suppressed through our blind ignorance. In emptiness there is no motion, no movement.
Therefore, no friction. There is absolute stillness and silence. What joy! What bliss in such a situation! As there is no fire of desire in it to extinguish, it is absolute nibbanic experience. 'Bliss' from the empty source should not be dismissed hurriedly as the dhamma. The effort to get there is enormous and how can you be morbid and depressed and try to annihilate that too which you have achieved as a clinging? The Vedic philosophy always reminds us that "Bliss is your birth-right." The dhamma is to discover our 'nature as it is' which is hidden within us. The unfolding, un-conditioning constantly practising the neutral mind and empty mind hits upon this bliss. Suppressing this bliss is like throwing the baby out with the bath water! With giant effort the Buddha discovered it and in bliss he remained the rest of his life, in perfect relaxation! In his abode of peace, shanti vihara.
The space is sacred as everything arises and returns to it. When our minds are innocent and empty vessels, intuitive wisdom flows to us on the truths, the laws of nature. To the Buddha wisdom flowed spontaneously in this way. Space is so vast that if we keep against it all solids, liquids, plasma, gases in the universe there is nothing at all! The high temperatures of the burning hydrogen in the sun gives out a gas called 'helium'. Helium spreads thinly in space between the sun and an object of matter like the earth-planet. Even atoms are hardly found in space, a few scattered in-between. In nature, sub-atomic particles are separated by huge spaces and every atom is more than 99.999 percent empty space.
Lverythmg in nature that we recognise as solids including our bodies, is made up mostly of apace.
Deepak Chopra (see references) explains this further in his book "Quantum Healing", a national best seller. In this book he states that thoughts have the power to convert non-matter to matter. Peace in the mind can create chemicals of well-being in the body. Although the same thing happens outside the body in nature the process is not called thinking.
When the mind is blissful and empty all harshnesshas gone and the open, flexible heart ticks every moment with love caring and concern only. It is a beautiful way of living the dhamma. They are wonderful experiences!You realise that the heart is linked with emptiness and the heart is the
centre of intuitive energy. The pure, compassionate vibrations draw on the divine wisdom. You live inspired by wisdom every moment. There is no boredom. The empty heart does not weigh things to find what is beneficial or not for you like when living with the intellect. Your life now is light, buoyant and positive. Anger, hatred, envy, greed and grasping are the negatives that weighed our lives down with heavy burdens. Now all heaviness is gone. The heart is open wide like a sunflower turning to the direction of the sun and radiating its infinite compassion on everything and everyone. Equalised compassion expands its warmth to the gutter or the palace, in the same instant. The heart vibrations are then not personal, impersonally reaching the infinite cosmic universal vibrations. The self that was turbulent has become selfless and immersed in the universal space of peace. There is nothing remaining as "I" to give you pain. You walk with sweet soothing slumber of deep peace. Your mind has exited its own 'mind culture' that kept you bound to painful samsara. Whether it be material objects and things or, and love, caring and concern for others that you open your heart generously to give now flows, naturally, spontaneously, without an iota of restraint. With the open heart generosity is your nature. When we are living with the heart duality of samsara is gone. You have captured the "oneness" of the astral dimension. You know it Ii 'oneness' because you move with equilibrium, balanced poise, peace of mind and harmony.
The mind that is neutral and empty is flexible, pliable and mouldable like fine clay one can mould a bird at one time and almost immediately a flower! This is because the mind is free, not in a box or a slot. The un-conditioning removes all fences allowing the subtle refined energy to expand and expand to the limitless infinite cosmos. No one can fence you anymore! A good example of rigidity are the ' birds and the bees'. Cyclically they go round and round with samsara. In the morning they wake up and go pecking for food. Then they have sex and little ones and look for defence and security. This habitual cycle makes them cling to their species. Because of this clinging they are born again to the same species. It may go on forever. Time and the place must be mature to nip this cycle and release them to a higher evolution. When, Oh when will that ever be! Like this, human beings may go on in ignorance with their habitual chores till that wisdom dawns at the right time and place to make the giant effort to nip the cycle.
Some are dedicated to service to others and may experience expansion of subtle energy. When their energy is expanding they know because they want to work for others without 'self. Without self means they work without a return whatsoever. Not even appreciation. Somehow sooner or later you will realise that this is not adequate if one is looking for release from samsara. As long as desire lasts samsara will last. If service is your desire you will get it in this birth and the next. There are "near death reports" that speaks of continuing service to others in the spirit realms. Mind is again fixed here without its innate liberty. With understanding and wisdom one can combine this noble service with the practise of the neutral mind and mind empty of thoughts. Liberty of the mind comes in no other way. One has to exit even the "mind culture" for absolute liberty and the ultimate reality of eternal peace. Long journey in samsara with birth, death and birth again must end to gain that ultimate reality of nibbuna. Even desire for religion can tie you down lo a box or a 'mind culture' and its rituals, without an exit into the peace of emptiness and infinite liberty.
Once we discover the space in our mind the universe is within us. Unmanifested space outside in the universe is the source where everything arises and returns to. The subtle energy expands. The energy heat from the sun is weightless and therefore, matterless. This light reaches the earth or another body of matter in rays. We call it rays because dot by dot it is a tiny squiggle, not like the gross waves of the sea going up and down, back and forth. This straight line like a ray is effective in transforming energy from one to another. It is a machine made x-ray ray that penetrates even matter. It is the venue of the scientist to find out whether disciplining, controlling, training, and developing the mind through meditation practises makes the expansion energy spiral, circular form or move in waves or in straight line motion. My experience and knowledge says that it is a dot by dot motion in a straight-line expansion.
When being empty of thought the body and mind is in deep relaxation. In perfect relaxation your energy is renewed and recharged. With constant practice of emptying the mind renewal is followed by expansion. They both go together. Sleep comes naturally. It is deep sleep that you experience without dreams and you touch your source, that is, before you were born. Your original home and your mind's energy renewed and refreshed. It is when at the awakening stage when the conscious mind intervenes that you are disturbed by weird, mixed dreams of this world and you feel very tired. It is not the astral world but this world that is packed with conflicts. The dreams assimilate the turbulences. Emptying the mind is emptying every thing including disturbing weird dreams. Then peace is within your nature every moment.
Neutral Mind and its Cosmic Expansion - Erika Dias - Page 3
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Mind and Space
A person experiencing the neutral mind can feel one's universal energy expanding. Selfless in the sense that he lives without expectations of any kind from any person, even from his son. The mind is not personal but impersonal and, therefore, not turbulent. If the mind is not with self then it has to be with the other. He lives with the heart with love, caring and concern for the other only. This is the arahant stage when the harsh intellect is disbanded and he lives with the flexible open heart. Here the universal cosmic energy expands and expands. You live for the welfare of others. Even the dirty beggar boy on the streets you can embrace as your own. The harsh intellect that constantly ridicules, condemns, dissect, analyse, compare, identifies and so on are gone. You realise the utility value of the intellect only. Like a can-opener you use it at times for understanding and to live with wisdom and then discard. Most of the time, live with this wonderful heart where it is the centre of the expanding infinite cosmic energy. All purified energy emanates from this thousand-petal lotus centre. The Omega -point or the mother-love originates from here. Like a mother to her only child selflessly devotes herself she has discovered her mission in coming to samsaric life. That is, through mother love discover "true affection". Then the next Giant Step is to be a universal mother. Expand that discovered "true affection" from the nuclear family to the limitless universe with the same flavour of a true mother. It is then one goes beyond sam-sara.
The saint and the sages that operate only with the heart radiate the rainbow coloured astral aura to the skies. When the Kirlian instrument (invented by Kirlian, the Russian) was held against a saint, the saint's aura expanded to the skies. All that was within the aura, the bacteria, the plants, the animals, the man and the stellar systems were blessed with well-being. We hear of saints living in forest caves leaving their abodes temporarily visiting the distraught urban people and showering them with blessings of well-being. Gross to refinement the energy is refined in solitude in the caves the saints know when their subtle energy is expanding and can universally reach the others for their well-being.
A European experience during the Second World War indicates that neutral mind vibrations have its own returns. I think it was in Holland, when most people took the sides of the Allies or the enemy, there was a small group who did not take sides. It is said that this group continued to get parcels of food during the thick of the war and never suffered from starvation!
When we live in samsara it is the never-ending dualistic nature we encounter. When there is the sunny-side of the mountain there is the shady-side of the mountain. If there is a woman there is a man. If there is water there is fire. If there is a back there is a front and so on and so on. Polarity exists and continues. From these dualities we should learn spiritual skills to manipulate living by living like a coin. The neutral mind seeks a distance for calm, serene, tranquillity of nature. If we can train ourselves to live like a coin, detachment on the side of heads and attachment on the side of tails, independent but together we master the skills of tranquil living. When we do not expect anything from any one or from any task we can fully commit our self to the other or the task and work towards the mission, and even be committed with feelings. But at the same time we can nurture our independence and distance ourselves from the hub of bonds by unclinging and enjoying that space in the mind without calling it 'detachment'. This word 'detachment' gives the wrong connotation of being cold to the other or 'indifferent'. Once you slow down your systems of body-mind you come to a stage when silence and stillness is within you. It is here, there and everywhere, in and out. You walk with it, move with it. That stillness and silence makes you fearless like a lion. You are mountain-solid with slow reaction. When reaction settles in already the 'distance' between you and the other or between you and the thought has tranquillised you. This applies to 'anger', 'excitement', 'happiness', 'thoughts' of likes and dislikes and so on. However, it is wrong to believe that a calm, serene, tranquil person is not fit for modern living, specially walking in the busy streets or driving a vehicle in the thick of traffic. Mindfulness that he has gained from spiritual exercise makes him alert, attentive and aware. He experiences think of thoughts how to change the mind of a person who is bitterly against you like an angry sister-in-law. Then you are in control of your mind and not the mind the master of you playing havoc with you with the sister-in-law's accusations. Do not let your past invade your thoughts, I mean your dead memory, and take away that beautiful pure space from your present mind. The thoughts that jabber away from the past, present and of the future can make the mind vulnerable, turbulent and bring torture. You create your own hell when there are so many openings to paradise.
In spiritual progress practising EMPTINESS is a direct experience of Nibbana. When you know what peace is in space you are with the bliss of emptiness. This way is the way of emptying thoughts from the mind and discovering the space in the mind. It makes the mind open, flexible without discrimination. You never realise till the mind opens up with its space what fantastic, immeasurable vastness you are merged in. You are so tiny, solid or not solid, that any giant problem of yours Instantly disappears like fireworks in vast blue skies. Link the mind with space and flexibly the mind stretches and stretches removing restraints and stress. You are relaxed and In well-being all the time. You can stretch and stretch your mind like a rubber band till it snaps. When it snaps you know there are no limits. Its immeasurable, unmanifested vastness can accommodate anything, any problem flexibly.
You can try emptying your thoughts in a peaceful corner for five minutes, ten minutes, one hour and so on and strike on the deep relaxation of body and mind. You can empty your thoughts focusing on the white ceiling. One who had achieved this through constant practice asked me "can I go on like this for 24 hours?" I told him he is a lucky man if he can manage that in samsara.
How does one function with a neutral mind and its twin sister 'emptiness'? The twins are not identical but from the same source, the mother of purity. Earlier I spoke about a banyan tree. If you succeed to see 'nature as it is' then when you look at the banyan tree messages will not come from the tree for you to interpret, dissect and analyse. You see the wholeness of it, not in parts of good and bad. When the telephone rings at the wrong time you do not ask your son to lie and say, "my mother is in the bath", or "she is not at home", only train your son to take a message down for you to call back. Without your intellect accusing you or the other all the time, innocent trust of the world lighten the burdens of the mind. If your loyal helper who works for you has a bad dream and wants to visit home, take that message without questioning and make all arrangements for him to complete his mission. He is not a liar nor is he faking. You say you care for him but till he comes back you are restless. Are you truly concerned for him or are you missing his personal service and feeling sorry for yourself? This type of thinking help you to get back to the relaxed emptiness and get inspiration to do your own work. Ultimately we know nothing is a permanent arrangement. There are times when someone is shouting at you. Perhaps it is a family member or your sister-in-law. There is no reaction from you. Instead your inside is bursting with laughter! You see in samsara all these disturbances will also subside eventually. You are eternally a witness. A witness some times to the ripples on a river or the thundering waves of the ocean. That is, 'living moment to moment in nature as it is.
The deep blue stillness of the ocean is there in everyone. Some day the thundering waves will find its home, its innate stillness and silence. Till that day, the ripples and the thundering waves will go on. The depths of the ocean is our super-consciousness which is experienced as emptiness and space and it is here, there and everywhere. In and out. As I said earlier all things arise from it and returns to it. Without this sacred consciousness we are dead. When we experience it there are no words to describe its divine quality. We may try to verbalise it and call it the grace of God or Nibbana.
Neutral Mind and Its Cosmic Expansion - Erika Dias - Page 2
...Read more!
The saint and the sages that operate only with the heart radiate the rainbow coloured astral aura to the skies. When the Kirlian instrument (invented by Kirlian, the Russian) was held against a saint, the saint's aura expanded to the skies. All that was within the aura, the bacteria, the plants, the animals, the man and the stellar systems were blessed with well-being. We hear of saints living in forest caves leaving their abodes temporarily visiting the distraught urban people and showering them with blessings of well-being. Gross to refinement the energy is refined in solitude in the caves the saints know when their subtle energy is expanding and can universally reach the others for their well-being.
A European experience during the Second World War indicates that neutral mind vibrations have its own returns. I think it was in Holland, when most people took the sides of the Allies or the enemy, there was a small group who did not take sides. It is said that this group continued to get parcels of food during the thick of the war and never suffered from starvation!
When we live in samsara it is the never-ending dualistic nature we encounter. When there is the sunny-side of the mountain there is the shady-side of the mountain. If there is a woman there is a man. If there is water there is fire. If there is a back there is a front and so on and so on. Polarity exists and continues. From these dualities we should learn spiritual skills to manipulate living by living like a coin. The neutral mind seeks a distance for calm, serene, tranquillity of nature. If we can train ourselves to live like a coin, detachment on the side of heads and attachment on the side of tails, independent but together we master the skills of tranquil living. When we do not expect anything from any one or from any task we can fully commit our self to the other or the task and work towards the mission, and even be committed with feelings. But at the same time we can nurture our independence and distance ourselves from the hub of bonds by unclinging and enjoying that space in the mind without calling it 'detachment'. This word 'detachment' gives the wrong connotation of being cold to the other or 'indifferent'. Once you slow down your systems of body-mind you come to a stage when silence and stillness is within you. It is here, there and everywhere, in and out. You walk with it, move with it. That stillness and silence makes you fearless like a lion. You are mountain-solid with slow reaction. When reaction settles in already the 'distance' between you and the other or between you and the thought has tranquillised you. This applies to 'anger', 'excitement', 'happiness', 'thoughts' of likes and dislikes and so on. However, it is wrong to believe that a calm, serene, tranquil person is not fit for modern living, specially walking in the busy streets or driving a vehicle in the thick of traffic. Mindfulness that he has gained from spiritual exercise makes him alert, attentive and aware. He experiences think of thoughts how to change the mind of a person who is bitterly against you like an angry sister-in-law. Then you are in control of your mind and not the mind the master of you playing havoc with you with the sister-in-law's accusations. Do not let your past invade your thoughts, I mean your dead memory, and take away that beautiful pure space from your present mind. The thoughts that jabber away from the past, present and of the future can make the mind vulnerable, turbulent and bring torture. You create your own hell when there are so many openings to paradise.
In spiritual progress practising EMPTINESS is a direct experience of Nibbana. When you know what peace is in space you are with the bliss of emptiness. This way is the way of emptying thoughts from the mind and discovering the space in the mind. It makes the mind open, flexible without discrimination. You never realise till the mind opens up with its space what fantastic, immeasurable vastness you are merged in. You are so tiny, solid or not solid, that any giant problem of yours Instantly disappears like fireworks in vast blue skies. Link the mind with space and flexibly the mind stretches and stretches removing restraints and stress. You are relaxed and In well-being all the time. You can stretch and stretch your mind like a rubber band till it snaps. When it snaps you know there are no limits. Its immeasurable, unmanifested vastness can accommodate anything, any problem flexibly.
You can try emptying your thoughts in a peaceful corner for five minutes, ten minutes, one hour and so on and strike on the deep relaxation of body and mind. You can empty your thoughts focusing on the white ceiling. One who had achieved this through constant practice asked me "can I go on like this for 24 hours?" I told him he is a lucky man if he can manage that in samsara.
How does one function with a neutral mind and its twin sister 'emptiness'? The twins are not identical but from the same source, the mother of purity. Earlier I spoke about a banyan tree. If you succeed to see 'nature as it is' then when you look at the banyan tree messages will not come from the tree for you to interpret, dissect and analyse. You see the wholeness of it, not in parts of good and bad. When the telephone rings at the wrong time you do not ask your son to lie and say, "my mother is in the bath", or "she is not at home", only train your son to take a message down for you to call back. Without your intellect accusing you or the other all the time, innocent trust of the world lighten the burdens of the mind. If your loyal helper who works for you has a bad dream and wants to visit home, take that message without questioning and make all arrangements for him to complete his mission. He is not a liar nor is he faking. You say you care for him but till he comes back you are restless. Are you truly concerned for him or are you missing his personal service and feeling sorry for yourself? This type of thinking help you to get back to the relaxed emptiness and get inspiration to do your own work. Ultimately we know nothing is a permanent arrangement. There are times when someone is shouting at you. Perhaps it is a family member or your sister-in-law. There is no reaction from you. Instead your inside is bursting with laughter! You see in samsara all these disturbances will also subside eventually. You are eternally a witness. A witness some times to the ripples on a river or the thundering waves of the ocean. That is, 'living moment to moment in nature as it is.
The deep blue stillness of the ocean is there in everyone. Some day the thundering waves will find its home, its innate stillness and silence. Till that day, the ripples and the thundering waves will go on. The depths of the ocean is our super-consciousness which is experienced as emptiness and space and it is here, there and everywhere. In and out. As I said earlier all things arise from it and returns to it. Without this sacred consciousness we are dead. When we experience it there are no words to describe its divine quality. We may try to verbalise it and call it the grace of God or Nibbana.
Neutral Mind and Its Cosmic Expansion - Erika Dias - Page 2
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Thursday, March 05, 2009
Neutral Mind and its Cosmic Expansion
If we can learn in our daily living to function like an objective scientist we learn to think in precision and learn in precision. Science surprisingly goes parallel to spirituality. Just as in science in spirituality we function with unknown entities. In the physical we cannot with our naked eyes see the atoms, the gases, the plasma, the molecules and so on. In the same way with our naked eyes we cannot see our aura, all psychic formations like the thinking process and results in changes in body. With more and more sensitive instruments developed by man in both these sciences it would in the future be possible not only visualise the unknown but verbally understand in simple measurable terms. We are familiar daily with feelings, perceptions, thinking and consciousness. All these four aspects are interlinked. They are psychological aspects yet to be known with precision and clarity. They are closely linked to the six sense out-lets in us and they function so fast that the combinations are not recognised instantly. If we learn the art of being perfectly mindful we learn quickly that the six senses are all the time playing the fool with you and taking you far away from enlightenment qualities hidden within your true nature.
It is possible to side track this lengthy samsaric sensuous journey to nibbana by taking the proverbial bull by the horns, to twist to turn and battle without injury to anyone or break the delicate china in the china-shop. When we try to live the dhamma every moment, we, the lay people, are holding the bull by the horns. A monk's life is different. The Buddha takes care of his enlightenment path. However, the lay path of the householder is tough. Eventually everyone arrives to the same summit. Experiencing infinite space, infinite consciousness, not leaning on anyone, absolute self-confidence, bliss in emptiness through and through the body and mind, all heaviness from anger, hatred, envy, greed and grasping gone, a buoyant, light happiness living with the heart of love, caring, and concern only. Nurturing every moment a positive, joyous mind and so on and so on of those beautiful Nibbanic qualities.
To nurture a neutral mind and move like an objective scientist thinking in precision one has to watch the mind every moment. We have to watch our likes, dislikes and nurture the in-between only. If we can treat life like a never ending experiment, objectively watching every move likes a perfect witness or a perfect judge you observe without likes and dislikes. You watch the drama of life as watching a video-film. How much provocative the film is you cannot quarrel with any part of the film. Soon you realise that all of it is simply vibrations forming and disappearing.
To take an example of a food item we like not to psychically demand it with greed but learn to keep a distance between your demanding thought for the food item and yourself and hoping eventually neutral thinking comes through. It will be the same with a dislike or aversion. For instance your dislike for a person is constantly coming through you learn with distancing yourself from that person. Psychically you can visualise removing the emotional hook to that person each time thoughts of despise escalate in you and you experience the twitch of pain. If the links are too close like a brother or a sister you may have to practice removing the imaginary psychic hook over and over many times to get that distance and the neutrality. Constant pain calls for constant practice. Once the distance is captured and the hurt is gone you can think of him in the fresh moment. That is by living in the present. When you meet him next, to you his past is no more. There are no nasty assessments. You will see him as if seeing him for the first time.
Your reactions will be positive and pleasant. As the hurt and pain in you has gone compassion and well-being for him flows to you spontaneously. What more can you give?
You learn to verbalise in precision. No exaggerations or understatements. No distortion whatever. No slandering, no hurt to anyone. You "say things as they are". You talk like the Buddha and the Christ.
When our mind is neutralised we do not nonstop argue that we are right. There is nothing that is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. There is always a "just is".
When the Buddha was denying his body of food and fasting under a tree and opened his eyes he saw a boat coming down the river painfully slow, then instantly wisdom flowed to him. When the ropes of the boat are too loose or too tight boat's function is impaired. It has to be just right!
Although we can wean away from evil and the clutches of the 'mara'we must not remain elated in our thoughts about the good. We must remain in equanimity for the peace mind we seek through practising a neutral mind. Every time you do good you at the same time learn to let go to keep a neutral mind. So the mind remains in-between good and bad.
The same applies to remaining elated with positivity. Equanimity must reign however one feels wonderful in elation. Neutral mind beats one done to the expansion of energy in a straight line, not up and down and back and forth like the waves of an ocean. Such turbulent motion is gross. All vibrations begin with a dot and ends with a dot like the TV waves. Dot by dot in straight-line motion is the equilibrium expansion of purified energy through controlling and disciplining and training the mind. When you hold the bull by the horns and twist with the bull you come to a stage when you learn to be a witness - to see other's likes and dislikes but without your own likes and dislikes. When in twisting and turning you learn to manipulate without hurting others the bull's wild strength diminishes and you have in your hands a light, tamed bull! What happiness that is!
When energy is still gross in us we experience "boiling" anger not just irritations. The anger is untrained, therefore a habit, a reflex reaction from the habitual subconscious mind. The reaction of anger is instant, comes and hits without a warning.
It is by slowing down our mind-physical system through a course of disciplining, controlling, training and developing that the anger reaction is slowed down. Equanimity settles in. So slowing down through meditation practices is very powerful. It transforms the personality.
More and more your mind experiences the 'just is', that is, 'nature as it is', mind is calm, serene and tranquil. Strong views disappear. For and against arguments are there but only with the intent of understanding using the intellect and instantly going back to your 'just is' nature of calm, serene, tranquillity. You see the banyan tree as a banyan tree. Not say it gives shade or its branches are twisted. Learning to non-judge all the time makes you relaxed all the time. Very often the mind without refinement is petty. It creates aversions even to looks of persons. Most of it is your undisciplined imagination and speculations. You will realise one day it is unjust to harbour thoughts of this nature.
When you live without yesterday and tomorrow, just capturing the fresh moment you can experience the cosmic eternity. You are ageless. Worry with the change with time is gone. You experience timeless-ness. Yesterday's memories do not bother you. It does not leave an imprint to dwell upon. You learn to associate with perfect selfless feelings for the other butalso instantly dissociate and enjoy a free mind. It does not mean you cannot link up with the person again but connections are moment by moment, freeing instantly giving relaxation and then linking again for the welfare of the other. The mind is eternally in timeless space. It is peace in space while moving with chores and persons. It is peace in space that moves with you like a solid mountain that puzzles people and may wrongly call you "un-moving", "unemotional" and "indifferent". When we die we know from the many "near-death experiences" reported we may go into another dimension - the astral timeless dimension. Here "solitude" stays like a bubble of inspiration never ending in boredom because your astral energy (electro-magnetic body) is enwrapped in an invigorating environment of love, empathy, understanding through empathy, wisdom and a soothing peace of well-being. The mind in the fresh present when involved in a task, with no hurry to complete, gives such wonderful feeling of stress-free joy of well-being.
The space in the mind inspires one with a continuing bliss and solitude with stillness and silence and in itself is the peace you have ultimately captured from that never ending turbulences of samsara. Once you have captured this ultimate emptiness, the peace, you learn the art of retaining it at any cost to you, even if you have to move heaven and earth. Solitude that harbours peace and bliss you seek every moment for your well-being. The natural sounds of 'nature as it is' without sound pollution from radios and TVs comes with it the inspiring bliss of still peace where boredom never stays. We may call this bliss 'shanti suka', a combination of Sanskrit and Pali, that is 'peace-happiness' or 'ananda' in Sanskrit. It is the 'ananda' the Vedantic Hindus • experience at their liberation "moksha" when they experience "sat-chit-ananda" or the "truth, consciousness and bliss" - their ultimate reality.
Neutral Mind and its Cosmic Expansion - Erika Dias - Page 1
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It is possible to side track this lengthy samsaric sensuous journey to nibbana by taking the proverbial bull by the horns, to twist to turn and battle without injury to anyone or break the delicate china in the china-shop. When we try to live the dhamma every moment, we, the lay people, are holding the bull by the horns. A monk's life is different. The Buddha takes care of his enlightenment path. However, the lay path of the householder is tough. Eventually everyone arrives to the same summit. Experiencing infinite space, infinite consciousness, not leaning on anyone, absolute self-confidence, bliss in emptiness through and through the body and mind, all heaviness from anger, hatred, envy, greed and grasping gone, a buoyant, light happiness living with the heart of love, caring, and concern only. Nurturing every moment a positive, joyous mind and so on and so on of those beautiful Nibbanic qualities.
To nurture a neutral mind and move like an objective scientist thinking in precision one has to watch the mind every moment. We have to watch our likes, dislikes and nurture the in-between only. If we can treat life like a never ending experiment, objectively watching every move likes a perfect witness or a perfect judge you observe without likes and dislikes. You watch the drama of life as watching a video-film. How much provocative the film is you cannot quarrel with any part of the film. Soon you realise that all of it is simply vibrations forming and disappearing.
To take an example of a food item we like not to psychically demand it with greed but learn to keep a distance between your demanding thought for the food item and yourself and hoping eventually neutral thinking comes through. It will be the same with a dislike or aversion. For instance your dislike for a person is constantly coming through you learn with distancing yourself from that person. Psychically you can visualise removing the emotional hook to that person each time thoughts of despise escalate in you and you experience the twitch of pain. If the links are too close like a brother or a sister you may have to practice removing the imaginary psychic hook over and over many times to get that distance and the neutrality. Constant pain calls for constant practice. Once the distance is captured and the hurt is gone you can think of him in the fresh moment. That is by living in the present. When you meet him next, to you his past is no more. There are no nasty assessments. You will see him as if seeing him for the first time.
Your reactions will be positive and pleasant. As the hurt and pain in you has gone compassion and well-being for him flows to you spontaneously. What more can you give?
You learn to verbalise in precision. No exaggerations or understatements. No distortion whatever. No slandering, no hurt to anyone. You "say things as they are". You talk like the Buddha and the Christ.
When our mind is neutralised we do not nonstop argue that we are right. There is nothing that is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. There is always a "just is".
When the Buddha was denying his body of food and fasting under a tree and opened his eyes he saw a boat coming down the river painfully slow, then instantly wisdom flowed to him. When the ropes of the boat are too loose or too tight boat's function is impaired. It has to be just right!
Although we can wean away from evil and the clutches of the 'mara'we must not remain elated in our thoughts about the good. We must remain in equanimity for the peace mind we seek through practising a neutral mind. Every time you do good you at the same time learn to let go to keep a neutral mind. So the mind remains in-between good and bad.
The same applies to remaining elated with positivity. Equanimity must reign however one feels wonderful in elation. Neutral mind beats one done to the expansion of energy in a straight line, not up and down and back and forth like the waves of an ocean. Such turbulent motion is gross. All vibrations begin with a dot and ends with a dot like the TV waves. Dot by dot in straight-line motion is the equilibrium expansion of purified energy through controlling and disciplining and training the mind. When you hold the bull by the horns and twist with the bull you come to a stage when you learn to be a witness - to see other's likes and dislikes but without your own likes and dislikes. When in twisting and turning you learn to manipulate without hurting others the bull's wild strength diminishes and you have in your hands a light, tamed bull! What happiness that is!
When energy is still gross in us we experience "boiling" anger not just irritations. The anger is untrained, therefore a habit, a reflex reaction from the habitual subconscious mind. The reaction of anger is instant, comes and hits without a warning.
It is by slowing down our mind-physical system through a course of disciplining, controlling, training and developing that the anger reaction is slowed down. Equanimity settles in. So slowing down through meditation practices is very powerful. It transforms the personality.
More and more your mind experiences the 'just is', that is, 'nature as it is', mind is calm, serene and tranquil. Strong views disappear. For and against arguments are there but only with the intent of understanding using the intellect and instantly going back to your 'just is' nature of calm, serene, tranquillity. You see the banyan tree as a banyan tree. Not say it gives shade or its branches are twisted. Learning to non-judge all the time makes you relaxed all the time. Very often the mind without refinement is petty. It creates aversions even to looks of persons. Most of it is your undisciplined imagination and speculations. You will realise one day it is unjust to harbour thoughts of this nature.
When you live without yesterday and tomorrow, just capturing the fresh moment you can experience the cosmic eternity. You are ageless. Worry with the change with time is gone. You experience timeless-ness. Yesterday's memories do not bother you. It does not leave an imprint to dwell upon. You learn to associate with perfect selfless feelings for the other butalso instantly dissociate and enjoy a free mind. It does not mean you cannot link up with the person again but connections are moment by moment, freeing instantly giving relaxation and then linking again for the welfare of the other. The mind is eternally in timeless space. It is peace in space while moving with chores and persons. It is peace in space that moves with you like a solid mountain that puzzles people and may wrongly call you "un-moving", "unemotional" and "indifferent". When we die we know from the many "near-death experiences" reported we may go into another dimension - the astral timeless dimension. Here "solitude" stays like a bubble of inspiration never ending in boredom because your astral energy (electro-magnetic body) is enwrapped in an invigorating environment of love, empathy, understanding through empathy, wisdom and a soothing peace of well-being. The mind in the fresh present when involved in a task, with no hurry to complete, gives such wonderful feeling of stress-free joy of well-being.
The space in the mind inspires one with a continuing bliss and solitude with stillness and silence and in itself is the peace you have ultimately captured from that never ending turbulences of samsara. Once you have captured this ultimate emptiness, the peace, you learn the art of retaining it at any cost to you, even if you have to move heaven and earth. Solitude that harbours peace and bliss you seek every moment for your well-being. The natural sounds of 'nature as it is' without sound pollution from radios and TVs comes with it the inspiring bliss of still peace where boredom never stays. We may call this bliss 'shanti suka', a combination of Sanskrit and Pali, that is 'peace-happiness' or 'ananda' in Sanskrit. It is the 'ananda' the Vedantic Hindus • experience at their liberation "moksha" when they experience "sat-chit-ananda" or the "truth, consciousness and bliss" - their ultimate reality.
Neutral Mind and its Cosmic Expansion - Erika Dias - Page 1
...Read more!
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Action, Livelihood, Economics and Buddhism
Action and Work
ACTION IN BUDDHISM is understood by the often misconstrued term "karma." Work, or labour, as forms of action, are therefore to be understood in the context of Buddhist teachings on karma. The primary value of any action lies in its ethical consequences. For the way we act determines not only the future quality of life but also establishes the tendencies and habits which influence subsequent behaviour. Far from being a doctrine of fate, the teaching on karma insists on the centrality of choice. On many occasions the Buddha defined "action" as "intention." But this does not mean that the value of an action is subjectively determined solely by the quality of one's intentions. Action is ethically evaluated by the entire context in which it takes place: the intentions behind it, its impact on others, the nature of the act itself, as well as whether or not it reaches completion.
Meaningful work, therefore, is that which is both freely chosen and entered into with a sense of ethical responsibility. As principles of action, there are five basic ethical precepts in Buddhism: Refraining from (1) killing, (2) stealing, (3) sexual misconduct, (4) lying, and (5) intoxication.
These could also be interpreted as a framework for developing an understanding of economic activity. To refrain from intentionally taking life has implications from agricultural policy to military spending. From a Buddhist perspective harmlessness should characterise all human relations and all relations between humans and nature. To refrain from stealing invites a reflection on the conservation of scarce resources for the benefit of others, including future generations, whose absence from today's markets cannot be interpreted as silent consent for high rates of present consumption.
As the world's population grows and its natural resources are depleted, to refrain from sexual misconduct demands that individuals and governments accept responsibility for planning the size of the global family.
Refraining from unskilful speech condemns the deliberate creation of wants by, for example, high-pressure advertising, and the unrealistic raising of economic expectations. Likewise, to refrain from intoxication cautions against allowing consumer spending to become either a personal addiction or the single criterion for macroeconomic success.
Although traditionally phrased in terms of restraint, the precepts implicitly encourage the positive virtues of cherishing life, respecting the property of others, maintaining sexual integrity, being honest and truthful in one's dealings with others, and valuing clarity and coherence of consciousness.
Generosity, as the pre-eminent Buddhist virtue, is both a spontaneous expression of selfless, impartial concern for the well-being of others, and a deliberate means of enhancing the quality of one's own life. Melford Spiro, in his study of Buddhism in rural Burmese society, observes that the formal practice of generosity -particularly religious giving - is apowerful motive for work and for moderating one's own personal consumption. As savings are "invested" in riskless religious generosity rather than in risky capital accumulation, so the rate of economic growth is held in check. Taken to extremes, this could prove an obstacle to economic development; the Buddha's advice, cited below, concerning the optimal proportions of saving, spending and reinvesting one's income can thus be seen as a wise counterbalance.
Forgoing excessive present consumption in favour of long-term investment in artificial and environmental assets is an act of generosity to future generations. Generosity between nations, rich to poor, reduces inequalities in economic growth. As exemplified by the Edicts of King Ashoka, one of the classical virtues of a good king or government is to implement a compassionate welfare policy towards the most disadvantaged members of society. Finally, generosity is included among the sangahavatthu, qualities which make for group integration or social cohesion, together with atthacariya, voluntary service - so that paid and voluntary work have equal value - and samanattata, meaning equality, impartiality and participation.
Right Livelihood
BUDDHISM RECOGNISES THAT a life committed to the ending of suffering involves far more than just personal transformation through silent contemplation. Although such contemplation may be the pre-eminent value in a Buddhist life, the Buddha understood that to be meaningful, even possible, it requires a philosophical and ethical context. And as part of this ethical context, he spoke of "Right Livelihood."
Traditionally, right livelihood has been explained as avoiding those kinds of work that evidently entail harm being caused to oneself and others: working as a slaughterer, an arms-manufacturer, a publican, a dealer in poisons or a trader in human life. Today, however, as we live and work in a world of far greater complexity, where the apparently simple acts of buying and selling have repercussions on people's lives around the world, the ethics of rightlivelihood mustbe accordingly re-evaluated. The implications of even driving a car or drinking a cup of coffee have social, environmental and economic consequences far beyond the limits of our immediate experience, which we are morally obliged to take into account From this perspective, inner spiritual transformation is just as dependent upon the effect of our economic life upon the world as transformations in the world are dependent upon spiritual re-orientation.
Buddhism holds that economic behaviour is a manifestation of social attitudes, and these in turn reflect social values. The ideal social values are the four qualities termed brahma-vihara, the "sublime states" of (1) loving-kindess, the wish for the welfare and happiness of others; (2) compassion, empathy with those afflicted with suffering; (3) sympathetic joy, rejoicing in the success and happiness of others; and (4) equanimity, the capacity to regard all beings equally, free from favouritism and bias. Although originally taught as exercises in meditation, they can also be viewed as positing the ideal relationships which the individual should establish with his or her fellows in society. As applied to economics, they imply an order where competition and exploitation are replaced by cooperation in the pursuit of shared goals and the alleviation of misery.
The Buddha himself did not speak at length about the actual tasks of social change or economic reform. On many occasions, however, the Pali Canon - the earliest record of the Buddha's teaching - records his giving advice about how to conduct one's economic relationships in a way that accorded with the Dharma. He said that in his or her work, a Buddhist should be energetic, industrious, diligent, skilful, proficient and prudent. People should protect their earnings, keep good company and live within their means. Wealth, he taught, provided that it is lawfully obtained, brings four kinds of happiness: economic security, having enough to spend generously on oneself and others; the peace of mind that accompanies freedom from debt; and the leading of a blameless life. Meeting one's material responsibilities to family, friends and employees is emphasised. Instead of squandering or hoarding wealth, a quarter should be used for consumption, a quarter saved for an emergency, and a half used for one's business - a very high rate of re-investment if taken literally. From such examples, it is clear that Buddhist ethics are not antagonistic to the development of material prosperity.
Right Livelihood is as much concerned with the spirit in which work is done as with the economic results of the work. Such livelihood would seek to create an atmosphere in the work-place of kindness and co-operation, mindfulness and generosity, where not only the workers' material requirements are catered for but also their spiritual needs. The quality of work should reflect the spirit in which it is done. The challenge, especially in a competitive, free-market economy, is to find a balance between making enough to live on and sustaining a workplace that is spiritually nourishing. An example in Britain of businesses that seek to achieve these goals are found in the "Right Livelihood Co-operatives" of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.
Economics
THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING economic activity from a Buddhist perspective is the recognition of the interrelatedness of all things, traditionally expressed through the doctrine of "Co-dependent Emergence" (pratityasamutpada). Suffering comes about both through the individual and collective failure to understand this fact and the construction of a distorted sense of reality which assumes that living beings and things are intrinsically unrelated. The frequently misunderstood doctrines of "non-self' and "emptiness" are pointing not to some transcendent void, entirely disconnected to the concerns of the world, but to the absence of a fictitious world of discrete, reified entities.
The concept of emptiness (sunyata) is a means to realise that one's limited ego is not the inescapable centre of the world in constant battle with other egos competing for the same impossible preeminence, but part of a network of relationships upon which it depends for its own unique identity. The ethical implications of emptiness likewise do notlead to world-denial but to compassionate participation in the plight of others, with whom one empathetically recognises a shared destiny.
Buddhism invites us to consider its claim that acquisitiveness originates as much in the root insecurity and anxiety of the human being as it does in physical needs. This is amply illustrated both by the conspicuous consumption throughout history of wealthy, privileged yet nonetheless discontented minorities, as well as by the compulsive behaviour found in our present affluent societies.
The habit of acquisitiveness is sustained by delusion: psychological entrapment in the fantasy of lasting happiness being achievable through the acquisition of material goods, money, status etc. The impossibility of unlimited acquisitive growth in a world of finite resources is unlikely ever to be accepted by people still attached to the illusion that final happiness is found through compulsive acquisition - precisely the illusion fostered by the powerful worldwide advertising industry.
Whether Buddhists see the need for a specifically Buddhist economic theory depends on a clear understanding not only of Buddhism but of economic theory itself. One view is that mainstream economic theory is in itself "value free" and able to incorporate and reflect any system of values, including a Buddhist one. An alternative view is that mainstream economic theory is inherently unable to reflect adequately the Buddhist "practice of generosity," for instance, as part of economic activity.
Buddhism emphasises the need to relate all human activity, including labour, to a daily practice which can enable individuals to understand their interrelatedness with every manifestation of the conditions around them and hence to find contentment at truer level of experience. This practice is an on-going challenge to greed, hatred, and delusion since such traits of mind preclude a recognition of the interconnectedness of all life by reinforcing the individual's sense of isolation. The resultant view oflife leads to a diminution of personal wants and to a higher valuation of simplicity for its own sake.( Given its view of the power of delusion and greed to dominate and corrupt the human mind, Buddhism is certainly not optimistic about a sane ordering of the world and has for the most part resisted positing a Utopian vision. Traditionally, this view has led to a reluctance by Buddhists to involve themselves too closely with social and political change. But now it is simply a question of trying to save the world from the disastrous consequences of delusion and greed run amok. Today Buddhism is presented with the challenge to make its wisdom accessible for the world as a whole.
In his book SmallisBeautifulthe economistE.F. Schumacher included a chapter on Buddhist Economics which he concluded with the words: "It is a question of finding the right path of development, the Middle Way between materialist heedlessness and traditionalist immobility, in short, of finding Right Livelihood."
Such an approach is associated with the emergence in recent decades, both in Asia and the West, of an eco-socially engaged Buddhism, which seeks to combine the work of transforming social structures and processes with the ancient practices of mindfulness and meditation, in a single mutually supportive spiritual practice. It seeks, for example, to combine the wisdom of personal insight into our restless acquisitive itch with a compassionate nonviolent social activism aimed at transforming the institutions of delusion and acquisitiveness.
Uncertainty, Ambiguity and Humility
IT WOULD BE ARROGANT to claim that the views expressed here would be shared by allpeople who call themselves Buddhists. For Buddhism is a rich and diverse set of traditions, between which there have existed and continue to exist a wide range of tensions. There are many Buddhists who would place primary emphasis on the value of adhering to time-honoured traditions of doctrinal interpretation and spiritual practice, while others would lay greater stress on the need to reinterpret and modify traditional thought and practice to make the Dharma more accessible to the modern world. Yet most would agree that Buddhism is more of a practice than a creed, a way of life which emphasises the possibility of spiritual experience rather than dogmatic adherence to the letter of sacred texts.
Buddhists are fully aware of how grandiose solutions to the world's problems fail to appreciate the complexity of concrete situations, which by their nature are rooted in a network of relationships that the unenlightened mind only dimly perceives. Yet through their practice of ethics, meditation and wisdom, Buddhists also understand that generosity is not an option but an imperative. How they will express their generosity, as the world shifts and changes in the flux of time, remains to be seen.
The Practice of Generosity
Stephen Batchelor
...Read more!
ACTION IN BUDDHISM is understood by the often misconstrued term "karma." Work, or labour, as forms of action, are therefore to be understood in the context of Buddhist teachings on karma. The primary value of any action lies in its ethical consequences. For the way we act determines not only the future quality of life but also establishes the tendencies and habits which influence subsequent behaviour. Far from being a doctrine of fate, the teaching on karma insists on the centrality of choice. On many occasions the Buddha defined "action" as "intention." But this does not mean that the value of an action is subjectively determined solely by the quality of one's intentions. Action is ethically evaluated by the entire context in which it takes place: the intentions behind it, its impact on others, the nature of the act itself, as well as whether or not it reaches completion.
Meaningful work, therefore, is that which is both freely chosen and entered into with a sense of ethical responsibility. As principles of action, there are five basic ethical precepts in Buddhism: Refraining from (1) killing, (2) stealing, (3) sexual misconduct, (4) lying, and (5) intoxication.
These could also be interpreted as a framework for developing an understanding of economic activity. To refrain from intentionally taking life has implications from agricultural policy to military spending. From a Buddhist perspective harmlessness should characterise all human relations and all relations between humans and nature. To refrain from stealing invites a reflection on the conservation of scarce resources for the benefit of others, including future generations, whose absence from today's markets cannot be interpreted as silent consent for high rates of present consumption.
As the world's population grows and its natural resources are depleted, to refrain from sexual misconduct demands that individuals and governments accept responsibility for planning the size of the global family.
Refraining from unskilful speech condemns the deliberate creation of wants by, for example, high-pressure advertising, and the unrealistic raising of economic expectations. Likewise, to refrain from intoxication cautions against allowing consumer spending to become either a personal addiction or the single criterion for macroeconomic success.
Although traditionally phrased in terms of restraint, the precepts implicitly encourage the positive virtues of cherishing life, respecting the property of others, maintaining sexual integrity, being honest and truthful in one's dealings with others, and valuing clarity and coherence of consciousness.
Generosity, as the pre-eminent Buddhist virtue, is both a spontaneous expression of selfless, impartial concern for the well-being of others, and a deliberate means of enhancing the quality of one's own life. Melford Spiro, in his study of Buddhism in rural Burmese society, observes that the formal practice of generosity -particularly religious giving - is apowerful motive for work and for moderating one's own personal consumption. As savings are "invested" in riskless religious generosity rather than in risky capital accumulation, so the rate of economic growth is held in check. Taken to extremes, this could prove an obstacle to economic development; the Buddha's advice, cited below, concerning the optimal proportions of saving, spending and reinvesting one's income can thus be seen as a wise counterbalance.
Forgoing excessive present consumption in favour of long-term investment in artificial and environmental assets is an act of generosity to future generations. Generosity between nations, rich to poor, reduces inequalities in economic growth. As exemplified by the Edicts of King Ashoka, one of the classical virtues of a good king or government is to implement a compassionate welfare policy towards the most disadvantaged members of society. Finally, generosity is included among the sangahavatthu, qualities which make for group integration or social cohesion, together with atthacariya, voluntary service - so that paid and voluntary work have equal value - and samanattata, meaning equality, impartiality and participation.
Right Livelihood
BUDDHISM RECOGNISES THAT a life committed to the ending of suffering involves far more than just personal transformation through silent contemplation. Although such contemplation may be the pre-eminent value in a Buddhist life, the Buddha understood that to be meaningful, even possible, it requires a philosophical and ethical context. And as part of this ethical context, he spoke of "Right Livelihood."
Traditionally, right livelihood has been explained as avoiding those kinds of work that evidently entail harm being caused to oneself and others: working as a slaughterer, an arms-manufacturer, a publican, a dealer in poisons or a trader in human life. Today, however, as we live and work in a world of far greater complexity, where the apparently simple acts of buying and selling have repercussions on people's lives around the world, the ethics of rightlivelihood mustbe accordingly re-evaluated. The implications of even driving a car or drinking a cup of coffee have social, environmental and economic consequences far beyond the limits of our immediate experience, which we are morally obliged to take into account From this perspective, inner spiritual transformation is just as dependent upon the effect of our economic life upon the world as transformations in the world are dependent upon spiritual re-orientation.
Buddhism holds that economic behaviour is a manifestation of social attitudes, and these in turn reflect social values. The ideal social values are the four qualities termed brahma-vihara, the "sublime states" of (1) loving-kindess, the wish for the welfare and happiness of others; (2) compassion, empathy with those afflicted with suffering; (3) sympathetic joy, rejoicing in the success and happiness of others; and (4) equanimity, the capacity to regard all beings equally, free from favouritism and bias. Although originally taught as exercises in meditation, they can also be viewed as positing the ideal relationships which the individual should establish with his or her fellows in society. As applied to economics, they imply an order where competition and exploitation are replaced by cooperation in the pursuit of shared goals and the alleviation of misery.
The Buddha himself did not speak at length about the actual tasks of social change or economic reform. On many occasions, however, the Pali Canon - the earliest record of the Buddha's teaching - records his giving advice about how to conduct one's economic relationships in a way that accorded with the Dharma. He said that in his or her work, a Buddhist should be energetic, industrious, diligent, skilful, proficient and prudent. People should protect their earnings, keep good company and live within their means. Wealth, he taught, provided that it is lawfully obtained, brings four kinds of happiness: economic security, having enough to spend generously on oneself and others; the peace of mind that accompanies freedom from debt; and the leading of a blameless life. Meeting one's material responsibilities to family, friends and employees is emphasised. Instead of squandering or hoarding wealth, a quarter should be used for consumption, a quarter saved for an emergency, and a half used for one's business - a very high rate of re-investment if taken literally. From such examples, it is clear that Buddhist ethics are not antagonistic to the development of material prosperity.
Right Livelihood is as much concerned with the spirit in which work is done as with the economic results of the work. Such livelihood would seek to create an atmosphere in the work-place of kindness and co-operation, mindfulness and generosity, where not only the workers' material requirements are catered for but also their spiritual needs. The quality of work should reflect the spirit in which it is done. The challenge, especially in a competitive, free-market economy, is to find a balance between making enough to live on and sustaining a workplace that is spiritually nourishing. An example in Britain of businesses that seek to achieve these goals are found in the "Right Livelihood Co-operatives" of the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order.
Economics
THE KEY TO UNDERSTANDING economic activity from a Buddhist perspective is the recognition of the interrelatedness of all things, traditionally expressed through the doctrine of "Co-dependent Emergence" (pratityasamutpada). Suffering comes about both through the individual and collective failure to understand this fact and the construction of a distorted sense of reality which assumes that living beings and things are intrinsically unrelated. The frequently misunderstood doctrines of "non-self' and "emptiness" are pointing not to some transcendent void, entirely disconnected to the concerns of the world, but to the absence of a fictitious world of discrete, reified entities.
The concept of emptiness (sunyata) is a means to realise that one's limited ego is not the inescapable centre of the world in constant battle with other egos competing for the same impossible preeminence, but part of a network of relationships upon which it depends for its own unique identity. The ethical implications of emptiness likewise do notlead to world-denial but to compassionate participation in the plight of others, with whom one empathetically recognises a shared destiny.
Buddhism invites us to consider its claim that acquisitiveness originates as much in the root insecurity and anxiety of the human being as it does in physical needs. This is amply illustrated both by the conspicuous consumption throughout history of wealthy, privileged yet nonetheless discontented minorities, as well as by the compulsive behaviour found in our present affluent societies.
The habit of acquisitiveness is sustained by delusion: psychological entrapment in the fantasy of lasting happiness being achievable through the acquisition of material goods, money, status etc. The impossibility of unlimited acquisitive growth in a world of finite resources is unlikely ever to be accepted by people still attached to the illusion that final happiness is found through compulsive acquisition - precisely the illusion fostered by the powerful worldwide advertising industry.
Whether Buddhists see the need for a specifically Buddhist economic theory depends on a clear understanding not only of Buddhism but of economic theory itself. One view is that mainstream economic theory is in itself "value free" and able to incorporate and reflect any system of values, including a Buddhist one. An alternative view is that mainstream economic theory is inherently unable to reflect adequately the Buddhist "practice of generosity," for instance, as part of economic activity.
Buddhism emphasises the need to relate all human activity, including labour, to a daily practice which can enable individuals to understand their interrelatedness with every manifestation of the conditions around them and hence to find contentment at truer level of experience. This practice is an on-going challenge to greed, hatred, and delusion since such traits of mind preclude a recognition of the interconnectedness of all life by reinforcing the individual's sense of isolation. The resultant view oflife leads to a diminution of personal wants and to a higher valuation of simplicity for its own sake.( Given its view of the power of delusion and greed to dominate and corrupt the human mind, Buddhism is certainly not optimistic about a sane ordering of the world and has for the most part resisted positing a Utopian vision. Traditionally, this view has led to a reluctance by Buddhists to involve themselves too closely with social and political change. But now it is simply a question of trying to save the world from the disastrous consequences of delusion and greed run amok. Today Buddhism is presented with the challenge to make its wisdom accessible for the world as a whole.
In his book SmallisBeautifulthe economistE.F. Schumacher included a chapter on Buddhist Economics which he concluded with the words: "It is a question of finding the right path of development, the Middle Way between materialist heedlessness and traditionalist immobility, in short, of finding Right Livelihood."
Such an approach is associated with the emergence in recent decades, both in Asia and the West, of an eco-socially engaged Buddhism, which seeks to combine the work of transforming social structures and processes with the ancient practices of mindfulness and meditation, in a single mutually supportive spiritual practice. It seeks, for example, to combine the wisdom of personal insight into our restless acquisitive itch with a compassionate nonviolent social activism aimed at transforming the institutions of delusion and acquisitiveness.
Uncertainty, Ambiguity and Humility
IT WOULD BE ARROGANT to claim that the views expressed here would be shared by allpeople who call themselves Buddhists. For Buddhism is a rich and diverse set of traditions, between which there have existed and continue to exist a wide range of tensions. There are many Buddhists who would place primary emphasis on the value of adhering to time-honoured traditions of doctrinal interpretation and spiritual practice, while others would lay greater stress on the need to reinterpret and modify traditional thought and practice to make the Dharma more accessible to the modern world. Yet most would agree that Buddhism is more of a practice than a creed, a way of life which emphasises the possibility of spiritual experience rather than dogmatic adherence to the letter of sacred texts.
Buddhists are fully aware of how grandiose solutions to the world's problems fail to appreciate the complexity of concrete situations, which by their nature are rooted in a network of relationships that the unenlightened mind only dimly perceives. Yet through their practice of ethics, meditation and wisdom, Buddhists also understand that generosity is not an option but an imperative. How they will express their generosity, as the world shifts and changes in the flux of time, remains to be seen.
The Practice of Generosity
Stephen Batchelor
...Read more!
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Generosity, Principles and Values
Generosity
GENEROSITY IS CENTRAL to Buddhist practice and manifests in many ways: giving of material support to those in need; giving of spiritual advice to those in despair; giving of love to those who are abandoned; or giving of protection to those who are threatened. Beginning with the recognition that they are not yet generous, Buddhists engage in a way of life that cultivates generosity. The practice of Buddhism is an ethical, psychological and philosophical challenge to the habit of selfishness. It embraces the whole of one's life, is humbly aware of one's mortality, and aims at contentment for oneself and others.
Principles and Values
THE FIRST QUESTIONS are those arising from the unavoidable facts of birth, sickness, ageing and death, concerning the nature, origins and transcendence of which Buddhists seek enlightenment. Buddhists all over the world follow both the example of the historical Buddha, as well as that of subsequent teachers, to find a way to reach such enlightenment. These ways and the philosophies that underlie them differ according to the cultures in which the traditions have arisen.
Gautama, the historical Buddha, emphasised the importance of both self-reliance and pragmatism in defining one's own practice. Historically, the major developments in Buddhist thought and practice have come about as responses to the specific demands of new situations. Today, as Buddhism encounters a world transformed by science and technology, it is challenged to draw on its insights in a way that responds effectively to the crises of our times while remaining true to the values of its traditions.
The task of Buddhists is to create, sustain and exemplify a way of living that embodies Buddhist values. This is particularly important at a time when religious and spiritual values - simplicity, generosity, kindness - are seen by many as irrelevant to tackling the world's problems. Buddhists have the responsibility not only to keep alive but to make the flame of such values burn more brightly.
The principal Buddhist values are concerned with directing one's life around the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. "Buddha" refers to the state of wisdom and compassion realised by Buddha Gautama who lived in India around the 6th century BCE, and subsequently by his followers. The realisation of such wisdom and compassion is a possibility open to all human beings -irrespective of their social position, sex, race etc. As long as there exist people in the world who personify these values, Buddhism can be said to be a living spiritual tradition. A contemporary example of the Buddha principle would be Tenzin Gyatso, the present Dalai Lama of Tibet, who, through his skills in interpreting the Buddhist teachings to meet present needs, embodies wisdom, and through effectively serving as political leader for his exiled people embodies the compassion many Buddhists seek to emulate.
The way of life the Buddha personified and taught is the "Dharma." Two and a half thousand years ago Gautama taught that temporary material welfare is not the be all and end all of human existence; that the aim of human life is the transformation of the individual from a self-centred, greed-driven way of being to one that is other-centred and greed-free. For change to be genuine, it must begin in an authentic change in the human heart. The Dharma is the way whereby Buddhists seek to realise such change. It is revealed in words through the recorded teachings of the Buddha and his interpreters and through experience by the actualisation of those instructions in one's own life. Although Buddhist practices vary from tradition to tradition, they are all concerned with effecting such a liberating transformation of the individual.
"Sangha," the third central value in Buddhism, means "community." The realisation of the wisdom and compassion taught by the Buddha is not a solitary affair but one grounded in living relationships with those likewise committed to such a way of life. In a narrow sense, "Sangha" refers to the communities of ordained monks and nuns, i.e. those who symbolise the values of Buddhism by their very vocation. In a broader, practical sense it refers to those around one - friends, teachers, colleagues - who affirm and clarify one's spiritual values. And in the widest sense, such a community encompasses all living beings, implying that the potential for wisdom and compassion are present in every relationship into which one enters, and that all human beings can turn from delusion and greed towards enlightenment and detachment.
Wants and Needs
THE BUDDHIST VIEW of the kind of world we live in is based on an understanding of the nature and origins of suffering. The suffering we experience has its origin in the delusion of perceiving oneself as an isolated independent being, existing in a world of isolated independent things. Such a sense of separation of oneself from the world is the basis for the innate belief that by amassing quantities of things which one associates with pleasure, one will eventually secure a lasting and stable happiness. This is the assumption from whence greed develops into an insatiable habit. It has as its corollary aversion to whatever is seen to stand in the way to such happiness. Since this selfishness and greed are based on an irrational basis (although this may be supported by sophisticated rationalisations), to undermine it requires spiritual practice. Adoptinga world-view that sees life in this way will help, but without committed practice will have little effect on habituallyntrenched ways of behaviour.
Buddhism seeks a middle way between sensual indulgence and the extremes of life-denying asceticism. To lead fulfilled lives, human beings require the provision of basic necessities: nutritious food, warm and dry housing, adequate clothing, medical care etc. It is only when one is driven by the insatiable demands of greed to believe that additional wants to these are in fact needs, that problems begin. Buddhism criticises consumerism on precisely these grounds: that the level of greed is stimulated to a degree that is not only unnecessary to meet one's needs but, contrary to its avowed claim to bring happiness, actually increases disatisfaction, frustration and suffering.
Moreover, such a lifestyle is damaging to the natural environment, leads to exploitation of the underprivileged, and in the long term is unsustainable. At the time of the Buddha, the simple fact of accumulating wealth did not entail large-scale environmental destruction or social injustice. The Buddhist approach emphasises enhancing the quality of life without damaging either the present environment or the prospects of others. This is not an appeal to poverty, but rather the advocation of simplicity -a quality that becomes increasingly attractive the more one's life accords to the values taught by the Buddha.
Traditionally, Buddhism spoke of greed, aversion and delusion as the three mental poisons. In Asian agrarian economies, such poisons could largely be contained within the immediate environment of human beings. Now it is as though they have spilled beyond the borders of the human mind to poison, quite literally, the earth, the seas and rivers, the very air we breathe. A Buddhist economic agenda therefore emphasises a profound re-evaluation of needs over wants.
The Practice of Generosity
by Stephen Batchelor
...Read more!
GENEROSITY IS CENTRAL to Buddhist practice and manifests in many ways: giving of material support to those in need; giving of spiritual advice to those in despair; giving of love to those who are abandoned; or giving of protection to those who are threatened. Beginning with the recognition that they are not yet generous, Buddhists engage in a way of life that cultivates generosity. The practice of Buddhism is an ethical, psychological and philosophical challenge to the habit of selfishness. It embraces the whole of one's life, is humbly aware of one's mortality, and aims at contentment for oneself and others.
Principles and Values
THE FIRST QUESTIONS are those arising from the unavoidable facts of birth, sickness, ageing and death, concerning the nature, origins and transcendence of which Buddhists seek enlightenment. Buddhists all over the world follow both the example of the historical Buddha, as well as that of subsequent teachers, to find a way to reach such enlightenment. These ways and the philosophies that underlie them differ according to the cultures in which the traditions have arisen.
Gautama, the historical Buddha, emphasised the importance of both self-reliance and pragmatism in defining one's own practice. Historically, the major developments in Buddhist thought and practice have come about as responses to the specific demands of new situations. Today, as Buddhism encounters a world transformed by science and technology, it is challenged to draw on its insights in a way that responds effectively to the crises of our times while remaining true to the values of its traditions.
The task of Buddhists is to create, sustain and exemplify a way of living that embodies Buddhist values. This is particularly important at a time when religious and spiritual values - simplicity, generosity, kindness - are seen by many as irrelevant to tackling the world's problems. Buddhists have the responsibility not only to keep alive but to make the flame of such values burn more brightly.
The principal Buddhist values are concerned with directing one's life around the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. "Buddha" refers to the state of wisdom and compassion realised by Buddha Gautama who lived in India around the 6th century BCE, and subsequently by his followers. The realisation of such wisdom and compassion is a possibility open to all human beings -irrespective of their social position, sex, race etc. As long as there exist people in the world who personify these values, Buddhism can be said to be a living spiritual tradition. A contemporary example of the Buddha principle would be Tenzin Gyatso, the present Dalai Lama of Tibet, who, through his skills in interpreting the Buddhist teachings to meet present needs, embodies wisdom, and through effectively serving as political leader for his exiled people embodies the compassion many Buddhists seek to emulate.
The way of life the Buddha personified and taught is the "Dharma." Two and a half thousand years ago Gautama taught that temporary material welfare is not the be all and end all of human existence; that the aim of human life is the transformation of the individual from a self-centred, greed-driven way of being to one that is other-centred and greed-free. For change to be genuine, it must begin in an authentic change in the human heart. The Dharma is the way whereby Buddhists seek to realise such change. It is revealed in words through the recorded teachings of the Buddha and his interpreters and through experience by the actualisation of those instructions in one's own life. Although Buddhist practices vary from tradition to tradition, they are all concerned with effecting such a liberating transformation of the individual.
"Sangha," the third central value in Buddhism, means "community." The realisation of the wisdom and compassion taught by the Buddha is not a solitary affair but one grounded in living relationships with those likewise committed to such a way of life. In a narrow sense, "Sangha" refers to the communities of ordained monks and nuns, i.e. those who symbolise the values of Buddhism by their very vocation. In a broader, practical sense it refers to those around one - friends, teachers, colleagues - who affirm and clarify one's spiritual values. And in the widest sense, such a community encompasses all living beings, implying that the potential for wisdom and compassion are present in every relationship into which one enters, and that all human beings can turn from delusion and greed towards enlightenment and detachment.
Wants and Needs
THE BUDDHIST VIEW of the kind of world we live in is based on an understanding of the nature and origins of suffering. The suffering we experience has its origin in the delusion of perceiving oneself as an isolated independent being, existing in a world of isolated independent things. Such a sense of separation of oneself from the world is the basis for the innate belief that by amassing quantities of things which one associates with pleasure, one will eventually secure a lasting and stable happiness. This is the assumption from whence greed develops into an insatiable habit. It has as its corollary aversion to whatever is seen to stand in the way to such happiness. Since this selfishness and greed are based on an irrational basis (although this may be supported by sophisticated rationalisations), to undermine it requires spiritual practice. Adoptinga world-view that sees life in this way will help, but without committed practice will have little effect on habituallyntrenched ways of behaviour.
Buddhism seeks a middle way between sensual indulgence and the extremes of life-denying asceticism. To lead fulfilled lives, human beings require the provision of basic necessities: nutritious food, warm and dry housing, adequate clothing, medical care etc. It is only when one is driven by the insatiable demands of greed to believe that additional wants to these are in fact needs, that problems begin. Buddhism criticises consumerism on precisely these grounds: that the level of greed is stimulated to a degree that is not only unnecessary to meet one's needs but, contrary to its avowed claim to bring happiness, actually increases disatisfaction, frustration and suffering.
Moreover, such a lifestyle is damaging to the natural environment, leads to exploitation of the underprivileged, and in the long term is unsustainable. At the time of the Buddha, the simple fact of accumulating wealth did not entail large-scale environmental destruction or social injustice. The Buddhist approach emphasises enhancing the quality of life without damaging either the present environment or the prospects of others. This is not an appeal to poverty, but rather the advocation of simplicity -a quality that becomes increasingly attractive the more one's life accords to the values taught by the Buddha.
Traditionally, Buddhism spoke of greed, aversion and delusion as the three mental poisons. In Asian agrarian economies, such poisons could largely be contained within the immediate environment of human beings. Now it is as though they have spilled beyond the borders of the human mind to poison, quite literally, the earth, the seas and rivers, the very air we breathe. A Buddhist economic agenda therefore emphasises a profound re-evaluation of needs over wants.
The Practice of Generosity
by Stephen Batchelor
...Read more!
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Peace Through Tolerance and Co-Existence
PEACE - THROUGH TOLERANCE AND CO-EXISTENCE
Homage to the blessed noble and perfectly -Enlightened One!
Na hi verena verani - sammanti'dha kudacanam Averena ca sammanti - esa dhammo sanantano.
(Dh. 5)
"Hatred never cease through hatred in this world; through love, or non-hatred alone they cease. This is an eternal law." - (An ancient principle followed by the wise of all ages.)
Pare ca na vijananti - mayamettha yamanase Ye ca tattha vijananti - tato sammanti medhaga
(Dh. 6)
"The others for not know (they are unaware of the fact) that we perish in this (quarrel or dispute); who foresee the outcome of such (quarrel or dispute) their quarrels cease thereby."
Apart from the wise, the others are unaware that they will perish in their quarrels and disputes. The wise foresee such an outcome and disputes cease thereby, and peace prevails.
Jayam viram pasavati - dukkliam seti parajito
Upasanto sukham seti - hitva jaya-parajayam
(Dh. 201)
Victory breeds hatred. The defeated live in pain. Happily the peaceful live, having given up both victory and defeat."
By defeating others one creates enemies, causes hatred in the defeated who live in sorrow. The tranquil ones who have gained inner calm through the destruction of greed, anger and jealously, live happily abandoning both victory and defeat.
Susukham vata jivama - verities* averino
Verinesu mcmussesu - viharama averino.
(Dh. 197)
"Ah, happily do we live, without hate amongst the hateful. Amidst hateful men we dwell unhating."
Let us live happily without hate among those who indulge in acts of hating. Admist the hating let us indeed dwell without hate.
These four verses from the Dhammapada point out the path to tolerance and peaceful co-existence among men the world over, and the way to world peace.
"If we were asked what religion has best promoted peace in the world, I am quite sure we could not say Christianity. Is it not plain that a candid survey of history would compel us to answer. Buddhism?", was the view expressed by Rev. J. T. Sunderaland in the Modem Review.
Buddhism, more than any other religion, has indeed contributed most towards promoting of world peace. It is the teaching of tolerance and love. It is also the doctrine of cause and effect. It places causality in a position of supreme importance within its Teaching. Without prior elimination of the cause, the effect or result cannot be nullified. If it is possible to get rid of the underlying cause, or causes that lead to war, peace becomes spontaneous, This is due to the fact that peace is diametrically opposed to war. Greed, envy and anger are the prime motives for armed hostility.
In ancient India, the river Rohini was the natural boundary between the Sakyan and Koliyan kingdoms. On both sides of the river the farmers made use of the waters of the Rohini to cultivate their fields. Water was essential for irrigation, and used wisely and at the proper time, resulted in a good harvest. Mutual regard for each other's needs led to the careful use of the water during periods of drought. On one such occasion however, forgetting their usual courtesy and tolerance, a minor dispute arose among the farmers regarding the sharing of the waters of river Rohini. Greed and envy took hold of their minds. On each side of the river the farmers thought thus : "Were they to get water and we unable to do so, their harvest would be secure, and they would grow more prosperous." The very thought became unbearable to both parties. They were filled with jealousy and resentment that soon led to mutual hatred, Unable to control their feelings, they exchanged angry words and indulged in harsh language. This minor dispute spread beyond the locality of the farming community, and gradually reached the officials of the central government. They, in their short-sightedness, hurriedly prepared for war, being themselves consumed by their own greed, envy and enger. In no time the armies of the two kingdoms were assembled on the banks of the river Rohini.
Now, it was the practice of the Blessed One every morning, at early dawn, to enter the attainment of infinite Compassion, in order to survey the world with His eye of purified vision, for beings who needed His help and assistance that day. If He could mitigate the suffering of any unfortunate man, woman or child; if He could offer consolation to someone who needed it; if He could support with final assurance someone who was on the verge of attaining the supramundane paths, He would immediately go to them, regardless of the distance or inconvenience, to fulfil His task. On this particular day, the Buddha saw the two armies of His maternal and paternal kinsmen drawn up for battle on the banks of the river Rohino.
According to custom, the two kings had already arrived at the battle field, and were reviewing their respective troops, when the Buddha, leaving the Nigrodha Park in Kapilavatthu, arrived to take His stand between the two armies. Taken by surprise at the sight of the Buddha, all preparatory activities were temporarily brought to a standstill by the two parties.
In the ensuing silence the Buddha addressed the two armies. "Why have you got ready for battle?" It is for the sake of water, your reverence," replied the two kings. "What is the value of water?", the Buddha asked them. "Your reverence, it is of little worth", answered the kings. "And human life?", again queried the Buddha. "The value of human life is incalculable' replied the kings, then the Buddha finally addressed them, "then, why do you want to destroy such valuable human lives for the sake of a little water, the worth of which is indeed truly insignificant?" Realising their folly, the two kings shame-facedly laid down their weapons.
The Buddha, then discoursed to them on the Attaclanda Sutta, stressing the evil consequences of war. All those assembled, including the two kings who had decided on war through their short-sighted policy and ambition, were pacified by the words of the Buddha, and their hatred quenched thereby. Outlining the benefits of peaceful and harmonious co-existence, the Buddha next related the Duddabha Jdtaka (birth-story), followed by the Latukika and Vttaka Jatakas. At the close of it, not only were the two assemblies (including their kings) reconciled, two hundred and fifty young men from each side were selected to be ordained as monks for the purpose of disseminating that message of peace all over the country. One wonders whether there has been any parallel incident in the history of the world, where a religious leader has actively participated in the prevention of an outbreak of war and at the same time established peace, directly on the battlefield.
The whole world welcomes peace. Hence they frequently discuss peace. They hold peace conferences. At the same time, some of them are secretly engaged in the trade of manufacturing lethal weapons capable of destroying even the whole world. They sow the seeds of greed and envy and of hatred, which are the main causes that lead to open aggression throughout the world. They even make enormous profits by selling arms and war machinery to countries engaged in war.
Nevertheless, with the development of yet another war, and the use of nuclear weapons, the imminent destruction of the world will be complete. Knowing this, the "World Powers" have taken various steps within the past thirty five years for the preservation of world peace. Special mention should be made here of three very important steps taken in this connection.
The United Nations Organization (UNO)
The primary objectives of this organization are the maintenance of international peace and security, and the achievement of international co-operation among its permanent members in matters of importance. Thirty five years have elapsed since the drafting of the U. N. Charter, and may be, billions of dollars have been spent during that time. A body of permanent representatives appointed from among the most distinguished men belonging to countries all over the world, assemble frequently to discuss plans for international peace and security. In times of conflict or dispute between countries, the Security Council being mainly responsible for settling such disputes, convenes special meetings for the purpose. Responsible members of the Council proceed to the spot to discuss peace proposals. In spite of all this, one finds wars - big and small-taking place in various parts of the world even today. This does not mean that the United Nations Organization has done nothing towards the maintenance of world peace. Twenty five years after the First World War, the Second World War broke out. Signs of yet another World War have appeared on the horizon after that, but due to the intervention of the UNO with its peace talks, temporary measures of reconciliation have taken the place of open aggression. This is something to be appreciated. Still, it must be admitted that world peace has not been maintained.
UNESCO
Everyone will recall the cherished ideas entertained in the producing of peace-loving citizens by means of a systematic educational programme; also to eradicate the lack of discipline in society, and to educate and inculcate peaceful ideals among the peoples of the world. Under this scheme, millions of rupees would have been spent. And yet indiscipline is daily on the increase among students, with the aggressive spirit of revolutionary ardour growing day by day. This is more evident among those who are receiving higher education in universities. Everywhere there are minor conflicts, while in certain places one finds even major outbreaks of indiscipline and disobedience. Strikes, for the most petty reasons, are a common feature among college and university students. Conflict with authority, resulting in noisy demonstrations, has become the fashion of the day. Even governments have been toppled. This situation is deteriorating in various parts of the world.
Threats and strikes, with picketing which is the usual moclust operandi employed by the working class in the solving of labour problems, should not be utilised in resolving problems of the educated youth of a country. Yet these very things have crept into even the lower grades of secondary schools today. Neither the students nor the youth are to be blamed. It is the result of a faulty educational system, lacking emphasis on discipline and character-formation. One cannot say the UNESCO has failed entirely in its purpose. Within its educational programme, in the field of education itself, it has gained rapid and far-reaching results. But the long-awaited establishment of world peace still remains to be accomplished.
Olympic Games
Participation in sports and other activities leads to physical fitness, provides recreation, and promotes healthy competition between individuals as well as teams. Lack of discrimination is an outstanding feature of such activities. This has always been so. Hence every government in every country, spending vast sums of money, provides facilities for sport in every school, village, and town, Inter-house competitions, inter-school meets, village contests, and national events, as well as international and regional meets have been againsed as far back as one may remember, culminating in the Olympic Games. This is a world event.
Until quite recently all participants in such games and other competitive activities accepted both victory and defeat with equal composure, hardly ever disputing the decision of judges and umpires. Today, it is a different story altogether. At the end of any inter-house or inter-school sports meet, both players and spectators may often be seen indulging in noisy horse-play and use of rude language. Peace, together with pleasure has been destroyed. Most inter-school games today end in scuffles and fights. The same atmosphere prevails at the end of many village meets. International games are not immune either. Similar scenes may be witnessed in the aftermath of such events.
The Test Match series between England and Australia, always given worldwide publicity for its show of true sportsmanship and good manners, has undergone a radical change today. The Olympic play-ground has already become the venue for crime and murder. In spite of a spirit of healthy competition, of 'give and take' of a very high order, there still remains much to be done. The long-awaited peace that will truly be permanent, is yet to be.
Thus, not one of these three measures taken to promote peace, has succeeded in bringing about World Peace, as any intelligent man will admit today.
How could World Peace be achieved according to Buddhist teaching? It is through creating peace within the individual. Greed, envy, and hatred, which undermine the growth of peace, should be overcome through the practice of Virtue, Concentration and Wisdom. Greed, envy and hatred may be each divided into the following three stages according to function. The Active (vitikkama) stage is actual action and speech arising through greed etc. The Excited (pariyatthana) stage is the assertion of greed etc. over their opposite counterparts. The Latent (anusaya) stage is the latent existence of these mental defilements within oneself. Greed, envy and hatred may be overcome in the active stage through virtue (sila), in the excited stage through concentration (samddhi); and in the latent stage through wisdom (pahna).
Virtue (Sila)
Virtue means restraint or self discipline - control of action and speech. Practice of virtue begins with the observing of the five Precepts (panca sila). It ends with training in the four-fold Purification of Virtue (catuparisuddha sila) The five evil actions are killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and the taking of intoxicating drinks. Virtue is refraining from the above five evil actions. Next, one should practise the five wholesome actions, which are the counterparts of the five evil actions. The development of virtue leads to the control of greed, envy and hatred.
The practice and perfection of virtue, while safeguarding the human qualities of a man, also leads to the obtaining of the following benefits.
He comes into a large fortune.
A fair name is spread abroad.
He enters the assembly of nobles (Kshatriyas) without fear.
He dies unconfused.
After death, he is born in a heavenly world.
(Visuddha Magga) in
Concentration (Samadhi)
Concentrations the unification of the mind obtained through restraint of the five sense-faculties, with mindfullness focused on a single profitable object. Concentration leads to tranquillity of mind. When the mind is tranquil one is able to suppress greed, envy and hired for varying periods of time, depending on the strength of that tranquillity. With further development of concentration inner peace arises spontaneously within the individual, paving the way to external peace.
Wisdom
Wisdom is the understanding of a thing as it truly is, and not as it appears to be. It is full comprehension of the five aggregates of mentality, and materially, tranquillity or claim is already found in such person. When wisdom is enjoined to this, one truly becomes a man of peace, incapable of hurting another, even in thought.
Universal love (mettd) as taught in Buddhism is a primary condition for world peace. Universal love is so-called because it is diffused to all beings in all directions, throughout the universe. This love that has no limit is spread to beings both human and divine, to animals and birds, and even to the meanest creatures that make this world and other worlds their home, and to man irrespective of his caste and colour, creed and nationality.
Human inhabitants of this world should be divided into four categories - oneself, the dear, the neutral, and the hostile. Love should be extended to all four groups in equal measure without discrimination. Just as a mother protects her only child, even so should one practise love towards all beings. This is the teaching of the Buddha.
Further, Buddhism teaches that one should look on all beings as one's own kin. There is no being in this world who has not been a mother, a father, a child, a brother or a sister, to one drifting in this sea of samsaric existence. Greed, envy and hatred will decrease in a society diffused by loving kindness. There will be no room for such defilements. There will be only peace.
In ancient times, it was customary for kings to wage war for various reasons. Hence Buddhist kings too made war on the slightest pretext, in order to annexe extra territories. The great king Asoka who had earlier fought many such battles in his greed for adding new lands to his mighty empire, later realised the evil consequences that accompanied war. Conquest of Territory (disd- Vijaya) ment the destruction of valuable human lives. Realising his foly, the great king gave up the Conquest to territories tol the Conquest of Truth (dhammavijaya). He became a follower of the Buddha's teachings. Establishing himself m virtue, he won the hearts of his subjects through his virtuous conduct and moral activities. With his heart filled with love, the great king Asoka, who looked on all men as his children - 'save mamise paja mama - established a harmonious state of peace throughout his realm.
"Pujetaya tu eva parapasanda tena prakaranena, evam karum atpapasanda ca vadhayatipara-pasadasd ca upakaroti" - "event leaders of other religions are worthy of respectful homage, for various reasons. This brings increase in honour to one's own, and helpful service to them." Thinking of other religionists, and discussing ways and means of helping them, and then acting accordingly,
he brought about goodwill and amity between all religions. Samavdyo eva scidhu - "concord itself is desirable," with this clarion call he set about spreading the message of goodwill and peace throughout his empire and outside it, in places for and near, among the rich and the poor, the high and the low.
In order to convey this message of peace and goodwill, Asoka sent his own ministers and missionaries to all countries with whom he had established mutual relations, to disseminate the teaching of the Buddha. These included Sri Lanka, Greece, Central Asia, Syria, Egypt, Corinth, Cyrene and Macedonia. Peace prevailed in all these countries, and even the name of war was unheard of for a very long long time. H. G. Rawlinson makes the observation in his Legacy of India (p. II) that these Buddhist missionaries were sent not merely to propagate Buddhism but to promote world peace. "Asoka's object was not merely to promulgate Buddhism, but to establish a 'world peace' and to prevent repetition of tragedies like the Kalinga massacre, which had led to his conversion".
One should now consider the question as to how world peace could be brought about through education based on Buddhist principles. The regeneration of the individual alone will lead to the regeneration of a country, or a nation. An education along Buddhist lines is the answer to this. Buddhist education means an education that is based on the fundamental principles of Buddhism. That means discipline and obedience, with unbounded respect for authority. The Buddha disparaged ignorance and commanded knowledge. Yet he gave priority to the humanity in man. If one lacks learning and yet possesses humane qualities, he does not become a nuisance to society. On the other hand, one who is learned and yet lacking in humanity becomes not only nuisance to society, but also a destructive liability to his country. If one has both learning and the qualities of a human being he is to be compared to a piece of pure rivergold. An education along Buddhist lines does not prevent one from acquiring unlimited knowledge together with the development of virtue and other humane qualities. On the other hand, it helps one to do so. One who receives such an education is able to control his greed, as well as his envy and hatred. It will lead to inner calm in the individual.
Buddhists were the pioneers of University education in the world. According to European history the first university to be set up in the West was the one at Bologna in Italy in the I Ith century. This was followed by the University at Sorbonne in Paris. The Oxford and Cambridge Universities came into being later. In the East, the ancient Buddhist university at Nalanda was started in the second century. In spirit of its Buddhist administration, students from various countries, of various nationalities and religions were admitted to the university at Nalanda. A distinctive feature of this Buddhist university whose numerical strength (of its combined staff and students), would be ten thousand at any one time, was the very high discipline and harmonious atmosphere that prevailed there, this university education was maintained for over seven hundred years.
Many scholars have done research on the University at Nalanda. Forfemost among them was Lord Aetland. Expressing his ideas in relation to one aspect of this university he says : "The discipline among students was of such high order that for the 700 years of its existence there has not been a single instance of a breach of disciplinary rules within the university. And this, in spite of a resident capacity of nearly ten thousand students and teachers, of various races, religions and nations. One may indeed come to the conclusion clearly and without bias, there is no better way than an education based on Buddhist principles for dispelling the indiscipline, unrest and disorder in the modern world an promoting peace and concord among its people."
In the catukka nipiit of the Anguttara Nikcixa. in the discourse known as the Patipada Sutta, the Buddha has shown four paths, of which the fourth is the path of calm (Soma patipada). In it, He has made clear how one may gain peace of mind through the calming down of thoughts of iiist and other defilements of the mind. Through the expulsion of greed, envy and hatred (which are the main I Buses that lead to war) from the mind of the individual, peace will automatically ensue.
In this way, wherever such an individual lives, that home will have a peaceful atmosphere. A village consisting of such homes will be a peaceful village. A town in which there are such villages will be a peaceful town. A country in which there are such towns or cities will be a peaceful country. A world in which the peoples of all nations live in peace will be a peaceful world.
Seeing that it is individual peace that leads to a world .it peace, and that it is by bringing inner peace to man that world peace can be ensured, one should set about that task of regenerating a peaceful individual. This should be done, i.i priority measure, not in lieu of, but in addition to the i onvening of peace conferences, and the work of the security council. Two suggestions are offered here for careful consideration.
I. UNESCO should set up an educational system with appropriate provision for individual training in moral discipline and character formation. This programme hould run concurrently with the normal academic courses, thus creating a world of peace - conscious individuals among its youth and child populations.
2. UNO should make an effort to instil into the hearts of both young and old alike, the four sublime mental states of loving-kindness (mettd), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkhd). The cultivation of these four mental stages as given in the teachings of the Buddha, will lead mankind into a world of non-violence and tolerance, universal love and peace.
It should further try to inculcate the four wholesome bases of social integration (sangaha vatthu) among the various peoples on all levels or strata of society, within controls. These four basic acts of conduct, according to the teachings of the Buddha, are the following :
The practice of generosity; giving; sharing with others (dcina).
The use of pleasant or courteous speech or language (piya vacan).
Conduct that is wise, as well as altruistic by nature (attha cariya).
Belief in the equality of man; the practice of impartiality (samanattata).
With the cultivation of moral excellence, and the development of a righteous society, PEACE on a worldwide or universal scale will automatically follow.
The End.
...Read more!
Homage to the blessed noble and perfectly -Enlightened One!
Na hi verena verani - sammanti'dha kudacanam Averena ca sammanti - esa dhammo sanantano.
(Dh. 5)
"Hatred never cease through hatred in this world; through love, or non-hatred alone they cease. This is an eternal law." - (An ancient principle followed by the wise of all ages.)
Pare ca na vijananti - mayamettha yamanase Ye ca tattha vijananti - tato sammanti medhaga
(Dh. 6)
"The others for not know (they are unaware of the fact) that we perish in this (quarrel or dispute); who foresee the outcome of such (quarrel or dispute) their quarrels cease thereby."
Apart from the wise, the others are unaware that they will perish in their quarrels and disputes. The wise foresee such an outcome and disputes cease thereby, and peace prevails.
Jayam viram pasavati - dukkliam seti parajito
Upasanto sukham seti - hitva jaya-parajayam
(Dh. 201)
Victory breeds hatred. The defeated live in pain. Happily the peaceful live, having given up both victory and defeat."
By defeating others one creates enemies, causes hatred in the defeated who live in sorrow. The tranquil ones who have gained inner calm through the destruction of greed, anger and jealously, live happily abandoning both victory and defeat.
Susukham vata jivama - verities* averino
Verinesu mcmussesu - viharama averino.
(Dh. 197)
"Ah, happily do we live, without hate amongst the hateful. Amidst hateful men we dwell unhating."
Let us live happily without hate among those who indulge in acts of hating. Admist the hating let us indeed dwell without hate.
These four verses from the Dhammapada point out the path to tolerance and peaceful co-existence among men the world over, and the way to world peace.
"If we were asked what religion has best promoted peace in the world, I am quite sure we could not say Christianity. Is it not plain that a candid survey of history would compel us to answer. Buddhism?", was the view expressed by Rev. J. T. Sunderaland in the Modem Review.
Buddhism, more than any other religion, has indeed contributed most towards promoting of world peace. It is the teaching of tolerance and love. It is also the doctrine of cause and effect. It places causality in a position of supreme importance within its Teaching. Without prior elimination of the cause, the effect or result cannot be nullified. If it is possible to get rid of the underlying cause, or causes that lead to war, peace becomes spontaneous, This is due to the fact that peace is diametrically opposed to war. Greed, envy and anger are the prime motives for armed hostility.
In ancient India, the river Rohini was the natural boundary between the Sakyan and Koliyan kingdoms. On both sides of the river the farmers made use of the waters of the Rohini to cultivate their fields. Water was essential for irrigation, and used wisely and at the proper time, resulted in a good harvest. Mutual regard for each other's needs led to the careful use of the water during periods of drought. On one such occasion however, forgetting their usual courtesy and tolerance, a minor dispute arose among the farmers regarding the sharing of the waters of river Rohini. Greed and envy took hold of their minds. On each side of the river the farmers thought thus : "Were they to get water and we unable to do so, their harvest would be secure, and they would grow more prosperous." The very thought became unbearable to both parties. They were filled with jealousy and resentment that soon led to mutual hatred, Unable to control their feelings, they exchanged angry words and indulged in harsh language. This minor dispute spread beyond the locality of the farming community, and gradually reached the officials of the central government. They, in their short-sightedness, hurriedly prepared for war, being themselves consumed by their own greed, envy and enger. In no time the armies of the two kingdoms were assembled on the banks of the river Rohini.
Now, it was the practice of the Blessed One every morning, at early dawn, to enter the attainment of infinite Compassion, in order to survey the world with His eye of purified vision, for beings who needed His help and assistance that day. If He could mitigate the suffering of any unfortunate man, woman or child; if He could offer consolation to someone who needed it; if He could support with final assurance someone who was on the verge of attaining the supramundane paths, He would immediately go to them, regardless of the distance or inconvenience, to fulfil His task. On this particular day, the Buddha saw the two armies of His maternal and paternal kinsmen drawn up for battle on the banks of the river Rohino.
According to custom, the two kings had already arrived at the battle field, and were reviewing their respective troops, when the Buddha, leaving the Nigrodha Park in Kapilavatthu, arrived to take His stand between the two armies. Taken by surprise at the sight of the Buddha, all preparatory activities were temporarily brought to a standstill by the two parties.
In the ensuing silence the Buddha addressed the two armies. "Why have you got ready for battle?" It is for the sake of water, your reverence," replied the two kings. "What is the value of water?", the Buddha asked them. "Your reverence, it is of little worth", answered the kings. "And human life?", again queried the Buddha. "The value of human life is incalculable' replied the kings, then the Buddha finally addressed them, "then, why do you want to destroy such valuable human lives for the sake of a little water, the worth of which is indeed truly insignificant?" Realising their folly, the two kings shame-facedly laid down their weapons.
The Buddha, then discoursed to them on the Attaclanda Sutta, stressing the evil consequences of war. All those assembled, including the two kings who had decided on war through their short-sighted policy and ambition, were pacified by the words of the Buddha, and their hatred quenched thereby. Outlining the benefits of peaceful and harmonious co-existence, the Buddha next related the Duddabha Jdtaka (birth-story), followed by the Latukika and Vttaka Jatakas. At the close of it, not only were the two assemblies (including their kings) reconciled, two hundred and fifty young men from each side were selected to be ordained as monks for the purpose of disseminating that message of peace all over the country. One wonders whether there has been any parallel incident in the history of the world, where a religious leader has actively participated in the prevention of an outbreak of war and at the same time established peace, directly on the battlefield.
The whole world welcomes peace. Hence they frequently discuss peace. They hold peace conferences. At the same time, some of them are secretly engaged in the trade of manufacturing lethal weapons capable of destroying even the whole world. They sow the seeds of greed and envy and of hatred, which are the main causes that lead to open aggression throughout the world. They even make enormous profits by selling arms and war machinery to countries engaged in war.
Nevertheless, with the development of yet another war, and the use of nuclear weapons, the imminent destruction of the world will be complete. Knowing this, the "World Powers" have taken various steps within the past thirty five years for the preservation of world peace. Special mention should be made here of three very important steps taken in this connection.
The United Nations Organization (UNO)
The primary objectives of this organization are the maintenance of international peace and security, and the achievement of international co-operation among its permanent members in matters of importance. Thirty five years have elapsed since the drafting of the U. N. Charter, and may be, billions of dollars have been spent during that time. A body of permanent representatives appointed from among the most distinguished men belonging to countries all over the world, assemble frequently to discuss plans for international peace and security. In times of conflict or dispute between countries, the Security Council being mainly responsible for settling such disputes, convenes special meetings for the purpose. Responsible members of the Council proceed to the spot to discuss peace proposals. In spite of all this, one finds wars - big and small-taking place in various parts of the world even today. This does not mean that the United Nations Organization has done nothing towards the maintenance of world peace. Twenty five years after the First World War, the Second World War broke out. Signs of yet another World War have appeared on the horizon after that, but due to the intervention of the UNO with its peace talks, temporary measures of reconciliation have taken the place of open aggression. This is something to be appreciated. Still, it must be admitted that world peace has not been maintained.
UNESCO
Everyone will recall the cherished ideas entertained in the producing of peace-loving citizens by means of a systematic educational programme; also to eradicate the lack of discipline in society, and to educate and inculcate peaceful ideals among the peoples of the world. Under this scheme, millions of rupees would have been spent. And yet indiscipline is daily on the increase among students, with the aggressive spirit of revolutionary ardour growing day by day. This is more evident among those who are receiving higher education in universities. Everywhere there are minor conflicts, while in certain places one finds even major outbreaks of indiscipline and disobedience. Strikes, for the most petty reasons, are a common feature among college and university students. Conflict with authority, resulting in noisy demonstrations, has become the fashion of the day. Even governments have been toppled. This situation is deteriorating in various parts of the world.
Threats and strikes, with picketing which is the usual moclust operandi employed by the working class in the solving of labour problems, should not be utilised in resolving problems of the educated youth of a country. Yet these very things have crept into even the lower grades of secondary schools today. Neither the students nor the youth are to be blamed. It is the result of a faulty educational system, lacking emphasis on discipline and character-formation. One cannot say the UNESCO has failed entirely in its purpose. Within its educational programme, in the field of education itself, it has gained rapid and far-reaching results. But the long-awaited establishment of world peace still remains to be accomplished.
Olympic Games
Participation in sports and other activities leads to physical fitness, provides recreation, and promotes healthy competition between individuals as well as teams. Lack of discrimination is an outstanding feature of such activities. This has always been so. Hence every government in every country, spending vast sums of money, provides facilities for sport in every school, village, and town, Inter-house competitions, inter-school meets, village contests, and national events, as well as international and regional meets have been againsed as far back as one may remember, culminating in the Olympic Games. This is a world event.
Until quite recently all participants in such games and other competitive activities accepted both victory and defeat with equal composure, hardly ever disputing the decision of judges and umpires. Today, it is a different story altogether. At the end of any inter-house or inter-school sports meet, both players and spectators may often be seen indulging in noisy horse-play and use of rude language. Peace, together with pleasure has been destroyed. Most inter-school games today end in scuffles and fights. The same atmosphere prevails at the end of many village meets. International games are not immune either. Similar scenes may be witnessed in the aftermath of such events.
The Test Match series between England and Australia, always given worldwide publicity for its show of true sportsmanship and good manners, has undergone a radical change today. The Olympic play-ground has already become the venue for crime and murder. In spite of a spirit of healthy competition, of 'give and take' of a very high order, there still remains much to be done. The long-awaited peace that will truly be permanent, is yet to be.
Thus, not one of these three measures taken to promote peace, has succeeded in bringing about World Peace, as any intelligent man will admit today.
How could World Peace be achieved according to Buddhist teaching? It is through creating peace within the individual. Greed, envy, and hatred, which undermine the growth of peace, should be overcome through the practice of Virtue, Concentration and Wisdom. Greed, envy and hatred may be each divided into the following three stages according to function. The Active (vitikkama) stage is actual action and speech arising through greed etc. The Excited (pariyatthana) stage is the assertion of greed etc. over their opposite counterparts. The Latent (anusaya) stage is the latent existence of these mental defilements within oneself. Greed, envy and hatred may be overcome in the active stage through virtue (sila), in the excited stage through concentration (samddhi); and in the latent stage through wisdom (pahna).
Virtue (Sila)
Virtue means restraint or self discipline - control of action and speech. Practice of virtue begins with the observing of the five Precepts (panca sila). It ends with training in the four-fold Purification of Virtue (catuparisuddha sila) The five evil actions are killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and the taking of intoxicating drinks. Virtue is refraining from the above five evil actions. Next, one should practise the five wholesome actions, which are the counterparts of the five evil actions. The development of virtue leads to the control of greed, envy and hatred.
The practice and perfection of virtue, while safeguarding the human qualities of a man, also leads to the obtaining of the following benefits.
He comes into a large fortune.
A fair name is spread abroad.
He enters the assembly of nobles (Kshatriyas) without fear.
He dies unconfused.
After death, he is born in a heavenly world.
(Visuddha Magga) in
Concentration (Samadhi)
Concentrations the unification of the mind obtained through restraint of the five sense-faculties, with mindfullness focused on a single profitable object. Concentration leads to tranquillity of mind. When the mind is tranquil one is able to suppress greed, envy and hired for varying periods of time, depending on the strength of that tranquillity. With further development of concentration inner peace arises spontaneously within the individual, paving the way to external peace.
Wisdom
Wisdom is the understanding of a thing as it truly is, and not as it appears to be. It is full comprehension of the five aggregates of mentality, and materially, tranquillity or claim is already found in such person. When wisdom is enjoined to this, one truly becomes a man of peace, incapable of hurting another, even in thought.
Universal love (mettd) as taught in Buddhism is a primary condition for world peace. Universal love is so-called because it is diffused to all beings in all directions, throughout the universe. This love that has no limit is spread to beings both human and divine, to animals and birds, and even to the meanest creatures that make this world and other worlds their home, and to man irrespective of his caste and colour, creed and nationality.
Human inhabitants of this world should be divided into four categories - oneself, the dear, the neutral, and the hostile. Love should be extended to all four groups in equal measure without discrimination. Just as a mother protects her only child, even so should one practise love towards all beings. This is the teaching of the Buddha.
Further, Buddhism teaches that one should look on all beings as one's own kin. There is no being in this world who has not been a mother, a father, a child, a brother or a sister, to one drifting in this sea of samsaric existence. Greed, envy and hatred will decrease in a society diffused by loving kindness. There will be no room for such defilements. There will be only peace.
In ancient times, it was customary for kings to wage war for various reasons. Hence Buddhist kings too made war on the slightest pretext, in order to annexe extra territories. The great king Asoka who had earlier fought many such battles in his greed for adding new lands to his mighty empire, later realised the evil consequences that accompanied war. Conquest of Territory (disd- Vijaya) ment the destruction of valuable human lives. Realising his foly, the great king gave up the Conquest to territories tol the Conquest of Truth (dhammavijaya). He became a follower of the Buddha's teachings. Establishing himself m virtue, he won the hearts of his subjects through his virtuous conduct and moral activities. With his heart filled with love, the great king Asoka, who looked on all men as his children - 'save mamise paja mama - established a harmonious state of peace throughout his realm.
"Pujetaya tu eva parapasanda tena prakaranena, evam karum atpapasanda ca vadhayatipara-pasadasd ca upakaroti" - "event leaders of other religions are worthy of respectful homage, for various reasons. This brings increase in honour to one's own, and helpful service to them." Thinking of other religionists, and discussing ways and means of helping them, and then acting accordingly,
he brought about goodwill and amity between all religions. Samavdyo eva scidhu - "concord itself is desirable," with this clarion call he set about spreading the message of goodwill and peace throughout his empire and outside it, in places for and near, among the rich and the poor, the high and the low.
In order to convey this message of peace and goodwill, Asoka sent his own ministers and missionaries to all countries with whom he had established mutual relations, to disseminate the teaching of the Buddha. These included Sri Lanka, Greece, Central Asia, Syria, Egypt, Corinth, Cyrene and Macedonia. Peace prevailed in all these countries, and even the name of war was unheard of for a very long long time. H. G. Rawlinson makes the observation in his Legacy of India (p. II) that these Buddhist missionaries were sent not merely to propagate Buddhism but to promote world peace. "Asoka's object was not merely to promulgate Buddhism, but to establish a 'world peace' and to prevent repetition of tragedies like the Kalinga massacre, which had led to his conversion".
One should now consider the question as to how world peace could be brought about through education based on Buddhist principles. The regeneration of the individual alone will lead to the regeneration of a country, or a nation. An education along Buddhist lines is the answer to this. Buddhist education means an education that is based on the fundamental principles of Buddhism. That means discipline and obedience, with unbounded respect for authority. The Buddha disparaged ignorance and commanded knowledge. Yet he gave priority to the humanity in man. If one lacks learning and yet possesses humane qualities, he does not become a nuisance to society. On the other hand, one who is learned and yet lacking in humanity becomes not only nuisance to society, but also a destructive liability to his country. If one has both learning and the qualities of a human being he is to be compared to a piece of pure rivergold. An education along Buddhist lines does not prevent one from acquiring unlimited knowledge together with the development of virtue and other humane qualities. On the other hand, it helps one to do so. One who receives such an education is able to control his greed, as well as his envy and hatred. It will lead to inner calm in the individual.
Buddhists were the pioneers of University education in the world. According to European history the first university to be set up in the West was the one at Bologna in Italy in the I Ith century. This was followed by the University at Sorbonne in Paris. The Oxford and Cambridge Universities came into being later. In the East, the ancient Buddhist university at Nalanda was started in the second century. In spirit of its Buddhist administration, students from various countries, of various nationalities and religions were admitted to the university at Nalanda. A distinctive feature of this Buddhist university whose numerical strength (of its combined staff and students), would be ten thousand at any one time, was the very high discipline and harmonious atmosphere that prevailed there, this university education was maintained for over seven hundred years.
Many scholars have done research on the University at Nalanda. Forfemost among them was Lord Aetland. Expressing his ideas in relation to one aspect of this university he says : "The discipline among students was of such high order that for the 700 years of its existence there has not been a single instance of a breach of disciplinary rules within the university. And this, in spite of a resident capacity of nearly ten thousand students and teachers, of various races, religions and nations. One may indeed come to the conclusion clearly and without bias, there is no better way than an education based on Buddhist principles for dispelling the indiscipline, unrest and disorder in the modern world an promoting peace and concord among its people."
In the catukka nipiit of the Anguttara Nikcixa. in the discourse known as the Patipada Sutta, the Buddha has shown four paths, of which the fourth is the path of calm (Soma patipada). In it, He has made clear how one may gain peace of mind through the calming down of thoughts of iiist and other defilements of the mind. Through the expulsion of greed, envy and hatred (which are the main I Buses that lead to war) from the mind of the individual, peace will automatically ensue.
In this way, wherever such an individual lives, that home will have a peaceful atmosphere. A village consisting of such homes will be a peaceful village. A town in which there are such villages will be a peaceful town. A country in which there are such towns or cities will be a peaceful country. A world in which the peoples of all nations live in peace will be a peaceful world.
Seeing that it is individual peace that leads to a world .it peace, and that it is by bringing inner peace to man that world peace can be ensured, one should set about that task of regenerating a peaceful individual. This should be done, i.i priority measure, not in lieu of, but in addition to the i onvening of peace conferences, and the work of the security council. Two suggestions are offered here for careful consideration.
I. UNESCO should set up an educational system with appropriate provision for individual training in moral discipline and character formation. This programme hould run concurrently with the normal academic courses, thus creating a world of peace - conscious individuals among its youth and child populations.
2. UNO should make an effort to instil into the hearts of both young and old alike, the four sublime mental states of loving-kindness (mettd), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (mudita), and equanimity (upekkhd). The cultivation of these four mental stages as given in the teachings of the Buddha, will lead mankind into a world of non-violence and tolerance, universal love and peace.
It should further try to inculcate the four wholesome bases of social integration (sangaha vatthu) among the various peoples on all levels or strata of society, within controls. These four basic acts of conduct, according to the teachings of the Buddha, are the following :
The practice of generosity; giving; sharing with others (dcina).
The use of pleasant or courteous speech or language (piya vacan).
Conduct that is wise, as well as altruistic by nature (attha cariya).
Belief in the equality of man; the practice of impartiality (samanattata).
With the cultivation of moral excellence, and the development of a righteous society, PEACE on a worldwide or universal scale will automatically follow.
The End.
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Thursday, March 05, 2009
Buddhism and Western Philisophy in the World Part1
Buddhism and Western Philosophy
It is a commonplace today to say that the world is becoming smaller and smaller. What happens in one part of it is soon known and producing effects in nearly all parts of it, thanks to our modern inventions of wireless waves through the ether and thrce-hundred-miles-an-hour aeroplanes through the air. It is then only in line with all modern developments that we Buddhists should consider a little what connections may exist between the Teaching given us by our Master 2,500 years ago in the eastern part of the world and any similar teachings to be found in the western half. And when we do so, it is not that we may decry those western gropers after truth in favour of our own truth-giver, but rather to rejoice that the truths He found and proclaimed have been partly glimpsed, -shall we say, echoed ?-in other quarters of the globe by minds that were searching for truth in the realms of thought and life, and occasionally finding precious fragments of it.
Among these truth-seekers in other lands than ours was the ancient Greek thinker, Herakleitos, often called " The Obscure," his teaching was so new and difficult to make clear to those around him. For he lived in Ephesus, a city of Greece, of some renown, very nearly about the same time that, four thousand miles away in India, our Master was teaching and preaching. And the Greeks were very pronouncedly a this-world people. Their interests were lokika, belonging to the things of the sense world ; whereas the Buddha lived and moved among a people who had got over the child's delight in the things he can see and touch and handle, and had passed on to the deeper things of the mind, so that what He had to say found a ready soil in which to take root, and grew up into the stately tree that the world now calls Buddhism. So Herakleitos may have been obscure to those he talked
to in his native land of Greece ; but he would have found a ready understanding if he had come to India and spoken there at the same time.
Like the Buddha, Herakleitos was of good family, and occupied for a time some sort of position of a religious kind. However, he resigned, and retired into the life of a recluse, so as to be better able to follow up his thoughts and reflections. We do not know much directly about what he taught, for all that survives of his writings to-day-is a portion of one small treatise. But he must have made a considerable impression on the thinkers of his day, for in their writings he is frequently quoted ; and it is from these quotations that we learn something of what were his main teachings.
Of these, the most outstanding was enshrined in his famous, oft-repeated saying : " Panta Rhei," " Everything flows." In this teaching he maintained that nothing stands still for an instant, that everything is in constant motion, that the universe consists of motion ; a doctrine which comes startlingly near to the very latest pronouncement of the physical science of to-day, that the universe is a universe of radiations rather than of so-called material atoms. He was the originator of the famous statement that a man cannot step twice into the same stream. And he held the world of visible and invisible things to be nothing but such a constantly flowing stream, which is never the same for two consecutive moments. For the sake of convenience in common speech, he said, we talk about the world and the things in it as if they stayed still, but it is only for convenience sake that we do so. The world is never the same world from one moment to the next. And this change is of the very essence of its nature. It is never Being ; it is always Becoming. And what is true of the world, he said, is also true of all living creatures belonging to it, living in it, visible or invisible, even the very gods. Just like the Buddha, he was not much impressed by the assumed greatness and power of the super-terrestrial powers. He held that the)-, were as subject to change as any mortal creature. He even had the hardihood, the boldness, to compare Zeus, the chief of all the gods in the Greek pantheon, to a wayward boy in his caprices, not to say his escapades. Which opinion ol Herakleitos will remind you of the way in which the Buddha treated " Great Brahma in that masterpiece of humour, the Sutta in which are described the attempts of a perturbed Bhikkhu to get from the " Great Brahma " an answer to a question that had long puzzled him and the failure of the god to give it, so that at last he had to go to the Buddha for the satisfaction of mind he sought, the solution of the problem that it was beyond the power of the chief of the gods to provide.
In this view of Herakleitos concerning the flowing nature of the world, you see at once that he has caught what the Buddha was teaching at that same time 4,000 miles away from him. in His doctrine of universal Anicca, impcr-manence. " Everything flows," " Sabbe sankara anicca," these are just two ways of saying exactly the same thing.
Another belief of Herakleitos was that jire was the primary element from which all things arose. And jire he identified in living beings with craving. Hence, all living beings arose from or through craving. Such a remarkable resemblance to the Buddha's doctrine of Bhavatanha almost makes one think that he had heard of the Buddha's teaching, somehow or other. But that was impossible at that time. Later, indeed, it is highly probable that the Buddha's teachings became known in Greece, when some of those who followed Alexander's army into the East returned to their native land. But in Herakleitos' day it almost looks as though some lar-stretching telepathy conveyed to the Greek brain what that Scion of the Sakyas was teaching and preaching thousands of miles away from him at that time, and he gave it out as his own.
Herakleitos also had a strong sense of the inevitable and universal succession of cause and effect, so that he felt that a man's deeds made his nature, which in turn made his destiny, the gods having nothing to do with this latter. Here again he is in line with the Buddhist doctrine of Kamma, of action and its effects, in that each man's action decides each man's fate or destiny, no god or demon having anything decisive to do with it.
But it is in modern days in Europe that we find thinkers whose ideas most nearly approximate to those on which is founded Buddhism. Three of these thinkers come very near indeed in their thinking to the Buddhadhamma. Two of them were Germans, namely Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Von Hartmann ; and one, a Frenchman of Jewish extraction, Henri Bergson. To these names, perhaps, we ought to add that of another German, the chemist Ostwald, who in the last century, with his teaching of what has been called " Energism ", asserted the ultimate insubstantiality of all so-called solid matter.
Ostwald, however, is a different kind of man from the other three just mentioned, in that he was not a thinker pure and simple who evolved his ideas out or the depths of his own inner consciousness, but a scientist whose particular study was the nature of matter, but who did some profound thinking about the actual facts which he encountered in the course of his strictly scientific work. The conclusions at which he arrived over sixty years ago have of late, say within the last twenty years or so, become almost commonplaces among the leading scientists of the western world. The views which now obtain most currency in scientific circles to-day all focus themselves on the point which Ostwald last century only broached as a simple theory, this namely, that what we find in the universe at all times is nothing but a play of forces or energies,—hence Ostwald's term " Energism.'' To creatures possessed of such sense-organs as ours these energies or forces reveal their presence as the various kinds of " matter " we know, of various degrees of tenuity, from gases and vapours through all degrees of density up to heavy forms of solid matter, so-called, as lead and gold and platinum and so on. In fact, modern scientists of the most advanced schools hardly bother to concern themselves with matter at all, that is matter conceived of as a definite entity. They give themselves almost entirely to the exploration of what they call ' fields of force,' and in this direction believe they are on the likeliest track to that explanation of the ultimate nature of the physical universe which they seek.
Modern science has entirely given up that dogma once held as a strict article of scientific faith, without belief in which no scientist could hope to see salvation—in the eyes of his own generation at least—the dogma, namely, that matter is conserved eternally, only changing its form from solid to fluid or gas, and then after long ages, back to solid again, and so on without any apparent end. They talk now only of the conservation of energy. Solid matter, what is called " solid matter," that is,—is now quite openly considered to be only a variety of energy. Supposed solid matter is always changing into comparatively un-solid, insubstantial radiation. The supposed material universe is reduced to a system of waves or undulations. The slower undulations are what we usually call matter, while the faster ones are those we call undulations proper. Thus the whole of the so-called material universe of modern science is resolved into waves of force. As one scientific writer picturesquely puts it : " These waves are of two kinds : bottled up waves which we call matter, and unbottled waves which we call radiation or light. The process of the annihilation of matter is merely that of unbottling imprisoned wave energy and setting free to travel through space. These concepts reduce the whole universe to a world of radiation, potential or existent, and it no longer seems surprising that the fundamental particles of which matter is built should exhibit many of the properties of waves."
Observe in this statement how a modern scientist speaks quite calmly and off-hand about " the annihilation of matter," as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world. What a long way European science has travelled since the days of LaMettrie, Baron D'Holbach, Cabanis, and Moleschott with their perfect faith in the assured eternity of matter ! How far it has advanced beyond the crass materialism of a Buckner with his dogmatical ipse dixit: " An atom of oxygen has been an atom of oxygen from all eternity and will continue to be an atom of oxygen to all eternity." Still, to-day European science has made this advance. But only within the last twenty years, or may be a little further back, has it arrived at that Anicca view of the universe, the idea of the universe of matter as an entirely impermanent thing, which in Asia was promulgated by that incomparable master scientist of actuality, the Buddha, over 2,500 years ago.
For the teaching of Buddhism with regard to the physical universe runs as Follow? :•—
Everything in the universe is built up of just four things, namely in the Pali : Pathavi, Apo, Vayo and Tejo ; or in English : Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. But the earth, water, air, and fire here mentioned are not quite the same as the plain earth, water, air, and fire we have to do with in the world about us every day. These four names in Buddhist Abhidhamma teaching, that is in the deeper doctrines of Buddhism, stand for forces orenergies, forces, energies, which, however, manifest themselves, make their presence known to living creatures like us, with sensoria such as are ours, as the things we call by these names. Earth, for instance, in Buddhist philosophy does not mean the dust in the road outside there, but the quality, the property, of Extension, of extensibility ; that is, it means the power of oc cupying space. " Earth," speaking Buddhistically, is the correlate ul space. " Earth " is where there is not space. Space is where there is not " earth." Apo or Water, again, in Buddhist philosophy does not mean just the fluid in this jug and glass on the table before me. Speaking strictly Buddhistically, Apo or " Water" means the force of Cohesion wherever it may be found, in water and in everything that holds together and keeps its shape through the atoms composing it sticking to each other, more or less, and not flying off in all directions, as they might do but for the presence among them of this force of cohering which keeps them together in shape, somewhat as a drop of water holds together in the round shape of a small globular mass ol fluid on the leaf of a lotus flower. Vayo or Air represents the-force, Vibration, as found in the air, and for that matter, in .ill (lungs. And lastly, Tejo or Fire stands for radiation. Fire in all its forms and variants as latent heat and light and so on, is the most pronounced kind of radiation we have before our eyes, from the sun in the sky of our solar system, and the countless suns shining far out in space all about us, down to the least: little glow-worm in the grass or firefly in the air. Wherever radiation is found in our universe—and it is found everywhere : some, indeed, saying that the universe is nothing else but radiation—but wherever it manifests itself, there we have Fire .is that term is understood in Buddhist philosophy.
by. Dr. B. E. Fernando. F.R.C.E (Eng.)
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It is a commonplace today to say that the world is becoming smaller and smaller. What happens in one part of it is soon known and producing effects in nearly all parts of it, thanks to our modern inventions of wireless waves through the ether and thrce-hundred-miles-an-hour aeroplanes through the air. It is then only in line with all modern developments that we Buddhists should consider a little what connections may exist between the Teaching given us by our Master 2,500 years ago in the eastern part of the world and any similar teachings to be found in the western half. And when we do so, it is not that we may decry those western gropers after truth in favour of our own truth-giver, but rather to rejoice that the truths He found and proclaimed have been partly glimpsed, -shall we say, echoed ?-in other quarters of the globe by minds that were searching for truth in the realms of thought and life, and occasionally finding precious fragments of it.
Among these truth-seekers in other lands than ours was the ancient Greek thinker, Herakleitos, often called " The Obscure," his teaching was so new and difficult to make clear to those around him. For he lived in Ephesus, a city of Greece, of some renown, very nearly about the same time that, four thousand miles away in India, our Master was teaching and preaching. And the Greeks were very pronouncedly a this-world people. Their interests were lokika, belonging to the things of the sense world ; whereas the Buddha lived and moved among a people who had got over the child's delight in the things he can see and touch and handle, and had passed on to the deeper things of the mind, so that what He had to say found a ready soil in which to take root, and grew up into the stately tree that the world now calls Buddhism. So Herakleitos may have been obscure to those he talked
to in his native land of Greece ; but he would have found a ready understanding if he had come to India and spoken there at the same time.
Like the Buddha, Herakleitos was of good family, and occupied for a time some sort of position of a religious kind. However, he resigned, and retired into the life of a recluse, so as to be better able to follow up his thoughts and reflections. We do not know much directly about what he taught, for all that survives of his writings to-day-is a portion of one small treatise. But he must have made a considerable impression on the thinkers of his day, for in their writings he is frequently quoted ; and it is from these quotations that we learn something of what were his main teachings.
Of these, the most outstanding was enshrined in his famous, oft-repeated saying : " Panta Rhei," " Everything flows." In this teaching he maintained that nothing stands still for an instant, that everything is in constant motion, that the universe consists of motion ; a doctrine which comes startlingly near to the very latest pronouncement of the physical science of to-day, that the universe is a universe of radiations rather than of so-called material atoms. He was the originator of the famous statement that a man cannot step twice into the same stream. And he held the world of visible and invisible things to be nothing but such a constantly flowing stream, which is never the same for two consecutive moments. For the sake of convenience in common speech, he said, we talk about the world and the things in it as if they stayed still, but it is only for convenience sake that we do so. The world is never the same world from one moment to the next. And this change is of the very essence of its nature. It is never Being ; it is always Becoming. And what is true of the world, he said, is also true of all living creatures belonging to it, living in it, visible or invisible, even the very gods. Just like the Buddha, he was not much impressed by the assumed greatness and power of the super-terrestrial powers. He held that the)-, were as subject to change as any mortal creature. He even had the hardihood, the boldness, to compare Zeus, the chief of all the gods in the Greek pantheon, to a wayward boy in his caprices, not to say his escapades. Which opinion ol Herakleitos will remind you of the way in which the Buddha treated " Great Brahma in that masterpiece of humour, the Sutta in which are described the attempts of a perturbed Bhikkhu to get from the " Great Brahma " an answer to a question that had long puzzled him and the failure of the god to give it, so that at last he had to go to the Buddha for the satisfaction of mind he sought, the solution of the problem that it was beyond the power of the chief of the gods to provide.
In this view of Herakleitos concerning the flowing nature of the world, you see at once that he has caught what the Buddha was teaching at that same time 4,000 miles away from him. in His doctrine of universal Anicca, impcr-manence. " Everything flows," " Sabbe sankara anicca," these are just two ways of saying exactly the same thing.
Another belief of Herakleitos was that jire was the primary element from which all things arose. And jire he identified in living beings with craving. Hence, all living beings arose from or through craving. Such a remarkable resemblance to the Buddha's doctrine of Bhavatanha almost makes one think that he had heard of the Buddha's teaching, somehow or other. But that was impossible at that time. Later, indeed, it is highly probable that the Buddha's teachings became known in Greece, when some of those who followed Alexander's army into the East returned to their native land. But in Herakleitos' day it almost looks as though some lar-stretching telepathy conveyed to the Greek brain what that Scion of the Sakyas was teaching and preaching thousands of miles away from him at that time, and he gave it out as his own.
Herakleitos also had a strong sense of the inevitable and universal succession of cause and effect, so that he felt that a man's deeds made his nature, which in turn made his destiny, the gods having nothing to do with this latter. Here again he is in line with the Buddhist doctrine of Kamma, of action and its effects, in that each man's action decides each man's fate or destiny, no god or demon having anything decisive to do with it.
But it is in modern days in Europe that we find thinkers whose ideas most nearly approximate to those on which is founded Buddhism. Three of these thinkers come very near indeed in their thinking to the Buddhadhamma. Two of them were Germans, namely Arthur Schopenhauer and Edward Von Hartmann ; and one, a Frenchman of Jewish extraction, Henri Bergson. To these names, perhaps, we ought to add that of another German, the chemist Ostwald, who in the last century, with his teaching of what has been called " Energism ", asserted the ultimate insubstantiality of all so-called solid matter.
Ostwald, however, is a different kind of man from the other three just mentioned, in that he was not a thinker pure and simple who evolved his ideas out or the depths of his own inner consciousness, but a scientist whose particular study was the nature of matter, but who did some profound thinking about the actual facts which he encountered in the course of his strictly scientific work. The conclusions at which he arrived over sixty years ago have of late, say within the last twenty years or so, become almost commonplaces among the leading scientists of the western world. The views which now obtain most currency in scientific circles to-day all focus themselves on the point which Ostwald last century only broached as a simple theory, this namely, that what we find in the universe at all times is nothing but a play of forces or energies,—hence Ostwald's term " Energism.'' To creatures possessed of such sense-organs as ours these energies or forces reveal their presence as the various kinds of " matter " we know, of various degrees of tenuity, from gases and vapours through all degrees of density up to heavy forms of solid matter, so-called, as lead and gold and platinum and so on. In fact, modern scientists of the most advanced schools hardly bother to concern themselves with matter at all, that is matter conceived of as a definite entity. They give themselves almost entirely to the exploration of what they call ' fields of force,' and in this direction believe they are on the likeliest track to that explanation of the ultimate nature of the physical universe which they seek.
Modern science has entirely given up that dogma once held as a strict article of scientific faith, without belief in which no scientist could hope to see salvation—in the eyes of his own generation at least—the dogma, namely, that matter is conserved eternally, only changing its form from solid to fluid or gas, and then after long ages, back to solid again, and so on without any apparent end. They talk now only of the conservation of energy. Solid matter, what is called " solid matter," that is,—is now quite openly considered to be only a variety of energy. Supposed solid matter is always changing into comparatively un-solid, insubstantial radiation. The supposed material universe is reduced to a system of waves or undulations. The slower undulations are what we usually call matter, while the faster ones are those we call undulations proper. Thus the whole of the so-called material universe of modern science is resolved into waves of force. As one scientific writer picturesquely puts it : " These waves are of two kinds : bottled up waves which we call matter, and unbottled waves which we call radiation or light. The process of the annihilation of matter is merely that of unbottling imprisoned wave energy and setting free to travel through space. These concepts reduce the whole universe to a world of radiation, potential or existent, and it no longer seems surprising that the fundamental particles of which matter is built should exhibit many of the properties of waves."
Observe in this statement how a modern scientist speaks quite calmly and off-hand about " the annihilation of matter," as though it were the most ordinary thing in the world. What a long way European science has travelled since the days of LaMettrie, Baron D'Holbach, Cabanis, and Moleschott with their perfect faith in the assured eternity of matter ! How far it has advanced beyond the crass materialism of a Buckner with his dogmatical ipse dixit: " An atom of oxygen has been an atom of oxygen from all eternity and will continue to be an atom of oxygen to all eternity." Still, to-day European science has made this advance. But only within the last twenty years, or may be a little further back, has it arrived at that Anicca view of the universe, the idea of the universe of matter as an entirely impermanent thing, which in Asia was promulgated by that incomparable master scientist of actuality, the Buddha, over 2,500 years ago.
For the teaching of Buddhism with regard to the physical universe runs as Follow? :•—
Everything in the universe is built up of just four things, namely in the Pali : Pathavi, Apo, Vayo and Tejo ; or in English : Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. But the earth, water, air, and fire here mentioned are not quite the same as the plain earth, water, air, and fire we have to do with in the world about us every day. These four names in Buddhist Abhidhamma teaching, that is in the deeper doctrines of Buddhism, stand for forces orenergies, forces, energies, which, however, manifest themselves, make their presence known to living creatures like us, with sensoria such as are ours, as the things we call by these names. Earth, for instance, in Buddhist philosophy does not mean the dust in the road outside there, but the quality, the property, of Extension, of extensibility ; that is, it means the power of oc cupying space. " Earth," speaking Buddhistically, is the correlate ul space. " Earth " is where there is not space. Space is where there is not " earth." Apo or Water, again, in Buddhist philosophy does not mean just the fluid in this jug and glass on the table before me. Speaking strictly Buddhistically, Apo or " Water" means the force of Cohesion wherever it may be found, in water and in everything that holds together and keeps its shape through the atoms composing it sticking to each other, more or less, and not flying off in all directions, as they might do but for the presence among them of this force of cohering which keeps them together in shape, somewhat as a drop of water holds together in the round shape of a small globular mass ol fluid on the leaf of a lotus flower. Vayo or Air represents the-force, Vibration, as found in the air, and for that matter, in .ill (lungs. And lastly, Tejo or Fire stands for radiation. Fire in all its forms and variants as latent heat and light and so on, is the most pronounced kind of radiation we have before our eyes, from the sun in the sky of our solar system, and the countless suns shining far out in space all about us, down to the least: little glow-worm in the grass or firefly in the air. Wherever radiation is found in our universe—and it is found everywhere : some, indeed, saying that the universe is nothing else but radiation—but wherever it manifests itself, there we have Fire .is that term is understood in Buddhist philosophy.
by. Dr. B. E. Fernando. F.R.C.E (Eng.)
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Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Buddhist Attitude - Ethics of Material Progress - PART 1
ETHICS OF MATERIAL PROGRESS : THE BUDDHIST ATTITUDE - PART 1
Sanath Nanayakkara
When viewed against the totality of the Buddha's teachings his views on economics fall on the periphery. These views are not worked out and developed as a composite thesis but put forward as and when occasion demanded. Therefore, one who attempts to gain an insight into the Buddha's views on economics has to laboriously wade through the texts and cull the basic economic principles scattered therein. This is an attempt in this direction for it is felt that most of the views so put forward by the Buddha have much bearing and relevance to economics in general and to the economy of a country like Sri Lanka in particular.
From numerous definitions put forward by renowned economists it becomes clear that economics, as understood at present, especially in the Occident, is primarily concerned with the varied activities adopted by man in securing numerous kinds of things he requires to satisfy his multiplex wants.1 According to those economists man's motives that prompt him to engage in these activities are only of secondary importance. This explains why these economists are generally not concerned with the ethical aspect of man's activities in his pursuit of his requirements. On this fundamental point, the Buddha totally differs from the modern day economists. Whatever interest the Buddha displayed with regard to economic
problems of his day was primarily due to his concern with the ethics involved in them. This was because he upheld the view that human activities if they are to be conducive to the well-being of oneself as well as another have to be necessarily ethically motivated and directed. As economics is primarily based on human activities the above mentioned view of the Buddha lent economics open to ethical evaluation. The economic principles the Buddha advocated are, therefore, primarily the result of his ethical evaluation of the economic activities that prevailed in his time.
The economy of the Buddha's time was in a state of transition from that of a basically agricultural one into a mixed economy. When evaluating the economic activities that sustained this economy the Buddha found numerous drawbacks and shortcomings which he considered should be rectified and put to right if they are to result in the material well-being of the people. The Buddha considered that such a rectification was very necessary for, according to his view, material well-being provides an environment favourable to ethical and spiritual advancement of the people.
A fundamental observation made by the Buddha was that poverty (da(iddiya) is a primary cause that brings about ethical degeneration leading to social disharmony and conflict. This observation is very forcefully presented in the Cakkavatt/sThanSda Sutta as well as in the Kuta-danta Sutta, both occurring in the DTghanikaya? The CakkavattisThanSda Sutta illustrates how poverty that becomes rife due to maldistribution of goods, wealth and resources gradually corrodes the social fabric destroying
its ethics, increasing violence and crime, finally engulfing the whole country in a mass-scale war between the haves and have-nots. The text reads:
"Thus brethren, from goods not beng bestowed on the destitute, poverty grew rife, from poverty growing rife stealing increased, from the spread of stealing violence grew apace, from the growth of violence the destruction of life became common, from the frequency of murder both the span of life of those beings and their comeliness also wasted away, so that, of human beings whose span of life was eighty-thousand years, the sons lived but forty thousand years. Thus,
from goods not being bestowed......lying......evil
speaking......immorality......abusive speech and
idle talk......covetousness and ill-will......false
opinion......incest, wanton greed and perverted
lust......till finally lack of filial and religious piety
and lack of regard for the head of the clan grew great.. Among such humans the ten moral courses of conduct will altogether disappear, the ten immoral courses of action will flourish excessively, there will be no word for morals among such humans far less any moral agent. Among such humans, brethren, they who lack filial and religious piety, and have no respect for the head of the clan-it's they to whom homage and praise will be given......the "world will fall into
promiscuity......Among such humans, brethren, keen mutual enmity will become the rule, keen ill-will, keen animosity, passionate thoughts even of killing, in a mother towards her child, in a child towards its mother, in a father towards his child, in a child towards its father......Among such hum.ins, brethren there will arise a sword-period of seven days during which they will -look on each other as wild beats, sharp swords will appear ready to their hands, and they thinking: "This is a wild beast, this is a wild beast' will with their swords deprive each other of life "
This account very effectively demonstrates the shocking impact of the economic inequalities on the individual and its devastating repercussion on society; how it corrodes and destroys the long-cherished values and beliefs which keep society well-knit together, how it kindles jealousy and hatred to the extent of forcing the haves and have-nots to consider each other as arch rivals; how it turns human beings into the likeness of wild beasts ready to pounce on each other for the final kill. Who is responsible for their increase of poverty, the moat salient factor of what contributes to this vicious circle of events? The answer is found elsewhere in the same Sutta. It is said that this whole vicious circle of poverty, jealousy, hatred, violence etc. started with the king's (i.e. the State's) failure to provide economic support to the needy. The king, though he took steps to provide righteous security and protection to the people, did not take necessary action to alleviate poverty. This statement is very significant for the fact that it clearly points out that the provision of economic security for the people is a prime responsibility of the rulers.
This fact is further emphasised by the Kutadanta Sutta. This Sutta depicts a country engulfed in crime and social upheaval caused by poverty arisen primarily through unemployment. Herein the whole country is depicted as being pillaged, harassed and harried by dacoits. The roads, as they are infested by such dacoits, have become unsafe for travel. There Ts no safety of life or personal property. The people live in fear with doors closed. The Sutta makes it quite clear that all this disorder has been caused by the negligence of the king to provide a well planned employment - generating economic programme conducive to the welfare of his subjects. Both these suttas are equally emphatic on the point that the traditional remedial method adopted by rulers, namely, imposition of punishment, is certainly not an effective step to arrest crime and social unrest caused by poverty. These Suttas demonstrate that such traditional approaches to problems that require more novel, creative, well planned-out programmes would merely further complicate the situation. Thus, it is shown that such punishment meted out to control crime contributed, contrary to the expectation of the rules, to the increase of social unrest and crime. The Cakkavattisihanada Sutta with its emphasis on ethics presumes that such crime and violence, having taken its toll, would after some time cease on its own; and the remaining people, having learnt a bitter lesson, would realize their folly and once again start from the beginning to rebuild a peaceful society.
As the Sutta shows, this self-operating solution requires a long period to bring back the trouble-smitten country to normalcy. More than a practical solution this appears to be a pious hope, because a country after being subjected to such devastation cannot be developed without adopting constructive, result-oriented remedial measures. In this regard the Kutadanta Sutta presents a more realistic approach. It emphatically points out that a country, that is brought to the very threshold of ruination through crime and anti-social activities of the masses who are oppressed by poverty, could be developed only by ensuring gainful employment to the people and thereby increasing production which will contribute to economic advancement of the individuals as well as the state. The king's, chaplain, who in this case is made to voice the Buddhist point of view, advises the king thus:
'The king's country. Sire is harassed and harried. There are dacoits abroad who pillage the villages and townships, and who make the roads unsafe. Were the king, so long as that is so, to levy a fresh tax, verily his majesty could be acting wrongly. But perchance his majesty might think: 'I'll soon put a stop to these scounderls' game by degradation and banishment, and fines and bonds and death I But their licence cannot be satisfactorily put a stop to so. The remnant left unpunished would still go harassing the realm. Now there is one method to adopt to put a definite stop to this disorder. Whosoever there be in the king's realm who devote themselves to keeping cattle and the farm to them let his majesty the king give food and seed-corn. Whosoever there be in the king's realm who devote themselves to trade to them let his majesty the king, give capital. Whosoever, there be in the king's realm who devote themselves to government service to thorn let his majesty the king give wages and food. Then those men, following each his own business will no longer harass the realm; the king's revenue will go up, the country will be quiet and at peace; and the populace, pleased one with another and happy, dancing their children in their arms, will dwell with open doors.'
While reasserting that poverty alleviation is the primary duty of the state, this Sutta categorically points out also, that in doing so, the state should act wisely, according to a well laid-out programme. It is incumbent on the state to release capital necessary to commence a programme for the alleviation of poverty. As it is made clear by the Sutta this capital should not be utilized as mere unemployment relief for day to day consumption The CakkavattisJhanada Sutta, too, makes abundantly clear the futility of such a remedial measure. Therein it is described how, when it was brought to the king's notice that the people through poverty resort to crime and thievery, the king, in good faith, gave them money, requesting them to desist from such anti-social activities. This compassionate act of the king did not bring about the expected results. Instead, when the talk spread that the king was doling out money to criminals and thieves, many others began to engage themselves in such activities as a ruse to obtain easy money. Once again this also shows that conventional methods are not always effective to solve complex problems.
As the Kutadanta Sutta illustrates, in a situation of this nature one should not get emotional and act out of a feeling of charity. Instead the state should analyse the problem and get at its root-cause and then adopt suitable, effective remedial measures to solve the problem. Merely because the state detects unemployment as the root-cause of this problem the state is not advised to grant mass-scale employment to people in a haphazard manner, in order to keep the people employed. The advice offered is that the people should be employed gainfully, and that, too, should be carried out in a well-planned manner, in keeping with the country's total economic structure. When granting employment to people their ability, skill and inclination have all to be considered. Besides, the state should wisely identify and then select areas that require aid as well as the type of aid required, and grant them accordingly It is only then that employment will be productive, contributing to the enhancement of the total production of the country.
Another noteworthy point is that the state should provide financial assistance to those who are engaged in such professions as trade. The commentary adds that the money so provided to purchase goods, raw material etc. should be given as outright grants without calling for guarantors or sureties and even without any documentation.
Another very enlightening feature of this Sutta is seen when it demonstrates the fallacy of spending national wealth on festivals, celebrations, and fruitless rituals when the country is in the throes of poverty. To illustrate this vital point the Kutadanta Sutta narrates the story of King Mahavijita who, being elated about his own prosperity and well-being, decides to levy an extra tax, and with that money, to hold a magnificent sacrificial ritual to thank the gods. The chaplain, however, reasons out and dissuades the king from such wasteful enterprises—which if allowed could have consumed a good portion of the national revenue, and advises the king to utilize the wealth in productive investments. Both these Suttas stress also the important fact that the state should not get alienated from the people, but should be constantly aware and alert about the true nature of the situation in the country, and be sensitive to the aspirations of the people. It is only then that the state would be able to plan the economy in a constructive manner.
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Sanath Nanayakkara
When viewed against the totality of the Buddha's teachings his views on economics fall on the periphery. These views are not worked out and developed as a composite thesis but put forward as and when occasion demanded. Therefore, one who attempts to gain an insight into the Buddha's views on economics has to laboriously wade through the texts and cull the basic economic principles scattered therein. This is an attempt in this direction for it is felt that most of the views so put forward by the Buddha have much bearing and relevance to economics in general and to the economy of a country like Sri Lanka in particular.
From numerous definitions put forward by renowned economists it becomes clear that economics, as understood at present, especially in the Occident, is primarily concerned with the varied activities adopted by man in securing numerous kinds of things he requires to satisfy his multiplex wants.1 According to those economists man's motives that prompt him to engage in these activities are only of secondary importance. This explains why these economists are generally not concerned with the ethical aspect of man's activities in his pursuit of his requirements. On this fundamental point, the Buddha totally differs from the modern day economists. Whatever interest the Buddha displayed with regard to economic
problems of his day was primarily due to his concern with the ethics involved in them. This was because he upheld the view that human activities if they are to be conducive to the well-being of oneself as well as another have to be necessarily ethically motivated and directed. As economics is primarily based on human activities the above mentioned view of the Buddha lent economics open to ethical evaluation. The economic principles the Buddha advocated are, therefore, primarily the result of his ethical evaluation of the economic activities that prevailed in his time.
The economy of the Buddha's time was in a state of transition from that of a basically agricultural one into a mixed economy. When evaluating the economic activities that sustained this economy the Buddha found numerous drawbacks and shortcomings which he considered should be rectified and put to right if they are to result in the material well-being of the people. The Buddha considered that such a rectification was very necessary for, according to his view, material well-being provides an environment favourable to ethical and spiritual advancement of the people.
A fundamental observation made by the Buddha was that poverty (da(iddiya) is a primary cause that brings about ethical degeneration leading to social disharmony and conflict. This observation is very forcefully presented in the Cakkavatt/sThanSda Sutta as well as in the Kuta-danta Sutta, both occurring in the DTghanikaya? The CakkavattisThanSda Sutta illustrates how poverty that becomes rife due to maldistribution of goods, wealth and resources gradually corrodes the social fabric destroying
its ethics, increasing violence and crime, finally engulfing the whole country in a mass-scale war between the haves and have-nots. The text reads:
"Thus brethren, from goods not beng bestowed on the destitute, poverty grew rife, from poverty growing rife stealing increased, from the spread of stealing violence grew apace, from the growth of violence the destruction of life became common, from the frequency of murder both the span of life of those beings and their comeliness also wasted away, so that, of human beings whose span of life was eighty-thousand years, the sons lived but forty thousand years. Thus,
from goods not being bestowed......lying......evil
speaking......immorality......abusive speech and
idle talk......covetousness and ill-will......false
opinion......incest, wanton greed and perverted
lust......till finally lack of filial and religious piety
and lack of regard for the head of the clan grew great.. Among such humans the ten moral courses of conduct will altogether disappear, the ten immoral courses of action will flourish excessively, there will be no word for morals among such humans far less any moral agent. Among such humans, brethren, they who lack filial and religious piety, and have no respect for the head of the clan-it's they to whom homage and praise will be given......the "world will fall into
promiscuity......Among such humans, brethren, keen mutual enmity will become the rule, keen ill-will, keen animosity, passionate thoughts even of killing, in a mother towards her child, in a child towards its mother, in a father towards his child, in a child towards its father......Among such hum.ins, brethren there will arise a sword-period of seven days during which they will -look on each other as wild beats, sharp swords will appear ready to their hands, and they thinking: "This is a wild beast, this is a wild beast' will with their swords deprive each other of life "
This account very effectively demonstrates the shocking impact of the economic inequalities on the individual and its devastating repercussion on society; how it corrodes and destroys the long-cherished values and beliefs which keep society well-knit together, how it kindles jealousy and hatred to the extent of forcing the haves and have-nots to consider each other as arch rivals; how it turns human beings into the likeness of wild beasts ready to pounce on each other for the final kill. Who is responsible for their increase of poverty, the moat salient factor of what contributes to this vicious circle of events? The answer is found elsewhere in the same Sutta. It is said that this whole vicious circle of poverty, jealousy, hatred, violence etc. started with the king's (i.e. the State's) failure to provide economic support to the needy. The king, though he took steps to provide righteous security and protection to the people, did not take necessary action to alleviate poverty. This statement is very significant for the fact that it clearly points out that the provision of economic security for the people is a prime responsibility of the rulers.
This fact is further emphasised by the Kutadanta Sutta. This Sutta depicts a country engulfed in crime and social upheaval caused by poverty arisen primarily through unemployment. Herein the whole country is depicted as being pillaged, harassed and harried by dacoits. The roads, as they are infested by such dacoits, have become unsafe for travel. There Ts no safety of life or personal property. The people live in fear with doors closed. The Sutta makes it quite clear that all this disorder has been caused by the negligence of the king to provide a well planned employment - generating economic programme conducive to the welfare of his subjects. Both these suttas are equally emphatic on the point that the traditional remedial method adopted by rulers, namely, imposition of punishment, is certainly not an effective step to arrest crime and social unrest caused by poverty. These Suttas demonstrate that such traditional approaches to problems that require more novel, creative, well planned-out programmes would merely further complicate the situation. Thus, it is shown that such punishment meted out to control crime contributed, contrary to the expectation of the rules, to the increase of social unrest and crime. The Cakkavattisihanada Sutta with its emphasis on ethics presumes that such crime and violence, having taken its toll, would after some time cease on its own; and the remaining people, having learnt a bitter lesson, would realize their folly and once again start from the beginning to rebuild a peaceful society.
As the Sutta shows, this self-operating solution requires a long period to bring back the trouble-smitten country to normalcy. More than a practical solution this appears to be a pious hope, because a country after being subjected to such devastation cannot be developed without adopting constructive, result-oriented remedial measures. In this regard the Kutadanta Sutta presents a more realistic approach. It emphatically points out that a country, that is brought to the very threshold of ruination through crime and anti-social activities of the masses who are oppressed by poverty, could be developed only by ensuring gainful employment to the people and thereby increasing production which will contribute to economic advancement of the individuals as well as the state. The king's, chaplain, who in this case is made to voice the Buddhist point of view, advises the king thus:
'The king's country. Sire is harassed and harried. There are dacoits abroad who pillage the villages and townships, and who make the roads unsafe. Were the king, so long as that is so, to levy a fresh tax, verily his majesty could be acting wrongly. But perchance his majesty might think: 'I'll soon put a stop to these scounderls' game by degradation and banishment, and fines and bonds and death I But their licence cannot be satisfactorily put a stop to so. The remnant left unpunished would still go harassing the realm. Now there is one method to adopt to put a definite stop to this disorder. Whosoever there be in the king's realm who devote themselves to keeping cattle and the farm to them let his majesty the king give food and seed-corn. Whosoever there be in the king's realm who devote themselves to trade to them let his majesty the king, give capital. Whosoever, there be in the king's realm who devote themselves to government service to thorn let his majesty the king give wages and food. Then those men, following each his own business will no longer harass the realm; the king's revenue will go up, the country will be quiet and at peace; and the populace, pleased one with another and happy, dancing their children in their arms, will dwell with open doors.'
While reasserting that poverty alleviation is the primary duty of the state, this Sutta categorically points out also, that in doing so, the state should act wisely, according to a well laid-out programme. It is incumbent on the state to release capital necessary to commence a programme for the alleviation of poverty. As it is made clear by the Sutta this capital should not be utilized as mere unemployment relief for day to day consumption The CakkavattisJhanada Sutta, too, makes abundantly clear the futility of such a remedial measure. Therein it is described how, when it was brought to the king's notice that the people through poverty resort to crime and thievery, the king, in good faith, gave them money, requesting them to desist from such anti-social activities. This compassionate act of the king did not bring about the expected results. Instead, when the talk spread that the king was doling out money to criminals and thieves, many others began to engage themselves in such activities as a ruse to obtain easy money. Once again this also shows that conventional methods are not always effective to solve complex problems.
As the Kutadanta Sutta illustrates, in a situation of this nature one should not get emotional and act out of a feeling of charity. Instead the state should analyse the problem and get at its root-cause and then adopt suitable, effective remedial measures to solve the problem. Merely because the state detects unemployment as the root-cause of this problem the state is not advised to grant mass-scale employment to people in a haphazard manner, in order to keep the people employed. The advice offered is that the people should be employed gainfully, and that, too, should be carried out in a well-planned manner, in keeping with the country's total economic structure. When granting employment to people their ability, skill and inclination have all to be considered. Besides, the state should wisely identify and then select areas that require aid as well as the type of aid required, and grant them accordingly It is only then that employment will be productive, contributing to the enhancement of the total production of the country.
Another noteworthy point is that the state should provide financial assistance to those who are engaged in such professions as trade. The commentary adds that the money so provided to purchase goods, raw material etc. should be given as outright grants without calling for guarantors or sureties and even without any documentation.
Another very enlightening feature of this Sutta is seen when it demonstrates the fallacy of spending national wealth on festivals, celebrations, and fruitless rituals when the country is in the throes of poverty. To illustrate this vital point the Kutadanta Sutta narrates the story of King Mahavijita who, being elated about his own prosperity and well-being, decides to levy an extra tax, and with that money, to hold a magnificent sacrificial ritual to thank the gods. The chaplain, however, reasons out and dissuades the king from such wasteful enterprises—which if allowed could have consumed a good portion of the national revenue, and advises the king to utilize the wealth in productive investments. Both these Suttas stress also the important fact that the state should not get alienated from the people, but should be constantly aware and alert about the true nature of the situation in the country, and be sensitive to the aspirations of the people. It is only then that the state would be able to plan the economy in a constructive manner.
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Wednesday, March 04, 2009
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