Book Three

BUDDHISM IN PERIL

by

E. Rohan Amerasekera

All quotations are from "Some Sayings of the Buddha" translated by

F.L.Woodward.

BUDDHISM IN PERIL

THE GOOD NORM WILL NOT ENDURE

Explaining his attainment of Nibbana, the Buddha said:

"This Reality, (The Truth) that I have reached is profound, hard to see,

hard to understand, excellent, pre-eminent, beyond the sphere of thinking,

subtle and to be penetrated by the wise alone."

"Verily, if I were to teach them the Truth, this Reality others would not

understand, and that would be labour in vain for me, vexatious would it be

to me."

Brahma Sahampati, however, begged of him to preach for the sake of the few

whose sight is "little clouded with dust." This the Good Lord did but he did

not expect his teachings to endure, for when asked:

"What Lord, is the reason, what is the cause why, when the Tathagatha has

finally passed away, the good Norm lasts not for long?"

The Exalted One replied:

"With regard to this, Kimbila, when the Tathagatha has finally passed away,

the brethren, the sisters, the lay-brethren and lay-sisters dwell regardless

of the Master and disobedient to him, regardless of the Norm do they dwell

and disobedient to the Norm, regardless of the Order do they dwell and

disobedient to the Order: they dwell regardless of the Training and pay no

attention to it, and so also with regard to concentration of mind,

earnestness and friendly feeling. That brethren is the reason, that is the

cause why, after the final passing away of the Tathagatha the Good Norm does

not last for long."

2500 years after the Buddha, we not only quibble over words and phrases of

the Great Teacher but also about the very aim of his teaching. We are

unable or unwilling to live a good life, so we quibble. Those that are lazy

argue that our aim in life is to renounce life. They say that work and

happiness are things of the world and should be renounced. This way they

avoid work as well as good deeds. Others say that Desire is the cause of

suffering and its elimination is our aim in life. There is great confusion

in this way of thinking. The means and the end are all mixed up. Let us

sort these out and examine them.

DESIRES

Not all desires are bad. There are bad desires and good desires. While bad

desires bring unhappiness, good desires have the opposite effect. A good

desire or the very thought of doing good brings happiness. The result of a

good desire to do charity, for instance, benefits he that gives and be that

receives. Such kind thoughts and deeds improve vibrations. Good vibrations

open the doors to knowledge. The goodwill and happiness produced by good

desires spread beyond our immediate environment and often beyond national

boundaries to enrich the whole world. An evil desire has the opposite

effect.

There is good and bad in all of us. The difference is the degree, the

proportion in which these qualities are displayed in each. The layman's aim

should be to hold the bad in check, to control and, if possible, suppress

it. His aim is to activate the good in him, to encourage to bring out all

that is best. The aim in life is not to destroy, nor yet to abandon life

but live to conquer evil and give expression to the good, live to understand

the good and the bad in others and through understanding to help others both

materially and spiritually. The good, the life of usefulness must be

encouraged. The bad, the selfish life needs change.

We aim to end suffering and promote happiness. Believing that possessions

cause suffering many give up their wealth, their kith and kin and one

misguided man even gave up his clothes. This sort of thing and toying with

words will not remove suffering. To remove suffering we must know its

cause. The cause of bad desire is greed and grasping, the cause of greed

and grasping is ignorance. Hence, the removal of ignorance ends suffering

and the conquering of desires is only a means to that end.

RENUNCIATION

The Buddha did not withdraw from the world. He did not lead a negative

life. He did not try to destroy happiness. He endeavoured to make others

happy and that made him the Happy One. The Holy Life is different to the

Lazy Life. The Buddha did not expect others to understand everything, but

surely, it is not too difficult to understand that the aim in life is not to

shun it but to live in a way that can make others happy. Kindness,

consideration, compassion or any action that can bring a smile or a glimmer

of happiness to another is a step towards the Path to Nirvana; Negative

living or actions causing pain or suffering lead the Other way.

The first missionaries were sent out by the Exalted One with this Great

Message "Go ye forth, brethren, on Your journey, for the benefit of the

many, for the bliss of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the

welfare, the profit, the bliss of devas and mankind."

No person who has renounced the world and is struggling only for his own

salvation and selfish good can do anything for the profit of the many, for

the welfare and bliss of mankind. We see poverty all around us, we see

suffering, we see young and old alike in need of assistance but those of the

new religion, the religion of the easy way of life have no time for them.

There are now but a handful of devoted followers. The saffron robe is

donned by many for prestige and personal gain. The craving to noticed, to

be 'honoured' has taken the place of humility associated with the robe of

rags and the begging bowl.

Once, when he was staying at Simsapa Grove, the Buddha took up a handful of

Simsapa leaves and said:

"Now what think ye, brethren, which are more, these few Simsapa leaves that

I hold in my hand, or those that are in the Simsapa Grove above?"

"Few in number, Lord, are those Simsapa leaves that are in the hand of the

Exalted One: far more in number are those in the Simsapa Grove above."

"Just so, brethren, those things that I know by my super knowledge but have

not revealed, are greater by far in number than those things that I have

revealed."

What little the Buddha taught is too difficult for the few whose sight "is

little clouded with dust", and much worse for those who do not wish to see.

The Buddha's teachings was too deep even for the Holy Men who went forth as

wanderers; the Holy Men who replaced their vanity with the robe of rags and

the begging bowl. His advice was for the wanderer who voluntarily sought

the holy life. The rigid Norm Discipline he taught was for the few. He did

not ask or expect others to renounce the world. When the wanderer, the

volunteer for the Holy Life, the highest evolved finds his great teaching so

hard to understand, and the life so difficult to lead, it is foolish and

indeed wrong to expect laymen to renounce the world. To be practical we

must accept that there are those who wish to lead the Holy Life and there

are others who desire a lay life. Both these together with the various

shades in between must exist side by side and all must continue to work as a

part and parcel of an evolving world.

"The half of the Holy Life, Lord, it is the friendship with what is lovely,

association with what is lovely, intimacy with what is lovely" said Ananda.

"Say not so, Ananda, say not so, Ananda. It is the whole, not the half of

the holy life. Of a brother so blessed with fellowship with what is lovely

we may expect this that he will develop the Ariyan Eightfold Path, that he

will make much of the Ariyan Eightfold Path."

No great religious leader lived away from the life of the world. The life

of each and every one of them was brim full of activity, full of

consideration and compassion. They lived in the world, with the good and

bad in it, up to the moment of death. They lived to make others happy.

We are all born into the world to remove ignorance, to gain knowledge; the

attempt to get away from it all is a religious practice of an ignorant mind.

Attempts to withdraw from the problems of the earth offer only temporary

solutions and are similar to men that resort to drink to forget troubles or

take to dope in search of a temporary haven. Self-deception is useless. If

we live in a rotting environment we cannot escape the stench. While there

is misery, while there is suffering in the world it is foolish to be ostrich

wise. He who works to make the world a better place to live, will gradually

clear the air in the rotting environment and make the place wholesome. He

will eventually cleanse and purify the world that all may live happily.

The Buddha asked us to avoid the extremes of devotion to the pleasures of

the sense as well as devotion to self-mortification. This is the Middle

Path. This is not renunciation but the path that leads to a good and useful

life. Let us then lead a Positive Life with it Positive Aim. Our aim is not

renunciation or resistance to the need to work. Evolution does not lead to

nothing. Nibbana is not nothingness. We have it positive aim. Our positive

aim is to end suffering.

RELICS AND SYMBOLS

"Verily, if I were to teach them the Truth, this Reality, others would not

understand, and that would be labour in vain for me, vexatious would it be

to me."

Relics and symbols soon began to take the place of the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Buddha placed no importance on relics or symbols. Non-attachment

could not possibly have been attachment to a body or a symbol. He did

anticipate that people will come on pilgrimage to his place of birth, place

of Enlightenment and place of death. He expected these places to be looked

upon with emotion but he did not expect them to take the place of the Norm.

He did not or could not have wished his followers to change these

non-permanent and things of temporary value into objects of veneration. He

certainly could never have wished his Great Message to take second place to

these objects. Yet, this is what happens in the minds of those that profess

to follow him and call themselves Buddhists.

The following extract is worth noting. When an admirer said:

"For a long time, Lord, I have been longing to set eyes on the Exalted One."

The Master chided him saying:

"Hush, Vakkali, what is there in seeing this vile body of mine." Today, not

only parts of the same body but relics of disciples are given greater

veneration than the Noble Eightfold Path.

If stone worship helps a man to act correctly for even one hour encourage

it. For him it will do more than Philosophy in which we dissipate our

energies in talk and more talk. Let the man keep his stone, tree or other

object if that is what he needs in his present stage of development. If

objects are used as aids to concentration, keep them also. However, let us

not place the veneration of objects before the Noble Eightfold Path.

If these objects help those that are backward to evolve a little, to inch

forward a little towards the Path to

Enlightenment, encourage it. If it helps a more advanced subject to

concentrate and meditate, encourage it. Regard them as being there to help

man. Just as the Buddha used the shelter offered by the Bo tree to attain

Enlightenment, do use any object you like for your betterment.

The Exalted One learned the Truth under a Bo tree. Out of this knowledge he

gave us the Noble Eightfold Path. Today, not that Bo tree but any Bo tree,

any wild sapling gets more reverence than the Noble Eightfold Path. What is

more, this practice is seen not only amongst the undeveloped but also

intensively in those who claim to be guardians of Buddhism. Veneration for

the tree, the relic, or statue has taken such a hold on Ceylon that they

threaten the very existence of man. There are wild Bo trees everywhere and

they propagate profusely. Almost every garden, road, house, roof and wall in

Ceylon now has a Bo tree, a wild Bo tree and no one will uproot it. In fact,

more and more are being introduced by people who practice religion with

their minds. These earth bound creatures only deceive themselves. They

will certainly not attain Enlightenment this way but, on the contrary, if

this veneration of wild Bo trees is not brought to a halt, every roof, wall

and house, will soon be damaged and man in his folly will live in jungles

again.

Leave the tree and other objects to the spiritually backward, for the Buddha

said :

"Yet not thus is the Tathagatha truly honoured, revered, respected,

worshipped, and deferred to. Whatsoever, Ananda, be he brother or sister,

or lay-brother or lay-sister, whosoever dwells in the fulfillment of the

Norm, both in its greater and its lesser duties - whosoever walks uprightly

in accordance with the Norm - he is it that truly honours, reveres,

respects, worships and defers to the Tathagatha in the perfection of

worship."

Even the wearing of torn clothes and begging for food are often not signs of

humility and the placing of first things first through knowledge but a mere

symbol of a faith, the mere outward show. The Path to Knowledge is

overgrown with off shoots of ignorance. Arrogance and self-importance have

covered the Path to Knowledge. The temporary nature of possessions and

position are forgotten. Consideration and compassion are no more. Pride

and prejudice have taken their place.

Wearing of patched clothes given by others is continued just as the practice

of eating food others give but the humility has gone out of that practice

and a strange pride has taken its place. Only a few, a handful of those who

profess to spread his teachings, are humble. Only a few can say that they

are not attached to wealth, position and power. In fact, most people art

obsessed by power and will do all they can to surround themselves with it.

They will do all they can to increase their wealth and possessions, to

enhance their positions and power. Instead of helping the poor and

misguided they are made use of to create for themselves a position of

importance.

The compassion, the feeling for others have left us. Attendance on the

sick, the care of the helpless are no longer regarded as sacred duties. In

the midst of all the pomp, ceremony and genuflection many do not find the

time to remember that we are expected to live for the bliss of the many, for

the welfare of mankind. We have so forgotten His Teaching that communal and

religious strife and corruption have given way to peace, happiness and

glory. The robe of rags and the begging bowl are now mere symbols and not

signs of humility. Respect for the Good Life has given way to respect and

worship of the Saffron robe. The worship of symbols has become more

important than the need for good and pure living. It is the symbol, the

robe that is respected now and not the man. The man himself not only

expects respect by virtue of the robe he wears but demands it as a right.

In this era of outward appearance, era of show without, meaning, force and

compulsion have taken the place of example. The correct leadership, the

correct example from the Holy Men can make bad change for the better but

compulsion can achieve nothing. Talk without example is useless. It is the

good example set by those that live a simple, honest life, that will change

the bad and make the good better. It is not the clothes we wear nor

positions and possessions that attract respect. True respect is not that

which can be bought, but that which flows freely from the heart. A simple

person, honest, sincere and true in thought and action will invite more

respect than any other. Thousands will pay homage to such good people.

When such a person is in a temple crowds will flock to see and hear him,

however distant and difficult the way to that temple may be.

The Venerable Ananda said:

"Wonderful Lord! Marvellous Lord! How deep is the causal law, and how deep

it seems! and yet, do I regard it as quite plain to understand!"

"Say not so, Ananda, say not so. Deep indeed is the Causal Law, and deep it

appears to be. It is by not knowing, by not understanding, by not

penetrating this doctrine, that this world of men has become entangled like

a ball of twine, become covered with mildew, become like munja grass and

rushes, and unable to pass beyond the doom of Waste, and Way of Woe, the

Fall, and the Ceaseless Round of (Rebirth)."

Our minds, for selfish gain, corrupt religion and misconstrue every saying

of every Teacher. The voices of suffering hearts crying for compassion fall

on deaf ears. "Love thy neighbour as thyself" is taken at best to mean do

no harm to your neighbour. Let us post the question: Who is my brother? Is

he my brother in a past birth, my brother in this birth, or he that will be

my brother in the next or any future birth. Is there anyone in the whole

world who has not at some time been my brother? In Karma we cannot choose

our birth, family, race, country or position which select themselves

automatically according to our past actions. Every birth is a lesson.

Therefore, every being according to the needs of that lesson will be a

potential mother, father, brother, sister, wife, son, daughter, or other

relation. In this way you will some day be born in the same conditions as

your neighbour. If your neighbour and his family are in a bad plight, in

your own interest, lift them up if you wish to avoid a similar plight in a

future birth. This is the way to happiness. Compassion and consideration

for all is the way to lasting happiness. True happiness can only be found in

a world without sorrow.

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

Right View, Right Aim, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Living, Right

Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Contemplation. This is the Path. This is

the Path to Enlightenment. Search your hearts laymen and priest alike. Can

we honestly say that this is our religion? Surely, we cannot say that we

follow the Eightfold Path. We cannot say that even one out of those that

make the loudest noises practice Buddhism. These are, in fact, enemies of

the Dhamma.

One of the Five Lower Fetters or obstructions on the layman's path to

Knowledge is "the moral taint of dependence on rite and ritual." Today,

rite and ritual receive more respect than the Eightfold Path. The saffron

robe receives more respect than the man that wears it, the relics are

respected more than the Buddha. The Bo tree more than the Dhamma. Alas!

The good Norm cannot last long. Unless the few whose sight is little

clouded with dust activate themselves the Good Norm will be no more: unless

Holy Men can cleanse the Sangha, from within, the Dhamma will perish. In

this country goodness is a casualty. Unless the Sangha sets the good

example, that laymen can follow, goodness will surely die. Buddhism is in

peril.

POSTSCRIPT

"Just so, brethren, the mighty ocean hath no part nor lot with a dead body,

for whatsoever dead body is put into the mighty ocean, straightaway it

washes it ashore and throws it up on dry land. Even so, brethren, whatsoever

person there be of evil conduct, or wicked nature, an impure and suspicious

liver, one who is unchaste though claiming to be chaste, one inwardly foul,

fall of lusts, a sink of filth, with such a one the Order of Brethren hath

no part nor lot, but straightaway, on meeting with him rejects him. Though

seated amid the Order of Brethren yet far is he from the Order, and far is

the Order from that person. In as much, then, as such a person is rejected

-this is the third marvel and wonder of this Norm discipline seeing which

again and again brethren take delight therein" said the Exalted One. So be it.