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Percy Nanayakkara
percydn@sibv.org
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH
Nearly
one and half centuries ago, on 17th September 1864, there was
born a son to a rich and influential family in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The
parents were H. Don Carolis, the founder of the renowned furniture
manufacturing establishment and Mallika Hewavitarne. It was the time Sri
Lanka, then Ceylon, was under British rule. In accordance with the custom of
the day the child was named Don David and went by the name David
Hewavitharana. From his young days David's ideas were fashioned in
conformity with the Buddhist way of life and very soon he came under the
influence of two great Buddhist leaders of his time, Venerable Hikkaduwe Sri
Sumangala Thera and Migettuwatte Sri Gunananda Thera and as a result of this
he developed a great attachment to the Buddhist monks. In one of his early
articles he wrote:
"In
contrast to my wine-drinking, meat-eating and pleasure-loving missionary
teachers, the Bhikkhus were meek and abstemious. I loved their company and
would sit quietly in a corner and listen to their wise discourse, even when
it was far above my head."
In
1880 as a boy of 16 years he chanced to meet Colonel Olcott and Madam
Blavatsky as a result of which meeting he was drawn to a life of religious
dedication. In 1884, much against the wishes of his father, young David was
taken by Madam Blavatsky to Adyar, in India. Later returning from India he
resided at the Theosophical Society Headquarters, in Colombo.
In
1886 when Colonel Olcott and C.W. Leadbeater came to Sri Lanka to collect
funds for the Buddhist Education Fund, David was a junior clerk who had
already acquired a sound knowledge of English, Sinhala and Pali and, in
addition, had mastered the Buddhist scriptures. Soon he joined Colonel
Olcott and Leadbeater in their campaign for Buddhist schools. Young David
renounced the wealth, position and comforts of a home life, adopted the name
Anagarika (homeless) Dharmapala and dressed in the simple attire of a
Buddhist devotee he became a religious missionary. His travels to Sri
Lanka's remote villages made him understand the handicaps the local
villagers were forced to experience without proper roads and houses, schools
and hospitals. Shortly he was convinced of the fact that the greatness of a
nation depended solely on the happiness and contentment of the rural folk
and he dreamed of the day when Sri Lanka would emerge as an independent
nation and bring back to life the religion and pristine glory of the Sinhala
race.
Anagarika
Dharmapala's services to Buddhism were many. The most outstanding
contribution in his life was the active part he played to resuscitate
Buddhism in Sri Lanka and the contribution to the nationalist movement. He
possessed a deep sense of patriotism, nationalism and service. His
enthusiasm and tireless efforts made him drive his human frame to lengths
beyond common human endurance. A noble life dedicated to national and
religious causes, he has left inspiration for his compatriots of all times.
Dharmapala, a distinguished son of Lanka, who
saw the plight his people had fallen into; their religion neglected,
their lives dispirited and drifting into something alien and unnatural. He
campaigned for the revival of Buddhism and the Sinhala race amidst
tremendous difficulties.
He
first made his name internationally known when he attended the World
Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893. Being erudite in his
knowledge of the Dhamma he won many converts and admirers. A pen-portrait of
Anagarika Dharmapala published in the American Journal, St. Louis Observer,
on his memorable address to the Congress of World Religions in Chicago in
1893 states:
"With
black curly locks thrown from his broad brow, his clean, clear eyes fixed
upon the audience, his long, brown fingers emphasizing the utterances of his
vibrant voice he looked the very image of a propagandist, and one trembled
to know that such a figure stood at the head of the movement to consolidate
all the disciples of Buddha and to spread the light of Asia throughout the
world".
Anagarika
Dharmapala, whose foremost thoughts were the love for his country and
religion, had a truly international outlook as well. In fact he was a
colossus that spurned the barriers of race, creed and nationality. His
activities were not confined to his land of birth; he inspired men and
events of other countries as well. His untiring struggles in India to obtain
Buddha Gaya for the Buddhists is an outstanding example which shows that his
principles transcended barriers of race and nationality. He went about his
onerous tasks with a great missionary zeal and all that he uttered came from
a sincere heart with a burning patriotism and religious fervor.
He
was fearless in manner, independent in spirit and his dynamic personality
beamed forth radiant energy that permeated through both national and
international audiences. Wherever he went large crowds assembled and
listened to him with deep attention. His vibrant voice resonated throughout
the country and inspired the listeners with its magical effect. His
silver-tongued oratory transcended throughout the country calling for
Buddhist resurgence, Buddhist unity and national awareness.
He
was in the forefront of national and Buddhist movements for nearly half a
century. On 31st May 1891, he founded the Maha Bodhi Society. His weekly
publication, Sinhala Bauddhaya, was
a powerful organ of Buddhist opinion that guided and inspired the nation's
religious and national campaigns. Besides these, he addressed thousands of
meetings and published numerous articles in national and international
journals. Whenever he wrote he was very forceful. Anagarika Dharmapala's
personal correspondence shows his real form; warm and genial, friendly but
devastatingly critical. He was always clamoring for independence and
repeatedly criticized the British imperialists. Anagarika Dharmapala always
held lofty ideals on religious tolerance and he often remarked:
"Religion
is a thing of the heart, and it is beyond the power of man to go into the
heart of other people. To oppress a human being for his inner conviction is
diabolical."
En
route to America, he had first visited England where he met with Sir Edwin
Arnold, the author of 'Light of Asia'. Having experienced such great
influence from the British, and since at that time London was considered the
'center of the world', Anagarika Dharmapala was determined to set up a
Vihara with resident monks from Sri Lanka to share the great joys of the
Dhamma with the English people. He had met Mrs. Mary Foster whilst traveling
to Honolulu and this lady became his main benefactor. She financed the
setting up of 'Foster House' in Ealing, London that was the very first
missionary vihara to be founded outside Asia. The London Buddhist Vihara was
opened in 1926. The London Buddhist Vihara, the oldest Buddhist temple
in the west is managed by the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust.
Amongst many monks who have been resident there, from time to time,
were the Ven. Narada Maha Thera, Ven. Dr. H. Saddhatissa, Ven. Dr. Medagama
Vajiragnana and the New York Buddhist Vihara Chief Priest, Ven Kurunegoda
Piyatissa Nayake thera.
In
an era when the Sinhalese were succumbing to the pressures of the British
rule and nothing was being done to overcome their lethargy and passive
submission, rose the voice of Anagarika Dharmapala who waged a historical
struggle for freedom. This was the era when the missionaries exercised great
control over Ceylon, and loyalties were bought over the counter. Many
converted to Christianity for material gain, and it also became a status
symbol for some. Dharmapala urged the people to cherish and look after their
heritage instead of succumbing to pressure. He realized that the changing
world would demand that Sri Lankan society change accordingly. His belief
was that spiritual elevation itself was inadequate if the society was
poverty stricken. He began speaking of the importance of a firm educational
and economic foundation if the struggle for freedom was to succeed, and
poverty be alleviated.
"We
allow our cattle to die of starvation in our own fields, while we feed the
cattle in distant Switzerland or Denmark by purchasing their products. We
are the custodians of our property, and must look to the future to protect
the interests of the coming generations," he said. He had a vision of a
newly emerging Sri Lanka that could effectively link up with other countries
and forge ahead.
When
scholar Ananda Coomaraswamy was leaving our shores to settle in England, his
bungalow and several acres of land were bought by Dharmapala. The bungalow
known as "Obeyesekara Walauwa" was used by the Anagarika, and part
of the land subsequently was given to house the homeless and the slum
dwellers. This area is known today as "Obeyesekerapura".
Dharmapala
had been aware that a missionary school was to be set up in Welikada (now
Rajagiriya) way back in 1888. So he promptly put up a cadjan hut and roamed
the area seeking young people who could be enrolled as students.
Aththiligoda Nanayakkara Gamage Mangonona became the first student of the
institution. With twelve students, Dharmapala commenced conducting classes
just the night before the missionary school was to come into operation. The
church eventually abandoned the idea of starting a school there. In 1912,
this was expanded and it became the first industrial training school in the
country.
The
Hewavitharna Industrial Center founded by Anagarika Dharmapala and Walisinha
Harischandra as an act of rebellion, offered a variety of courses that only
few institutions could provide. In addition to the normal courses of study,
there was weaving, pottery, sewing and similar arts and crafts. This great
institution was the first industrial training school in the country.
Dharmapala having visited several industrial schools in the United States,
London, Liverpool, Italy and Denmark was inspired by the progress achieved
by other countries. In 1904, he commenced an industrial training school in
Saranath, India. Anagarika Dharmapala’s visionary act was not well
received by the British Empire. The authorities viewed him with suspicion,
and called him "an instigator of a scheme for sending young people to
Japan for technical education in the belief that the students would return
with anti-British views." Yet, he continued his work and strengthened
the Center.
Anagarika
Dharmapala worked tirelessly to create many charitable institutions,
maintaining hospitals, schools and foundations for spreading Buddhism and
helping all those in need. He commenced publishing the splendid Buddhist
journal "The Mahabodhi" in 1891. To continue his mission for
future generations he established the Anagarika Dharmapala Trust in 1930.
During that year he ordained as a monk. Anagarika Dharmapala's service
is of great historical significance both to India and Sri Lanka and even
today we are guided by some of his mature views. He died at Saranath in 1933
and his last words were "Let me
be reborn. I would like to be born again twenty-five times to spread Lord
Buddha's Dhamma." His was a life rich with dedication and deep
commitment that every human being should strive to emulate.
TOP
by
Anagarika Dharmapala
(Maha
Bodhi Journal, Vol. 15, June 1907)
WE
are here assembled to celebrate the thrice sacred festival of the Birth,
Buddhahood and Parinirvana of the Tathagata, who was born on the full moon
day of May 2531 years ago in the city of the Royal Sakyas, Kapilavastu. His
mother was the immaculate Queen Maya and His father was the Raja Suddhodana
of the solar dynasty of Ikshvaku. A thousand years before His birth there
was a prophecy that a Buddha shall be born to save the world and when the
time came the future Buddha, who was then in the Tusita Heaven as the god
Svetaketu, was approached by the [other] gods who announced that the time
had come for Him to be born to save the world. Leaving the divine pleasures
the Bodhisatva took birth as a human being. Our Lord Himself in the
scriptures has taught us the nature of the exalted condition of the
Buddhahood. To become a Buddha the aspirant has to practise for four
asankheyya and a hundred thousand Kalpas the ten great perfections called
Paramitas. Countless millions of Kalpas ago when Buddha Dipankara had
appeared to save the world, our Buddha was born in a Brahman family of
immense wealth. Reflecting on the vanity of pleasures he, having given in
charity everything that he had received from his parents - the accumulated
inheritance of seven generations, left home and taking the garb of the
ascetic, went to a Himalayan retreat and practised the Dhyanas and
Samapattis. Having attained the five transcendentally phenomenal powers he
was in a position to work wonders. One day having heard that the Buddha
Dipankara was visiting the city of Rammanagar where he happened to be, he
was greatly delighted and decided to see the Buddha. Having seen Him the
future Buddha resolved to attain to the supremely glorious height of
Buddhahood to save living beings.
The
Buddha Dipankara looking into future declared that this great ascetic after
many millions of ages shall become a Buddha and be known as Gautama, and
that his mother will be known as Maya, his father as the Raja Suddhodhana,
that as a Prince he would be married to the Princess Yasodhara, that he
shall have a son and that he shall renounce all to save the world. That day
the great ascetic, who was known as Sumedha Tapasa could have attained
Nirvana ; but his great compassion overcame the desire to pass silently away
to enjoy the supreme bliss of Nirvana. The 'Patisambhida' accentuates the
absolute compassion of a Buddha, who seeing the manifold miseries of the
suffering world plunges into the ocean of Samsara and exerts life after
life, practising absolute charity, observing the highest virtues of a
perfect life, renouncing all sensual pleasures, acquiring wisdom, exerting
strenuously, never uttering a falsehood, ever forgiving and patient,
developing a determined will, showing absolute love and equalmindedness to
all. The 550 Jatakas give biographical accounts of his previous births, each
showing an individual paramita which he had practised for the sake of
attaining the Anuttara Sammasambodhi state, Whatever the Bodhisatta
accomplished, and the name is applied to one who aspires to attain
Buddhahood, it was with unswerving will of saving the world. No being that
has appeared on this earth, except a Buddha, has made such absolute
sacrifices for the salvation of the world. Hence the great love that one
begets in his heart after he has read the ' nine portions' of the Buddhist
scriptures.
In
as much as the Brahman astrologers had foretold that the Prince, who was
named Siddhartha, would one day, if he did not become a great world
conqueror - a Chakravarti, - become a Buddha, the King ordered that three
palaces, one for each Indian season, should be built for his residence. In
the sixteenth year, the Prince was married to his own cousin the Princess
Yasodhara, known for her exceeding beauty as Bimba Devi. Amidst the luxuries
that royalty could command the Prince lived a life of exceeding sweetness
till his twentyninth year. Beyond his pleasure gardens and the experience of
his own palatial surroundings, the Prince Siddhartha knew nothing of the
world. The day the Princess Yasodhara was to give birth to a child, the
Prince Siddhartha attended by his Royal charioteer drove to see the
decorated city. It is said that the gods knowing that the day of the Great
Renunciation had come, created four scenes to make the Prince reflect on the
miseries of human existence and the escape therefrom. The sight of an old
man, a diseased man and a dead man which the Prince had seen for the first
time made him question his charioteer, who, explained to him that man was
born fated to grow old, get ill and die. The fourth scene he had witnessed
was pleasant to look at, it was the dignified figure of a yellow robed monk
walking majestically. Having reflected on the blessings that attend the life
of absolute renunciation the Prince resolved to leave the palace that very
day. Returning home on the way the Prince met Royal messengers who had. been
sent by the King to announce the birth of a son to the Princess Yasodhara.
On hearing the message the Prince uttered 'Rahula' - a tie, which was
subsequently used as a name to the infant Prince. That night, 2502 years
ago, the Prince made the greatest Renunciation, unparalleled in the history
of the world. A young wife, a baby just born, father, kingdom, comforts, all
these the Prince renounced for the sake of all living beings. The
Renunciation that the Prince made for the sake of the suffering world is
accentuated by the larger Renunciation that was made by him when he first
made the resolution to give up Nirvana, countless ages ago, under the Buddha
Dipankara. For our sake the Bodhisatta gave up Nirvana and died many million
times, and eventually came down from heaven to save all beings - animal,
human and divine.
Renunciation
and an active life of absolute compassion and Nirvanic wisdom are the
essential characteristics of the Buddha's life. Leaving Kapilavastu and the
Sakya territory, walking on foot, the Prince ascetic came to the city of
Rajagriha to beg for food. His majestic mien, his more than divine
countenance, attracted the attention of the citizens, and Royal messengers
went to King Bimbisara and announced the arrival of the unknown personage.
Having obtained food the ascetic Prince went to the Pandava Rock in the
outskirts of the city, and there sat to eat the food. The King with his
ministers came and inquired of him who he was. The Prince ascetic then
announced himself as a Sakya Prince of the race of 'Adityabandhu ' and said
that having seen the vanity of human pleasures he had become an ascetic to
obtain the highest peace. The King who was five years younger than the the
Prince thereupon asked him to accept half of his Kingdom ; but Bodhisat
declined. From Rajagriha he went to the Brahmanical teachers Alarakalama and
Uddaka Ramaputta, who had attained to the two Lokas. The Prince was not
satisfied with their conceptions of happiness. Where perceptions and
sensations were in operation there could be no permanent bliss ; and he
found that after the expiration of 84,000 Kalpas of existence in the
Nevasanna nasanna realm the individual being has to be reborn again on this
earth. The conception of an absolute Nirvana was as yet undiscovered, and
religious aspirants, cutting off their domestic ties took to the homeless-Anagarika
Brahmachari-life. Having failed to obtain the highest peace of Nirvana
according to the philosophic methods of the Aranyakas, the Sakya hermit
practised the most terrific forms of physical asceticism for six years with
five Brahman Bhikkhus, who were his associates. Penance and fasting were
carried to their extreme limits, and the Prince became so emaciated that
life was despaired of even by the celestial witnesses who were watching him.
One day he fell down in a state of unconsciousness and when he woke up he
experienced such pain that he abandoned the torturous life.
Neither
the exciting sensation of a life of pleasure, nor the contemplative life of
semiperceptive bliss of solitude, nor the painful tortures leading to
unconsciousness gave peace to the analytical mind of the Sakya Prince. Then
he looked back to the infant life he had spent in the palace and found that
it was appropriate, in as much as it was neither ascetic nor sensual. It is
interesting to the student of child psychology to note the basis of the
great discovery, which resulted in the promulgation of the Universal
Religion, was laid by the Sakya Prince on the child experience which he had
as an infant. Can an infant live without food ? Can he bear the exciting
sensations of a pleasure loving youth ? Food taken in moderate quantity was
necessary to live, and a sober consciousness was necessary to experience the
bliss of peace. Dwelling on such thoughts the Bodhisat abandoned the life of
mortifying asceticism ; and when he began to take food in moderate quantity,
the five companions became dissatisfied and left him. The Bodhisat thereupon
came to the sylvan solitude and lived the life of the middle path, not far
off the silvery stream of Neranjara, the modem Lilajan. The Sakyan Hermit on
the full moon day of Vesak was sitting under the shade of the Ajapala
Nigrodha tree when the attendant maid of the village chief Sujata, seeing
the majestic figure of the Sakyan Hermit, and taking him to be the tree god,
hastened home and told Sujata, who had made a vow to present a bowl of milk
rice to the tree god on that full moon day which she had prepared. Sujata
with the bowl of milk rice came to the tree and offered the food to the
Hermit. He received it, gave her his blessings, and when she had gone, arose
and went into the river, to bathe his body, ate the food and having rested
in the afternoon went to the hallowed spot where stood the Bodhi tree.
Facing the East the Bodhisat sat under the tree with a resolute will never
to get up from the adamantine seat till he had become the Omniscient Buddha.
In the middle watch of the full moon night the Blessed One received Divine
Insight, and at dawn He became the Omniscient Buddha. Ten thousand worlds
were bathed in a flood of radiating light, the earth trembled, nature
rejoiced, the lame walked, the blind received sight, the dumb spoke. This
glorious event occurred 2496 years ago. From that moment the powers of
darkness felt that a new power had arisen to save all beings. The Lord
Buddha spent seven weeks at and nearby the Bodhi tree enjoying the bliss of
Nirvanic Emancipation. Buddha-Gaya is on this account sacred to thousand
millions of Buddhists.
In
the seventh week while sitting under the shade of the Ajapala tree, the
Brahma Sahampati beseeched the Lord to preach the Dhamma and The Blessed One
saw by his Divine Eye that people were ready to receive the Truth of the
Nirvana Dharma. Thence He proceeded on to Isipatana in Benares to meet the
five Brahman Bhikkhus who were prepared to receive the Eye of Truth. On the
fullmoon day of Asalha 2496 years ago He preached to them
the Doctrine of the Middle Path, which avoiding the extremes of painful
asceticism and sensualism, enunciated the Four Noble Truths and and Noble
Eightfold Path. The extreme asceticism of the Yogis and the hedonistic
pleasures of Vama Marga or Kama Yoga the Lord condemned as ignoble, un-Aryan
and profitless. For forty-five years the Lord taught the Doctrine which may
be summed up in four lines :
"Sabba
papassa akaranam,
Kusalassa upasampada,
Sachitta pariy odapanam,
Etam Buddhanasasanam." -
(Avoid all evil,
Cultivate the good and the true,
Purify your heart,
This is the Teaching of the Buddhas)
The
Noble Eightfold Path has in it the essentials of scientific analysis,
exalted and benevolent aspirations, truthful and gentle speech avoiding
slander and falsehood, righteous actions avoiding the destruction of life,
stealing and taking intoxicants, righteous livelihood avoiding all sinful
professions, righteous exertion, a continuous determined struggle to avoid
all that is evil and to develop all that is good., purifying the heart by
destroying the errors of egoism by a process of continuous watchfulness
operating in the four planes of objective and subjective metabolism ; right
concentration ending in saintliness and in the realization of Nirvana. These
Eight Principles of Absolute Truth have been classified under other
categories called the 37 Bodhi Pakkhiya Dhamma.
The
Tathagata appeared at a time when India was in the zenith of prosperity and
progress. It was then the centre of the spiritualistic world. Speculations
on the ‘whence, whither and what am I’ formed the basis of different
philosophical schools. Animal sacrifice and priestly ritualism were rampant.
Heaven was to be obtained by propitiating the gods. Caste was a subject then
under discussion. It was not then fully established. Opinion was divided.
The priests asserted that it was the 'Creator's work' and therefore it
should be upheld. The selfishness of the originators of the caste system was
condemned by the Buddha in several of the important Suttas in the Digha and
Majjhima Nikayas. The Blessed Lord came indeed as a Saviour breathing loving
kindness to all that lives. The meanest worm to the highest man was the
object of His divine compassion By His gentleness and wisdom He won all
hearts. His sweetly vibrant voice was like that of the Kurawika bird. He
made men and gods abandon their erratic and heretical ideas. He taught the
supreme importance of individual exertion. He proclaimed the Doctrine of
Scientific Analysis. Before accepting traditions, revelations, dogmas backed
up by logic and analogy, the utterances of saints and magicians they should
be tested in the crucible of Scientific Causality. Only when the effects are
productive of happiness should a doctrine be accepted.
For
the first time the Karma doctrine which remained a secret confined only to
the Aranayaka philosophers was made the basis principle of individual
evolution. The karma doctrine in its fullness was enunciated by the Blessed
One and the errors of sixty-two beliefs were emphasised. Instead of
metaphysics, materialistic theology and fatalistic teachings, the Lord
promulgated the Law of Dependent Origination. Life cannot be annihilated nor
can it be created. In the cosmic process nothing is permanent. Annihilation
and a permanency of things are both ridiculed in the Dharma of our Lord.
Everything is changing. In the plane, both of matter and spirit everything
is subject to change and decay. A constructive and a destructive metabolism
is subject to change and decay. A constructive and a destructive metabolism
is the natural cosmic process. There is no known beginning of individualised
life. The theory of absorption and emanation which is a cardinal doctrine of
certain pantheistic philosophies is explained in the cosmology of Buddhism.
At the beginning of each Mahakalpa beings descended into this earth from the
Abliassara Brahmaloka. These in their primitive state are ethereal. With the
evolution of their desires they became material and evil began. At the
destruction of the Universe human beings and animals that were on this earth
are all reborn in the Abliassara. At the grand dissolution even the hells
are destroyed. In Buddhism there is no eternal hell nor an eternal heaven.
After long ages they appear and after long ages they disappear. To be within
the cosmic process, to be reborn in any finite conditioned existence is not
the aim of the follower of the Buddha. He aspires to realise (Ajatam,
Abhutam, Akatam and Asankhatam) the unborn, non-material, uncreated and the
unconditioned state of Nirvana. To realise this is not given to those who
believe in a creator, who are still under the law of ignorance and change,
those who are fatalistic and those who are nihilistic in their ideas. He who
has false perceptions of the permanency of his own individual Ego and who
confounds the Ego with his own sensations, perceptions and sankharas is
bound by the fetters of ahamkara. Nirvana is not within his grasp. Those who
are suffering from some form of insanity cling to their own phantom Ego, and
those who have an exaggerated idea of their own Egos are partially insane.
Nirvana is for the sober scientific analytical student, who discarding all
forms of theological metaphysics, priestly ceremonies and nihilistic ideas,
exerts strenuously to lead an active life avoiding evil, doing good and
purifying the heart.
TOP
(Maha
Bodhi Journal Vol. 36, January 1928 and Vol. 36, October 1928)
BUDDHISM is the English name for the great Religion of Ancient India known
as the Buddhasasana. The teachings of the Lord Buddha are known under name
of the DHAMMA. The Lord Buddha was born 2551 years ago at Kapilavastu, the
capital of the small kingdom of the Sakyas. The Prince who became the
supremely enlightened Teacher of Gods and men, was known as Siddhartha. His
father was the Raja of the Sakya country. In his 29th year the Prince
Siddhartha left his kingdom and went in search of Teachers who would show
him the way to eternal happiness. Where there is no birth, no death, no
illness, no old age, no lamentation, despair. disappointment, worry, anxiety
and other ills. He found no satisfaction in the mere enjoyment of luxuries
in the palace, and as it was then the custom to practise bodily
mortification to get the final release from sin, the prince went through the
severest mortification for six years in the forest of Uruwela, near Gaya.
Having failed to secure enlightenment and wisdom by bodily mortification, he
abandoned the ascetic method, and adopted the Middle Path, which was his own
discovery and within a very short period, some say within seven days, he
became the possessor of supreme wisdom and the ten kinds of transcendental
knowledge, that he called himself the BUDDHA.
For
forty five years He continued preaching the Middle Path of Right Knowledge,
Right Desires, Right Speech, Right Deeds, Right way of earning livelihood,
Right Endeavour, Right training of Consciousness and Right Concentration. He
was the first to preach against cruelty to animals, against animal
sacrifices, against ascetism, against hedonism, against cruelty to children,
against war, against the manufacture of destructive weapons, against
slavery, against alcoholism, against dealing in poisons, against slaughter
of animals, etc. He was the first to teach the principles of Evolution, of
the Law of Causality, of Psychic relativity, of the changeability of all
cosmic organisms, of the foolishness of relying on others to go to heaven.
He taught the common people the way to happiness, and to take precautions
against the risks of fire, floods, robbers and the tyranny of kings. He
taught that between man and man there is no difference, and the
differentiation lies in the profession and character. The aristocratic caste
distinction which was organised by the Brahmans, He repudiated as unjust. It
was the ethic of spiritualised democracy that He enunciated. Happiness could
be realised here not by sacrificing to the gods, and praying to get
possessions, but in ceaseless activity in doing good in helping the sick,
both animals and men, in giving pure water to drink, in distributing
clothes, food, flowers, scents, perfumes, vehicles, to the poor and in
building houses for their dwelling, and in teaching the law of
righteousness. Love to all, both men and animals was the ethic that the
Blessed One emphasised. He said that there is no place for an
anthropomorphic creator in the cosmic process where millions of habitable
worlds are found in starry spaces. A God who creates fools, cripples, the
blind, the dumb, the deaf, the insane, the epileptic, could not be a wise
creator, such a creator has no place in a country where sensible people
dwell.
The
Lord Buddha was a scientist full of compassion for all. His great religion
at one time prevailed in all Asia, but since the advent of barbarian
religions it declined, and today it is found in China, Japan, Ceylon, Burma,
Siam, Tibet, Cambodia, Korea.
TOP
THE
Lord Buddha taught the Middle Doctrine to avoid the extremes of asceticism
and sensuous indulgence. The Noble Eightfold Path shows the way to
comprehend the Middle Doctrine. Buddhism is the English term to express the
religion of the Lord Buddha. The Pali term for Buddhism is DHAMMA. The
specific names to denote the DHAMMA are Sambodhiyana, Dhammayana, Jhanayoga,
Ditthijala, Attajala, Brahmajala, Brahmayana, Vibhajjavada Samukkansadhamma,
Vimutti nanadassana, Ariyamagga, Ariyadhamma, and Bodhi pakkhiya dhamma. It
is not Nihilism (ucchedavada) ; it is not fatalism (pubbekatahetu vada) it
is not Creatorism (issaranimmana vada). Then what is Buddhism ? It is a
kiriyavada, kammavada, hetuvada, a paticcasarnuppanna dhamma, and an
anupubbadhamma. Kriyavada connotes cause and effect, as for instance from
milk is produced curd. The variations of absolute predestination, creatorism
and nihilism are rejected by the Lord Buddha. He found the Universe is not
the product of Chance, or is caused by the will of a foolish ignorant
despotic phantom Creator, or due to absolute predestination, but the result
of unerring natural Immutable Law of Cause and Effect. It is the Doctrine of
gradual evolutionary development as we find in the biological evolution of
the human germ cell. The supreme Teacher of gods and men taught that man is
not the slave of muddle-headed metaphysicians who created from their
imagination certain types of god. Theologians found in the god-idea a weapon
to enslave the people. In the Tevijjasutta our Lord showed the foolishness
of those who wished to assimilate themselves with their own imaginary gods.
Repenting gods are still under illusion.
The
Jatilas of ancient India came nearest to the psychology of Buddhism. They
accepted the law of kamma or karma. The Jainas were believers in painful
asceticism. They were under the belief that by bodily mortification evil
karma could be destroyed. The liberated Jiva, they said, is bodiless and
lives in eternal happiness in the state of kaivalya. The Brahman
metaphysicians believed in the absorption of the liberated soul (atta) with
Brahma. The German Buddhists of the Grimm school accept the dogma laid down
by Dr. Grimm that there is a supreme permanent I. The opposite school led by
Dr. DahIke lays down the dogma, which makes people think that the end of
existence is annihilation. Dr. Grimm's theory is near to the Vedanta ideal.
The psychology of Buddhism is transcendentally mystic. It is founded on
purifying altruistic ethics without the least tinge of selfishness.
Covetousness,
conceit, pride, egoism, anger, stubborness, etc. have to be completely
destroyed from the mind. Until all immoral ideas are removed there is no
possibility of progress in the mystic path. Desire for sensual enjoyments,
illwill, slothfulness, restlessness and psychic scepticism are the obstacles
to be removed by supreme effort with the aid of the Teacher. He is then to
practise the Jhanas which are four, and in the fifth Jhana where no
perceptions and feelings are at work, he realizes Nibbana in consciousness
on this earth. The upekkha sati parisuddhi state clarifies the mind to
realize the supremeness of anupadana state whereby the arammana of Nirvana
is realized. European philosophers have no idea of the transcendental
mysticism laid down in Buddhist psychology. The ordinary religionist thinks
of heaven as the supreme goal of existence, where he thinks he can enjoy a
sensuous existence in a sublimated form. Buddhism repudiates attachment to
celestial existence as unworthy of the perfect Brahmachari. Even the higher
forms of Brahmaloka existence is held in loathsomeness by the great Teacher
because of the inexpressible sublimity of the eternal state of unconditioned
Nirvana. Without Jhana there can be no acquisition of super knowledge (panna)
without panna there can be no realizing of Jhana. The two together working
in sympathy brings the devotee to the threshold of Nirvana. Nirvana is an
abyakatadhamma. What it is only the perfected mind of the Arahat realizes.
Neither the Sotapatti, Sakadagami or Anagami can have complete knowledge of
Nirvana. The Sotapatti can hardly comprehend the mentality of the Sakadagami,
and the Sakadagami is not able to know what is the state of the Anagami
mind, and the Anagami if he dies without realizing the Arahat condition is
born in one of the Suddahavasa brahmalokas where he lives for millions of
years and then realized Nirvana. What is the final state of the Arahat
consciousness? It is abyakata beyond speech, and only the Arahats know what
it is. It is a state to be realized. Where the ten fetters operate there is
no possibility of knowing the state of Nirvana.
In
Buddhism there is also what is called the thapaniya panha (question to be
set aside) which the Buddha has set aside as unprofitable to discuss. Did I
exist? Wliat am I? What is my future? Is the body different from the soul?
Are they the same? Is the world eternal? Is the world not eternal? Does the
being exist after death? Does he not exist? etc. These are called thapaniya
to be set aside. The muddle-headed scholar who knows nothing of the mystic
doctrine of Jhana comes to the erroneous conclusion that Buddhism is
Agnosticism. Buddhism is positive in these Four Noble Truths and the Bodhi
pakkhiya Dhamma. Instead of wasting time to find out the Ego, the Buddha
showed the path to find the consummation of Truth, which is Nirvana. So long
as the four upadanas are active in the mind there is no hope of realizing
Nirvana. Make the effort to destroy the four upadana and you arrive at the
anupadana state, which is vimutti sukha. The upadanas are kamupadana, ditthi
upadana, silabbata upadana and attavada upadana. Clinging to sensual
pleasure is an upadana ; clinging to speculative beliefs is an upadana,
clinging to manifold forms of ascetic habits is an upadana ; clinging to the
manifold variations of egoism is an upadana. Desire to he born in a heaven
or any state of Brahmaloka is an obstacle to realize the Nirvanic happiness.
All exoteric popular religions are upadanic. To realize Nirvana one should
strictly follow the 37 principles of the Bodhi pakkhiya dhamma. Effort must
he made to destroy the ten fetters. Activity in doing meritorious deeds with
no thought of self is Immortality.
(Maha
Bodhi Journal Vol. 34, November 1926)
TOP
by
Anagarika Dharmapala
(A
Lecture delivered at the Bengal National Medical College, Calcutta in
February 1911.)
BEFORE
the appearance of the Buddha, Sakya Muni, as the Universal Teacher of
mankind, a religion founded on universal pity, kindness, and non-sectarian
ethics was not known. Religions were formulated by leaders of tribes for the
especial use of such tribes over whom they held sway. When we study the old
testament of the Jews, what do we see, except that Moses, as leader made the
laws to suit the wandering nomads, who were going to find a home in Canaan?
Laws were made to keep the rebellious tribes under control during their
march through the desert. A religion for a settled people and a religion for
a wandering nomadic tribe should not he the same. In a settled community
like the great body of people of India, religion is a necessity. The
religion of a conquering people is soon accepted, under certain conditions,
when it is offered to them. Persecution makes people to accept a religion,
even against their will. But, succeeding generations forget the ancient
national traditions, and may even become quite iconoclastic in their turn.
Christianity was at first the religion of helots and the poorer class of
people who lived in various parts of Greece, Asia Minor and Rome. It was a
comforting doctrine to the poor to be told that they will get the reward in
the next birth in heaven. There was unity in the indigent community. The
early Christians were poor but united, and this helped them. The expansion
of Christianity was not due to any philosophical teaching, but to the
exigencies of the situation. The Roman Empire was in a decadent state at the
time of Constantine, and the Roman army was full of poorer class of people,
and they had come to look upon Christianity as the special religion intended
for the poor. Slaves were many at that time and they had all accepted
Christianity. Augustine was converted to Christianity not by argument, but
by a vision from heaven. It might have been a case of hallucination.
Whatever it may be, Constantine did not become penitent and followed the
principles of righteousness, thus showing that he had not changed his evil
life to become good. On the contrary he did the most inhuman acts which
neither a father no a husband ought certainly to do. His was merely a
political conversion, but the leaders of the Church the bishops, found the
opportunity to achieve their ambitions. The religion that taught
non-resistance, poverty, meekness, by an irony of fate gave birth to the
most voluptuous, gorgeous, and inquisitorial and persecuting ecclesiastical
organization in the world.
In
ancient India Brahmanical priesthood was exacting, and made laws to suit a
specialized class, who kept the non-Brahman communities in a state of
stagnation. Religion of the higher class was not to be given to the servant
class. Caste became a stereotyped institution, and class hatred was born.
But the servile class had no way to rebel. They were reduced to impotency by
the cruel laws enacted by the law-givers. The Veda was not to be read by the
non-Brahman, and to the latter category was brought even the Kshatriyas. The
hostility shown by the Brahmans to the Kshatriyas is recorded in the Puranas.
When
the Buddha appeared 1500 years ago, the Brahmans were divided into two
camps, one party, who took the philosophical attitude of maintaining the
more righteous principle of good character above mere birth, trying to
convince the other that mere birth was nothing if one had not learning and
good character. The Brahmans were making every effort to show that they were
the most superior, having been born out of the mouth of Brahma, while the
other classes were taught to believe that they came from more degenerate
limbs of the same creator. The old generation of Brahmans had to be
convinced of the foolishness of the aristocratic theory, and it was evident
that among them were some of the noblest, who were ready to accept Truth
above the mere assertion of a community that they were superior, and only a
great personality was needed to storm the fortress. The younger generation
of Brahmans who followed the older were also divided: the aristocratic party
treating the Kshatriyas with perfect contempt : and the
righteousness-supreme party, who held that greatness consists in noble
character. India was then isolated, no Alexander had come from the West to
show his power, and Europe was then sunk in darkness. Socrates, Plato and
Aristotle were not born, Mahommad, Jesus, and other later day prophets had
not yet made their appearance. The Buddha appeared and preached the Gospel
of Universal Brotherhood, Unity, Love, Mercy and the potentiality of the
individual, who, whatever his gotra and jati, had the qualification to
understand, and the health to persevere in the path of Truth. In the Pali it
is called Khanasampatti, availing of the opportunity to climb high to reach
the summits of freedom from the four kinds of bias, showing favouritism,
doing injustice through hatred, doing injustice through fear of authority,
doing that which is not in accordance with Truth through ignorance of the
wisdom which can only be gained by a knowledge of scientific analysis.
To
understand the great mission that the Tathagata had accomplished, it is
necessary that one should make a study of the different aspects of Religion
and social organizations, especially of India, and if possible of the world.
The expansion of the intellect by a wider study of human laws will help to
discover Truth. We must not lose sight of the fact that however good the
article may be, if it is not well advertised, some one else would enter the
arena, and by extensive advertising may get his inferior article accepted.
The majority of the people are half insane and easily imposed upon by
charlatans. We all know that intoxicants are injurious to health, but look
at the methods adopted by the different Whisky dealers to advertise their
own special whisky. The things that perish, and are impermanent and ignoble
receive a royal reception, while the more exalted, which is associated with
the Mind and which is more permanent, is neglected.
The
national consciousness has to be educated if a nation is to become great.
Teachers by the thousands should be trained to bring up children, and
parents taught the principles of development and decline. Parents, teachers,
spiritual and secular, should be examples of the highest virtue, so that
they will be able to influence the future generations. The more the.
teachers show the spirit of self sacrifice, associated with the spirit of
compassion like the mother that takes every care of herself for the love of
her unborn child, still in the womb, the better it will be for the
development of the future generation.
We
shall not enter into a polemical discussion as to which religion is best in
these days of competition, when religions are advertised like "Pears
Soap", "Dewar's Whisky", "Beecham's Pills", "Zambuk",
"Sanatogan", and "Eno' s Fruit Salt" : We know how
easily people are led to accept error on the strength of a book. People are
by nature superstitious, and are imbued with the instinct of credulity.
Astrology, occultism, ghostology, palmistry are the vulgar sciences that
require no investigation. Thousands of the credulous are swindled by men and
women who pose themselves as the chosen of god. The real saviour of man is
he who saves ignorant people from the hands of immoral occultists, whisky
dealers, and opium sellers. The occultists dabbling in mystery and
esotericism bring down the human understanding into animalism. They are
enemies of human development and of the science of wisdom. And this is
especially so in India, the land of insane mysticism and animalising
sciences. A few occultists by their degenerate tendencies can help the
stagnation of a community. Science never conceals her fruits, and the
life-giving Sun does not hide his light : and the Buddha enunciated the God
Law and declared that He hides nothing from the people. "Inquire,
investigate, analyse, and do not accept anyone's dictum without thorough
deliberate investigation, and do not believe the magician, the occultist, a
revealed book, or the logical disputant" - this the Great Teacher's
advice to the people of India. The common people should not be transformed
into donkeys and bullocks : they must be elevated and enlightened, and
helped to become men. Wise parents train their children to become good
citizens, and enlightened teachers educate their pupils to be courteous and
gentle, and learned in arts and sciences. The holy Bhikkhus and Brahmans by
their virtuous and noble life show the wisdom of following the law of
Renunciation. . Those who spend their time in hedonistic pleasures can never
become the best examples of a people. And the holy teacher is he who obtains
from the pleasures that the householder enjoys. If the householder does not
see in the spiritual teacher virtue, why should he pay him homage ? He must
he an example of self-abnegation, cultivating the higher life to receive the
homage of the householder. A spiritual teacher can abandon the religious
life. and adopt the life of a politician, and keep the people down in a
state of vassalage and medievalism, as was the case with the European
peoples, under the political supremacy of the Roman Church. A small class
will of course be benefited by following this selfish and undemocratic
source. But it is not wise to keep the people in a state of ignorance, and
slavery for unexpected cataclysms occur, and the power of the elect swept
off, as was the case with the priesthood of the Roman church, in France,
Italy and Portugal. The decline of Indian freedom began with the
degeneration of the people, who were brought under the priestly law of
caste, and allowed to remain in utter ignorance. Missions were neglected and
allowed to shift themselves in the so-called depressed classes, which number
about 140 millions. Man instead of being elevated, became a degenerate,
intellectually feeble-minded, and physically a slave to do the work of a
beast. The result we see in India in the battalions of coolies struggling
for existence. Such a sight as is to be seen in Indian railway stations, at
the arrival of passenger trains, when these men are seen actually engaged in
hand to hand fight, to get the luggage of the passengers is seen nowhere
else. This kind of life reacts upon the nation, and a way must be found to
make the burden of the poor easy.
What
is the cause that India should suffer in this frightful way? Why should not
means be found to make the life of the poor easy ? India in the ancient days
was considered to be the richest in the world and the traditional Pagoda
tree was then flourishing. What made the people to decline, after having
reached such a high degree of civilization?
It
is only when you examine the peasant Indian villager, that you realize how
much understanding he has? He is the most simple looking individual,
contented with a little sattu or fried gram and water. He remains the same
while the whole world is moving? Look at the Chinese shoe-maker and compare
him with the Indian shoe-maker. Look at the Japanese artizan and the Hindu;
what a difference there is in the general intelligence of the one compared
to the other. Why should not the Indian artizan get that amount of happiness
and enjoyment in India, which his brother gets in Japan. China, or in the
United States? This is a great work, a noble work, and much depends on the
kind of religion which the householder professes.
The
religion of the Buddha was intended for all castes. He made no distinction
between the Brahman and the Sudra. To all He gave the ambrosia of the
eternal Dhamma. As we see today, the first query which a man has to answer
when he is confronted with another native of India, is about his jati, and
on that depend the treatment he is expected to get. The same question was
put to the Great Teacher by the Brahmans 2500 years ago. What is your caste?
And the Buddha in reply said, "Do not ask my caste, ask about my
conduct", and the Buddha by His all-embracing Doctrine of Love taught
that a man whatever his caste, can become great, provided he follows the
laws of eugenics and morality. He was not the teacher of a special darsana,
like the system of nyaya, or yoga or sankhaya, and He did not wish to keep
one class of men above, and another class below, teaching them to hate each
other. He extolled Truth, and set Karma, Vidya and Dharma above wealth and
high birth. Karma is good deeds bearing good fruits : Vidya is science of
trade, agriculture, industrialism and navigation : Dharma is righteousness.
To make all happy contented, loving and to practise the virtue of mercy was
His object, and in fulfilment of this great mission, He set to work, and
succeeded in discovering a Path which is safe, and a path in which all can
travel. He founded a Religion with the lesser and greater precepts. One for
the Householder, the Agarika, and another for the Ascetic (Anagarika) who
renounced the life of the householder. The former was intended for those who
wished to enjoy a life of pleasure, engaged in arts, trade, agriculture, to
produce wealth. The Anagarika saw a burden in the family life, he therefore
wished to be free from the cares and anxieties of the family man. It was the
life of absolute freedom, fearing none, and showing patience, forgiveness,
love, and devoting himself for the welfare of others. The householder was
the sower, and the religious man was the fertile field, and good deeds were
the seeds that the householder sowed.
The
twice-born class had his Bible, and he had also the Brahman priest to
officiate at his altar and propitiate the family god, but the non-Brahman of
the Sudra class, was debarred by the law-givers from reading the Veda, and
taking part in the Brahman rituals. What was he to do? To be a perpetual
slave does not tend to elevate life, and the Buddha in opening the gates of
immortality, welcomed to the Bhikkhu life, men of all castes, trained in the
Tathagata Vinaya, the Discipline of the Tathagata, and they were sent among
the people to preach and teach. The Bhikkhu settled in the village opened
his school, got the village children together, taught them morality, science
and religion. The vihara school became the centre of the village, and once
in a week men, women, and children assembled in the village Dharmasala, to
listen to the teachings of Buddha's Law of Love. It was a comprehensive
morality. Once in a fortnight the village folk, dressed in white, spend
twenty-four hours in the village vihara, in devoting themselves to the good
law, and abstained themselves from all householder's duties, to lead the
celibate life. Every village in Buddhist lands has the beautiful vihara,
with the small cheti, the courtyard, where the branch of a sacred Bo tree
flourished giving cool shade to those who sat under it to meditate.
The
first principle of the Religion of the Buddha was prevention of cruelty to
animals, followed by the five principles to be observed daily by every
householder, viz., to abstain from killing, from taking illegally things
which belong to another, from violating women who were under guardianship of
their own kith and kin, from lying and slander, and from taking intoxicating
liquor and drugs. This was the ordinary code of social morality which the
Buddha emphasised, which every householder who wishes to be born after death
in heaven, should observe.
In
the Sevitabbasevitabba Sutta of the Majjhima Nikaya the Tathagata taught the
Dhamma of association and non-association, which included the five precepts
as well as the laws of friendly speech, which when cultivated developed
love, unity, concord, pleasantness, and a desire to know more of the higher
laws of Truth. Hatred, covetousness, superstitious worship ceased, because
the mind was trained to follow the ethics of a higher life, and love dawned
and universal kindness reigned. The doctrine of Karma was taught which
enunciated the principle that by doing good karma you enjoy good fruits; by
doing evil deeds, you suffer. Along with the law of Karma the householders
were taught to believe that the life of man did not cease to exist here but
that according to the Karma, it was born again.
The
law of self-development was simplified into a mathematical formula. Hatred
quickened the decline of self, and extending love to all expanded self and
quickened development. This wonderful doctrine the Buddha enunciated, and
enjoined the Bhikkhus to preach it to the Kshatriyas, Brahmans, Vessas, and
Sudras. In the Sigala Sutta, Digha Nikaya, He gave a synopsis of the duties
of the householder, wherein he was taught how he should live in this world
bringing happiness to himself and to the world. His social duties under the
all-embracing law of Buddha's love, widened, and from the self it expanded
till the whole breathing world became one with self. Buddha was the first
Aryan teacher that prohibited the sale of human beings, of weapons used for
depriving life, of animals for slaughter, of poisons for killing purposes,
of intoxicants that produced disease, making man insane and caused so much
domestic misery by reducing him to poverty. He held up the lofty ideals of
Buddhahood, and Arahatship above divinity whose consummation depend on the
observance of the ten paramitas. Woman and man were equal in the presence of
the Good Law, and by evil doing woman and man are both liable to undergo the
same kind of suffering in the next world. Nirvana was the appanage not of
one sex and of one caste. Women were free to follow their own individual
aspirations. The Order of Bhikkhunis was the refuge, and saintly woman found
an asylum in the Bhikkhuni viharas were they could, without molestation,
live the higher life.
The
householder according to his ability to lead the spiritual life, was given
the rules to observe. Daily he had to observe the five rules, and also to
practise the ten manusya dharma : weekly, or fortnightly he had to observe
with his wife, the right rules or silas, enjoining the partial observance of
the celibate Brahmachariya life for 24 hours.
The
fruits of holiness were for the Bhikkhu and the Upasaka householder. The
Arahat stage is only for the Bhikkhu, which is the highest, but the
householder had other three stages of holiness, viz., the Sotapatti,
Sakadagami, and Anagami. The Sotapatti householder observed the five silas.
Even at the risk of his life the Sotapatti Upasaka or (upasika the female
devotee) will not violate the five silas. The stage of Sotapatti is the path
of the elected one, niyato sambodhiparayano. Men and women remaining as
householders are able to reach either of three states of holiness in
numerical order, 1st. Sotapatti, 2nd, Sakadagami, 3rd, Anagami. The Anagami,
although a householder, yet lives the Brahmachari life permanently. The
Arhatship is for the one who abandons the home-life, and men and women were
allowed to enter the order of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis after they had
received the consent of their parents or guardians.
India
was the home of the religion of the householder. According to the
Brahmanical laws of social polity, the large mass of people, who were not of
the twice-born class, practically were precluded from accepting the higher
laws of Brahmachariya, and they were debarred from practising the life of
yoga. To this large community the Buddha's law of love, and the Discipline
which He had in his mercy inculcated and called the Aryan Discipline were
meant. For the first time the teeming millions of India received a Religion,
and they were given the chance to go through a Discipline, which helped them
to be religious. The sensual life of the householder underwent a change, the
rich became more unselfish : his superfluous wealth was given to the social
betterment of the poor. The king lived the religious life of the householder
on the uposatha days, took part in the holy life, eating the same food with
the ordinary upasaka, with the same kind of white dress. On that day, once
in a week, or in a fortnight, or in a month, the king and the subject met
and listened to the sweet doctrine of the Buddha's love to all.
For
full one thousand years India had forgotten to observe the principles of the
Law of Love. We see the effect of the neglect when we look back to the
glorious period of Aryan culture, which produced emperors and kings of the
type of Asoka, Kaniska, Siladitya, and Dharmapala. We see the non-Aryan
lands today where the Aryan Dharma of the Buddha is helping the people to be
contented, happy and free. Which of two countries afford a pleasant picture,
Burma and Buddha's law of Love or Bihar without the law of Buddha's love?
Take
up the life of the householder as enjoined by the Buddha, and see whether it
is beyond you to accept it. Make the effort and see whether you can follow
the principles in your daily life. A little self-denial is all that you
need, and you will feel the pleasant delight in being able to realize the
majesty of a purified life of contented cheerfulness, without the fear of
being hated by those who are wearing the sacrificial thread. Without the Law
of Love of Buddha there will he always hatred shown by the twice-born to the
non-dvijas, for at the initiation of the Brahman boy when he is given the
sacrificial thread, he is taught not to look at the face of the Sudra during
three days. Can there be love in the heart of a man who shows such a feeling
towards his fellow men?
Study
the Buddha's Dharma, and you will see how elevating are His teachings which
He gave in all compassion to the millions who stood outside the pale of the
elect. Surely the people of India under the Emperor Asoka lived happier and
better lives than under the kings of the Mogul period. For full one thousand
years India had lived without Buddhism, what have the people to show as a
record of triumphant deeds? But looking at the past, when the religion of
the land was the Dharma of the Tathagata not one caste but all were happy,
contented and free. To the present generation of Indians, I bring the
message of Buddha, and I ask them to investigate into the Doctrines that He
taught, and follow them if they are good. Without inquiry it is not proper
to condemn a code of morality which is so admirably fitted to develop the
Aryan consciousness in the path of enlightenment and spiritual freedom.
(Maha
Bodhi Journal, Vol. 19)
TOP
by
Anagarika Dharmapala
THE
salvation that is insisted on, the Dhamma of the Tathagato, is not a
speculative metaphysical salvation but it is an ignorance [of it] resulting
in the attainment of knowledge absolute, annihilating all tendencies of the
mind leaning towards passionate lust, anger and stupidity. In the individual
there must be the desire, the persevering exertion, the energetic will to
become pure and free from lust. Some individuals, by the use of their own
reasoning faculties, realize the existence of the desire within to attain a
nobler condition of life free from the poisoning atmosphere of sensual lust.
The introduction of a metaphysical unit into the arena of practical ethics
is due to ignorance of the potentialities of the human mind. The questions
that trouble the weak-minded imbecile about the metaphysics of the whence,
whither, and what am I, have to he brushed aside, being the dusty
accumulation of ages of rationalistic indolence. Just as dust will mar the
clear transparent glass if it is not daily cleaned, so the rubbish of
unenlightened thinking has marred the lustre of the mind from seeing the
actuality of its original purity.
The
Tathagato declares that the mind in itself is bright, but by evil
associations, foreign to its nature, its brightness is destroyed. The
foreign accretions that have marred the purity of the mind are ill-will,
hatred, harbouring of anger, self-esteem, vilifying others, cunning,
hypocrisy, envy, covetousness, stubbornness, revengefulness, haughtiness,
conceit, pride of physical beauty, and dilatoriness.
In
the Aningana Sutta, Majjhima Nikaya, the characteristics of four different
individualities are mentioned, and the individual who thinks that there is
no possibility of internal spiritual development is not qualified for
advancement ; he is a low man, hina purisa. The one who thinks otherwise and
makes a start for the betterment of his life is a Setthapuriso he is a
superior man.
The
process of purification of the soiled mind, which is compared to a soiled
cloth, is to remove the impurities by a determined effort, with a strong
desire to become pure. In the Vatthupama Sutta, the simplified process of
purification is given, viz. to arouse faith in BUDDHA, by reflecting on the
supreme-wisdom of Him who is the Holy One, the Omniscient, One possessed of
the eight kinds of knowledge and fifteen human perfections, the One of
Excellent manners, Infinite in the comprehension of the laws of Universe,
the Trainer of men, the Teacher of gods and men, the Buddha, the Blessed
One. Next to the Buddha comes the Dhamma Eternal, Noble Truth that can he
seen and realized in this life in complete consciousness. It is the "
Bhagavata Dhammo," the Excellent Doctrine. Next to the Dhamma, the
Sangha, the association of Holy Ones, exacts one's faith. He who has full
faith in the Buddha receives the advantage of having realised truth.
Perception of truth produces delight (pamujjam),
delight produces joy (piti) joy
produces serenity of body (passambhati),
serenity produces happiness (Sukham),
happiness produces peace of mind (cittam
samadhiyati).
It
is interesting to find at the end of the Vatthupama Sutta an account of the
existing conditions at the time of Buddha in connection with the bathing in
certain rivers which had the power of washing off sins. Sundarika Bharadvaja,
a Brahman, after having finished listening to a discourse, got up and said :
" Bhavam Gotamo, I am going to the river Bahuka to bathe." The
Buddha said, "Brahmana, what is Bahuka river? What has Bahuka river to
do with you? " The Brahman replied : " It is the (loka
sammata) public opinion that the Bahuka river is merit-producing, that
bathing in it washes off sins (papakamma)
" Bathing in Bahuka, Phaggu, Sarassati, Payaga, was then as common
as it is now, and it is instructive to observe that Buddha repudiated the
idea with the observation that although daily the ignorant wash themselves,
yet their black deeds remained ; and He advised the Brahman to practise
universal compassion, to tell the truth, to abstain from lying, to abstain
from destroying life, stealing, covetousness. At the end of the discourse
the Brahman joined the Sangha as a Bhikkhu.
(
Maha Bodhi Journal, 1892-1900)
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