ANSWER: The name Buddhism comes from the word ‘budhi’
which means ‘to wake up’ and thus Buddhism is the philosophy of awakening.
This philosophy has its origins in the experience of the man Siddhata Gotama,
known as the Buddha, who was himself awakened at the age of 36. Buddhism is
now 2,500 years old and has about 300 million followers worldwide. Until a
hundred years ago, Buddhism was mainly an Asian philosophy but increasingly it
is gaining adherents in Europe and America.
The word philosophy comes from two words ‘philo’ means
‘love’ and ‘sophia’ means ‘wisdom’. So philosophy is the love of
wisdom or love and wisdom, both meanings describing Buddhism perfectly.
Buddhism teaches that we should try to develop our
intellectual capacity to the fullest so that we can understand clearly. It
also teaches us to develop love and kindness so that we can be like a true
friend to all beings. So Buddhism is a philosophy but not just a
philosophy. It is the supreme philosophy.
In the year 563 BC. a baby was born into a royal family in
northern India. He grew up in wealth and luxury but eventually found that
worldly comfort and security do not guarantee happiness. He was deeply moved
by the suffering he saw all around - and resolved to find the key to human
happiness. When he was 29 he left his wife and child and set off to sit at the
feet of the great religious teachers of the day to learn from them. They
taught him much but none really knew the cause of human sufferings and how it
could be overcome. Eventually, after six years study and meditation he had an
experience in which all ignorance fell away and he suddenly understood. From
that day onwards, he was called Buddha, the Awakened One. He lived for another
45 years in which time he traveled all over northern India teaching
others what he had discovered. His compassion and patience were legendary and
he made thousands of followers. In his eightieth year, old and sick, but still
happy and at peace, he finally died.
It couldn’t have been an easy thing for the Buddha to
leave his family. He must have worried and hesitated for a long time before he
finally left. But he had a choice, dedicating himself to his family or
dedicating himself to the whole world. In the end, his great compassion made
him give himself to the whole world. And the whole world still benefits from
his sacrifice. This was not irresponsible. It was perhaps the most significant
sacrifice ever made.
Faraday, who discovered electricity, is dead but what he
discovered still helps us. Ltiis Pasteur who discovered the cures for so many
diseases is dead, but his medical discoveries still save lives. Leonardo da
Vinci who created masterpieces of art is dead, but what he created can still
uplift and give joy. Noble men and heroes may have been dead for centuries but
when we read of their deeds and achievements, we can still be inspired to act
as they did. Yes, the Buddha is dead but 2500 years later his teachings still
help people, his example still inspires people, his words still change lives.
Only a Buddh7a could have such power centuries after his death.
No, he was not. He did not claim that he was a god, the
child of a god or even the messenger from a god. He was a man who perfected
himself and taught that if we followed his example, we could perfect ourselves
also.
There are different types of worship. When someone worships
a god, they praise and honour him or her, make offerings and ask for favors,
believing that the god will bear their praise, receive their offerings and
answer their prayers. Buddhists do not indulge in this kind of worship.
The other kind of worship is when we show respect to someone or something we
admire. When a teacher walks into the room we stand up, when we meet a dignitary
we shake hands, when the national anthem is played we salute. These are all
gestures of respect and worship and indicate our admiration for persons or
things. This is the type of worship Buddhists practice. A statue of the Buddha
with its hands rested gently in its lap and its compassionate smile reminds us
to strive to develop peace and love within ourselves. The perfume of incense
reminds us of the pervading influence of virtue, the lamp reminds us of the
light of knowledge and the flowers, which soon fade and die, remind us of
impermanence. When we bow, we express our gratitude to the Buddha for what his
teachings have given us. This is the nature of Buddhist worship.
Such statements only reflect the misunderstanding of the
persons who make them. The dictionary defines an idol as - "an. image or
statue worshipped as a god". As we have seen, Buddhists do not believe
that the Buddha was a god, so how could they possibly believe that a piece of
wood or metal is a god? All religions use symbols to express various concepts.
In Taoism,the ying-yang is used to symbolize the harmony between opposites. In
Sikhism, the sword is used to symbolize spiritual struggle. In Christianity,
the fish is used to symbolize Christ’s presence and the cross is used to
symbolize his sacrifice. And in Buddhism, the statue of the Buddha is used to
symbolize human perfection. The statue of the Buddha also reminds us of the
human dimension in Buddhist teaching, the fact that Buddhism is man-centered,
not god-centered, that we must look within not without to find perfection and
understanding. So to say that Buddhists worship idols is not correct.
Many things seem strange to us when we don’t understand
them. Rather than dismiss such things as strange, we should strive to find out
their meaning. However, it is true that Buddhist practice sometimes has its
origin in popular superstition and misunderstanding rather than the teachings
of the Buddha. And such misunderstandings are not found in Buddhism alone, but
arise in all religions from time to time. The Buddha taught with clarity and
in detail and if some fail to understand fully, the Buddha cannot be blamed.
There is a saying;
If a man suffering from a disease does not seek treatment
even when there is a physician at hand, it is not the fault of that
physician.
In the same way, if a man is oppressed and tormented
by the disease of the defilement but does not seek the help of the
Buddha, that is not the Buddha’s fault.
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Nor should those who don’t practice it properly judge Buddhism or any
religion. If you wish to know the true teachings of Buddhism, read the Buddha’s
words or speak to those who understand them properly.
If by poor you mean economically poor, then it is true that some
Buddhist countries are poor. But if by poor you mean a poor quality of life, then
perhaps some Buddhist countries are quite rich. America, for example, is an
economically rich and powerful country but the crime rate is one of the highest
in the world, millions of old people are neglected by their children and die of
loneliness in old people’s homes, domestic violence and child abuse are major
problems. One in three marriages end in divorce, pornography is easily
available. Rich in terms of money but perhaps poor in terms of the quality of
life. Now, take Burma, a country that is economically backward. Parents are
honored and respected by their children, the crime rate is relatively low,
divorce and suicide are almost unheard of as are domestic violence and child
abuse, and pornography and sexual license are non-existent. Economically
backward, but perhaps a higher quality of life than in a country like America.
But even if we judge Buddhist countries in terms of economics alone, one of the
wealthiest and most economically dynamic countries in the world today is Japan
where 93% of the population call themselves Buddhists.
Perhaps it is because Buddhists don’t feel the need to
boast about the good they do. Several years ago the Japanese Buddhist leader
Nikkho Nirwano received the Templeton Prize for his work in promoting
inter-religious harmony. Likewise a Thai Buddhist monk was recently awarded
the prestigious Magsaysay Prize for his excellent work among drug addicts. In
1987 another Thai monk, Von. Kantayapiwat was awarded the Norwegian Children’s
Peace Prize for his many years of work helping homeless children in rural
areas. And what about the large scale social work being done among the poor in
India by the Western Buddhist Order? They have built schools, child minding
centers, dispensaries and small-scale industries for self-sufficiency.
Buddhists see help given to others as an expression of their religious
practice just as other religious do but they believe that it should be done
quietly and without self-promotion. Thus you don’t hear so much about their
charitable work.
There are many different types of sugar: brown sugar, white sugar, granulated
sugar, rock sugar, syrup and icing sugar but it is all sugar and it all
tastes sweet. It is produced in different forms so that it can be used in
different ways. Buddhism is the same. There is Theravada Buddhism, Zen Buddhism,
Pure Land Buddhism, Yogacara Buddhism and Vajrayana Buddhism but it is all
Buddhism and it all has the same taste - the state of freedom. Buddhism has
evolved into different forms so that it can be relevant to the different
cultures in which it exists. It has been reinterpreted over the centuries so
that it can remain relevant to each new generation. Outwardly, the types of
Buddhism may seem very different but at the center of all of them are the Four
Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. All major religions, Buddhism included,
have split into schools and sects. But the different sects of Buddhism have
never gone to war with each other, they have never expressed hostility towards
each other and to this day, they go to each other’s temples and worship
together. Such tolerance and understanding is certainly rare.
No Buddhist who understands the Buddha’s teaching thinks
that other religions are wrong. No one who has made a genuine effort to
examine other religions with an open mind could think like that either. The
first thing you notice when you study the different religions is just how
much they have in common. All religions acknowledge that man’s present
state is unsatisfactory. All believe that a change of attitude and behavior is
needed if man’s situation is to improve. All teach an ethics that includes
love, kindness, patience, generosity and social responsibility and all accept
the existence of some form of Absolute.
They use different languages, different names and different
symbols to describe and explain these things; and it is only when they
narrow-mindedly cling to their one way of seeing things that religious
intolerance, pride and self-righteousness arise.
Imagine an Englishman, a Frenchman, Chinese and an
Indonesian all looking at a cup. The Englishman says, "That ‘s a
cup." The Frenchman answers, "No it’s not. It’s a tasse."
The Chinese comments, "You’re both wrong. It’s a Pei." And the
Indonesian laughs at the others and says "What fools you are. It’s a
cawan." The Englishman gets a dictionary and shows it to the others
saying, "I can prove that it is a cup. My dictionary says so."
"Then your dictionary is wrong," says the Frenchman "because my
dictionary clearly says it is a tasse." The Chinese scoffs at them.
"My dictionary is thousands of years older than yours, so my dictionary
must be right. And besides, more people speak Chinese than any other language,
so it must be a Pei." While they are squabbling and arguing with each
other, a Buddhist comes up and drinks from the cup. After he has drunk, he
says to the others, "Whether you call it a cup, a tasse, a pei or a cawan,
the purpose of the cup is to be used. Stop arguing and drink, stop squabbling
and refresh your thirst." This is the Buddhist attitude to the other
religions.
Before we answer that question it would be best to define
the word ‘science’. Science, according to the dictionary is -
"knowledge which can be made into a system, which depends upon seeing and
testing facts and stating general natural laws, a branch of such knowledge,
anything that can be studied exactly."
There are aspects of Buddhism that would not fit into this
definition but the central teachings of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, most
certainly would. Suffering, the First Noble Truth is an experience that can be
defined, experienced and measured. The Second Noble Truth states that
suffering has a natural cause, craving, which likewise can be defined,
experienced and measured. No attempt is made to explain suffering in terms of
a metaphysical concept or myths. Suffering is ended, according to the Third
Noble Truth, not by relying upon a Supreme Being, by faith or by prayers but
simply by removing its cause. This is axiomatic. The Fourth Noble Truth, the
way to end suffering, once again, has nothing to do with metaphysics but
depends on behaving in specific ways. And once again behavior is open to
testing Buddhism dispenses with the concept of a Supreme Being, as does
science, and explains the origins and workings of the universe in terms of
natural laws. All of this certainly exhibits a scientific spirit. Once again,
the Buddha’s constant advice that we should not blindly believe but rather
question, examine, inquire and rely on our own experience has a definite
scientific ring to it. He says:
"Do not go by revelation or tradition do not go by
rumour, or the sacred scriptures, do not go by hearsay or mere logic, do not
go by bias towards a notion or by another person’s’ seeming ability and do
not go by the idea ‘He is our teacher’. But when you yourself know that a
thing is good, that it is not blamable, that it is praised by the wise and
when practiced and observed that it leads to happiness, then follow that
thing"
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So we could say that although Buddhism is not entirely
scientific, it certainly has a strong scientific overtone and is certainly
more scientific than any other religion. It is significant that Albert
Einstein, the greatest scientist of the twentieth century said of Buddhism:
"The religion of the future will be a cosmic
religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and
theology Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based
on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural
and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.
If there is any religion that would cope with modem scientific needs, it
would be Buddhism."
