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Buddhism and the Concept of ReligionBy Khai Thien
A. Man's search for the meaning of religion In following and practicing any
religion, one must first
know what that religion is all about and how it hopes to guide him to
his
ultimate liberation. Otherwise the religious experience he tries to
realize
will be sheer illusion, and of course there will be no real spiritual
growth
whatsoever. In the noble but arduous attempt to
understand what
religion is all about, many philosophers of religion, both ancient and
modern,
have struggled to define religions, including Buddhism. So far, their
efforts
have not been very productive, especially in the case of Buddhism. Most
definitions of religion, often built on conceptual reasoning, have been
inadequate to grasp the vastness, depth, and vitality of Buddhism.
Before we
come to a tentative definition of Buddhism, I would like to reexamine
some
definitions of religion by some of the most respected thinkers and from
some of
the most reliable sources of knowledge in recent history. + Oxford
Dictionary: "Religion: belief in the existence of god or gods who
has/have
created the universe and given man a spiritual nature which continues
to exist
after the death of the body . . . a particular, system of faith and
worship
based on such a belief . . . controlling influence on one’s
life . . .
something one is devoted or committed to."[1] + Thomas
Carlyle, the Scottish essayist and historian (1795 - 1881): "Religion
is
the thing a man does practically to heart and knows for certain,
concerning his
vital relations to this mysterious universe and his duty and destiny
therein."[2] + J. S.
Mill, the English philosopher and economist (1806 - 1873): "The essence
of
religion is the strong and earnest direction of the conditions and
desires towards
an ideal object recognized as of the highest excellence, and as rightly
paramount over all selfish objects of desire."[3]. + Aldous
Huxley, the English novelist (1894 - 1963): "Religion is, among many
other
things, a system of education, by means of which human beings may train
themselves, first to make desirable changes in their own personalities
and, at
one remove, in society, and, in the second place, to heighten
consciousness and
so establish more adequate relations between themselves."[4] + Friedrich Engels, the German
socialist (1820 - 1895):
"Religion is nothing but the fantastic reflection in men's minds of
those
external forces which control their early life."[5] + Sir. Edwin Ray Lankester (1847 -
1929): "Religion
means the knowledge of our destiny and of the means of fulfilling it.
We can
say no more and no less of science."[6] + Alfred North Whitehead, the English
mathematician and
philosopher (1861-1947): "Religion is what the individual does with his
own solitude. If you are never solitary, you are never religious."[7]
There are two trends of thoughts in
the statements above.
In the first, religion is defined as a moral and ethical system that
man can
recognize and understand with his reasoning mind. In the second,
religion is
presented as a miraculous mode of existence requiring man's direct
perception
and reflection. Beside those two trends of thought is a third one,
based purely
on reason. American political philosopher Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)
represented that school, saying at the last moment of his life, "The
world
is my country, mankind are my brotherhood and to do good is my
religion."[8]
Yet another is the case of modern Indian philosophy. Many Indian
philosophers
proclaim that religion is not a series of profound theological
doctrines but an
inner experience derived from man's direct recognition of divinity in
himself. Although these definitions are
different and contradictory,
they share one common ground: the emphasis and embrace of
loving-kindness as
the highest religious value. As Thomas Paine eloquently and succinctly
declared, "To do good is my religion"[9].
B. The Buddhist definition of religion D.T. Suzuki, the well known Japanese
Zen master and
Buddhist scholar, once said, "Buddhism is a religion that refuses to be
objectively defined, for this will be setting a limit to the growth of
its
spirit."[10]
Yet if Buddhism must be defined, we should then first examine what
Buddhism
says about man and his world, at both the conceptual and psychological
levels.
At the conceptual level, according to Buddhism, language and logical
thinking
are useful only to observe and analyze the surface of the human world
and the
universe. They can deal only with the manifestation of physiognomy. At
the
psychological level, however, spiritual experience is an implicit
hermeneutical
structure which transcends the monistic, dualistic, and pluralistic
world and
goes beyond all linguistic formations, because it is invisible and
formless and
belongs to the realm of metaphysics. This does not mean that Buddhism
leads man
into fantasy worlds of "incense mist." Buddhism aims rather to cut
through the logical thinking of man's ego and shows him a way to get in
touch
with the divine nature or the Buddha nature in himself. D. T. Suzuki then put forward his
definition of Buddhism
which, he argued, must be that of the life-force which carries forward
a
spiritual movement called Buddhism.[11]
Suzuki's definition of Buddhism means that, from the Buddhist point of
view,
religion can never be discussed without reference to the spiritual
realm and/or
the inner experience of the individual involved. According to Buddhism,
returning to the primordial essence of man or his true nature does not
mean the
advocacy of egocentrism. On the contrary, in order to take the first
step to
return to the primordial essence of man, man must first and foremost
cast off
completely all the attributes of his ego, namely his infatuated
feelings, solid
attachments, sensuous desires, mental formations such as I, mine, and
myself.
Neither does the return to the inner spiritual experience mean
non-egocentrism.
According to Buddhism, precisely at the moment one gets in touch with
his
divine nature, he establishes in himself an ultimate reality which by
nature is
essential, original, and eternal. That is called tathata (suchness)
or
Buddha nature, which is an everlasting, living stream of present
consciousness.
As a consequence, Buddhism is not a
faith one has to accept
blindly, nor is it a series of sacred principles that are created,
transmitted
to man's soul, and guided by some mysterious power from outside. Its
teachings
show us the path to reach enlightenment through inner individual
experience. In
the Dhammapada, Lord Buddha said, "Like earth, a
balanced and well
disciplined person results not. He is comparable to an Indakhila. Like
a pool
unsullied by mud, is he, to such a balanced one life's wandering do not
arise." Buddhism: One of the modern
world’s most popular religions The famous physicist Albert Einstein
wrote, "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
spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense, arising from the
experience
of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism
answers
this description."[12]
How may Buddhism be understood through this inclusive and thoughtful
statement
of one of the greatest scientists of the twentieth century? A. Buddhism: The religion which
transcends a personal God,
dogmas, and theology and the doctrine of dependent origination and the
doctrine
of cause and effect. In essence, Buddhism is a system of
teachings which show
the way to return to our primordial nature or our true nature. Once
standing on
the ground of our true nature, we recognize the true nature of other
human
existences, as well as other beings around us, a bird, a stone, a
branch of a
tamarind tree. Those are the interdependent relations or the dependent
origination of reality. Simultaneously, with the realization of our
true nature
and that of other beings, we also realize that our volitional actions
create
and shape our destiny. As Lord Buddha said, "Owners of their karma are
the
beings, heirs of their karma, the karma is their womb from which they
are born,
their karma is their friend, their refuge"[13].
In the Dhammapada, Lord Buddha also taught us, "By
oneself alone is
evil done, by oneself alone is evil avoided, by oneself alone is one
purified.
Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one can purify another."[14]
That suggests that the Buddha did not recognize any supernatural power
which
exerts control over human life. In Buddhism, man is the only sentient
being who
commits volitional actions. He has to harvest and accept the
consequences of
those actions, and doing so, he lives his own fate. The doctrine of cause and effect in
Buddhism asserts that
both good karma and bad karma are the end results of man's
psychological and
material actions, and that through the relationship of cause and
effect, man
establishes his own karma with his good and evil actions. It also
affirms that
man has the potential to liberate himself from the life he has created
and
lived with his psychological attitude and actions accumulated in
successive
previous lives, that is the oriented biological causation. As a consequence, the doctrine of
cause and effect awakens
man’s inner power, which makes him himself and transforms him
into his own
creator with responsibilities and obligations. In other words, the
doctrine of
cause and effect liberates man from the ruling power of a personal God,
dogmas,
and theology. Once liberated, man understands that he accepts
responsibility
for the consequences of his own psychological states and volitional
actions and
should not look for salvation outside himself. B. Buddhism: the religion which comprises both
the natural and spiritual and the doctrine of Sunyata. As Buddhism cuts through the natural
world with the light
of dependent origination (paticcasamuppada), it
illuminates the
metaphysical world by spotlighting its emptiness (sunyata).
The
metaphysical world is empty because it does not reside in forms and
sounds and
goes beyond all appearance (the Buddhist terms are nama–rupa,
mentality
and corporeality). Buddhism is in the realm of non-dualism (asunyata-abhava). Buddhism views the process of becoming
(bhava) and
the existence of human beings and nature as the operation of myriad
interconnecting causations and conditions (yakti) in
whose intricate
operation, no single object lives independently of its surrounding,
and/or in
disharmony with its constituents. Of the irrefutable interconnected
condition of the human
and natural world, Buddha said, "No God, no Brahma can be found; / No
matter of this wheel of life; / Just bare phenomena roll; / Dependent
on
Conditions all"[16] In other words, no prime force sets in
motion the operation
of the human and natural world. That is the foundation of the doctrine
of paticcasamuppada-anatta,
which consists of the teachings of non-ego (pudgalanairatmya)
and
non-substantiality of things (dharmanairatmya). It
is also called the
doctrine of Sunyata[17]
or emptiness. As a philosophical concept, sunyata
(emptiness or état
de vacuité) is the nature of original reality or
absolute reality. Man
recognizes and is conscious of sunyata when he
becomes one with absolute
reality. Sunyata, nevertheless, is not the opposite
of substantiality,
like the have-not versus the have or the negative (asat)
versus the
affirmative (sat), nor does it mean a complete
absence of content. In
trying to understand the Buddhist concept of sunyata,
we might turn to
logical reasoning and different sets of opposite categories and
subcategorizes
such as being and non-being to reach a secular, philosophical
definition. That,
however, would entangle us in an endless web of dualistic concepts,
such as
being (bhava) or non-being (abhava),
birth or death, permanence
or impermanence, coming or going, without directly experiencing with
the
original and ultimate reality in this life. Lord Buddha taught us that
not
every phenomenon (dharma) has a true self (svabhava);
it is sarvadharmasunyata
(all is emptiness). Consequently, sunyata and tathata
are the
same. They are omnipresent and everlasting. Let us now consider the concept of sunyata
according
to the Mahayana Buddhist philosophy of Mind-only (prajnatimatra).
Sunyata is the true nature of dharma or existing
substantiality. When
man recognizes the entirety of sunyata, he becomes
enlightened. That
does not negate the existing substantiality or the world of phenomena
but
rather affirms that man or the subject which recognizes and the world
or the
object which is recognized are created and exist in a great number of
cause and
effect systems. They are not independent and self-contained entities.
They are
non-entities. According to the Buddhist philosophy of Mind-only, all
beings
have three natures: temporary nature (parikalpita-svabhava),
dependent
nature (paratantra-svabhava) and absolute nature (parinispanna-svabhava). 1.
Temporary
nature Ordinarily, man tends habitually to
control and possess the
objective world, a result of the idea that the world is made up of
independent
living objects. In reality, though, objects have no intrinsic
attributes. Their
nature is emptiness and non-self, and so-called independent nature men
impose
on the world is actually temporary nature. Temporary nature is formed
in the
process of interaction between man's senses, determined by his physical
and
psychological make up, and the objective world. In Buddhist terms,
man's
physical and psychological make-up is called skandhas (five
aggregates),
ayatana (six spheres of sense organs), and dhatus
(combination of
both mental and physical formations). 2.
Dependent
nature To say that temporary nature is unreal
does not suggest
that things do not actually exist. The key is the process of becoming.
And yet
the process of becoming is made up of the consequences of paticcasamuppada
or
interconnecting causations. Therefore the nature of the process of
becoming is
impermanent, ever changing, and self-annihilating (anitya-uccheda).
Such
a view of the objective world refuses all man's attempts to reduce the
world to
an individual, unique, and self-contained entity. It also rejects the
theories
of chance and coincidence which advocate the simplistic and mechanical
operation of the material world. As a result, to reject the dependent
nature of
the world is to become automatically and inevitably the victim of
nihilism and
to reject reality, which is actually becoming through the operation of
myriad
interconnecting conditions. 3.
Absolute nature Existing beings are tathata
(suchness), because by
nature, they have no temporary natures in themselves, nor do they have
dependent nature in themselves since dependent nature consists of
series of
causes and effects and by nature are non-substantial. That is to say,
they are
empty. As a result, at the level of language and logical thinking, what
we call
the inherent nature of things never really exists. It is non-self or anatta. In summation, of the three natures of
things, temporary
nature shows that by nature the world is empty; dependent nature
illustrates
that man and his world are dependently originated; and absolute nature
asserts
that the tathata essence or nirvana exists in the
physical and
psychological world, not in any other worlds, regardless of how
fantastically
they are imagined. To experience the emptiness of the world, one must
live or
merge with the three natures of the existing world. That is the process
of
living with reality and attaining enlightenment in Buddhist prajnaptimatra
philosophy. Buddhism: the religion for spiritual
and rational wholeness
To practice Buddhism is live by the
motto, "Not to do
evil, to do good, to purify one's mind." The Buddha's enlightenment is
the
end of a spiritual journey full of hardship and deprivation. Supreme
will power
and extraordinary energy transformed Prince Siddhartha from a man of
deep religious
consciousness and wholesome life into a Buddha. Buddha is a sentient
being who
reaches enlightenment and obtains great wisdom. The inner experience of each
individual person leads to the
supreme enlightenment and the moment when supreme wisdom or Bodhicitta
in one person blossoms and radiates to all sentient and natural beings.
Lord
Buddha said that all sentient beings can become Buddha. On the path to
enlightenment, one must light the torch and hold it to light the way
for
himself. In the ocean of samsara (cycles of life),
each one is isolated,
an island; I, Tathagata, is merely a teacher in
principle.[18]
According to Buddhism, religious
consciousness and
individual inner experience are extremely important in man's journey to
enlightenment. They control man's thinking and action in his
relationship with
the outside world. As a result, consciousness or mind always forms the
base of
Buddhist training. Buddha said, "Mind is the forerunner of all evil
conditions. Mind is chief, and they are mind-made. If one speaks or
acts with
an impure mind, then pain follows one even as the wheel, the hoof of
the Ox. .
. . If one speaks or acts with a pure mind, then happiness follows one
even as
the shadow that never leaves"[19]. To follow the Buddhist way of life,
whether cultivating
faith in Buddha or taking refuge in the three jewels, we must have the
right
consciousness, a pure mind. The Buddhist term for that is ehipasiko,
which means "come and recognize." Buddhism does not teach man to
believe in, obey, and worship anything he does not know or cannot
recognize. Ehipasiko
also implies the inner experience of enlightenment known only by the
individual
person himself. In a Buddhist life, not an idol of worship but man is
most
important. Consequently, a real Buddhist must develop for himself a
life of
religious sense and an inner spiritual experience. The combination of
those two
elements ultimately gives rise to the absolute truth or spiritual
value. With
them, one develops the omniscient mind which rises above all delusion
and
defilement. Only then a life force surges from within and radiates
brilliantly
into the world. That inner life-force fearlessly and gladly receives
any
infringements and is hindered by no obstacle. Each step forward on the
path to
the highest perfection is a belittlement of the ego. Nirvana arises in
our
lives only when we reach a totally egoless state. Venerable Tri Duc's statement about
Nirvana is
pertinent: “Nirvana
is something which outrightly rejects the ego. Nirvana is indefinite
and
spaceless. It is very difficult to enter Nirvana because it is formless
(Aristaka). To enter Nirvana, we must also be as formless as Nirvana.
The
entrance to Nirvana is very narrow. It is as thin as hair feather, so
thin that
we cannot go through it, if we still carry our possessions with us, be
it our
body, our concept of the "I" and the "ego". The bigger our
ego becomes, the further we will be away from Nirvana. So it is ruled
that ego
will lead to Samsara; non-ego to Nirvana.”[20] [1]
[2]
Why
Religion?, K. Sri. Dhammananda, The Buddhist Missionary
Society, [3] Ibid, p.06 [4] Ibid, p.06 [5] Ibid, p.07 [6] Ibid, p.07 [7] Ibid, p.07 [8] Essay in Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki, Vol. I, p.08 [9] One should be cautious
about the do-goodism that Thomas Paine advocated here. Not all people
who do
good are religious. Furthermore, doing good does not mean the same
thing to
different nations, peoples and races. Take the issue of
abortion by modern medical devices for instance. It may
mean loving
kindness to some but unkindness to others. [10]Essay in Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki, Vol. I, p. 53. [11] Essay in Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki, Vol. I [12]Talk on "Science and Religion",
Princeton, New
Jersey, [13] Majjhima Nikaya.
135, from Buddhist Dictionary Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines,
Nyanatikola, Frewin & Co. Ltd. Colombo, Ceylon, 1972, p. 77. [14] Dhammapada Sutra [15] Essay in Zen Buddhism, D. T. Suzuki, Vol. I, p. 57. [16] The
Path of Purification, Bhadantacariya Buddha-Gkosa, translated
from the
Pali, [17] One of the main tenets of Mahayana Buddhism, first presented by the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajna-paramita) scriptures (1st cent. B.C. on) and later systematized by the Madhyamika school. Early Buddhist schools of Abhidharma, or scholastic metaphysics, analyzed reality into ultimate entities, or dharmas, arising and ceasing in irreducible moments in time. The Mahayanists reacted against this realistic pluralism by stating that all dharmas are "empty," without self-nature (svabhava) or essence. This was a radical restatement of the central Buddhist teaching of non-self (anatman). (http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia) [18] In Nikaya and Mahayana Sutras. [19]
Dhammapada
Sutra, Narada, Vajirarama, translated from the Pali, [20] Nirvana is Non-self, Thich
Thien Sieu, Buddhist Institute of
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