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By
Dhamma Rakkhita Bhikkhu
IMAP, M.A. Final Year Buddhist Studies.
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How
spectacular this sphere is! Affluent with fruitful woods, corns, grains, ferrule
thicket haired, girt with rivers, streams, deserts and many others are lavishly
magnificent and graceful gift of Mother Nature. Being overwhelmed with
fascinating beauty of nature, poets compose poems, speculative ones imagine
inexpressible waves of effusion, beloved ones being engrossed in erotic affairs
fancy of imaginary world. This is the way variegated world goes on.
Man has no greater principle than
having loving-kindness (metta) and compassion (karuṇa) for others. One
slays another very easily but loving-kindness and compassion are not an easy
task and not a child’s play. And that is what mostly today witnessed occurring
in our surroundings.[i] As the fire cannot
be put out by weapon, thus hatred can never be conquered by hatred. Aversion
can only be discontinued by loving-kindness and affection (ādara). So
loving-kindness and compassion which are positive qualities in man are
essential for a peaceful world expected by peace-loving and scrupulous people.
The Buddha’s sublime teachings
found numerous disciples and appealed to many men all over the world. He stood
for peace, compassion for all beings and against animal sacrifice.[ii] For him all religions professed freedom and friendship to
co-exist. He was against was. Pity! His disciple the great emperor Asoka who
caused a huge destruction of millions of lives and even his hundreds of
step-brothers could not flee to be slain from his cruel sword. He won a war but
finally he realized that blood shading can never bring about peace and
happiness, even though victory is achieved over a country. It causes only a
plight made up of disaster, distress, misery, unhappiness, brawl, malignancy,
aversion and so on. But spite cannot be ravaged. Only through loving-kindness
for all the beings grudge can be brought to an end. Having realized the reality
he went back to his spiritual master, banned war, promoted peace, permitted
religious pluralism and the right of everyone to his creed of happiness and
development.
Of him H.G.
Wells wrote:
For
eight-and-twenty year’s great king Asoka worked sanely for the real needs of
men. Amidst the tens of thousands of names of monarchs that crowd the columns
of history, their majesties and graciousness and serenities and royal highnesses
and the like, the name of Asoka shines, and shines almost alone, a star. From
the Volga to Japan China ,
Tibet , and even India
What was the Asoka’s dhamma?
He recognized the sanctity of life and condemned the slaughter of animals,
whether as sacrifices or otherwise. At one time he said a large number of
animals, killed in his kitchen for food for his household, but he had reduced
the number of only two peacocks and one dear, and these were killed everyday.
He further declared even these would not be killed in the future. He wanted the
people to cultivate moral virtues, such as the observance of truth, restraint,
kindness, charity, purity, gentleness, respect, obeisance to one’s elders and
teachers liberally to friends, kinsmen, acquaintances and even servants and
slaves, as advocated in a famous pāli sutta, the sigalovāda sutta of the dīganikāya.[iv] He was completely
converted to the Buddhist ideas of kindness and peace to all created beings.
In spite of
that people are engaged with hatred, barbarous massacre, world politics etc.
disfiguring the value and purity of his won life. Rage (dosa) is the
most perilous foe of man. People sometimes commit wicked and unwholesome deeds
being overwhelmed with this rage. It is said to have no beast in the forest as
fierce and formidable as man. Concerning it an Iranian poet “Nizami” once
quoted, “The being called human in the world is much more ferocious and
terrific than the beast like leopard and bear. Certain people with amicable
manner living in our society always seek the ways to harm others for their won
gain but fearful fatal beast never pretends to be friendly among us to cause
damage.
V.R. Krishna Iyer, said that, In my
view, the finest man on earth ever born was Lord Buddha, a prince who abandoned
his Kingdom seeing the suffering of his subjects, sought peace, truth and
happiness for their fellowship.[v]
Of him Swami Vivekananda wrote:
The prophets of the world, with
this single exception, may be divided into two sets, one set holding that they
are incarnations of God come down to earth, and the other holding that they are
only the messengers from God; and both draw their impetus for working from
outside, however highly spiritual maybe the language they use. But Buddha is
the only prophet who said, “I do not care to know your various theories about
God. What is the use of discussing all the subtle doctrines about the soul? Do
good and be good. And this will take you to freedom and to whatever truth there
is.” He was, in the conduct of his life, absolutely without personal motives;
and what man worked more than he?[vi]
The Buddha directed
the erroneous and deluded people towards the right path of wisdom showing them
the true realities of life by his words of compassion and loving-kindness. But
having forgotten his principles of loving-kindness, people in the modernized
world started engaging in inhumane and brutal acts. Inhumanity is entirely
occupying us. As a result of that today people are engrossed in creating new
killing-weapons. The first atomic bomb burst in the sky over Hiroshima
“The flame of peace” was built in 1964 as 10,000 observers offered
their silent prayers for peace. It is said that the flame will burn until the entire
world if free from nuclear weapons.[viii] On the other hand self-seeking one is holding a mask like “message
of peace” to get his sake done (evil motivation). Therefore today what is the
most vital in this merciless, ruthless, aggressive and grudging world are the
teachings of the awakened one. Once he remarked ardently:
It means in this world hatred never ceases by hatred it
ceases by love alone. This is en eternal law.
The essence of what the Buddha
taught throughout his entire life for 45 years sums up in a verse that contains
a message of peace through one’s own action. He uttered thus:
sabba pāpassa akaraṇaṁ--- kusalassa upasampadā
The meaning, “Not
to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind, - this is the teachings
of the Buddha’s”.
In this verse all his
sayings about the peace, the word “nibbāna” mean “Supreme-peace” so
Buddha’s whole teachings are nibbānic dhamma. He laid down five
precepts for human all for peace, the four noble truth, eight fold path,
dependent origination and his Tipitakas as (sutta) Discourse, (vinaya)
Discipline and (abhidhamma) Buddhist psychology & philosophy all
teachings for peace. The Buddha sacrificed his princedom to share suffering of all Creation. He
was only the person who had fully compassion, loving-kindness, sympathetic joy
and equanimity. He spent his entire life for all living beings as for their
peace.
The Buddha and Swami
Vivekananda reincarnated to evolve operation confluence of materialism and
spirituality. The immortal words of Vivekananda by which he describes Buddha as
the highest ideal of Karma-Yogi: Let me tell you a few words about one man who
actually carried this teaching of Karma-Yogi into practice. That man is Buddha.
He is the one man who ever carried this into perfect practice. All the prophets
in the world, except Buddha, had external motives to move them to unselfish
action. Show me in history one character who has soared so high above all.
The whole human race has
produced but one such character, such high philosophy, such wide sympathy, yet
had the deepest sympathy for the lowest animals, and never put forth any claims
for himself. He is the ideal Karma-Yogi, acting entirely without motive, and
the history of humanity shows him to have been the greatest man ever born;
beyond compare the greatest combination of heart and brain that ever existed,
the greatest soul power that has ever been manifested. Buddha is the first
great reformer the world has seen. Buddhism is now under eclipse, violence,
alas, is rampant. The world needs a dynamic new Buddha.[xi]
The eminent poet laureate in Bengali literature-Rabindranath Tagore once
composed:
“Shanta he, Mukta he, he Ananta Punya,
Herein, the meaning can be
understood like this, his address to peace, liberation and boundless merits
serves in keeping the sanctity of the world, which is being stained and
stigmatized.
“If the term Religion is meant to
be a way towards the emancipation from enormous sufferings of worldly life and
a path to the perfection of life, then the philosophy of Buddhism reaches the
climax of it,”- the remarkable quote of the century prominent scientist Albert
Einstein, the Buddha and his teachings is very much striking.[xiii]
“Ciraṁ tiṭṭhatu Buddha Sāsanaṁ”
Referances:
[i] Nonviolence: An Introduction. Thomas Weber
and Robert J. Burrowes,
www.nonviolenceinternational.net/seasia/whatis/book.php -Thomas Weber and Robert J. Burr
[ii] Bodhi, Bhikkhu (2005a). In the
Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon. Somerville , MA
[iii] P.V.
Bapat, 2500 Years of Buddhism. The publication Division
Ministry of information and
broadcasting Government of India: 1956. Pp.56-80.
[xii] Rabindranath Tagore, (বুদ্ধজন্মোত্সব -Buddhajonmotshob) Buddha Birthday Celebration. http://tagoreweb.in/Render/ShowContent.aspx?ct=Verses&bi=FF66344F-BF40-405F-A85B-407E73D94158&ti=FF66344F-BF40-47CF-F85B-407E73D94158
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