Remembering Lord Buddha
By P. Gopakumar, The Rising Nepal,
May 4, 2007
Article written in conjunction
with Buddha Purnima (Buddha Day) celebrations in Nepal
Kathmandu, Nepal -- BUDDHISM is a greatly admired
religion in the world. Founded by Gautama Buddha, who believed in
peace, compassion, spirituality, Buddhism helps explain the reasons
for the human predicament and sufferings. It provides practical
solution to mankind to attain salvation from human
sufferings.
According to Buddhism, the individual is the ultimate reality and
human life is bound in a mystical cycle of birth and death.
To Buddhism human sufferings is an integral part of human life. All
men regardless of religion, race, and social status are bonded to
suffering; this is an inescapable truth.
The root cause of human suffering is ignorance.
Ignorance gives rise to desires and attachments. One can attain
freedom from sufferings if he makes a transformation from ignorance
to knowledge. The transformation is possible through moral and
spiritual training.
Buddhism believes that each and every human being irrespective of
race, religion, and social status can attain spiritual
enlightenment or Nirvana in this life. Nirvana is not the freedom
from the cycle of birth and death. It is the emancipation of human
beings from spiritual bondage. Nirvana literally means extinction,
but it does not follow that extinction of life itself - rather it
means extinction of or the liberation from sufferings. Nirvana in
Buddhism is the extinction of desires and attachments rather than
life itself.
Lord Buddha has repeatedly reminded his disciples that the ultimate
goal of life is freedom from the bondage of life rather than life
itself. Therefore, a man seeking nirvana does not cease to be a man
of this world. Rather he understands the world better and lives in
it free from all attachments. There is nothing physically
distinguishable between an ordinary man and an enlightened man,
except that the latter is free from worldly desires and attachments
to life.
According to Buddhism, if a man has to attain spiritual
emancipation, then he has to follow and practice certain moral laws
or dharma. Dharma consists of virtues like compassion or Karma,
absence of greed, self-control, abstinence, friendship and
non-violence. But in the absence of a community or society an
individual would be unable to practice moral virtues like
compassion and friendship.
Today, the world is being divided on the lines of religion, race,
nationality, language, class and ideology. Our world does not lack
resources; we have plenty of land, food and resources for each of
us to sustain ourselves. It is human greed that has prevented an
equitable distribution of this wealth. These disparities have led
to an increase in hatred and animosity between people, communities
and nations. According to the Dharmapada "hatred never
ceases through hatred in this world; through love alone they
cease. This is an eternal law". Thus with a little bit of
sharing and love, we can indeed make this world a better place for
all of us.
In Buddhism, the striving is to awaken insight within oneself,
through one's own efforts. Buddhism advocates tolerances ? to
accept that there are differences in human experiences; that
diversity is part of life, whether in experiences, cultural
backgrounds or religions/faiths. Buddhism is the religion of
compassion, mercy and forgiveness for all forms of life. It does
not preach the superiority of its belief systems over those of
other religions, nor does it believe in any sort of hierarchical
ordering of faith systems; it does not discriminate anyone, least
of all on account of faith or belief. The recognition of diversity
and pluralism and the resulting absence of any coercive or violent
means of proselytizing is the very essence of the humanism of
Buddhism. All life forms are treated as sentient beings of equal
status, possessing innate dignity and potential for achieving
Buddha hood. Remember, we are all brothers and sisters who
eventually share the fruits of all our actions in an increasingly
globalized world community.
Buddhism teaches us to practice behaviors and actions in
everyday life to achieve the goal of true non-violence, love and
collaboration. It is first and foremost practice, not
scholarship. Those who recite sutras faithfully but neglect
engaging in practice may, in fact, betray the true spirit of
Buddhism. All Buddhas of the past practiced in the human realm, and
their greatness showed in their behavioural manifestations.
Throughout many lives, the Buddhas practiced generosity, befriended
all, suffered with all, and worked ceaselessly to alleviate
suffering among all forms of life.
The Sakyamuni Buddha taught a great many sutras and mantras and
practiced then in person for 49 years after enlightenment. He
taught and set the example for kings, ministers, farmers, men,
women and children and people of all faiths. In this way he engaged
in social actions and established the tradition of humanistic
Buddhism to purify people's minds and to help establish a pure
land. All Buddhas were role models in establishing the showcase of
everyday practice of compassion and peaceful collaboration.
In order to emulate Buddha, we should first discover and cultivate
our own Buddha nature, intrinsic dignity and the Bodhi mind, and
the door to our ultimate freedom from worldly suffering. By
discovering and cultivating this boundless treasure and resource,
we can also help all other sentient beings rediscover their
kindness, pure and boundless compassion, joy, equanimity, nobility
and gratitude, all of which they already possess. Several small
steps can be taken to make a beginning to help us find our true
nature. Treasure life, your own and of others; respect nature; show
gratitude; be aware of natural resources; do not be greedy, be
content.
We need to recognize our traditional responses to disorder and
chaos. We tend to punish those individuals who are responsible for
such disorders to serve as a deterrent to further aggravation.
Punishment, however, can produce only temporary results. To
transform violence to harmony, jealousy to praise, greed to
generosity and impurities to purities, we must not only rely on
negative and reactive punishments. We must promote in a proactive
manner, mutual understandings and respect, compassion,
collaboration and honest transaction among all people.
