Akalika :Timelessness of Buddha's Message
The teachings of the Lord Buddha is perfect in its beginning,
perfect in the middle and perfect in its ending, in theory and in
practice .
Summarising the essence of all spiritual intelligence from its
earliest period , the Buddha taught the threefold training
principle of avoiding evil, doing good, and purifying the mind.
This principles translates into practice as the Moral Precepts
,Mental Discipline and Cultivation of Wisdom -the practice of
Tisikkha (The Threefold training) .This is the doctrine of for all
Buddhists everywhere, regardless of their school or order.
Following this principle ,Buddhist from different countries and
cultural upbringing share a common way of life. When they meet each
other they feel as if they found their long lost friends .The
perfect principle expounded by the Lord Buddha reveals the Truth of
life- a goal for everyone to pursue.
The present situation of the world makes some people feel that the
world of the past is totally different from the present one, and
that the future one will be yet again different from today's
.
Consequently, they believe that it is necessary for us to adapt to
these changing conditions .However, if we understand the true
teachings of the Lord Buddha, we will find the answers to our
present problems without much difficulty.Problems in the past,
present and future have the same nature even though they seem to be
different in their characteristics.The roots of problems remain the
same, but their manifestations may differ. For example, in the
past
when people went to the war, they killed their enemies with their
swords and spears but not they use guns ,bombs and nuclear
missiles.
Aggression of man is still the root problem but the magnitude of
the disasters has increased.In contrast,we have the timeless
virtues of compassion, generosity, and the right view of the Four
Noble Truths.
For these reasons, the role of Buddhism in the present and in the
future will not change fundamentally. The scope of propagation may
need to be magnified in the future , but this will not change basic
Buddhist philosophy and principles.
The Buddhist path is always open for use in society.For lay people,
the minimum requirement is the practice of the Five Precepts
These practices are unchanging and will always lead ot the
cessation of all sufferings,yield peace in the present life and in
the next.
Hence ,the Lord Buddha's message is timeless - Akalika .The social
situations in the future,however, may change the ways in which
Buddhist virtues are best applied to help society. Only those who
correctly understands the fundamentals of Buddhist virtues together
with the their relevance to our world today, will be able to bring
any real benefit to mankind in the future.This is the message I
would like to impress on you on this vesak day
From The Bhante Desk ,Padipa ,newsletter of the Buddhist
Library
May 1995
This will be posted on my new blogs ,so do come and view it
With Sincerity,
Bohiruci
[b]"Only those who correctly understand the
fundamentals of Buddhist virtues together with their relevance to
our world today, will be able to bring any
real benefit to mankind in the future ."[/b]