Buddhism seems to appeal
to logic rather than the emotions. It says that all born beings are subject
to rebirth and if we are to escape this cycle we must do so by our own
efforts. To accomplish this it is necessary io indulge in right will, right
thought and right action while avoiding greed, anger and illusion. To attain
enlightenment we should adopt a stoic attitude toward the vicissitudes
of life and still the mind. Taoism concurs with this when it observes that
a cup is only useful when it is empty, meaning that the vessel of the mind
should be cleansed of the inferior liquid of anxiety and reminiscence so
that it may be filled with the superior liquid from the soul.
This advice is a very
tall order and it is doubtful if the beginners could achieve enlightenment
in 0ne lifetime by their own efforts, unless they had been on the path
in former lives. It must be a rare thing for an adolescent or young adult
to take this path, unless, of course, they had trod it. In eastern Asia
young people do spend a year or so as monks but it is doubtful if many
of them want to make it their life's ambition.
Buddhism is atheistic
in its outlook and does not grovel before some humanistic deity but believes
that our fates are determined by an impersonal Karmic law which means roughly
debt and credit. Whatever we do, good or bad, is returned to us in like
measure, here or hereafter, a little at a time or in large lumps. Unlike
a bank account good Karma does not cancel out bad Karma and the former
also binds us to the wheel of rebirth. A soul with no Kama could not exist
in the flesh.
Animated life must prey
upon other life to continue as a physical being and owes a debt to those
life forms which it devours, the higher the life form the greater the debt,
so the true Buddhist is a vegetarian because this incurs the least debt.
According to Buddhist principles we should not resist evil from without
but try to avoid it, to illustrate. Japanese monks were often attacked
by brigands while travelling abroad so they invented Ju-Jitsu which enabled
them to defeat an antagonist by using the aggressors own force.
It is not known whether
Gautama Buddha gave precise instructions as to the method of stilling the
mind. Some monks use koans which are problems with impossible solutions,
other meditate on slow body movemenls. The Zen school is said to be the
quickest and toughest way to enlightenment. One of its teachers is quoted
as saying "If the Buddha stands in your way, kill the Buddha." Its students
are tapped sharply on the back if they are thought to be falling asleep
at meditation.
Nirvana, which means
extinction, and is the goal of those seeking enlightenment is enigmatic.
Gautama said that existence ceases in that state yet consciousness continues.
It is like the dew drop falling into the ocean but to the dew drop it is
though the ocean were falling into it. Possibly he meant that the soul
no longer manifests itself within time and space. If we believe in God
we could say that the soul becomes God, it knows all that exists but has
no interest in it. The 'Baghavad Gita' a Hindu scripture has God saying:
"I am indifferent to all born beings, but those who worship me, dwell in
me and I in them." Gautama must have learned his method of meditation from
a Hindu, it is doubtful if he could have become enlightened by the mere
contemplation of suffering. I am told that in the early stages of meditation
the mind behaves like a spoiled child, but with years of practice the mind
is finally stilled and after this is never happy until it is in meditation
for what it finds there makes all the pleasures of this world seem like
garbage.
People of Christian,
Islamic and Judaic cultures who see the great temples and giant statues
representing the Buddha often think the Buddhists are idol worshippers
at first encounter, but it is a human tendency to glorify notable personages.
Over the years religions and philosophies tend to degenerate and we find
the believers inventing complicated ceremonies, putting out prayer flags
and indulging in all kinds of superstitious clap-trap.
"By their fruits you
shall know them" says the Bible. It must be said that there has never been
a war fought on behalf of Buddhism and the Buddhists have always been tolerant
of people of other persuasions. I read once that Buddhist monks once helped
a missionary to build his church.
No one can give a credible
reason for the existence of creation, perhaps the explanation is beyond
the compass of mind. After all we have no idea why light reaches us at
the same speed no matter in which direction we travel.
Mr. E. Griffin is a
Londoner who has settled in Wales. He is self-taught and has been searching
for the truth all his life. Buddhism has a special fascination for him
and he believes in Karman.
- Editor
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