Dhammananda_Is_Buddhism_Practical_Today.pdf

IS BUDDHISM PRACTICAL TODAY?

(A talk given by K Sri Dhammananda

at the University of Malaya)

If we can understand the true nature of the “Buddha Dhamma,” we need never ask if

Buddhism is a practical religion. The word Buddhism can be interpreted in various ways.

It is true that in the name of Buddhism there are many beliefs and practices, by people in

many parts of the world, depending upon geographical and social conditions and these

practices may not be meaningful to some intellectuals and critics of Buddhism because

Buddhist practices vary and differ vastly from place to place. This is because many

practices were introduced from time to time by followers of the Buddha in order to

explain certain difficult aspects of the Teachings and to get the masses to conform to

certain modes of behaviour. On a very broad general base, this meant of course that

there is no strict uniformity in the general practice of Buddhism all over the world and

what may seem meaningful in one cultural context (e.g. the Chinese) may seem

meaningless in another, say an Indian or Western context. Many of these practices have

their origins in the remote history of a community of people and are relevant to these

people only. Buddhism, as a supremely tolerant religion does not contend that there is

only one way to practice Buddhism and it does not encourage meaningful traditions.

However, the Buddha himself did not encourage people to follow any traditional

practices if such a practice was meaningless. On the other hand, if by Buddhism is

meant the “Dhamma” which teaches man how to live righteous or noble way of life, then

it is practical, at any time in any part of the world. Hence as Buddhists we are not

concerned so much with external physical show, as we are in the essence of a deeply

spiritual attitude which controls our behaviour as individuals and as a community.

MISCONCEPTIONS

The truth that the Buddha revealed as the ”Dhamma” remains forever as Truth.

Therefore there is nothing in the noble teachings of the Buddha, which we can call

impractical or requiring change to many discourses taught by the Buddha which many

people cannot understand properly. So different people tried to explain them in their own

way, leading to a wide variety of interpretations. Hence, we should not say that

Buddhism is not practical today simply because misconceptions about the Teachings

exist. Such misconceptions were created by ignorance and confusion. Our way of life in

modern society is such that we are bound to experience some difficulties when we want

to observe certain noble religious principles. With our misunderstanding of the

Teachings and our inability to make them relevant to the complexity of modern society

we are tempted to say that Buddhism is not practical today. The Buddha was aware of

these two problems, and He did not demand that we follow Him blindly, simply out of

faith. Rather, He encouraged us to question and investigate until we get the correct

answer to our questions. He knew that when the truth is realized there will be nothing left

for us to doubt. We can then develop our confidence by using our common sense and

intelligence and understanding. We can apperciate what the Buddha really taught us as

Buddhism only after intelligent investigation and questioning, and not by criticizing

without understanding.

REMEDIES TO HUMAN WEAKNESSES

If someone says that the Buddha’s Teachings are impractical, that does not mean there

is anything wrong with His Teaching. Rather it is possible that something is wrong

somewhere in one’s mind, in one’s way of life. It would appear that one has strayed from

the religious way of life – of morality of discipline in order to indulge in worldly pleasures

and therefore such a person feels that Buddhist religious principles are not practical.

Religious principles are very different from one’s uncultured personal habits. Just

because these religious principles do not condone undisciplined behaviour, they cannot

be described as impractical. If certain demands are not made to control the mind, the

senses to produce a noble being, these demands should not be deemed impractical. If

you are very sick and a doctor gives you certain very bitter medicines, you cannot

assume that the medicine is not effective. The doctor prescribed the medicine according

to the nature of your sickness. Similarly, when the Buddha introduced religious

principles, He realized that there were different types of people with different mentalities,

characteristics, temperaments, ways of thinking and human weaknesses. Therefore, we

should regard these principles as medicine, remedies to cope with human weaknesses

and frailties. It is not conducive or appealing to the mind when it comes to practising

these principles. Why? When you come to practice them, you have to adopt certain

discipline and in so doing, you may feel that there is no “fun”. Many people feel they

must have some “fun” in whatever they are doing – whether it is in the name of religion

or something else. Because religion will not provide the kind of sensual pleasures that

they are craving for, they prefer to keep away from religion and designate themselves as

free-thinkers. This is a lame excuse. Instead of admitting their own weaknesses they put

the blame on religion, calling it impractical, out-of-date and irrelevant to modern society.

In my opinion, real free-thinkers are only found in mental asylums. These are the people

who do anything and everything whenever they like. They follow their own whims and

care nothing for the needs of society. That is the reason why these “free-thinkers” are

kept in restricted areas. People who claim to be free-thinkers are in fact running away

from reality. They are not prepared to take a firm stand on any issue, choosing to follow

anything which seems convenient to them at any particular time. As far as Buddhism is

concerned, these people must understand that Buddhism is a way of life, encompassing

many disciplines such as devotion and intellectualism. When we bring all these

component parts together under one banner, we classify them as Buddhism, one of the

great religions of the world.

COME AND SEE

The word “Dhamma” can have so many meanings, such as justice, righteousness,

natural phenomena, a noble life, salvation or liberation and other characteristics.

Therefore this is a word which we can explain in various ways. The Buddha introduced

the “Dhamma” for us to practise but not to believe blindly. The followers of certain

religions, other than Buddhism, when asked for the reasons why certain religious

practices and beliefs have been carried out by their religious denominations, answer

candidly that their practices and beliefs were described in their holy books. They say

they had been taught by their religious teachings and their parents to believe without

question whatever is found in their holy books and in accordance with traditions.

The Buddha said of His Teaching: “Ehi-Passiko” which means “Come and See”. He

never ordered anyone to come and believe, or to come and accept. That is how He

introduced His teachings from the very beginning. Come and see, then investigate. Use

your common sense and intelligence. Don’t think that you have no thinking power to

reason out things. Don’t just accept the words of religious teachers thinking that they are

great men, and must therefore be automatically right. It is not advisable to accept any

religious principles including those written in holy books, if you cannot appreciate or

understand the religious values and meanings behind them. You must use your common

sense. The Buddha has given due credit to man’s intelligence and his ability to use that

intelligence, to think freely without depending solely on religious teachers or religious

books.

IS THERE ANYTHING TO CHANGE?

When you have independently and intelligently decided for yourself whether something

is good or bad, whether there is truth in it or not, whether there is reality or not, then only

should you accept it. Otherwise, old beliefs will remain as mere beliefs, which you have

accepted without proper understanding. Realization - this is the nature of Buddhism and

this kind of Buddhism is practical at any time. You cannot change the basic principles of

the Buddha according to your worldly needs. Although the Buddha introduced these

principles more than 2,500 years ago, can anyone single out anything in the Buddha’s

“Dhamma,” which is impractical, or where there is no reality? He advised us to cultivate

our morality, by observing certain good principles or virtues. We have to practise this

religion by cultivating our moral behaviour. What is morality? We should not define this

word very loosely because there are so many laws introduced by man as moral or

ethical, but man-made morals or ethics are changeable according to man’s convenience.

They are changeable according to the period of time and society. Certain manners and

morals are not suitable in certain countries and societies. Different people find different

things immoral. But when you examine the moral code introduced by the Buddha you

can understand why they remain unchangeable and relevant for all time. They are

natural moral laws, universally accepted because they have prescribed through a deep

understanding of humanity. If we lead a harmless life, as honest, sincere, kind and

understanding persons without disturbing or hurting others, if we cultivate certain virtues

such as patience, tolerance, kindness, compassion, understanding, then this is equated

with the Buddha’s morality. Is there anything for you to change in this type of morality

introduced by the Buddha? He has said, “The Dhamma I have revealed to you will exist

forever in this universe. Therefore it is not a new Dhamma, or new teachings. The

Dhamma exists now and forever.” The Buddha did not claim to have created these

universal laws. He merely understood them in their totality and explained them to

humanity as the “Dhamma” as other Buddhas before Him had done. What is Dhamma?

“Dhamma” is the universal law or the cosmic law. This universal law exists forever but

due to our ignorance, we are unable to understand it and to live in accordance with it.

The “Dhamma” exists, religion exists even if through ignorance we deny such an

existence. Here in this universe, many things exists which are very useful to mankind,

but they have yet to be discovered very little, they have only discovered a tiny part of this

universe. The Buddha, however has discovered and realised the existence of natural

phenomena, the nature of matter, the nature of the mind, the nature of energy. He

explained to us how these things exist, how these things disappear and how these

things reappear. This is the nature of the teachings of the Buddha. He revealed to us the

nature of the Four Noble Truths.

FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS

They are:-

‘the Noble Truth of Suffering or unsatisfactoriness;

the Noble Truth of the Cure of Suffering;

the Noble Truth of the Path which leads to the End of Suffering.

There are many other truths, but the realization of such truths are not comparable to the

realization of truths revealed by the Buddha because only through them can we become

enlightened. Finally, through a realization of these truths we can see the end of our

physical and mental suffering or unsatisfactoriness. This is the aim of Buddhism. Here in

this world we can always find suffering and unsatisfactoriness in everything. This

unsatisfactoriness is characterized by conflict, separation, physical and mental pain,

clashes and disappointment. That is the nature of the First Truth. Can anyone claim

there is any living being to whom this truth does not apply? The Second Truth is the

cause of suffering and unsatisfactoriness? What is the cause of suffering and

unsatisfactoriness? Many religious teachers have not discovered this cause. They

thought that the cause is external but the Buddha realised that the cause is not

elsewhere but within us. We are responsible. We have created all these causes. The

cause is here, within us – our strong attachment, our craving towards wordly pleasures

and craving for existence. These are the causes. You cannot find any other cause for all

these human sufferings. We do wrong things either for our living or for our sensual

gratification. This cannot be denied. Then how can we blame external “causes for our

pain and suffering? How can we say Buddhism is not practical when it alone identifies

the causes of pain and suffering and suggests a way out of human misery?

WHAT IS RELIGION?

If there is a practical method for human beings to realize the truth about their existence,

by gaining knowledge, wisdom and enlightenment, by leading a noble life, and by

eradicating suffering, that method is deemed a “religion”. That is the definition given by

the Buddha to this word Religion. Therefore religion can be described as a path or

method for us to eradicate our suffering. This path is called the Noble Eightfold Path.

There are many things for us to do all the time. We are encouraged to do good and

avoid evil all the time. That is why the method is called the Noble Path because it raises

man to a higher level of existence. First, you must try to gain Right Understanding.

Right Understanding means : understanding the nature of the Four Noble Truths.

Whatever you do, whether it is in the name of religion or otherwise, you must first know

how to develop right understanding. If that right understanding is not there you cannot

reach the final goal. When the Buddha started His mission to tell us how to find out a

solution to end suffering. He introduced right understanding. He had never advised

anyone to believe first without right understanding. You have a mind to think but you are

wasting your mental energy with unnecessary thoughts. If you can conserve your mental

energy without wasting it on unnecessary thoughts you can use this energy to serve

others, to cultivate yourself, to gain more knowledge, more wisdom and to understand

how to overcome many problems which you are facing today. We are generally

unsuccessful because we waste so much valuable energy on unnecessary things.

the Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering;

Right Thought means: using your mental energy and diverting it to prevent certain

harmful thoughts. You must understand the nature of your mind. Everyone tries to

understand the nature of your mind. Everyone tries to understand the nature of the

minds of others but few ever try to understand the nature of their own minds. There are

so many bad elements in our mind. These bad elements create enormous troubles,

mistakes and worries to others and as well as to ourselves. Try to control them, try to

suppress them or better still, replace them with wholesome thoughts and only then can

you eradicate these defilements. That is the way to think properly, that is the way to

utilise your thinking powers to achieve success. When we have learned to control and

focus our mental energy, we can even laugh at problems because we have so much

strength to overcome them. No one can topple us, no one can irritate or disturb us,

because we are very energetic and we have no fear. We develop self-confidence to face

any problems, mental or physical. That is why we should conserve our mental energy by

using Right Thought to eradicate hatred and cultivate loving-kindness. Cultivate right

thoughts to develop detachment, so that we can assess each problem objectively

without wasting our precious energy on emotional excesses.

Right Speech . The words we utter sometimes hurt others. We create difficulties

by using thoughtless words. Therefore, before we convert out thoughts into words, we

must know how to guard our tongue. We must have knowledge and awareness to guard

against using words irresponsibly. We must think twice before we utter certain words.

We must weigh them as to whether they are bad, harsh or useless words. The wrong

use of words will create a very bad impression.

Right Action . We should try, not to be selfish, and think only about our own

welfare. We have to think about the welfare of others also. If our actions are wrong,

painful, hurting or damaging to others, we must try to avoid them. Our actions must be

useful to us as well as others. Some actions are useful to us but not to others, some are

useful to others but not to us. The Buddha said, “Be wise”. We can help others, but at

the same time, we have to look after ourselves mindfully. Don’t act foolishly, act wisely.”

See that our actions bring benefits to all concerned. There should be no violation of the

Five moral principles or Precepts introduced by the Buddha.

Right Livelihood . We have to earn a living to sustain our lives. We either work or

conduct some business. Whatever we do must be in accordance with our conscience.

There are people who do business by swindling , cheating or hurting others. Such

people can become rich by adopting such methods but is it a respectable way of life? It

is not. In whatever we do, we must be reasonable, decent and just. In whatever methods

we adopt for our livelihood, we should avoid that which involves the killing of living

beings, trafficking in human beings, the sale of intoxicants, poison, dangerous drugs and

lethal weapons.

Right effort . We should use our physical or mental energy wisely. It should be of

service to others by way of cultural, spiritual and religious development, we should train

our minds to be good, honest, kind and just. We must harness our mental energy to

cultivate good thoughts and to avoid all evil.

Right mindfulness. Whatever we do, our minds must always be alert, whenever

we talk, our minds must be on guard. We must not allow our minds to be distracted.

Whenever we want to do something we must do it mindfully by being completely aware

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