[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
in the Third World, where most of the world s population
lives. Large numbers of people, who have seen through
the mirage of technological progress and global capital-
ism, realize that this system is unsustainable, indeed that
it is ultimately harmful for its beneficiaries as much as for
its manifest victims. In many quarters grass-roots or-
ganizations, counter-culture movements, and alternative
think-tanks the search is on for a way to preserve this
planet in the new century. To such people Buddhism offers
a message which is at once lofty and sublime yet capable
of addressing in lucid terms the hard realities of social and
economic life. It is the responsibility of the Buddhist com-
munity to sound that message, in its spiritual heights and
earthly applications, for the benefit of all living beings.
57
The Changing Face of Buddhism
An earlier version of this paper was published in the Millennium Supplement of
The Island newspaper, 1 January 2000.
On those rare occasions when I visit an urban Buddhist
temple here in Sri Lanka, I am repeatedly struck by the
stark observation that almost all the devotees present are
middle aged or elderly people, perhaps accompanied by
their grandchildren. In the viharas of our towns and cit-
ies young people, and even adults in the prime of life, are
most conspicuous by their absence. For a country where
seventy percent of the population is counted as Buddhist,
such an uneven turnout at religious functions is ominous.
For Buddhism to continue from one generation to the next,
the flame of religious faith must be transmitted across the
gap of generations. If, however, it is indeed these invis-
ible young people who hold the future of the Sàsana in
their hands, then that future does not seem very bright.
Their absence is perhaps a warning that the message of
the Dhamma is not hitting home, that its representatives
are failing to translate its principles into a language that
speaks to those most in need of its guidance. Should this
trend continue, in a few more generations Buddhism may
become just a relic of Sri Lanka s ancient heritage: beautiful
to look upon but as lifeless as the ruins at Anuradhapura.
58
Outwardly, symbols of Sri Lanka s Buddhist legacy
can be seen everywhere in this land. Monks still play
prominent roles at public functions; gigantic Buddha im-
ages stare down at us from the hilltops; in most towns a
steady stream of pirit chanting blares out twice daily from
the loudspeakers. Paradoxically, however, these outward
emblems of Buddhist piety coexist in an uneasy tension
with a malignant spiritual disease whose symptoms have
spread across all strata of Sri Lankan society. A bitter
internecine war drags on interminably, with a brutalizing
impact on the whole country. Strikes are commonplace
in our essential services, holding the poor and helpless
hostage. Murder, theft, rape, drug-trafficking, the sexual
exploitation of children all have become so widespread
that even the most gruesome criminal act barely pricks
our sense of moral outrage. Alcohol, drug use, and suicide
are the most common escape routes, especially for the
poor, but their popularity is hardly a sign that Buddhism
is thriving.
If Buddhism is failing to penetrate deep into the
hearts of those who profess it as their faith, we have to
ask ourselves why, and to ask what can be done to reverse
present trends. I would like to approach these questions
by first asking what role Buddhism is intended to play in
our lives in the first place. I will deal with this question
by distinguishing two aspects of Buddhism both stem-
ming from the Buddha s original teaching. I shall call
59
these the liberative and the accommodative strands of the
Dhamma.
The liberative strand, the essential and unique discov-
ery of the Buddha, is the message of a direct way to libera-
tion from suffering. This strand begins with the realization
that suffering originates within ourselves, from our own
greed, hatred, and ignorance, above all from our drive to
establish a sense of separate selfhood that pits us against
all other living forms. The Buddha s radical solution to the
problem of suffering is the demolition of the self-delusion
in its entirety. This issues in an utterly new mode of being
that the Buddha called Nibbàna, the extinguishing of
the fire of lust, the going out of the ego-consciousness with
its flames of selfish craving.
The attainment of this goal, however, requires a price
far higher than most people can pay: a strict discipline of
contemplation grounded upon a radical ethic of restraint.
Thus, being a skilful teacher, the Buddha modulated his
teaching by including another dimension suitable for
those unable to walk the steep road of renunciation. This
is the accommodative strand of the Dhamma: a path of
gradual transformation, extending over many lives, ful-
filled by training in meritorious deeds and developing the
virtues needed as a foundation for the ultimate attainment
of Nibbàna. This strand of Dhamma, it must be empha-
sized, is not merely an expedient device, a beautiful fable
invented by the Buddha as a means of offering consolation
60
or of inculcating moral virtues. It is, rather, an integral as-
pect of the original teaching stemming from the Buddha s
own vision into the multiple dimensions of sentient ex-
istence and the prospects for transmigration within the
round of rebirths. But the function of this teaching within
his system of training is provisional rather than ultimate,
mundane rather than transcendent.
I call this dimension of Buddhism accommodative
for two reasons: first, because it accommodates the doc-
trine of deliverance to the capacities and needs of those
unable to follow the austere path of meditation prescribed
as the direct route to Nibbàna; and second because it
helps to accommodate Buddhist followers within samsara
while offering salutary guidance to protect them from the
more intense forms of worldly suffering, especially from
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]