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Buddhist Spirituality and Interfaith Dialogue

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Buddhist Spirituality and Interfaith Dialogue Buddhist Spirituality and Interfaith Dialogue Dr.Veerachart Nimanong Director of Philosophy and Religion Programs, Graduate Programs in Philosophy and Religion, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Assumption University of Thailand (ABAC) Abstract In this paper, my attempt is to discuss about the Buddhist spirituality in connection with interfaith dialogue. If no concept of ‘spirit’ is in Buddhism, then how can there be the Buddhist spirituality. If the spirituality means the way of religious life, then there is the Buddhist spirituality. To have the Buddhist spirit or real Buddhist is to observe the morality and practice Insight Meditation. The real followers of any religions can associate with any other religious followers. This is because all religions teach people to be good by having co-existence with others peacefully. To do dialogue with others is to live with each peacefully, to do social services together with other religious followers, to study the teaching of other religions, and to observe the way of religious practices of other religious followers. Keywords : Spirituality, Buddhist Spirituality, Interfaith Dialogue Introduction What is Buddhism ? Buddhism is the English term for the teaching of the Buddha or the religion found by him. In its original name it is known as dhamma-Vinaya or Buddha-Sasana in Thailand. Actually, the word ‘Buddha’ is not his name, but it is a title, meaning the Enlightened One or the Awekened One; the bearer of Nibbana, the highest goal in Buddhism. His disciple and people called him ‘Buddha’, when he attained or discovered the Four Noble Truths. The Buddha’s personal name was Siddhattha and his clan name was Godtama. Thus he was sometimes called Siddhattha Gotama or Gotame Buddha. He was born as a prince of the Sakyan kingdom in North India in 623 B.C., at present that city is known as Nepal. As a prince, he led the happy life and married princess 10. Buddhist Spiritual (Dr.Veerachart 162-178).indd 162 24/2/2560 16:12:29 Buddhist Spirituality and Interfaith Dialogue 163 Yasodhara, who born him a son named Rahula, who later became a novice and attained Nibbana. When the Buddha was known as Siddhattha at the age of twenty-nine, he left the worldly life even his wife and son, wandering as an ascetic, for the purpose of finding some way of extinction of suffering in his life and fellow-beings. After six years of his experiment, he realized that asceticism did not lead to wisdom, he then decided to go on his own way, which is the Middle Way by applying the reflective thought of conscious meditation. He finally attained the Enlightenment of the `Four Noble Truths’ (caturariyasacca), which are nothing but the doctrine of `Dependent Origination’ (paticcasamuppada), in other words known as the `Three Common Characteristics’ (tilakkhana). In short, it is called `heedfulness’ (appamada), in which all kinds of Dharma are included. Then he was known as the greatest man or the ‘Sammasam-Buddha’ (who knows dhamma by himself), because of the perfection in his humanness. From then through the remaining 45 years of his life, he wandered from place to place teaching his dhamma to all who would listen to him and organizing his followers who renounced the layman life to form the Sangha. He died peacefully at the age of 80. When asked who would be the teacher after his passing away, he told the Monks that they would not be left without the teacher, for the doctrines and disciplines that the Buddha had taught them would be their teacher, when the Buddha was gone. At present Buddhism spread all over the world. Living Buddhism is divided into 2 broad traditions:1 1. The first one is called Theravada (Elders’ words) Buddhism, which is also known as ‘southern’ Buddhism or Hinayana (small vehicle in the sense of being a conservative school) followed by over 100 million in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Its canonical scriptures are preserved in Pali, an ancient Indian language closely related to Sanskrit. The school exemplifies certain conservatism. Relative to the other two traditions, it can be regarded as generally closer in doctrine and practice to ancient Buddhism as it existed in the early centuries BCE in India. 1 Spirituality is derived from the Latin word spiritus, spirit, the essential part of the person. 10. Buddhist Spiritual (Dr.Veerachart 162-178).indd 163 24/2/2560 16:12:29 164 Mahachula Academic Journals Vol.3 No.2 2. The second one is called Acariyavada (later teachers’ words) Buddhism, which is known as Mahayana (great vehicle in the sense of being a liberal school) Buddhism. Acriyavada or Mahayana Buddhism is further divided into 2 lines as follows: (1) One is known also as ‘eastern’ Buddhism and followed by 500 to 1,000 million in the East Asian tradition of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Its scriptures are preserved in Sanskrit and Chinese. East and North Asian Buddhism is extremely diverse; it has coexisted with Confucianism, Taoism, Shinto, and, more recently but less happily, Communism. (2) The other one is known as ‘northern’ Buddhism or Tibetan Buddhism and followed by over 20 million in the Tibetan tradition. Its scriptures are preserved in Tibetan and once more its outlook is broadly that of the eastern Mahayana, but its more specific orientation is that of the ‘Vehicle of the Diamond Thunderbolt’ (vajra-yana), also known as Tantric Buddhism. Three Phases of Buddhism The Buddha’s teachings can be classified into three phases, viz.: Reformation or reinterpretation, revolution and reconstruction. 1. In the phase of reformation, the Buddha rejected the caste-system, the immolation-sacrifice and so on. The Buddha was perfectly aware of the social, political, religious, economic and educational situations prevailing in India at the time of his birth and Enlightenment. Although he was born in a royal family, he by self-sacrifice renounced the world being moved by human suffering. Inequalities in the social order led to various forms of suffering like exploitation, untouchability, corruption and immorality of the ruling class. The priests and the Brahmins took advantages of their superior positions. Education was denied to the majority of the people. In this respect, Buddhism eradicated inequalities and established human dignity. It came into being not to destroy the old social order, but for the sake of reforming it. It is well-known that Buddhism has been opposed to the `caste-system’ as the most corrupting element in human society. The Buddha found that caste had 10. Buddhist Spiritual (Dr.Veerachart 162-178).indd 164 24/2/2560 16:12:30 Buddhist Spirituality and Interfaith Dialogue 165 nothing to do with one’s capacity. It is said that the caste-system had become quite rigid at the time of the Buddha and he, being compassionate, gave succors to the down-trodden. What the Buddha did is not to abolish altogether such old ideas, but to give them new meaning or importance. For instance, Brahmanism holds that a person could be a Brahmin only when he was born of parents belonging to the Brahmin caste. The Buddha did not deny in any way that there were Brahmins in the world, but according to him a person could be called `Brahmin’ only because of his virtue (Dharma or karma) and not because of his birth (jati). Besides, the women’s emancipation (vimutti) had an important place in Buddhism. Women are admitted to the Sangha on an equal basis along with men. Both men and women have equal rights. The first female monk bhikkhuni( ) in Buddhism is known as Pajabodigotami, who is actually the Buddha’s stepped mother. The Buddha also repudiates the efficacy of ceremonies and sacrifices. It is said that at the time of the Buddha the cruel practice of human sacrifice was also perhaps prevalent and the Buddha was opposed all kinds of bloodshed in the name of religion. The Buddha said that he himself did not condemn all kinds of sacrifice, nor did he approve of all of them. He rejected an immolation- sacrifice in which many kinds of animals were killed. But he was in favor of a sacrifice in which the blood was not shed. He taught people to perform non-violent sacrifices such as regular charity, observing five precepts, and so on. In rejecting sacrifice the Buddha teaches that self- sacrifice is more powerful than all ritualistic sacrifices. In the Kutadanta Sutta, (DN,I,127), the Buddha elaborated to a Brahmin named Kutadanta the Buddhist way of performing sacrifice from the lowest to the highest, in which not even a single animal life was taken. With regard to the immolation-sacrifice, the Buddha overtly pointed out the wrong ideas of the person who performed it. He said that in such a sacrifice the person acted contrary to his wish. Thinking of doing good, he did evil, and thinking of ascending the path leading to the heaven, he descended the path leading to hell. Therefore, self-sacrifice is more praiseworthy than any other sacrifices. 10. Buddhist Spiritual (Dr.Veerachart 162-178).indd 165 24/2/2560 16:12:30 166 Mahachula Academic Journals Vol.3 No.2 2. In the revolutionary phase, the Buddha brought about a total and radical change in some respect in the traditional beliefs. The doctrine of ‘permanent self’ (Atman), for example, was rejected and replaced by the doctrine of ‘non-self’ (Anatta), the Hindu yoga by Insight meditation, and sensual indulgence and self-mortification by the Middle Path. The Buddha strongly condemned the religious austerity which was a common practice among the Brahmanas and the Jains. The Buddha denounced `self-mortification’ (attakilamathanuyoga) as equally unworthy and unprofitable.
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