When a given group of people is still in its early stages of civilization, that group will have a limited understanding of what is called "God", or their conception of God will be in a primal stage of evolution. But we should not think that their conception of God is wrong nor should we take the extreme of not granting them any conception of God at all. Nevertheless, their conception of what is called God will evolve and mature to perfection. It is our duty to help further this evolution in the spirit of the words of Jesus quoted earlier "I have not come to abolish the law..........but to complete it."
On this ground let us all use the working hypothesis with regard to the validity of the statement that " There is an apostle for every nation."
The more we study the scriptures
the less we know of the essence of religion. As a matter of fact
the
essence of religion can only be reached by genuine practice alone.
This is what is meant by "climbing
down a tree from the top" as it is practised nowadays in every religion.
As for the men of olden days, they had no scriptures whatsoever, or we
may say that they were virtually illiterate before they started treading
on the way of religion . When they set out they progressed gradually only
after having understood just one or two points of a verse pointing at the
truth. And thus they could reach the essence of religion in
the same way as one "climbing up a tree starting from the foot of the tree".
Be assured
that if Christianity would have been introduced in India in the days of
the Buddha it would have been welcomed warmly as "friend-religion" or "brother-religion",
because in those days people were broad-minded enough as to firmly believe
in the principle of these three paths
to emancipiation:
1. the path of "pannadhika" with the wisdom-factor
predominating:
2. the path of "saddhadhika" with the saddha-factor
(confidence, trust) predominating:
3. the path of "viriyadhika" with the willpower-
factor predominating:
Buddhism tends to be 'pannadhika", the path
with the wisdom-factor predominant.
Christianity tends to be "saddhadhika", the path where trust or faith predominates.
Islam "viriyadhika", the path where willpower is predominant.
Let us all be careful not to allow the knowledge we get through " climbing a tree starting from the top" to cover the true facts.
In our world as a whole and within a considerable length of time, in a particular place and period man needed the way of faith, and in another place and period he needed the rational approach (demanding the cause-and-effect-principle), and yet in another place and period people required the way of controlling the mind or the use of strong will-power.
The more broadminded and tolerant the believers of different religions are towards each other, the more fruitful religious life will be, the more the world will be blessed by God.
To state this point precisely, we should maintain that if an interpretation of any word in any religion leads to disharmony and does not positively further the welfare of the many, then such an interpretation is to be regarded as wrong; that is against the will of God, or as the working of Satan or Mara.
The last topic which requires enlightened flexibility, and broad-mindedness deals with the unwillingness or reluctance to commonly use some conventional religious terms.
The Noble Eightfold Path is what is called "Dhamma" and Dhamma is nothing but GOD.
When the Dhammas reveal themselves to a brahmana (religious man, man of practice) who is striving hard in meditation, then all his doubts are dissolved.
There are different types of religions with different ways and goals rather than only one unique way.
Arbitrary interpretations are responsible for the group-feeling among men. People do not realize that humanity as a whole is one single unit.
The Perfect One said : " Proclaim ye the Holy Life, glorious in the beginning ( for people of comparatively low wits), glorious in the middle (for the average people of common understanding), and glorious in the end ( for people of a highly developed sharp intellect) according to the letter and meaning (spirit) for the good of gods and men".
But when coming to the very
essence of religion, that is something identical and contained in all religions,
the essence being not to cherish self-love (egoism-selfishness) but Dhamma-love
devoted to the truth, or you may say God-Love. Not to cherish self-love
(selfishness) is truth; it is the highest sense the Summum Bonum, and
we cannot say that it is something Buddhist, Christian or Islamic;
for this reason selflessness in the christian sense implies the same
thing as is understood in Buddhism or Islam.
And
it is in this sense that the state which we call selflessness(absence of
selfishness) is truth. It is the truth of all places and all times.
Where there is no being to think selfishly
for its own sake that is the essence of all religions.
(When there is no self to think for it-self in a selfish
way
there is found the essence of all religions.)
My personal opinion is that Christians in the days of Jesus could practise according to the teaching of Christ to gain the highest Fruits without caring for the lengthy Old Testament. The same holds true in the days of the Buddha when many a man realized the Noble Path and obtained the Noble Fruition without having anything to do with what is known as 'Tripitaka'.
That absolute and universal truth
is: " Wherever and whenever there arises a feeling that self belongs
to self resulting in selfishness there and then arises suffering.
But when there is no such feeling, that is, when self belongs to Dhamma
or God, then there arises no suffering."
Everybody should clearly understand
that at any time ( whether within a moment, an hour or even a day) when
there is no feeling whatsoever of self as belonging to self, we have reached
and become one with God.
Let
one study only one single point as to how to get rid of craving which is
the mother of I-ness and My-ness so that one's mind becomes pure.
I am fully convinced that the founders of religions without exception had
enough compassion for their disciples and followers to save their time
by not allowing them to study unnecessary things. Even the short
message as contained in the few pages of the Sermon on the Mount in the
book of Matthew is far more than enough and complete for practice to attain
emancipation. There is no need to take into account even the rest
of the New Testament, not to mention the Old Testament. I wish to
say directly that the Christian 'officials' who preach Christianity in
the street, and on the radio do not know how to select the essentials for
their messages. It is the same with the Buddhist monks who teach
simply the general covering or outward form of Buddhism. They
do not grasp the essence of Dhamma. This essence is not
to have attachment to anything whatsoever in terms of I and My(I-ness and
My-ness).
What is generally
taught or what people are interested in these days is not very much
concerned with the essence or core of religion. That is why
people of different religions are scattered and not in harmony with each
other. In our comparative study of religion we should compare
religion straight-forwardly without being considerate of any body.
I
hope that all of you will pay special attention to this.
As to this once the Buddha
taking a handful of leaves said: "Things
known to the Tathagata are as many as leaves in the forest, but things
I teach are comparatively only equal to this handful of leaves".
We are to help ourselves, we are
to act by ourselves. And by doing so we receive the fruits
of our own actions. There is no God to distribute the fruits
of our actions apart from the Law of Karma. If there be
any God he would be nothing but the Law of Karma.
Speaking in the language of
Dhamma or from the view-point of absolute truth by keeping
in mind the truth hidden in between the letters or behind the sound of
speech, there definitely is a possibility of blending. And
how? In the language of Dhamma God and the "Law of Karma" are one and the
same thing.
Such being the case both religions
can well go together as far as the essential is concerned.
In this way we help ourselves by acting in accordance with the Law
of Nature or Karma which is always straightforward, sure, and impartial;
it weilds absolute power. As the Law of Karma is absolute and unbiased
we can name it God as well.
As
a result of this, Christianity and Buddhism take different routes, the
former takes the way of invoking external help and the latter prefers
the way of internal help. After all, it is humorous, indeed,
when it appears that the underlying truths which make man receive the
fruits of his actions are one and the same!
For thus Jesus has said " I am
the way and you are to follow the way". This was said in the same
manner that the Buddha taught us to follow the way,i.e., to practise
and follow in his footstep.
As a rough outline we
may suggest that the following are the main types of religion:
1. Religion of Miraculous Power and Magic--based on fear on the part of
its followers.
2. Religion of Faith--merely based on Faith and Prayer.
3. Religion of Karma--based on the self-help principle.
4. Religion of Wisdom--based on free thinking( reasoning).
5. Religion of Peace--based on non-harming oneself as well as others.
6. Religion of Loving Kindness or 'Love"--based on giving up all and
everything (for others) etc.
Principally we should recognize
here that all religions in the world have something in common which
is the very backbone and essence in terms of Karma or action(or practice).
Karma or action is indeed the very 'religion' itself. By action
is meant the practice which brings man into relationship with God.
It does not matter whether that which is called God is conceived of as
a person, or as a power, or as a condition. The only characteristic
repuired of what is called God, is that it signifies the extinction of
suffering. That much is quite enough: or just enough; for if
we expect more than this it would naturally be tantamount to building castles
in the air, which is an irrelevant and unnecessary undertaking.
If
we have the Bible in our minds and think in the Buddhist spirit of reasoning,
we feel that Christianity like Buddhism, is a religion of Wisdom and
Karma, and that having realised the essence of both religions, we
can be both Christians and Buddhists at the same time. And what
is more we can be Muslims or Hindus at the same time. I will explain
this later from the Buddhist point of view, which is characterized by Wisdom
(Panna) or reasoning.
First of all we have Simon (Peter)
answering Jesus: ".......thou hast the words of eternal life." (
St.John 6/68). We Buddhists feel that eternal life
cannot be gained simply through faith. It (eternal life)
can only be gained by practising according to the teaching of Jesus Christ
who taught wisely, carefully, and with subtlety. And it is
only after one has tasted 9through practice) the taste of eternal life,
that one may use the word 'faith'.
In John 6/63 Jesus himself says
, "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
These words have no meaning or serve no purpose if one just believes
them without understanding. For these are words expressed in
the language of Dhamma to be understood by a man of higher wisdom.
Whether certain words will be both spirit and life, depends on correct
and noble practice.
What
is generally known as faith, does in fact imply a concentrated mind which
results from activity with clear comprehension and earnest aspiration for
something higher. In Matthew 21/21 Jesus says: " ... if
only you have faith and have no doubts... you need only say to this mountain,
'Be lifted from your place and hurled into the sea, and what you say will
be done." The word mountain in this context ,interpreted in the Buddhist
way, implies the selfishness which hinders us on our ways to reach God.
A religious system like this should not, therefore, be called a religion
of faith. It should rather be called a system of action to be
practised with the highest wisdom concerning God( Divine Wisdom).
Again
in Matthew 6/14-15 Jesus says: "For if you forgive other the wrongs
they have done, your heavenly Father will also forgive you...." This
shows quite clearly that Christianity requires more than a system of prayers
or faith in order to attain emancipation. We must perform
actions, (e.g. forgive others) and only then can we free from our wrongs
or, as it were, we can "compel" God to do his duty and forgive us.
For
Buddhists, such a way is a way of action and not of prayers. This
is the system according to which one should help oneself first and then
God (or Karma) will necessarily assist us.
In
Matthew 7/18-20 Jesus pointed out in a parable that a person is recognized
as good or bad by his actions. This fits well in Buddhist teaching.
In Matthew 6/33 are found these words: " Set your mind on God's
Kingdom and his justice before everything else, and all the rest will come
to you as well," If we take this statement superficially
it appears as something to be taken on faith or to be a matter of
devotion based on faith. But according to the Buddhist way
of thinking deals with the phenomenon of personification, the fact is not
regarded as such. Interpreted in the Buddhist way, the
expression, " Set your mind on God's Kingdom and his justice before
everything else...", implies total sacrifice which is in Pali Patinissagga,
literally 'giving up'. To explain further when one has not
yet set one's mind on the Kingdom of God one has a feeling of possession
with regard to natural things belonging to nature or God, if you prefer
the term, one has attachment to natural things in terms of I or My.
If that attachment is very strong, that feeling of I and My,too, becomes
so strong that one becomes the personification of egoism.
The mind
which is free from the feeling of self or ego is the mind which has reached
God or Dhamma in the highest sense. This state of mind, free from
the feeling of egoism is called LOKUTTARADHAMMA, the supermundane.
In Matthew 7/2, we find:"...and
whatever measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to you", which
seems to be perfectly in harmony with the Law of Karma in Buddhism.
This actually means that one must act properly according to the Law
of Karma regarding it as God, the Absolute, the Almighty.
In operation it is we who are
to ask, it is we who are to seek, it is we who are to knock,
and it is only when we do so that God is moved to respond.
Mere
faith is not enough.
In Matthew 12/33 we find the
statement: " Either make the true
good and its fruit good, or make the true bad and its fruit bad."
This
is again the Law of Karma as found in Buddhism and also in other religions
teaching the Karma-principle. Therefore, to view Christianity
with the eye of a Buddhist, Christianity is a religion of Karma in
the same sense as Buddhism is, and it cannot be a religion of faith.
In Matthew 19/17 we find the instruction: "...but
if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." Here
the words keep stands for practice. To keepthe commandments or practise
according to the commandments, something is needed apart from mere faith
in the commandments or in anything else.
Whether a person understands God
or not, does not matter, for, if one practises these virtues the result
will be the same in accordance with the Law of Karma which is, as Buddhists
know so well, God personified.
And even the phenomenon of faith
can be a kind of wholesome mental action provided that one's faith is
of the right kind based on understanding. It becomes a wholesome
mental action because it springs from intention, i.e. the very intention
to find out a refuge for oneself with an undeluded mind.
Blind faith however, based only on rumour and hearsay, cannot be regarded
as karmic action in this case.
The next
point
to be considered is whether Christianity
is a "religion of Wisdom" or not. Guide is no other than the
Light of Wisdom. God is in this case, the Perfect Light.
To believe in God is to follow the Light of God or the Light personified
as God. To interpret this in a Buddhist way
the wisdom-element
can be found in the teaching of Jesus Christ in full measure.
"Jesus
wants a follower who understands the word he hears and not just believes
what he hears."
In Matthew 13/20-21 where it is
said: "The seed sown on rocky ground stands for the man who on hearing
the word, accepts it at once with joy; but as it strikes no root in him
he has no staying-power, and when there is trouble or persecution on account
of the word he falls away at once."
On this ground too, from a Buddhist
viewpoint one feels that Christianity as well is a religion of Wisdom.
Matthew 7/45 has: "....or how can you say to your
brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye', when all the time there
is that plank in your own? You hypocrite. First take the
plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck
out of your brother's" This is quite in agreement with what the Enlightened
One says in the Dhammapada:
One should first establish oneself in what is proper,
Then only should one instruct another;
Such a wise man will not be reproached.
(Attavagga, 2)
As he instructs others so should he himself act,
Himself fully controlled, he should control others;
For difficult, indeed, is self-control.
(Attavagga, 3)
In this sense it is up to God to
take the plank out of one's eye; in the same way as for Buddhists it
is Wisdom that performs the same act.
In
Matthew 19/21 Jesus says: " If you wish to go the whole way, go, sell
your possessions, and give to the poor......and come, follow me."
To
do this means to live a homeless life, without any permanent house,
without family, and without money. This was the way in which
Jesus lived and he persuaded his disciples to lead the same sort of life.
The importance of this type of
life is illustrated by him in a parable as found in Matthew 6/25, "No servant
can be slave to two masters...." This means that a person either
can be rich in this world or win the Kingdom of God. One cannot be
rich in this world and also win the Kingdom of God at the same time.
To state this clearly, Jesus says: "I tell you this: A rich man will find
it hard to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I repeat, it is easy for
a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
the Kingdom of God." (Matthew 19/23-24). Even if
a rich person makes merit, he does so in order to be still richer rather
than for the sake of Nirvana or the Kingdom of God.
Buddhists
hold that it is a sober fact known to the wise that there is "no need
to accept or to refer to any authority,be it's one own teacher, or one's
own scriptures, or even some trustworthy person (Kalama Sutra, Anguttara-Nikaya).
Now practice to be applied here must be the same as in Buddhism, that is
to say, one is to get rid of the life of flesh and thus enter the
divine life which belongs to the nature or God.
To re-phrase this in Buddhist terms,
the achievement would be called Nirvana which is the extinction of suffering
previously existing in oneself. The
Buddha says: " the world, the cause of the world, cessation of the world,
and the path leading to the cessation of the world--all this has been pointed
out by the Tathagata to be found and realized in this fathom-long
body with perception and consciousness" ( Rohitassa Sutta, Anguttara-Nikaya).
Even God or Jesus Christ or the Grace of God in terms of water or eternity,
etc.-- all can be found in one's own body through one's own practice.
Whether one believes or not, whether one is ready to rid oneself of
the life of flesh or not---this is the whole question; on this question
depends whether one is going to be reborn in the Kingdom of God which is,
of course, within ourselves, or whether one is going to be drawn in hell
which is, as just said, in one's own body, too. In this way
the Buddhist principle that Dhamma is to be realized by oneself and
within
oneself--(Paccattani and Ajjhattam) can also be found in Christianity.
A most striking comparison occurs
when we examine the last words spoken by the Buddha and Jesus to
their disciples; Jesus says: " Go forth .... and teach them to observe
all that I have commanded you. And be assured, I am with you always,
to the end of time."(Matthew 28/20). The Buddha says: "
The Dhamma and the Discipline(DHAMMA--VINAYA that have formulated and taught
you will be your teacher in time to come after my passing away".(Maha
Parinibbana Sutta, Digha--Nikaya).
Another
point to be remarked in connection with the last words of Jesus is that
he stressed the practice of his teaching for his disciples and common people,
and
not faith. This shows that faith means to follow
on
the ground that if one does not follow no result will be achieved.
And if it were not so, Jesus would not have used the words, "teach them
to observe". "Faith" is merely a preliminary action or
the first step of practice; to have faith (and nothing more) means only
part of practice.
This
lecture has dealt with a comparative study of Christianity and Buddhism
from different angles and with varying approaches. We have considered
Christianity from a point of view which nobody seems to consider any
longer. This has been done in the interest of correctness and
impartiality.
To summerize
we may say that the whole talk given today falls under five broad categories:
(1) Thefounders of all religions in the world were born to help man to
achieve perfection of which he is in need.
(2) All religious scriptures are written in a two fold language: one is
the language of Dhamma and the language of common people.
(3) Broadmindedness is an essential factor.
(4) While comparing Christianity with Buddha-Dhamma it must be acknowledged
that each religion has both its outer form and inner essence. In
order to be fair we should compare the outer forms of one religion with
the outer forms of the other, likewise the inner essence with inner essence
and not otherwise.The word religion should be defined as " a system
to observation and practice which binds man to the highest thing,
call
it what you will--God or Nirvana.
(5) Therefore both religions are religions of action-- to be done by
oneself, and of the fruit to be reaped from within oneself and by oneself.
In this way both religions are in agreement
in all respects; this point will be further explained in the talk of tomorrow.
As for the
Buddha
On this ground
Be assured
In our world
The more broadminded
The Noble Eightfold
But when coming
My personal opinion
Let one study
As to this once
As a result of this
As a rough outline
If we have the Bible
What is generally
Again in Matthew
In Matthew 7/18-20
The mind
Either make the true
...but if you wish
Jesus wants
Enlightened
In Matthew 19/21
Buddhists hold
The Buddha says
Another point
This lecture
To summarize
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