Dear friends,

here is an article by Ven. Dr. Sri Dhammananda --

Buddhism for the future:
Dialogue among different traditions should be encouraged

A great deal has been spoken and written about the Buddha's concern
for the well-being of all living beings and humankind in particular.
While the greater part of his ministry was devoted to the edification
of those who renounced the worldly life, he was most free with his
advice to uplift the condition of the householder.

Some of the best known Sutras are devoted to the development of
social harmony and are addressed to royalty as well as common folk.

The Sigalovada Sutra

In the Agganna Sutra for example the Buddha speaks in mythical terms
about the origin of society and the causes of inequality; in the
Kasibharadvaja Sutra he distinguishes between labour for spiritual
progress and labour to gain material wealth.

In the Sigalovada Sutra he explains the duties and responsibilities
of the different groups which comprise society - parents, children,
husbands, wives, employers, employees, teachers and religious
persons.

He speaks of the benefits to be derived when every member of a
community knows what is expected of him or her and sincerely fulfils
his or her obligations.

The Parabhava Sutra

In the Parabhava Sutra he enumerates the various forms of anti-social
behaviour which cause personal and social loss. In the Vyagghapajja
Sutra he describes the benefits that can be gained by the householder
even without "going forth".

In one section of the Mahaparinibbana Sutra the Buddha explains the
government and national unity. In the Mangala Sutra he enumerates
good social behaviour which obstructs misery and woe to the
individual and thereby the community.

Beside these sutras, there are of course the numerous stories and
legends recorded in the Dhammapada and the Jataka which again
emphasise the factors which promote social harmony and universal
peace.

The question now remains to be asked, how practical are these
admonitions in modern times? It has often been suggested that the
Buddhist formulae for social well-being are rather idealistic.

They may have worked when governments exerted far more power over
their subjects in ancient India than they do today. Today's citizens
are too independent and selfish to be ruled with gloved hands.

This need not be so. People can still be treated humanely and we can
still follow the principle that if you treat people well, they will
behave well. Part of the reason why governments are so harsh today is
that they operate from a point of view that the world is finite and
that everything is real.

We must remember that all the Buddha's advice was given against a
world view which is totally different from the world view of a vast
majority of humans today. If we want to effectively make use of the
Buddha's Teaching to promote social harmony and universal peace we
must begin to see the world as the Buddha did. We must "see the world
as it really is".

We must use all our efforts to give an understanding of the three
characteristics of Anicca (impermanence), Dukkha (unsatisfactoriness)
and Anatta (non self). Admittedly this is a huge task.

We have to overcome two millennia of propaganda which spread the
false notion that the world and its creatures were specially created
for the selfish pleasure of man. We have to counter the Renaissance
notion that "man is the measure of all things."

Working for the safety and happiness of others

Surely it is a difficult task, but certainly it is not impossible.
More and more people in developed countries are waking up to the
obvious fact that the world was NOT made for man's pleasure, and that
it was not created in one glorious moment but that everything that
exists is an illusion and dependent on everything else, that man's
ultimate happiness lies in his working not for himself alone but for
the safety and happiness of others.

This is exactly the Buddha's view and a large number of people, weary
of past excesses and fearful of impending disaster are ready to give
heed to the Buddha's advice on peaceful coexistence where duties and
responsibilities take precedence over rights.

The time is ripe

The time is therefore ripe for Buddhists all over the world to
explain the message of the Buddha in modern terms, to help people
understand the REAL nature of existence. Once there is Right (or
Perfect) Understanding then naturally all other aspects of the
teaching will not seem so naive and impractical after all. Already
many education systems in the west are paying due attention to the
development of culture where man is taught to put the concerns of
others before his own needs.

Increasingly the innate goodness of beings is fostered through proper
education and understanding. Yes, the Buddha's model for a Perfect
Society can work, but we must work intelligently and ceaselessly to
make it work.

A Buddhist value system is already recognisable in many organisations
such as UNESCO, WHO, FAO and so on. It is no concern to us whether or
not every human being is converted to Buddhism. The Buddha has
declared that we can respect any system which contains aspects of the
Four Noble Truths which obviously these organisations do.

Our concern is only for the happiness of humanity, both material and
spiritual. Greater awareness of the Buddha's teachings will make his
principles universally accepted.

To create this awareness Buddhists must adopt a two fold strategy.
First we must put our own house in order. Two millennia of dissension
within ourselves and aggression from outside have weakened our
practice. We must look at ourselves clearly and examine what are our
inner weaknesses which reduce our ability to truly practise the
Buddha's message to help our fellow beings.

Ever since the First Council following the passing away of the
Buddha, we Buddhists have expended enormous amounts of energy to
develop different schools or traditions within Buddhism. Of course
this development of our divergent views took place with a degree of
brotherly feeling which is unique in the history of religion.

The Master's Teachings

We can proudly assert again and again that we have practised a path
of peace which is unique. We can proudly assert again and again that
guided by the Master's Teachings in the Kalama Sutra (and reiterated
in the edicts of Asoka) we have never shed a drop of blood or raised
a single whip to spread our beliefs or to defend them. This record
alone gives us a greater credibility over others. We have the
blueprint to create universal peace.

However, let's be realistic. While we can go on forever patting
ourselves on our backs for our tolerance, the fact remains that we
have gone in different directions and that we have tended to
consider "our" school superior to that of others. The Buddha taught
only one Path to Perfection. Our imperfections gave rise to the
different schools. The time has come for us to transcend our narrow
sectarian views and look forward to developing an understanding of
what has been, described as "Transcendental Buddhism".

This pooling of our resources, and leaving behind our culture-bound
approach to the teachings, has become absolutely necessary, given the
fact that the world has shrunk so much and so many people with such
diverse languages, beliefs, cultures and attitudes are taking an
interest in the Buddha and his teachings.

All of us, who have inherited this rich treasure from various
sources, must come together to help all of mankind gain ultimate
happiness.

This does not mean of course that we must abandon the indescribable
richness and variety of our different traditions. The world would be
so much poorer if we lost invaluable treasures of Sri Lankan,
Japanese, Korean Chinese, Tibetan and South East Asian Buddhist way
of life. No, what I mean is, while we continue to foster the mundane
manifestations of the teachings within our own cultures, we must
vigorously make efforts to let the world hear the Buddha's voice.
This will reduce the confusion regarding the Teachings especially
among people who hear it for the first time.

The altruistic motive

After all, we must never lose sight of the Buddha's first injunction
to spread the Dharma for "the happiness and welfare of sentient
beings". This clearly altruistic motive for our missionary efforts
must never bo forgotten. To realize this ideal we must be humble and
be prepared to look at the teachings of the other schools without
discrimination.

Members of the Sangha particularly must highlight the areas of
agreement amongst the various schools so that the younger generation
is helped to view. Buddhism as a perfect, harmonious whole that
evolved from a single teaching.

One way of doing this of course is to encourage more dialogue amongst
the different traditions. The "First World Buddhist Propagation
Conference" organized by the Nembutsu Sect of Japan, in Kyoto in 1998
is an excellent example of such a successful meeting of Buddhist
minds. Such gatherings of prominent Buddhists from different
traditions, meeting amicably, serve to remind the world that
Buddhists are really united and do share identical views on such
issues as enlightenment and service to mankind.

The dissemination of the Dharma

An obvious area where Buddhists can promote co-operation effectively
is in the dissemination of the Dharma. Books, periodicals, magazines
and more recently the Internet should all try to encourage inter-
sectarian dialogue between schools of Buddhism so that readers begin
to see the underlying unity of Buddhism in the apparent diversity of
its practices.

What is interesting to note here is that this has not always been so.
Who can deny that a Buddhist monk has always been an agent of change
for the better throughout history? Who can deny that it was the
Buddhist monk who brought Art, Architecture, Technology, Music and
Medicine to every country in Asia? It has even been suggested that
the ancient Egyptian THERAPEUTAE who practised monasticism and
specialized in healing ("therapeutic") were originally Buddhist monks
therapeutic being a corruption of THERAVADA! Be that as it may the
Sangha civilized the ancient world.

But they can hardly be held up as role models for change today! What
happened? Of course we can point a, finger at colonization, but
blaming others for our shortcomings is a luxury we can ill afford.
The only thing we can do is to ask ourselves how we can change the
situation and once again make the Buddhist monk the leader of men and
women in his society.

Courtesy: Sambodhi
Source: http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/08/11/fea05.html