Buddhism,
as one of the four major religions in the world today, is an empiricist
and ant metaphysical religion. It does not accept anything which cannot
be experienced either through the senses or extrasensory perception.
People in the world are hurriedly getting ready for the next millennium
or the 21st century. Our prime intention here is to identify the
relevance of the teachings of the Buddha for this modern so called
scientifically and technologically developed world. The Buddha was born
in the 6th century BC in India. He discovered the reality behind
phenomena in our Universe. In the world there is nothing permanent as
well as nothing isolated existing but everything co-exists.
Supreme being
He
realized this. Interdependence is the great truth of life. He was
neither a divine being, nor a man as we know him, but a man par
excellence (accariyamanussa). There is no equivalent in a western
language for this concept accariyamanussa. This means not thought of, a
not comparable kind of being. There is no word in English unless use the
term Buddha with this concept in mind. His teaching is mainly focused
on man himself.
People
are born again and again, and die again and again. There is no ending
to be cognized. This was the question which arose in him and which he
found a positive answer. That is why he is a Buddha.
He
realized that it was not only man but the whole Universe that is
composed of ever-changing phenomena. When this truth arose in his mind
he contemplated and reasoned out a solution through his intuitive
wisdom.
He
comprehended that it was because of birth that one has to face decay,
death, lamentation, despair and all types of dissatisfaction. He saw
this causal relationship in phenomena and realized that the way to end
decay death and dissatisfaction is to end birth. So he grappled with
what might be the cause for birth. He realized that its cause was
becoming .And becoming arises because of grasping. Why do we grasp
things in the world? Because of craving. That was the causal relation he
unravelled.
Today
in this scientifically and technologically developed global village,
though there are many amenities, for easy living and pleasure , people
are both physically and mentally not satisfied and do not have a feeling
of security.
Both
satisfaction and security are experience of the mind. Safety can refer
to freedom from physical danger. When the mind is satisfied that the
person is free of physical danger, the mind produces an experience of
safety.
When
one does not feel mentally secure, one is unhappy. In society there are
many people who are not secure. They are always in fear and dread. This
was crystal clear during the time of the JVP insurgency in 1988-89. We
know very well that most of the high personages (VIP) of this country,
even though they had a number of security personnel and perhaps two
three houses to change to, from time to time, were mentally insecure.
Not only such high personages but also most ordinary people in the
country were panicking at that time. The reason was that they were not
feeling mentally secure. The Buddha said Mind is the forerunner and
mental states are mind made.
Mental faculties
So,
mind is the most significant thing in one's life. According to the
teachings of the Buddha, man is the component of five aggregates,
namely: form, feeling, perception, volition, and consciousness. Of the
five only form is physical and the other four are mental.
These
mental faculties are very important in contemplating man. But in modern
science and technology, which produce many things for the physical
benefit of man the mental factors are not sufficiently recognized.
I
think this is because of the philosophy behind science. However, it is
one of the fundamental principles of science that we do not accept
anything un-experimented with or and un-observed.
This
is the time for scientists to open out and think of the other
dimensions of life such as Religion. A Religion like Buddhism, cannot be
set aside any more.
Most
of the world population follow a religion. Therefore scientists should
give a place to the experience of religion and should consider religious
teachings as being integral to man. We can be certain, that Buddhism
provides vast knowledge about man and his mental and physical
development.
In
the world today, there are many multinational and multi purpose
projects which are vast for the development of countries. But people are
not satisfied with what they have. There is no contentment. Craving,
grasping, and arising and perishing are the main features in the world.
As science is predominant in the world today, scientists can take a new
step for the advancement of science through recognition of ethical and
religious dimension.
The
Dhamma taught by the Buddha is not some thing out side the world and
beyond experience .Therefore it is not contrary to science. The Dhamma
realized by the Buddha is a discovery of the existing phenomena in the
Universe. It is therefore a Universal truth, an everlasting truth about
the Universe.
Science
today has already established that certain teachings of the Dhamma are
correct beyond doubt .But it took a long time. It would take similarly a
long length of time to obtain scientific proof of other aspects of
Buddhism too. Consider a case of a man walking through an unknown jungle
who has no food to satisfy his hunger; suddenly he sees a tree full of
ripe fruits which he had not seen before.
Scientific vision
He
has a doubt whether it is poisonous or tastes bad. He takes a small
bite of the fruit and finds its sweet. Being a careful man, he waits
quite a long time to see whether it has harmful effects on him. After a
considerable length of time, he finds that the fruit is neither
poisonous nor harmful. Then he eats the whole fruit.
Similarly,
instead of wasting time to obtain scientific proof of the other aspects
of the Dhamma, would it not be wise to straightway accept that the
whole of the Dhamma as a true teaching, and a way of life for mental and
physical development, and which if followed would bring solace to
mankind.
Even
the span of life of a human being is limited .So an individual cannot
wait to follow the Dhamma till the whole of the Dhamma is proved by
science. It also must be mentioned that there are certain aspects of the
Dhamma, which are extrasensory perceptional and are entirely beyond
modern science.
What
the Buddha taught is not only for the 6th century B.C. but it is
relevant to this modern world too. As it is a timeless (akalika)
teaching, surely it can be practised by the wise during the modern
century as well and in many more centuries or millenniums to come.
2012-07-19
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