- BUDDHISM IN THE EYES OF
INTELLECTUALS
- Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda
CONTENTS
[PART 01] : THE BUDDHA
The Buddha’s Greatness
Embodiment of Virtues
Blossom of the Human Tree
Buddha is nearer to us
Most Noble of Mankind
Buddha’s Method
A Lunatic and a Sane man
Homage to Buddha
Buddha’s Message
Negative Answer of The Buddha
We are impressed by his Spirit of Reason
Cool head and loving heart
Philosophic genius
He does not speak of sin
Buddha is like a physician
Buddha is for whole mankind
A wise father
Buddha is the Way
A Radiant Sun
Greatest Man ever Born
[PART 02] : BUDDHISM
- Fundamental Teaching of the Buddha
Well Built Bridge
To Awake the Human Heart
Nothing to surpass Buddhism
Buddhism does not lead us to a Fool’s Paradise
The Buddha’s Mission
A cosmic religion
Buddhism will remain unaffected
Joyful religion
Challenge to other religions
No assumption in Buddhism
Buddha has seen deeper than modern idealists
Religious Revolution
A Plan for Living
Come and See
Religion of Man
Buddhist is not a slave to anybody
Life by principle
Buddism would remain
Modern Problems
Mind Training
New Race
First Missionary
No forced conversion
Ultimate fact of Reality
No fanaticism
Buddhism and other faiths
Buddhism is not a melancholy religion
Buddhism and social welfare
Example from Asoka
Fixed principles
Dhamma is the Law
Persecution
Appreciation of Buddhism
Knowledge is the Key to higher path
Fortunate Buddhist
Buddhism and Rites
Savious
No Force
Respect other Religions
A Genuine Pride
Unconsciousness
Rational Analysis
- Enemy of Religion
|
Sectarianism
The Five Precepts
Man who achieved a great victory
Human Destiny
Parliamentary system borrowed from Buddhism
[PART 03] : MORALITY
Democracy
Ethical Man of Genius
World Culture
[PART 04] : TOLERANCE-PEACE-LOVE
To Win Peace
Wisdom is the sword and ignorance is the enemy
No unkind word
Practise of wisdom and compassion
No persecution
[PART 05] : MAN’S POSITION IN BUDDHISM
Man gives Law to Nature
Man is not ready made
Man can stand on his own feet
Man can cease to be crushed
[PART 06] : SOUL
Belief in soul is th e cause of all trouble
Life after death is not a mystery
[PART 07] : BUDDHISM AND SCIENCE
Buddhism and Modern Science
Buddhism copes with Science
A spiritual Science
Buddhism begins where science ends
Cause and Effect instead of rewards and punishments
[PART 08] : WHAT IS NIBBANA
Salvation without God
Buddha and the Salvation
[PART 09] : BELIEF
Budda does not demand belief
[PART 10] : BUDDHISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS
Post-Buddhistic Hinduism
Universal Ethics
Buddhism is Buddhism
Eternal Debt to the Buddha
Dominant Creed
Buddhist idea of Sin
Gods need Salvation
[PART 11] : THE WORLD AND THE UNIVERSE
Unsatisfactory world
A Great Battle
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ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
Buddhism is a great religion which
enlightened humanity twenty-five centuries ago and released from all bondages,
superstitious practices. It is a scientific religion. Gotama the Buddha is honoured today
by every cultured and intelectual man irrespective of whatever religion he may profess,
while the founders of most of the other religions are honoured only by their followers.
Not only those who belong to some religions but also so-called free thinkers respect this
world honoured Supreme Enlightened One. From the historical point of view there never
lived any other Teacher who has ever given so much religious freedom as well as due credit
to humanity. Before the advent of the Buddha, religion had been owned and monopolised only
by a certain section of the society. The Buddha was the Teacher in history who
indiscriminately opened the gate of religion to each and every man society. The Buddha has
advised his followers to cultivate and develop the latent power of man and showed him how
to make the best use of his willpower and intelligance without being a slave to an unknown
being to find eternal hapiness which He proclaimed to the world through His own experience
but not through therories, mere beliefs and traditional practices. His teaching is such
that anyone can practise it without having any religious brand.
To compile this book I have selected
various statements made by eminent philosophers, scholars, historians, scientists,
writers, religious dignitaries, social reformers and politicians who are well-known to the
modern-world as most intellectual people. Among them many are non-Buddhist and free
thinkers. According to them, Buddhism is the most practical and rational religion which
will apeal to scientific knowledge and which really can do a better service to mankind if
the followers practise this religion properly.
It therefore gives me great pleasure to
present these valuable quotations extracted from various books and articles. Whatever may
be the opinion of those who have given Buddhism the topmost place in the religious field,
the compiler by quoting them, does not mean to belittle other religious beliefs, for the
idea of publishing this book is not to show the superiority of Buddhism over other
religions but on the contrary to reflect the unbiased views expressed by various
intellectuals.
All the captions to the statements in this
book were given by the compiler.
K. Sri Dhammananda
25.11.1992 - B. E. 2536
[01]
THE BUDDHA
The buddha’s greatness
I cannot myself feel that either in the
matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue Christ stands quite as high as some other
people known to history – I think I should put Buddha above him in those respects.
- Bertrand Russell, " Why I
am not a Christian"
Embodiment of virtues
Buddha was the embodiment of all virtues
he preached. During his successful and eventful ministry of 45 years he translated all his
words into action; and in no place did he give vent to any human frailty, or any base
passion. The Buddha’s moral code is the most perfect which the world has ever known.
- Prof. Max Muller, German Scholar
Blossom of the human tree
This is the blossom on our human tree
Which opens in many a myriad years
But opened, fills the world with wisdom’s scent
And love’s dropped honey.
- Sir Edwin Arnold, "Light of
Asia"
Buddha is nearer to us
You see clearly a man, simple, devout,
lonely, battling for light, a vivid human personality, not a myth. Beneath a mass of
miraculous fable I feel that there also was a man. He too, gave a message to mankind
universal in its character. Many of our best modern ideas are in closest harmony with it.
All the miseries and discontents of life are due, he taught, to selfishness. Selfishness
takes three forms – one, the desire to satisfy the senses; second, the craving for
immortality; and the third the desire for prosperity and worldliness. Before a man can
become serene he must cease to live for his senses or himself.
Then he merges into a great being. Buddha
in a different language called men to self-forgetfulness five hundred years before Christ.
In some ways he was nearer to us and our needs. Buddha was more lucid upon our individual
importance in service than Christ, and less ambiguous upon the queation of personal
immortality.
- H.G. Wells
Most Noble of Mankind
If you desire to see the most noble of
mankind, look at the king in beggar’s clothing; it is he whose sanctity is great
among men.
- Abdul Atahiya, A Muslim Poet
Buddha’s Method
If any question has to be considered, it
has to be considered peacefully and democratically in the way taught by the Buddha.
- Nehru
Lunatic and a Sane Man
The difference between the Buddha and an
ordinary man is like the difference between a sane man and a lunatic
- A writer
Homage to Buddha
Lord Buddha could be very easily singled
out as the one person known to man who received homage from the greatest number of
mankind.
-Prof. Saunders, Literary Secretary
Y.M.C.A. India, Burma, Ceylon
Buddha’s Message
The Buddha has been something greater than
all doctrine and dogma, and his eternal message has thrilled humanity through the ages.
Perhaps at no time in past history was his message of peace more needed for a suffering
and distracted humanity than it is today.
- Nehru
Negative Answer of The Buddha
If we ask, for instance, whether the
position of the electron remains the same, we must say ‘no’; if we ask whether
the electron’s position changes with time, we must say ‘no’; if we ask
whether it is in motion, we must say ‘no’. The Buddha has given such answers
when interrogated as to the conditions of a man’s self after his death; but they are
not familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century science.
- J. Robert Oppenheimer
We are impressed by His spirit of
Reason
When we read Buddha’s discourses, we
are impressed by his spirit of reason. His ethical path has for its first step right
views, a rational outlook. He endeavours to brush aside all cobwebs that interfere with
mankind’s vision of itself and its destiny.
- Dr. S Radhakrishnan,"Gautama The
Buddha"
Cool Head and Loving Heart
The most striking thing about the Buddha
is almost a unique combination of a cool scientific head and profound sympathy of a warm
and loving heart. The world today turns more and more towards the Buddha, for he alone
represents the consience of humanity.
- Moni Bagghee,"Our Buddha"
Philosophic genius
The Buddha was a pioneer as a lover of
men, and a philosophic genius rolled into a single vigorous and radiant personality. He
had things to say that no man or woman, after 2500 years of bustling and hustling and
chattering round the fountain of knowledge, can afford to ignore. Greater perhaps than his
wisdom was the example he set.
-Moni Bagghee,"Our Buddha"
He does not speak of sin
Serenity of spirit and love for all
sentient creation are enjoined by the Buddha. He does not speak of sin, but only of
ignorance and foolishness which could be cured by enlightenment and sympathy.
- Dr.S Radhakrisnan,"Gautama the
Buddha"
Buddha is like a physician
The Buddha is like a physician. Just as a
doctor must know the diagnosis of the different kinds of illness, their causes, the
antidotes and remedies, and must be able to apply them, so also the Buddha has taught the
Four Holy Truths which indicate the range of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the
way which lead to its cessation.
- Dr.Edward Conze,"Buddhism"
Buddha is for whole mankind
The Buddha is not a property of Buddhists
only. He is the property of whole mankind. His teaching is common to everybody. Every
religion, which came into existence after the Buddha, has borrowed many good ideas from
the Buddha.
- A Muslim Scholar
A Wise Father
Buddha is one who sees his children
playing in the consuming fire of worldliness and employs different expedients to bring
them out of this burning house and lead them to the safe asylum of Nirvana.
- Prof.Lakshimi Nasaru, "The Essence
of Buddhism"
Buddha is the way
I feel more and more that Sakyamuni is the
nearest in character and effect to Him who is the Way, the Truth, and The Life.
- Bishop Milman
A Radiant Sun
In this world of storm and strife, hatred
and violence, the message of the Buddha shines like a radiant sun. Perhaps at no time was
that message more needed than in the world of atomic and hydrogen bombs. Two thousand five
hundred years have only added to the vitality and truth of that message. Let us remember
that immortal message and try to fashion our thoughts and actions in the light of the
teaching. We may face with equanimity even the terrors of the atomic bomb age and help a
little in promoting right thinking and right action.
- Nehru
Greatest man ever born
Here is a teaching we can follow with
confidence. Where in the world of religions, cults and creeds, can we find a master of
such brilliance? In a pageant of stars he was a giant of the greatest magnitude. Little
wonder that scientists, philosophers, and men of literature have proclaimed Him ‘the
Greatest man ever born’. The radiance of this great teacher goes through a world of
suffering and darkness, like a beacon light to guide and illuminate mankind.
- A European Writer
[^]
[02]
BUDDHISM
Fundamental Teachings of The Buddha
Gentleness, serenity, compasion, through
liberation from selfish-craving - are the fundamental teachings of the great Oriental
religion of Buddhism.
- E.A.Burtt, "The Compassionate
Buddha"
Well Built Bridge
Buddha Dharma is like a bridge well built
of flexible steel, it gives a little to wind and water, it adapts itself to changing
circumstances, but at the same time it has secured foundations and offers a safe way to
the Deathless, to Nirvana.
- Phra Khantipalo,"Tolerance"
To Awake the Human Heart
Surely the mysteriously East, that fertile
mother of religions, has given us in Buddhism a true revelation, since it makes known to
us the moral beauty and purity that lies in the deep of human nature needing no other
divinity than that which abides in the human heart to awake them into living glory.
- Charles T.Gorham
Nothing to Surpass Buddhism
Buddhist or not Buddhist, I have examined
everyone of the great religious systems of the world, and in none of them have I found
anything to surpass, in beauty and comprehensiveness, the Noble Eightford Path and the
Four Noble Truths of the Buddha. I am content to shape my life according to that path.
- Prof. Rhys Davids
Buddhism does not leas us to a
Fool’s Paradise
Buddhism is realistic, for it takes a
realistic view of life and the world. It does not falsely pull us into living in a
fool’s paradis, nor does it frighten and agonize us with all kinds of imaginary fears
and guilt-feelings. It calls us exactly and objectively what we are and what the world
around us is, and shows us the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness.
- Ven. Dr. W. Rahula
The Buddha’s Mission
The mission of the Buddha was quite unique
in it’s character, and therefore it stands quite apart from the many other religions
of the world. His mission was to bring the birds of idealism flying in the air nearer to
the earth, because the food for their bodies belonged to the earth.
- Hazrat Inayat Khan,"The Sufi
Message"
A cosmic religion
The religion of the future will be a
cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology.
Covering both the natural and the spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this
description.
- Albert Einstein
Buddhism will remain unaffected
The doctrines of Buddha Dhamma stand
today, as unaffected by the march of time and the expansion of knowledge as when they were
first enunciated. No matter to what lengths increase scientific knowledge can extend
man’s mental horizon, within the frame work of the Dhamma there is room for the
acceptance and assimilation of the further discovery. It does not rely for it’s
appeal upon limited concepts of primitive minds not for it’s power upon the negation
of thought.
- Francis Story ,"Buddhism as World
Religion
Joyful religion
Buddhism is quite opposed to the
melancholic, sorrowful, petinent and gloomy attitude of mind which is considered a
hindrance to the realization of Truth. On the other hand, it is interesting to remember
here that joy is one of the seven ‘Factors of Illumination’, the essential
qualities to be cultivated for the realization of Nirvana.
- Ven.Dr. W. Rahula, "What the
Buddha Taught"
Challenge to other religions
It is Buddhismas we find it actually
recorded, not hypothetical primitive system, which still forms a challenge to other
religions.
- Bishop Gore, "Buddha and the
Christ."
No assumption in Buddhism
It is a glory of Buddhism that it makes
intellactual enlightenment an essential condition of salvation. In Buddhism morality and
interlectual enlightenment are inseparable from one another. While morality forms the
basis of the higher life, knowledge and wisdom complete it. Without a perfect
understanding of the law of casuality and transformation (Pratityasamutpada), no one else
can even be said to be truly moral if he does not possess the necessary insight and
knowledge. In this respect Buddhism differs from all other religions. All montheistic
religions start with certain assumption, and when these assumptions are contradicted by
the growth of knowledge it increases sorrow. But Buddhism starts with no assumptions. It
stands on the firm rock of facts, and can therefore never shun the dry light of knowledge.
- Prof. Lakhsmi Naras,."The Essence
of Buddhism"
Buddha has seen deeper them modern
idealists
Gautama got rid of even that shade of a
shadow of permanent existance by a metaphysical tour de force of great interest to the
student of philosophy, seeing that it supplies the wanting half of Bishop Berkeley’s
well-known idealist argument. It is a remarkable indication of the subtlety of Indian
speculation that Gautama should have seen deeper than the greatest of modern idealists.
The tendency of enlightened thought of all today all the world over is not towards
theology, but philosophy and psychology. The bark of theological dualism is drifting into
danger. The fundamental principles of evolution and monism are being accepted by the
thoughtful.
- Prof.Huxley,"Evolution And
Ethics"
Religious Revolution
Twenty- five centuries ago India witnessed
an intellectual and religious revolution which culminated in the overthrow of monotheism,
priestly selfishness, and the establishment of a synthetic religion, a system of light and
thought which was appropriately called Dhamma – Philosophical Religion.
- Anagarika Dharmapala,"The World
debt to Buddha"
A Plan for Living
Buddhism is a plan for living in such a
way as to derive highest benefit from life. It is a religion of wisdom where knowledge and
intelligence predominate. The Buddha did not preach to win converts but to enlighten
listeners.
- A Western writer
Come and See
Buddhism is not always a question of
knowing and seeing and not that of believing. The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as
Ehi-Passiko, inviting you to come and see, but not to come and believe.
- Ven. Dr. W. Rahula,"What the
Buddha Taught"
Religion of Man
Buddhism will last as long as the sun and
moon last and the human race exists upon the earth, for it is the religion of man, of
humanity as a whole.
- Bandaranaike, Former Prime Minister of
Srilanka
Buddhist is not a slave to anybody
A Buddhist is not a slave to a book or to
any person. Nor does he sacrifice his freedom of thought by becoming a follower of the
Buddha. He can exercise his own free will and develop his knowledge even to the extent of
attaining Buddhahood himself, for all are potential Buddhas.
- Ven.Narada Maha Thera, "What is
Buddhism"
Life by principle
Buddhism taught a life not by rule, but by
principle, a life of beauty; and as a consequence, it was a religion of tolerance. It was
the most charitable system under the sun.
- Rev.Joseph Wain
Buddhism would remain
Buddhism would remain what it is even if
it were proved that the Buddha never lived.
- Christmas Humphreys, "Buddhism"
Modern Problems
To read a little Buddhism is to realise
that the Buddhists knew, two thousand five hundred years ago, far more about our modern
problems of psychology than they have yet been given credit for. They studied these
problems long ago and found their answers too.
- Dr. Graham Howe
Mind Training
We hear much nowadays of thought-power,
but Buddhism is the most complete and effective system of mind-training yet placed before
the world.
- Dudley Wright
New Race
The Buddha created a new race of men, a
race of moral heroes, a race of salvation-workers, a race of Buddhas.
- Manmatha Nath Sastri
First Missionary
Buddhism is the first missionary religion
in the history of humanity with a universal message of salvation for all mankind. The
Buddha after his Enlightenment sent out sixty-one disciples in different directions asking
them to preach the doctrine for the weal and welfare of mankind.
- Dr. K.N. Jayatilleke, "Buddhism
and Peace"
No forced conversion
It was never, however, the buddhist way to
proselytise – in the sense of forcing ideas and beliefs upon an unwilling audience,
much less to exert pressure of any kind, or any kind of flattery, deceit or cajolery, to
win adherence to one’s own point of view. Buddhist missionaries have never competed
for converts in the marketplace.
- Dr. G.P.Malalasekara
Ultimate fact of reality
Here it is necessary to draw attention to
another unique feature of the religion of the buddha, namely, that it is the only religion
of any relgious teacher, which is the outcome of a consistent philosophy, which claims to
tell us about the ultimate facts of existance and reality. The religion of the Buddha is a
way of life resulting from the acceptance of a view of life, which is said to be factual.
His philosophy is not without an account of the nature of knowledge.
- Dr. K.N. Jayatilleke, "Buddhism
and Peace"
No Fanaticism
Of Buddha alone can it be affirmed it is
free from all fanaticism. It’s aim being to produce in every man a thorough internal
transforming by self conquest, how can it have a recourse to might or money or even
persuasion for effecting conversion? The Buddha has only shown the way to salvation, and
it is left to each individual to decide for himself if he would follow it.
- Prof. Lakshmi Narasu, "The Essence
of Buddhism"
Buddhism and other faiths
Buddhism is like the palm of the hand, the
other religions being the fingers.
- The great Khan Mongka
Buddhism is not a melancholy religion
Some people think that Buddhism is a dark
and melancholy religion. It is not so; it will it’s followers bright and cheerful.
When we read the birth stories of Bodhisatva, the future Buddha, we learn how he
cultivated the Perfection of patience and forbearance. It will help as to be cheerful even
in midst of great troubles and to take delight in other’s welfare.
- Ven. Gnanatiloka, a German Buddhist
scholar
Buddhism and social welfare
Those who think that Buddhism is
interested only in lofty ideals, high moral and philosophy thought, ignores any social and
economic of welfare people, are wrong. The Buddha was interested in happiness of men. To
him, happiness was not possible without leading a pure life based on moral and spiritual
principles. But he knew that leading such a life was hard in unfavourable material and
social conditions.
Buddhism does not material welfare as an
end in itself; it is only a means to an end – a higher and nobler end. But it is a
means which is indispensable, indespensable in achieving a higher purpose for man’s
happiness. So Buddhism recognizes the need of certain minimum material conditions
favourable to spiritual success – even that of a monk engaged in meditation in some
solitary place.
- Ven. Dr.W.Rahula, "What the Buddha
Taugh"
Example from Asoka
Turn to Buddhism, and you will read that
Asoka not only preached a lofty morality but exercised the power of kingship in manner
that shames our modern sovereigns of other faiths.
- Geoffrey Mortimer, a writer in the West
Fixed Principles
It will not be possible even today to
Buddhism that it is worn out because it is rooted upon certain fixed principles that can
never be altered.
- Gertrude Garartt
Dhamma is the law
All teachings of the Buddha can be summed
up in one word: "Dhamma". The law of righteousness, exist not only in a
man’s heart but it exists in the universe also. All the universe is an embodiment or
revelation of Dhamma. The laws of nature which modern science have discovered are
revelations of Dhamma.
If the Moon rises and sets, it is because
of Dhamma, for Dhamma is that law residing in the universe that makes metter act in the
ways studied in physics, chemistry, zoology, botany and astronomy. Dhamma exists in the
universe just as Dhamma exists in the heart of man. If man will live by Dhamma, he will
escape misery and attain Nibbana.
- Ven. A. Mahinda
Persecution
Of the great religions of history I prefer
Buddhism, especially in it’s earliest forms, because it has had the smallest element
of persecution.
- Bertrand Russell
Appreciation of Buddhism
Although one may originally be attracted
by it’s remoteness, one can appreciate the real value of Buddhism only when one
judges it by the result it produces in one’s own life from day to day.
- Dr. Edward Conze, a Western Buddhist
scholar
Knowledge is the Key to higher path
Without senuous pleasure would life be
endurable? Without belief in immorality can man be moral? Without worship of a God can man
advance towards righteousness? Yes, replies the Buddha, these ends can be attained by
knowledge; knowledge alone the key to higher path, the one worth pursuing in life;
knowledge is that which brings calmness and peace to life, which renderd man indifferent
to the storms of phenomenal world.
- Prof. Karl Pearson
Fortunate Buddhist
How fortunate are the humble followers of
the Buddha who have not inherited the fallacy of infallibility of any revealed book from
the very beginning.
- Ven. Prof. Ananda Kaushalyayana
Buddhism and Rites
Buddhism is thus a religion, and there is
a little room in it for ritual and ceremony. An act done with an idea of one’s own
conditioning ceases to be a rite. Much of the seemingly ritual of present-day Buddhism,
when seen thus are really not rites.
- Dr. W.F. Jayasuriya, "The
Philosophy of Buddhism"
Saviour
If the Buddha is to be called a
‘saviour’ at all, it is only in the sense that he discovered and showed the Path
to Liberation, Nivana. But we must tread the path ourselves.
-Ven. Dr W. Rahula, "What the Buddha
Taught"
No force
To force oneself to believe and to accept
a thing without understanding is political, and not spirtual or intellectual.
-Ven. Dr. W.Rahula, "What the Buddha
Taught"
Respect other religions
One should not honour only one’s own
religion and condemn the religions of others, but one should honour other’s religions
for this or that reason. So doing, one helps one’s own religion to grow and renders
service to the religions of others too. In acting otherwise one digs the grave of
one’s own religion and also does harm to other religions. Whosever honours his own
religion and condemns other religions, thinking "I will glorify my own
religion". But on the contrary, in so doing he injures his own religion more gravely.
So concord is good: Let all listen, and be willing to listen to the doctrines professed by
others.
- Emperor Asoka
A genuine pride
A religion or a way of life is judged
not merely by the truths it proclaims but also by the change that it brings about in the
life of it’s followers. So far this test is concerned Buddhism has a record of
achievements in which we can take a genuine pride.
- D. Valisinha, General Secrstary, Maha
Bodhi Society, "Buddhist way of life"
Unconsciousness
It can also be said that India discovered
the unconsciousness earlier than the Western psycholigists. For them the unconscious
consists in the totality of the impressions which slumber in the individual as the
inheritance from his previous existance. The Buddhis technique of meditation, which is
concerned with the latent forces, is thus a fore-runner of modern psycho-analysis, of
autogenic mental trainingetc.
- Prof. Von Glasenapp, a German scholar
Rational analysis
Buddhism is the only great religion of the
owlr that is consciously and frankly based on a systematic rational analysis of the
problems of life and of the way to its solution.
-Moni Bagghee, "Our Buddha"
Enemy of religion
There is little of what we call dogma in
the Buddha’s teaching. With a breadth of view rare in that age and not common in ours
he refuses to stifle critism. Intolerance seemed to him the greatest enemy of religion.
- Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, "Gautama The
Buddha"
Sectarianism
Most meophytes of some other religions are
controlled by their Guru and are forbidden to read the scriptures, doctrines, magazines,
booklets and tracts of other religions. This very rarely happens within Buddhism.
- Phra Khantipalo, "Tolerance"
The Five precepts
These five precepts, indicate five
arterial directions in which the Buddhist self-control is to be exercised. Thus, the first
rule calls upon him to control the passion of anger, the second, the desire for material
possessions, the third, the lust of the flesh, the fourth, cowardice and malevolence
(causes of untruthfulness) the fifth, the craving for unwholesome excitement.
- Edmon Holmes, "The creed of
Buddha"
Man who achieved a great victory
One of the first scholars to begin the
work of translating the Pali Literature into English, was the son of a well known
clergyman. His object in undertaking the work was ti prove the superiority of Christianity
Over Buddhist. We must never forget the happy chance which prompted him to undertake this
work and thereby make the precious Dhamma available to thousands in the West. The name of
this great scholar was Dr. Rhys Davids.
- Ven. A. Mahinda, "Blue Print of
happiness"
Human Destiny
Over great areas of the world it still
survives. It is possible that in contact with Western science, and inspired by the spirit
of history, the original teaching of Gotama, revived and purified, may yet play a large
part in the direction of human destiny.
- H.G. Wells
Parliamentary system borrowed from
Buddhism
It is probable that the tendency towards
self government evidenced by these various forms of corporate activity received fresh
impetus from the Buddhist rejection of the authority of the priesthood and further but its
doctrine of equality as exemplified by its repudiation of caste. It is indeed to the
Buddhist books that we have to turn for an account of the manner in which the affairs of
the early examples of representative self-governing institutions were conducted. It may
come as a surprise to many to learn that in assemblies of Buddhists in India 2500 years
and more ago are to be found the rudiments of our own parliamentary practice of the
present day.
The dignity of the assembly was preserved
by the appointment of a special officer – the embryo of "Mr. Speaker" in
our house of commons. A second officer was appointed to see that when necessary a quorum
was secured – the prototype of the Parliamentary Chief Whip, in our own system. A
member initiating business did so in the form of a motion which was then open to
discussion. In some cases, this was done once only, in others three times, thus
anticipating the practise of Parliament in requiring that a bill be read a third time
before it becomes law. If discussion disclosed a difference of opinion the matter was
decided by the vote of the majority, the voting being by ballot.
- Marquess of Zetland, a former Viceroy, "Legacy
of India"
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[03]
MORALITY
Democracy
Buddhism was a democratic movement, which
upheld democracy in religion, democracy in society, and democracy in politics.
- Dr. Ambedkar
Ethical man of genius
In this sphere He gave expression to
truths of everlasting value and advanced the ethics not of India alone but of humanity.
Buddha was one of the greatest ethical men of genius ever bestowed upon the world.
- Albert Schweitzer, a leading Western
philosopher
World Culture
Buddhism has done more for the advance of
world civilization and true culture than any other influence in the chronicles of mankind.
- H. G. Wells
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[04]
TOLERANCE
– PEACE – LOVE
To win Peace
The question that inevitably suggests
itself is, how far can the great message of the Buddha apply to the present-day world?
Perhaps it may apply, perhaps it may not, but if we follow the principles enunciated by
the Buddha, we will ultimately win peace and tranquility for the world.
- Nehru
Wisdom is the sword and ignorance is
the enemy
Not a single page of Buddhist history has
ever been lurid with the light of inquisitorial fires, or darkened with the smoke of
heretic or heathen cities ablaze, or red with blood of the guiltless victims of religious
hatred. Buddhism wields only one sword, the sword of wisdom, and recognises only one enemy
– ignorance. This is the testimony of history, and is not to be gain-said.
- Prof. Bapat, "2500 years of
Buddhism"
No unkind word
There was never an occasion when the
Buddha flamed forth in anger, never an incident when an unkind word escaped his lips.
- Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
Practise of wisdom and compassion
It seemed that the kindly aesthetic,
eternally young, seated cross-legged on the lotus of purity with his right hand raised in
admonition, answered in these two words: "If you wish to escape from suffering from
fear, practise wisdom and compassion."
- Anatole France
No Persecution
There is no record known to me in the
whole of the long history of Buddhism throughout the many centuries where its followers
have been for such lengthened periods supreme, of any persecution by the Buddhists of the
followers of any other faith.
- Prof. Rhys Davids
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[05]
MAN’S
POSITION IN BUDDHISM
Man give law to nature
Law in the scientific sense is essentially
a product of the human mind and has no meaning apart from man. There is more meaning in
the statement that man gives law to nature than in its converse that nature gives laws to
man.
- Prof. Karl Pearson
Man is not ready made
Man today is the result of millions of
repititions of thoughts and acts. He is not ready made; he becomes, and is still becoming.
His character is predetermind by his own choice, the thought, the act, which he chooses,
that by habit, he becomes.
- Ven. Piyadassi
Man can stand on his own feet
Buddhism makes man stand on his own two
feet and rouses self confidence and engergy.
- Ven. Narada Thera, "Buddhism in a
Nutshell"
Man can cease to be crushed
Man is greater that the blind forces of
nature because even though he is crushed by them he remains superior by virtue of his
understanding of them. Again., Buddhism carries the truth further: it shows that by means
of understanding man can also control his circumstances. He can cease to be crushed by
them, and use their laws to raise himself.
- Pascal
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[06]
SOUL
Belief in soul is the cuase of all the
trouble
Buddhism stands unique in the history of
human thought in denyingthe existence of such a Soul, Self, ot Atman. According to the
teaching of the Buddha, the idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no
corresponding reality, and it produces harmful thoughts or ‘me’ and
‘mine’, selfish desire craving, attachment, hatred, illwill, conceit, pride,
egoism, and other defilement, impurities and problems. It is the source of all troubles in
the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to this flase view
can be traced all the evils in the world.
- Ven. Dr. W. Rahula, "What the
Buddha Taught"
Life after death is not a mystery
The difference between death and birth is
only a thought moment: the last thought moment in this life conditions the first thought
moment in the so called next life, which in fact is the continually of tha same series.
During this life itself, too, one thought moment conditions the next thought moment. So,
from the Buddhist point of view, the question of life after death is not a great mystery,
and a Buddhist is never worried about this problem.
- Ven. Dr. W. Rahula, "What the
Buddha Taught"
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[07]
BUDDHISM
AND SCIENCE
Buddhism and modern Science
‘I have oftern said, and I shall say
again and again, that between Buddhism and modern Science there exist a close intellectual
bond’.
- Sir Edwin Arnold
Buddhism copes with Science
If there is any religion that would cope
with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.
- Albert Einstein
A spiritual Science
Buddhism is, on the contrary, a system of
thought, a religion, a spirtual science and a way of life which is reasonable, practical
and all embracing. For 2500 years it has satisfied that spiritual science and a way of
life, which is reasonable, practical and all embracing. For 2500 years it has satisfied
the spirtual needs of nearly one third of mankind. It appeals to the West, insists on self
reliance coupled with tolerance for the other ‘s points of view, embraces science,
relgion, philosophy, psychology, ethics and art, and points to man alone as the creator of
his present life and sole designer of his destiny.
- Christmas Humphreys
Buddhism begins where science ends
Science can give no assurance herein. But
Buddhism can meet the atomic Challenge, because the supramundane knowledge of Buddhism
begins where science leaves off. And this is clear enough to anyone who has made a study
of Buddism. For, through Buddhist Meditation, the atomic constituents making up matter
have been seen and felt, and the sorrow, or unsatifactoriness, of their ‘arising and
passing away’ (dependant on causes) has made itself with what we call a
‘soul’ or ‘atma’ – the illusion of Sakkayadithi, as it is called
in the Buddha’s teaching.
- Egerton C.Baptist, "Supreme
Science of the Buddha"
Cause and effect instead of rewards and
punishments
According to the Buddha the world is not
so constituted. Buddhist believe in a just rational of Kamma that operates automatically
and speak in terms of cause and effect instead of rewards and punishments.
- A writer
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[08]
WHAT IS NIBBANA
Salivation with out god
For the first time in the history of the
world, Buddha proclaimed a salvation, which each man could gain for himself and by himself
in this world during this life, without the least help from the personal GOD or Gods. He
strongly inculcated the doctrine of self reliance, of purity, of courtesy, of enlightment,
of peace and of universal love. He strongly urged necessity of knowledge, for without
wisdom psychic insight could not be got in his life.
- Prof. Eliot, "Buddhism and
Hinduism"
Buddha and the salvation
It is not the Buddha who delivers men, but
he teaches them to deliver themselves, even as he has deleivered himself. They accept his
teaching of the truth, not because it comes from him, but, because of personal conviction,
aroused by his words, arises by the light of their own spirit.
- Dr. Oldenburg, a German Buddhist scholar
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[09]
BELIEF
Buddha does not demand belief
The Buddha has not merely awakened to the
supreme reality, he also presents his higher knowledge that is superior to that of
"all gods logical disguise and mythical clothing. Here, however, it is given in so
cogent a form that it presents itself as positively and self evedent to the person to is
avble to follow him. For this reason the Buddha does not demand any belief, but promises
knowledge.
- George Grimm, "The Doctrine of the
Buddha"
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[10]
BUDDHISM AND
OTHER RELIGIONS
Post Buddhistic Hinduism
The various ways in which Buddhism
influenced, modified, transformed, and revitalised Hindu religion among all the
philospohical Sutras of the Hindus, are admitted post Buddhistic. The presuppostion of
Indian philosophy in the doctrine of Karma and rebirth and other pre Buddhistic system
have attained fullest development from Buddhistic literature and been established on
philosphical basis.
- Dr. S. N. Das Gupta
Universal Ethics
None the preBuddhistic religions of India
may be said to have been able to formulate a code of ethics and religion that wass
unversally and compulsorily valid for all.
- Dr. S. N. Das Gupta
Buddhism is Buddhism
Buddhism and Jainisn were certainly not
Hinuism ot even the Vedic Dharma. Yet they arose in India and were integral parts of
Indian life, culture and philosophy. Buddhist or Jaina in India is a hundred per cent
product of Indian thought culture, yet neither is Hindu by faith. It is entirely
misleading to refer to Indian culture as Hindu culture.
- Nehru, "Discovery of India"
Eternal Debt to the Buddha
It is my deliberate opinion that the
essential part of the teachings of the Buddha now forms an integral part of Hinduism. IT
is impossible for Hindu India today to retrace her steps and go behind the great
reformations that Gautama effected in Hinduism. By his immense sacrfice, by his great
renuniation, and by the immaculate purity of his life he left an indelible impress upon
Hinduism, and Hinduism owes an eternal debt of gratitude to the great teacher.
- Mahatma Gandhi, "Maha Bodhi"
Dominant creed
A system which knows no God in the Western
sense, which denied a soul to man, which counts the belief in immorality a blunder, which
refuses any effecacy to prayer and sacrifice, which bides man to look to nothing but their
own efforts for salvation, which in its orginal purity knew nothing of vows of obedience
and never sought the aid of the secular arm, yet spread over a considerable motley of the
old world with marvellous rapidity and is still, which whatever base admixture of forcing
supertitions, the dominant creed of a large fraction of mankind.
- T.H. Huxley
Buddhist Idea of sin
Its idea of sin differs somewhat from the
Christian idea. Sin to the Buddhist is mere ignorance or stupidity. The wicked man is an
ignorant man. He doesn’t need much punishment and condemnation so much as he needs
instruction. He is not regarded as ‘violating God’s commands’ or as one who
mest beg for divine mercy and forgiveness. Rather it is necessary fo rthe sinner’s
friends to make him reason in the human way. The Buddhist does not believe the sinner can
escape the consequences in prayerful attempts to bargain with God.
- John Walters, "Mind
Unshaken"
Gods need salvation
For the first time in human history the
Buddha admonished, entreated and appealed to people not to hurt a living being, not to
offer prayer of praise or sacrifice to gods. With all the eloquence as his command the
exalted one vehemently proclaimed that gods are slso in direction need of salvation of
themselves.
- Prof. Rhys Davids
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[11]
THE WORLD AND THE UNIVERSE
Unsatifactory world.
Buddha was not angry with the world. He
thought of it as unsatisfactory and transitory rather than wicked, as ignorant rather than
rebelliou. He troubled little about people who would not listen to him and showed no
nervous irritablity.
- Prof. Eliot, "Buddhism and
Hinduism"
A great Battle
The whole universe is a vast field of
battle. Everywhere there is fighting. Existance is nothing but a vain struggle against
germs of dreadful diseases, molecules against molecules, atoms against atoms, and
electrons. Mind is still more scene of battle. Forms, sounds, tastes, etc. are resultants
of counteracting and belligerant forces. Ther very existance of war proves that there is a
state of Perfect Peace. It is what we call Nibbana.
- Ven. Narada Thera, "The Bodhisatta
Ideal"
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