- Basic Buddhism
- A Modern Introduction to the
Buddha's Teaching
- by Dr Victor A. Gunasekara
-
- CHAPTER 1
- Introduction to Basic
Buddhism
The term Buddhism is now used to
denote the teaching of the Buddha, a historical person who flourished some 25 centuries
ago on the Indian subcontinent. This eaching has been described variously as a religion, a
philosophy, a psychological system, an ethico-moral code, a socio-economic blue-print, and
so on. No doubt all these aspects could be discerned in different parts of the Buddha's
teaching, but the teaching is itself something more than all these combined. The term
which Buddhists use to designate the teaching is Dhamma or Dharma(1) . This term comes from a root term meaning "to
uphold", and means the basic law which "upholds" the universe. It is
therefore sometimes translated simply as Law or Norm. It conveys some idea of the unity
that informs the whole body of the Buddha's teaching. We shall use the words dhamma
and Buddhism as synonyms.
The term "Basic Buddhism" is
used in this work to denote those elements of Buddhism as currently propagated which could
be attributed fairly unambiguously to the Buddha himself. It is a basic argument here that
this teaching can not only be practised effectively in the modern world but also conforms
to the modern scientific view of the world(2) . In seeking
to establish the content of Basic Buddhism we have to start with a consideration of the
different schools of Buddhism that have arisen in the course of history. The Buddha did
not leave written records, and his disciples transmitted his teaching initially as an oral
tradition. Quite early in its history several distinct schools of Buddhism arose based
partly on the interpretation of common discourses, and partly on differing texts of the
discourses themselves. There is a substantial degree of agreement between these diverse
schools, and they have never exhibited an animosity towards each other comparable to the
schisms that have characterised many other religions.(3) It
is from the scriptures of these various schools of Buddhism, particularly from the Pali
Canon, that the original message of the Buddha, which we term Basic Buddhism, has to be
reconstructed.
About three centuries after the death of
the Buddha several different schools of Buddhism emerged, but the differences between them
were slight and related to minor points. However towards the beginning of the Common Era
(CE)(4) some of these groups gave a new interpretation to
the Buddha's teaching and called themselves the Mahâyâna ("Greater Vehicle")
School. They called the earlier schools the "Hinayâna" (Lesser Vehicle) school.
However this term was never accepted by the schools who were designated by it. Of these
schools only one survives today(5) . This is the Theravâda
("Doctrine of the Elders") school which claims to carry on the Buddhism of the
early followers of the Buddha. This view is now generally accepted and the Mahâyâna is
seen as a new innovation in Buddhism but still containing some of the essence of the
original teaching. These two traditions have also been termed the Southern and Northern
schools of Buddhism because of the geographical areas in which each prevailed. Each of
these traditions has its own versions of the Buddhist scriptures. All Theravada groups
subscribe to a common set of basic books (called the Pali Canon after the language, Pali,
in which it is recorded). We shall however refer to the original Buddhism as Pali Buddhism
rather than Theravada Buddhism. (6) Amongst the Mahâyâna
there is a much greater diversity of schools, doctrines, languages and texts. Initially
Sanskrit was the language of the Indian Mahayâna schools, but many of these were later
translated to Chinese and China soon became the centre of Mahayâna Buddhism. From there
it spread to many other countries including Korea, Japan (where the best known school of
Buddhism is Zen) and Tibet (where a distinct variety of Mahâyâna Buddhism called the
Vajrayâna or the "Diamond Vehicle" developed).
In its fundamental doctrines basic
Buddhism is closer to Pali Buddhism than to the Mahâyâna schools. This is because the
Pali Canon is the oldest compilation of the Buddha's teaching, and closest to the actual
words of the Buddha. Its present form was settled at the Third Council of Buddhists held
during the reign of King Asoka of Ancient India about 250 BCE. The Pali Canon was thus
systemised quite early, and has changed very little, indeed if at all, since then. It was
committed to writing in the first century BCE, and this preserved the texts from possible
further verbal corruption. The Pali Canon (like some other Buddhist canons) consists of
three sections (called Piakas or baskets) dealing with the Vinaya
(monastic discipline), Sutta (doctrines) and the Abhidhamma (the
analysis of the Dhamma).
While the principles and practice of basic
Buddhism has to be sought in the Pali Canon (especially in the Vinaya and the Sutta
piakas), actual Theravâda theory shows some development from early Buddhism. This took
three directions:
- Some of the material in the third section of the Canon, the
Abhidhamma Pitaka, was composed at a later date, and employed a didactic and taxonomic
method in analysing the psychological and philosophical concepts introduced by the Buddha.
The empirical method it employed to verify the Buddha's teaching was meditative
contemplation (especially insight meditation), and it excluded the use of other empirical
methods such as those employed by modern science.
- The commentatorial efforts of the great medieval
scholastics like Buddhaghosa and Dharmapâla tended to ossify the meaning and
interpretation of the Buddha's discourses, which was taken to be authoritative
interpretations of the Dhamma.
- Some contemporary developments in the Mahayâna came to
influence not only the practices of Theravâda, but also some aspects of Theravâda
doctrine as well. These developments must be taken into account in the reconstruction of
the original message of the Buddha.
It must not be thought that Basic Buddhism
should exclude everything found in the Mahayana teachings. While Mahayana has little to
contribute to the reconstruction of the theory of early Buddhism, it did retain some early
Buddhist practices which play a subordinate role in Pali Buddhism but could play a useful
role in modern Buddhist practice. Mahayana Buddhism shifted the Buddhist ideal from the
Arahant of Theravada Buddhism to the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva was seen as a being who
while being capable of enlightenment and release from samsâra, wilfully postpones
becoming fully liberated in order to help others. A natural consequence of this view was
that the primary Buddhist virtue was compassion (karunâ). In contrast to this Theravada
had regarded mettâ (loving-kindness) as the dominant virtue. There is a need to
reinstate compassion in Buddhist practice at least to an extent equal to that given to
mettâ.
Another aspect of Mahâyâna that is
important is the greater role given to the lay community in contrast to that of monks.
Early Buddhism had denoted by the Sangha the community of all Buddhists who had made some
progress in the Dhamma. This Sangha included both monks and lay persons, but Theravada
Buddhism tended to be excessively centred on the monastic orders, and included in the
Sangha only ordained monks, and sometimes reserved for them the exclusive role as teachers
of the Dhamma. Mahâyâna took a more flexible attitude. While the role of monks in
Buddhism cannot be underrated, and they will continue to play an important part in
contemporary Buddhism, it is clear that basic Buddhism should reinstate the role of the
lay community(7) .
Basic Buddhism should not be seen as an innovation in
Buddhism but rather as an attempt to go back to the roots of Buddhism, to what would have
been the actual doctrines preached originally by the Buddha.