BUDDHISM, AS PRACTISED TODAY

I have been attending Dhamma discussions for over an year, where I believe, the true word of the Buddha is being told. As a devout Buddhist, why I went to one of these discussions was because I strongly disagreed with what I heard was being discussed there, and wanted to confront the speaker.

I asked many questions, when the meanings given to words, were contrary to the popular belief. Even though the answers sounded rather strange at first, I came to realize that what was discussed there was so logical, beautiful and deep that it had to be the vision of a Buddha.

So here are some of the reasons/inconsistencies as to why I now cannot accept Buddhism, as popularly practised today.

This is to help anyone who wants to find the true meaning of the Buddha’s enlightened vision, which is a journey within and without the rites and the rituals as practised today.

1. Today the heart of Buddhism is meditation. During Prince Siddhartha’s time, meditation already prevailed in society and he went from teacher to teacher studying meditation. If Prince Siddhartha attained enlightenment by meditation, he cannot be ‘Samma Sambuddha’ as a Samma Sambuddha is one who finds the way to Nibbana, through his own wisdom and without any assistance from any previous teaching.

2. The ascetic Siddhartha, after learning and practising all types of extreme meditation for 6 years, gave it up as being useless and started eating normally to get his health back.

During the Dhamma Chakka Sutra, the Buddha preached that all what he had done up to the point of enlightenment was worthless and was of no use to anyone. He had given up the two extreme ends of comfort and discomfort (Ubo anthe anupagamma).

So why are we practising meditation to achieve Nibbana, when the Buddha had abandoned it as pointless for this purpose?

3. The Buddha preached that the way to Nibbana was ‘Chetho Vimukthiya’ which means being liberated from all thought. Meditation is the concentration on one thought, what ever it may be. If meditation was the way, then probably Asitha, Alara Kalama and Uddhakha Ramaputtha, who were Prince Siddhartha’s teachers, would have become enlightened long before ascetic Siddhartha, as they had reached the ultimate point of meditation at that time. Even if these ascetics were able to control all worldly thoughts through meditation, they were unaware of the thought in the life continuum itself, which has to be eliminated to come into the enlightened vision.

4. When the Buddha had 60 disciples who had come into the enlightened vision, the Buddha requested that they go in all direction and spread the Dhamma. (Charatha Bhikkhave charikam, bahujana hithaya bahu jana sukhaya). If there is anyone today, who has achieved enlightenment in the meditation retreats or anywhere else, why don’t they come forward and spread the Dhamma? Isn’t that what the Buddha requested his disciples to do?

5. In all what I have read in the ‘Buddha Charithaya’ (which used to be the text book for GCE ‘O’ level by Venerable Narada), in every instance, persons became enlightened, by listening to Saddhamma and not through meditation. Even monk Ananada, after the passing away of the Buddha, tried valiantly to attain enlightenment before the first Sanghayana” and achieved it only when he stopped to rest and not when he was meditating!

6. To Alawaka Yakshaya’s question as to how one could attain wisdom (enlightenment), the Buddha replied “sussutha labathe panna, appamattho vichakkano”, one gets wisdom by listening and acceptance through rational thinking. Therefore not by mere acceptance through faith.

7. We have been taught that the rays of light emit from the Buddha’s body. Even the five ascetics, who were helping ascetic Siddhartha in his efforts to reach enlightenment, did not accept that ascetic Siddhartha had attained the goal, when the Buddha first came to meet them at Isipathana, as there were no visible outward signs. The Buddha had to proclaim 3 times that he had reached enlightenment and ask the ascetics if he had ever made any such claim previously, before the ascetics prepared themselves to listen to the first ever sermon.

Also king Pukkusathi, who gave up his kingdom and was on his way to Jethawana to meet the Buddha, spent an entire night with the Buddha in a mud-hut on the wayside, without realizing that he was in conversation with the Buddha. Only after the Buddha had expounded the doctrine and the king had attained the stage of Sovan, that king Pukkusathi realized that he had spent the entire night talking to the Buddha.

This just goes to show that the Buddha did not have any supernatural aura that the human eye could see, as believed today.

8. In the Dhamma Chakka Sutra, the Buddha addresses the five un-ordained, bearded ascetics led by Kondanna, who were neither robed nor had attained enlightenment, as ‘Bhikku’. So there obviously is a deeper meaning to the word ‘Bhikku’ than the reference we use today for saffron robed monks.

9. The Buddha described ten fetters that bind us to this samsaric existence, which we have to eliminate to achieve enlightenment. The first stage of enlightenment is ‘Sovan’ which means getting rid of the first 3 fetters (samyojana), which are ‘Sakkaya Ditti’ (self view), ‘Vichikichcha’ (doubting the Dhamma) and ‘Seelabbatha Paramasa’ (wrong beliefs and wrong rituals). ‘Kama raga’ (craving), is the 4^th fetter, starts to get dormant only in the 2^nd stage of enlightenment, which is the stage of ‘Sakrudagami’, and is totally extinguished only at the 3^rd stage of Anagami.

Then today, why are all Buddhists trying to reduce and get rid of the 4^th fetter, craving, to become enlightened? The Buddha has clearly shown that an enlightened person still has craving until he becomes an Anagami and that craving starts to get dormant only after enlightenment? Are we not putting the cart before the horse???

Aren’t we trying to something that cannot be done? Isn’t this one of the reasons that we can’t achieve enlightenment today?  

10. The Buddha, who conquered death, said that he does not approve of this world even for a moment. (Asuru sanak vath mama bhavaya warnana karanne ne).

Then, today, why do we take that he preached for a continuous existence of being born in Deva and Brahma worlds and push off attaining Nibbana to far off day?  Why do our monks bless us with repeated existence in these worlds? Doesn’t this seem strange? Isn’t this the Vedic doctrine? The Buddha said that as long as the pure doctrine is available, anyone could attain Nibbana this life itself. So does this mean that the pure doctrine is no longer in existence among the Buddhist monks?  

11.     Would a Buddha with infinite wisdom, who saw the futility of the continuous craving and existence of beings, who had ended the cycle of rebirth, be born in this world, give advice on how to lead a good lay life and to accumulate merit for the next?

Doesn’t it sound rather absurd, when ample rules and rituals for a good lay life already existed in the Vedic doctrine of that day? Wouldn’t he teach what he attained? Wasn’t the Buddha’s message to get out this suffering here and now in this life itself? 

12.     The Buddha preached that each one was responsible for his own karma, good or bad. This means that we cannot give or take merit from others. Then, when someone dies, why do we give merit to the person who died? Hasn’t the Buddha specifically said that it cannot be done? During the Buddha’s time ‘panshukula was not a practise among the Buddhists. Isn’t it obvious that it’s just a custom, which has been added on later?

Even the word ‘panshukula’ means a cloth that a dead body is wrapped in and thrown in to a cemetery. This cloth when retrieved by monks is stained, torn and tattered by the animals that devour the body. The areas of the cloth that can be salvaged are cut out and the pieces are stitched together to form a robe. But today the panshukula means a new white cloth! 

13.  The Buddha did not ask people to observe the 5 precepts before he gave a sermon, as done today. The Buddha inquired from people that he met, what their problems/concerns were and in every instance the Buddha skilfully embodied the 4 Noble Truth and the Dependent Origination within the answer to their questions or concerns. How else would anyone possibly come into the enlightened vision, if they only listened to advice regarding lay life? It is sad that we are not taught the deeper meaning of the Buddha’s sermons today, but only the superficial examples and words. 

14.   ‘Sil’ that is taken as precepts, was already in existence in the Brahmin society when Prince Siddhartha was born. This is apparent from the fact that Maha Maya Devi was supposed to have observed ‘sil’ when Prince Siddhartha was conceived in her womb.

So again aren’t we practising something that is not Buddhism but Brahmin rules for the laity, for peace, order and harmony in the society, as Buddhism?

As I understand now, ‘sil’ is not something to be observed for a period of time, but is a permanent form of self-discipline, which comes through the liberation of thought and this is the result of the enlightened vision, ‘panna’. This also corresponds with the Buddha’s doctrine of ‘panna, seela, samadhi’ and not ‘seela, samadhi, panna’ as practised today.   

15. The Buddha’s doctrine is one where there is no ‘self’.  Then when we take the five precepts as a person, are we not establishing the self-view, which is what we have to get rid of to attain enlightenment?

16.  The Buddha knew several languages (8, as I am told). Written language existed in that society as the 3 Vedas were already documented and in existence. Then why did not the Buddha with his infinite wisdom ask his disciples to write this doctrine down? This wonderful Dhamma that is so rare and valuable? Isn’t it because an ‘akalika’ Dhamma could not be written down?

17. After the passing away of the Buddha, the 1^st to the 3^rd ‘Samgayana’s were headed by Arahants. The Dhamma was discussed here but not written down even though writing was in existence. Isn’t this because the enlightenment is a vision and cannot be put down in words but could only be explained with relative words and examples depending on the listener?

18. The 4^th ‘Samgayana’ was held 500 odd years after the passing away of the Buddha. This was headed by a ‘Sthavira’ and not an ‘Arahant’, which means by a person who did not have the enlightened vision.  At this time there was already sects in the Sasana and it’s documented that certain sects did not participate. Doesn’t this segregation prove that the pure doctrine was corrupted even at that time?

19. Buddhism was documented much later and in Sri Lanka. By this time Mahayana Buddhism had already engulfed the island and the monks were separated in to sects, which means the pure doctrine was corrupted. Doesn’t this amply prove that the books that were written do not have the pure doctrine?

20.   The Buddha preached in the ‘Magadha’ language, which was very close to Sinhala. When monk Buddhagosha came to Sri Lanka, he translated all Buddhist scripts to Pali and wrote his own book called ‘Visuddhi Maggha’.

Isn’t this again an interpretation of an interpretation, corrupting the doctrine even further? How much credit can we give to a versions written by someone without the enlightened vision?  

21. The Buddha condemned the worship of trees, statues, fire, gods etc. as he saw them as barbaric rituals. The Buddha chased away Wakkali who had been gazing at him in awe and said that the way to see the Buddha was by seeing the Dhamma. (Yo dhammam passathi so mam passathi). The Buddha repeatedly told Ananda “You don’t honour me” even though Ananda was at the Buddha’s beck and call and looked after the Buddha in every possible way, night and day.

Doesn’t this show that if we are to see the Buddha, we as Buddhists are not supposed to be worshipping statues, doing ‘Buddha poojas, Aloka poojas and Bodhi Poojas’, giving merit to the dead, attending meditation retreats and praying to numerous gods but to listen to the true Saddhamma, to look within our selves and come to the enlightened vision in this life itself?

CONCLUSION

Meditation existed in the Indian society long before Prince Siddharatha was born. Many amazing fetes were done, by mastering different methods and types of meditation, like walking on water, flying through air etc. Meditation is also good for one’s health, to relieve stress and high blood pressure and it also makes a person calm and improves concentration. However, all methods of meditation are concentration on a thought and are for a continued and happy existence.

In reading the Buddha’s life story, nowhere has the Buddha asked anyone to meditate or to observe ‘Sil’ to come into the enlightened vision’. It is always that when the Buddha expounded the 4 Noble Truth and the Dependent Origination, which is the core of this teaching, that persons listening see the enlightened vision beyond the 5 senses. It is not a realization as the enlightened vision is beyond thought. (Vinnanassa nirodhena).

It is apparent to me that writing of the doctrine was done, when the enlightened vision was no longer in existence or by persons who did not have the enlightened vision. A true disciple of the Buddha, who came to the same enlightened vision as the Buddha, would never do anything that the Buddha did not advocate. These writers may have documented the doctrine with the good motive of preserving what was left of it, as they understood it.

However in doing so, they have written down their own interpretation of the doctrine through thinking and not through seeing. Thereby they have included the many rites and rituals that had crept in to the doctrine from other religions, beliefs and cultures, within the course of time, creating a new religion called Buddhism.

If the books that have been written are correct, there will not be volumes and volumes of books written on the same subject, eg. The Four Noble Truth, giving everyone’s different interpretation and opinion. There would be only one book as the Buddha was a teacher surpassed by none and because everyone came into the same enlightened vision.

However, even this argument is not really applicable because the Buddha did not advocate writing down the doctrine, as it is not possible. If it could have been done, the Buddha, with his universal wisdom, would have certainly directed his disciples to do so.

The Buddha, as I understand, did not preach for a continuous existence in the Deva and the Brahma realms. He expounded a doctrine where there was no ‘self’. He preached the Four Noble Truth and the ‘Dependant Origination’ (Pattichcha Samuppadaya), to show us the way to end this pointless, repeated cycle of birth and death in this life itself.

The Buddha uncovered an enlightened vision, which had no words, was hidden by time and was known to none (Pubbe anunussuthesu dhamme su). He used words and examples of that day’s society as parables to explain the wordless enlightened vision to the masses, so that they themselves could understand the wordless vision and see the reality in that life itself. But when books were written by persons who did not have the enlightened vision, they could not ‘see’ what the Buddha meant and reverted back to the mundane, surface meaning of the words. Therefore it is not surprising that people studying these interpreted suthras, cannot come into the enlightened vision.

Buddhism today, like any other religion, has become a set of rules to guide the masses to be good, pious people in society. I can now see that the Buddha neither set rules for a good society nor did he advise people to denounce worldly possessions and go to the forest as accepted today. The Buddha himself lived in the heart of the city at Jethavanaramaya.

However much we try to be good, enforced by various methods of self-control, when the right circumstances arise, we react to them before we have time to think. I have now realized that the Buddha’s doctrine is for us to understand the dependant origination of thoughts and deeds from within one’s self, while carrying on one’s normal life. Then self-discipline comes automatically from within you. Life becomes so much easier as you don’t have to force yourself to behave in a certain way. This, I believe, is also the way to the enlightened vision.

Buddhism, the religion, looks at outside trees, statues, Devas, rituals and meditation for answers for a happy life now and numerous lives of luxury there after, continuing to indulge in the pleasures of the 5 senses and postpone Nibbana to a far off future.

The Buddha expounded an enlightened vision, where we were shown how to look within this fathom long body of ours for answers, to end this pitiful existence here and now, within this life itself.

March 26^th, 2002