WESAK Day tomorrow commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Lord Buddha.
Celebrated with much less fanfare than Aidilfitri and Christmas, this is nevertheless a day worth reflecting upon a highly relevant Buddhist teaching for the nation and humanity.
Buddha is the last person anyone should suspect of wanting to shake your religious faith, for he stated: “If you find truth (in any religion, philosophy or science, then accept that truth without any prejudice).”
This quotation is taken from Treasure of the Dhamma by Dr K. Sri Dhammananda and it is regarded to be a summary of a long passage in the scripture Anguttara Nikaya.
That passage, in Part 3 Chapter 7, describes a dialogue with a group of town leaders wherein the Buddha is asked for his opinion about the abuses that religious men throw at each other because of conflicting teachings.
The Buddha advised against being misled by traditions, scriptural proficiency, mere logic or inference, acceptance of a theory or the authority of a religious man.
Rather, abide by what is profitable for the cleansing of moral impurities and control of your mind, what is blameless, free of censure, praiseworthy and conducive to happiness.
On many other occasions too, the Buddha warned against engaging in theological arguments that lead a disputant to claim that the religious concepts he believes in are the most excellent, whereas concepts that are different are wretched.
“Because he sees in himself a good result, with regard to what has been seen or heard, virtue and holy works or what has been thought, therefore, having embraced that, he looks upon everything else as bad” (Paramatthaka Sutta).
The Buddha warned of the harmful effects of religious prejudice.
“A view can be one-sided. If one is strongly attached to a view, one is bound to defend it and consider other views as wrong. Thus disputes arise and they impede the proper understanding of things and the development of wisdom” (Mahaviyuha Sutta).
Do not be narrowly focused on just the truth in your own religion.
In Pasura Sutta, the Buddha said: “Here they maintain purity, in other doctrines, they do not allow purity; what they have devoted themselves to, that they call good and they enter extensively upon the single truths.”
In Majjhima Nikaya, the Buddha advised: “One should avoid coming to the conclusion, ‘This alone is the truth, all else is falsehood.’ In this way, you safeguard the truth.”
The hardening of religious identities has become standard practice in many Asian countries and it will keep Asia engulfed in sectarian conflicts.
In Myanmar a decade ago, the dominant community developed a sense of religious besiegement and began treating the adherents of minority religions violently as their rising numbers were seen as a threat.
India is witnessing sporadic outbreaks of mob violence against the followers of two minority religions because some hardline right-wingers see them as threats to their nationalist ideology.
In Pakistan, religious minorities often face discrimination, harassment and violence with reported incidents of forced conversions.
Ancient feuds between Catholics and Protestants – two rival branches of Christianity – in Northern Ireland and between Sunnis and Shiites – two rival branches of Islam – in Iraq, continue to sap humanity.
These feuds originated from leadership disagreements that spilt over to doctrine.
How you may ask, can religious people inflict violence upon one another?
Researchers have found that hostile emotions may suppress activity in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a region of the brain that steers individuals away from violent behaviour.
When the OFC’s function is impaired by chronic hostility between communities, individuals who normally live righteous lives no longer feel restrained from inflicting violence on others.
It is thus heartening that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has urged Muslims to learn from the example of Cambodia, a predominantly Buddhist country that holds minority Muslims in high regard.
The prime minister said, “This is a lesson because sometimes when we are the majority, we feel so highly of ourselves thinking that other groups do not deserve respect”.
A year ago, Member of Parliament Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said in the Dewan Rakyat that Muslims, being the majority, had a responsibility to safeguard the rights and interests of minorities.
“Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do to you,” said Nazri.
However, it is so common for religious groups to violate this Golden Rule ethic by claiming world supremacy for their respective founders.
If every religion crowns its founder as world supremo, religious disputation becomes inevitable.
The Buddha made it clear that such a claim of matchless supremacy is not an absolute teaching but is only relatively and contextually valid.
If you read some verses in isolation – “Having broken the egg-shell of ignorance, I alone in the world am fully awake to unsurpassed and complete awakening” (Anguttara Nikaya), “Victorious over all, omniscient am I ... A teacher supreme am I” (Majjhima Nikaya) – it would seem that the Buddha also made a claim to matchless supremacy.
Although he referred to himself as the “Perfect Buddha who is now”, the Buddha also mentioned the “Perfect Buddhas who have passed” and the “Perfect Buddhas yet to come.” (Anguttara Nikaya).
“From time to time, a fully awakened one is born into the world, abounding in wisdom and goodness, with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to mortals willing to be led” (Tevigga Sutta).
“There have been in past times, a teacher so glorious, a proclaiming of the truth so glorious, a making known such glorious avenues to distinction, and there will be also in future times a teacher so glorious, a proclaiming of the truth so glorious, a making known such glorious avenues to distinction.” (Jana-Vasabha Sutta).
Hence, it is unwise for any religion to claim possession of the final truth because no one can tell what lofty degree of spiritual enlightenment may arise among human beings 5,000 years from today.
There can be no finality in the search for truth because there is no finality of existence.
Even the universe has no boundaries and we know from cosmology that it may be just one in an infinite series of universes.
The Buddha informs us that all the Exalted Ones teach Dharma. What is Dharma?
It is defined as the law of truth and righteousness that is not only for humans but also “for beasts and birds” (Cakkavatti-Sihanada Sutta).
“Live with the Dharma as your refuge, taking no other as your refuge.”
Ponder this advice to live with truth as your refuge, along with his admonition that being one-sided and narrowly focused on single truths will impede the proper understanding of things.
There is a hidden but implied warning conveyed in these verses.
In Malaysia, we are developing a silo mentality that confines religious followers within the boundaries of knowledge acceptable to the authorities of their respective faiths.
Besides dismissing any truths in other religions, scientific facts such as evolution are also being rejected.
But we know from sociological studies that an open mind and knowledge sharing are the key drivers of all human progress, close the door to wide learning and the nation will regress.
The writer champions interfaith harmony. Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
