Now humans are living in the 21st century, and the society in this century is totally different from the ancient world. Modern man is rapidly reaping the good and bad results of his scientific progress. We are not entitled to say that ancient man is better than modern man, but it seems that modern man is going to face the dangers of war-games and many socio-economic and other political problems. Needless to say, the world in which we live today is highly complicated and confused with many tangles (jatas). Ancient man had only to cope with natural disasters and sudden terrible misfortunes such as a great flood, fire, or earthquake. But modern man is facing the danger of extinction due to his own evil and immoral actions. Certain political philosophers and well-known scientists are of the opinion that the whole world could certainly be affected by a nuclear war or some other kind of terrible war.
Day by day, hundreds and hundreds of previously unheard problems and new troubles arise. To name a few, depression, drug-related crimes, environmental pollution, unemployment, obesity, teen suicide, gang violence, neglect of aged parents, workaholism, overpopulation, large-scale terrorism, and revolutionary activity of certain groups are before us. In brief, the whole human society is in a state of chaos. Can this chaotic situation be remedied or discontinued soon? Who is there to give a proper remedy or guidance to avoid these man-made problems? People who are blinded by desire and money have no compassion for this troubled situation. Is it, therefore, not incorrect to say that modern man is digging his own grave at a frantic rate?
Today our society is pleasure-seeking (kāmagavesi), money-centered, and highly competitive. Is this the proper way to lead a successful life with a peaceful mind? Man seeks his own happiness through competition, but he never finds it there. He is misguided, misdirected, and the real nature of his mind is exploited. He is taught to cultivate desire-seeking attitudes and actions. Competition gives birth to a selfish mind, unhappiness and lack of satisfaction (attito). It is the very nature of competition. As a result, people tend to be demanding, untrustworthy, slanderous, suspicious, jealous, and frustrated when desires are not fulfilled, so there are very few truly harmonious social relations (sammā-samaggi) among human beings. Therefore, today we are in urgent need of a considerable change of human attitudes. What is the answer for this unhappiness and lack of satisfaction? Is there any ethical or religious thought or scientific thinking which is capable or bringing peace and cooperation to this confused society of our post-industrial world?
Albert Einstein, who is considered the father of modern science, gives the answer thus:
If there is any religion which is acceptable to modern scientific mind, it is Buddhism. It is capable of bringing peace, prosperity, and happiness into this profoundly disturbed world.
It is high time for us to lay special emphasis on this scientist’s words. Gaining a deep knowledge and understanding about many religions, Einstein points out the proper religion which can be acceptable to modern scientific thinking.
Buddhism discarded all mythical views, and it paved the way for tearing the mythical curtain of dogmatic views of the time of the Buddha. It teaches us to be open-minded and to give up preconceived ideas and prejudices. Buddhism is not a secret doctrine; it is open to all human beings alike. It is neither a theistic religion nor is it really a religion in the the sense of the term “religion.”
There is no concept of a supernatural God in early Buddhism, and it is not a system of devotional faith (bhakti). Buddhism does not demand blind faith from its followers, but it teaches us to inquire, experience, and derive confidence (saddhā) from the experience. Saddhā is two-fold:
- amulikā saddhā - blind faith based on scripture, tradition or authority
- ākāravatīsaddhā - confidence based on inquiry.
Buddhist followers are advised to cultivate ākāravatī saddhā whereas amulikā saddhā, which may lead us to be blind to the vision of knowledge and insight, is to be abandoned. The Kālāma Sutta of the Aṅguttara Nikāya points out the way to get the correct knowledge of what is wholesome (kusala) and what is unwholesome (akusala), and it also teaches us the way of grasping reality. The Kālāma Sūtra can easily be considered to be an embryonic form of scientific thinking.
What is the Buddhist attitude to the problems of modern man? Does it propose any way of finding an answer to these continual hardships? Before going on to give solutions to various problems of this modern industrial man, Buddhism advises us to scrutinize the real cause of all the problems. It says that all of the problems of human beings arise as a consequence of man’s greed (lobha), hatred (dosa) and delusion (moha).
Man abuses world resources and produces pernicious nuclear weapons. Why does he produce inter-continental atomic missiles and laser bombs? Why are there supersonic fighters? These are the results of man’s greed and hatred. Therefore, is it not untrue to say that over the entire world today, there spreads an invisible umbrella -- the umbrella of nuclear terror? Roger L. Shinn, the author of Tangled World says that any city on any continent can disappear instantaneously in a mushroom cloud.
Today, man is not spiritually intelligent enough to understand humanity and the sacredness of humanity because of his deep involvement in commercial enterprises. And he cannot fully understand the reason why he is disgusted with his fellow man - hating his own species. In accordance with the exhortations of the Vasettha Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya, we may come to the following conclusion unquestionably:
There is one race in the world, that is the human race. There is one caste in the world, that is the human caste.
Although human beings have certain wrong views, ideas and assumptions regarding race and caste distinctions, they have to accept that all human beings are equal before the moral law (Dhamma). Neglect of moral law means the deterioration and destruction of everything. It is very clear that war-games are targeted at the destruction of man’s own species and again it is due to the lack of understanding of Dhamma.
In the Dhammapada we find the most fitting admonition for war-like tendency and hatred of man thus:
Hatred is never appeased through hatred in this world.
It is appeased only by loving-kindness.
This is an eternal law.
Nahi verena verani - sammantidha kudacanam
averena ca sammanti - esa dhammo sanantano
We should have a motherly affection toward other humans and non-humans. As a mother at the risk of her own life watches over her own child, her only child, so also let everyone cultivate a boundless compassion toward all beings. It is this attitude that all political leaders of the modern world should cultivate irrespective of their “isms” or ideologies, whether it is Communism, Socialism, Marxism, or Democracy.
Mind is very significant, for it is the forerunner of all actions. Therefore, compassion and loving-kindness for all fellow citizens - all those of different views, preferences, habits, race, religion, social status, moral character, etc. - are badly needed today.
Supersonic fighters and inter-continental atomic missiles do not operate themselves. It is man who operates them. Who are the people that give orders to operate them? It is political leaders who issue orders and make them operate. They also have hearts and minds that can be changed and it is not impossible to do so. The problem is that they do not personally see their own fellow human brothers suffering in the battlefields. They see only the statistics and the success of their ideologies being imposed on others, and not the suffering people. Statistics do not lament. Statistics do not bleed. Political leaders think that their own opinions are correct and that they justify waging war.
The Emperor Aśoka of India saw for himself the suffering wrung at the Kalinga battlefield, which changed his mind. He gave up winning territories by battle and embraced Buddhist doctrine. After that, his ideology was the Dhamma (righteousness). Therefore, it has been clearly proven that through Buddhist teachings peace could be achieved and that it is not a mere theory.
Now there are many other man-made problems to be solved in this post-industrial era. Many of them are related to the resources of the earth. Air pollution, water pollution, land pollution, deforestation, overgrazing, over-fishing, overuse of pesticides, over-urbanization, and over-industrialization are some of them. Man violates his own environment irrespective of the law of nature or Dhamma. This is the result of the gap between scientific knowledge and ethical understanding. Knowledge without ethical foundation is blind. It generates harmful consequences to any kind of society. Therefore, ethical understanding is the most important factor here. Buddhism would say that we should cultivate friendly thinking and a sacred attitude toward our environment. Nature fosters all human beings and therefore it can easily be considered to be the sacred mother of the human race.
This concept was exemplified by the Buddha's own actions. During the second Week after attaining Enlightenment, the Buddha silently taught a great moral lesson to human beings. To express his profound gratitude to the Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa) that sheltered him during his endeavor for Enlightenment, he sat down at a certain distance gazing at the tree with motionless eyes for one whole week. This is called “animisalocana pūja” with which Buddha taught us by his example that nature should be well respected, and it further emphasizes that nature deserves a friendly attitude and profound gratitude from humans.
Malnutrition, poverty, unemployment, poverty-related crimes, poverty-related diseases, and other chronic socio-economic problems, are the results of misguided knowledge and desire (taṇha) of man. Mal-administration causes malnutrition and poverty. Social crimes and certain diseases are related to poverty. These chronic social problems, as well as the more recent social problems that have arisen in the past 50 years, are caused by greed and delusion (lobha and moha). In other words, man’s extreme selfishness is responsible for these problems.
It seems that the solution rests with the changing of hearts of human beings - there is no other way. The heart is the seat of feelings and strong emotions. Anger and ill-will can be cooled down by calmness of heart (hadayassa santi). Buddhism, as a ethical philosophy, advocates the practice of meditation. Buddhist meditation enables the individual to gain calmness of heart, control of emotions, control of the senses and thus control of the desires, and eventually leads to insight (vipassanā), spiritual wisdom (paññā) and eradication of delusion. Therefore, Buddhist meditation is capable of bringing a solution to almost all of the problems and tangles of modern man (see Appendices II and III for examples of Buddhist meditations).
References:
- Benz, E., Buddhism or Communism, London, 1966.
- The Dhammapada (Max Muller, ed.), verse no. 5, Delhi, 1965.
- Metta Sutta, Sutta Nipāta, P.T.S., London, 1965.
- Dharmasiri, G., Fundamentals of Buddhist Ethics, Singapore.