Buddhism
in the Modern World:
Cultural and Political Implication
Bhikkhu
Sangharakshita
---o0o---
In order to determine the cultural and
political implications of Buddhism in the modern world we must first define Buddhism
itself, and ascertain the general nature of its relation to culture and to politics. A
glimpse of the cultural achievements of Buddhism during its twenty-five centuries of
history, and of its political status and influence in the same period will be helpful in
understanding the cultural implications of Buddhism today, not only in the East but also
in the West, besides grasping its current political implications for Asia and the world at
large.
1. The Nature of Buddhism
Buddhism, or more accurately, the Dharma,
may best be defined simply as the means to enlightenment. The Buddha himself compares it
to a raft. Just as a raft, after being fashioned out of grass, sticks, branches and
leaves, serves to cross over great stretches of water and is then abandoned, so the
Dharma, by means of which we ferry over the waters of birth and death to the other shore,
nirvana, is not something to be taken with us but something to be left behind [M. I. 134].
In short, it is not an end in itself, but only a means to an end. In modern parlance, its
function is purely instrumental and therefore its value only relative. This of course does
not mean that it can be dispensed with. When we have arrived safely on the other shore,
the raft may indeed be abandoned; but so long as we remain on this shore, or are still
paddling across the stream, it is indispensable.
The pragmatic nature of the Dharma is
emphasized in the words addressed by the Blessed One to his foster-mother and aunt,
Mahapajapati Gautami, who had asked him to give her precept, hearing which she might dwell
"alone, solitary, ardent and resolved." The, Buddha replies, "Of whatsoever
teachings, Gotami, thou canst assure thyself thus: 'These doctrines conduce to dispassion,
not to passions : to detachment, not to bandage : to decrease of (worldly) gains, not to
increase of them : to frugality, not to covetousness : to content, and not discontent : to
solitude, not company: to energy, not sluggishness: to delight in good, not delight in
evil' : of such teachings thou mayest with certainty affirm, Gotami, 'This is the Dharma.
This is the Vinaya. This is the Master's Massage [Vin. II. 10]. It is for this reason that
the Mahayanists were not only able to say, with Ashoka, "Whatever the Blessed One has
said is well said", but also "Whatever is well said is the word of the Buddha
[Adhyasayasamcudana Sutra, Siksa Samuccaya of Santideva, tr. by Cecil Bendall and W.H. D.
Rouse, London, 1922, p.17].
The means to enlightenment comprise three
groups of practices. Ananda, questioned about the Master's teaching some time after the
mahaparinirvana, tells his interrogator, a young Brahmana, that the Blessed One taught
sila, samadhi, prajna and gives an explanation of each of these terms in turn [D. I. 10].
According to the Mahaparinibbanasutta, these three groups had, in fact, formed the
substance of the farewell discourse delivered by the Buddha at the various places through
which he passed in the course of his last journey [D. II. 3]. Sila, or ethics,
traditionally consists of the five precepts incumbent upon all Buddhists, both monks and
laymen, as well as the 227 or 250 binding upon Hinayana and Mahayana monks respectively,
and various special precepts observed by the Bodhisattvas. In samadhi, or meditation, are
included mindfulness, and self-possession (satisampajanna), contentment (santutthita) the
overcoming of the five hindrances (pancanivarana), the attainment of the four (or eight)
stages of super-consciousness (jhana) by means of one or more of the forty classical
supports of concentration (kammatthana), and the development of various psychic powers
(iddhi). Prajna (Pali: Panna), generally rendered as wisdom, includes all the doctrines of
Buddhism, that is to say, teachings relating to the conditioned co-production
(pratityasamutpada) of phenomena, the three characteristics (trilaksana) of mundane
existence, the four noble truths (aryasatya), universal emptiness (sarvadharmanairaimya),
the three kinds of reality (svabhava), mind only (citta-matrata), and the three bodies of
the Buddha (trikaya). Through each of these three stages in turn must the disciple pass in
order to attain nirvana. While some of the practices enumerated under sila and samadhi are
found in other traditions, the doctrines which constitute the conceptual formulations of
prajna are peculiar to Buddhism.
2. Buddhism and Culture
Culture, which is derived from a Latin
word meaning 'tilling,' can be looked at from three principal points of view. First of
all, it is the act of developing the moral, intellectual and aesthetic nature of man
through education and discipline. Secondly, it is that familiarity with and taste in the
fine arts, humanities and broad aspects of science, that enlightened and refined state or
temper of mind, which such education and discipline tend to induce. Thirdly, it is those
activities and objects which are the effect in the artist, and the cause in the rasika, or
savourer of a work of art, of the enlightenment and refinement referred to. Thus, culture
comprises the act of cultivation, or education (literally a 'bringing out'), the thing
cultivated, in this case a mental state, and the fruits of such cultivation; in short,
works of science and of art. Buddhism is obviously connected with culture in all three
senses. But what is the nature of the connection between the two? Is it merely a
historical and accidental relation having nothing to do with the essential nature of
either Buddhism or of culture, or does it spring from some deep and hidden affinity?
Buddhism, as we have seen, is the means to enlightenment, and as such threefold,
consisting of sila, samadhi and prajna. In order to have an inner, as distinct from a
merely outer, connection with Buddhism, culture must be able to function as a means to
enlightenment. In other words, it must be possible for us to subsume it under the category
of ethics, or of meditation, or of wisdom. Can this be done?
According to the Theravada tradition, it
can. Speaking of bhavana, or mental culture, Dr. C. L. A. de Silva, a distinguished
exponent of this school, writes, 'The volitions arising in the processes of thought during
the time of learning the Dhamma Vinaya (the doctrine) or any arts, sciences and so on,
too, are included under the heading of mental culture or bhavana [The Four Essential
Doctrines of Buddhism, Colombo, 1948, p. 155]. Though the connotation of bhavana is on the
whole more active than that of samadhi, the two terms are in the present context more or
less synonymous. Culture may be subsumed under samadhi, the second of the path to nirvana,
because, like the more direct and specialized methods pertaining to the practice of
meditation, the arts and sciences also contribute to the purification refinement and
elevation of consciousness. This fact has been recognized, in practice, even if not in
theory, by all schools of Buddhism. But since the fine arts, by reason of their greater
emotional appeal, are able to heighten consciousness to a far greater extent than the
sciences, it is with painting, music and poetry, rather than with mathematics and
chemistry, that Buddhism is most intimately related.
This connection is twofold. Art may be
either sacred or profane. In the first case, art is deliberately used, in conjunction with
other methods, as a means of rising to a higher plane of consciousness. The Buddha image
springs to the mind as the best known example of this type of art. By fixing his mind on
such an image, instead of on something that is not a work of art, the devotee is enabled
to purify and refine his consciousness not only by the act of concentration itself but
also by the aesthetic appeal of the image. Buddhist art, in which painting, sculpture,
music and poetry, are all integrated into the spiritual tradition, and utilized, not
merely as media of religious propaganda, but as objects of concentration and meditation,
is one of the most effective means of heightening the consciousness ever devised by man.
Profane art, or art which has no formal connection with the Dharma, though capable of
producing an effect of the same kind is rarely able to produce it to the same degree. Not
being reinforced and stabilized by the methodical practice of concentration, and having,
as sometimes happens, no firm foundation in the moral life, whatever heightening of
consciousness it is able to produce is of momentary duration only. For this reason art,
though it may greatly assist and powerfully reinforce the practice of meditation, the
second stage of the Path, can never be a substitute for it. Much less can art be a
substitute for religion. The Dharma as a means to enlightenment comprises, as we have
already seen, not only Sila and samadhi, ethics and meditation, but prajna or wisdom. Even
if it could be shown that art alone is capable of inducing the dhyanas, or states of
super-consciousness, that it was capable of producing prajna there is this difference that
the former, however high it may soar, is still mundane, whereas the latter is
transcendental. Hence the Dharma, since it is not only ethics and meditation but also
wisdom does not merely include culture but transcends it.
However, Buddhism is traditionally
associated not only with the sacred but also with the profane variety of art. By this we
mean that besides making direct use of art for meditative purposes it also recognizes the
purifying and refining power of "a thing of beauty", and therefore not only
tolerates but also encourages the independent cultivation of the arts. Thus we have not
only the images of Buddhas, and Bodhisattvas but statues of yaksas, yaksinis and apsaras,
who, though belonging to the mythology of Buddhism, have nothing to do with its doctrine.
Asvaghosa composes an epic poem on the life of the Buddha; but Wang Wei sings of
mountains, mists, and streams. Broadly speaking, the Mahayana, the liberal and progressive
wing of Buddhism, was concerned more with the integration into the doctrine, as a
supplementary means to enlightenment, of as many arts and sciences as possible. Thus, its
art is on the whole sacred art. The Flinayana, which was somewhat conservative, pursued
the cultivation of the arts and sciences parallel to the study and practice of the
doctrine. Hence, its works of art are on the whole profane. To these generalizations there
are, of course, many exceptions. The Mahayana has produced a great deal of profane art,
while the Hinayana has produced a great deal of sacred art.
3. Buddhism and Politics
The relation between Buddhism and politics
is not quite so simple as that between Buddhism and culture. For, being concerned with the
individual rather than with the group, culture is related to Buddhism as personal
religion, but not to Buddhism as institutional religion. Moreover, Buddhism comprises,
from the institutional point of view, two groups, one large and one small, the first being
the community of lay believers, both male and female, the second the noble Order of monks.
These two groups need not have the same kind of relation to politics. In order to
understand clearly the relation between Buddhism, both personal and institutional, on the
one hand, and politics in the various senses of the term, on the other, it would be
necessary to investigate the relations between (a) the Buddhist doctrine and political
theories, (b) Buddhism and the State, (c) the laity and the government, (d) the Sangha and
the government, (e) the individual monk and the government, (f) the layman and practical
politics, and (g) the monk and practical politics.
(a) As far as our knowledge goes, the
Buddha confined his attention strictly to questions of religious discipline, and refrained
from making any pronouncement upon the relative merits of rival political theories and
system. During his lifetime, as is well known to historians, two types of government
prevailed in north-eastern India, the monarchical and the republican; but the Buddha did
not praise or condemn either. His statement that so long as the Vajjians, a confederacy of
republican tribes, would "assemble repeatedly and in large numbers, just so long
their prosperity might be looked for and not their decay" [D. II. 73] cannot be
regarded as favouring republicanism, any more than if he had said that King Ajatasatru
could, if he was clever enough, break the confederacy, his statement could have been
interpreted as approving autocracy. He merely stated the facts of the case without passing
any ethical judgement. On one point, however, the Buddha, and after him the entire
Buddhist tradition, was quite explicit: the government must uphold the moral and spiritual
law. Being the means to enlightenment, Buddhism naturally demands that the State should
recognize the fact that the true goal of life is not to eat, drink and reproduce the
species, but to attain nirvana, and that, therefore, it has the duty of providing for its
citizens a political and social organization within which both monks and the laity can
live in accordance with the Dharina. Between Buddhism, on the one hand, and any political
theory which recognizes, either implicitly or explicitly, the supremacy of the moral and
spiritual law and makes provision for its individual and collective application, on the
other, there can be no disagreement. From the Buddha's social egalitarianism, as well as
from his deliberate decentralization of authority in the Sangha, it may be inferred that a
form of government, in theory democratic, in effect aristocratic (for an intelligent
electorate would naturally elect the best man), would be most in accordance with his
Teaching. Buddhism has no objection to either a socialistic or to a capitalist state
provided it makes provision not only for the material but also for the moral and spiritual
well-being of its subjects.
(b) The nature of the relation between
Buddhism and the State will vary in accordance with two factors, one being, of course, the
nature of the State itself, the other the relative strength of the Buddhist population. In
a predominantly non-Buddhist State, Buddhism would expect to enjoy the same rights as
other religious minorities. That is to say, it would demand complete freedom to practise
and propagate its tenets. Whether persecuted or tolerated, however, Buddhist citizens
would always remain loyal to the State to which they belonged. In a predominantly Buddhist
State, Buddhism would naturally expect official recognition as the State religion. Under
democracy, the State is the people, and the government is only the agency through which
the will of the people is carried out. If in their individual capacity the citizens
support Buddhism it is only logical that they should do so in their collective capacity
too. Also, Buddhism being divided not into sects but schools. Its recognition as the State
religion is attended by no difficulty. In Ceylon, Burma, Siam, Cambodia and Laos only the
Theravada exists. In Mahayana lands, such as China and Japan, the laity generally respect
and support all schools, and the State would do the same. Buddhist schools are tolerant,
in fact, not only of each other, but also of non-Buddhist traditions.
(c) Not much need be said about the
relation between the individual Buddhist citizen and the government, because Buddhism has
no means of enforcing among its adherents uniformity of action in the affairs of secular
life. It is true that Buddhism does not only inculcate certain principles but-also
indicates the main lines of their application; the details of the application are left to
be worked out by the individual Buddhist, each for himself. Buddhism exhorts, it does not
command. It tells us, for example, that to take life is morally wrong; but it leaves us
free to determine for ourselves whether the acceptance of this teaching obliges us to be a
vegetarian or a conscientious objector. A Buddhist, however, should take an active
interest in whatever concerns the material, moral and spiritual well-being of his
fellow-citizens. In short, it should be his endeavour to live his social and political
life in accordance with the Dharma.
(d) The relation of the Government to the
Sangha is the same as that of the individual lay Buddhist to the individual bhiksu: it is
the Sangha-dayaka, the patron and supporter of the Sangha. Just as it is the duty of the
individual devotee to build temples, and monasteries, publish religious books and
periodicals, so it is the duty of the government of a Buddhist State to finance similar
undertakings which, either because of the greatness of the cost involved or the complexity
of the organization required to carry them out, are beyond the capacity of private
citizens. In the same way, the relation of the Sangha to the Government corresponds to the
relation between the bhiksu and the layman. Just as the monk, in his capacity of -guide,
philosopher and friend-, indicates to the lay, devotee the path of righteousness, so it is
the right and duty of the Sangha, in the person of its seniormost members, to advise the
government not only on the propagation of the Dharma but also on its application to the
soical and political life of the nation. The Sangha must also be able to draw attention to
and freely criticize deviations from the Dharma on the part of the government, the people,
and the political leaders. Objection should not be levelled against such a connection
between the Sangha and the Government on the ground that monks should not meddle in
politics. Unless the Dharma is applied to the national life, it will gradually lose its
hold over domestic life. Being concerned with the preservation of the Dharma, the Sangha
is inevitably concerned with its application also, whether to politics or any other sphere
of life. And in any case, there would be no question of the Sablia's becoming involved in
the rought and tumble of practical politics. Needless to say, it is unthinkable that the
advice of the Sangha should ever tend to the promotion of anything but peace and
prosperity both at home and abroad. For whether it spoke to a king or to an emperor, to a
President or to a Party Chairman, the Sangha would have but one message: Never in this
world does hatred cease by hatred : it ceases only by love. This is the Law Eternal [Dhp.
5].
(e) The individual monk should have no
relation with the government as government except through the Sangha, or with the consent
of the Sangha. Unless there happens to be a separate portfolio for religious affairs, or a
special rovision for ecclesiastical councillors, as there is in Siam, he should not accept
any off-ice in the government, and even in such cases as these he should not accept any
remuneration. A monk cannot be required to undertake any form of national service; neither
is he liable to conscription. In a Buddhist State these rights would be recognized
automatically. Monks suspected of committing offences against the civil and criminal law
should, in a Buddhist State, first of all be tried by an ecclesiastical tribunal. If found
guilty they should be disrobed and handed over to the civil court for further trial and
punishment.
(f) Since the Buddhist layman is connected
with the government, he is obviously obliged to take part in practical politics, and all
that can usefully be said in this connection is that here, too, he should act in
accordance with the Dharma.
(g) The monk, however, is under no such
obligation. On the contrary, by virtue of the rules which, at the time of his ordination,
he undertakes faithfully to observe, he is obliged to refrain from participation in
practical politics. "Onepath leads to wordly gains, quite another path leads to
nibbana. Let not the bhikkhu, the follower of the Buddha, yearn for honour, but let him,
on the contrary, develop dispassion." [Dhp. 75]. In order to conform to this advice,
the monk should not join, or support, or even vote for, any political organisation.
Neither should he participate in meetings or any other public functions of a political or
quasi-political nature. For those members of the Sangha who feel, as some of Burma and
Ceylon have felt in recent times, that their duties as citizens have a stronger claim on
them than their obligations as monks, the only honourable course is to leave the Sangha.
Enlightenment and elections cannot be won together.
4. The Cultural and Political Heritage of
Buddhism
Since the heritage of Buddhism
constitutes, in one way or another, the theme of practically everything that is discussed
in these pages, all that need be done here is to indicate such broad trends and basic
principles a relate to (a) culture, civilization and education, and (b) war and peace.
Since culture generally, and in particular
the fine arts, can be subsumed under the heading of samadhi or meditation, they may be
included within the means to enlightenment. Culture is part of Buddhism. It is not an
ornament on its apparel but one of the limbs of its body. Where Buddhism is, there is
culture. Whither in the world Buddhism goes, thither goes culture too. This is, indeed,
one of the Most obvious lessons of the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia, and it is
repeated here only because its significance for the modern world in general, and for modem
India in particular, is not always sufficiently appreciated. Ceylon, Burma, Siam,
Cambodia, Laos, Japan, Tibet Mongolia, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Ladakh received with
Buddhism not only their religion but practically the whole of their civilization and
culture. How much the introduction of Buddhism meant to the people of Japan, for example,
has been clearly stated by Dr. D. T. Suzuki. Speaking of the eagerness with which they
took up the study of the Dharma in the Nara period, he remarks, "Buddhism was to them
a new philosophy, a new culture, and an inexhaustible mine of artistic impulses."
["Japanese Buddhism," Essay in Zen Buddhism, Rider, London, 1953, p. 340].
Again, speaking of the reasons which led the government of that period to build temples
and monasteries, maintain monks and nuns, and erect a gigantic bronze image of Buddha
Vairocana, he reminds one of the fact that "In those days the Buddhist temples were
schools, hospitals, dispensaries, orphanages, refuges, for old age; and the monks were
schoolmasters, nurses, doctors, engineers, keepers of free lodges, cultivators of land,
explorers of the wilderness, etc. When the community was still in a primitive stage of
evolution the Buddhists were leaders in every sense, and the government naturally
encouraged their activities." [ibid, 340]. The monks were also poets, painters,
sculptors, carvers and metallurgists. Suzuki's statement, together with our own rider, is
true not only of Japan but of all the other countries that have been mentioned. Is It not
more than a coincidence that Milarepa, the greatest poet of Tibet, should also have been
at the same time her most famous yogin, and that Siri Rahula, who occupies in Simhalese
literature a corresponding position, should have been the Sangharaja of Ceylon? China
alone, of all the nations of Asia, had developed a civilization and culture of her own
prior to the advent of Buddhism; but even China is indebted to Buddhism, if not for her
culture, at least for its finest flowering. Buddhism was, in fact, a spring wind blowing
from one end of the garden of Asia to the other and causing to bloom not only the lotous
of India, but the rose of Persia, the temple flower of Ceylon, the zebina of Tibet, the
chrysanthemum of China and the cherry of Japan. Asian culture is, as a whole, Buddhist
culture. Therefore, as Suzuki says at the conclusion of the article already quoted,
"If the East is one, 1 and there is something that differentiates it from the West,
the differentiation must be sought in the thought that is embodied in Buddhism. For it is
in Buddhist thought and in no other that India, China, and Japan, representing the East,
could be united as one. Each nationality has its own characteristic modes of adapting the
thought to its environmental needs, but when the East as a unity is made to confront the
West, Buddhism supplies the bond." [ibid, 348]. The Full significance of this
declaration will emerge later. Here it would suffice to emphasize the fact that if the
history of Buddhism in Asia has any lesson for the world today, it is that, in their long
trek from the burning marl of the Gangetic valley to the gem-encrusted rocks of Ceylon in
the South, the wind-swept uplands of Central Asia in the North, and the sun-confronting
islands of Japan in the East, Buddhism, culture, civilization and education were
inseparable friends and companions.
Hardly less striking is the almost
invariable association of Buddhism with peace. The exceptions were not only extremely rare
but of merely local importance. King Aniruddha of Burma made war upon the neighbouring
kingdom of Thaton in order to seize a copy of the Tripitaka which the king of Thaton
refused to have copied. This was, of course, not the most Buddhistic way of obtaining the
precious documents. The monks of mediaeval Japan, who lived in huge fortress monasteries,
raised and fought in their own armies, and for seven hundred years, until the destruction
of their strongholds, Hieizan and Negoro, by the Nobunaga and Hideyoshi in the sixteenth
century, were a menace to the secular arm. [Conze, Buddhism: Its Essence and Development,
Bruno Cassirer, Oxford, 1951, p. 65]. Even the most industrious research has been unable
to dig out from the two thousand five hundred years of Buddhist history, during which time
it spread over more than a quarter of the land surface of the globe, as many as ten
incidents of this kind. 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 the blood of the guiltless victims of religious hatred. Like the
Bodhisattva Manjusri, Buddhism wields only one sword, the Sword or Wisdom, and recognizes
only one enemy - Ignorance. This is the testimony of history, and is not to be gainsaid.
But even admitting the close association
of Buddhism with peace in Asia it may be questioned whether Buddhism was really the cause
and peace the effect. Perhaps their association was fortuitous. Buddhism has a bloodless
and Christianity a bloody record, it might be argued, not so much because of any
difference between their teachings but because one was propagated among the warlike tribes
of Western Europe and the other among the peaceable nations of Asia. The contention is
unfounded. Tibet, before the introduction of Buddhism, was the greatest military power in
Asia. The early history of Burma, Siam, and Cambodia shows that the people of those
countries were originally of an extremely warlike, even aggressive, disposition. The
Mongol hordes at one time overran not only the whole of Central Asia, but also India,
China, Persia and Afghanistan, and thundered even at the gates of Europe. China exhibited
at various periods of her history considerable military activity. The martial spirit of
Japan is far from being subdued after nearly fifteen centuries of Buddhism. With the
possible exceptions of India and China, the nations of Asia were originally no less
pugnacious and predatory than those of Europe. Their subsequent peacefulness was due very
largely to the influence of the pacific teachings of Buddhism. But one can hardly expect
to be able to pacify turbulent and warlike nations by preaching to them a God of Battles.
It may therefore be concluded that the association between Buddhism and peace is not
fortuitous but inevitable. Buddhism has been in the past, is at present, and will continue
to be in the future, a factor contributing to the establishment of universal peace.
5. Buddhism and Culture Today
After four or five Hundred years of
comparative stagnation, the present century is witnessing a resurgence of Buddhism in many
parts of Asia. In Japan this resurgence began as long ago as 1868, when the
disestablishment of Buddhism at the commencement of the Meiji Era and the mild for in of
persecution which for some years overtook the religion and its adherents acted as a
stimulus. A few years later Buddhism again raised its head in Ceylon, where the activities
of Meggetuwatte, Gunananda, H. Sumangala and Col. H. S. Olcott precipitated a landslide in
the direction of the national religion, Buddhist revival in India began as an organized
movement in 1891, when Anagarika Dharmapala founded the Maha Bodhi Society.
In China, the Buddhist awakening began
with the work of His Eminence T'ai-Hsu, while the resurgence of the Dharma in Burma is
associated with the name of another great scholar-saint, Ledi Sayadaw. Now, culture being
subsumed under samadhi as part of the means to enlightenment as has been seen already, the
most important of the cultural implications of Buddhism today, is, naturally, the fact
that its resurgence and revival in Asia is sowing the seeds of an efflorescence of
culture. Shoots are springing up in many places, and even a few scattered blossoms can be
seen. Brief mention must therefore be made of the stimulus which Buddhism has given to
culture in certain Buddhist countries of Asia and in India, the original home of the
Buddha's teachings. Since from the East Buddhism has now spread to the West, some note
must be taken of its cultural implications for that part of the world also.
Of all the Buddhist countries of Asia, it
is in Ceylon and Burma perhaps, the Buddhism is now most triumphantly resurgent. The
achievements of Ceylon, considering that it is a tiny island with a little more than five
million Buddhist inhabitants, have indeed been remarkable. It gave birth to two great
international Buddhist organizations, the Maha Bodhi Society and the World Fellowship of
Buddhists. With the possible exception of Japan, Ceylon, out of her scanty resources, has
sent abroad for more dharmadutas, or messengers of the Dharma, than any other Buddhist
land. Her contributions to culture have been no less significant and far-reaching.
Scholars like Coomaraswamy, Malalasekera and Buddhadatta, painters like Manjurri Thera and
George Keyt, and writers and poets like Siri Nissanka, Dhanapala and Tambimuttu are known
and respected far beyond the confines of their native land. Within the country itself, the
indigenous arts and crafts, customs and traditions are being revived. Link by link the
chains of various alien and anti-Buddhist cultures, in which the Simhalese people had for
centuries been fettered, are being snapped. With the attainment of self-government within
the Commonwealth of Nations, Simhalese had begun to rival English in importance, and
though modern Simhalese literature has not yet produced any figure of more than local
significance, there is every possibility of its doing so before long. Similar trends can
be observed in Burma; her political independence has led not only to a sudden and striking
resurgence of Buddhism but also to a revival of Burmese Buddhist culture. No international
figure has, however, yet emerged, nor any religious or cultural achievements of more than
national interest and value. If in Siam, Cambodia and Laos the resurgence of Buddhism and
the revival of Buddhist culture are less noticeable, it is largely because, being less
subject to foreign influence, neither Buddhism nor its associated arts, crafts, customs
and institutions ever declined to the extent that they did elsewhere. A certain benumbing
lethargy did, however, creep over these lands, and even though they may not have needed a
revival, in the sense of bringing back to life something that was dead, they did need a
more vigorous circulation of the blood. That such a quickening of the pulse did eventually
take place in the present century is demonstrated by the publication, in forty-five
volumes, of the entire Pali Canon in Siamese script. This magnificent edition, known as
the Royal Siamese Tripitaka, is still the only complete and uniform edition of the
Theravada Canon to have been printed in Asia. In Japan, which has been subject to the
influence of modern industrial civilization to a far greater extent than any other Asian
country, the resurgence of Buddhism has led not so much to a revival of Buddhist culture,
which here too, was never dead, as to an attempt to preserve and consolidate it amidst the
essentially alien and hostile environment of modem life. Though that attempt seems to be
succeeding on the whole, it is so great a drain on the spiritual vitality of Japanese
Buddhism that there can be little energy to spare for fresh cultural achievements. Yet it
is a Japanese, Dr. D.T. Suzuki, who through his writings and lectures exercises on
European and American thought and culture a deeper and wider influence than any other
Buddhist. In China, Tibet, Nepal and other parts of the Buddhist world, politics have
temporarily assumed paramount importance, so that little can be said on the present
cultural implications of Buddhism in those countries. However, the recent action of the
People's Republic of China in presenting to Burma two grains of the Buddha's relic bones,
one set of the Chinese Tripitaka, two suits of robes used by the Han and Tibetan monks,
one alms bowl and one cane staff, is perhaps not without significance. [see Sangayana
Bulletin, Rangoon, April 1955, p. 2].
The revival of Buddhism which has been
going on in India for the last sixty years, but particularly during the past decade, is
one of the strangest and most striking events in the history of religions. Nowhere else in
the world does one find a parallel case of a religion being revived centuries after its
disappearance, not by the command of a despot, not as the result of foreign conquest, but
simply because it is the will of the people. Yet this is what is happening in India today.
Less than a century ago Buddhism was unheard of in the land of its birth: if remembered at
all, it was as an objectionable but fortunately extinct heterodoxy which had for a brief
space troubled the placid waters of Brahminism. Today it is a household word. Over the
chair of the President of the Republic of India, in the House of the People, the message
dharmachakara-pravarttanaya, 'to turn the Wheel of the Dharma' flashes forth in electric
light to the assembled representatives. At the very centre of the national flag as it
floats over ten thousand public buildings, the same historic symbol reminds the nation not
only of the sublime doctrine of the Buddha but also of the dharmavijaya or Conquest by
Righteousness of Ashoka. Similarly, the lion-capital of Ashoka representing the fearless
proclamation in the Dharma to the four quarters of space, has been adopted as the official
seal of the Republic.
It is hardly necessary to insist that the
revival of Buddhism is inseparably linked with a renaissance of culture. Such a
renaissance has, of course, been going on in India for some time and the revival of
Buddhism, despite its importance, is by no means the only contributing factor. Indeed,
from another point of view the revival of Buddhism is itself part of the great movement
for the regeneration of the religious, cultural, economic and political life of the nation
that has been agitating the whole sub-continent for more than a hundred years.
Nevertheless, it would be a mistake to think that the revival of Buddhism in India is, for
this reason, linked with the renaissance of culture only to the extent that it contributes
to the renaissance of Indian, in the sense of non-Buddhist, culture. It is also linked
with the renaissance of a culture specifically and distinctively Buddhist. This Buddhist
culture, as far as its manifestations in India are concerned, is an integral part of
Indian culture.
India has recognized the importance of
studies in Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese for a full understanding of Buddhism and
the subject has been discussed elsewhere. These naturally have had their effect on writers
in the modern Indian languages, who either translated Buddhist works from the original or
were inspired to write independent, books that reflect Buddhist thought. Rabindranath
Tagore's magnificent invocations to the Buddha, his drama, Natir Puja (The Dancing Girl's
Worship), and his narrative poem, Abitisar, are fine examples of the free handling of
Buddhist themes. Other writers whose work has been deeply influenced by Buddhism include
Yashpal, one of the greatest masters of the modem Hindi short story and novel, Gurubaksh
Singh, whose Asia da Chanana, a prose translation of Sir Edwin Amold's The Light of Asia,
is regarded as a classic in modern Punjabi literature, and Kumaran Assan, one of the three
greatest Malayalarn poets of the twentieth century. But like hundreds of less well-known
poeis, dramatists and novelists, they are all Hindus who have been deeply moved by the
sublimity of the Buddhist ideal and the beauty of its cultural manifestations. Only two or
three Indian Buddhists have succeeded in carving niches for themselves in the temple of
literary fame. Dharmananda Kosambi's numerous writings on Buddhist subjects-described
elsewhere'-have secured him a name in marathi literature, while the writings of Rahul
Sankrityayan and Anand Kausalyayan are outstanding contributors to Hindi belles-lettres.
Hardly less stimulating has been the
effect of Buddhist revival on the visual arts. Inspired by the frescoes of Ajanta, then
newly discovered, and guided by the great art critic, E.B. Havell, the Bengal school of
painting developed a style which, for the first time in centuries, handled Indian themes
in a traditionally Indian manner. Both Abanindranath Tagore, and Nandalal Bose, the two
great masters of this school, exhibited a marked fondness for subjects drawn, not only
from the life of the Buddha but also from Buddhist history and legend. Contemporary Indian
art is, in many cases, only superficially Indian. The best known painters, one or two of
whom enjoy international fame, derive their technique, style and inspiration almost
exclusively from the latest European and American models. Those who remain faithful to the
indigenous tradition and whose work is inspired by an awareness of spiritual values,
regardless of their very high standard of achievement, seem unable to obtain anything like
the recognition and appreciation they merit. Among these neglected artists are many whose
work reflects deep Buddhist influence. There is, however, no professedly Buddhist painter
of outstanding eminence. Once again the influence of Buddhism, deeply and subtly felt
penetrates far beyond the formal boundaries of Buddhism.
Though the Dharma is resurgent in Ceylon
and Burma, and undergoing revival in India, the latest Buddhist renaissance has a long way
to go before it reaches its peak. One swallow does not make a summer, and the cultural
manifestations of Buddhist resurgence and revival, though at times strikingly beautiful,
in comparison with the efflorescence of past ages do not yet amount to much more than two
leaves and a bud. Even more so is this the case in Europe and America. Though Buddhism
seems to have struck firm roots in Western soil, the roots have not had time to go very
deep, and the cultural flowering which has so far taken place, perhaps prematurely, though
beautiful, is inconspicuous. As in India, it relates chiefly to literature and the visual
arts. Here too we must distinguish between non-Buddhist writers and artists whose work
exhibits traces of Buddhist influence and the creations of those who, being professed
Buddhists, derive their main inspiration from Buddhism.
From the historical point of view, perhaps
the most striking feature of the Buddhist movement in the West is its absolute
spontaneity. For reasons largely academic, about a century ago -oriental religion and
culture in general, and Buddhism in particular, started attracting the attention of
Western scholars. Sanskrit, Pall, Chinese, and Tibetan became subjects of study at the
universities. This led first to the publication and then to the translation of a number of
Buddhist texts. Though Csoma de Koros (1784-1849) was undoubtedly the inaugurator of
Buddhist studies in the West, it is to the great French scholar, Eugene Burnotif, that the
credit for having placed them upon a scientific basis belongs. Thereafter a number of
distinguished savants devoted themselves to the study of Buddhism. Prominent among them
were Max Muller, who besides editing the two well-known series, The Sacred Books of the
East (in which a number of Buddhist works were included) and The Sacred Books of the
Buddhists, himself edited and translated some important Buddhist scriptures, and T.W. Rhys
Davids, who in addition to publishing texts, translations and what are still standard
works on Buddhism, founded the Pali Text Society, which since its inception has published
considerably more than one hundred volumes of texts and translations, as well as the
famous dictionary. Hard on the heel's of the scholars came the popularizers. Sir Edwin
Arnold's The Light of Asia (1879), easily the most widely known English book on Buddhism
and the stories and other writings of Paul Carus are the literary landmarks of this
period. At the turn of the century Buddhism had begun to attract the attention not merely
of philologists and historians but of men and women looking for a religion and a way of
life more satisfying than Christianity. Schopenhauer, as early as the second decade of the
nineteenth century, had declared himself a Buddhist, and his Die Welt als Wille und
Vorstellung had for more than half a century been popularizing a version of Buddhism all
over Europe. But though of far-reaching influence, his was an isolated case and it was
only towards the end of the century that Buddhism began to strike root in the West.
Buddhist groups sprang up in a number of European capitals and in many parts of the United
States. The Theosophical Society, especially during the lifetime of its founders, also
helped in the dissemination of Buddhism. At present the Dharma may be said to be firmly
established in England, Germany, France, and the United States. Though the number of
adherents is still small, their sphere of influence is steadily expanding. Since the end
of World War II, not a year has gone by without the publication of important books on
Buddhism in at least one European language, and there is an increasing tendency for such
books to be the work of practising Buddhists. References to Buddhism (not always
intelligent) are becoming more and more frequent in modem literature and in the daily
press. Rainer Maria Rilke, the greatest German poet since Heine, has written a beautiful
sonnet on the Buddha [Neue Gedichte, I. 1907] and John Masefield, the present Poet
Laureate of England, a creditable narrative poem. T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land (1922)
contains a striking reference to the Buddha's Fire Sermon [line 308] while the imagery of
a short passage in Edith Sitwell's "the Coat of Fire" is derived from The
Tibetan Book of the Dead [Selected Poems Penguin Biiks, 1952, p. 12, lines 23-5]. W.B.
Yeats' Hermits upon Mount Meru of Everest and Caverned in night under the drifted snow
[Collected Poems, Macmillan, 1950, p. 333] are probably Buddhist hermits. Many of the
poems rendered from the Chinese by Arthur Waley are Buddhist in theme or sentiment, and
two or three of these have been included in anthologies of modem verse as English poems in
their own right. The voluminous writings of Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell and Carl
Gustayjung, all of whom enjoy world-wide reputation, carry important and, on the whole,
appreciative references to Buddhism. Jung's interest in Buddhism is, in fact, well known,
while Russell has gone so far as to declare that if he were compelled to choose between
the religions of the world he would choose Buddhism. None of the poets and writers so far
mentioned are Buddhists, however, and a Buddhist has yet to make a name for himself in
modern European and American literature.
In the field of the visual arts the
converse is true. While Buddhism seems to have had no influence at all upon modern Western
painting and sculpture, the Buddhist movement in the West has already produced Buddhist
artists of outstanding brilliance, Nicholas Roerich, who achieved international fame with
his decor for Diaghilief s ballet version of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps,
subsequently produced, mainly under the inspiration of Tibetan Buddhism, of which he had
direct knowledge, series after series of canvases marked by powerful composition,
brilliant colouring and profound symbolism, and all not only bathed in "the light
that never was on sea or land- but pervaded by a mighty rushing wind of inspiration which
would have been demoniacal had it not been so divine. Earl H. Brewster, though in his
later years he lost touch with Buddhism, produced his best work under its influence. Only
his own retiring disposition prevented his sculptures and paintings of the -Buddha from
being more widely known. Like Roerich, Lama A. Govinda, who is not only an artist but a
writer, scholar. Thinker and mystic of no ordinary calibre, derives his main inspiration
from Tibetan Buddhism. He is, in fact, a member of a Tibetan religious order, and his art
is perhaps even more deeply and purely Buddhist than that of either Roerich or Brewster.
Not without significance is the fact that all three artists eventually made their home in
India. Roerich and Brewster spent their last years here, while Govinda still works in the
shadow of the Himalayas. All three, again, have shown .S that in its westward no less than
in its eastward movement Buddhist art can retain the spiritual elevation, the sheer
sublimity, which has ever been its, most striking and characteristic feature. The
influence of Buddhism on Western music has been negligible. Mention should, however, be
made of Berg's "Musicfor Wesak."
6. Buddhism and Politics Today
Though mere numbers have little cultural
significance, they do count politically, so that the political, unlike the cultural,
implications of Buddhism in the modem world are necessarily confined to Asia in which
continent alone it counts its adherents by the million.
From what has been said above, it should
already be clear that in the present, no less than in the past, Buddhism implies peace.
But this peace is not a condition of unstable political equilibrium but rather a state of
mind purified from all feelings of antagonism and thoroughly permeated by that impersonal
and universal love which the Buddhists call maitri. Buddhism works from within outwards.
Its hierarchy enjoys no international diplomatic status, and chooses to act not by means
of behind-the-scenes political wire-pulling but by the open parctice and propagation of
the pacific teachings of the Buddha. On the political plane, Buddhism does not take sides.
Love, in the sense of maitri, is the most powerful force in the world; but it is a neutral
force. Whether one's love be directed towards concrete persons and things, or whether it
be directed towards abstract conceptions and ideals, if it causes one to feel hatred
towards some other object, of a different kind, it is of a limited extent, and therefore,
not true love but only a species of attachment. Similarly, if peace, which is a form of
love, is not universal it is not peace at all. The conclusion of a private peace between
two or more nations to the exclusion of the remainder, is in reality impossible. Should
such a peace in anyway threaten the security of any other state, even its observance would
be on no, higher a moral plane than the honesty that is popularly supposed to exist among
thieves. India having accepted Ashoka's great ideal of dharmavijaya or Conquest by
Righteousness, it was inevitable that this very Buddhist maitri, or love and goodwill
towards all, should form the ultimate spiritual basis of her policy of dynamic neutrality
in world affairs. It is the raison d'etre of the fact that, while working unremittingly
for world peace, the Government of India consistently refuses to align itself with any
power bloc. Such an attitude has naturally drawn her closer to the Buddhist countries of
South-East Asia, whose respective policies are naturally inspired by one and the same
ideal. But by its very nature, such a relationship does not and cannot imply hostility or
even indifference towards any other country or group of countries. In fact, it is not one
political group among other groups, with its own exclusive preferences and limited
loyalties, but rather a slowly expanding centre radiating to the world the impersonal,
universal and neutral power of maitri. It is in this light that one must view the
Government of India's attempts to renew her ancient ties with the countries of Asia. It is
because Buddhism alone can provide the necessary basis for these attempts that its
political implications for Asia, and through Asia for the whole world, are so enormous and
so important.
7. The Future
Prophesying is a proverbially hazardous
game; but it may be confidently asserted that if we had the power of dipping into the
future "as far as human eye can see," we should behold there Buddhism softly
pacing through the centuries hand in hand with culture and peace. So far as the immediate
future is concerned, there is little doubt that the tempo of Buddhist resurgence and
revival throughout Asia, as well as that of it is propagation all over the non Buddhist
world, will be accelerated with the passing of every remaining decade of the present
century. The culture manifestations of Buddhism will bloom more and more profusely while
the grey-green olive of peace, lovingly tended by the ever-stronger growing hands of the
Dharma, will put forth their black, shining fruits for the healing of the nations in ever
greater abundance. If the cultural and political implications of Buddhism in the modern
world succeed in working themselves out along the present lines of their development, our
two leaves and a bud will soon grow into a whole forest of flowers.
Source: www.buddhismtoday.com
Update: 01-12-2001
