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Friday Sep 20, 2024
Tuesday, 27 January 2015 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Kalama Sutta
Sri Lanka is probably a country where most number of sermons or discourses being preached. However, Lord Buddha emphasised in the Kalama Sutra not to believe in anything. The Kalama Sutta is unique when it spells out Buddha’s words: ‘Do not go upon what has been acquired through hearing, traditions, scriptures, and above the consideration that the Guru is our teacher.’ In other words, Lord Buddha said: ‘Don’t even believe me.’
Today, the Dhamma has been converted into ritualistic practices and set of beliefs that the Buddhists have to accept. Buddhism, although said to be a philosophy, has now become a religion because religion rests on a faith or belief.
The Dhamma – the philosophy of Buddha – is almost eclipsed by irrational practices heavily indulged in by Buddhists, some to the extent of insulting the Buddha. There is an unbelievable following of such practices, which by no means one could reconcile within genuine freedom 
seekers except for bringing them into a state of confusion.
Discourses based on knowledge
It is all about what is gathered as knowledge. Is there any correlation between the accumulation of knowledge and realisation of the true nature of life? Lord Buddha’s philosophy advocates self-realisation as against present-day scholars, enchanting audiences with beautiful stories and assumptions. Can one measure the damage caused to the society who are bona fide freedom seekers and not the ones who look for material gains?
Buddhists have depended on existing scriptures comprising over 20,000 sutras, Abidhamma, etc. Reading and acquiring knowledge is acceptable for those who are studying Buddhism to be teachers. To what extent such knowledge is helpful in realising freedom from suffering is questionable as the Buddha never emphasised on gaining knowledge. People are totally confused in the difference between wisdom and knowledge.
Pointers instead of language
No language can describe the true nature of life. Language has been created by people to describe the experiences of the senses interpreted by the mind. What is mind and how it functions is unknowable. It is for that reason one needs to follow the clues, the parables, metaphors that are available and that is the investigation described in Vidharshana type of meditation which once again is distorted through preferences of the teacher.
“Suffering exists, but no sufferer can be found. Actions exist, but no doer of actions is there. Nirvana exists, but no one who enters it. The path exists, but no traveller can be seen” (Visuddimagga, 513). Do we have teachers trying to elaborate on this rather than offering the pleasures in Heaven and what can be expected in hell, etc.?
The Dhamma explains that ‘there is no person as a permanent self. No thinker behind the thought. No experiencer behind the experience.’ So what is freedom if there is no experience of freedom? This is where self-investigation is needed, which requires challenging all positions described in books and versions given in sermons. There is no other way.
Seeking freedom or mundane gains
Without much debate, Buddhists in this country have to accept that most Buddhist practices are directed to gain mundane benefits. Be it a dana or some tradition, it is to acquire merit. To be free from what is called dukka, the path is totally different.
The Ashtaloka Dhamma says life consists of vicissitudes and there is no escape from that. What we saw recently in the transition of power is a classic example. These are visible occurrences while the ups and downs happen almost every day.
Dukka arises from inevitable happenings in life such as old age, sicknesses and finally death. Then comes the other types of suffering, viz. stress, anxiety, worries, anger and hatred. People suffer enormously in the modern world in seeking and resisting, assuming it is wealth, power or publicity that can bring ultimate happiness in life.
Achieving Nirvana
Lord Buddha said the mind is the forerunner to everything, every agony in life. What is mind? A stream of thoughts leading to perceptions and emotions. The mind-driven life veils people from realities and make them act as if the illusory life is true in their day-to-day movements, which inevitably confront immense suffering surfacing as worries, stress, anger, confusion, etc.
(The writer is a former Senior Diplomatic Officer, currently attached to Sri Lanka Tourism, the Author of ‘ Pointers to Enlightenment’ and a teacher offering discourses/meditative sessions to tourist groups seeking inner peace and tranquility. He can be reached via [email protected].)
