Paper on Buddhism -03
- From: "Prof. Bijon B. Sarma" <rangada@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 07:47:40 -0700
MY SUBMISSION ON RELIGIONS :
BUDDHISM- Part III
Professor Bijon Behari Sarma.
INDEBTEDNESS OF HINDUISM :
Someone emerged in debt is expressed as "This man is emerged in debt
from hair to toe". This line is applicable in case of religions, then
Hinduism is indebted to Buddhism from hair to toe. In fact most, if
not all, of the religious faiths, rituals and positive aspects
Hinduism received were from Buddhism. Let us explain some of those :
(a) IDOLATRY : Idolatry, which is the root cause of devotion of the
Hindus was introduced by the Buddhists.
(b) EXCELLENCE IN ARTS, PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES : The Hindus of India
are renowned for their excellence in arts, paintings and sculpture-
making. All these happened due to idolatry, where they worshipped the
idols as gods and did the artistic works, painting and sculpture with
devotion to please the gods. Buddhism contributed 'idol worship' to
the Hindus.
(c) EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMING ARTS : The Hindus inherited the system of
narrating stories through dramatic words and songs by the Koboys from
the Aryan priests. However, when the same was done for pleasing the
god, the performers added devotion with perseverance. That enabled
them to attain an excellent level. This achievement was possible due
to the materialistic appearance given to their gods by the
Buddhists.
(d) TRANSITION FROM GHOST STORY TO MORE INTELLIGENT STORY : Before
Buddhism the Hindus believed in the ghost story of sleeping in the
grave or waiting with the ashes till the final day for re-birth and
enjoyment of reward or punishment. After Gautama Buddha told the story
of re-birth in this world they immediately accepted it. The faith in
this story changed their attitudes towards fellow neighbors and
animals.
(e) RELIGIOUS RITUALS - RATHA-JATRA : Long after Buddha's death and
his reappearance as God for his followers, the preachers used to
parade the replica of Buddha on horse cart. This tradition was later
accepted by the Hindus for their gods "Jagannath" and was named "Rath-
Jatra".
(f) RELIGIOUS RITUALS - MEDITATION : In addition to Jagya (sacred
burning) introduced by the Aryans, the Hindus learnt meditation from
the Buddhists as part of worship and introduced the same in their
religious rituals.
(g) EDUCATION SYSTEM - GURUGRIHA : The system of teaching a number
of students by a learned man (Guru) in his house in lieu of the
students' services, is the earliest known system of education of the
Hindus. It is known as "Guru-Griha". This was also was the
contribution of the Buddhists.
(h) CAVE PAINTING : The Buddhists introduced cave painting in which
they painted the various stories of Buddha's life (Jataker Kahini) in
Ahanta and Ellora caves. The Hindus followed this practice and painted
in some caves at Ellora and other caves.
It may be mentioned that in some temples the Hindus worship Buddha in
the name "Karma-Thakur". The replica of Buddha discovered during the
digging of "Thakur Dighi" at Bagerhat was worshipped as 'Shiva' by the
Hindus in the 'Kali temple' at Kachua, Bagerhat. Later the Japanese
came to recognize the idol and due to their initiative the idol was
later taken to Kamalapur Buddhist Bihar, Dhaka.
THE PRESENT STATE OF BUDDHISM : The present state of such a noble and
great religion like Buddhism is not that bright. After the death of
Buddha his followers made him God. When the Buddhist emperors and
kings, their chief patron and financier ceased to exist the followers
tried honest and dishonest ways for the commercial use of the
religion. The weak society of the Buddhists ceased to exist whenever
there were attacks of ferocious parties. They could some how survive
in countries where there was no such attack. To their great fortune,
the number of such countries is not less. Now we shall endeavor to
see, how the various qualities mentioned in Buddhism have transformed
to 'what' through ages.
ISSUE OF "AHIMSA" : Buddha taught 'Ahimsa' (meaning no-hatred) to men,
animals and even to trees. The hatred of the Chinese Buddhists for the
Japanese Buddhists (for their nasty role during the Second World War)
is known to all. The Japanese soldiers are infamous for their ruthless
activities all over the world. There are numerous other examples of
Himsa (Hatred) by the followers of Ahimsa of Buddha.
ISSUE OF "ANIMAL KILLING" : Buddha prohibited killing of animals. He
however was not against fish or meat eating. Buddha in fact died due
to complications after he ate meat in a cobler's house. How can one
eat fish without killing ? Very easy. One needs to catch fish only.
After a few hours it would die by itself without someone's
intervention. In case of meat, the Buddhists use the keep the animal
outside in cold. By that way the animal faced a natural death and they
ate meat without killing. That was the beginning. Now the Buddhists
are found to eat anything like insect to worm, i.e. everything
possible for a man to eat. They are found to relish the brain of
monkey by breaking its skull, while the monkey is still alive. Also
they enjoy immense pleasure to eat fish that still makes movement.
ISSUE OF "MEDITATION" : The Buddhists introduced various martial arts
along with their art of meditation. Nowadays, the young men turned
expert in martial art in Buddhists bihars get employment as bodyguards
of the rich capitalists in USA.
ISSUE OF "COMMERCIALIZATION OF BUDDHA" : Buddha, who was once
considered as the most knowledgeable person and then god, has now been
commercialized. Various clown-like replica's of Buddha are sold by the
name of "Laughing Buddha" and so on.
ISSUE OF "COMMERCIALIZATION OF RITUALS" : Moving the Dharma Chakra is
now one important religious ritual of the Buddhists. They have
commercialized all aspects of their religion. The ancestor's ashes are
p[reserved in Buddhists tombs and catalogued. The men seating in air-
conditioned chamber can call the specific pot of ashes through remote
control arrangement and pray in meditation. These are some examples of
commercialization of their religion.
PRESTIGE : At times the Buddhists were known for their sense of
prestige. They were famous for 'hara-kiri'. But something happened to
their sense of prestige since the Second World War. Japan (a Buddhist
country) is one of the richest nation of the world. Even though USA
bombed two of their cities during the Second World War, this country
is now the best boot-licker of USA. The US experts visit Japan to
teach them "what world peace means" on the dates of bombing Hiroshima
and Nagasaki and the Japanese enthusiastically listen to them.
CONCLUSION :
In the four parts of this article we have briefly discussed the
relevant aspects which might explain, what made us to opine that this
religion could be regarded as the best religion of the world. In the
concluding part we have show the present condition of this religion
and its followers. Needless to mention, the picture is not that
bright. If such a phenomenon happens with the best religion we should
prepare ourselves worse conditions of the others. After we can
visualize the conditions of the followers of the major religions of
the world and can compare those with others who do not follow any
religion, we shall be in a position to opine, whether or not religion
is at all required for people's wellbeing.
In may be mentioned that religions were introduced in the period when
there was no organized mechanism to control people's activities (like
encouraging good activities and discouraging the bad ones through
punishment), to keep the criminals away from human society, to take
care of the ill in the hospitals etc. So, the best and only way to
ensure all these were to 'create good men' which the religions
endeavored to do through (a) advise and (b) preaching of a fictitious
lord who was to punish and give rewards for men's acts.
In today's world we do not need the use of such fictitious measures.
We have schools, who can teach ideal things, we have medias who can
help to generate good men, we have judiciary to discipline the wrong
doers. The religions have already declared their failure to achieve
the goal through various activities of their ardent followers. The
states could not do the same because even though they have schools,
medias and judiciaries, their objectives have not been clearly
defined. It happened so because selfish and greedy persons have
occupied the seats of the leaders. When we talk of disregarding
religion, we also need to stress on good leadership as alternative
measure. After all, welfare of fellow human being should be the goal
of each country, and that of entire people should be the objective of
the world body.
(CONCLUDED)
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Professor Bijon Behari Sarma : Head, Architecture Discipline, Khulna
University, Bangladesh.
.
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