The Epilogue
It can truly be said that religions are the product of fear, and this fear is in turn based on ignorance as someone said :... the symbols of the divine show up in our world initially at the trash stratum. That is why, during the Buddha's time, belief in God was quite prevalent. In act, the ideas about God and his attributes differ from one religions tradition to another, giving rise to conflicts as to whose God is the one and true God. Of course, each of them claims their God to be the real one, but that has hardly solved the problem. Actually, gods and goddesses, were created by man, and worshipped by man as the old Indian Thought during the Buddha's time had claimed Brahma to be the Creator, the head of all these deities and the Supreme Godhead who created the universe and everything in it.
On the contrary, the Buddha considered all deities merely as sentient beings in different planes of existence, subject like man, to the law of change and impermanence. The Buddha did not claim any divine affinity, so Buddhism is a religion of self - help, therefore the foremost duty of a Buddhist is to understand the supreme position of a human being and one's responsibility toward both oneself and fellow sentient beings.
According to Buddhism, humanity's position is supreme. Human beings are their own masters, endowed with great potential, from mundane material concerns up to the higher spiritual achievements. Freedom and thought should therefore be considered an integral ingredient of the Buddhist attitude, because Buddhism is a religion which put wisdom to the fore rather than faith. Intelligent and honest inquiries are not only welcomed but also encouraged.
Nevertheless, for many people, Buddhism is nothing more than a system of personal beliefs and ritual worship centered on some popular monks. This way of life under such beliefs, which is not exactly what the Buddha's teaching is.
As mentioned in the first chapter, Buddhism will wax or wane, depending on low Buddhists can examine different interpretation of Dhamma from various sources and determine what the Buddha's beliefs or non beliefs by rationalizing and investigating them with an open mind. To blindly believe under bad faith, without exercising one's own reasoning faculties is, according to the Kalamasutta in Buddhism, counterproductive to the development of wisdom.
Although, differences in doctrinal interpretation and mode of practice are common phenomena in all major religion, including Buddhism. Different preachers may give more emphasis to certain aspects of Dhamma, depending on their predisposition or training. The best approach to solving doubts and problems is to scrutinize and experience the Dhamma for oneself after having studied thoroughly what is the real Buddhist teaching.
In time of doubt and uncertainly, we can always turn to some scholastic members of the Sangha for advice and instruction. We should give thanks to these venerable scholar monks who act as the principle guardians for the faith, without them, Buddhism could no longer endure and prosper. We, the Buddhists, have assurance and encouragement in them, who show us that, it is humanly possible to lead such an ideal life and to realize the highest religious goal as they could be.
In the discourse given to venerable Upali, the Buddha delineated a criterion to verify the true doctrine and discipline. According to that criterion, the true Dhamma is what, when practised, leads to disenchantment, detachment, the extinction of suffering, calm and peace, direct discernment and knowledge of the truth, enlightenment and Nibbana. Thus it can be concluded that the true Dhamma, no matter what label we give to it, is that which is conducive to the development of wisdom and understanding, and leads the practitioner to peace and happiness.
Buddhism views all phenomena in terms of causal relationship. All phenomena, all occurrences empirically perceivable or otherwise, are subject to the law of cause and effect. Everything is conditioned by causal factors, and all things are themselves conditioning factors for other occurrences. Nothing is absolutely independent, for, according to Buddhist philosophy, absolute existence is not possible.
However, the Buddha's style of teaching should be carefully considered at two levels, the mundane level of conventional teaching is for morality while the supra mundane level of absolute teaching is for wisdom. For example, the interpretation of rebirths implies that it is based on the recognition of the continuity of a series of lives from the past to the present, and from the present to the future. The present life is not the only one, and it does not dissolve into nothingness at death. Although this mundane style of teaching makes simply morality possible, it contradicts the theory of annatta.
According to Buddhadasa Bikhu, all mentions of heavens, hells and rebirths mean simply psychological states clinging to the ego - belief. Without a concept of rebirth, the whole notion of storing up merit for the future life no longer had any meaning. He stated that this world become the whole deal. So the proper duty of a good Buddhist is not escape this world, but to improve it in which we have the chance to attain Nibbana. With these propositions, he had created an interpretation of Buddhism, which coexists with the modern science as Albert Einstein commented in his book " Idea and Opinion. "
The Buddha taught that the practice of transcending greed, anger and prejudice is holier than any kind of merit making, particularly merit making for their own benefit to enter heaven in the present or the future life. The teaching of morality under such a wrong faith will merely induce nonintellectual lay Buddhists to fool themselves or to be fooled by some preachers into giving donations for merit making to the monks as a sort of reservation for a place in heaven. People believe that giving to monks is the best way to ensure a smooth path in this life and the next. They also trust that monks will pass their gifts on to charitable causes. This makes some Buddhist clergy and his disciples as well as many temple funds enjoying considerable wealth as the row alleged irregularities at some Buddhist foundation. For the sake of Buddhist faith, should it be the opportunity for the government to regulate the management of assets of all temples across the country before more problems crop up at spiritual centres heads by monks enjoying mass appeal ?
It could be said that monks are human beings like us. They still have greed and desire for more of something than is necessary as long as they have not entered the stream of Nibbana. Moreover, the present Sangha system still lacks proper financial management, making possible for some Buddhist monks to stray away from the Dhammavinaya.
Now, we better turn to continue discussing the right interpretation of Samsara. According to the high doctrine of Pali Samsara has been interpreted to refer to the changing states of consciousness within the mind. Some Buddhist scholars including the high venerable Buddhadasa Bikkhu ; advocate this point of view by categorically denying such mundane interpretation which he regards as a Bhramin teaching of Atta theory.
Also the late Supreme Patriarch at Wat Bovornnives and Buddhadasa Bikkhu construe Paticcasamuppada and Samsara to merely signify the stream of experiences that come within the sphere of perception. It follows then that there may be many births and deaths occurring from moment to moment in different planes of thought or experience in our daily life, as mentioned in the section of consciousness. Thus, according to this interpretation, Samsara will be view simply as a state of consciousness, or the many experiences with an individual becomes involved.
The Buddha's teaching is not a metaphysical problem but rather a philosophy of life, a searching light for a general understanding of value and reality in order to succeed a proper way of life, not simply the ritual service and worship of the Buddha image.
To clearly understanding what is the Buddha's core teaching, the author tires to write in unscholarly style and to the point. The book has been divined into 6 sections. The first is preamble, identifying the problem concerning the situation of Buddhism in contemporary Thailand. The second is Buddhism in perspective. The third is the Buddha's Middle teaching, concentrating on the principle of Dependent Origination, one of the most profound and intellectually intriguing of all the Buddha's teaching. The fourth section is the Buddhist ethic an the methods of developing moral, mental, and spiritual culture under the Middle practice of the Eightfold Path, know as Trisikha or Threefold Training. The fifth section is the Theravada philosophy, discussing the Atta - Anatta theory as well as the conception of consciousness. The six section concentrates on the Law of Kamma.
The content inside this book is symbolic of Buddhism's timelessness and accessibility. It has chapters but no obvious sequence. The reader can open it at any page and find an inspirational thought that may well have been spoken by the Buddha himself, a scared communication across the ages, in which the writer has quoted and gleaned from the invaluable Buddhist literatures, particularly written by the highly venerable Buddhist scholar, Phra Dhammapitaka [ P.A. Payutto ].
It has been suggested by some westerner that while the New Testament has the energy of a young man who seeks to transform the material world. The Buddhadhamma carries the wisdom, serenity, and patience of an older person. The following are some of its subjects.
Mujjhenedhamma, the doctrine of the Middle Teaching, denies both views of annihilationism and eternalism. The theory of Anatta is considered one of the conerstones and is said to be a teaching specific to Buddhism. The Buddha's rejection of the Self stands unique in the history of old Indian thoughts by denying the existence of Atman. Also in the law of Kamma, Buddhist beliefs disagree with the " theory of Kam kao " in the past life, which seems to be taught everywhere by Buddhist monks throughout the country.
Regarding the Buddhist ethics, relating to the Four Noble Truths, cessation of suffering is not simply attainable in theory, as we know in the Buddhist doctrine, but in practice. To attain Nibbana, one must follow the way of life is governed by the moral standard, generally regarded as the " Middle Practice " that avoids two extreme views : indulgence in sensual pleasure and self - mortification. This Middle Path is referred to as the Noble Eightfold Paths because of its composition of eight factors. There are three ethical factors, Right Speech, Right Action and Right Livelihood, which form the section of morality to be perfected first. To develop moral habit, one must observe various rules of conduct prescribed by the Buddha.
Having acquired moral habit, one is capable of practising the mental factors, namely : Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration, which constitute the section of concentration. These three factors form parts of the Buddhist method know as " concentration meditation " After that preparation, one is capable of practising the first two factors, these are Right Views and Right Thought, forming the section of " wisdom ", the so - called " Insight meditation."
The theory of Kamma is an integrated part of Buddhist teaching in the context of both philosophy and ethics, and is considered a most interesting and complicated issue. This doctrine has to be discussed in more detail because many people are still confused by mixing the Buddhist law kamma with the three old Indian philosophies. The Post - action determinism believes that all happiness and suffering arise from previous kamma. The theistic determinism contends that all happiness and suffering are caused by the directives of a Supreme Being. The indeterminism or accidentalism that all happiness and suffering are random, having no cause. These lines of thoughts are considered by Buddhism incorrect and must be carefully distinguished from the teaching of kamma in Buddhist doctrine.
Faiths and Beliefs reflect personal intellectual backgrounds. Having studies the Buddha's teaching thoroughly, the writer hopes and wishes that Buddhist lay people ignorance, fear and other spiritual defilement. Proper Buddhist attitude rests on knowledge and understanding, whereas knowledge is founded on wisdom. It is wisdom that leads the way of life to achieve a genuine and lasting happiness as Socrates said long before the twentieth century :
" The unexamined life is not worth living. "
By THE BUDDHA'S Core Teaching
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