BUDDHISM IN THE EYES OF INTELLECTUALS – BUDDHISM

BUDDHISM IN THE EYES OF INTELLECTUALS – BUDDHISM

Fundamental Teachings of The Buddha

Gentleness, serenity, compasion, through liberation from selfish-craving – are the fundamental teachings of the great Oriental religion of Buddhism.

– E.A.Burtt, “The Compassionate Buddha”

Well Built Bridge

Buddha Dharma is like a bridge well built of flexible steel, it gives a little to wind and water, it adapts itself to changing circumstances, but at the same time it has secured foundations and offers a safe way to the Deathless, to Nirvana.

– Phra Khantipalo,“Tolerance”

To Awake the Human Heart

Surely the mysteriously East, that fertile mother of religions, has given us in Buddhism a true revelation, since it makes known to us the moral beauty and purity that lies in the deep of human nature needing no other divinity than that which abides in the human heart to awake them into living glory.

– Charles T.Gorham

Nothing to Surpass Buddhism

Buddhist or not Buddhist, I have examined everyone of the great religious systems of the world, and in none of them have I found anything to surpass, in beauty and comprehensiveness, the Noble Eightford Path and the Four Noble Truths of the Buddha. I am content to shape my life according to that path.

– Prof. Rhys Davids

Buddhism does not leas us to a Fool’s Paradise

Buddhism is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and the world. It does not falsely pull us into living in a fool’s paradis, nor does it frighten and agonize us with all kinds of imaginary fears and guilt-feelings. It calls us exactly and objectively what we are and what the world around us is, and shows us the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and happiness.

– Ven. Dr. W. Rahula

The Buddha’s Mission

The mission of the Buddha was quite unique in it’s character, and therefore it stands quite apart from the many other religions of the world. His mission was to bring the birds of idealism flying in the air nearer to the earth, because the food for their bodies belonged to the earth.

– Hazrat Inayat Khan,“The Sufi Message”

A cosmic religion

The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.

– Albert Einstein

Buddhism will remain unaffected

The doctrines of Buddha Dhamma stand today, as unaffected by the march of time and the expansion of knowledge as when they were first enunciated. No matter to what lengths increase scientific knowledge can extend man’s mental horizon, within the frame work of the Dhamma there is room for the acceptance and assimilation of the further discovery. It does not rely for it’s appeal upon limited concepts of primitive minds not for it’s power upon the negation of thought.

– Francis Story ,”Buddhism as World Religion

Joyful religion

Buddhism is quite opposed to the melancholic, sorrowful, petinent and gloomy attitude of mind which is considered a hindrance to the realization of Truth. On the other hand, it is interesting to remember here that joy is one of the seven ‘Factors of Illumination’, the essential qualities to be cultivated for the realization of Nirvana.

– Ven.Dr. W. Rahula, “What the Buddha Taught”

Challenge to other religions

It is Buddhismas we find it actually recorded, not hypothetical primitive system, which still forms a challenge to other religions.

– Bishop Gore, “Buddha and the Christ.”

No assumption in Buddhism

It is a glory of Buddhism that it makes intellactual enlightenment an essential condition of salvation. In Buddhism morality and interlectual enlightenment are inseparable from one another. While morality forms the basis of the higher life, knowledge and wisdom complete it. Without a perfect understanding of the law of casuality and transformation (Pratityasamutpada), no one else can even be said to be truly moral if he does not possess the necessary insight and knowledge. In this respect Buddhism differs from all other religions. All montheistic religions start with certain assumption, and when these assumptions are contradicted by the growth of knowledge it increases sorrow. But Buddhism starts with no assumptions. It stands on the firm rock of facts, and can therefore never shun the dry light of knowledge.

– Prof. Lakhsmi Naras,.“The Essence of Buddhism”

Buddha has seen deeper them modern idealists

Gautama got rid of even that shade of a shadow of permanent existance by a metaphysical tour de force of great interest to the student of philosophy, seeing that it supplies the wanting half of Bishop Berkeley’s well-known idealist argument. It is a remarkable indication of the subtlety of Indian speculation that Gautama should have seen deeper than the greatest of modern idealists. The tendency of enlightened thought of all today all the world over is not towards theology, but philosophy and psychology. The bark of theological dualism is drifting into danger. The fundamental principles of evolution and monism are being accepted by the thoughtful.

– Prof.Huxley,“Evolution And Ethics”

Religious Revolution

Twenty- five centuries ago India witnessed an intellectual and religious revolution which culminated in the overthrow of monotheism, priestly selfishness, and the establishment of a synthetic religion, a system of light and thought which was appropriately called Dhamma – Philosophical Religion.

– Anagarika Dharmapala,“The World debt to Buddha”

A Plan for Living

Buddhism is a plan for living in such a way as to derive highest benefit from life. It is a religion of wisdom where knowledge and intelligence predominate. The Buddha did not preach to win converts but to enlighten listeners.

– A Western writer

Come and See

Buddhism is not always a question of knowing and seeing and not that of believing. The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as Ehi-Passiko, inviting you to come and see, but not to come and believe.

– Ven. Dr. W. Rahula,“What the Buddha Taught”

Religion of Man

Buddhism will last as long as the sun and moon last and the human race exists upon the earth, for it is the religion of man, of humanity as a whole.

– Bandaranaike, Former Prime Minister of Srilanka

Buddhist is not a slave to anybody

A Buddhist is not a slave to a book or to any person. Nor does he sacrifice his freedom of thought by becoming a follower of the Buddha. He can exercise his own free will and develop his knowledge even to the extent of attaining Buddhahood himself, for all are potential Buddhas.

– Ven. Narada Maha Thera, “What is Buddhism”

Life by principle

Buddhism taught a life not by rule, but by principle, a life of beauty; and as a consequence, it was a religion of tolerance. It was the most charitable system under the sun.

– Rev. Joseph Wain

Buddhism would remain

Buddhism would remain what it is even if it were proved that the Buddha never lived.

– Christmas Humphreys, “Buddhism”

Modern Problems

To read a little Buddhism is to realise that the Buddhists knew, two thousand five hundred years ago, far more about our modern problems of psychology than they have yet been given credit for. They studied these problems long ago and found their answers too.

– Dr. Graham Howe

Mind Training

We hear much nowadays of thought-power, but Buddhism is the most complete and effective system of mind-training yet placed before the world.

– Dudley Wright

New Race

The Buddha created a new race of men, a race of moral heroes, a race of salvation-workers, a race of Buddhas.

– Manmatha Nath Sastri

First Missionary

Buddhism is the first missionary religion in the history of humanity with a universal message of salvation for all mankind. The Buddha after his Enlightenment sent out sixty-one disciples in different directions asking them to preach the doctrine for the weal and welfare of mankind.

– Dr. K.N. Jayatilleke, “Buddhism and Peace”

No forced conversion

It was never, however, the buddhist way to proselytise – in the sense of forcing ideas and beliefs upon an unwilling audience, much less to exert pressure of any kind, or any kind of flattery, deceit or cajolery, to win adherence to one’s own point of view. Buddhist missionaries have never competed for converts in the marketplace.

– Dr. G.P.Malalasekara

Ultimate fact of reality

Here it is necessary to draw attention to another unique feature of the religion of the buddha, namely, that it is the only religion of any relgious teacher, which is the outcome of a consistent philosophy, which claims to tell us about the ultimate facts of existance and reality. The religion of the Buddha is a way of life resulting from the acceptance of a view of life, which is said to be factual. His philosophy is not without an account of the nature of knowledge.

– Dr. K.N. Jayatilleke, “Buddhism and Peace”

No Fanaticism

Of Buddha alone can it be affirmed it is free from all fanaticism. It’s aim being to produce in every man a thorough internal transforming by self conquest, how can it have a recourse to might or money or even persuasion for effecting conversion? The Buddha has only shown the way to salvation, and it is left to each individual to decide for himself if he would follow it.

– Prof. Lakshmi Narasu, “The Essence of Buddhism”

Buddhism and other faiths

Buddhism is like the palm of the hand, the other religions being the fingers.

– The great Khan Mongka

Buddhism is not a melancholy religion

Some people think that Buddhism is a dark and melancholy religion. It is not so; it will it’s followers bright and cheerful. When we read the birth stories of Bodhisatva, the future Buddha, we learn how he cultivated the Perfection of patience and forbearance. It will help as to be cheerful even in midst of great troubles and to take delight in other’s welfare.

– Ven. Gnanatiloka, a German Buddhist scholar

Buddhism and social welfare

Those who think that Buddhism is interested only in lofty ideals, high moral and philosophy thought, ignores any social and economic of welfare people, are wrong. The Buddha was interested in happiness of men. To him, happiness was not possible without leading a pure life based on moral and spiritual principles. But he knew that leading such a life was hard in unfavourable material and social conditions.

Buddhism does not material welfare as an end in itself; it is only a means to an end – a higher and nobler end. But it is a means which is indispensable, indespensable in achieving a higher purpose for man’s happiness. So Buddhism recognizes the need of certain minimum material conditions favourable to spiritual success – even that of a monk engaged in meditation in some solitary place.

– Ven. Dr.W.Rahula, “What the Buddha Taugh”

Example from Asoka

Turn to Buddhism, and you will read that Asoka not only preached a lofty morality but exercised the power of kingship in manner that shames our modern sovereigns of other faiths.

– Geoffrey Mortimer, a writer in the West

Fixed Principles

It will not be possible even today to Buddhism that it is worn out because it is rooted upon certain fixed principles that can never be altered.

– Gertrude Garartt

Dhamma is the law

All teachings of the Buddha can be summed up in one word: “Dhamma”. The law of righteousness, exist not only in a man’s heart but it exists in the universe also. All the universe is an embodiment or revelation of Dhamma. The laws of nature which modern science have discovered are revelations of Dhamma.

If the Moon rises and sets, it is because of Dhamma, for Dhamma is that law residing in the universe that makes metter act in the ways studied in physics, chemistry, zoology, botany and astronomy. Dhamma exists in the universe just as Dhamma exists in the heart of man. If man will live by Dhamma, he will escape misery and attain Nibbana.

– Ven. A. Mahinda

Persecution

Of the great religions of history I prefer Buddhism, especially in it’s earliest forms, because it has had the smallest element of persecution.

– Bertrand Russell

Appreciation of Buddhism

Although one may originally be attracted by it’s remoteness, one can appreciate the real value of Buddhism only when one judges it by the result it produces in one’s own life from day to day.

– Dr. Edward Conze, a Western Buddhist scholar

Knowledge is the Key to higher path

Without senuous pleasure would life be endurable? Without belief in immorality can man be moral? Without worship of a God can man advance towards righteousness? Yes, replies the Buddha, these ends can be attained by knowledge; knowledge alone the key to higher path, the one worth pursuing in life; knowledge is that which brings calmness and peace to life, which renderd man indifferent to the storms of phenomenal world.

– Prof. Karl Pearson

Fortunate Buddhist

How fortunate are the humble followers of the Buddha who have not inherited the fallacy of infallibility of any revealed book from the very beginning.

– Ven. Prof. Ananda Kaushalyayana

Buddhism and Rites

Buddhism is thus a religion, and there is a little room in it for ritual and ceremony. An act done with an idea of one’s own conditioning ceases to be a rite. Much of the seemingly ritual of present-day Buddhism, when seen thus are really not rites.

– Dr. W.F. Jayasuriya, “The Philosophy of Buddhism”

Saviour

If the Buddha is to be called a ‘saviour’ at all, it is only in the sense that he discovered and showed the Path to Liberation, Nivana. But we must tread the path ourselves.

-Ven. Dr W. Rahula, “What the Buddha Taught”

No force

To force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is political, and not spirtual or intellectual.

-Ven. Dr. W. Rahula, “What the Buddha Taught”

Respect other religions

One should not honour only one’s own religion and condemn the religions of others, but one should honour other’s religions for this or that reason. So doing, one helps one’s own religion to grow and renders service to the religions of others too. In acting otherwise one digs the grave of one’s own religion and also does harm to other religions. Whosever honours his own religion and condemns other religions, thinking “I will glorify my own religion”. But on the contrary, in so doing he injures his own religion more gravely. So concord is good: Let all listen, and be willing to listen to the doctrines professed by others.

– Emperor Asoka

 A genuine pride

A religion or a way of life is judged not merely by the truths it proclaims but also by the change that it brings about in the life of it’s followers. So far this test is concerned Buddhism has a record of achievements in which we can take a genuine pride.

– D. Valisinha, General Secrstary, Maha Bodhi Society, “Buddhist way of life”

Unconsciousness

It can also be said that India discovered the unconsciousness earlier than the Western psycholigists. For them the unconscious consists in the totality of the impressions which slumber in the individual as the inheritance from his previous existance. The Buddhis technique of meditation, which is concerned with the latent forces, is thus a fore-runner of modern psycho-analysis, of autogenic mental trainingetc.

– Prof. Von Glasenapp, a German scholar

Rational analysis

Buddhism is the only great religion of the owlr that is consciously and frankly based on a systematic rational analysis of the problems of life and of the way to its solution.

-Moni Bagghee, “Our Buddha”

Enemy of religion

There is little of what we call dogma in the Buddha’s teaching. With a breadth of view rare in that age and not common in ours he refuses to stifle critism. Intolerance seemed to him the greatest enemy of religion.

– Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, “Gautama The Buddha”

Sectarianism

Most meophytes of some other religions are controlled by their Guru and are forbidden to read the scriptures, doctrines, magazines, booklets and tracts of other religions. This very rarely happens within Buddhism.

– Phra Khantipalo, “Tolerance”

The Five precepts

These five precepts, indicate five arterial directions in which the Buddhist self-control is to be exercised. Thus, the first rule calls upon him to control the passion of anger, the second, the desire for material possessions, the third, the lust of the flesh, the fourth, cowardice and malevolence (causes of untruthfulness) the fifth, the craving for unwholesome excitement.

– Edmon Holmes, “The creed of Buddha”

Man who achieved a great victory

One of the first scholars to begin the work of translating the Pali Literature into English, was the son of a well known clergyman. His object in undertaking the work was ti prove the superiority of Christianity Over Buddhist. We must never forget the happy chance which prompted him to undertake this work and thereby make the precious Dhamma available to thousands in the West. The name of this great scholar was Dr. Rhys Davids.

– Ven. A. Mahinda, “Blue Print of happiness”

Human Destiny

Over great areas of the world it still survives. It is possible that in contact with Western science, and inspired by the spirit of history, the original teaching of Gotama, revived and purified, may yet play a large part in the direction of human destiny.

– H.G. Wells

Parliamentary system borrowed from Buddhism

It is probable that the tendency towards self government evidenced by these various forms of corporate activity received fresh impetus from the Buddhist rejection of the authority of the priesthood and further but its doctrine of equality as exemplified by its repudiation of caste. It is indeed to the Buddhist books that we have to turn for an account of the manner in which the affairs of the early examples of representative self-governing institutions were conducted. It may come as a surprise to many to learn that in assemblies of Buddhists in India 2500 years and more ago are to be found the rudiments of our own parliamentary practice of the present day.

The dignity of the assembly was preserved by the appointment of a special officer – the embryo of “Mr. Speaker” in our house of commons. A second officer was appointed to see that when necessary a quorum was secured – the prototype of the Parliamentary Chief Whip, in our own system. A member initiating business did so in the form of a motion which was then open to discussion. In some cases, this was done once only, in others three times, thus anticipating the practise of Parliament in requiring that a bill be read a third time before it becomes law. If discussion disclosed a difference of opinion the matter was decided by the vote of the majority, the voting being by ballot.

– Marquess of Zetland, a former Viceroy, “Legacy of India”

Source: Budsas.org