“Religion is for man and Man is not for religion” – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.
We all know about this saying by Dr. Ambedkar given in one of his conferences. Since the society at that time was suffering deeply by the sting of casteism. The root of which can be traced back to Varna system of Hinduism and the laws of Manu (Manusmiriti) a thousand years back. Looking at the struggle history of Dr. Ambedkar, we find that he tried everything to change the traditional caste system to be abandoned and equality to be established. But the traditional Hindu orthodoxy was never in favor of bringing equality, i.e. equal treatment to all of the ‘Varna’s of the Hinduism. Ambedkar had started moving away from Hinduism in 1935 itself when he had publicly declared that he was not going to die as a Hindu. From the point of view of philosophy of religion, the most important event in Dr. Ambedkar’s life was his renunciation of Hinduism. He renounced Hinduism and embraced Buddhism towards the end of his life in 1956. Reasons for embracing Buddhism can be obtained by studying his The Buddha and his Dhamma, Annihilation of Caste, Philosophy of Hinduism, Riddles in Hinduism, and his writings and speeches before and after conversion to Buddhism. First, let’s look at History in brief:
BIRTH, RISE, DECLINE AND FALL OF BUDDHISM
Siddhartha Gautam was born in India. He became enlightened in India. As the Buddha he taught in India for forty five years, eventually passing into Mahaparinirvana in India. In the following years Buddhism quickly spread throughout India presenting individuals with a new spiritual vision, and at the same time radically challenging the prevailing social abuses, especially those that took place in the name of religion such as caste and sacrifice. The great king Ashoka, intensified this development, and encouraged Buddhist teachers to take the Dhamma beyond the confines of the Indian sub-continent to Sri Lanka, to Greece, and throughout Asia. Such was its influence that the age when Buddhism was at its most influential is known as the golden age of Indian history.
Gradually Buddhism began to lose its influence in India and by the 14th century it had effectively died out except in the areas bordering Tibet and Nepal. Why this happened is still a mystery, although some factors are clearly involved. These include both internal weaknesses that had developed in Buddhism, as well as objective threats. Among the major factors must be counted the concentration of monks in large monastic universities. So expensive were these to maintain that it was only possible if the ruler was sympathetic; when they were not, the monastic universities suffered. This concentration in the monasteries meant that the monks lost touch with the people in the villages. Villagers had no recourse but to turn to the Brahmins, who had never forgiven the Buddha for undermining their religion, and lost no opportunity in trying to regain their lost ground. When the waves of Moslem invasions took place, the Buddhist monasteries holding thousands of monks, were obvious and very easy targets. On the one hand the Moslems did not like worshippers of images and on the other no invading army would welcome large concentrations of people who were not under their influence.
Although Buddhism died out in India in a formal sense, its influence did continue in various ways. Many scholars have has clearly demonstrated that modern Puranic Hinduism is a hybrid of Brahminism and Buddhism. Buddhist teachings resound in many oral and written texts, which have now become part of the Hindu tradition. In his book “The Untouchables” Dr. Ambedkar suggested that Buddhists were punished by a resurgent Brahminism by being made untouchable, imposing on them the worst imaginable social, economic and religious restrictions.
There have been other studies to suggest that some of the most important temples in India were originally Buddhist, such as the Jagannath Temple at Puri and the Tirupati temple in South India, the richest and most popular temple in India. There have been suggestions that the Buddha or Bodhisattvas have been made into Hindu gods. Indeed the Buddha himself has been adapted as the 9th incarnation of Vishnu. Buddhist festivals, too, it seems have been adopted, such as Guru Purnima, the day when spiritual teachers are worshipped in India; this is no other than the day the Buddha is supposed to have first turned the wheel of the Dhamma. However despite all its considerable influence, for all practical purposes Buddhism died in India.
That is also one of the reasons; Dr. Ambedkar once again revived Buddhism in India.
RELIGION AND DHAMMA
I think it is important to mention here the difference between religion and Dhamma. In his The Buddha and His Dhamma, Dr. Ambedkar has tried to make a distinction between religion and Dhamma. According to him, the word “religion” is an ambiguous word with more than one meaning. This is so because religion has passed through many ages and the conception of religion, too, has changed accordingly. At early stage, religion was identified with magic. In the second stage, religion came to be identified with beliefs, rituals, ceremonies, prayers and sacrifices. In the third stage, God and soul entered religion. At present, says Dr. Ambedkar, religion means “belief in God, belief in soul, worship of God, curing of the erring soul, propitiating God by prayers, ceremonies, sacrifices, etc.”
According to Dr. Ambedkar, what the Buddha calls Dhamma differs fundamentally from what is called religion. Religion, it is said, is personal and one must keep it to oneself. One must not let it play its part in public life. Contrary to this Dhamma is social. Dhamma is righteousness, which means right relations between human beings in all spheres of life. If a person is living alone, he or she does not need Dhamma. However, when there are two persons living in relation to each other, they must find a place for Dhamma, whether they like it or not. In other words, society, maintains Dr. Ambedkar, cannot sustain itself without Dhamma. Society has to choose one of the three alternatives. Society may choose not to have any Dhamma, as an instrument of government. This means society chooses the road to anarchy. Secondly, society may choose the police, that is, dictatorship as an instrument of government. Thirdly, society may choose Dhamma plus the magistrate wherever people fail to observe the Dhamma, as an instrument of government. In anarchy and dictatorship, liberty is lost. Liberty can survive only if we accept the third alternative. Therefore, concludes Ambedkar, those who want liberty must accept Dhamma. According to Buddha, Dhamma consists of Prajna (understanding or wisdom) and Karuna (love). Thus, says Ambedkar, the definition of Dhamma, according to the Buddha, is different from the definition of religion.
RELEVANCE IN MODERN TIMES
It is said that, the teaching of all the Buddhas are ‘Akalika’ or ‘timeless’. That is there are certain aspects of Buddhism which are applicable to all times. I will list a very few one of them.
First of these would be the recognition of the responsibility of the individual. the Buddha is one of the most remarkable religious teachers who emancipated man from all bonds – bonds of supernatural ties, a God-head, a creation, sin Of-, any other characteristic inherited from anyone else (rather than what you yourself have done). So when the Buddha says that each person is his own master, he promulgates a principle whose applicability becomes stronger as man begins to get more and more confidence in the control of himself and the environment. So if, today, with scientific and technological development, man feels that he has come to a point where his own intellect makes him superior to anybody else or allows him able to solve any problem that he has, whether physical or ethical or political or whatever, would not the principle that man is the master of himself – that he has to be responsible to himself because whatever he does he inherits – become one of the most important ways of looking at himself?
So this fundamental approach to making man free from all bondages, spiritual and otherwise, is one of those very important doctrines of Buddhism that have contributed to its timelessness. As we advance, as greater progress is made by man, there will be the greater need for him to assert that he is the master of himself. The more he asserts himself to be the master of himself, the more is he reiterating the Buddha’s own statement: ‘Atta hi attano natho.” (you are your own master).
Then comes another equally important doctrine. The doctrine of open-mindedness – the liberty of thinking. Buddhism not only frees us from a God-head or super natural tie but also liberates mankind from dogma. Let us visualize the time when the Buddha was preaching. It was a time when various religious teachings were in a ferment and India of the 6th century B. C. was one of the most interesting places to be. Religious teachers propounding various types of doctrines were vying with each other to have more and more converts. Besides these new teachings, there were religious systems that were deep rooted. In all these religious systems, the theory was: “We have found a way.” “This is the correct path.” “You come, you will be saved.” … Into their midst comes the Buddha who says: “Do not believe what your book says. Do not believe what your teachers would say. Do not believe what your tradition says. Do not take anything merely because it comes to you with the authority of somebody else. Make it a personal experience. Think for yourself. Be convinced. And once you are convinced act accordingly.” Now this was a very refreshing manner in which man was given one of the greatest freedoms that he is fighting for, the freedom to think for himself.
These are few of important revolutionary thoughts and teachings in Buddhism are still relevant today and will be in future too.
HOW DO WE PROPAGATE DHAMMA?
Soon after Dr. Ambedkar’s conversion ceremony, a lot of ceremonies for conversion followed. Still today, a lot of them are happening. But most of them today are carried out by politicians specifically for political intensions, rather than to give the people proper knowledge of why they are converting. Almost all of them not remain there to further guide the people. This makes people very much confused, about what to do next. Subsequently, along with many other reasons, they fall back to the old religion they are following, with their traditional gods replaced by Buddha, rest remains the same. So after the conversion, good teachers are needed in order to guide people. There is always an increasing demand of humble and learned teachers for the spread of Dhamma.
I will suggest few steps for the propagation of Dhamma, as I learned through some years of experience, and experiences of many of the learned teachers.
“How can a lame person help another lame person?” Or “How can a blind person show another blind person the true way?”
This comes true for Dhamma too, who is not strong in Dhamma, cannot show others even what is Dhamma. The only best way to propagate Dhamma is to apply Dhamma in life of oneself. That is to practice the Dhamma (the righteousness) by oneself, and then encourage others to practice. As the society is comprised of individuals, an individual cannot be ignored. Unless every individual is not established in Dhamma practice, we cannot hope society will also be so much morally strong, and all individuals in it will have better life full of happiness.
HOW TO PRACTICE DHAMMA?
As described in Dr. Ambedkar’s The Buddha and His Dhamma, practicing Dhamma is a step by step process. To have morality in society, its each individual must be full of morality, accompanied by continuous learning for better. This is the first step in practicing Dhamma. Then gradual study of Dhamma and applying it life in actual practice will make oneself good example as Dhamma person. After all, Dhamma is righteousness applied in real life, consisting of high levels of Prajna (knowledge, wisdom), Karuna (loving kindness) and Samta (equality).
We will have to leave aside the traditional beliefs and practices, take a pause and think and measure with yardsticks such as “This thing that I am practicing… Is it rational? Is it pragmatic? Is it scientific? Does it really help me? Does it bring harm to me? Does it bring harm to others or nay living being?…etc.”
For that, Dr. Ambedkar has prescribed the 22 vows during the conversion ceremony in Nagpur. It is like an axe to cut down the human mind with traditional orthodox beliefs and leave aside all the dogmas, wake up, free the mind and take up the right path in right direction.
The famous 22 vows are:
1. I shall have no faith in Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh nor shall I worship them.
2. I shall have no faith in Rama and Krishna who are believed to be incarnation of God nor shall I worship them.
3. I shall have no faith in ‘Gauri’, Ganapati and other gods and goddesses of Hindus nor shall I worship them.
4. I do not believe in the incarnation of God.
5. I do not and shall not believe that Lord Buddha was the incarnation of Vishnu. I believe this to be sheer madness and false propaganda.
6. I shall not perform ‘Shraddha’ nor shall I give ‘pind-dan’.
7. I shall not act in a manner violating the principles and teachings of the Buddha.
8. I shall not allow any ceremonies to be performed by Brahmins.
9. I shall believe in the equality of man.
10. I shall endeavor to establish equality.
11. I shall follow the ‘Noble Eightfold Path’ of the Buddha.
12. I shall follow the ‘Paramitas’ prescribed by the Buddha.
13. I shall have compassion and loving kindness for all living beings and protect them.
14. I shall not steal.
15. I shall not tell lies.
16. I shall not commit carnal sins.
17. I shall not take intoxicants like liquor, drugs etc.
18. I shall endeavor to follow the noble eightfold path and practice compassion and loving kindness in everyday life.
19. I renounce Hinduism which is harmful for humanity and impedes the advancement and development of humanity because it is based on inequality, and adopt Buddhism as my religion.
20. I firmly believe the Dhamma of the Buddha is the only true religion.
21. I believe that I am having a re-birth.
22. I solemnly declare and affirm that I shall hereafter lead my life according to the principles and teachings of the Buddha and his Dhamma.
To learn Dhamma in depth, the Buddha’s teachings are available in texts. The teachings of Buddha are actually a very vast literature, comprised of three divisions, or baskets called Tipitaka in Pali language. Owing to large amount of time required to study them, Dr. Ambedkar summarized the teachings in his book ‘The Buddha and his Dhamma’. Study of this book is an inspiration towards the practical application of Dhamma in life.
PRACTICE OF DHAMMA IN SOCIAL LIFE
After beginning to practice Dhamma oneself diligently, one can begin to encourage others to practice. Today there is great need of teachers for teaching the Dhamma in various creative ways to people. Dr. Ambedkar recommended in his book Buddha and his Dhamma that, there must be a new kind of Sangha. Under this Shangha, there will be not just the learned monks, but also it should comprise highly learned lay people. All of them would be scholar enough to present Dhamma in a very humble and sympathetic way.
So there also arises need for such learning centers, where the Dhamma is taught in theory as well as in practice to monks and lay people alike. Local Buddha Vihars can be a very small scale learning centers to the people who live nearby. In those small centers, there should be Dhamma talks, from time to time, held by learned scholars on various aspects of Dhamma, where a large number of people can attend. Recent big developments are there, with the starting of learning centers like ‘Naglok’ near Nagpur.
Media in various forms like print, electronic, audio visual are also and always an effective way to help propagation of Dhamma. Lot of work today is being done by the media, specially the channel ‘LordBuddhaTV” in this direction.
Another important aspect of Buddha’s teachings is meditation. Meditations in Buddhism are of many types and names (Sati, Samadhi, Samata, Vipassana, Metta etc.). As truly described in Dr. Ambedkar’s The Buddha and His Dhamma, Dhamma to many people is only meditation, and is only the teaching of Buddha, but this is not so. In reality, they are all just tools to further strengthen practice of Dhamma (to become righteous) in little more depth. But these cannot be taken as the final teaching of Buddha. Every individual has a liberty of choice to follow a certain way to apply those teachings in his life. Because the ultimate goal for Buddhism is to free people from all the bondages/setbacks/sorrows of life and have Liberty, Equality and Fraternity in Society.