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NAMO
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'THE
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Hillside
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The Buddhist Hour Radio Broadcast for Sunday 23 September 2001
The topic of today’s broadcast is: An Australian meaning of ‘A Fair Go For All’
From 17 to 22 September 2001 delegates from many countries around the world attended the International Conference on Religious Cooperation held at the Grand Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan.
Our Teacher, John D. Hughes and Director and Secretary of our Centre, Anita Svensson, attended the conference. John D. Hughes prepared a paper called An Australian meaning of ‘A Fair Go For All’ which we will now read for you.
Venerable Sangha, Eminent Fathers of the various churches, Holy and Religious persons, eminent scholars, ladies and gentlemen.
I welcome the opportunity to present this forum with some notions of a Buddha Practitioner and Teacher on some views that you may meet within the current Buddhist global viewpoint.
I leave you to equate them to the tenets of your own intelligence.
I intend that this paper will generate more light than heat and if it does not measure up to the standard in your heart I wish to ask you to be gracious enough to overlook any lack of clarity of the notions presented because it would take days of dialogue to reach understanding of some of the 8th order logic I have introduced here and there.
Let me begin with a statement of good will. I believe we have things to discuss together that could lead to collective action that could bring many blessings to many folk, within this troubled world.
I have requested for the ancient Noble ones to guide me in my task here today. I do this with quiet supreme confidence that the merit of their deeds can appear within this conference to bless us all.
At the Millennium World Peace Summit held at the United Nations in New York from 28 to 31 August 2000, Religious and Spiritual Leaders from all major religious traditions signed a “Commitment to Global Peace” and resolved to join together to address the pressing problems of conflict, poverty and the environment.
They noted that: Humanity stands at a critical juncture in history, one that calls for strong moral and spiritual leadership to help set a new direction for society. We as religious leaders and spiritual leaders, recognize our special responsibility for the well-being of the human family and peace of earth.
We pledge our commitment to work together to promote the inner and outer conditions that foster peace and the nonviolent management and resolution of conflict.
The summit appealed to the followers of all religious traditions and to the human community as a whole to cooperate in building peaceful societies, to seek mutual understanding through dialogue where there are differences, to refrain from violence, to practice compassion, and to uphold the dignity of all life. (1)
We can agree that peace statements are valuable and useful.
For over 2500 years, practitioners of Buddha Dharma have been in highly geared discourse with Kingdoms in various countries.
During Buddha’s day, religious practices had multiplied to an extent where there were probably more than 500 distinguishable religious ideologies. Lord Buddha met the leaders and/or followers of these religions and through discussion, Buddha had discourses with many of these religious persons and most of them became his Monks or Nuns. His power to bring ranges of various persons of different castes or classes to join his movement is remembered.
In ancient Indian political thought, it is not the King who rules but Dharma, enabled by the power of enforcing Dharma termed “Danda” or “Sanction”. Even Dharma Vijaya is a worthy example of Dharma Mangala (blessings), something self evident to all religious persons. However, secular historians lacking spiritual insight estimation of the greatest of historical rulers are more often than not at variance with historical reality. The error of secular historians in this regard is partly evident in certain communities in this contemporary world in which the majority of persons hold azura-vijaya tenents as the ideal. Azuras are the demi Gods that fight the Gods. They are not very bright because they are always defeated in the heavenly battles.
In 1996, the author wrote a paper (2) to celebrate 2000 years anniversary of the Venerable Asoka of India who had an enormous power to spread Buddha Dharma by sending his missionaries into Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Anam, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Java and Japan.
“Professor Flinders Petrie believed the Buddhist mission of Asoka lead to the ascetic life of recluses established in the Ptolemaic times, and Monks of the Serapeum illustrated an ideal to man which had been as yet unknown in the West.
He considered the system of monasticism continued until Pachomios, a Monk of Serapis in Upper Egypt, became the first Christian Monk in the reign of Constantine (3).
Not only did King Asoka become a devout Buddhist, but he took serious and efficient steps to spread his faith throughout the whole of India and even outside it; his bilingual Greek-Aramaic inscription, found at Kandahar, is perhaps the most eloquent sign of his zeal for morality and orderliness.
One mission, headed by his brother the Venerable Mahinda, was sent to Sri Lanka, which was soon completely converted and became the stronghold of Buddha Dhamma in the South.
The Pali recension of the Buddhist canon, which tradition ascribes to a legendary third council convened by Asoka, was introduced into Sri Lanka and received its final shape there.
Tradition, supported by chronicles in Sri Lanka, has placed in the seventeenth year of his reign an important fact, the third Buddhist Council, which was in session for nine months at Pataliputta, modern Patna, the capital of Asoka’s empire. This Council was necessitated by the growth of heretical doctrines within the Order, causing various secessions.
The thambha (pillar) inscriptions of the last years of Asoka’s reign, at Kausambi, Sanei and Sarnath, refer to action to be taken to prevent a schism in the Sangha.
This was obviously not an autocratic exercise by the Venerable King Asoka of his sovereign powers.
It was determined by Buddhist Canonical Law Vinaya, confirmed at the supreme session of this third Council, convened by King Asoka (according to the Mahavamsa) under the Presidentship of the Most Venerable Thera Moggaliputta Tissa.
On this occasion, the sixty-two heretical views of seventeen schismatic sects were exposed and condemned. The Council further compiled the Kathavatthuppakarana which was incorporated into the Abhidhamma Pitaka. It contains the various points of controversy maintained by the seventeen different heretical schools, together with their refutation, and the Theravada viewpoint as to the correct doctrine.
Still, some Scholars now hold that this ‘council’ has no historical background and may refer to a local dispute (4).
The missionaries were not particular about language; they put their texts into the tongue of the country in which they were preaching. We have fragments of canonical writings (chiefly Vinaya) in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and in an Indian dialect that underwent a thorough process of “Sanskritization”, and is known as Hybrid Sanskrit. But most of the non-Theravada literature is now preserved in Chinese and other translations.
One of the conventions of Buddhist practice is the circumspection that prescribes that human beings are not to disclose to others their level of attainment.”
The power of such missionary drives has not been matched in recent centuries because from a Buddhist view point we are entering a Dharma ending age. We are not saying that it is no longer possible to attain and realise the highest perfection of awakening described by lord Buddha, we are merely saying that as the years roll on fewer beings awaken to full supreme awareness and liberate themselves from the world. In Buddha’s day, 12500 persons (including some females) became fully awakened. Today, in the world we would be lucky to find 80 such persons. So viewed from the top down, Buddha Dharma is running short of fully awakened persons who have the power to awaken others. If we were to estimate the population of the world today to be 8000 million persons, we are talking about 1 in 10 million beings offering light into this world. We are not quite sure what the population of the world was in Buddha’s day, but even if we assume it was between 400 million and 800 million, the ratio in ancient times was remarkable. If we narrow the field down to saying that the awakened persons were all in India, the ratio becomes even stronger. There can be no doubt that the long life of some of the Monks, 140 years, 160 years, 180 years, helped the process, introducing Buddha Dharma to the other religious people of the world.
In 1997, David Scott in his “The Study of Buddhism: Issues and Challenges” referred to “insider-outsider castes”. In conventional Western wisdom, the outsider caste is credited as dealing with “some advantages” in terms of attachment and lack of sectarianism. This appears as an attempt by “outsiders” to claim the higher ground. However, when the “outsiders” analyse paradigms in the form of post modernism nihilism, we cannot accept their findings on the grounds that Buddha taught persons not to accept views based on nihilism and eternalism. Without disparaging the “outsider” motives or intellect of others, this type of counsel should be examined carefully. (5)
Like it or not like it, because most lay persons have not perfected the skill of giving correctly (Pali: dana parami), few are able to give freely. This means that were a person donating goods or monies to an organisation, he or she thinks they can expect some say in the projected direction of that organisation.
We are inclined to query financial views arising from this position because not to question such views can blunt sensitivity to the internal dynamics of Buddhist practices. It can lead to the danger of reading non-Buddhist assumptions into an analysis of Buddhism.
The legal maxim that applies to building is: “Aedificare in tuo proprio solo non licet quod alteri noceat. ”This means that one may not build upon one’s own land what may do injury to another.
Securitisation of debt is one way responsible organisations can recognise this maxim and hence we hold that followers of Buddha Dharma exclude the notion of borrowing recklessly to finance building.
It is a blessing to be debtless.
For this reason, our organisation adopts securitisation of debt as a determinant element of our building paradigm to control capital outlay. (6)
Perhaps, we would share with other religions such economic sense. We want stable structures to last. As the world may be on the path to World War 3, it might be prudent to keep debt manageable. If some young persons went off to war and returned to peace only to find their favourite Temple closed for lack of funds, they may well ask what they were fighting for.
In recent times, driven by the Los Angeles Buddhist-Catholic Dialogue, there have been certain discoveries. Catholics unexpectedly learn about the negative attitude towards Christians among Asian Buddhists, the legacy of Christian involvement which began in the 16th Century and continued in parts of Asia for more than 400 years.
At the same time, Christians discovered how important compassion is in Buddha Dhamma as comparable in its transcendence to the divine basis of love in Christianity. The lives of simplicity and compassion shared by the founders of these two religions help clean up some of the mystery of how these traditions could share something together as a common point of reference.
Those interested in this dialogue should read “An Early Journey” edited by Venerable Karuna Dharma and Dr. Michael Kerze which is linked with the original dialogue members. The co-chair was Venerable Dr. Havanpola Ratanasara, Buddhist Sangha Council of Southern California. (7)
The Late Venerable Dr. Havanpola Ratanasara delivered a talk at Gethsemane Conference on “The Importance of Interfaith Dialogue: A Buddhist Perspective”. He referred to some observations of his Holiness John Paul II in which He reminded us all that “what unites us is much greater than what separates us . . . It is necessary . . . to rid ourselves of stereotypes, of old habits. And above all, it is necessary to recognise the unity that already exists.” Since all of you are already knowledgeable about the history of inter-religious dialogue, it isn’t my intention to bore you by rehashing it. But I think it is worth our while to pause every now and then, to “step back” and remind ourselves just how far we’ve come in the last three decades. The evidence, which confirms the Pope’s observation of a “unity that already exists” is most encouraging. Formal interfaith dialogue, however, does not materialise, fully developed, out of a vacuum. It evolves gradually, in response to the needs and aspirations of the broader community of which is participants are members. The “unity that already exists”, of which the Pope speaks is the life of the community, and a tacit consensus, that “what unites us” is at least as important as “what separates us”. On the other hand, this pre-existing “unity” must be recognised, and positive steps taken to build on it. No less encouraging, therefore, is the evidence that what was begun some thirty years ago continues with increasing momentum.” (8)
Monsignor Michael Fitzgerald, has written an article in developing dialogue and maintains that “If the dialogue of discourse is to succeed, then perhaps certain conditions need to be fulfilled. The preparation for the meeting should be carried out, if possible, in cooperation with the dialogue partners. This preparation should be serious, but there should not be too great a rigidity in the running of the meeting; it is important to leave openings for spontaneous discussion. Care must be taken to maintain a true dialogical spirit; this means not only avoiding polemics, but also not restricting the exchanges to a purely academic approach. It may be necessary to accept that there will be a certain amount of repetition, if not in the same meeting, at least from one meeting to another. New people are often brought into the dialogues, and this is a good thing, but it also means that the fundamentals have to be explained over and over again. Very often meetings wish to end up with a common statement. Here it is elementary wisdom not to want to say everything so that at least something can be said together.” (9) This talk is available on the Internet linked to The Los Angeles Buddhist-Catholic Dialogue.
From a Buddhist perspective, we know about rebirth and know in some lives we are born of this religion and in other lives we are born into a different religion. Provided we have had a series of human births (rather than animal births where we learn nothing) we already have some innate sense of each others religion because of these past causes.
We need not shift from our own religion to another religion to be able to cooperate with one another. But with the negative forces of the world driving persons towards atrocious acts, of which the recent US bombing is merely one example, we must unite to fight what Buddhists call mara and Christians call demonic forces.
The best way to fight is to propagate the peaceful pursuit of our own religions and convert persons lacking in morality to our respective viewpoints. I say this because I know in some of the delegates hearts there is a wish that followers and devotees increase.
May the propagation of morality become a national issue in our respective countries so that future generations will remember us with affection.
But as we say in Australia ‘give people a fair go’. Which is the basis of our multiculturalism. It is impossible to translate the full meaning of ‘a fair go’ in your respective language, so you will have to search your language for the vernacular speech of developing fairness that undoubtedly exists at grassroots levels.
So the impossible dream may not be so far away if we can wish all persons to be given ‘a fair go’.
May you be well and happy and free from harm and successful in your pursuit of what we in Australia term ‘a fair go’ for all.
I had better close now before I send out streams of incomprehensible Australian argot.
So thank you very much.
The paper we have read to you today is called An Australian meaning of ‘A Fair Go For All’. This paper was presented by our Teacher John D. Hughes last week at the International Conference on Religious Cooperation, held in Taipei, Taiwan, from 17 to 22 September 2001.
This radio broadcast script can be read on our Internet website www.bdcublessings.net.au
May the merits made by the delegates be dedicated to propagating morality and blessings in their respective countries.
May all beings be well and happy.
May you be well and happy.
This script was written and edited by John D. Hughes, Julian Bamford, Leanne Eames, Evelin Halls, Lenore Hamilton, Julie O’Donnell and Pennie White.
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As we, the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd., do not control the actions of our service providers from time to time, make no warranty as to the continuous operation of our website(s). Also, we make no assertion as to the veracity of any of the information included in any of the links with our websites, or an other source accessed through our website(s).
Accordingly, we accept no liability to any user or subsequent third party, either expressed or implied, whether or not caused by error or omission on either our part, or a member, employee or other person associated with the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.
References World Council of
Churches website at www.wcc-coe.org The Millennium World
Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders. New York
28-31 August 2000.
Document
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