LOOKING AT BUDDHISM
If we open any recent book on the origins of religion, we find that there is one point on which all authors are in agreement. They all agree in saying that religion arose in the world out of fear. Primitive forest-dwelling man feared thunder and lightning, darkness and storms, and various things about him that he was unable to understand or control. His method of avoiding the danger he saw in these phenomena was to demonstrate either humility and submission or homage and reverence, depending on which he felt was most appropriate. Later, as man”s knowledge and understanding developed, this fear of the forces of nature changed into a fear of phenomena more difficult to apprehend. Religions based on deference to objects of fear such as natural phenomena, spirits and celestial beings, came to be looked down upon as unreasonable and ridiculous. And then man”s fear became still more refined into a fear of suffering, suffering of the sort that cannot be alleviated by any material means. He came to fear the suffering inherent in birth, ageing, pain and death, the disappointment and hopelessness which arise out of desire, anger and stupidity, which no amount of power or wealth can relieve. Long ago in India, a country well provided with thinkers and investigators, intelligent people dispensed with all paying of homage to supernatural beings and started seeking instead the means of conquering birth, ageing, pain and death, the means of eliminating greed, hatred and delusion. Out of this search arose Buddhism, a higher religion based on insight, a means of conquering birth, ageing, pain and death, a method for destroying the mental defilements. Buddhism has its origins in fear of this last kind, just as do all religions based on intelligence The Buddha discovered how to conquer absolutely what man fears: he discovered a practical method, now called Buddhism for eliminating suffering.
"Buddhism" means "the Teaching of the Enlightened One." A Buddha is an enlightened inpidual, one who knows the truth about all things, one who knows just what is what, and so is capable of behaving appropriately with respect to all things. Buddhism is a religion based on intelligence, science and knowledge, whose purpose is the destruction of suffering and the source of suffering. All paying of homage to sacred objects by means of performing rites and rituals, making offerings or praying is not Buddhism. The Buddha rejected all this as foolish, ridiculous and unsound. He also rejected the celestial beings, then considered by certain groups to be the creator of things, and the deities supposed to dwell, one in each star in the sky. Thus we find that the Buddha made such statements as these:
"Knowledge, skill and ability are conducive to success and benefit and are auspicious omens, good in their own right regardless of the movements of the heavenly bodies. With the benefits gained from these qualities, one will completely outstrip those foolish people who just sit making their astrological calculations." And: "If the water in rivers (such as the Ganges) could really wash away sins and suffering, then the turtles, crabs, fish and shellfish living in those sacred rivers ought by now to be freed of their sins and sufferings too." And: "If a man could eliminate suffering by making offerings, paying homage and praying, there would be no one subject to suffering left in the world, because anyone at all can pay homage and pray. But since people are still subject to suffering while in the very act of making obeisances, paying homage and performing rites, this is clearly not the way to gain liberation."
To attain liberation, we first have to examine things closely in order to come to know and understand their true nature. Then we have to behave in…
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