TOWARDS A THRESHOLD OF UNDERSTANDING
(Part I)
by
Bhikkhu Bodhi
BPS Newsletter Cover Essay #30 (2nd Mailing 1995)
Copyright 1995 Buddhist Publication Society
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DharmaNet Edition 1995
This electronic edition is offered for free distribution
via DharmaNet by arrangement with the publisher.
DharmaNet International
P.O. Box 4951, Berkeley CA 94704-4951
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//Pope John Paul II's recent book//, Crossing the Threshold of Hope,
//is a collection of reflections primarily on issues of Christian
faith, but the book also features the Pope's assessment of other
religions, including a short chapter on Buddhism. The Pontiff's words
in this chapter are far from appreciative. The release of the book in
Sri Lanka on the eve of the Pope's visit to this country this past
January stirred up waves of indignation in the Buddhist community that
spread as far as the Vatican. The Buddhist prelates announced that
they would not attend an inter-religious meeting requested by the Pope
unless he formally retracted his unfavorable remarks about Buddhism.
Although on arrival the Pope tried to appease the feelings of Buddhist
leaders by declaring his esteem for their religion, even quoting the
Dhammapada, he fell short of proffering a full apology, and this did
not satisfy the Sangha elders.//
//The following essay is intended as a short corrective to the Pope's
demeaning characterization of Buddhism. It addresses the issues solely
at the level of ideas, without delving into the question whether
ulterior motives lay behind the Pope's pronouncements. The essay is
based on an article written for a Polish publisher, Source (Katowice),
which is presently compiling a book on the Buddhist response to the
Pope's book.//
The Pope states that "the Buddhist tradition and the methods deriving
from it have an almost exclusively negative soteriology (doctrine of
salvation)." Such a view of the Buddhist teachings was widespread
among Christian missionaries in Asia during the 19th century, serving
to justify their evangelical incursions into the heartlands of
Buddhism. Serious scholars of comparative religion have long
recognized this view to be a misrepresentation, rooted, in the case of
the early missionaries, partly in misunderstanding, partly in
deliberate distortion. It is therefore puzzling that the present head
of the Catholic Church, otherwise so well informed, should repeat
these worn-out lines, particularly at a time when greater mutual
understanding is expected from the leaders of different religions.
The Pope does not explain exactly why he regards Buddhist soteriology
as negative. Most likely, he takes this view because the Buddhist path
of deliverance does not recognize a personal God as the agent and end
of salvation. Like beauty, however, what is negative and what is
positive lies in the eye of the beholder, and what is negative for one
may turn out to be another's supreme ideal. If one seeks an
everlasting union between one's eternal soul and a creator God, then a
doctrine that denies the existence of an eternal soul and a Divine
Creator will inevitably appear negative. If one regards everything
conditioned as impermanent and devoid of self, and seeks deliverance
in Nibbana, the Deathless Element, then a doctrine of everlasting
union between God and the soul will seem -- not negative perhaps --
but founded upon wishful thinking and unacceptable articles of faith.
For the ordinary reader, however, the word "negative," when applied to
Buddhism, will suggest something far different from a philosophically
acute way of approaching the Ultimate, conjuring up pictures of a
bleak doctrine of escapism aimed at personal annihilation. Behind the
Pope's words we can detect echoes of the ancient texts: "There are,
monks, some recluses and brahmins who charge me with being an
annihilationist, saying that the recluse Gotama teaches the
annihilation of an existent being. That is false misrepresentation.
What I teach, in the past as also now, is suffering and the cessation
of suffering" (MN 22).
Even more worrisome than the Pope's characterization of the Buddhist
doctrine of salvation as negative is his contention that "the Buddhist
doctrine of salvation constitutes the central point, or rather the
only point, of this system." The conclusion implied by this
pronouncement, left hanging silently behind the lines, is that
Buddhism is incapable of offering meaningful guidance to people
immersed in the problems of everyday life; it is an otherworldly
religion of escape suited only for those of an ascetic bent.
While Western scholars in the past have focused upon the Buddhist
doctrine of salvation as their main point of interest, the living
traditions of Buddhism as practiced by its adherents reveal that this
attitude, being one-sided to begin with, must yield one-sided results.
The Buddhist texts themselves show that Buddhism addresses as wide a
range of concerns as any other of humanity's great religions. Nibbana
remains the ultimate goal of Buddhism, and is certainly "the central
point" of the Dhamma, but it is by no means "the only point" for which
the Buddha proclaimed his Teaching.
According to the Buddhist texts, the Dhamma is intended to promote
three types of good, each by way of different but overlapping sets of
principles. These three goals, though integrated into the framework of
a single internally consistent teaching, enable the Dhamma to address
individuals at different stages of spiritual development, with varying
capacities for comprehension. The three goods are:
(i) the good pertaining to the present life
(//ditthadhammattha//), i.e., the achievement of happiness and
well-being here and now, through ethical living and harmonious
relationships based on kindness and compassion;
(ii) the good pertaining to the future life
(//samparayikattha//), i.e., a favorable rebirth within the round
of existence, by practicing generosity, observing the precepts,
and cultivating the mind in meditation; and
(iii) the ultimate good (//paramattha//), i.e., the attainment of
Nibbana, by following the complete training defined by the Noble
Eightfold Path.
For most Buddhists in their day-to-day lives, the pursuit of Nibbana
is a distant rather than an immediate goal, to be approached gradually
during the long course of rebirths. Until they are ready for a direct
assault on the final good, they expect to walk the path for many lives
within samsara, pursuing their mundane welfare while aspiring for the
Ultimate. To assist them in this endeavor, the Buddha has taught
numerous guidelines that pertain to ethically upright living within
the confines of the world. In the Sigalovada Sutta, for example, he
enumerates the reciprocal duties of parents and children, husband and
wife, friends and friends, employers and employees, teachers and
students, religious and laity. He made right livelihood an integral
part of the Noble Eightfold Path, and explained what it implies in the
life of a busy lay person. During his long ministry he gave advice to
merchants on the prudent conduct of business, to young wives on how to
behave towards their husbands, to rulers on how to administer their
state. All such guidance, issuing from the Buddha's great compassion,
is designed to promote the welfare and happiness of the world while at
the same time steering his followers towards a pleasant rebirth and
gradual progress towards final liberation.
Yet, while the Buddha offers a graduated teaching adjusted to the
varying life situations of his disciples, he does not allow any
illusion to linger about the ultimate aim of his Doctrine. That aim is
Nibbana, which is not a consoling reconciliation with the world but
irreversible deliverance from the world. Such deliverance cannot be
gained merely by piety and good works performed in a spirit of social
sympathy. It can be won only by renunciation, by "the relinquishment
of all acquisitions" (//sabb'upadhipatinissagga//), including among
such "acquisitions" the bodily and mental processes that we identify
as our self. The achievement of this end is necessarily individual. It
must be arrived at through personal purification and personal insight,
as the fruit of sustained effort in fulfilling the entire course of
training. Hence the Buddha did not set out to found a church capable
of embracing all humanity within the fold of a single creed. He lays
down a path -- a path perfect in its ideal formulation -- to be
trodden by imperfect human beings under the imperfect conditions that
life within the world affords. While the quest for the highest goal
culminates in deliverance from the world, this same ideal "bends back"
towards the world and spells out standards of conduct and a scale of
values to guide the unenlightened manyfolk in their daily struggles
against the streams of greed, hatred, and delusion. Nibbana remains
the "chief point" and the omega point of the Dhamma. But as this goal
is to be experienced as the extinction of greed, hatred, and delusion,
it defines the condition for its realization as a life devoted to
overcoming greed through generosity, to overcoming hatred through
patience and loving kindness. and to overcoming delusion through
wisdom and understanding.
Bhikkhu Bodhi
//Part II of this essay will appear in the next BPS newsletter.//
* * * * * * * *
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DISTRIBUTION AGREEMENT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TITLE OF WORK: Towards a Threshold of Understanding -- Part I (BPS
Newsletter Cover Essay, No. 30, 2nd Mailing 1995)
FILENAME: ESSAY_30.ZIP
AUTHOR: Bhikkhu Bodhi
AUTHOR'S ADDRESS: Buddhist Publication Society
P.O. Box 61
54, Sangharaja Mawatha
Kandy, Sri Lanka
PUBLISHER'S ADDRESS:
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