
                  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.

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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
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 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
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 DATE OF PUBLICATION: 1995
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