Buddhism: A Religion in Perpetual Confusion

Buddhism: A Religion in Perpetual Confusion

They say the Buddha never said anything when asked about the existence of God. He kept mum perhaps in order to encourage debate. This inference gets support from the general viewpoint propounded at the time of Buddha; this is right and that is right too. Argumentation was encouraged without emphasis on what the end result should be or what the outcome ought to conform to. There is no permanence in this universe; everything is in a state of flux, changing all the time.

Buddhists today, however, appear to consciously reject one thing but unconsciously accept the same thereby creating an utter state of confusion around them and in their religion.

Consider this:

-   There is no creator God that is omnipotent and omniscient and there is no soul. However, there is an eternal consciousness floating in the universe as a perennial stream.

-   After death, nothing remains. Nothing leaves the body to enter another body (there’s no transmigration of the soul). However, after death, all the material processes, the five senses, and the mind remain in the universe.

-   Rebirth occurs and a human can be born as a lowly creature depending upon their kamma (karma to the Hindus). There are some rituals that the Buddhist monks perform by the side of a person about to die. This is to cleanse him of his desires so that he gets nirvana – cessation of the cycle of birth and death.

-   For the Hindus, there is a soul (Atma) and the super soul (Paramatma). In the Hindu philosophy salvation of a soul is the ultimate goal. The state of salvation is attained when the Atma gets unified with the Paramatma. For the Hindu cessation of the cycle of birth and death is salvation and for the Buddhist it is nirvana. The Hindu at least believes that his soul goes on to merge with a super soul to bring him into the state of salvation. However, the nirvana concept is not as clear as that of the salvation.

-   To a Buddhist desires cause suffering and the path to nirvana is through the killing of the desires. However, Buddhists believe that 5 senses remain indestructible at the time of death. Ironically our senses are the vehicles which our desires ride weather to cause us suffering or bliss. Killing desires, in other words, means doing no action or getting into a stagnation due to inaction which itself negates the fundamental that everything is in a state of change all the time.

The Amarapura Monastery

The above thoughts came to my mind when I visited the Amarapura (the city of immortality) monastery near Mandalay in Myanmar. There are at any given time up to 1500 monks studying the teachings of Buddha as per the Theravada school of the Buddhist thought. At around 10:15 in the morning tourists gather around the dining hall of the monastery where the monks start lining up for the alms and the mid-morning charity meals. There are people who do charity and each monk standing in the line gets eatables like fruit, biscuits, chocolates, and even writing material, soaps and detergents. Meals are distributed at the end and the monks eat inside the large hall. There are young boys appearing no more than five or six years of age, dressed up as monks and holding the alms bowls.

Children

Caged minds?

Why these children are ordained into a religion at an age when they can’t decide matters for themselves?  Why are they compelled into a monastic order where they will be forced to follow blindly what they might not like to follow by choice? Wonder what religion is doing to young minds by not letting them become free thinkers.

Women

All the religions ridiculously discriminate against women and Buddhism is no exception. This signboard appears in the premises of the Kyaiktiyo Pagoda. Ladies are not allowed to go up the hill. This is not a hill but a mound approximately 10 to 12 feet high from the level where the notice board is fixed.

Let us see what is up that ‘hill’ where women are not allowed to go.

It is just a small park-like space with some few old trees and some statues of Buddha. Women even don’t go near the notice board leave aside asking why they shouldn’t go up the mound.

-    Raj
   Burma, Aug 15, 2018.