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BUDDHISM’S UNIQUE POSSIBILITY TO PURSUE
INNER PEACEFULNESS TO AVOID
VIOLENCE AND WAR
MURAKAMI, Shinkan JAPONYA/JAPAN/ЯПОНИЯ
ABSTRACT
Religions must both be necessary and indispensable for human beings
to live in peacefulness and fearlessness nowadays, as well as in ancient
times. There is a distinction between monotheism and polytheism.
Buddhism is neither monotheism nor polytheism, though it admits the
existence of many gods or deities and it co-exists with theistic religions in
many countries including Japan. But these gods are not indispensable to
Buddhism, so Buddhism must be a kind of atheistic religion. I do not agree
with the opinion that Buddha is to be regarded as a deity, because Buddha
is worshipped. Buddha is an enlightened man but not a god. Some Japanese
scholars consider Buddhism to be a kind of humanism, but not theism.
What is unique to Buddhism as contrasted to other religions? The unique
and most dominant trend of Buddhism must be to aim at the calmness or
peacefulness of mind that should be free from anger, mental excitement,
etc. This trend has been shown in the final goal of Buddhism: nirvā ) a (calm
peacefulness, extinction of transmigration, i.e., final, calm and peaceful
death) and in the Buddha’s teaching that one should abandon hatred, anger,
desire, etc. The biographical texts of the Buddha tell us His compassionate
and merciful stories but never hint at His anger even toward evils. Generally
speaking, this trend has been dominant in the development and spread of
Buddhism in many countries and districts over two millenniums. Because
we are now at the verge of a total annihilation due to nuclear weapons,
which can destroy all human lives and ecological environments, this
uniqueness of Buddhism holds the possibility to avoid violence and war
which would become a catastrophic danger to the survival of human beings
on the earth in this year and in coming centuries.
0. Introductory Remarks ‘Basic Common Values in Religions’ are to be taken into consideration, because in any human society religions must both be necessary and indispensable for human beings to live in peacefulness and fearlessness. In many religions this value seems to be recognized widely, though there have been not a few criticisms of religions which seem to focus particularly on the monotheistic religions. Now, I will, with due regard to the motto of this Congress (ICANAS): “Peace at Home Peace in the World,” point out a unique characteristic of Buddhism that holds a possibility to keep inner peacefulness among people.
I. Monotheism, Polytheism, and Atheism Religions can be classified into two groups, i.e. monotheism and polytheism. Generally speaking, however, Buddhism is neither monotheism nor polytheism, though Buddhism admits the existence of many gods or deities and it co-exists with polytheistic (and even monotheistic) religions in many Asian Buddhist countries including Japan. But the gods are not indispensable to Buddhism, so Buddhism must be a kind of atheistic religion.
There are opinions that regard Buddha as a deity because Buddha is worshipped and believed in. A famous Jain Philosopher Haribhadras) ri (in the early 8 th^ century) says in his ⇑ aд-dar ♣ ana-samuccaya 1.4 that according to the Buddhist opinion first of all their deity is Buddha ( sugata , well-fared). Some Japanese professors of history of religions regard Buddha as a god, which means an object of religious worship (see Shomin Shinko no Seka i庶民信仰の世界by Prof. Masahiro Kusunoki楠正弘, p.228). But I do not agree with these opinions, because they ignore the unique character of Buddhism as most of the Japanese Buddhists maintain that Buddhism is the doctrine how one can become finally enlightened, i.e., Buddha. A Japanese scholar of Buddhism: Prof. Hakuy ( hadano羽田 野伯猷 told us that Buddhism is so to speak a kind of humanism but not any kind of theism; because one can and must become enlightened one (Buddha) by means of aspiration, discipline, meditation, and insight, etc. His opinion must chiefly be derived from the tradition of Zen Buddhism as in Japan.
In this way in Buddhism God or gods who are some kinds of transmigrating sentient beings are not of great importance and so Buddhism can be free from theism. This point must be one of the peculiar or unique characteristics of Buddhism. This point of view seems to be related to other characteristics of Buddhist thinking.
This covering ( chadda, chadana ) means ignorance and craving, or mental defilements, i.e., greed, hatred and delusion. And the goal of Buddhism, i.e., the calm peacefulness ( nibbāna ) is uncovered ( viva ⊇ a, open), just like a light, for him whose covering has been unveiled, uncovered and removed. This adjective ‘unveiled (uncovered) from the covering ( vivatta- cchadda )’ is one of the epithets of the fully enlightened one ( sambuddha ), i.e., Buddha ( Sutta-nipta =Sn.763, 793, etc.). The Pāli tradition mentions Buddha’s first words which hint at His openness of mind:
I have run through the transmigration of many births looking for the maker of this house (craving that is the carpenter that makes my own existence, i.e., body) without attaining [the knowledge to see] him; painful is birth again and again ( Dhamma-pada =Dh.153). O maker of the house (craving), you are seen; you will not make the house (my own existence, i.e., body) again. All your rafters (mental defilements) are broken, the roof of the house (ignorance） is destroyed; my mind, having attained to the state where mental and physical latent forces are exhausted ( nibbāna , i.e., calm peacefulness and cessation of the transmigration), has attained to the extinction of cravings (Dh.154, the words in bracket are supplied by the Commentary: Dhammapadaha-kathā = DhA.III.128). These verses, according to the commentary, tell us that the Buddha, having discovered the craving which makes His own existence in transmigration, destroyed mental defilements together with ignorance, with both of which His own existence is covered with just like a roof of a house. And when He is uncovered and unveiled from these coverings, the calm peacefulness and truths ( dhammā, i.e. constituent elements of our human existence) are open (manifest) to Him, as we see next.
The Buddha’s other first words were uttered after having considered upon the dependent origination ( pa ⊇ icca-samuppāda ) through the whole night under the Bodhi-tree ( Mahāvagga ， Vinaya I.2):
1 When the constituent elements ( dhamm ) [of human existence] become clear (open) to the ardent, meditating Brāhma)a, then all his doubts go away, since he realizes the Law ( dhamma, doctrine, truth) which accompanies the causes [of human existence]. 2 When … (as above) …, since he has understood the cessation of conditions [of human existence] (The words in bracket are supplied by the author’s understanding).
This meditating Brāhmaöa is another expression of Buddha, to whom the dhammā (constituent elements of human existence) become clear (open). Among these constituent elements ( dhammā ), He realizes the Law ( dhamma , doctrine, truth) which accompanies the causes [and conditions] of human existence and He knows the cessation of [the causes and] conditions of human existence as well. The enlightened one (Buddha) was said to be free from desire, and then look around at living beings with His compassionateness ( kruat ); and thus His activities began.
III. Static Religion and Dynamic Religion There has been another opinion to divide religions into two categories, i.e. static and dynamic religions (Cf. Bergson’s Les deux sources de la morale et de la religion ). I know it is difficult to regard the God of monotheism as the same as one of the gods of polytheism, but I would like to ignore this difficulty, because I want to find similar and common characteristics in monotheism and polytheism. Generally speaking most of the theistic religions are dynamic, enthusiastic and exciting religions, because most of the deities are awful, and have been strong influence upon men and women, by moving, exciting, terrifying or consoling them. Anyone who commits sin against God or gods should have fear to be punished and damned by Him. Some religious and magical persons ( shaman, sangoma, itako, gomiso, yuta , etc.) are said to communicate with deities, and some are said to be possessed by some deities or spirits.
On the contrary, Buddhism is originally a calm and static religion which makes people calm and peaceful and heals and consoles them, because Buddhism pursues a calm peacefulness of mind, and its last goal, nirvā ) a is an absolute calm peacefulness which means extinction of transmigration (or final, calm and peaceful death). Buddha who is said to be compassionate and merciful does not punish any of sinful and criminal persons. Anyone who commits offences is to be punished only through the natural consequence of one’s deeds ( karman ), or some deities who protect Buddhist Law punish the evil ones. In later Esoteric Buddhism, many of the deities are included in its religious pantheon ( ma ) дala ), so Esoteric Buddhism seems to include dynamic religion in itself, however, it does not lose its original calm and static religion.
IV. Possibility and Necessity of Co-existence of Religions In most of Asian countries (India, China Proper, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc.), polytheistic religions, monotheistic religions, and atheistic religions are peacefully co-existent in general. In
pp. 236-7). There are many versions of this stanza in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. This stanza was translated into Chinese by Chih-ch’ien支謙 and Wei-ch'i-nan維祇難in the Fa-chü ching 法句経 in the third century (222-253): 諸惡莫作 諸善奉行 自淨其意 是諸佛教. And this stanza (in Chih-ch’ien’s translation) has been very famous in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism too. The first two lines express a very universal ethical norm, and as several parallel passages are also found in the Jaina Canons (Kenji Watanabe渡辺研二2004), they are not solely unique to Buddhism. but purifying of one’s mind is very characteristic to Buddhism.
According to the Commentary , ‘purifying of one’s mind ( sacitta- pariyodapana )’ is purification of one’s own mind from five coverings (hindrances) ( pa ñ cahi nxvara ) ehi attano cittassa vodāpana ∝. DhA. III. p.23717-8^ ). The five coverings mean five kinds of mental defilements ( kilesa ), which consist of desire for sensual enjoyment ( kāma-cchanda ), malevolence ( vyāpāda, hatred), sloth and torpor ( thxna-middha, low- spiritedness and sleepiness), excitement and remorse ( uddhacca-kukkucca , frivolity and regret), and doubt ( vicikicchā ).
In the context of Buddhist Canonical texts and their commentaries, sloth (low-spiritedness), torpor (sleepiness), and excitement (frivolity, high- spiritedness) are all deemed as mental and spiritual evils which hinder monks in attaining the liberation from mental defilements. Malevolence (hatred, fury, anger) is always deemed as evil in most Buddhist texts. Moreover, this explanation of the DhA indicates simply how to purify one’s mind, but it hints at a characteristic of Buddhism, i.e., inner calmness or tranquillity of mind that should be free from hatred (malevolence), mental excitement, etc.
This is, I think, one of the important characteristics of Buddhism, and it is not in common with most of the other theistic religions, i.e. Christian, Jewish, and Islamic religions, all of which extol the hatred or anger toward their or their God’s enemies in their Canons but never deny entirely their hatred toward inimical people. The Gospel according to Matthew 5. says: “Love your enemies, and pray for your persecutors, “ but I think no Christian political leaders think highly of this passage, they seem to advertise the Old Testament which tells us that people of Israel killed and destroyed all the enemies and enemies’ cattle under God’s instructions, e.g., The book of Joshua 6, The book of Judges 6-8, etc. (Cf. Akira Sadakata定方晟2003).
According to another explanation, purifying of one’s mind ( sacitta-
pariyodapana ) is to make one’s own mind glorious ( attano citta-jotana μ). And this purifying of one’s mind depends on getting rid of all evil by means of carrying moral precepts, and doing good by calm concentration and clear insight ( Suma º gala-vilāsin ´ = da_._ II. p.479 6-9^ on d_._ II.p.49 26-27^ ). It is not clear exactly how to purify our own mind; however, we are urged to ascertain what is good and what is evil, because purifying of one’s mind is closely related to good and evil.
The moral and disciplinary precepts or monastic rules of monks and nuns (about 250 for monks, 350 for nuns) consist of all of the prohibitions on unmoral (evil) and unfit deeds and behaviours, which are collectively called as a code of precepts ( pātimokkha ) of monks and that of nuns. The moral precepts ( s ´ la, dhamma ) that common people should follow are of three kinds: five items of good character (five precepts), ten items of good character (ten precepts), and eight pledges (precepts) which should be kept in particular six days in a month ( uposatha ). Here I will consider the five and ten precepts only, in which we can see characteristics of Buddhist moral precepts.
Among them ten precepts are the most typical, important, and universal in all the history of Buddhism. And these are generally called ten ways of good acts ( dasa kusala-kamma-pathā, d_._ III. p.269 5-^ ) which are contrary to ten ways of no-good (evil) acts ( dasa akusala-kamma-path Œ). The ten ways of good acts consist of (1) abstinence ( verama ö´）from taking life of living beings ( pāâtipāta , killing), (2) abstinence from taking what is not given ( adinnâdāna , stealing), (3) abstinence from adultery ( kāmesu micchācāra ), (4) abstinence from telling lies ( musā-vāda ), (5) abstinence from slander ( pisuā vācā ), (6) abstinence from harsh speech ( pharusā vācā ), (7) abstinence from frivolous and senseless talk ( samphappalāpa ), (8) non-greed ( anabhijjhā, non-covetousness), (9) non-hatred ( avyāpāda , non-malevolence) and (10) a right view ( sammā-di ⊇⊇ hi ).
Among these ten precepts, the first four are also the first four of the five precepts , in which the fifth precept is to abstain from any state of indolence arising from intoxicants (i.e., abstain from drinking, S. IV.245,V.395). These four are very universal moral precepts not only in Buddhism but also nearly everywhere in the world. Especially, the first precept , i.e., abstinence from taking life of living beings (i.e. non-killing, non-violence ), is very important. It is difficult for us to keep this precept, because it prohibits us from killing not only human beings but also all living beings as well. And this precept forbids us not to kill, not cause others to
the Old Testament (Nahum, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi) as well as in the New Testament (Revelation). The Koran ( Qur’ān ) warns Muslims to fear Allah’s anger and punishment.
Indian Vedic and Hindu gods, Greek and Roman gods, as well as Japanese gods are very awful and numinous, liable to get angry, excited, or jealous. There is a god of wrath ( manyu ) in Vedic religion ( / g-veda 10.84). But later some Indian philosophers tried to demonstrate that the highest god ( x ♣ vara ) is free from anger and other evil qualities or rather devoid of any quality ( gu ) a ). And Indian religious philosophies have been engaged in inquiring into how to get liberation from recurring transmigrations. Generally speaking, this trend of inner calm peacefulness with no hatred has been dominant in the development of Buddhism in many countries and regions over the past two millenniums. This trend of Buddhism contrasts with other religions such as monotheistic Christian, Jewish, and Islamic religions as well as polytheistic Greco-Roman religions, Hinduism (Vedic religion), Shinto, etc., all of which consist in a faith in one God or many gods. This unique Buddhist trend: inner calm peacefulness without hatred and the precept of non-killing (non-violence) should be a modest but hopeful possibility to avoid violence and war. At the time of Buddha, war was not avoidable. Buddha is said to prevent twice the war between Kosala-king Vi д ( д abha and Sakya-people who were Buddha’s relatives but in vain. Sakya-people, who kept Buddha’s precept of non-killing, were fighting but without killing their enemies and then all killed. Many texts tell us this tragedy (DhA.I.pp.337-361, Jtaka hakath IV.pp.144-153, etc.). The tradition of non-violence (non-killing) had been arisen before Buddhism, and has also been prevailed in Hinduism and Jainism in India widely. In the first half of the 20th^ century, Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)’s non-violent resistance and independence movement succeeded to acquire independence from British Empire; however he himself was assassinated by a Hindu radical: Nathuram Godse. Although Gandhi’s idea of non-violence has been influential world- wide, wars do not cease in the world, and now the hard-fought and incessant ‘war on terror’ is raging fiercely. ‘War on terror’ cannot stop terror, but it is newly increasing terror and disaster more and more. So, all of us feel far less safe and convenient to travel abroad owing to the ‘war on terror.’ Owing to Buddha’s precept of non-killing no Buddhists can approve of
this war. In the present day any kind of war would become a catastrophic danger to the survival of human beings on the earth; we are now at the very verge of a total annihilation due to nuclear weapons, which would destroy all human lives and ecological environments all together. We must take into more consideration of any possibility to avoid violence and war, because we wish the survival of human beings now and in future. We need to endeavour more to prevent violence and war in the world. I wish and hope that the tradition of non-killing and non-violence is going to prevail world-wide. For this purpose Buddhism’s inner calm peacefulness is also to be accepted, sought and pursued widely and deeply.
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- My thanks are due to Mr. Dale K. Andrews, an associate Professor of Kanazawa University, who was kind enough to correct my English.
