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The man who gathers flowers (of sensual pleasure), whose mind is distracted, death carries off as a great flood sweeps away a sleeping village.Dhammapada (Puppha Vagga)

Point of View: Declining traits of modern youth

The truism 'youth' is generally meant those young men and women between the ages of 18 to 25. Generally speaking the majority of them are in such a plight today not knowing how to face the challenges of life which confront them they take to anything that suits their fancy. Thereby they have been gradually drifting away from the traditional Buddhist value system which had been tempering the Sri Lankan Buddhist ethos down the ages from the time Buddhism was introduced here in the 3rd century BC.

For instance they would find fault with Prince Siddhartha for renouncing his wife and home on the day his wife gave birth to his son. They would similarly make accusations against the Buddha for breaking up families instancing the case of Prince Nanda, in whose case the Buddha has committed the crime of admitting him into the Order by making false promises and comparing his would-be bride to the charred remains of a female monkey. Thus the Buddha is a plunderer of human rights. His is a teaching that makes people disgusted of life, a downright pessimism leading people even to take their own lives. Those who teach and recommend his Dhamma are misguiding the people.

May be even during the Buddha's own times he had to face such accusations but only for a short time because his teaching proved itself to be something that teaches a higher and a nobler life, a higher kind of freedom and happiness that transcends all mundane pleasures and possessions. Ere long people realised the situation and took to his teaching with great zeal.

Yet another alarming attitude held by modern youth is regarding their own parents. They would maintain that it was just a pleasure-act of their parents that brought them into the world and as such children need not obey or respect them. So the parents are not only at fault all the time but are responsible for all the failures and problems of children. How can a person even with an inkling of Buddha Dhamma ever think on those lines? Can youth be more irresponsible than this as to their own survival in society? This type of muddled thinking is fast spreading among today's youth with the possibility of their problems becoming worse confounded in time to come unless the vicious trend is arrested and proper guidance provided.

There seem to be several reasons behind this tragic phenomenon. The materialistic and consumeristic social order that has gained ground in the country is one of the main causes of this sign of decline. Today Mammon has become the great God who can provide all our needs and wants. Man has become so clever that he can 'live by bread alone'. Money and material prosperity in the enduring present would suffice for a successful life. Moral considerations can be thrown overboard quite nonchalantly.

The devaluation of education through the elimination of subjects like history and literature and the emphasis laid on physical sciences alone is another contributory factor. The two aphorisms "reading maketh a mass perfect" and "writing maketh a man exact" are eternally valid statements which have become dead letters in the contemporary educational curriculum owing to the elimination of literature from it. Without a knowledge of one's own history how can a youngster find his steps in an ever-reactionary society? Politics of convenience seems to be playing its vicious role with a vengeance.

Study of Buddhism merely as an academic subject just to pass examinations by offering it as a vacuum-filler in the list of subjects and obtaining a pass as a decorative qualification has become another contributory factor. When the Buddha taught his tenets he always emphasised that his Dhamma is to "be heard, remembered and practised (sunnaatha dhaaretha caraatha dhamme) so that only when all the three aspects become combined it can serve the intended purpose of ennobling the practicer's character. Yet, even with those youngsters who sometimes study the Dhamma assiduously, the third dictum contained in the above statement has fallen by the wayside.

In a materialistic and a consumerist society sexual promiscuity also finds its place as a normal behaviour and society becomes generally permissive. From what appears to be happening in the country today this form of behaviour is getting established as the order of the day. In the name of family-planning contraceptive devices are being openly and indiscriminately encouraged with the result that the vital discipline is sexual behaviour so pre-eminently advocated not only in Buddhism but in every religion, is being thrown overboard. This is an evil which alone can drag a nation to very low levels. By regarding such teachings as "hanamiti" or obsolete stuff an unpleasant opportunity has been provided today for the scourge of HIV/AIDS to rampage through the human race.

As far as our own youth are concerned they are also becoming victims of foreign cultural domination, specially through television, video etc. by the initiation of what they see as attractive and suitable to them. They are becoming mere 'copycats' of what is mainly meant for Western audiences and quite alien to the traditional Buddhist culture of our country. Such spoiler influences disrupt the established traditional lifestyles founded on higher cultural norms. These imitators become foreigners in their own country distancing themselves further and further away from a valuable cultural base which they had the fortune to inherit.

Another related threat faced by modern youth is the drug menace, which has been ravaging the human race despite all the measures taken to arrest it.

Buddhism being a system of psychological ethics it has been providing a comprehensive ethical system for nearly three millennia serving humanity in great measure. We should regard ourselves as fortunate to inherit such a teaching for our guidance. We know that day in and day out sermons against the aforementioned evils are being dinned into our ears directly as well as through the printed and the electronic media. But they seem to fall mainly on deaf ears except for a handful who are wise enough to get benefited.

Why cannot our youth realise the value of this teaching and benefit by it? Elders, specially parents, have a certain responsibility here but their problem is how to make modern youth amenable to their guidance. In such a context we can only painfully ask our youth "quo vadis"? 

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