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by Lionel Wijesiri

In this time of global uncertainty, the Buddha's vision of peace may be more relevant than ever before. (UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan).

Buddhism, at its core, is a religion of peace. An early Buddhist collection of verses on practice in everyday life, the Dhammapada, makes this abundantly clear. Verse five of the text (of 423 verses) states: "Hatred is never appeased by hatred. Hatred is only appeased by Love (or, non-enmity)".

The Buddha's feeling of torment was concerning the malady of mankind. This malady afflicts it in three directions: (1) Man versus nature (2) Man versus Man (3) Man versus himself. Once the last predicament is settled, the other battles are automatically won. Buddhist ethics have come to be known as psychological only for this reason. The innermost depths of human personality are measured and the forces moulding the thoughts and attitudes are laid bare by Buddhism so that moral behaviour could be mastered and perfected.

The profound doctrine of love and non-violence emerges from the heart of Buddhist doctrine. It teaches us that sacrifice, non-aggression, peace and not war will alone reduce the quantum of suffering.

Technology

Science and technology have given us mastery of the forces of nature where they are hostile and dangerous. There is no doubt that these two faculties of knowledge have reduced suffering on a mass scale, particularly when the suffering is caused by the brute nature like flood and epidemic, poverty and disease, viruses and germs. Drugs mercifully subdue pain, diseases are nipped in the bud by preventive and curative medicines. People are on the whole healthier and hence happier. There is a greater awareness today about the secrets of existence and about the oneness of humanity, thanks to the technology of communication.

Thanks to technology, crimes are detected, culprits brought to book, justice dispensed. But these are only done in individual cases.

On the other hand, the same technology has generated and diffused powerful engines of destruction. It has a feedback of mistrust and suspicion, self-centredness and aggression. The misery of warfare with conventional weapons and terrorist acts are nightmarish enough. But with unconventional nuclear warfare, the catastrophe will be total. The horrors of modern war disfigure entire civilizations. It seems then that what we gained at the roundabouts we are losing at the swing. Science stands bedevilled by its own destructive power. Its strength has become its weakness.

This plight has arisen because man has not heeded to the message of self-mastery delivered by Buddhism: nor has he listened to the sermon of the essential oneness of all beings. Modern man has failed on both counts of knowledge and will. Prejudices

We all harbour prejudices of various sorts. There is no exception to this fact. Not one of us is completely freed of prejudicial attitudes. We don't like certain colours or sounds; we're annoyed by certain circumstances, behaviours, or styles of doing things.

We are harsh critics even of ourselves. Having likes and dislikes is taken for granted.

Indeed, the ability to discriminate is considered an essential part of what makes us human beings. After all, human beings, unlike other living creatures, can form judgments and make choices. Free will and choice are taken as fundamental rights. So, one might ask, what's the problem?

The real problem occurs when our own individual likes and dislikes become solidified; when we not only form inflexible opinions, but take them as truths; when we form negative judgments about other human beings and these judgments become for us the lenses through which we view and experience ourselves, the world around us, and its inhabitants.

At this point, we have entered into the arena of prejudice of a quite destructive sort, which causes suffering both for ourselves and for others. It can be friendships destroyed, or wars fought over contested territory, or one group of beings dominating another or restraining their freedom of movement. At this point we cease being human beings at our best.

Ethnic and racial prejudices run rampant in today's global, multicultural society; our world is filled with conflict. Everywhere one looks, ancient hatreds are played out in the contemporary world with devastating consequences.

In reality, at our innermost cores we are all exactly the same: we are human beings who wish to have happiness and to avoid suffering. Yet, out of ignorance, we go about seeking these goals blindly and without insight. We live our lives seemingly oblivious to our own prejudices even though they are right in front of our eyes. In short, we suffer because we embrace the mistaken notion of our separateness from one another.

Buddhist traditions tell us that from the very moment the notions of 'I' and 'mine' arise, there simultaneously arise the notions of 'not me' and 'not mine.' That is, from the moment we conceive of 'us,' there is a 'them.' Once the notions of separateness, difference, and otherness enter our thinking, they then go on to colour all of our subsequent experience, judgments and perceptions. We see the world in terms of us vs. them, me vs. everyone else, mine vs. yours. We are immediately caught up in a world of mistaken, logically unfounded, and seemingly uncontrollable hatred and prejudice. Hatred is learned. It must be our task to un-learn it. Racism and racial profiling is learned behaviour. We must strive to un-learn it. Ethnic and class distinctions are learned. We must come to see and to appreciate the common humanity that unites us.

Structural violence

The definition of peace as merely the absence of war is an extremely passive conception. For instance, if we use the analogy of the human body, how many of us would view a diagnosis of "not critically ill" to be a stamp of good health?

Prof. Johan Galtung, Founder of the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo is famous as the originator of the concept of "structural violence." Structural violence is caused by the way society is structured, which gives rise to discrimination, oppression, poverty, starvation, exploitation and the violation of human rights. We can see examples of this at all levels, whether within the family or within the international community.

There is also what Galtung terms "cultural violence," the acceptance and legitimisation of violence as a necessary or inevitable aspect of human society. Only when these broader types of violence are eliminated can we achieve a positive, active form of peace.

Moral precepts

"It is my general contention," he asserted, "that Buddhism as a body of thought and wisdom carries the type of thinking needed to make progress on our major global problems. . . However, many Buddhists do not act on the basis of this understanding but leave the action on the global scene to others." He said it was also his belief that Buddhism is a philosophy that can peacefully transform the world, and it is in this sense a "revolutionary religion".

Prof. Galtung is correct. The fundamental goal of Buddhism is peace, not only peace in this world but peace in all worlds. The Buddha taught that the first step on the path to peace is understanding the causality of peace. When we understand what causes peace, we know where to direct our efforts.

No matter how vigorously we stir a boiling pot of soup on a fire, the soup will not cool. When we remove the pot from the fire, it will cool on its own, and our stirring will hasten the process. Stirring causes the soup to cool, but only if we first remove the soup from the fire. In other words, we can take many actions in our quest for peace that may be helpful. But if we do not first address the fundamental issues, all other actions will come to naught.

The Buddha taught that peaceful minds lead to peaceful speech and peaceful actions. If the minds of living beings are at peace, the world will be at peace. The overwhelming majority of us live in the midst of mental disturbances that subside only for brief and treasured moments. We could probably count on the fingers of both hands the number of those rare, holy persons whose minds are truly, permanently at peace.

The most fundamental moral precept in Buddhist teaching is respect for life and the prohibition against taking life. Generally speaking, all living beings want to live and are afraid of death.

The strongest desire is for life, and when that desire is thwarted, the response is unbelievably powerful anger. Unlike almost all other religions, Buddhism teaches that there are no exceptions to this prohibition and no expedient arguments are admitted. The taking of life not only covers human life but all sentient beings. Reducing the karma of killing is equivalent to putting out the fire under the pot of boiling soup. If we end killing, the world will be at peace.

We should work on the systematic extension of compassion towards others.

From the level of our own minds, to our speech and then our actions, we can work on generating compassion to those who are closest to us, the members of our own families, and then progressively extend our compassion to our communities, countries, and the entire world.

King Asoka, the Mauryan emperor of India who was coronated in 268 BCE, was converted to Buddhism after experiencing personal revulsion in the aftermath of his bloody conquest of Kalinga. Thereafter he prohibited any form of killing and encouraged humane treatment of all peoples and also animals.

The Tibetans were bloodthirsty and warlike before conversion to Buddhism. Likewise, their neighbours the Mongols, particularly the armies of Genghis Khan, terrorized many peoples, from China to the gates of Vienna. It would be hard to find people more fierce and bloodthirsty. Buddhism subsequently transformed the Mongols into one of the most peaceful peoples of Asia.

Buddhists have never advocated war and have never sanctioned the idea of religious war. The ideal of the Bodhisattva is to voluntarily return, life after life, to our world of suffering to teach the way to permanent inner peace, which is the only way to true peace in the world.

The great son of India, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru once said:

If we follow the principles, enunciated by the Buddha,We will ultimately win ; peace and tranquility for the world.

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