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| Monday, 12 January 2004 |
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The miracle that was the Buddha and Bhikkhu Soma Thera by Prof. C. Suriyakumaran The Buddha, when asked one-day, of miracles as means to conversion to his teachings, and if he could perform them, answered - indeed so, but there are types of miracles. One was, for example, by the use of psychic powers - the 'Psychic Miracles'. A second was by telepathic powers - the 'Telepathic Miracles'. And a third, he said, were 'Instructional Miracles'. The last was by use of pure teaching to the seeker even asking His hearer not to believe, simply because he said so. Try these that I have said to you and find the truth for yourself, he would say. This was His way. Any others would either mislead the seeker, or shroud the seeker's own senses away from the truth. Such a person would become a follower, not a 'perceiver' himself. Acme Here was the acme of 'Search', and the acme of 'Conversion'. Like Him, such a person will thereafter not invoke a 'revelation' (or a miracle) from God, or a God, or Saint, but would have sought, searched and realised. He therefore did not ask any who came to Him to 'accept' His teaching as a condition of the listener hearing Him - therefore too, not accept a god or Himself, if he were to tell them so; and listening, even while imbibing that which He has said, yet to go, become a 'realiser', Himself or herself. The most recent passing away of the Rev. Soma Thera who strove, above all, for that truth, is perhaps a fit and timely occasion to recall these 'thoughts' of the Buddha, as also to understand the Thera himself who, rightly striving against Idol worships of any form, taught the way of the Buddha as it was. Meditations The Buddha's meditations, in His own search for truth, were indeed a 'Gnana
Yoga', in the pure sense of that term. Upon attaining the truth, His own
teachings came indeed also filled with unbounded Kindness (Bhakthi Yoga)
and Unceasing Service (Karma Yoga). Until the deviation of early Hinduism itself from the pure thoughts of 'Sanathana Dharma' - as enshrined in the Upanishads and the later Gita - Search, Self Realisation were indeed the 'Path'. The rest, in the gentle words of Dr. Sarvapalli Radakrishnan, at his Oxford Hibbert Lectures, were only as 'Tendrils to a Creeper'. It was with the overwhelming of the latter by the former, if one may use that metaphor, and 'taking over of Hinduism' by its priests and their temples, that the Hindu faith became a wholly subservient tool of its priestly, temporal establishment - as too was, centuries later, at the Temple of Jerusalem, when the Boy Christ chided them. Consequences The consequences, in this near total spiritual decay and a mere social religion in place of pure religion, led to collapse, readiness for a change and the emergence of both Jainism and Buddhism. Overwhelming were those, across all of India who, voluntarily, became Buddhists and Bhikkhus - for us here, those from South India among the foremost messengers, exponents, pioneers and teachers, in the emergence, establishment and entrenchment of the true teachings of the Buddha, as synonymous thereafter with the name and fabric of Sri Lanka. It was a reality here right across all - the Nagas of ancient lineage, and those who came, elements of the former merging with the latter, but also flourishing under their own identity as Buddhists. Like all faiths, in India itself Buddhism weakened. Sects It was said that hardly within a hundred years of the Buddha's passing away there were as many as 18 sects, in the South of India alone. As again therefore, with the emergence of the great teacher, Shankarachariyar, in South India, the Buddhists there, soon became Hindus; and similarly in North India. Set to last, it was Hinduism, as always, with no ill-will to Buddhism, or later, to others. The story goes that when a Christian Missionary came alone to the Court of the Kerala King, finding his predicament, requested one of his courtiers to follow his faith and accompany him on his travels. And so it was with us here too in Lanka. So much shared in pure metaphysics and philosophy, the Hindus and Buddhists were indeed a 'Natural Family', sadly not perceived by today's institutional religions of both - save ironically in idol worship and ceremonials popular with both. Upwards It was the irrelevance of the latter, more than any, that the Bhikkhu Soma Thera came to preach against, and to urge all to see. In this, he did indeed a service to both Buddhists and Hindus although not perceived by most that way. That perhaps was an ideal occasion for Buddhists and Hindus to get together in spirit and in substance. For, true, 'conversion' was always 'upwards', not 'sideways'. In the practised religions as we have them, unfortunately, we have had ceremonies, even miracles (the 'physic' and 'telepathic') no end; and of course often, massive monetary resources in their causes. Yet all of them, as sure as any, lend to their doers an 'Ahankar', and the superiority which misguides even them, and which, for Hindus and Buddhists, go against all their true traditions. It was Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa who pointed out, when asked if he could perform miracles, 'Indeed so, but that would be a straying from True Search, into an elevation of one's Ego'. Conversion It is here too, that we have the now major countrywide issue of 'conversion' as practiced by Western moulds of 'religion'. It was this that some years ago at a conference, convened by a leading Catholic organisation, talking on religions and relations, I drew attention to the distinctions, most emphatically, between what I called 'Essential Christianity' and 'Institutional Christianity'. Between The Essential Christ and the Institutional Christ - everything of the latter replete with tinsel and wealth, gold and glitter, chanting and ceremonies, leaving the Real Christ for far away, and alongside, much of His teachings to boot - with of course 'conversions' at the top of the list, that is the conversions 'sideways', not 'upwards'. It is in those and out of those, that we have had the exclusivisms in place of the 'universalism' of religion - not "Ekam Sath, Viprah Badudda, Vadanthi" of the Hindu Metaphysical tradition. For the Church today of course, no more the teachings that the sun goes round the earth, and such others. Yet not until most recently, for instance, did the Pope pronounce that 'heaven', 'hell' and 'purgatory' were not really 'places', but 'Conditions of Being' - a total sea change from the millennia of belief, indeed fundamental foundations, of institutional religion - closer now perhaps, to a possible world of true ecumenism and universalism. Be together Let us try to live today without conversion ('side ways') but with 'conversion upwards' as our new sublime hope and endeavour. Let Hindus and Buddhists become, together, the harbingers of this true ecumenistic 'universalism'. In conclusion, perhaps little known is that, for Hindu thought, God is not a person "up there', as the Pope has now clarified in 'heaven'. That reality of what is called God is described as 'Nirguna Brahman', the eternal without attributes, the 'Eternal Energy Force', 'Shakthi' (in mythology, 'Goddess Shakthi) - indeed, 'Nir-wana', 'Nothingness', beyond a Karmic force, in Perpetual Samsara. It is this manifest of Shakthi that is come as universe upon universes, no end - the 'Saguna Brahman' of the Hindu metaphysic, and this world of our universe - said to disappear in time - eternal mode of the Manifest, with the Unmanifest, Nibbana, Nothingness - 'Reality'. Let us all then neither play god, forcing ourselves on others nor play Mammon, but seek, follow our upward paths - for the Buddhists and the Hindus, the ways of Sanathana Dharma and of the Buddha. Incantation It would be appropriate to end these with an incantation to the 'Supreme' by Saint Appayya Dikshithar, amongst the foremost of the days of the great revival in South India of the ancient Saiva Sithanda - which also gently reminds us that we chide not those (and that means most of us) who still need those 'Tendrils' in their journey. "Lord, in my meditations, I have attributed forms To Thee Who art Formless; * * * In singing hymns of Thee, I have believed the Truth That Thou Art Indescribable; * * * By going on pilgrimages, I have denied Thy Omnipresence Forgive me, O Lord, These Three Fold Trespasses!" |
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