|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Friday, 16 April 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features | |
| News Business Features Editorial Security Politics World Letters Sports Obituaries
|
Quest for truth Misadituwek Daham Daki
In other words I received this book at a time when my mind was most receptive to abstract thought and philosophical discussion; so reading this book was rewarding and enjoyable. The opening essay in this book 'a heretic becomes a votary of science" represents a continuation of a polemic tradition which runs through our religious literature throughout its history. This essay poses a serious challenge to the age - old belief in an omnipotent God, the creator of the universe and all mankind. The author himself a Professor of Chemistry harnesses his scientific knowledge and his indepth knowledge of Buddhism to refute this fallacy. How far he will succeed depends on the reader's readiness to respond equally dispassionately to his arguments. His criticisms are objective and falls dispassionately on other falsehoods and irrationalities as well. It is a credit to the author's manner of handling the material before him. For instance, the irrational rites and rituals, beliefs and fascinating narratives woven around the Buddha receive the same critical scrutiny and are rejected as untenable. The author in advancing his ideas uses imaginary characters of different types, such as sceptics, conventional believers and pious and erudite monks in his dialogues. These characters, however, are unlike the characters one would find in a novel. They are just some individuals who hold onto some fixed beliefs. It is through the clash of their conflicting views that the author develops the debate and compels the reader to become a passive participant in it. These characters carry their respective ideas to the reader in a pleasant digestible style. One such character is Mr. Middleton, a Professor of Physics from the University of Cambridge, another is a professor of Chemistry from the University of Kelaniya and one Mr. Amarananda, a pious follower of the Buddha. Mr. Middleton is a prisoner of his own conscience conditioned by his Christian parentage and background but later becomes a sceptic influenced by the more rational thinking of his friend, the Sri Lankan professor of Chemistry. By this exposure he learns to shed his earlier prejudices and think objectively and dispassionately. Ultimately he is pushed into an ideological void. This kindles in him the urge to resume his quest for truth. This is his predicament, and as the author sees it is also the crisis that assails modern civilisation. He does not hesitate to pinpoint the Kammasukhallikanuyoga which modern man, caught in this crisis embraces, is a sequel to this crisis. The Buddha's condemnation of this extreme appeals to the now unbiased mind of Mr. Middleton. He is drawn to it as he finds it more in accord with the modern scientific mind. The author projects himself into the characters he has created to convey his message, the message of the Buddha embodied in the 'Arya Marga' and 'Anattata' as the only philosophy that could overcome the void that stares in the modern man's face. He secures his point of view by drawing parallelisms and correspondence between Buddhism and modern science. He even goes to the extent of elucidating the fundamentals of Chemistry however cumbersome it could be to the uninitiated. The mockery that science has made of the concept of an omnipotent god, the creator of mankind is now complete with the successful harnessing of scientific analysis and logic. But it leaves behind in the reader's mind a feeling of listlessness. The author is aware of it and he offers Buddhism as a viable remedy. The intelligent reader who ponders the problem and the plausibility of the authors' contention is made to pause for a while and soliloquize. "Can Buddhism provide the ballast to a floundering civilisation? Will excessive scientific weightage smother the poetry of life?" The author should be congratulated forcussing the reader's mind on this ideological void and offering food for serious thought. In the course of his reflections the author has not forgotten to advert the reader's mind to certain other aspects affecting our society for instance the craze for the study of the Abhidhamma. The author is clear in his mind that it is not a precondition to the attainment of Nibbana. Thereby he rightly dismisses the notion that Buddhism is a philosophy exclusively meant for the intellectual aristocracy. On a more mundane note he also draws the reader's attention to the unethical conversions that we hear about, and also about the extraneous forces that have a vested interest in poverty and ignorance which lead up to these conversions. The reader should be grateful to the author of these essays for highlighting these problems and offering solutions without fear or favour. - Dharmadasa Amarasekera ************* Focus on problems facing humanity Descent of Man
The first impediment is his habit of thinking which is reductionist and analytical and therefore not yielding full knowledge of the object of study. Earlier primitive man belonging to the sub-species called "Australopithekos" made things for use and for killing animals for food. He took nearly 200,000 years in his progress from ape to man, to make fire. At a later stage in revolution in the early 20th century, man realised that the universe and all things in it were 'running down', losing energy, and therefore travelling to 'nothingness'. This travel to nothingness was called 'entropy' by physicists. Earlier, man's problems were simpler and restricted in scope. Later on, somewhere in the middle of the 20th century, problems within nations as well as among nations became progressively more complicated and difficult to solve. So he increased his computational capacity by inventing 'calculating machines'. These became more complex and versatile in later years. As we know, these machines could make many calculations of great complexity in a flash of a second. Despite advances in technology, man has failed to use the computer to solve some of his problems of great complexity. For instance, no computer has been able to give us adequate safe drinking water for the ever increasing large numbers of humans. Similarly, no computer can give employment to all human beings at a time when most people are unemployed and hungry. You might ask why are we reluctant to use the computer to the fullest. the answer appears to be simple. If we do so, the computer would give answers which are inconvenient to the rich class. The computer would say: Reduce the population; those who consume more water should reduce their consumption. So we are not going to ask computers for embarrassing answers which could not be carried out. What is more, such answers will result in profit reduction for businessmen and manufacturers. On the other hand, they substitute machines for men in industry and locate their industries in poor countries where labour is cheap. Meanwhile, about 60 per cent of scientists are employed in industries producing sophisticated weapons. These industries do not produce anything man can use or consume. Ultimately, the result was to maintain a soldier spending US dollars 20,000. However, to educate a child from kindergarten to Advanced Level will cost only US dollars 360. Scientists have at last invented three things - each one progressively more destructive - the fusion bomb (Hiroshima and Nagasaki), the fusion bomb or hydrogen bomb (thermonuclear) and the third, the neutron bomb. The first two bombs can kill, maim and cripple in thousands and millions and the last one can kill all human beings in a building but leaves it intact. This is the acme of capitalist achievement. The terms of trade of developing countries has been constantly declining. For instance, 6.3 tons of petroleum could be bought with the sale price of a ton of sugar in 1960. However, in 1982, only 7/10th of a ton of petroleum could be bought with the sale proceeds of a ton of sugar. This situation has forced many Third World countries into debt which they now find it almost impossible to redeem. The author recalls the words of President Eisenhower who said on his retirement: Every gun that is made, every rocket fired, signifies in a final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, from those who are cold and are not clothed. The book says the total debt of Latin America alone was $ 530 billion in 1982. The total debt of all countries is now over $ 200 billion. Descent of Man can be recommended as essential reading for all thinking men to raise their voice against arms race. At a time when all the past arms control agreements have failed, the human race is facing a great disaster. - R. S. Karunaratne |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
Produced by Lake House |
Misadituwek Daham Daki (A heretic sees the Dhamma) a book of religious
essays or rather a quest for truth" by Prof. Ariyaratne of Kelaniya
University came into my hands at a time when my mind was silently
grappling with such cardinal concepts in Buddhism as 'Anattata' and the
related concept "naca so nacanno".
Descent of man is a bold attempt to probe why the problems facing man
are near insoluble and dangerous for him and the species.
