By Harsha
Gunasena
Gothma the
Buddha rediscovered the law of nature 2500 years ago. Law of nature is not an
opinion, a dogma or a philosophy developed by the Buddha, but he just discovered it. If he did not discover it, we would be
ignorant to that effect but the law of nature would be in force. Also it was a
rediscovery. Many discovered the same in the past and many will discover it in
the future. Therefore there was no such ownership to the law of nature by Gothma the Buddha. Law of nature is called Dhamma in Pali.
Dhamma is not
sectarian; it is universal. People cannot be divided based on Dhamma; instead
it unites people. Dhamma is not for war but for peace. Dhamma is not a belief but the reality. But any
one and every one cannot understand Dhamma. It is not so easy to understand and
at the same time it is not so difficult either. If one could not understand
Dhamma in deep and if one does not want to understand it either, one can develop a philosophy out of
it, if one so wishes. This philosophy, which is based on the superficial
understanding of Dhamma, could be named also. The name given to this philosophy
is Buddhism. Buddhism developed in various countries acquiring the beliefs and ways of life in those
societies.
Therefore there is a clear
difference between Dhamma, the law of nature rediscovered by Gothama the Buddha
2500 years ago and Buddhism, which was developed by his disciples, who could
not or did not want to understand Dhamma. Buddhism is sectarian; it divides
people. If it divides people it should also lead them to war although it
preaches otherwise. Like any other organized religion, Buddhism is having lot
of rituals, which has become an integral part of it.
When the south Indians invaded
Sri Lanka, Hinduism also came to the country. Buddhism was accommodative
towards Hinduism and with the influence of the Sinhala kings Hindu Gods came to
the Buddhist temples in the Polonnnaruwa era. This was the greatest influence the
Sri Lankan Buddhism had. In the Kandian era, Rajadi Rajasinghe (I hope the name
of the king is correct) ordered only the
members of Govigama caste should be accepted for ordination as Bhikkus
since a low caste Bhikku worshiped the king contrary to accepted practice. The
order of the king was simply the opposite of Dhamma. But it prevails to date
and the members of the other castes had to have different Nikayas for them.
When the western powers invaded Sri Lanka and started spreading Christianity,
Buddhists became an in-group organized against Christianity.
Individualism
and Collectivism are concepts developed by the scholars who studied the
cultures of the countries and the organizations. Geert Hofstede developed the
most prominent
conceptualization. Individualism pertains to
societies in which the ties between individuals are loose: every one is
expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family.
Collectivism as its opposite pertains to societies in which people from birth onwards are integrated
into strong, cohesive in-groups, which throughout people’s lifetime continue to
protect them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.
In Sri Lanka, by and large there is a collectivist
culture. There are various
groups starting from the race, cast, and religion up to the informal in-groups.
There are strong ties between individuals and very often relationships prevail
over tasks. Identity is based in the social network to which one belongs,
rather than based on
the individual as in the individualist cultures. Special recognition is given
by a person to another if the latter is studied at the same school of the
former or the latter’s hometown is same as the former.
Very often opinions are pre determined by group membership and having
private opinions are not encouraged. This is evident in the Tamil community in
Sri Lanka where by and large the political opinion of LTTE is the political
opinion of Tamils. Different opinions are suppressed forcibly since it is the common belief that LTTE
is working for the best interests of the Tamils. It is prominently evident in
the present university system. In the electoral system also there are a large
number of voters who are not members of political parties and who do not want to change their
loyalty to a party. It is a question whether proper democracy can be
established in collectivist cultures.
Collectivist cultures are not
rule oriented. They always try to take short cuts or try to deviate from the
accepted procedure/ rule. In Sri Lanka when there is a queue people try to
break the order since in the point of view of one person, the other persons who
are in the queue are not belong to his in-group. They are generally hostile
towards the members of the other groups.
In collectivist cultures, laws and rights differ by group where as in
individualist cultures laws and rights are supposed to be the same for all. In
Sri Lanka there are different laws and rights based on the level of influence
one can exercise. Finally ultimate goal of collectivist cultures is harmony and consensus in the society
where as the same in the individualistic cultures is self-actualization by
every individual.
However there is a positive
correlation between national wealth and individualism. When the society is
modernized the urban family is nuclear, so that it paves way for individualism.
Buddhism and Collectivism
In collectivist countries,
members of a religion act as members of an in-group. Buddhism also suffered the
same fate in Sri Lanka. It was used to organize people against the South Indian
invaders by the Sinhalese kings. It organized Buddhists against Christianity.
It mobilized the masses against the western invaders. Therefore it established
as ‘Sinhala Buddhism’. Later it had different variations such as ‘Rural
Buddhism’, ‘Olcott Buddhism’ and ‘Dharmapala Buddhism’ identified by different
scholars in order to denote different social groups.
Therefore present day Buddhism
is having lot of variations from the original Dhamma. In some instances it is
completely the opposite of Dhamma. The laymen and the Bhikkus are practicing
different social religions called in various names such as Sinhala Buddhism
etc. In this context only we can examine
the behavior of certain Bhikkus coming to politics and promote ‘non-Buddhist’
concepts. In the present day social context there is nothing wrong in this act.
Some time back there was a book
called Buddhism Betrayed written by Sri Lankan Tamil social scientist. As we
discussed by and large the prevailing Buddhism in Sri Lanka is Sinhala
Buddhism. Therefore there is no question of betrayal of Buddhism, considering
the acts taken by Sinhala Buddhists against the Tamils. However there is a question of betrayal of
Dhamma in favour of Sinhala Buddhism.
But Dhamma still prevails in
this ‘forsaken land’. Still there are people interested in Dhamma. Still there
are people practicing Dhamma. Still there are people achieved very high
spiritual statuses in life through Dhamma.
Dhamma and Individualism
In a course of vipassana
meditation, if a westerner is asked not to talk with other meditators or not to
open his/her eyes while sitting in meditation he/she will follow the
instructions up to the letter. If the same instructions were given to a local
he/she will try to communicate with others with body language or open his/her
eyes ‘little bit’ and see what is happening around while in meditation.
If an individualist promise to
observe five precepts there are many chances that he/she observe the same so
that there is no need to promise over and over again. In respect of a
collectivist it would be the opposite.
In Dhamma the final
understanding is individualistic. Initially one has to understand that he is a
robot not a real person. There is an entity due to causes and effects and there
is no real person. The entire view one is having about the world shatters down
with this understanding. Yet this understanding is individualistic although the
result is that there is no individual.
Collectivism does not promote
people to have this type of self-actualization; instead it promotes harmony in
the society. Dhamma says that one has to find out his own liberation and there
is no God to help him. A Guru can guide him/her but he/she, no one else, has to
go along the path. This type of thinking is alien in collectivist cultures.
However the individualist Bikkus who meditate in isolation are well supported
with food, clothes, lodgings and medicine by the collectivist cultures.
Collectivist cultures would help to preserve Dhamma but those cultures would
fail to get the benefits out of the same.
Therefore Dhamma was degraded
to Buddhism and then to Sinhala Buddhism and finally to Rural Buddhism or to
what ever, in the hands of Sri Lankan collectivist culture. Dhamma will get
firmly established in the individualistic western cultures if introduced
properly.
(Unpublished article- written in October 2005)
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