[01]
THE BUDDHA
The
Buddha’s greatness
I cannot
myself feel that either in the matter of wisdom or in the matter of virtue
Christ stands quite as high as some other people known to history-I think
I should put Buddha above him in those respects.
Bertrand
Russell, "Why I am not a Christian"
Embodiment
of virtues
Buddha
was the embodiment of all virtues he preached. During his successful and
eventful ministry of 45 years he translated all his words into action;
and in no place did he give vent to any human frailty, or any base passion.
The Buddha’s moral code is the most perfect which the world has ever
known.
-
Prof. Max Muller, German Scholar
Blossom
of the human tree
This
is the blossom on our human tree
Which
opens in many a myriad years
But
opened, fills the world with wisdom’s scent
And
love’s dropped honey.
-
Sir Edwin Arnold, "Light of Asia"
Buddha
is nearer to us
You
see clearly a man, simple, devout, lonely, battling for light, a vivid
human personality, not a myth. Beneath a mass of miraculous fable I feel
that there also was a man. He too, gave a message to mankind universal
in its character. Many of our best modern ideas are in closest harmony
with it. All the miseries and discontents of life are due, he taught, to
selfishness. Selfishness takes three forms – one, the desire to satisfy
the senses; second, the craving for immortality; and the third the desire
for prosperity and worldliness. Before a man can become serene he must
cease to live for his senses or himself.
Then
he merges into a great being. Buddha in a different language called men
to self-forgetfulness five hundred years before Christ. In some ways he
was nearer to us and our needs. Buddha was more lucid upon our individual
importance in service than Christ, and less ambiguous upon the queation
of personal immortality.
-
H.G. Wells
Most
Noble of Mankind
If
you desire to see the most noble of mankind, look at the king in beggar’s
clothing; it is he whose sanctity is great among men.
-
Abdul Atahiya, A Muslim Poet
Buddha’s
Method
If
any question has to be considered, it has to be considered peacefully and
democratically in the way taught by the Buddha.
-
Nehru
Lunatic
and a Sane Man
The
difference between the Buddha and an ordinary man is like the difference
between a sane man and a lunatic
-
A writer
Homage
to Buddha
Lord
Buddha could be very easily singled out as the one person known to man
who received homage from the greatest number of mankind.
-Prof.
Saunders, Literary Secretary Y.M.C.A. India, Burma, Ceylon
Buddha’s
Message
The
Buddha has been something greater than all doctrine and dogma, and his
eternal message has thrilled humanity through the ages. Perhaps at no time
in past history was his message of peace more needed for a suffering and
distracted humanity than it is today.
-
Nehru
Negative
Answer of The Buddha
If
we ask, for instance, whether the position of the electron remains the
same, we must say ‘no’; if we ask whether the electron’s position
changes with time, we must say ‘no’; if we ask whether it is in motion,
we must say ‘no’. The Buddha has given such answers when interrogated
as to the conditions of a man’s self after his death; but they are not
familiar answers for the tradition of seventeenth and eighteenth century
science.
-
J. Robert Oppenheimer
We
are impressed by His spirit of Reason
When
we read Buddha’s discourses, we are impressed by his spirit of reason.
His ethical path has for its first step right views, a rational outlook.
He endeavours to brush aside all cobwebs that interfere with mankind’s
vision of itself and its destiny.
-
Dr. S Radhakrishnan,"Gautama The Buddha"
Cool
Head and Loving Heart
The
most striking thing about the Buddha is almost a unique combination of
a cool scientific head and profound sympathy of a warm and loving heart.
The world today turns more and more towards the Buddha, for he alone represents
the consience of humanity.
-
Moni Bagghee,"Our Buddha"
Philosophic
genius
The
Buddha was a pioneer as a lover of men, and a philosophic genius rolled
into a single vigorous and radiant personality. He had things to say that
no man or woman, after 2500 years of bustling and hustling and chattering
round the fountain of knowledge, can afford to ignore. Greater perhaps
than his wisdom was the example he set.
-Moni
Bagghee,"Our Buddha"
He
does not speak of sin
Serenity
of spirit and love for all sentient creation are enjoined by the Buddha.
He does not speak of sin, but only of ignorance and foolishness which could
be cured by enlightenment and sympathy.
-
Dr. S Radhakrisnan,"Gautama the Buddha"
Buddha
is like a physician
The
Buddha is like a physician. Just as a doctor must know the diagnosis of
the different kinds of illness, their causes, the antidotes and remedies,
and must be able to apply them, so also the Buddha has taught the Four
Holy Truths which indicate the range of suffering, its origin, its cessation,
and the way which lead to its cessation.
-
Dr. Edward Conze,"Buddhism"
Buddha
is for whole mankind
The
Buddha is not a property of Buddhists only. He is the property of whole
mankind. His teaching is common to everybody. Every religion, which came
into existence after the Buddha, has borrowed many good ideas from the
Buddha.
-
A Muslim Scholar
A Wise
Father
Buddha
is one who sees his children playing in the consuming fire of worldliness
and employs different expedients to bring them out of this burning house
and lead them to the safe asylum of Nirvana.
-
Prof.Lakshimi Nasaru, "The Essence of Buddhism"
Buddha
is the way
I
feel more and more that Sakyamuni is the nearest in character and effect
to Him who is the Way, the Truth, and The Life.
-
Bishop Milman
A Radiant
Sun
In
this world of storm and strife, hatred and violence, the message of the
Buddha shines like a radiant sun. Perhaps at no time was that message more
needed than in the world of atomic and hydrogen bombs. Two thousand five
hundred years have only added to the vitality and truth of that message.
Let us remember that immortal message and try to fashion our thoughts and
actions in the light of the teaching. We may face with equanimity even
the terrors of the atomic bomb age and help a little in promoting right
thinking and right action.
-
Nehru
Greatest
man ever born
Here
is a teaching we can follow with confidence. Where in the world of religions,
cults and creeds, can we find a master of such brilliance? In a pageant
of stars he was a giant of the greatest magnitude. Little wonder that scientists,
philosophers, and men of literature have proclaimed Him ‘the Greatest
man ever born’. The radiance of this great teacher goes through a world
of suffering and darkness, like a beacon light to guide and illuminate
mankind.
-
A European Writer
[02]
BUDDHISM
FUNDAMENTAL
TEACHINGS OF THE BUDDHA
Gentleness,
serenity, compasion, through liberation from selfish-craving - are the
fundamental teachings of the great Oriental religion of Buddhism.
-
E.A.Burtt, "The Compassionate Buddha"
Well
Built Bridge
Buddha
Dharma is like a bridge well built of flexible steel, it gives a little
to wind and water, it adapts itself to changing circumstances, but at the
same time it has secured foundations and offers a safe way to the Deathless,
to Nirvana.
-
Phra Khantipalo,"Tolerance"
To
Awake the Human Heart
Surely
the mysteriously East, that fertile mother of religions, has given us in
Buddhism a true revelation, since it makes known to us the moral beauty
and purity that lies in the deep of human nature needing no other divinity
than that which abides in the human heart to awake them into living glory.
-
Charles T.Gorham
Nothing
to Surpass Buddhism
Buddhist
or not Buddhist, I have examined everyone of the great religious systems
of the world, and in none of them have I found anything to surpass, in
beauty and comprehensiveness, the Noble Eightford Path and the Four Noble
Truths of the Buddha. I am content to shape my life according to that path.
-
Prof. Rhys Davids
Buddhism
does not leas us to a Fool’s Paradise
Buddhism
is realistic, for it takes a realistic view of life and the world. It does
not falsely pull us into living in a fool’s paradis, nor does it frighten
and agonize us with all kinds of imaginary fears and guilt-feelings. It
calls us exactly and objectively what we are and what the world around
us is, and shows us the way to perfect freedom, peace, tranquility and
happiness.
-
Ven. Dr. W. Rahula
THE
BUDDHA’S MISSION
The
mission of the Buddha was quite unique in it’s character, and therefore
it stands quite apart from the many other religions of the world. His mission
was to bring the birds of idealism flying in the air nearer to the earth,
because the food for their bodies belonged to the earth.
-
Hazrat Inayat Khan,"The Sufi Message"
A COSMIC
RELIGION
The
religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a
personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and
the spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.
-
Albert Einstein
BUDDHISM
WILL REMAIN UNAFFECTED
The
doctrines of Buddha Dhamma stand today, as unaffected by the march of time
and the expansion of knowledge as when they were first enunciated. No matter
to what lengths increase scientific knowledge can extend man’s mental
horizon, within the frame work of the Dhamma there is room for the acceptance
and assimilation of the further discovery. It does not rely for it’s
appeal upon limited concepts of primitive minds not for it’s power upon
the negation of thought.
-
Francis Story ,"Buddhism as World Religion
JOYFUL
RELIGION
Buddhism
is quite opposed to the melancholic, sorrowful, petinent and gloomy attitude
of mind which is considered a hindrance to the realization of Truth. On
the other hand, it is interesting to remember here that joy is one of the
seven ‘Factors of Illumination’, the essential qualities to be cultivated
for the realization of Nirvana.
-
Ven.Dr. W. Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught"
CHALLENGE
TO OTHER RELIGIONS
It
is Buddhismas we find it actually recorded, not hypothetical primitive
system, which still forms a challenge to other religions.
-
Bishop Gore, "Buddha and the Christ."
NO
ASSUMPTION IN BUDDHISM
It
is a glory of Buddhism that it makes intellactual enlightenment an essential
condition of salvation. In Buddhism morality and interlectual enlightenment
are inseparable from one another. While morality forms the basis of the
higher life, knowledge and wisdom complete it. Without a perfect understanding
of the law of casuality and transformation (Pratityasamutpada), no one
else can even be said to be truly moral if he does not possess the necessary
insight and knowledge. In this respect Buddhism differs from all other
religions. All montheistic religions start with certain assumption, and
when these assumptions are contradicted by the growth of knowledge it increases
sorrow. But Buddhism starts with no assumptions. It stands on the firm
rock of facts, and can therefore never shun the dry light of knowledge.
-
Prof. Lakhsmi Naras,."The Essence of Buddhism"
BUDDHA
HAS SEEN DEEPER THEM MODERN IDEALISTS
Gautama
got rid of even that shade of a shadow of permanent existance by a metaphysical
tour de force of great interest to the student of philosophy, seeing that
it supplies the wanting half of Bishop Berkeley’s well-known idealist
argument. It is a remarkable indication of the subtlety of Indian speculation
that Gautama should have seen deeper than the greatest of modern idealists.
The tendency of enlightened thought of all today all the world over is
not towards theology, but philosophy and psychology. The bark of theological
dualism is drifting into danger. The fundamental principles of evolution
and monism are being accepted by the thoughtful.
-
Prof.Huxley,"Evolution And Ethics"
RELIGIOUS
REVOLUTION
Twenty-
five centuries ago India witnessed an intellectual and religious revolution
which culminated in the overthrow of monotheism, priestly selfishness,
and the establishment of a synthetic religion, a system of light and thought
which was appropriately called Dhamma – Philosophical Religion.
-
Anagarika Dharmapala,"The World debt to Buddha"
A PLAN
FOR LIVING
Buddhism
is a plan for living in such a way as to derive highest benefit from life.
It is a religion of wisdom where knowledge and intelligence predominate.
The Buddha did not preach to win converts but to enlighten listeners.
-
A Western writer
COME
AND SEE
Buddhism
is not always a question of knowing and seeing and not that of believing.
The teaching of the Buddha is qualified as Ehi-Passiko, inviting you to
come and see, but not to come and believe.
-
Ven. Dr. W. Rahula,"What the Buddha Taught"
RELIGION
OF MAN
Buddhism
will last as long as the sun and moon last and the human race exists upon
the earth, for it is the religion of man, of humanity as a whole.
-
Bandaranaike, Former Prime Minister of Srilanka
BUDDHIST
IS NOT A SLAVE TO ANYBODY
A
Buddhist is not a slave to a book or to any person. Nor does he sacrifice
his freedom of thought by becoming a follower of the Buddha. He can exercise
his own free will and develop his knowledge even to the extent of attaining
Buddhahood himself, for all are potential Buddhas.
-
Ven. Narada Maha Thera, "What is Buddhism"
LIFE
BY PRINCIPLE
Buddhism
taught a life not by rule, but by principle, a life of beauty; and as a
consequence, it was a religion of tolerance. It was the most charitable
system under the sun.
-
Rev. Joseph Wain
BUDDHISM
WOULD REMAIN
Buddhism
would remain what it is even if it were proved that the Buddha never lived.
-
Christmas Humphreys, "Buddhism"
MODERN
PROBLEMS
To
read a little Buddhism is to realise that the Buddhists knew, two thousand
five hundred years ago, far more about our modern problems of psychology
than they have yet been given credit for. They studied these problems long
ago and found their answers too.
-
Dr. Graham Howe
MIND
TRAINING
We
hear much nowadays of thought-power, but Buddhism is the most complete
and effective system of mind-training yet placed before the world.
-
Dudley Wright
NEW
RACE
The
Buddha created a new race of men, a race of moral heroes, a race of salvation-workers,
a race of Buddhas.
-
Manmatha Nath Sastri
FIRST
MISSIONARY
Buddhism
is the first missionary religion in the history of humanity with a universal
message of salvation for all mankind. The Buddha after his Enlightenment
sent out sixty-one disciples in different directions asking them to preach
the doctrine for the weal and welfare of mankind.
-
Dr. K.N. Jayatilleke, "Buddhism and Peace"
NO
FORCED CONVERSION
It
was never, however, the buddhist way to proselytise – in the sense of
forcing ideas and beliefs upon an unwilling audience, much less to exert
pressure of any kind, or any kind of flattery, deceit or cajolery, to win
adherence to one’s own point of view. Buddhist missionaries have never
competed for converts in the marketplace.
-
Dr. G.P.Malalasekara
ULTIMATE
FACT OF REALITY
Here
it is necessary to draw attention to another unique feature of the religion
of the buddha, namely, that it is the only religion of any relgious teacher,
which is the outcome of a consistent philosophy, which claims to tell us
about the ultimate facts of existance and reality. The religion of the
Buddha is a way of life resulting from the acceptance of a view of life,
which is said to be factual. His philosophy is not without an account of
the nature of knowledge.
-
Dr. K.N. Jayatilleke, "Buddhism and Peace"
NO
FANATICISM
Of
Buddha alone can it be affirmed it is free from all fanaticism. It’s
aim being to produce in every man a thorough internal transforming by self
conquest, how can it have a recourse to might or money or even persuasion
for effecting conversion? The Buddha has only shown the way to salvation,
and it is left to each individual to decide for himself if he would follow
it.
-
Prof. Lakshmi Narasu, "The Essence of Buddhism"
BUDDHISM
AND OTHER FAITHS
Buddhism
is like the palm of the hand, the other religions being the fingers.
-
The great Khan Mongka
Buddhism
is not a melancholy religion
Some
people think that Buddhism is a dark and melancholy religion. It is not
so; it will it’s followers bright and cheerful. When we read the birth
stories of Bodhisatva, the future Buddha, we learn how he cultivated the
Perfection of patience and forbearance. It will help as to be cheerful
even in midst of great troubles and to take delight in other’s welfare.
-
Ven. Gnanatiloka, a German Buddhist scholar
BUDDHISM
AND SOCIAL WELFARE
Those
who think that Buddhism is interested only in lofty ideals, high moral
and philosophy thought, ignores any social and economic of welfare people,
are wrong. The Buddha was interested in happiness of men. To him, happiness
was not possible without leading a pure life based on moral and spiritual
principles. But he knew that leading such a life was hard in unfavourable
material and social conditions.
Buddhism
does not material welfare as an end in itself; it is only a means to an
end – a higher and nobler end. But it is a means which is indispensable,
indespensable in achieving a higher purpose for man’s happiness. So Buddhism
recognizes the need of certain minimum material conditions favourable to
spiritual success – even that of a monk engaged in meditation in some
solitary place.
-
Ven. Dr.W.Rahula, "What the Buddha Taugh"
EXAMPLE
FROM ASOKA
Turn
to Buddhism, and you will read that Asoka not only preached a lofty morality
but exercised the power of kingship in manner that shames our modern sovereigns
of other faiths.
-
Geoffrey Mortimer, a writer in the West
FIXED
PRINCIPLES
It
will not be possible even today to Buddhism that it is worn out because
it is rooted upon certain fixed principles that can never be altered.
-
Gertrude Garartt
DHAMMA
IS THE LAW
All
teachings of the Buddha can be summed up in one word: "Dhamma". The law
of righteousness, exist not only in a man’s heart but it exists in the
universe also. All the universe is an embodiment or revelation of Dhamma.
The laws of nature which modern science have discovered are revelations
of Dhamma.
If
the Moon rises and sets, it is because of Dhamma, for Dhamma is that law
residing in the universe that makes metter act in the ways studied in physics,
chemistry, zoology, botany and astronomy. Dhamma exists in the universe
just as Dhamma exists in the heart of man. If man will live by Dhamma,
he will escape misery and attain Nibbana.
-
Ven. A. Mahinda
PERSECUTION
Of
the great religions of history I prefer Buddhism, especially in it’s
earliest forms, because it has had the smallest element of persecution.
-
Bertrand Russell
APPRECIATION
OF BUDDHISM
Although
one may originally be attracted by it’s remoteness, one can appreciate
the real value of Buddhism only when one judges it by the result it produces
in one’s own life from day to day.
-
Dr. Edward Conze, a Western Buddhist scholar
KNOWLEDGE
IS THE KEY TO HIGHER PATH
Without
senuous pleasure would life be endurable? Without belief in immorality
can man be moral? Without worship of a God can man advance towards righteousness?
Yes, replies the Buddha, these ends can be attained by knowledge; knowledge
alone the key to higher path, the one worth pursuing in life; knowledge
is that which brings calmness and peace to life, which renderd man indifferent
to the storms of phenomenal world.
-
Prof. Karl Pearson
FORTUNATE
BUDDHIST
How
fortunate are the humble followers of the Buddha who have not inherited
the fallacy of infallibility of any revealed book from the very beginning.
-
Ven. Prof. Ananda Kaushalyayana
BUDDHISM
AND RITES
Buddhism
is thus a religion, and there is a little room in it for ritual and ceremony.
An act done with an idea of one’s own conditioning ceases to be a rite.
Much of the seemingly ritual of present-day Buddhism, when seen thus are
really not rites.
-
Dr. W.F. Jayasuriya, "The Philosophy of Buddhism"
SAVIOUR
If
the Buddha is to be called a ‘saviour’ at all, it is only in the sense
that he discovered and showed the Path to Liberation, Nivana. But we must
tread the path ourselves.
-Ven.
Dr W. Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught"
NO
FORCE
To
force oneself to believe and to accept a thing without understanding is
political, and not spirtual or intellectual.
-Ven.
Dr. W. Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught"
RESPECT
OTHER RELIGIONS
One
should not honour only one’s own religion and condemn the religions of
others, but one should honour other’s religions for this or that reason.
So doing, one helps one’s own religion to grow and renders service to
the religions of others too. In acting otherwise one digs the grave of
one’s own religion and also does harm to other religions. Whosever honours
his own religion and condemns other religions, thinking "I will glorify
my own religion". But on the contrary, in so doing he injures his own religion
more gravely. So concord is good: Let all listen, and be willing to listen
to the doctrines professed by others.
-
Emperor Asoka
A GENUINE
PRIDE
A
religion or a way of life is judged not merely by the truths it proclaims
but also by the change that it brings about in the life of it’s followers.
So far this test is concerned Buddhism has a record of achievements in
which we can take a genuine pride.
-
D. Valisinha, General Secrstary, Maha Bodhi Society, "Buddhist way of
life"
UNCONSCIOUSNESS
It
can also be said that India discovered the unconsciousness earlier than
the Western psycholigists. For them the unconscious consists in the totality
of the impressions which slumber in the individual as the inheritance from
his previous existance. The Buddhis technique of meditation, which is concerned
with the latent forces, is thus a fore-runner of modern psycho-analysis,
of autogenic mental trainingetc.
-
Prof. Von Glasenapp, a German scholar
RATIONAL
ANALYSIS
Buddhism
is the only great religion of the owlr that is consciously and frankly
based on a systematic rational analysis of the problems of life and of
the way to its solution.
-Moni
Bagghee, "Our Buddha"
ENEMY
OF RELIGION
There
is little of what we call dogma in the Buddha’s teaching. With a breadth
of view rare in that age and not common in ours he refuses to stifle critism.
Intolerance seemed to him the greatest enemy of religion.
-
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, "Gautama The Buddha"
Sectarianism
Most
meophytes of some other religions are controlled by their Guru and are
forbidden to read the scriptures, doctrines, magazines, booklets and tracts
of other religions. This very rarely happens within Buddhism.
-
Phra Khantipalo, "Tolerance"
THE
FIVE PRECEPTS
These
five precepts, indicate five arterial directions in which the Buddhist
self-control is to be exercised. Thus, the first rule calls upon him to
control the passion of anger, the second, the desire for material possessions,
the third, the lust of the flesh, the fourth, cowardice and malevolence
(causes of untruthfulness) the fifth, the craving for unwholesome excitement.
-
Edmon Holmes, "The creed of Buddha"
MAN
WHO ACHIEVED A GREAT VICTORY
One
of the first scholars to begin the work of translating the Pali Literature
into English, was the son of a well known clergyman. His object in undertaking
the work was ti prove the superiority of Christianity Over Buddhist. We
must never forget the happy chance which prompted him to undertake this
work and thereby make the precious Dhamma available to thousands in the
West. The name of this great scholar was Dr. Rhys Davids.
-
Ven. A. Mahinda, "Blue Print of happiness"
HUMAN
DESTINY
Over
great areas of the world it still survives. It is possible that in contact
with Western science, and inspired by the spirit of history, the original
teaching of Gotama, revived and purified, may yet play a large part in
the direction of human destiny.
-
H.G. Wells
PARLIAMENTARY
SYSTEM BORROWED FROM BUDDHISM
It
is probable that the tendency towards self government evidenced by these
various forms of corporate activity received fresh impetus from the Buddhist
rejection of the authority of the priesthood and further but its doctrine
of equality as exemplified by its repudiation of caste. It is indeed to
the Buddhist books that we have to turn for an account of the manner in
which the affairs of the early examples of representative self-governing
institutions were conducted. It may come as a surprise to many to learn
that in assemblies of Buddhists in India 2500 years and more ago are to
be found the rudiments of our own parliamentary practice of the present
day.
The
dignity of the assembly was preserved by the appointment of a special officer
– the embryo of "Mr. Speaker" in our house of commons. A second officer
was appointed to see that when necessary a quorum was secured – the prototype
of the Parliamentary Chief Whip, in our own system. A member initiating
business did so in the form of a motion which was then open to discussion.
In some cases, this was done once only, in others three times, thus anticipating
the practise of Parliament in requiring that a bill be read a third time
before it becomes law. If discussion disclosed a difference of opinion
the matter was decided by the vote of the majority, the voting being by
ballot.
-
Marquess of Zetland, a former Viceroy, "Legacy of India"
[03]
MORALITY
DEMOCRACY
Buddhism
was a democratic movement, which upheld democracy in religion, democracy
in society, and democracy in politics.
-
Dr. Ambedkar
ETHICAL
MAN OF GENIUS
In
this sphere He gave expression to truths of everlasting value and advanced
the ethics not of India alone but of humanity. Buddha was one of the greatest
ethical men of genius ever bestowed upon the world.
-
Albert Schweitzer, a leading Western philosopher
WORLD
CULTURE
Buddhism
has done more for the advance of world civilization and true culture than
any other influence in the chronicles of mankind.
-
H. G. Wells
[04]
TOLERANCE
– PEACE – LOVE
TO
WIN PEACE
The
question that inevitably suggests itself is, how far can the great message
of the Buddha apply to the present-day world? Perhaps it may apply, perhaps
it may not, but if we follow the principles enunciated by the Buddha, we
will ultimately win peace and tranquility for the world.
-
Nehru
WISDOM
IS THE SWORD AND IGNORANCE IS THE ENEMY
Not
a single page of Buddhist history has ever been lurid with the light of
inquisitorial fires, or darkened with the smoke of heretic or heathen cities
ablaze, or red with blood of the guiltless victims of religious hatred.
Buddhism wields only one sword, the sword of wisdom, and recognises only
one enemy – ignorance. This is the testimony of history, and is not to
be gain-said.
-
Prof. Bapat, "2500 years of Buddhism"
NO
UNKIND WORD
There
was never an occasion when the Buddha flamed forth in anger, never an incident
when an unkind word escaped his lips.
-
Dr. S. Radhakrishnan
PRACTISE
OF WISDOM AND COMPASSION
It
seemed that the kindly aesthetic, eternally young, seated cross-legged
on the lotus of purity with his right hand raised in admonition, answered
in these two words: "If you wish to escape from suffering from fear, practise
wisdom and compassion."
-
Anatole France
NO
PERSECUTION
There
is no record known to me in the whole of the long history of Buddhism throughout
the many centuries where its followers have been for such lengthened periods
supreme, of any persecution by the Buddhists of the followers of any other
faith.
-
Prof. Rhys Davids
[05]
MAN’S
POSITION IN BUDDHISM
MAN
GIVE LAW TO NATURE
Law
in the scientific sense is essentially a product of the human mind and
has no meaning apart from man. There is more meaning in the statement that
man gives law to nature than in its converse that nature gives laws to
man.
-
Prof. Karl Pearson
MAN
IS NOT READY MADE
Man
today is the result of millions of repititions of thoughts and acts. He
is not ready made; he becomes, and is still becoming. His character is
predetermind by his own choice, the thought, the act, which he chooses,
that by habit, he becomes.
-
Ven. Piyadassi
MAN
CAN STAND ON HIS OWN FEET
Buddhism
makes man stand on his own two feet and rouses self confidence and engergy.
-
Ven. Narada Thera, "Buddhism in a Nutshell"
MAN
CAN CEASE TO BE CRUSHED
Man
is greater that the blind forces of nature because even though he is crushed
by them he remains superior by virtue of his understanding of them. Again.,
Buddhism carries the truth further: it shows that by means of understanding
man can also control his circumstances. He can cease to be crushed by them,
and use their laws to raise himself.
-
Pascal
[06]
SOUL
BELIEF
IN SOUL IS THE CUASE OF ALL THE TROUBLE
Buddhism
stands unique in the history of human thought in denyingthe existence of
such a Soul, Self, ot Atman. According to the teaching of the Buddha, the
idea of self is an imaginary, false belief which has no corresponding reality,
and it produces harmful thoughts or ‘me’ and ‘mine’, selfish desire
craving, attachment, hatred, illwill, conceit, pride, egoism, and other
defilement, impurities and problems. It is the source of all troubles in
the world from personal conflicts to wars between nations. In short, to
this flase view can be traced all the evils in the world.
-
Ven. Dr. W. Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught"
LIFE
AFTER DEATH IS NOT A MYSTERY
The
difference between death and birth is only a thought moment: the last thought
moment in this life conditions the first thought moment in the so called
next life, which in fact is the continually of tha same series. During
this life itself, too, one thought moment conditions the next thought moment.
So, from the Buddhist point of view, the question of life after death is
not a great mystery, and a Buddhist is never worried about this problem.
-
Ven. Dr. W. Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught"
[07]
BUDDHISM
AND SCIENCE
BUDDHISM
AND MODERN SCIENCE
‘I
have oftern said, and I shall say again and again, that between Buddhism
and modern Science there exist a close intellectual bond’.
-
Sir Edwin Arnold
BUDDHISM
COPES WITH SCIENCE
If
there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would
be Buddhism.
-
Albert Einstein
A SPIRITUAL
SCIENCE
Buddhism
is, on the contrary, a system of thought, a religion, a spirtual science
and a way of life which is reasonable, practical and all embracing. For
2500 years it has satisfied that spiritual science and a way of life, which
is reasonable, practical and all embracing. For 2500 years it has satisfied
the spirtual needs of nearly one third of mankind. It appeals to the West,
insists on self reliance coupled with tolerance for the other ‘s points
of view, embraces science, relgion, philosophy, psychology, ethics and
art, and points to man alone as the creator of his present life and sole
designer of his destiny.
-
Christmas Humphreys
BUDDHISM
BEGINS WHERE SCIENCE ENDS
Science
can give no assurance herein. But Buddhism can meet the atomic Challenge,
because the supramundane knowledge of Buddhism begins where science leaves
off. And this is clear enough to anyone who has made a study of Buddism.
For, through Buddhist Meditation, the atomic constituents making up matter
have been seen and felt, and the sorrow, or unsatifactoriness, of their
‘arising and passing away’ (dependant on causes) has made itself with
what we call a ‘soul’ or ‘atma’ – the illusion of Sakkayadithi,
as it is called in the Buddha’s teaching.
-
Egerton C.Baptist, "Supreme Science of the Buddha"
CAUSE
AND EFFECT INSTEAD OF REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS
According
to the Buddha the world is not so constituted. Buddhist believe in a just
rational of Kamma that operates automatically and speak in terms of cause
and effect instead of rewards and punishments.
-
A writer
[08]
WHAT
IS NIBBANA
SALIVATION
WITH OUT GOD
For
the first time in the history of the world, Buddha proclaimed a salvation,
which each man could gain for himself and by himself in this world during
this life, without the least help from the personal GOD or Gods. He strongly
inculcated the doctrine of self reliance, of purity, of courtesy, of enlightment,
of peace and of universal love. He strongly urged necessity of knowledge,
for without wisdom psychic insight could not be got in his life.
-
Prof. Eliot, "Buddhism and Hinduism"
BUDDHA
AND THE SALVATION
It
is not the Buddha who delivers men, but he teaches them to deliver themselves,
even as he has deleivered himself. They accept his teaching of the truth,
not because it comes from him, but, because of personal conviction, aroused
by his words, arises by the light of their own spirit.
-
Dr. Oldenburg, a German Buddhist scholar
[09]
BELIEF
BUDDHA
DOES NOT DEMAND BELIEF
The
Buddha has not merely awakened to the supreme reality, he also presents
his higher knowledge that is superior to that of "all gods logical disguise
and mythical clothing. Here, however, it is given in so cogent a form that
it presents itself as positively and self evedent to the person to is avble
to follow him. For this reason the Buddha does not demand any belief, but
promises knowledge.
-
George Grimm, "The Doctrine of the Buddha"
[10]
BUDDHISM
AND OTHER RELIGIONS
POST
BUDDHISTIC HINDUISM
The
various ways in which Buddhism influenced, modified, transformed, and revitalised
Hindu religion among all the philospohical Sutras of the Hindus, are admitted
post Buddhistic. The presuppostion of Indian philosophy in the doctrine
of Karma and rebirth and other pre Buddhistic system have attained fullest
development from Buddhistic literature and been established on philosphical
basis.
-
Dr. S. N. Das Gupta
UNIVERSAL
ETHICS
None
the preBuddhistic religions of India may be said to have been able to formulate
a code of ethics and religion that wass unversally and compulsorily valid
for all.
-
Dr. S. N. Das Gupta
BUDDHISM
IS BUDDHISM
Buddhism
and Jainisn were certainly not Hinuism ot even the Vedic Dharma. Yet they
arose in India and were integral parts of Indian life, culture and philosophy.
Buddhist or Jaina in India is a hundred per cent product of Indian thought
culture, yet neither is Hindu by faith. It is entirely misleading to refer
to Indian culture as Hindu culture.
-
Nehru, "Discovery of India"
ETERNAL
DEBT TO THE BUDDHA
It
is my deliberate opinion that the essential part of the teachings of the
Buddha now forms an integral part of Hinduism. IT is impossible for Hindu
India today to retrace her steps and go behind the great reformations that
Gautama effected in Hinduism. By his immense sacrfice, by his great renuniation,
and by the immaculate purity of his life he left an indelible impress upon
Hinduism, and Hinduism owes an eternal debt of gratitude to the great teacher.
-
Mahatma Gandhi, "Maha Bodhi"
DOMINANT
CREED
A
system which knows no God in the Western sense, which denied a soul to
man, which counts the belief in immorality a blunder, which refuses any
effecacy to prayer and sacrifice, which bides man to look to nothing but
their own efforts for salvation, which in its orginal purity knew nothing
of vows of obedience and never sought the aid of the secular arm, yet spread
over a considerable motley of the old world with marvellous rapidity and
is still, which whatever base admixture of forcing supertitions, the dominant
creed of a large fraction of mankind.
-
T.H. Huxley
BUDDHIST
IDEA OF SIN
Its
idea of sin differs somewhat from the Christian idea. Sin to the Buddhist
is mere ignorance or stupidity. The wicked man is an ignorant man. He doesn’t
need much punishment and condemnation so much as he needs instruction.
He is not regarded as ‘violating God’s commands’ or as one who mest
beg for divine mercy and forgiveness. Rather it is necessary fo rthe sinner’s
friends to make him reason in the human way. The Buddhist does not believe
the sinner can escape the consequences in prayerful attempts to bargain
with God.
-
John Walters, "Mind Unshaken"
GODS
NEED SALVATION
For
the first time in human history the Buddha admonished, entreated and appealed
to people not to hurt a living being, not to offer prayer of praise or
sacrifice to gods. With all the eloquence as his command the exalted one
vehemently proclaimed that gods are slso in direction need of salvation
of themselves.
-
Prof. Rhys Davids
[11]
THE
WORLD AND THE UNIVERSE
UNSATIFACTORY
WORLD.
Buddha
was not angry with the world. He thought of it as unsatisfactory and transitory
rather than wicked, as ignorant rather than rebelliou. He troubled little
about people who would not listen to him and showed no nervous irritablity.
-
Prof. Eliot, "Buddhism and Hinduism"
The whole universe is a vast field of battle. Everywhere there is fighting. Existance is nothing but a vain struggle against germs of dreadful diseases, molecules against molecules, atoms against atoms, and electrons. Mind is still more scene of battle. Forms, sounds, tastes, etc. are resultants of counteracting and belligerant forces. Ther very existance of war proves that there is a state of Perfect Peace. It is what we call Nibbana.
- Ven. Narada Thera, "The Bodhisatta Ideal"