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3
Inaugural Number:

THE WORLD FELLOWSHIP

OF BUDDHISTS
SECOND CONFERENCE ISSUE

The

LIGHT
of the

DHAMMA

Vol. I

2495 B.E.

November 1952 C.E.

No. 1

CONTENTS
At Your Service

PAGE
5

The Mett Sutta

Message from the Mohnyin Sayadaw

10

Modern Problems and Ancient Wisdom (by Francis Story)

12

The Buddhas Basic Principles (by David Maurice)

18

The Word of the Buddha (by Bhikkhu Sangharakkhita)

20

Shrines of Burma (by David Maurice)

21

Udaya

23

Buddhism and Modern Creeds (by U Tin)

25

The Message of Visakhaa (by Francis Story)

28

The First Sermon

31

What is Theravda Buddhism? (by David Maurice)

33

Burma and Buddhism Today

37

Union Buddha Ssana Council Act

45

Cases Which Led to the Enactment of the Bill

48

The World Fellowship of Buddhists

52

A Sermon by U Lokanatha

57

Thoughts on the Dhamma (by Anagarika P. Sugatananda)

71

News of Buddhism

77

Pli Terms and Phrases

79

AT YOUR SERVICE
In the course of lectures delivered formerly by the Editor in a country far from
Burma, questions were sometimes asked which could be answered precisely only
by quotations from the actual Buddhist Scriptures, which were not there and then
available. This experience makes us see that it is quite possible that much in this
magazine may inspire such questions, and some of the matter itself may require
clarification, partly due to the exigencies of space and method and perhaps partly
due to the inability of the Editor to present his matter as accurately and lucidly as
he would wish.
Here in Burma, we have a large body of Bhikkhus and laymen who have by
study and by practise become adept in particular branches and fully qualified to
answer all questions arising from your desire to know more of Buddhism generally
or to have more detailed information on specific points.
In the Dhammapada, we are exhorted: The gift of the Dhamma is greater than
all other gifts; the taste of the Dhamma is sweeter than all other tastes; love of the
Dhamma exceeds all other love; the destruction of craving overcomes all sufferings.
and we regard it as the most meritorious of deeds if we can satisfy an earnest
enquirer. Therefore we solicit your questions and feel that we are uniquely
constituted, backed as we are by such a learned body of monks and laymen, to
help you.
Questions will be answered either through the Magazine in the following issue
or directly by post, and if we can be of any help at all, we are fully at your service.
Please address yourself to The Editor, The Light of the Dhamma Union Buddha
Sasana Council, Rangoon, Burma.
It may be here mentioned that as this is a Buddhist Magazine, any matter herein
may be reprinted without payment; but the courtesy of acknowledgment will be
appreciated.

Thado Thiri Thudhamma Sir U THWIN,

President of the Union of Burma Buddha Sasana Council,
Trustee of the Shwedagon Pagoda,
President of the Buddha Sasana Nuggaha Organization,
President of the All Burma Buddhist Council, Burma,
President of the Botataung Pagoda Reconstruction Board,
Trustee of the World Peace Pagoda, Etc.

The Honble U WIN,

Minister of National Planning and Sasana Affairs
Government of The Union of Burma

The Mett Sutta

Introduction To The Mett Sutta.
The Commentary records that on a
certain occasion a group of Bhikkhus
came to where the Buddha was residing
at Svatth begging instructions in
Meditation and receiving these, set out
in search of a place where they could
practise in solitude yet be convenient to
a village. They found what seemed at first
the ideal spot and were welcomed by the
nearby villagers who begged them to
spend the months of the rainy season
there.
However some Devas were not
favourably disposed to the presence of
the Bhikkhus in their silent haunts and
tried to frighten them away using all the
means they could. At last the monks,
harassed and unable to meditate, returned
to Svatth and made report to the
Buddha, Who then preached this Mett
Sutta which the Bhikkhus after learning
returned to their forest place and
practised.
The Devas became favourable and
brought gifts instead of worrying the
Bhikkhus, who were thus enabled to
practise in Peace. The Sutta is thus both a
means of securing protection and a
subject of Meditation.
In the beginning are set out the virtues
which should be cultivated in order to
enable the efficient practice of
Meditation, and then the actual Method
of Diffusion of Love. Finally are shown
the Blessings gained for oneself by the
practice of this infinite benevolence.
A Translation from the Burmese.
He who wishes to realise the Perfect
Bliss and Peace of Nibbna through the

knowledge of the path should practise to

establish these fifteen qualities:
1. Without consideration for his body,
without consideration even for his life,
he is able to put forth effort to obtain the
Path and the Fruit thereof.
2. He is honest and sincere in bodily
action and speech.
3. His mind is perfectly straightforward.
4. He is conformable to discipline and
teaching of parents and teachers.
5. He is of kind and gracious mood.
6. He is entirely devoid of arrogance.
7. He is contented with the little he
possesses.
8. He is a grateful guest, easily
entertained.
9. He has few duties and is busy only
in Meditation.
10. He is not avaricious, and earns his
livelihood without unrighteous greed.
11. His senses are controlled, calm and
serene.
12. He bears a ripened knowledge.
13. He is gentle and free from
physical, mental and verbal bluster.
14. He is not too greatly attached to
families who are his devotees.
15. He does not conduct himself in
practices which are blameworthy by the
wise.
One should have these fifteen qualities
and then practise Mett or Diffusion of
Love.
The Manner Of Practice.
May all beings be free from suffering,
from danger, from worry. May they be
free from cares, anxiety and grief. May
all beings be Happy! As the result of
Kamma there exist many types of living

9
beings; human and non-human, weak or
strong, high or low, stout or thin, brave
or timid, long or short, great or small, seen
or unseen, from the hugest to the tiny
creatures too small to be seen with the
naked eye, from those dwelling with us
to those in other world-systems. May all
be blessed with Peace!
He should never deceive another nor
oppress, abuse or despise the least of these
living beings wherever they may be. He
should not feel illwill and should, in short,
not wish any being whatsoever to suffer
harm. Then he should practise the
Increase of Love as follows:
Just as with her own life a loving
mother protects her only child for its weal,
such Love should pour forth to
everything that lives. Let thoughts of
boundless Love pervade the whole
world, above to the highest heavens,
below to the deepest hells, across in all
directions where vast solar systems,
billions of light-years distant, yet fall
within the influence of your thoughts of
Love. And let there be no limitation and
no obstruction to these thoughts of Love.
Let them be entirely unmarred by hate,
anger or the least enmity, and without
thoughts of illwill towards outward foe
let one cultivate good will towards him
for his good. Send out thoughts of
Boundless Love.
How Cultivation Of Goodwill Should
Be Practised Successfully.
This practice of diffusion of Love
should not be practised at intervals only
but even while standing, while you are
walking, in sitting, in lying on your bed

before you sleep, before even you

become very drowsy in fact you should
bear this in mind always, to be always
mindful of the practice of love, since all
Buddhas have said that they practised
this Mett Bhvan (Diffusion of Love)
incessantly. This, say the Buddhas, is the
Noblest living here. This is the very
foundation of Insight, one of the
advantages of such practice that all beings
may be happy. One becomes free from
the error and the illusion that there is a
separate self. If this practice be carried
on, Real Insight arises, freeing one from
illusion that those things which we name
by conventional terms have any
substance in reality. Therefore send out
Boundless Love to all beings without
exception, that all may be happy! Any
person who practises fully that all may
be Happy will gain pure and noble
Morality, will be endowed with Insight,
will be free from the canker of attachment
to sense-desires, will come no more to
rebirth.
Eleven Advantages Derived.
These eleven advantages also accrue:
1. He sleeps happily.
2. He wakes happily.
3. He has no bad dreams.
4. He is beloved by all men.
5. And by all celestial beings.
6. He is guarded by the celestial beings.
7. He has no danger from fire, poison or
weapons.
8. He gains tranquillity of mind.
9. His countenance becomes bright and
pleasing.
10. He can die fearlessly.
11.He can reach the highest heaven.

10

Message from Mohnyin Sayadaw

Ven. Mah Theras Short Lecture On
Love and Peace.
The leader of the Church of England in
Burma, the well-known and popular Rt.
Rev. Dr. West, Bishop of Rangoon,
approached the Ven. Mohnayin Sayadaw
with his respects and asked for his blessing
and a message on his departure for Europe.
The
Ven.
Mohnyin Sayadaw
accordingly gave
Dr. West a short
Buddhist Sermon
on the Blessings of
Mett.
The text of the
Ven. Sayadaws
Sermon in the
English translation
is as follows:
To you all,
good people who
want peace for
your country and
for the whole
world, this sermon
in brief is given.
Love begets
love and hatred
begets
hatred.
There is no fire
more intense and
consuming than the
fire of hatred born
of unrestrained
passion, and there is
no thirst more difficult to satisfy than the
greed born of attachment. You, Oh wise
people, have often seen that it is love alone
that brings enduring peace and not brute
force.
True Peace
Conquest by force never brings true
peace to the conqueror because the

conquered, with smitten pride smarting from

the wounds of defeat, will try to take revenge
sooner or later.
Peace can be achieved only when
selfishness is restrained. Selfishness is a
terrible hindrance to the attainment of peace
and happiness for it breeds conceit, vanity,
pride, lust, greed, thirst for power and
supremacy, anger,
hatred and passion,
bringing in its train
an endless chain of
evils culminating
in
grief
and
disaster.
You have all
seen that wars were
fought with the
utmost cruelty and
barbarity
in
complete disregard
of humanity, love
and compassion for
living
beings.
Destruction and
desolation spread
and untold miseries
followed in the
wake of recent
wars. Such terrible
weapons as the
atomic
bombs
were used and
every
possible
advantage
was
taken to commit
w h o l e s a l e
slaughter and bloodshed. Peace however
was not to be obtained at the end of these
wars in which both the victors and the
vanquished were losers in many respects.
Eternal Peace
Lord Buddha who points the way to
eternal peace has said,

11
Jaya vera pasavati,
Dukkha seti parjito,
Upasanto sukha seti,
Hitv Jayaparjaya.
These words mean,
Victory increases enmity,
The defeated lies in pain!
Having abandoned both victory and defeat
The Peaceful one rests in happiness.
You should, therefore, strive to win peace
by pouring out upon the trouble-ridden world
an all-pervading love; love which is intense,
far reaching and beyond measure. All persons,
male and female, residing either in hamlets or
parishes, towns or cities or in small countries
or big countries should not entertain any
feelings of hostility towards one another but
should have kind thoughts both day and night
for all beings wherever they may be. You
should have boundless love for all beings for
this can bring about the well-being of all.
Love Transmission
Whoever is disposed to undertake this
mission of transmitting love-vibrations should
have such attributes as uprightness,
conscientiousness, amenability to reason and
discipline, gentleness and humility.
Having secured these attributes you should
practise the virtue of LOVE by deed, word
and thought, in the following ways:
(1) By deeds: promote anothers happiness
by giving personal assistance and by relieving
distress and miseries, or by giving alms, etc.
(2) By words: Speak gently and sweetly.
Your words should be for the good and wellbeing of all creatures. By your words try to
relieve the distress and misery of others.
(3) By thoughts: Focus your thoughts on
individuals or groups of persons or on all those
living in hamlets or parishes or small countries
or big countries; focus thoughts on anyone to
whom you wish to extend your love and
kindness, visualize them and then transmit kind
thought-waves to them.

A certain period of the day should be set

apart for this purpose and you should decide
as to the number of times this love transmission
should be done in a day. This can be done by
telling beads also.
Virtue of Love
If you are doing this for an individual, do
thus: Visualize the person and then say, May
he (or she) be happy and peaceful. May he
(or she) be free from trouble.
If you are doing it for a large body of
persons, do thus: Visualize the persons of both
sexes and then repeat: May they all be happy
and peaceful. May they all be free from
trouble. Repeat this many times.
If you are doing it for persons living in
villages, towns, cities and countries do thus:
Think of the place or the places to which you
desire to send your kind thoughts and then
visualize the persons of both sexes living in
that place. Focus your thoughts on these
persons and repeat: May they all be happy
and peaceful. May they be free from all
troubles. May they all love one another and
always entertain kind thoughts towards one
another. Repeat this many times.
Practise this virtue of love with a strong
will and concentrated attention.
The main requirement in this process of
effectively transmitting love-vibrations is to try
to secure a mental picture of the objective as if
it were actually seen by your eyes and then to
transmit the thoughts of benevolence when
this necessary mental attitude is obtained.
Our scriptures have a parable to illustrate
how love disarms the enemy or neutralises
the weapons used against the love transmitter.
A hunter after game, it is said, hurled a spear
at a cow which was feeding her calf whom
she dearly loved. Such was the intensity of
her love while feeding her offspring at that
particular moment that the edge of the weapon
curled up causing no injury to her who had
this tremendous force called LOVE.

12

Modern Problems And Ancient Wisdom

FRANCIS STORY
many births, seeking the builder of this
The history of mans conquest of his
house; painful was repeated birth. Now O
environment has been from the earliest times
Builder of the house, you are found; you
a story of adaptation to changes wrought
shall build no house again. The house is
by his own increasing mastery of the
the corporeal form; the builder is craving,
technique of living. It has been, at best, but
the tenacious instinct to cling to life, to
a partial conquest; differences in mode of
experience conscious existence as a being
living have not necessarily been
among other beings. That is why the
accompanied by the changes in mode of
problems that confront humanity now are
thought or outlook that might be expected.
fundamentally the same as those that have
Man remains, below the surface, a primitive
vexed it from the dawn of history; they are
animal; his instincts work themselves out
merely transposed into a different key,
in the pattern of a more complex civilisation
given a global instead of a limited personal
and their responses are to situations
or tribal implication.
apparently far removed from those that
confronted his forbears, yet the instincts
In the life of to-day, religion, once a
themselves are not different. They remain
major factor in world history, plays a
basically unchanged since the time of the
relatively unimportant part. The attitude of
earliest records left to us.
the modern man, his mind attuned to other
and apparently more immediate and
Events and situations arise from
practical affairs, is conditioned by religion
character, and while the instincts that bring
only to the extent to which early training,
them about remain unchanged, the
impressed on a pliant consciousness,
situations and problems themselves must
remains with him to colour his mental
be fundamentally the same, though they
landscape. Among large sections of the
appear in different garb. The facile postworlds peoples, formal religion has ceased
Darwinian optimism which, through a
to have any active influence; actions are
misinterpretation of the theory of evolution,
weighed and judged, not by religious or
believed that mankind was steadily
moral standards, but by their success or
improving, has been discarded.
failure from the purely mundane point of
Knowledge, however far it may advance,
view. They have ceased to be right or
cannot liberate the spirit of man, though it
wrong and have become simply practical
may free him from some intellectual bonds,
or impractical. An opportunist ethos has
only to replace them by others. Egoism,
been established in place of the former
craving, the will-to-live are dominant
Mystique as a governing principle in human
factors, to which mere knowledge, without
behaviour, as the result of a decline in the
the saving grace of wisdom, must remain
belief in an after-life with its concomitant
subservient.
of retributive justice. In one sense this may
A cursory glance at the earliest
be accepted as a step in the direction of
Theravda Buddhist texts is sufficient to
rationalism; but since the motivating factor
show that the problems of to-day had their
behind opportunist action remains still the
counterparts in the India of 2500 years ago.
old instinct of savage man, the part played
The Life-impluse and will-to-live in all
by reason is only a subsidiary one. Reason
beings springs from craving, and the
is employed in the service of motives that
Buddha, at the time of his Enlightenment,
are essentially unreasonable.
declared, Vainly have I wandered for

13
In a famous Discourse, the Brahmajla
Sutta of the Dgha Nikya, the Buddha
enumerates sixty-two types of religiophilosophical systems current in His day,
ranging from transcendental idealism to
gross materialism, rejecting all of them. The
Indian speculative mind was capable of
metaphysical subtleties that have not been
known in Europe since the days of the
Mediaeval Schoolmen, and many of these
ancient Brahmanic theories have
disappeared from the world, leaving only
their names; but the more pronounced and
antagonistic of the doctrines are to be found
with us still, some of them masquerading
as the latest developments of human
thought. In another Discourse, the
Apaaka Sutta of the Majjhima Nikya,
the Buddha deals with one such ism in the
following words: There are some ascetics
and Brahmins who hold and maintain that
there is nothing given, sacrificed or offered,
there is no Wisdom ripening of the fruit of
good or bad actions, there is neither this
world nor another world, there is neither
mother nor father, nor apparitional beings,
there are in the world no ascetics nor
Brahmins who have gone and followed the
right way, and who of themselves have
realized the world with higher knowledge
and proclaim it...
In this case, householders, it is to be
expected that those ascetics and Brahmins
who hold and maintain that there is no
ripening of the fruit of good or bad actions,
and that there is no other world....will
abandon the three good things, good
behaviour in deed, word and thought, and
will embrace and practice the three bad
things, evil behaviour in deed, word and
thought. And why is that? because they do
not see the danger and folly and depravity
of bad things nor the blessing of
renunciation and the purity of good things.
Though there is indeed another world, their
view is that there is not, and that is a false
view. Though there is indeed another world,
they decide that there is not, and that is their

false resolve. Though there is indeed

another world, they assert that there is not,
and that is false speech. Though there is
indeed another world, they say that there is
not, and act directly contrary to those arahats
who have a knowledge of the other worlds.
Though there is indeed another world, they
instruct others that there is not, and this is
instruction of false doctrine. With this
instruction of false doctrine they exalt
themselves and disparage others. Thus their
former virtue is destroyed and immorality
is produced, and there results this false
view, false resolve, false speech, this
instruction of false doctrine opposed to the
noble ones, this exaltation of themselves
and disparaging of others. Even so these
many bad things arise on account of their
false view.
In this case, householders, an intelligent
man reflects thus: If there is no other world,
then this individual with the dissolution of
the body will attain safety (by annihilation)
but if there is another world, this individual
with the dissolution of the body after death
will be reborn in an unhappy state of
punishment, in hell. If you like, suppose
there is no other world or suppose the words
of these ascetics and brahmins to be true.
Yet this individual gets blamed by the
intelligent even in this life for holding false
views and for being a nihilist. But if there
really is another world, this individual has
the unlucky cast in both cases, as he gets
blamed even in this life by the intelligent
for holding false views, and with the
dissolution of the body after death he will
be reborn in an unhappy state, in a place of
punishment, in hell. Thus this particular
doctrine is badly taken and embraced; he
persists in being one-sided, and he gives
up a sound position.
In this case it is to be expected that those
ascetics and brahmins who hold and
maintain that there is ripening of good and
bad actions, that there is another world, will
abandon the three bad things, evil
behaviour in deed, word and thought, and

14
will embrace and practise the three good
things, good behaviour in deed, word and
thought. And why is this? Because they see
the danger and folly and depravity of bad
things, and the blessing of renunciation and
purity of good things. Thus their former vice
is destroyed and virtue is produced, and
there results this right view, right resolve,
right speech, this instruction in the true
doctrine not opposed to the noble ones, their
avoidance of exalting themselves and
disparaging others. Even so these many
good things arise on account of their right
view.
Preaching on the doctrine of Kamma,
the Scientific law of action and reaction, to
a Brahrnin student, Subha, the Buddha
touches on a problem greatly high lighted
in present day thought, that of human
inequality:
The Brahmin student Suhha, son of
Todeyya, came to the Lord, and having
exchanged courteous and pleasant
greetings with him, sat down at one side.
As he sat there he said to the Lord, Now
what, Venerable Gotama, is the cause, what
is the occasion why lowness and greatness
are seen among human beings, among those
who have been born as human beings; for
they are found to be short-lived and longlived, of bad and good health, bad and good
looking, weak and strong, poor and wealthy,
of low and high family, stupid and
intelligent. Now what is the cause?
(The Buddha said) Beings, Student,
have their own Kamma, they are heirs of
Kamma, their origin is Kamma, they have
Kamma as their kinsman, as their resource.
Kamma distributes beings, that is, according
to lowness and greatness.
(Subha said) I do not understand the
meaning of this utterance so concisely
expressed and not analysed at length. It
would be well if the Venerable Gotama
would teach me the Doctrine so that I might
understand the meaning of this utterance
so concisely expressed.

Then listen, Student; reflect well on it;

I will speak.
Even so, Venerable Sir, Subha replied.
The Lord said, There is the case of a
person, a woman or a man, who takes life,
cruel, with bloodstained hands, given to
striking and killing and without mercy
towards living things. When that Kamma
is worked out and completed, with the
dissolution of the body after death, he is
reborn in a state of misery, in an unhappy
destiny, in a state of punishment, or in hell.
Or, if he is not thus reborn, but attains the
state of man again, wherever he is reborn
he is short-lived. This path, Student, tends
to shortness of life; namely that of one who
takes life, who is cruel, with bloodstained
hands, given to striking and killing, and
without mercy to living creatures.
There is the case of a person, a woman
or a man, who has put aside and refrains
from taking life, who dwells full of
kindliness, and compassionate for the
welfare of all living things. When the
Kamma is worked out and completed, with
the dissolution of the body after death, he
is reborn in a state of happiness or the world
of heaven, or if he is not reborn in heaven
but attains the state of man again, wherever
he is reborn he is long-lived. This path,
Student tends to length of life; namely that
of one who has put aside and refrains from
taking life, who dwells full of kindness, and
compassionate for the welfare of all living
things.
There is the case of a person who is
given to hurting with hand or clod or stick
or knife.... He is reborn in hell or, if he attains
the state of man again, wherever he is reborn
he has much ill health.
There is the case of a person who is
not given to so hurting with hand or clod or
stick or knife.... He is reborn in heaven or,
if he attains the state of man again, he enjoys
good health.
There is the case of a person who is
wrathful and very turbulent, who even if

15
little is said becomes angry and furious,
malevolent and hostile, and shows anger,
hatred and resentment .... He is reborn in
hell or, if he attains the state of man again,
he is ugly and ill-favoured.
There is the case of a person who is
not wrathful or turbulent.... He is reborn in
heaven or, if he attains the state of man
again, he is beautiful.
There is the case of a person who is
jealous-minded, full of jealousy, ill
tempered, and harbours envy at the gain,
honour, reverence, esteem, respect and
worship shown to others.... He is reborn in
hell or, if he attains the state of man again,
he is lowly and of little power.
There is the case of a person who is
not jealous-minded.... He is reborn in
heaven or, if he attains the state of man
again, he is exalted and of great power.
There is the case of a person who does
not give alms to an ascetic or brahmin, who
gives no food, drink, clothes, carriage,
garlands, scents, unguents, bed, lodging or
material for lamps.... He is reborn in hell
or, if he attains the state of man again, he is
poor.
There is the case of a person who gives
alms to an ascetic or brahmin.... He is reborn
in heaven or, if he attains the state of man
again, he is of great wealth.
There is the case of a person who is
proud and haughty, does not salute one who
should be saluted, does not rise for one who
should be so treated, does not offer a seat
to one worthy of it, does not make way for
one who is worthy of it, does not honour,
reverence, esteem, or worship those who
should be so treated.... He is reborn in hell
or, if he attains the state of man again, he is
born in a low family.
There is the ease of a person who is
not proud or haughty.... He is reborn in
heaven or, if he attains the state of man
again, he is born in a high family.

There is the case of a person who when

visiting a holy man does not question him
about what is good, what is bad, what is
blameless or not, what should be followed
or not; what, if he does it, will lead to
misfortune, and sorrow for a long time He
is reborn in hell or, if he attains the state of
man again, he is dull and stupid.
There is the case of a person who, when
visiting a holy man questions him about
what is good and what, if he does it, will
lead to good fortune and happiness for a
long time.... He is reborn in heaven or, if he
attains the state of man again, he is very
intelligent.
Thus, Student, beings have their own
Kamma, they are heirs of Kamma, their
origin is Kamma, they have Kamma as their
kinsman, as their resource. Kamma
distributes beings, that is, according to
lowness and greatness.
(Abridged from the Ca-kammavibhaga Sutta of the Majjhima Nikya)
From this it is manifest that inequalities
among beings must always be a feature of
human life, and it is thus that Buddhism
explains the seeming injustices to which
people are subject from birth. The doctrine
of Kamma presents life and the universe in
the light of logical and impartial law; a law,
moreover, which is strictly in accordance
with scientific principles of cause and effect.
When the Buddha was asked
concerning the welfare of nations and
communities, with special reference to the
Vajjians, a clan threatened by its
neighbours, He said, So long, Ananda, as
the Vajjians shall assemble repeatedly and
in large numbers ( for unity), just so long
may the prosperity of the Vajjians be
expected, and not their downfall. So long,
Ananda, as the Vajjians assemble in
harmony and disperse in harmony so long
as they do their business in harmony; so
long as they do not introduce any
revolutionary ordinance, or break up any
established ordinance, but abide by the old-

16
time Vajjian Law, as ordained; so long as
they honour, reverence, esteem and worship
the elders among the Vajjians and deem them
worthy of listening to; so long as the women
and maidens of the families, dwell without
being forced or abducted; so long as they
honour, revere, esteem and worship the
Vajjian shrines, both the inner and the outer;
so long as they allow not the customary
offerings, given and performed, to be
neglected; so long as the customary watch
and ward over the Arahats that are among
them is well kept, so that they may have
free access to the realm and having entered
may dwell pleasantly therein; just so long
as they observe these principles, Ananda,
may the prosperity of the Vajjians be
expected, and not their decay.
Revolutionary as were the Teachings of
the Buddha in the sense of substituting
ethical rules and setting up principles of
conduct in place of the formalised ritualism
of His Brahamic contemporaries a feature
which emerges clearly and consistently
throughout His discoursesit is evident that
in temporal matters He advocated the
preservation of all customs which time had
proved to be beneficial, and condemned
only those which were socially
retrogressive, as for instance caste; or
spiritually obscurantist, as in the priestly
emphasis on ceremonial sacrifice and
extreme asceticism, which in Buddhism is
stigmatised as Slabbataparmsa or
superstition. In the matter of caste, the
Buddha, as we have already seen,
acknowledged distinctions as being
inseparable from the working-out of
Kamma; what He expressly denied was the
Brahmanic teaching that caste was of divine
origin, and the animistic concept that the
four major castes of Indian society took
their origin from different parts of the body
of Brahma. This is succinctly set forth in
those verses of the Dhammapada which
proclaim that a Brahmin (in the Buddhist
sense, a holy man) is a Brahmin not by birth
but by purity of thought, word and deed.

Neither by matted hair nor by birth does

one become a Brahrnin. But in whom there
exists both truth and Dhamma, he is the
pure one, and he is the Brahmin.
(Dhammapada 393). It is worthy of note
that in dealing with the question from the
purely social angle, the Buddha placed the
Khattiya Caste (nobility) highest in rank.
Distinctions obtain on the worldly level, but
for those who have renounced the world
there are no distinctions, the worth of the
holy man is measured by his virtue alone.
This principle has its broader application
in the sphere of present day racial and
nationalistic problems. In Buddhism there
is no basis for racial superiority, cults or
antagonisms. Each man has his own
individual worth, irrespective of his racial
or cultural back-ground.
The question of human rights is
inextricably bound up with that of
individual responsibilities. In the present
preoccupation with the rights of
communities and individuals there is a
tendency to overlook the fact that the
concept of rights implies also the ideas of
obligations and duties. At about the same
time that the Buddha was preaching in India,
Confucius in China was proclaiming this
truth in his own doctrine of rationalistic
humanism. While Confucius outlined his
concept of the ideal ruler, benign, just and
ever-solicitous for the welfare of his people,
the Buddha was turning the thoughts of His
disciples away from the old idea that the
duties enjoined by religion were ritualistic
performances, to the higher ideal of a
laymans duty, his responsibility to others.
In the Siglovda Sutta He preaches to a
young Brahmin who was following his
fathers behest to worship the six directions,
north, south, east, west, the zenith and the
nadir, with clothes and hair wet and clasped
hands uplifted. But in the religion of an
Ariya, young householder, it is not thus that
the six directions should be worshipped.
Thus the Buddha began His instruction, and
went on to explain that the worshipping of

17
the six quarters is to be understood in an
ethical sense. First comes a general
description under numerical heads, of
things to be avoided by a householder, as
leading to ruin and disrepute and virtues to
be cultivated as being conducive to
happiness and prosperity. The sermon then
continues And how, young householder,
does the Ariyan disciple honour and protect
the six directions? The following should be
looked upon as the six directions: parents
as the East, teachers as the South, wife and
children as the West, friends and
companions as the North, servants and
work-people as the nadir, religious teachers
and holy men as the zenith. This is followed
by a detailed explanation of a mans duty
towards each of these classes of people as
they stand in relation to himself, the whole
forming a discourse on social ethics that is
unrivalled for its breadth and nobility of
conception, as well as for its universal
applicability. Two examples will suffice to
show how the idea of reciprocity in duties
is emphasised.
In five ways should a clansman minister
to his friends and associates as the Northern
direction; by generosity, courtesy and
benevolence, by treating them as he treats
himself, and by being true to his word. In
these five ways thus ministered to as the
Northern direction, his friends and
associates love him; they shield him when
he is off his guard, and on such occasions
protect his property; they become a refuge
in danger, they do not forsake him in his
troubles, and they show consideration for
his family. Thus is the Northern direction
by him protected and made safe and secure.
In five ways does an Ariyan master
minister to his servants and employees as
the Nadir by assigning them work
according to their strength; by supplying
them food and wages; by tending them in
sickness; by sharing with them unusual
delicacies and by granting them proper
recreation. In these ways ministered to by
their master, servants and employees love
their master in five ways: they rise before
him; they lie down to rest after him; they

are content with what is given to them; they

do their work well, and they spread abroad
his praise and good fame. Thus is the Nadir
by him protected and made safe and
secure.
The Buddhas treatment of the theme in
this Sutta is typical of the way in which He
was accustomed to take some already
existing religious belief and give it a higher
spiritual or ethical meaning; He conveyed
His own higher truth through the medium
of a current tradition. It must be
remembered that the Buddha did not teach
a new law; He preached the Sanantana
Dhamma, the Ancient Truth of the
Buddhas before Him. Although their
Teaching had passed out of mens
memories, or had survived only in the form
of outward observances whose inner
significance had been lost, it still remained,
and remains, the universal unchanging
Dhamma, the underlying principle of cause
and effect that governs phenomenal
existence. Of the Buddha it can truly be said
that He came, not to destroy the law but to
fulfil it; to re-state it in its highest spiritual
meaning.
We stand now at a turning-point in
history; the choice is ours whether we shall
take the road that leads to further progress
or that which will carry us to destruction.
Mankind has had enough experience at
least to show that scientific knowledge and
mastery of the material universe is not the
same thing as progress in civilisation. Our
eyes must be turned in a new direction if
we are to find a way out of the impasse.
But, just as we are bounded by the curved
space-time of physics, so we are encircled
by the sphere of related concepts. That
which is newest is most immeasurably old;
the Eternal Dhamma, the ageless Truth
beyond our small world of material
concerns. It is to that we must return, in all
humility and hope, for the old diseases we
must seek the old remedies. But in the
sphere of truth there is nothing old and
nothing new. The sun that sinks this evening
in the west will rise again tomorrow in the
East.

18

The Buddhas Basic Principles of Buddhism

DAVID MAURICE
In the modern world where even the
newspapers are beginning to tell most of their
stories in pictures, so that quite actually he
who runs may read, there have been several
attempts to put Buddhism into a few brief
principles in order to shorten the way.
First of all it should be understood that there
is no short and easy cut to Nibbna, nor is
there really such to the Teaching of the
Buddha. Those two old Latin tags: Facilis
descensus Avernus and Per ardua ad astra,
still hold good to-day. But for those who wish
to know what is really the beginning and the
essence of Buddhism, we have the words of
the Buddha Himself. He first taught the Four
Noble Truths in which are comprised the
Noble Eightfold Path, so that if we need a few
short principles, we can accept these Four
Noble Truths.
Just before attaining to Mahparinibbna
the Buddha, out of His great Compassion,
taught and instructed Subhadda, and as we
are told in the Mahparinibbna Sutta, he was
the last disciple whom the Exalted One Himself
converted; and in this Sutta the Buddha
preached to Subhadda In whatsoever doctrine
and discipline, Subhadda, the Ariyan Eightfold
Path is not found, neither in it is there found a
man of true saintliness. And in whatsoever
doctrine and discipline, Subhadda, the Ariyan
Eightfold Path is found, in it is found the man
of true saintliness. Now in this doctrine and
discipline, Subhadda, is found the Ariyan
Eightfold Path and in it too are found the men
of true saintliness.
What are these basic essential principles;
the Four Noble Truths of which the last is the
Noble Eightfold Path, so simple yet, for
complete grasp, so subtle? They are: The Noble
Truth of Suffering. Due to Impermanence and
Insubstantiality of all things we may contact
with our senses, life is seen by the thinking
man to be an illusion and a cause of suffering.

Life may seem very sweet and happy, for a

time, but suffering outweighs pleasure in the
aggregate, and even for the individual who
may be quite happy and contented,
Impermanence sooner or later robs him of
pleasure leaving pain in its stead.
In the Mahvagga the Four Noble Truths
are set out plainly:
This is the Noble Truth of Suffering. Birth
is suffering. Growth and decay is suffering.
Death is suffering. To be bound to what we
do not love is suffering. To be parted from
what we love is suffering. Not to obtain that
for which we long is suffering. In brief all the
five elements of Being are suffering.
This is the noble truth of the arising of
suffering. It is that Craving which leads from
birth to birth, conjoined with lusts and longings
which, now here, now there, continually seek
satisfaction. It is desire for the gratification of
passion; it is craving for eternal life; it is longing
for enjoyment here in this present life.
This is the Noble Truth of the ceasing of
suffering. It is the utter and complete
annihilation of this Craving; separation,
freedom, deliverance from it.
This is the Noble Truth of the Way that
leads to the ceasing of suffering. It is the Noble
Eightfold Path which consists of Right
Understanding, Right Mindedness, Right
Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right
Endeavour, Right Recollectedness, Right
Concentration.
Now what is this Noble Eightfold Path,
leading to the extinction of suffering?
It is mentioned as an Eightfold Path and
not an Eightstep Path because the folds are
intertwined as in an eight-strand rope and are
not eight stages to be followed one after
another. In the Dgha Nikya, ii. 312 we have
an analysis of this Noble Eightfold Path which
shows it forth very clearly:

19
And the Exalted One said:
Now what, brethren, is Right
Understanding (Right View or Right
Thinking)? The knowledge about Ill,
knowledge of The Cause of Ill, the ceasing of
Ill, and the Way leading to the Ceasing of Ill,
that, brethren, is called Right View.
And what, brethren, is Right Aim (Right
Mindedness, Right Direction of Thought)?
The being set on Renunciation, on Nonresentment, on Harmlessness, that, brethren,
is called Right Aim.
And what, brethren, is Right Speech?
Abstinence from lying speech, from
backbiting and abusive speech, and from idle
babble, that, brethren, is called Right Speech.
And what, brethren, is Right Action?
Abstinence from taking life, from taking what
is not given, from wrong-doing in sexual
passions, that, brethren, is called Right Action.
And what, brethren, is called Right Living
(Right Livelihood)? Herein, brethren, the
Ariyan Disciple, by giving up wrong living
(such as manufacture or dealing in weapons
or intoxicants which brings harm to other
beings) earns his living in a way that does not
harm others, that, brethren, is called Right
Living.
And what, brethren, is called Right Effort
(Right Endeavour) (Right Exertion)? Herein,
brethren, a brother generates the will to inhibit
the arising of evil immoral conditions that have
not yet arisen: he makes an effort, he sets energy
afoot, he applies his mind and struggles.
Likewise he does the same to reject evil
immoral conditions that have already arisen.
Likewise he does the same to cause the arising
of good conditions that have not yet arisen.
Likewise he does the same to establish, to
prevent the corruption, to cause the increase,
the practice, the fulfilment of good conditions
that have already arisen. This, brethren, is
called Right Effort.
And what, brethren, is called Right
Mindfulness (Right Recollectedness) (Right

Attentiveness)? Herein, brethren, a brother

dwells regarding body as a compound, he
dwells ardent, self-possessed, recollected, by
controlling the covetousness and dejection that
are in the world. So also with regard to feelings,
with regard to perception, with regard to the
activities or volitional energies with regard to
thought. This, brethren, is called Right
Mindfulness.
And what, brethren, is called Right
Contemplation (Right Concentration) (Right
Rapture)? Herein, brethren, a brother, remote
from sensual appetites, remote from evil
conditions, enters upon and abides in the First
Jhana, which is accompanied by directed
thought and sustained thought on an object. It
is born of solitude, full of zest and happiness.
Then, by the sinking down of thought
directed and sustained, he enters on and abides
in the Second Jhana, which is an inner
Calming, a raising up of the will. In it there is
no directed thought, no sustained thought. It
is born of contemplation, full of zest and
happiness.
Then, again, brethren, by the fading away
of the zest, he becomes balanced (indifferent)
and remains mindful and self-possessed, and
while still in the body he experiences the
happiness of which the Ariyans aver the
balanced, thoughtful man dwells happily
indeed. Thus he enters on the Third Jhana
and abides therein.
Then, again, brethren, rejecting pleasure
and pain, by the coming to an end of the joy
and the sorrow which he had before, he enters
on and remains in the Fourth Jhana which is
free from pain and free from pleasure, but is a
state of perfect purity of balance and of
equanimity. This is called Right
Contemplation. This, brethren, is called the
Ariyan Truth of the Way leading to the ceasing
of woe.
Then, and only then, does true Insight arise.
Then and only then, can there be any change
of heart.

20

The Word of the Buddha

By Bhikkhu Sangharakshita
Like threads of silver run the rills
From faintly blue horizon-hills;
Journeying downward, day by day
(From hidden springs how far away!),
They run by forest, field and farm,
Then roll, a river, broad and calm,
Through flowery pastures white with
kine,
Through desert sands, to meet the brine
And mingle there, in joyous motion,
With the waveless heart of ocean.
So flows the River of Thy Word
( In century after century heard )
Down from that shining mountain height
Thou didst ascend on Wesak Night
To win the hearts, the minds release,
Willing Thy way from strife to peace.
Down from the steep green Arahant-hills
Into Times lap that River spills.
Through Bamboo Grove and Mango
Grove,
Where did the poet-Theras rove,
Its current wound and rippled long
And made to bloom their flowers of song;
Then in its flowing doth it see
Verdant and desert century.
For hundred and for thousand years

It nourishes its saints and seers;

Through other lands, neath altered skies,
It flows, refreshing to the wise.
Through plague and famine, peace and
war,
Smoothly and purely as before,
Age after age that River winds
Through million million hearts and
minds.
Now in these after-days doth pour
That sweet Flood forth from days of yore.
Water of peace and purity,
Oh how I long to drink of thee!
River of Wisdom, bear me on
Whither the Arahants have gone:
Stripped of the rags of thou and I
Into the Deathless did they die.
I made me not, as though of reeds,
A small frail raft of my good deeds
Nor sail of meditation spread,
Nor oar of wisdom furnished.
Yet do I long to quit this shore
Of darkness, doubly than before;
To be commingled, then, with thy
Deep current till the death of I.
Flow till thou reach Nibbnas Sea,
O River, with, yet without me !

21

Shrines of Burma
DAVID MAURICE
No. 1. The Famous Shwedagon
Pagoda.
The first Englishman ever to visit Burma
was Ralph Fitch, who in the late fifteen
hundreds sailed from the Thames in the
talle shippe Tyger, the same vessel
mentioned by Shakespeares witches in
Macbeth. For the Tyger was indeed
wrecked on its voyage to Aleppo and his
good Kamma saved Ralph Fitch and
eventually brought him home, safe and
sound after many adventures including his
short but happy sojourn in Burma.
Ralph Fitch found in Rangoon a cultured
civilisation in which commerce and the arts
flourished, and the cleanness and sweetness
of all he saw inspired him to write most
enthusiasticallyso much so that his story,
published in Hakluyts Voyages captured
the imagination of all Europe.
He wrote of the mighty Shwedagon
Pagoda; It is the fairest place, as I suppose,
that doe bee in all the worlde. Certainly
the great Shwedagon is the oldest and
mightiest of Buddhist fanes, and draws
pilgrims from near and far to worship at its
sacred base and to remember the Great
Teachings of the Buddha as they repeat
Anicca, Dukkha, Anatt All is
Impermanence, a source of discontent,
without any unchanging soul or ego.
The ancient stories tell of the trading
mission to India of two brothers, Burmese
merchants, Tapussa and Bhallika by name,
more than 2500 years ago, and of how they
met the Buddha just after He had attained
his long-sought Enlightenment, and
obtained from Him eight hairs of His head
to be enshrined in their native town of
Okkala, the present day Rangoon.

On their return, after many difficulties

and dangers, the brothers met with a royal
welcome and, the Hairs of the Buddha were
enshrined in a Golden Pagoda.
Through the ages this pagoda, the
Shwedagon, has been added to until in 1774
it was raised to its present height of 326 ft.
by Shin Byu Shin, king of Ava. Since the
Shwedagon is on a hill overlooking
Rangoon, it has a commanding position and
dominates the landscape. Rising from the
summit of the hill which has been levelled
to form a platform about 900 ft. long and
700 ft. wide the Pagoda is surrounded by
tazaungs (shelters) which have some of the
finest woodcraft and mosaic work existing
in the world today. These tazaungs may
have as many as five, seven or nine storied
roofs some culminating in a spire and hti
(umbrella). There are also almost
innumerable figures of the Buddha of brass
or of alabaster.
The Wonder Of The World
If the world has but seven wonders, then
Shwedagon is not the least of them and there
are many even among the non-Buddhists
who come from the ends of the earth to see
the beauty and romance of almost-faery
architecture, though there are those who,
objecting to the Eastern injunction (given
also to Moses) Take off thy shoes, for thou
art upon Holy Ground, do not enter when
they find that it is necessary to remove ones
footwear. This prejudice is now happily
dying out.
Many distinguished Visitors in recent
times have expressed their awe and
reverence and have used that very phrase
one of the wonders of the world. With all
the reverence and all the wonder inspired

22
by this mighty symbol, one gets also the
atmosphere of quiet happiness and tranquil
joy that is so peculiarly Buddhist. A few of
the many entries in the Visitors Book show
this.

understanding of the aspirations and ideals

of a united and independent Burma.
24th August 1947. JOHN FREEMAN,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, War
Office.

My visit to the Shwedagon Pagoda this

morning is the fulfilment of a longcherished ambition. Ever since I first heard
of the Pagoda many years ago, as one of
the worlds supreme art treasures, I have
looked forward to the day when its beauty
and interest would change from a dream to
a reality. Thanks to the kindness and
courtesy of the Trustees of the Pagoda my
dream has now come true. The Pagoda, in
all its grace and dignity, has witnessed many
dramatic events in Burmas long and
illustrious history. I am happy to think that
it will so soon witness the achievement by
Burma of complete national independence,
and the beginning of a new and glorious
chapter in the career of a great people. May
Britain and Burma always walk together as
friends aud equals.
7th September 1947.
(Lord)
LISTOWEL

I have been told of the Shwcdagon

Pagoda. I have read of the Shwedagon
Pagoda. Now I have seen the Shwedagon
Pagoda, and that is the best of all.
I am deeply grateful to the Trustees of
the Pagoda for their kind welcome to me
and my wife and members of my staff.
I regard it as a good omen that one of
my first acts after my arrival in Rangoon as
the High Commissioner of the United
Kingdom has been to visit this wonderful
shrine.
1st December 1947. JAMES BOWKER.

The members of the United Kingdom

Defence Mission to Burma were shown
round the Pagoda on 24th August 1947.
We have looked forward since our arrival
in Burma to paying this visit not only
because the Pagoda is, as a work of art, one
of the wonders of the world, but also
because of its particular significance as a
symbol of Burmese unity.
The peoples of Great Britain and Burma
will find mutual understanding easier to
achieve if they can share together the
appreciation of the worlds treasures. We
have felt this morning particularly,

The dignity and splendour of what I

have seen this evening I find difficult to
express in words. What is even more
striking is the atmosphere of peace and
tranquillity. A visit to such surroundings is
an inspiration and a source of spiritual
strength and sustenance. My visit will
remain one of the most cherished memories
of my life.
6th January 1948. ARTHUR
HENDERSON Secretary of State.
Fire, earthquakes, the ravages of time
and the inclemencies of the weather and,
during the last war, British and Japanese
bombs, have menaced the Shwedagon but
still it gleams majestically towards the sky
and Ralph Fitchs words are still as true It
is, as I suppose, the fairest place that doe
bee in all the Worlde.

23

U DAYA
Again, again is seed in furrow sown,
Again, again the cloud-king sends down rain,
Again, again the ploughmen plough the fields,
Again, again comes corn into the realm,
Again, again do beggars go their round,
Again, again do generous donors give,
Again, again when many gifts are given,
Again, again the donors find their heaven.
Again, again the dairy-folk draw milk,
Again, again the calf its mother seeks,
Again, again we tire and toil anew,
Again, again the slow wits seek rebirth,
Again, again comes birth and dying comes,
Again, again men bear us to the grave.
When once the man of broad insight, that Path,
Which bring no new becoming doth attain,
Then is he no more born again, again.
From the book of the KINDRED SAYINGS
(SAMYUTTA-NIKYA) or GROUPED SUTTAS.
Mrs. RHYS DAVIDS TRANSLATION.

A monk whose mind is thus released cannot be followed and tracked

out even by the gods so that they could say, There rests the consciousness
of a released person. And why? Even in this actual life, Bhikkhus, I say
that a released person is not to be thoroughly known. Though I thus say
and thus preach, some ascetics and brahmins accuse me wrongly, baselessly,
falsely, and groundlessly, saying that the ascetic Gotama is a nihilist, and
preaches the annihilation, destruction, and non-existence of an existent
being. That is what I am not and do not affirm. Both previously and now I
preach pain and the cessation of pain.
Alagaddpama-sutta., Majjhima, i, 135.

24

The mighty Shwedagon Pagoda: the fairest place that doe bee in all the Worlde.

25

Buddhism and Modern Creeds

A talk by Myanaung U Tin, former
Minister of Health and Local
Government, broadcast from the Burma
Broadcasting Service on Thursday, the
29th May 1952 at 9.15 p.m.
From times immemorial there have
always been two main divergent views of
life among men: those who believe in an
afterlife and those who believe that life ends
with death. During the life-time of the
Buddha there were, besides his disciples,
two sets of people, one holding the EternityBelief or the belief in a soul existing
independently of body and continuing after
death eternally and another the
Annihilation-Belief or the belief in a
personality which is annihilated by death.
Among those who held the Eternity-Belief
were found persons who sincerely believed
that they could attain salvation through selfmortification or self-castigation. And among
those who held the Annihilation-Belief were
found persons who yielded completely to
the urge of self-indulgence or who indulged
excessively in sensual pleasures. The
former were known as the practisers of selfmortification and the latter as the practisers
of worldly enjoyments. The Buddha
teaches us that these two extremes must be
avoided, and shows us the Middle Path. We
came across, in ancient Greece, Stoics and
Epicureans, whose beliefs represented the
same extreme views of life. Going through
the history of mankind, we find in every
age thee same ignorant oscillation between
extremes.
Nothing is new in this world. History
only repeats itself. Differences there might
be on the surface but intrinsically the
concepts are the same. History can be
interpreted in several ways. Life can be seen
from several angles. If anybody thinks that
his view alone is correct and others wrong,
it would be well for him to remember the
parable of the Elephant and the Blind Men.

The parable was recorded in the Udna

Sutta, in which the Buddha related the story
to his disciples when some of them
described the behaviour of a number of
wandering philosophers, quarrelling noisily
about their several views. The Buddha said
Thus are those wanderers who, blind,
unseeing, knowing not the truth, yet each
maintains that it is thus and thus. In the
present times we hear much about isms,
ideologies and philosophies. Capitalism,
Fascism Naziism, Marxism, Socialism,
Communism, Imperialism, Nationalism,
Materialism, Rationalism and all sorts of
isms. Turn wherever we will, we see clashes
between these divergent views. No ism or
ideology can be wholly false or, in other
words, each ism or ideology can be partly
right. And yet the proponents of each ism
or ideology appear to believe that they alone
are perfectly right and others totally wrong.
Whether sincerity or expediency is their
keynote, the world is torn between these
isms or ideologies, and their clashes, in the
forms of cold war and hot war, aggressions
from without and insurrections within, are
causing untold misery to mankind. The
present world situation reminds us of the
saying [The way to... ed.] Hell is paved
with good intentions.
The biggest conflict is said to be between
those who believe in materialism and those
who do not. In truth, whatever materialism
may mean in its ideological or Philosophical
sense, the struggle between them is for
material gains and nothing else, as it appears
to an ordinary man or rather a man free
from any bias or prejudice. In this large
sphere of conflict there is a criss-cross of
ideas or ideologies on both sides, circles
within a circle intersecting one another.
They relate to politics and economics,
philosophy and religion. Such a ferment of
ideas or concepts about life had prevailed
in the earlier ages but it seems that the
present one, because of the tremendous

26
progress of science, will either destroy the
world or usher in a Golden Age. In the life
of a world or in a kappa, one century is but
a small measurement of time. Nobody
knows how long this Age of Confusion will
last. The development of the revolutionary
ideas of our age has been definitely
accelerated by modern science. Modern
ideas clash with traditional beliefs not only
in politics and economics but also in
philosophy and religion. The process is still
going on at a terrific pace, and whether it
will lead to destruction of the human
civilization that has come down to us or to
a reconstruction on a truer foundation
depends on the modern mans capacity to
show his tolerance and goodwill to his
opponent or in other words, to his ability to
live and let live.
Judging by the dreadful conditions in
the whole world as also by the crescendo
of fiery violence since the beginning of this
century, it will not be wrong to say that some
modern creeds, far from being tolerant, are
fanatical. The difference is in degree and
not in kind. In some cases, fanaticism is
naked and in others velvet coated. A good
end can never be achieved by bad means.
The end can never justify the means.
Salvation through persecution as well as
social progress through bloody conflicts are
plain contradictions. Fanatical creeds are
now much more in fashion than in the last
century and are likely to exhibit more
savagery in the days to come. History has
shown unmistakably that fanaticism defeats
its own purpose, and that its temporary
successes, if any, are followed by disastrous
results and serious set-backs. Of all the isms
in human history, fanaticism is the most
dangerous and is, therefore, most to be
dreaded. A fanatic is excited and subjective,
just the opposite of a scientist, who is cool
and objective. A fanatic cannot allow
himself to be guided by reason or, better
still, by the scientific principles of
observation, analysis and induction. In the
well known Kalama Sutta, the Buddha

advises us Do not believe in what you have

heard; do not believe in traditions, because
they have been handed down for many
generations; do not believe in anything,
because it is rumoured and spoken by
many; do not believe merely because a
written statement by some old sage is
produced; do not believe in conjectures; do
not believe in that as truth to which you
have become attached by habit; do not
believe merely the authority of your teachers
or elders. After observation, analysis, when
it agrees with reason and is conducive to
the good and gain of one and all, then accept
it and live up to it.
Traditional beliefs, as also, modern
creeds must be able to stand such a test.
Orthodoxies have been replaced or
drastically modified by new discoveries.
Nevertheless the scientific principles do not
change, and ones attitude to life should be
that of a scientist. One who can adopt such
an attitude can never be a fanatic or a bigot
but, on the other hand, will be able to show
his tolerance and goodwill.
Professor Whitehead has ventured the
prophecy that We are entering upon an
age of reconstruction, in religion, in science,
and in political thought. And he adds that
such ages, if they are to avoid mere ignorant
oscillation between extremes, must seek
truth in its ultimate depths. The Buddha
teaches us that there are two kinds of truth;
the apparent or conventional truth, the real
or ultimate truth. The ultimate truth can be
realized only through meditation or mental
concentration, and not by theorizing or
speculation. The Buddhas teaching is
divided into three parts learning, practice,
and realization. Those who do not seek truth
in its ultimate depths are not free from the
danger of the extremes; they are not capable
of avoiding ignorant oscillation between
extremes. For this very reason, we have
come across in all the ages of mankind
fanatical creeds of persons who suffer
terribly from morbid religiosity, and of

27
persons who madly believe that satisfaction
of material wants or sensual desires is the
be-all and end-all of life. The Buddha has
shown by example as well as by teaching
that the Middle Path leads not only to peace
in this existence but to Nibbna, the Eternal
Peace. By treading this Middle Path, one
can develop his morality, Mental
Concentration and Intuitive knowledge or
Insight. The Buddha teaches us that this
Middle Path leads us to the Right View or
Belief, as against the two extreme views or
beliefs.

be without any bias or prejudice. We must

not impose our will or views on anybody;
on the other hand, we cannot allow
anybody to impose his will or views on us.
The Buddha says: Ehi Passiko , which
literally means come and see. In modern
parlance, See, if it works: if so, accept it.
If it does not work we would say in the
words of Shakespeare,
There are more things in heaven and
earth
Than are dreamt of in your
Philosophy.

As the followers of the Buddha we must

show our tolerance and goodwill to all those
who hold views or beliefs different from
our ownto all those whose isms,
ideologies or philosophies are different from
ours. However, it behoves us to test the
validity of any creed by the scientific
method. Buddhism is empirical and free
from dogmas. As the followers of the
Buddha we must not be dogmatic. Our
approach to any creed or ideology should

We would further say Why not try our

way of life for the attainment of peace for
yourself, for your family, for your country,
for the world - nay, for the attainment of
Nibbna, the Eternal Peace? Buddhism is
a way of Life not only for those who seek
truth in its ultimate depths but for all those
who wish to live and let live peacefully in
the short span of life on this earth which is
but a speck of dust in the illimitable space
of the cosmos.

The Honble Prime Minister, a devout Buddhist, U Nu, plants a sapling of the Sacred
Bo-Tree at Loikaw in the Kayah State of the Union of Burma.

28

The Message of Visakha

A talk broadcast from the Burma
Broadcasting Service by Francis Story,
Director-In-Chief of the Burma Buddhist
World-Mission.
On a full Moon Day of the month
called Visakha, twenty-five centuries ago,
a son was born to the King of the Sakyas
in the ancient city of Kapilavatthu. Thirtyfive years later, also on the Full Moon
Day of May, the young Khattiya, no
longer a Prince but a Yellow-Robed
ascetic, sat beneath a fig tree at Gaya and
attained Supreme Enlightenment. He who
had been the Prince Siddattha, and
afterwards the Samaa Gotama, ceased
to be, and in His place arose a Buddha, a
perfect Being, the Most Exalted Teacher
of Gods and Men, the Fully-Awakened
One, the Master of Infinite Compassion.
For forty-five years the Exalted Buddha
taught the Sublime Dhamma, and at last
passed away into Parinibbna, on a third
Full Moon Day of Visakha, in the eightieth
year of His age, honoured by all beings
throughout the three worlds.
That, briefly, is the story of the sacred
Three-fold Anniversary that we celebrate
in all Buddhist countries on the Full
Moon Day of May. Here in Burma we
feel that many besides Buddhists are
sharing the great Festival with us:
Christians, Hindus and Muslims because
Buddhism is universal and the Buddha
Himself, the Universal Teacher.
Everybody sooner or later must become
a follower of the Buddha, if not in this
life, in some subsequent one. There is
nothing exclusive about our creed; it
embraces all, without reservation or
discrimination. It rejects none, condemns
none; it teaches us to extend unlimited
goodwill and benevolence towards all
beings, and, when we wish to honour and
magnify the teaching of our Master this
is the best way of all for us to do it. All
that is fine and noble in the way of life

followed by others we are taught to

commend and respect and uphold, so that
all may live together in peace and
brotherhood.
The teaching of the Buddha is the
universal remedy for a universal disease,
and that disease is Craving. What were
the words of the Buddha immediately
after His Attainment? Through many a
round of birth and death have I sought
you, O Builder of the house. Now you
are found; your ridge-pole is cast down;
never again shall you build the house.
For me there is no rebirth; the Holy Life
is fulfilled. My task is accomplished. For
conditioned life there can be no
hereafter. Such were the words of the
Conqueror: For me there is no more
rebirth and no more death.
But although the Buddha passed away
into the ultimate Nibbna, wherein there
is no residue of attachment to
phenomenal being, we who stand in the
light of His Teaching feel that the Buddha
is with us yet. For did He not say, He
who sees the Buddha sees the Dhamma,
and who beholds the Dhamma beholds
the Buddha? We pay homage to His
glorious Image, the symbol of His
presence, every day; but after all, this is
only the material form. If we really wish
to behold the Buddha in all the majestic
beauty of His ideal presence we must seek
Him in Dhamma. It is in the practice of
the Dhamma that we can draw close to
Him and feel the wonderful radiance of
His undying Wisdom and Compassion.
His presence is then very real and
immediate to us: much more close and
actual than any material form of Anicca,
Dukkha and Anatt. The words of the
Buddha are eternally new; we are not
conscious of the two thousand five
hundred years that separate us in time,
for His Teaching stands outside of time
and all its relationships. Here and now

29
the voice of victory rings clearly in our
ears, spurring us on to self-liberation.
For us to-day that Voice carries a
special message, for we live in a world
made dark and menacing by the grim
forces of Lust, Hatred and Ignorance. We
do not know what the future may hold.
All we can be certain of is the need to
preserve our own integrity, the need to
keep our actions pure and unsullied, for
they are our sole real possessions and our
only heritage. Be unto yourselves a
refuge; seek no external refuge. These
were the Buddhas parting words as He
lay between the twin Sal trees at Kusinara
just before His final passing away. For
what shall it profit a man, though he be
rich and fortunate, enjoying all the
rewards of past good deeds, if he be not
virtuous, charitable and benevolent in his
present life? He is like a man living on
his capital, drawing from his bank
account of good Kamma all the time,
without replacing anything. When it is all
exhausted and he passes on to his future
existence he will be bankrupt: a pauper.
Then whom will he be able to blame for
his miserable state? His fellow men? Most
certainly he will not be justified in
blaming his fellow men. Then can he
blame God or Fate? The answer is again
No , given most emphatically by the
Buddha in many a precious discourse on
the Causal Law. Such a man can blame
only himself; there is no such thing as
luck, good or bad. But a man who is poor
in this present life may pass on to his next
existence a rich man: rich in the merit of
good deeds, the only sort of wealth that
we can take with us beyond the grave.
For though he may possess only eight
annas, if he should give four annas in
Dna, and that with a kind and loving
hearthis reward will he incalculable.
It was thus that the Supreme Buddha
taught the Law of Cause and Effect. But
no man can measure the depth and extent

of the Dhamma; it is a vast ocean,

immeasurable and infinite, and like the
ocean it has but one flavour throughout,
the flavour of liberation. We who today
yearn to express our gratitude to the Great
Teacher and offer Him some supreme act
of homage and veneration, should also
remember those other words of his,
uttered shortly before His Parinibbna:
He who fulfils all the greater and lesser
duties, who is pure in thought, word and
deed, who strives diligently to cross the
ocean of Samsra: he it is who renders
the greatest and most fitting honour to
the Tathgata.
It is easy and pleasant to go to the
great Shwe Dagon Pagoda and offer
flowers and candles to the Shrine; we all
enjoy doing it. We love the beauty and
tranquillity of the Pagoda precincts and
our hearts are soothed and made calm by
the loveliness of our surroundings.
Similarly we like to listen to the Yellow
Robed Monks reciting the Suttas, and in
doing so we are uplifted and freed from
everyday cares. But it is not so easy to be
mindful, everyday and in all
circumstances, of the Precepts, or to walk
hourly in the Path of Virtue set forth by
our Teacher. That indeed calls for
fortitude and high resolution; it is a
sacrifice, a renunciation of so many of
the seeming pleasures of life that appear
so attractive to the unawakened mind. But
precisely because of that, because it
represents a sacrifice, it is the supreme
act of veneration we can offer to the
Exalted Buddha. Let us then, from today,
determine to make our lives better, to
sweeten and sanctify every passing
moment of consciousness, to destroy the
savas and to shed the pure light of our
love over all the world, desiring nothing
but the happiness and welfare of every
living being.
The Birth, Enlightenment and
Parinibbna of the Buddha stand out as

30
the three most tremendous facts of our
historical epoch. Birth and death we all
experience, but Supreme Enlightenment
is the prerogative of a Buddha, a fact
before which we stand in silent awe. We
cannot imagine what was the nature of
the great spiritual Illumination which
came about on that Full Moon night of
twenty-five centuries ago, when a
wandering ascetic became freed from the
shackles of birth and death and entered
the unconditioned realm of absolute
knowledge. All we know is that thereafter
He propounded a Doctrine the like of
which had never been known in history,
nor equalled since, a Doctrine unique and
perfect in all its parts, bearing upon it the
unmistakable stamp of Truth.
There is no Soul, no principle of
individual selfhood so the Exalted

Buddha proclaimed. All phenomena are

impermanent, fraught with suffering and
illusory Anicca, Dukkha, Anatt. Destroy
the delusion of Self, put an end to
Craving, bring to an end the process of
conditioned becoming which is rooted in
the impure states of consciousness. Free
yourselves from Ignorance and you will
reach the end of suffering. So may you
know Nibbna in this very life, and
hereafter the perfect and unchanging
Peace.
So, on this Visakha Full Moon Night,
the Message of the Buddha goes out from
Burma to the world. By the Blessing of
the Triple Gem of the Buddha, the
Dhamma and the Sangha, may all beings
throughout the cosmos be secure,
peaceful and happy. May they hear the
Voice of Infinite Compassion, and hearing
it, be at peace.

A Buddhist Newspaper
Proves the Dhamma Lives
hat the Dhamma is interesting,
alive, enthralling is shown by the
manner of presentation by the
Buddhist World. Circulating
throughout English-reading Asia and
to most countries in the world. Write
for particulars and sample copy.

THE BUDDHIST WORLD

P. 0. Box 1076

Colombo

Ceylon

31

The First Sermon

DHAMMACAKKAPPAVATTA-SUTTA
The Discourse of setting in motion the
Wheel of the Doctrine.
Thus have I heard: at one time the Lord
dwelt at Benares at Isipatana in the Deer
Park. There the Lord addressed the five
monks:
These two extremes, Bhikkhus are
not to be practised by one who has gone
forth from the world. What are the two?
That conjoined with the passions and
luxury, low, vulgar, common, ignoble,
and useless, and that conjoined with selftorture,
painful,
ignoble,
and
unprofitable.
There is a Middle Way, O Bhikkhus
avoiding these two extremes, discovered
by the Tathgataa path which opens the
eyes and bestows understanding, which
leads to peace of mind, to the higher
wisdom, to full enlightenment, to
Nibbna.
And what, Bhikkhus, is that Middle
Path which giveth Vision, which giveth
Knowledge, which causeth Calm,
Enlightenment and Nibbna?
Verily it is this Ariyan Eightfold Path,
that is to say:
RIGHT VIEW, RIGHT AIM, RIGHT
SPEECH, RIGHT ACTION, RIGHT
LIVING, RIGHT EFFORT, RIGHT
MINDFULNESS, RIGHT
CONTEMPLATION.
This, Bhikkhus is that Middle Path
which giveth Vision, which giveth
Knowledge which causeth Calm, Insight,
Enlightenment and Nibbna.

Now this, Bhikkhus is the Ariyan Truth

about Suffering:
Birth is Suffering, Decay is Suffering,
Sickness is Suffering, Death is Suffering,
likewise Sorrow and Grief, Woe,
Lamentation and Despair. To be
conjoined with things which we dislike,
to be separated from things which we
likethat also is Suffering. Not to get
what one wantsthat also is Suffering.
In a word, this Body, this fivefold Mass
which is based on Grasping, that is
Suffering.
Now this, Bhikkhus, is the Ariyan
Truth about The Origin of Suffering:
It is that Craving that leads downward
to birth, along with the Lure and the Lust
that lingers longingly now here, now
there: namely, the Craving for Sensual
pleasure, the Craving connected with
Sassata dihi i.e. the belief that life is
eternal, the Craving connected with
Uccheda dihi i.e. the belief that there is
no future existence. Such, Bhikkhus, is
the Ariyan Truth about The Origin of
Suffering.
And this, Bhikkhus, is the Ariyan Truth
about The Ceasing of Suffering:
Verily it is the utter passionless
cessation of, the giving up, the forsaking,
the release from, the absence of longing
for, this Craving.
Now this, Bhikkhus, is the Ariyan
Truth about The Way leading to the
Ceasing of Suffering. Verily it is this
Ariyan Eightfold Path, that is:
RIGHT VIEW, RIGHT AIM,
RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT ACTION,

32
RIGHT LIVING, RIGHT EFFORT,
RIGHT MINDFULNESS, RIGHT
CONTEMPLATION.
At the thought, Bhikkhus, of this
Ariyan Truth of Suffering, concerning
things unlearnt before, there arose in me
Vision, Insight, Understanding there arose
in me Wisdom, there arose in me Light.
At the thought, Bhikkhus this Ariyan
Truth of Suffering is to be understood,
concerning things unlearnt before, there
arose in me Vision, Insight, Understanding
there arose in me Wisdom, there arose in
me Light.
At the thought, Bhikkhus this Ariyan
Truth of Suffering has been understood,
concerning things unlearnt before, there
arose in me Vision, Insight, Understanding
there arose in me Wisdom, there arose in
me Light.
Again, at the thought, Bhikkhus of this
Ariyan Truth of the Origin of Suffering,
concerning things unlearnt before, there
arose in me Vision, Insight, Understanding
there arose in me Wisdom, there arose in
me Light.
At the thought, Bhikkhus, the Origin
of Suffering must be put away,
concerning things unlearnt before, there
arose in me Vision, Insight, Understanding
there arose in me Wisdom, there arose in
me Light.
So also at the thought The Origin of
Suffering has been put away .... there
arose in me Light.
Again, at the thought, Bhikkhus of this
Ariyan Truth of the Ceasing of Suffering
.... there arose in me Light.
At the thought, Bhikkhus the Ceasing
of Suffering must be realized .... there
arose in me Light.

At the thought, Bhikkhus. the

Ceasing of Suffering has been realized
.... there arose in me Light.
Finally, Bhikkhus at the thought of
This Ariyan Way leading to the Ceasing
of Suffering .... there arose in me Light.
At the thought, Bhikkhus, the Way
leading to the Ceasing of Suffering is to
be developed .... there arose in me Light.
At the thought, Bhikkhus the Way
leading to the Ceasing of Suffering has
been developed
concerning things
unlearnt before, there arose in me Vision,
Insight, Understanding there arose in me
Wisdom, there arose in me Light.
Now so long, Bhikkhus, as my
knowledge and my insight of these thricerevolved twelvefold Ariyan Truths, in their
essential nature, were not quite purified,
so long was I not sure that in this world,
together with the Devas, the Maras, the
Brahmas, among the hosts of recluses and
Brahmins of devas and mankind, there
was one enlightened with supreme
enlightenment.
But so soon, Bhikkhus, as my
knowledge and my insight of these thricerevolved twelvefold Ariyan Truths, in their
essential nature, were quite purified,
then, Bhikkhus was I assured what it is to
be
enlightened
with
supreme
enlightenment with regard to the world
and Devas, Maras, and Brahmas, and with
regard to the hosts of recluses and
brahmins, of devas and mankind.
But now Knowledge and Insight have
arisen in me, so that I know, Sure is my
hearts release. This is my last birth. There
is no more becoming for me.
Samyutta Nikaya

33

What is Theravda Buddhism?

DAVID MAURICE
BACKGROUND TO BUDDHISM
Two thousand five hundred and
seventy-six years ago there were in India
only four castes and these were but
loosely separated, though all were
separated from the outcaste aborigines.
The leading caste at the time was the
Khattiya or Warrior caste and at such a
period of development it was natural for
the warriors to form the ruling houses of
each clan. Next was the Brahmin caste
or caste of Priests, the educated or
preacher class which was strugghng for
the caste or social superiority it was even
then claiming and was later to win. The
third caste was the Vaisyas or traders and
the fourth the Sudras or menials and
workers.
At this time was born to the Khattiyacaste ruler of the Sakya clan, whose
family name was Gotama, a son to whom
was given the name Siddattha, and who
was reared in quite a degree of luxury
and comfort; perhaps a greater degree of
comfort than is possible in the modern
world. On attaining young manhood,
Siddattha Gotama realised the fleeting
nature of all earthly joys and renounced
his sheltered life and all the luxury of his
world to become a homeless wanderer
and ascetic, spurred on by a burning
desire to penetrate finally to Real Truth.
Studying successively under the two
great masters of philosophy in India of
that time, he yet did not find any
satisfactory answer to his questions and
with a band of five followers retired to
the comparative solitude of the country
where they gave themselves up to
practices tending to mortify the flesh.
The young Gotama, in the prime of life,
of powerful physique and of great

tenacity of purpose, excelled in these, to

the great admiration of his companions,
until finally he fell fainting by the
roadside, at the point of death. He then
realised how life could be lost by a
continuation of such practices and yet
Truth might not be won, and he
considered afresh the whole matter and
remembered that he had had a moment
of cosmic Consciousness when as a lad
he had sat in meditation under a Roseapple tree, while his royal father was,
according to custom, ploughing the first
field in his performing of the fertility rite
to ensure rich crops. He wondered then
if this Peaceful Meditation were not the
real way to Wisdom, decided that it was
and determined to live accordingly. This
was
later
formulated
in
the
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta There
are two paths of error which he who is
striving for salvation should equally
avoid. The one, of sensual enjoyment and
the gratification of passion, is base,
vulgar, degrading and ruinous; it is the
way of the children of the world. The
other, of self-torture and mortification, is
sad, painful and useless. The Middle Way
alone, which the Perfect One has found,
avoids these two paths of errors, opens
the eyes, endows with discernment, and
leads to deliverance, to wisdom, to
perfection, to Nibbna.
His somewhat hidebound fellows
whose clinging to customs and
conventions held them still to their overascetic course, were very horrified and
determined not to have anything to do
with one who had abandoned the strict
ascetic life of self-torture.
Leaving then his five companions,
Gotama decided to make a determined

34
effort to pierce the veil of illusion, using
all his strength of body and mind, and
spent forty-nine days sitting in various
places under a huge spreading Banyan
tree, during which time he took his great
mind to the very peak of intellect, until at
last the Way became clear and he became
Perfected Man, the Buddha, Teacher of
Gods and men.
He realised then how difficult it was
to make plain to mankind the simple yet
subtle Teaching of Truth but saw that there
were beings whose eyes are but lightly
covered with dust and who would
respond to and understand the Teaching,
and for the sake of these He began His
mission which was to last for forty-five
years of his lifetime and has lasted for
the 25 centuries since His attainment to
Mahparinibbna.
In the Cullavagga the Buddha
pointed out As the great ocean, disciples,
is penetrated throughout by the savour
of salt, so is my Doctrine in all its parts
permeated by the spirit of deliverance,
and while there are those who derive
emotional inspiration and intuition from
the moral Teaching of the Verses of the
Law and those who by the sermons of
the Suttas come to perceive Truth, there
have always been those who by the more
detailed and logical exposition of the great
laws of Being, given in the Abhidhamma,
more easily find a practical way out of
the morass of existence.
In the Abhidhamma it is shown very
conclusively that neither Ego nor Soul
exists, but that neither can it be said The
end then is annihilation. The Doctrine
or Dhamma is very deep and subtle,
necessarily so, and requires for
elucidation and understanding both the
mental training and practice of Meditation
for Insight.

A study of the Abhidhamma, that

practical analysis of mind, mental
concomitants and matter which make up
the whole whirlpool of existence,
conditions one in a conditioning brought
about by oneself, to perceive and
understand the Doctrine in a way
acceptable to the logical mind.
The Buddha taught (more than 2500
years ago) that the universe was
composed of millions of world-systems
such as we know as our solar System,
each with its various planes of existence,
and to this modern science now
subscribes. The Buddhist concept of
Universe has been summed up as
follows by U Ba Khin, AccountantGeneral, Burma, in his booklet What
Buddhism Is: There is the Okasa Loka
(The Universe of Space) which
accommodates Nma and Rpa (Mind
and Matter). In this mundane world it is
Nma Rpa (Mind Matter) which
predominates under the influence of the
Law of cause and effect. The next is the
Sankhra Loka (The Universe of Mental
Forces), creative or created. This is the
mental plane arising out of the creative
energies of mind through the medium of
bodily actions, words and thoughts. The
third is the Satta Loka (The Universe of
Sentient Beings) visible or invisible which
are the products of these mental forces.
We may term this a Three-in-one
Universe, since one is inseparable from
the other. They are, so to say, interwoven
and interpenetrating.
THE RELIGION OF REASON
As compared with religions of
revelation and dogma, the Teaching of
the Buddha is the Supreme Teaching of
Reason and of sheer, matter-of-fact
common sense, and it is one of the most

35
reasonable points of the Religion of
Reason that the Buddha exhorted us to
test each step for ourselves, to take
nothing on trust through mere blind faith.
Since He had to teach relativity, a concept
of almost countless world-systems and an
Atomic Theory, all of which the modern
Western world prides itself on having
discovered quite recently, He had to use
the words of the masses in common sense
combinations to elucidate and teach the
most abstruse scientific and philosophic
concepts, and in an age when there were
no machines, microscopes or telescopes.
This was done without any airy-fairy
nonsense so that the Teaching is fresh and
true to-day, since Truth does not alter.
Meanings of common words had to be
extended, so that Pahav, po, Tejo and
Vyo; Earth, Water, Heat & Cold and Air
had to become, Extension, Cohesion,
Radiation and Motion, for instance, and,
to describe an atom; the smallest physical
particle; the word Kalapa was defined
as one forty-six thousandth part of a
particle of dust raised by a chariot-wheel
in Summer. To the average modern this
is an extremely picturesque definition,
and to the mind of the men in those days,
who saw in the fine dry Indian summerweather the impalpable dust raised by a
chariot-wheel, of which one grain could
not be divided out, and to be told how
the smallest imaginable division of this
tiniest of all particles could exist
separately, etched the concept atom on
the brain more distinctly than most of our
modern definitions.
The Buddhas Teaching went further
than this and showed that the atom was
not Being but Becoming. But even
in the Buddhas day there were those who
thought that they knew better than the
Teacher, and the Buddha was constrained
to say It may well be, monks, that some

vain man, out of ignorance, plunged in

ignorance, overpowered in mind with
thirst, thinks himself bound to go beyond
the message of the Master and since then
there have been many who have tried to
introduce fantastic accretions to His
Teaching, and as will be seen by
consideration of the necessity to use
existent words and phrases, as pointed
out above, this was sometimes the more
possible by reason of mis-translations of
the Pli by those who had not caught the
spirit of the Teaching. Nevertheless the
only sure guide to the Teaching is the
word of the Buddha, as handed down by
the Sagha, the unbroken succession of
Buddhist
Bhikkhus
(monks).
Immediately after the demise of the
Buddha a Council was called at Rajagaha
in order to fix the various Discourses and
sayings that had been handed down. Thus
was laid the ground-plan of the Pli
Canon and successive Councils have met
to compare and classify and arrange the
Teachings of the Buddha. The
Bhanakas or Reciters of the Text
were specially chosen until the Texts
were committed to writing in Ceylon in
about the year 20 B.C. There have been
several Councils since then and the Pli
Canon is thus regarded as the pure form
of the Teaching. The Tipiaka or Three
Baskets of Wisdom is, as the name
implies, divided into three sections. There
is the Vinaya, the rules for Bhikkhus,
together with stories showing how the
main rules came to be introduced; then
there is the Suttanta being sermons and
Teachings to laymen and Bhikkhus, and
finally the Abhidhamrna or Further
Teaching which is the philosophical
Teaching. The Teaching has thus been
handed down in the Pli Canon and is
known as the Theravda, or The Way
of the Elders.

36
THERAVDA, OTHER SECTS
AND MIRACLES
The Teaching of the Buddha is a
Teaching of stern reality, and there are in
the world those who just cannot face stern
reality and can thus truly be termed
escapists since all their endeavour is to
escape from Reality, usually behind some
barrage of words; but the Theravda
Buddhist, though he is intent on escaping
permanently from this world where
everything is so plainly subject to Anicca,
Dukkha, Anatt (to impermanence,
sorrow and insubstantiality) and where
Lobha, Dosa and Moha (Craving, Anger
and Illusion) are of the process, is not in
the position of one who pulls the sheet of
fantasy over the head of fear but,
undertaking a stern and strict discipline,
in the pure dawn of Reason, sees clearly
and more clearly the shining light of Truth.
Tot homines tot sententiae said the
old Romans So many men, so many
opinions, and it is natural that in the
course of 2500 years much of the
Teaching of the Buddha should be
distorted and misrepresented in parts of
the East as well as the West. We believe,
with the best of all possible reasons, that
from the time of the election of the
Members of the First Council, just after
the Mah Parinibbna of the Buddha, that
the Teaching has been preserved as close
as possible to its pristine purity by the
comparisons and discussions and
majority agreement of so many learned
Elders, drawn, be it noted, from all parts
of the Buddhist countries, and from men
of all previous walks of life who were
not economically or politically dependent
on any central dominating figure or
group and therefore free to give
unbiassed evidence and opinions.
It is not the part of Theravda
Buddhists either to praise or condemn the

so-called Buddhist sects but some

mention must be made of these. Largely
they have classified themselves as
Mahyna Buddhists, intimating as a
dogma that they have received a special
intuitional teaching and an esoteric
teaching handed down by word of mouth.
They have split up into what must now
number many hundreds of divisions
holding all sorts of diverse views
including the Zen Buddhists, mainly in
Japan who claim to be a reformed
Mahynist group. Some of these groups
are closer to the Teaching of the Buddha
than others.
The Hebrew Psalmist sang of the
heathen who rage and imagine a vain
thing and it is unfortunately too easy for
the mind of man, even educated man, to
do this when there is no guide. For types
of religious experience, cosmic
consciousness, manifestation of
spiritual attainment, even miracles are
not so difficult as the correct interpretation
of the experiences and phenomena so
referred to. The Sublime states of
Meditative Consciousness are still without
Ego or soul but those trained in the
Soul Theory quite readily accept the
phenomena of supramundane intellectual
states as evidence of what they have
consciously or unconsciously been
seeking of a Soul or God of some
sort.
The Word of the Buddha and the
system of training given in the Suttanta
as well as in the Vinaya and Abhidharnma
is a guide and indeed that is the metier of
the Buddhas, to point out the Way.
Elsewhere in this magazine we try to
give you as full as possible a picture of
The Word of the Buddha and it shall
be our endeavour to continue this in future
issues.

37

Burma And Buddhism Today

Population of Burma: - The total
population of the Union of Burma is about
seventeen million, of which ninety per cent
are Buddhists. Among the Burmese and
Shans who occupy the fertile Irrawaddy
valley and the salubrious high plateau of
the Shan State, the percentage of Buddhists
is about ninety-nine; whilst the percentage
of Buddhists among the hill-tribes
occupying the hill tracts on the borders of
Burma, and the Karens who, formerly hill
folk, have in later years had a tendency to
come down to the more fertile plains of
lower Burma, is about seventy-five per cent.
Advent of Buddhism. It is generally
believed that Buddhism came to Burma
during the very life-time of the Buddha, but
it is an accepted fact among scholars that
Buddhism was brought by two Arahats, viz.
Sona and Ottara, as sent by Moggali Putta
Tissa, the Saghatthera of the Third Great
Buddhist Council during the days of the
great King Asoka. Recent archaeological
discoveries have brought to light many
terracotta plaques and gold leaves, on which
Pli scriptures were written, proving
definitely that Buddhist scriptures in a
written form were extant in Burma about
the 4th century C. E. It is also generally
accepted that the written texts of the Pli
Tipiakas were reintroduced from Ceylon
in the 4th or 5th century C. E. Since then
the higher studies of the Buddhist literature
have taken a very deep root, flourishing
throughout the centuries without any
interruption up to the present day.
Pariyatti Ssana. Burma has been
associated with a very high tradition and
standard of learning in the doctrines of the
Buddha. Pariyatti ssana has been well
encouraged and supported by the Kings

and the people alike; even during the British

regime higher studies in the Pli piakas were
given support by the Government. The
Bhikkhu Sagha of Burma have from the
beginning been much respected for their
profound learning in Tipiakas and a great
many of them were looked upon as
authorities in the Abhidhamma studies.
During the days of the Burmese Kings, the
Bhikkhus numbered over ninety thousand.
These learned Bhikkhus have been the
custodians of the Buddha Ssana.
An idea of subsequent history is best
given by reproducing a speech by the
Honble U Win, Minister for Home and
Religious Affairs, at the inaugural meeting
of the Buddha Ssana Organization on
26th August 1951 at Rangoon University.
Promoting the Ssana. I am very glad to
have this opportunity of paying my humble
respects to the Reverend Sayadaws (Heads
of Buddhist Monasteries) on this auspicious
occasion. I need hardly say how this
congregation is blessed by the presence of
the learned Sayadaws. Since the capitulation
of King Thibaw sixty years ago, our
country has never witnessed such a
glorious assembly of monks and laymen in
the cause of Buddhism. While being fully
conscious of the magnitude of
responsibilities as Minister for Religious
Affairs I feel extremely happy at the thought
that the task of promoting Buddhism has
fallen on my shoulders. The primary
purpose of this assembly is to implement
the provisions of the Buddha Ssana
Council Act of 1950. Let me recall why the
Union Government took necessary
measures to pass this Act. This Act is one
of the three pieces of Religious Legislation
sponsored by Government with a view to

38

In another outlying part of the Union of Burma, The Chin Hills in the cold north, the
Honble U Nu, Prime Minister of the Union of Burma, recites Buddhist Scriptures after
planting a sacred Bo sapling.

The Right Honble Mr. Richard Casey, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, visits the
Shwedagon Pagoda accompanied by Thado Thiri Thudhama U Thein Maung, Chief
Justice of Burma, Trustee of the Shwedagon.

39
promoting Buddhism in a concrete manner.
Three Acts of Parliament: Vinicchaya Thana
Act, 1949, Pli University and
Dhammacariya Act, 1950 and Buddha
Ssana Council Act, 1950 have been duly
enacted and they are but heralding a series
of Religious Legislation yet to come. Our
religion has been in a neglected state for
the past sixty-six years since the overthrow
of King Thibaw, Promoter of the Faith. The
prosperity of Religion, as you are all aware,
depends on the presence of a ruler who is
genuinely inclined to promote it. The
absence of such a ruler makes for the
decline in Religion in all its three aspects.
When we were denied Freedom, what was
the state of our Religion? Saghas split up
into different sects; contacts between the
Saghas and laymen were few and far
between there was a dearth of learned men;
religious practice was neglected and
darkness gradually fell on our Ssana. It
came to such a pass that the Buddhist got
bewildered and became unable to sift the
true from the false.
While in the past every Buddhist child
got his rudiments of Buddhist religious
education thanks to our wonderful monastic
schools, our children were gradually kept
away from them during the alien regime.
Thus an ever-widening gulf crept in
between the Saghas and the laymen; the
old Sagha Organisation lost its former
cohesion, and the Sagha eventually came
under the aegis of lay courts of law. With
this decline in the structure of Sagha
Society came the deterioration in the
Saghas code of conduct. Lay morality also
declined in consequence. With this general
deterioration in human morality, breaches
of law became rampant. In fact the present
insurrection in our country is attributable
to this decline in human morality.

You will no doubt remember that the

Honble Prime Minister on several
occasions gave a picture of the Union just
on the brink of the precipice. Please ponder
over the forces which succeeded in saving
the country from this catastrophe. I consider
that the religious force which we have been
able to build up in the last two years is mainly
responsible for our renewed strength to tide
over the sinister forces of disorder. You will
no doubt realize that in order to restore
peace and prosperity in the country, our
armed forces, our administration and our
new economic stystem alone will not
suffice. Forces of Religion or in other words
the Religious Front which the Prime Minister
aptly described as the Moral Pillar is also
called for. I feel no compunction in claiming
that it stands to the credit of the A.F.P.F.L.
government that it has been able to organize
this Religious Front at a time when morality
is at its lowest ebb.
It is true that even after the fall of King
Thibaw the Buddhist public endeavoured
to promote the great religion as best as they
could. Pagodas and Monasteries were built,
thousands of monks were well-looked-after,
religious associations were formed and
scriptural examinations were conducted.
Those good-intentioned people carried on
this noble work for over 60 years without
the material support of the then
Government. They were the real Promoters
of the Faith in the absence of the Faithful
Ruler. Now the circumstances have
changed. Independence is once more
restored and the Government is duly elected
by the people according to the constitution.
It is but inevitable that the Government
becomes the Promoter of the Faith on behalf
of the people who elect it. The Government
thus elected cannot merely look on
indifferently at the religious structure which

40
had been disintegrating during the last sixty
years. The Government wishes to see the
unity of the Saghas, the zealous devotion
of the Saghas to religious knowledge and
practice and wishes to encourage to the
utmost the propagation of the Dhamma.
The Government is determined to help the
Saghas in their endeavours to cleanse the
great religion of Undesirable elements and
the Government in the foot-steps of the
great Promoters of the Faith in the past, will
implement by means of legislation what the
Saghas desire to carry out according to
the Dhamma.
The progress of Buddhism rests on the
three following factors :
(1) The existence of a true and devoted
Sagha (brotherhood of Bhikkhus)
(2) Strongly united lay people to
promote Religion and
(3) A Government determined to
encourage to the utmost the propagation of
the Dhamma.
With these facts in mind the Union
Government has enacted the Pli University
and Dhammacariya Act, The Vinicchaya
Thana Act and Buddha Ssana Council Act.
The Union Government has allotted a sum
of Rs. 76,000 towards the implementation
of the Pli University and Dhammacariya
Act and intends to allot a further sum of Rs.
350,000 for the purpose in the next financial
year.
By the enactment of the Vinicchaya
Thana Act the Sagha are no longer
required to appear in lay courts of law as
before and Sagha Councils have been set
up to try Saghas cases. Under this Act five
councils in Rangoon, five councils in
Mandalay and four councils in Sagaing are
functioning. To extend the operation of this

Act in areas where councils are not yet set

up, arrangements are being made to
introduce a supplementary Vinicchaya
Thana Act in the forthcoming session of
Parliament. I need not of course tell you
that the Reverend Sayadaws who administer
these councils are deeply learned in the Law
and they are duly elected by the Sagha
themselves. An allotment of Rs. 36,000 was
made for the functioning of these councils
and it is the intention of the Government to
allot a further sum of Rs. 82,000 in the
coming financial year.
Buddha Ssana Council Act sets out to
organize the Promoters of the Faith into
some kind of Parliament of Ssana. All
religious measures will be undertaken by
the Union Government through the good
offices of this Parliament of Ssana and I
hope that real effective work will be
accomplished. I wish to give this assurance
that the Union Government, befitting the
role of true representative of the Promoters
of the Faith, will subsidize all activities under
Buddha Ssana Council Act as far as the
countrys finances warrant.
Another point I want to stress is the fact
that this organisation formed under the
Buddha Ssana Council Act is no way
connected with politics nor is it sectarian. It
is formed purely for the purpose of
promoting the Ssana as best it can. Under
the circumstances the Union Government
do not in the least desire to see this great
Organisation contaminated with affairs
other than religious and it is the fervent
hope of the Union Government that the
members of this Organisation will promptly
get rid of all undesirable elements if they
do appear in the fold of the organisation.
Before I conclude let me tell you that
the intention of the Union Government is

41
no other than to see this great Organisation
freely administering all religious matters
under the Act without let or hindrance.
Under the Act the Minister for Religious
Affairs is a member of the Executive
Committee as the representatives of
Religious Organisations who drafted the Bill
wanted him to be so. The following are in
brief some of the religious measures
contemplated:1. Renovation of dilapidated pagodas
and images wherein sacred relics of Lord
Buddha are authentically stated to have
been enshrined.
2. The study of the Dhamma will be
encouraged with renewed vigour, as befits
the leading Buddhist country in the world.
3. The practice of the Lords teaching
will be encouraged.
4. With a view to spreading the
Dhamma all over the world like the rays of
the sun and the beams of the moon, utmost
endevours will be made to organize the
Sixth Buddhist Council on a grand scale as
befits the occasion.
These four measures are the main
activities the Union Government has in
mind. It is up to you to exert your utmost to
promote the great religion and make the
Buddha Ssana Council a success and an
object of esteem and admiration by the
entire world.
Ssana Since Independence. Ever since the
beginning of its life as a Sovereign
Independent country, Burma has introduced
many epoch-making measures for the
revival and propagation of Buddha Ssana
in Burma and abroad. Under the leadership
of such a very devout and pious Buddhist
as the Prime Minister U Nu, the
Government has been giving unstinted

support in all directions to the Buddha

Ssana, without prejudice to its obligations
to other religious denominations.
Pariyatti Examinations. Pariyatti
Examinations of very high standard were
held annually by the State since the
beginning of the 17th Century C.E. till the
annexation of Upper Burma by the British
in 1885 C.E. The Burmese Kings gave
attractive prizes to the successful
candidates. Under pressure of public
opinion the British Government resumed
the practice of holding these annual Pariyatti
Examinations in 1895 and continued till the
outbreak of the last World War.
The Examinations are for 3 Classes of
Degrees. viz., the Lower, the Middle and
the Highest. During the last 40 years the
Examinations have been held annually at
about 20 Centres throughout the country.
The examination known as Dhammacariya
Examination also is held for those who
have passed the Highest degree
examination and wish to qualify for
teachership in the Dhamma. These
successful candidates in examinations are
granted prizes for each department of study.
There was an interruption of five years
during the last war, but the Examinations
were resumed in 1947, when 1170
candidates sat for the examinations and 610
passed, increasing in number every year,
so that 4789 candidates sat in 1951 for the
examination at 34 Centres and 2605 passed.
Pli University. Pli is the language of the
Tipiakas and as such has been studied most
assiduously throughout the centuries by the
Bhikkhus and learned men in all the
Buddhist countries. In Burma it was a
compulsory subject in all the schools
throughout the country during the days of
Burmese Kings. In the Constitution of the

42
Union of Burma it has been laid down as a
directive principle of State policy to
encourage the study of Pli which shall
enjoy the protection and support of the
State. In 1947 the Committee for enquiring
into the project for establishing a Pli
University submitted its report to the
Government
recommending
the
establishment of a Pli University in Burma.
Again in 1948 another committee was
constituted to go into the question and the
Committee submitted a report in the same
year. Again the matter was referred to a
larger committee which finally submitted a
report recommending a Pli University and
giving support to Dhammacariyas. It was
this report which led in 1950 to the
introduction and passage of an Act known
as The Pli University and Dhammacariya
Act 1950. Under this Act a Pli University
has been established with 22 Constituent
Colleges throughout the country with 114
Dhammacariyas (teachers) amid over 500
students. It may be noted that only those
who have passed the Highest Degree
Examinations are eligible for admission to
the Pli University.
Tipiaka-dhara Examination. This
examination was started in 1948 by an
organisation known as The Buddha Ssana
Nuggaha Association subsidised by the
Government. This examination is by far the
hardest examination and of the highest
standard in the world. The curriculum
covers the whole of the Tipiakas together
with all the commentaries, and the
candidates are required to carry the
Tipiakas by heart and to be able to expound
thoroughly every passage contained
therein.
Magala Sutta Examinations. Magala
Sutta is a collection of the most valuable
precepts for the laity containing 38

beatitudes for thebenefit of man in this and

the other world. It was also the first lesson
every Burmese boy or girl had to learn, as
soon as he or she knew the alphabets,
throughout the centuries during the days
of the Burmese Kings. During the last War
an organisation was formed for the purpose
of holding Magala Sutta Examinations and
the examinations were held in 1944 and
1945 in Rangoon. Over 10,000 school boys
and girls sat and over 8,000 passed. In 1948
the Young Mens Buddhist Association
(Y.M.B.A) took up this movement and it
has held Examinations annually since then
with very great success. In 1951 the
Magala Sutta Examinations were held at
70 Centres; 15,637 candidates sat for the
examinations including adults, school-boys
and school-girls and 332 prison inmates;
5,473 passed.
Buddhist Lessons in Schools and Colleges.
A Committee formed for the purpose of
enquiring
into
and
making
recommendations for Buddhist lessons to
be taught in schools and colleges, submitted
its report recently. On these reports the
Government are taking steps to introduce
the teaching of Buddhism in all the schools
and also the Rangoon University and its
Constituent Colleges.
Buddhist Mission in the Hill Tracts. The
Burma Hill Tracts Buddhist Mission
Organisation was formed in 1946 under the
auspices of the All Burma Mah Sagha
Samaggi and the General Council of
Buddhist Associations. This Organisation
has now established 10 Buddhist Mission
(Monastic) Centres in Kampalet District
(middle sector of the Special Chin Division)
and 4 centres in Tiddim (Northern sector of
the Special Chin Division). It has also
established one Buddhist (monastic) centre
and one adult missionary school at

43
Myitkyina in Kachin State. In the Kayah
State the Organisation has reorganised and
given support to 13 monasteries. In the Chin
Division lay schools are also being
established along with the Monastic
Mission Centres. The organisation has also
been distributing clothing and medicine in
those backward areas. It has sent out 65
Bhikkhus to those Hill Areas, and up to now
over 52,000 people of those areas have
embraced Buddhism; over 4,000 people
also have been given education.
The Buddha Day Celebrations. The
Vesakha Day (the full moon day of May)
has been celebrated throughout the country
in a traditional manner by holding
ceremonies of pouring water at the Bodhi
Tree; the Kings of Burma celebrated this
occasion with great pomp and splendour
and all the people throughout the country
also celebrated it in all villages and towns.
In 1951 the World Fellowship of Buddhists
(World Centre) passed a resolution
requesting all the World Fellowship Centres
and the Buddhist peoples throughout the
world to celebrate the Buddha Day by
observing silence for two minutes, sending
out Love to all beings and praying for
Universal Peace. Under the leadership of
the World Fellowship of Buddhists (Burma
Centre) the Buddha Day in 1951 was
celebrated throughout the country with great
success. In Rangoon 6,000 Bhikkhus were
assembled at the foot of the great
Shwedagon Pagoda and chanted Parittas
(Magala Sutta, Ratana Sutta, niya
Sutta, and Pubbaha Sutta), and also sent
Metta to all the beings of the World, praying
for universal peace and prosperity. The
Buddhist flag was hoisted by the President
of the Union of Burma at the ceremony,
where, besides 6,000 Bhikkhus, about a
hundred thousand people were present. All

the Bhikkhus were given food at the end of

the ceremony. 100 pounds of paritta threads
were sent to all places throughout the
country. Besides this, the celebration in the
traditional manner also was carried out at
the Great Shwedagon Pagoda. All the
Government and public buildings were, on
that day, flying Buddhist flags; the Buddhist
flag was also flown by hundreds of buses
carrying the Bhikkhus to and from the Great
Shwedagon Pagoda, and by many other
public vehicles. Many houses were also
flying Buddhist flags. This year (1952) the
Buddha Ssana Council held the Buddha
Day celebrations under its leadership at
Rangoon, Mandalay and all the important
towns and villages throughout the country,
combining the traditional ceremony with
the assembly of Bhikkhus. At Rangoon
6,000 Bhikkhus assembled at the foot of
Shwedagon Pagoda and chanted Paritta as
in the previous year, sending out metta and
praying for universal peace. Relays of
Bhikkhus continued to chant Paritta for 9
days and nights continuously with hundreds
of people attending. Food was offered to
all the Bhikkhus.
The World Peace Pagoda. When the
Sacred Relics of the two Chief Disciples of
the Buddha, (Sariputta and Mah
Moggalana) which were discovered in 1851
by General Cunningham at one of the three
principal Stupas at Sanchi (Bhopal State)
and taken to and preserved in a museum in
London, were returned by the British
Governmnent to the Government of India,
a wave of tremendous interest was roused
throughout the East, particularly in India,
Burma and Ceylon.
These Sacred Relics were received by
thousands of devotees wherever they were
taken in many parts of India, Ceylon and
Burma and are to be taken back to Sanchi

44
where they will be enshrined in a specially
constructed stupa. Through the good offices
of the Government of India and at the
special request of the Prime Minister of
Burma, portions of the Sacred Relics of
these two disciples were given to Burma
for the worship of the people of the country.
A high plateau land about two miles out of
Rangoon, which is an old site of a Pagoda
that has already disappeared and known as
the Sri Magla Plateau was chosen for
the site to erect a special Pagoda for
enshrining the Sacred Relics of the two
Disciples. On Oct 20, 1950 a delegation
consisting of Mah Theras, Ssana Affairs
Minister and Buddhist leaders of Burma
went to Calcutta in order to receive the
Sacred Relies from the Government of India
through the Governor of Bengal and they
were brought back to Burma by a special
plane. The encrowning and enshrining
ceremonies were held from 5th to 11th of
March in this year, when hundreds of
thousands of people from all over the
country, including representatives from
India and Ceylon, attended the ceremonies.
The pagoda is constructed in such a way
that it contains a strong room in the centre
as a reliquary which can be opened on
occasions for periodic exposition of the
Sacred Relics. This Pagoda is meant to be
the symbol for the coming of universal peace
to this war-torn and miserable world.
Buddha Ssana Council. In Burma as in
many other Buddhist countries, it is a
common belief that full support to the
Buddha Ssana can be maintained only if
the three elements of the State, viz., the
Bhikkhu Sagha, the Government and the
people co-operate with one another.
The Buddhists who constitute about 90
per cent of the total population of the

country can be an invincible force against

undesirable ideologies if only they can be
organised and knit together properly. It is
also felt that there should be one
organisation which can give a lead to the
whole country and represent the people in
all matters relating to the Buddha Ssana.
For this reason and with this object an Act
of Parliament was passed in 1950
establishing an organisation known as The
Union Buddha Ssana Council consisting
of the representatives of the abovementioned three elements of the State. The
General Council and the Executive Council
consist of the representatives of the Bhikkhu
Sagha as chosen by them, elected
representatives
of
the
religious
organisations throughout the country and
also representatives nominated by the
Government. This council has four standing
Committees, viz., (1) Pariyatti Committee,
(2) Paipatti Committee, (3) Buddha Ssana
Propagation Committee, and (4) Finance
Committee. Under the management of the
Pariyatti Committee many measures for the
advancement of Pariyatti Ssana have been
undertaken. Many books have been
published by it. Arrangements have been
made for holding examinations in the
Abhidhamma throughout the country. The
teaching of the Dhamma is also being
organised in the Jails and Prisons
throughout the country. The Patipatti
Committee has been doing active work in
the advancement of Patipatti Ssana by
giving support to Kammahna and
Vipassana (Meditation) Centres in the
Country. The Buddha Ssana Propagation
Committee is producing Buddhist
periodicals in Burmese and also in English.
These publications of which this is the
English edition, are published quarterly.

45

Union Buddha Ssana Council Act

An Act to establish a Buddlist Central Organization for the Union of Burma.
Summary of some of the speeches.
The Honble Minister for Information
and Religious Affairs (U Tun Pe) said:
The statement which appears at the
end of the Bill explains shortly but
adequately the objects and reasons of this
Bill. This statement is rather brief and with
your permission, Sir, I shall read a portion
of it which runs as follows: that there
should be formed one organization which
can represent and give a lead to all the
Buddhists of the Union of Burma; that
there should be coordination and concord
amongst the Buddhists of the country, and
that the various nationalities of the Union
professing Buddhism should be able to
contribute effectively towards the
promotion and propagation of the Ssana
in its three main aspects namely, (1)
Pariyatti, the study of the Dhamma,
(Teachings of the Buddha) (2) Patipatti,
practice in the Teachings, and (3)
Pativedha, higher spiritual and mental
realization of the Dhamma.
To put it briefly, the bill aims at the
formation of a central organization with
representatives of all Buddhist groups in
Burma.
The draft Bill was first discussed at a
conference of all the Buddhist
Associations in Rangoon held at the
Thathana-yeiktha on the 5th August 1950.
This conference appointed a committee
of seven members to examine the bill with
request to suggest amendments. The
members were (1) The Honble Minister
for Religious Affairs, (2) The Honble
Justice U E Maung, Judge of the Supreme
Court, (3) The Honble Chief Justice U

Thein Maung, Chief Judge of the High

Court, (4) The Honble Justice U Ohn Pe,
Judge of the High Court, (5) U San Kyu,
Pariyatti Ssana Noggaha Association, (6)
Chatthin U Ba Tin, and (7) U Chan Htoon,
Attorney-General.
Again on 12th August 1950 the bill
was discussed in detail at another meeting
of the various Buddhist Associations of
Rangoon.
It was then considered for the third
time, when it was placed before a
conference of leading Bhikkhus
numbering over a hundred held at the
Thathana-yeiktha on 10th September
1950.
The Bhikkhus who attended this
conference were the Union Ovada-Cariya
Mah Theras and the Union Vinayathana
Mah Theras and also many other Mah
Theras. The Mah Theras present after
examination gave their blessing to the Bill
by saying Sadhu (well-done) three
times.
The Bill was also placed by me for
consideration before a conference of the
Mah Theras of Mandalay and of all
Buddhist Associations of that town at the
Eindawya Pagoda on the 16th September
1950. The Venble Nyaungyan Sayadaw
who presided at that conference said of
the billThis is a real boon to the
Ssana. On that occasion, the AttorneyGeneral, U Chan Htoon and myself were
present in Mandalay where we had gone
to explain the Bill.
All matters relating to the bill were
again explained to members of various

46
Buddhist Associations of Mandalay at a
meeting held at the house of U Khin
Maung Dwe. All gave their warm support.
Among those who helped us to give
proper shape and form to this Bill we must
mention the leaders of the A.F.P.F.L.
organizations with whom we also
discussed it at great length.
Only after necessary amendments
have been made as a result of those
discussions has the Bill now been placed
before the Honble Members for
consideration and discussion. I give this
assurance to the Honble Members of this
House, that the enactment of this Bill will
not in any way be prejudicial to the
interests of other religions.
Summary of The Honble Prime
Ministers Speech Delivered In
Parliament On 3rd October 1950 in
Support Of The Union Of Burma
Buddha Ssana Council Act
I am very glad to have an opportunity
of acquainting the House with some of
our aims and object in presenting this Bill.
If the Bill is passed by the House, a central
Buddhist organization will come into
being, and this organization will be truly
representative of all the Buddhists of this
country. The first aim of the organization
is to propagate the Dhamma in foreign
lands to the best of its ability and its
second aim is to lay solid and lasting
foundations of Buddhism in this land.
How are we going to propagate the
Dhamma in other lands? Generally
speaking we will send Buddhist missions
abroad in the same way as other countries
have been sending their missions here.
The work of sending out Buddhist
missions will be one of the objectives of
this organization.

Off and on, international Buddhist

conferences are held in many countries
and some of these conferences extend
their invitations to us. On most of these
occasions we are confronted with
difficulties in the choice of suitable
delegates. It is not an easy task to say
which Buddhist organizations represent
the Buddhists of this country and which
organizations do not. As things stand at
present we cannot say with confidence
that any individual or organization does
represent all the Buddhists of this country.
In the past we have been hard put to it in
the selection of truly representative
Buddhists for overseas Buddhist
conferences. Those representatives who
did attend such conferences were
handicapped in that they were not selected
by the Buddhists of Burma. To overcome
this drawback, a central Buddhist
organization truly representative of all
Buddhists is proposed to be formed. The
discharge of this function has been one
of the chief aims of the Bill.
The second aim is to lay firm and
lasting foundations of Buddhism in our
own country. You may well question the
truth of the assumption that the
foundations of our religion are not firm
and lasting in such a country as ours. Let
me assure you that the foundations are
liable to give way. Buddhism has been
very casually practised in our land. It is
not the fault of the great religion but the
fault lies in those who believe they profess
this great religion. Among the Buddhists
only a very small minority genuinely
follow the path laid down by Lord
Buddha. I think I need not remind you
that a true Buddhist is one who sincerely
works for the attainment of Nibbna.
Many of us are simply content with

47
paying visits to the pagodas, telling beads
or reciting prayers without actually
practising what Lord Buddha wanted us
to practise. These considerations have
prompted me to say that the foundations
of Buddhism are not yet well and truly
laid here.
This Act will help to strengthen this
foundation. All Buddhists in any part of
the country must be made to live and act
according to the teachings of Lord
Buddha. This is one of the objects of this
Bill now before the House.
Another object is to counter the
machinations of those who are out to
destroy the very foundations of our
religion. Their methods are very subtle
and their intention is undoubtedly sinister.
From certain quarters Lord Buddhas
omniscience has been questioned and
ridiculed. Worse than that some even go
the extent of declaring that Lord Buddha
was a lesser man than Karl Marx. It will
be one of the functions of this Buddhist
organization to combat such challenges
in the intellectual field. Any doubt
regarding the existence of omniscience
must be promptly dispelled. We must be
able to explain what omniscience really
is. If any Marxist comes out with the
statement that Karl Marx was a very wise
man, it is not our concern to question it.
But if he encroaches on our sphere and
ridicules Lord Buddha whom we all adore
and revere and if he has the effrontery to
say that Marx was wiser than Lord Buddha,
it is up to us to retaliate. It will be our
duty to retort in no uncertain terms that
the wisdom or knowedge that might be
attributed to Karl Marx is less than onetenth of a particle of dust that lies at the
feet of our great Lord Buddha. The
contrast is so marked.

I admit that Burma is a land of

Buddhists but the growing challenge to
Buddhism has not been effectively met.
There is no properly organized force to
meet this challenge. Doubts regarding the
true wisdom of Lord Buddha and
assertions that Marx was a wiser man than
Lord Buddha have so far been viewed
with indifference. The Buddhist
organization we are going to have will
combat these challenges not only in the
intellectual field but if need be, in the
practical field as well. Perhaps intellectual
activities alone will not suffice. The
disbelievers and destroyers of Religion
are very cunning in their methods. If we
suffer their slanders meekly, they will get
emboldened and say that the Buddhist
religion is like opium and that this
glorified drug will entrance its adherents.
They may even go to the extent of
exercising force and drag us away from
religion. Should we submit to such moves
meekly? At such a stage the method of a
nose for a nose and an eye for an eye is
clearly called for. It will be one of the
functions of this Council to fulfil this
obligation.
As things stand at present we are
against odds to meet this growing
challenge successfully. The reason is not
far to seek. We are either not fully
equipped for the work or we are fighting
shy of the task. The explanation perhaps
lies in the fact that we are not sufficiently
rooted in Buddhism and that we have not
attained the required degree of religious
conviction. When this Act comes into
operation, steps will be taken to translate
the Tipiakas into plain Burmese so that
people of all classes can understand the
sacred teachings. Translations will be of
various types those meant for the ordinary

48
man-in-the-street and young people and
those meant for more advanced adults.
Then it will be our endeavour to set up
Buddhist centres of learning where the
teachings of Lord Buddha will be
imparted to all those who seek the light.
These Buddhist Universities will produce
missionaries competent to propagate the
Dhamma in and outside the country. This
is one of the principal aims of the Bill.
The Bill has been drafted with the kind
assistance and co-operation of many
learned
Buddhist
scholars
and
representatives of all Buddhist
associations in Rangoon. Our thanks are
due to these gentlemen who closely
scrutinized the provisions of this Bill for

days on end.
I do not suggest that the present Bill is
perfect and that it leaves nothing to be
desired. It is open to improvement and
amendments in course of time, provided
that such improvements and amendments
make for the progress of the Buddhist
religion.
Before I conclude, allow me to give
this assurance. In introducing this Bill it
is far from our intention to disparage in
any way other religions like
Mohamedanism, Hinduism, Christianity
or spirit worship. We have been prompted
by the sole consideration to combat
effectively anti-religious forces which are
raising their ugly heads everywhere.

Causes which Led to the Enactment of the Bill

Speech of Thado Mah Thray Sithu U Chan Htoon, Attorney-General,
in support of the Bill (dated 3rd October 1950).
can provide the way, and thus the World
As I am one of the persons who
Buddhist Conference was held in Ceylon
originally conceived the idea of the bill
during last May (1950). It was attended
and drafted it, I would like to say a few
by Buddhist delegates from 29 countries,
words about the causes which led to the
including delegates from almost every
formulation and introduction of the bill.
important country of the West; and one
There are two main causes, one relates to
thing was noticeable at that Conference,
the present world situation and the other
and that was the unanimous belief of all
to the present situation in the Union of
those present there that Buddhism is the
Burma. Look at the world situation and
only ideology which can give peace to
you will find that the people have to face
the world and save it from war and
one great calamity after another without
destruction. I found there that the western
any hope of lasting peace. The First World
countries are longing for Buddhism now.
War enveloped us in widespread
What is the cause of it? They find in
destruction and slaughter. In the Second
Buddhism the real truth which can save
World War all mankind was subjected to
unprecedented forms of cruelty, suffering,
man from the endless sorrow and
suffering into which they have been
calamities and ravages. Now we are
plunged by following ideologies which
threatened with another global war and
they have now found out to be false and
total annihilation of mankind. The people
of the world are greatly alarmed and very
inadequate. The world is now full of greed,
hate and delusion which those false
anxious to find some way out of this
ideologies encourage and which will
impending catastrophe. Buddhism alone

49
never bring peace to the world; but if men
would lead the Buddhist way of life and
conduct themselves towards each other
and between one nation and another, on
the basis of mutual love, sympathy and
equanimity, world peace would be easily
secured. For that reason the peoples of
the world are looking up to Buddhism to
save the world.
The World Buddhist Conference
therefore resolved that all the Buddhists
should make utmost endeavour to observe
and practise the teachings of the Buddha
that we may be radiant examples of the
living faith and that we should strive with
all our might and main to make known
the sublime doctrine of the Buddha so that
its benign spirit of service and sacrifice
may pervade the entire world, inspiring
and influencing the peoples of the earth
and their governments to lead the
Buddhist way of life. There are different
religions in the world. It is not an easy
thing for a person to give up a religion
which has come down to him from his
ancestors. What was aimed at at the
Buddhist Conference was not to attempt
to convert the followers of all the other
religions of the world into Buddhists. But
what we hoped for was this. People may
profess any religion they like, but if their
moral conduct is such as is in conformity
with the principles of Buddhas
Teachings, or in other words they lead the
Buddhist way of life, then there will be
everlasting peace in the world. That was
our belief. lt does not mean that one must
profess Buddhism to conform to
Buddhistic principles. A man of any creed
can live according to those principles. As
a matter of fact the Buddhist code of moral
conduct does not transgress the tenets of
any other religion. That is very clear,

because one need not necessarily be a

Buddhist to practise Generosity,
Goodwill, Right Knowledge, Loving
Kindness, Compassion, Joy in anothers
advantage and Equanimity. The present
is the opportune moment and long-hopedfor time to win the West over to the
principles of Buddhism. We also see
unmistakable signs and indications that
the time has come for revival of
Buddhism in India, the country of its
origin. The Buddhist World Conference
at Ceylon was attended by Dr. Ambedkar
the Law Minister of the Government of
India. He said that he came there to
represent the forty million Harijans
(Hindu out-castes) of whom he was one.
He also said that Buddhism was the only
hope for them to secure the status of
human beings. He added that he and other
leaders of India including Shri Nehru,
were agreed that the time had come to
make serious efforts for the revival of
Buddhism in India. This golden
opportunity should not he missed. This is
in relation to the world situation.
Next, let us examine the condition of
Burma. We are of the firm conviction that
the time has come for us to make
everyone in the country live according to
the Teachings of the Buddha. All aspects
of national life, including civilisation,
culture, literature, law and customs etc.,
of all the indigenous peoples of Burma,
have arisen from and still have their roots
in Buddhism. According to history,
Buddhism has taken root in Burma for
more than two thousand years, and Burma
may now be said to be the leading
Buddhist country, where the influence of
Buddhism on the people is strongest and
studies in the Buddhas Teachings are
most vigorously carried out. It may be said

50
to be doing very well here, because of
the unbroken traditions and high standard
of learning handed down faithfully from
generation to generation. Although the
Dhamma (Buddhas Teaching) is very
sublime, we are sorry to say that the daily
life of the people does not in many cases
conform to that standard, because we find
that there are many lapses in their daily
moral conduct. In fact when we went to
the World Conference, I was rather afraid
that some one there might ask me why in
spite of the fact that Buddhism was
flourishing in Burma there should be such
widespread disorder and ruthless killing.
Perhaps out of regard, people did not put
any such unpleasant questions. What is
actually happening is that though
Buddhism lays down a very fine code of
moral behaviour, we find that the people
here are very cruel towards one another
in their relations. One faction fights
another out of anger, men become rebels,
murderers and dacoits, and crime is on
the increase. Hatred, greed and delusion
seem to have overwhelmed the people.
For instance, we find that the prices of
many consumer goods, such as as textiles
etc. are very low in Ceylon, while as a
result of inordinate greed they are very
high in Burma. We find that although the
religion of our country is sublime and the
standard of learning very high, yet the
standard of moral conduct of the people
is rather low.
What is the cause of all this? For about
one hundred years in Lower Burma and
over sixty years in Upper Burma we were
dominated by a foreign nationa nation
from another part of the world with
different civilisation, culture, law, customs
and religion. The result was that the
country became like a rudderless ship

sent adrift from spiritual moorings. There

was a decline in the moral tone and
cultural standard. Now that we have got
back our independence, it is our duty to
promote all the spiritual and material
wellbeing of our people. Above all we
must promote our religion - the main
spring of our civilisation, culture, law and
customs. We shall be able to consolidate
our position in strength and unity as a
sovereign independent nation on
democratic principles as embodied in the
Constitution, only if we follow the creed
and ideology that are in consonance with
our present conditions and past history
and our common beliefs and aspirations.
What is the most essential factor for true
Democracy to take root and flourish? The
majority group must always act fairly and
justly to all others. All know that Article
21 of our Constitution lays down that the
State recognizes the special position of
Buddhism as the faith professed by the
great majority of the citizens of the Union!
I may say that 90 to 95% of the population
in Burma are Buddhists. If all these people
would observe and practise the Teachings
of the Buddha, there would be no cause
for fear or anxiety on the part of the
minority groups, and the country would
undoubtedly become a radiant example
as a true Buddhist country, run on the
highest principles of justice and
democracy. I therefore believe that if the
remaining 5% would also act according
to the Dhamma we would have laid a firm
foundation in strength and unity as
declared in the Preamble to the
Constitution of the Union of Burma for
an independent sovereign state to
maintain social order on the basis of the
eternal principles of justice, liberty and
equality. With this belief, the Prime

51
Minister of Burma and myself conceived
the idea of a bill of this type. Article 20 of
the Constitution of the Union of Burma
guarantees that all persons are equally
entitled to freedom of conscience and the
right freely to profess and practise
religion. Some Honble Members may ask
as to whether or not the bill, when passed
into law by this Honble House, would
offend the provisions of that Article. I
would like to state that the establishment
of the Buddha Ssana Council will not in
any way affect or infringe the rights of
other religions or the interests of the
followers of other faiths. On the contrary,
I am confident that if all the Buddhists
become true Buddhists and lead a
Buddhist life, there will be no interference
with the adherants of other religions in
the enjoyment of their rights.
For these reasons this bill was drafted
after due and careful consideration from
all angles. The Prime Minister and myself
drafted three Bills and discarded them
before we accepted it in the present form,
and what we now have is one which is
possibly without any flaw. We discussed
it with other persons who should be
consulted and they also approved it. After
that as stated by the Minister for Religious

Affairs steps were taken to consult and

get the approval of the representatives of
all the religious associations of Rangoon
and Mandalay as well as the Mah Theras
of Rangoon and Mandalay who also gave
their blessings. The Mah Theras of
Mandalay accepted the bill in principle
but suggested certain minor amendments;
steps have been taken to carry them out,
without affecting the principle already
accepted. For all these reasons I would
like to say that this is not a bill which is
designed merely for promotion of
Buddhism. You will find in it aims and
objects for the peace of the World. The
purpose is to form an organization which
will work in accordance with the
Dhamma to secure lasting peace for
mankind and also to encourage the
observance of the Buddhist way of life
by all men. It is also our intention that
such an organization would greatly help
to ensure the stability of a democratic form
of government in the Union. For these
reasons the Union Buddha Ssana
Council Bill is replete with many virtues,
namely, that it is good for the needs of
the present age, that it has a good cause,
that it has a good object, and that it has a
good programme of work.

There exists, O Sirs, a realm wherein is neither earth nor water, neither flame
nor air; nor the vast ether nor the infinite of thought; nor utter void nor the coexistence of cognition and non-cognition is there neither this world nor
another, neither sun nor moon. That, I declare unto you as neither becoming
nor yet passing away neither life nor death nor being born; unlocalised,
unchanging, and uncaused that is the ending of suffering. There is, O Sirs,
an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed. Were there not this unborn,
unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, there would be no escape from the world
of the born, originated, created, formed.
But since there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed, therefore
is there escape from the born, the originated, the created, the formed.
Udnavagga.

52

The World Fellowship of Buddhists

There are more Buddhists in the world
than there are followers of any other
religion, and though perhaps all of those
who term themselves Buddhists are not
necessarily strict followers of the Sublime
Teachings of the Buddha yet they have a
common Buddhist inspiration and a
common basis of thought and character,
while the whole world, West as well as
East, has been, through the ages,
influenced to a greater or lesser degree
by the lofty moral Teachings of the Lord
Gotama Buddha.
Although, in so far as Buddhist
Schools are concerned, there are those
who profess to have some further
intuitional Teaching, the differing
Schools all respect and revere the
Sacred Treasury of the Law, the Pli
Canon, and there is thus a common bond
of brotherhood uniting us all.
In addition, as western scientific
discoveries clear away much of the
jungles of misconception from the minds
of men, the way is opened to a realisation
(new and amazing to many in the West)
of the Eternal Truths taught by the Exalted
One so many centuries ago. Therefore
more and more is the West turning towards
the original Teaching, the Dhamma of the
Buddha.
With the attainment of selfdetermination after the war, Burma,
Ceylon, India, Thailand and other
countries were again able to take stock of
their common heritage and to join with
other Buddhist countries, and with other
lands where there are many Buddhists, in
making plans to set upright the Lamp of
the Buddha Dhamma and to feed the
flame that it might shed its rays of Truth
and enlightenment for all mankind.

Almost simultaneously in several

countries there arose discussions and
deliberations as to the best way of
promoting the great revival of Buddhism,
and in December 1947 the All-Ceylon
Buddhist Congress, at its 28th annual
sessions, unanimously passed a resolution
that the Buddhist Congress should take
steps to invite representatives from various
Buddhist countries and from countries
where Buddhist Communities are to be
found, to a World Buddhist Congress to
be held in Ceylon in 1950, for the
purpose of bringing closer together the
Buddhists of the world, of exchanging
news and views about the conditions of
Buddhism in different countries and of
discussing ways and means whereby the
Buddhists could make their due
contribution towards the attainment of
peace and happiness, so that, when the
2,500th year after the Passing Away of
the Buddha was reached in 1956 A.C.,
the whole world would have adopted the
Buddhist Way of Life.
Accordingly,
an
Organising
Committee was set up to make the
necessary arrangements, and invitations
were sent out to various parts of the world,
requesting the cooperation of Buddhists
and Buddhist organisations and
announcing that a Conference for the
formation of a World Fellowship of
Buddhists would be held in the last week
of May and the first week of June 1950.
Professor Malalasekera, who attended the
East-West Philosophers Conference at the
University of Hawaii in June 1949, availed
himself of the opportunity of contacting
several Buddhist organisations in the
countries which he happened to visit en
route in America, Europe, and Asia and
of enlisting their sympathy and support.

53
The response to the invitation was most
encouraging. The Organising Committee
set about to finalise its arrangements for
the reception, accommodation and
provision of amenities for the delegates,
during their visits to various places of
interest in Ceylon, and the conduct of
meetings connected with the Conference.
The date for the inauguration of the
Conference was fixed for Monday, 25th
May 1950. It was originally anticipated
that not more than 15 countries would be
represented by about 30 or 40 delegates,
but when the Conference assembled there
were 129 delegates representing 29
countries, excluding Ceylon.
The Organising Committee had
decided that the inauguration of the
World Fellowship of Buddhists should
take place in some spot redolent of sacred
associations and the Dalada Maligawa
(the Holy Temple of the Tooth Relic) in
Kandy, was chosen as the most suitable.
Kandy had been the last capital of the
kings of Buddhist Ceylon and the
repository of the sacred Tooth Relic of
the Buddha which, for many centuries has
been an object of veneration by Buddhists
from many lands.
The following resolution was moved
and carried unanimously. We who
constitute this gathering of Buddhists from
many
countries
and
numerous
organisations from all parts of the world,
assembled in this venerated shrine of the
Holy Temple of the Tooth, at Kandy, once
the Capital of Lankas Buddhist Kings,
today pledge ourselves and those whom
we represent to make our utmost
endeavour to observe and practise the
teachings of the Lord Buddha that we may
be radiant examples of the living Faith;
to foster unity, solidarity and brotherhood

amongst Buddhists everywhere; to strive

with all might and main to make known
the Sublime Doctrine of the Lord Buddha
so that its benign spirit of service and
sacrifice may pervade the entire world,
inspiring and influencing the peoples of
the earth and their governments to lead
the Buddhist Way of Life, which is for all
ages and all climes, that there may be
peace and harmony amongst men and
happiness for all beings.
To achieve this aim we hereby resolve
that the World Fellowship of Buddhists
be founded and the Heads of delegations
here present be empowered to implement
this resolution and bring it into immediate
effect. May the blessings of the Buddha,
Dhamma and Sagha be on us and our
endeavours.
The Hon. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Minister
for Law in the Government of India, who
with his wife was present as an observer
declared that the Harijans (non-caste
Hindus) of whom he was the leader had
decided to embrace Buddhism. The
deliberations and discussions, resolutions
and decisions of the Conference were
admirably reported.
The delegates expressed their
appreciation of the arrangements that had
been made. They had, they said, come to
Ceylon with a certain amount of misgiving
about the success of the Conference
which was the first of its kind in history,
but the results had exceeded all
expectation.
Dr. Malalasekera, replying on behalf
of the Organising Committee, said that
normally a gathering of that nature would
have been preceded by several years
preliminary organisation; that had not
been possible. But all those who had been
invited had most cordially responded.

54
Many more delegates than were expected
had come. This was most heartening but
it also meant that the delegates had to put
up with a certain amount of unavoidable
inconvenience, as regards their personal
comforts. He offered his apologies to the
delegates on behalf of the organisers. The
inauguration of the World Fellowship of
Buddhists was made possible only
because of the loyal and ready assistance
received from everyone whose help was
sought.
At the conclusion of the Conference
the delegates began to leave Ceylon singly
and in groups. There were many touching
scenes of farewell because numerous
friendships had been formed and bonds
of goodwill and affection forged. The
delegates had obviously enjoyed their stay
in Ceylon. The programme arranged for
them had been exacting, but they had
gone through it with cheerfulness and a
sense of the significance of the events in
which they were taking part. The
foundations had been securely laid for
unity and solidarity among Buddhists the
world over. They were going away to
their destinations carrying with them to
their compatriots a message of
brotherliness from their fellow-Buddhists
and determination that Buddhists, who
formed one-fifth of the whole human race,
should do their utmost in the cause of
peace and happiness.
The Conference of the World
Fellowship of Buddhists was a most
memorable occasion. It marked the
beginning of another epoch in the long
and glorious history of Buddhism. The
Buddha Dhamma is once more on the
march. In the past its progress had always
meant contentment and prosperity, the
awakening of the highest in men and

women, the growth of culture, the spread

of enlightenment. The world is in a mood
of expectancy, awaiting a new message
that would bring solace to humanity,
weary of stress and strife and unrest. The
delegates to the Fellowship will form the
vanguard of a mighty army whose aim
will be to spread the tidings of cheer
which the Buddha proclaimed to mankind
25 centuries ago. Thus alone will the
world be saved from the holocaust of
misery and suffering which threatens it
from all sides and a new era dawn of
harmony and happiness. Such was the
very successful Inaugural Conference of
the World Fellowship of Buddhists.
The Second Convention
A World Buddhist Conference was
held at Hirosaki from 3rd to 5th May 1952
and Burma sent a Delegation consisting
of Thado Maha Thray Sithu U Chan
Htoon, U Kyin Thein and U Tun Lwin.
A second Convention of the World
Fellowship of Buddhists is being held in
Japan for about a fortnight from
September 25th,1952. The arrangement
is for the W.F.B. Convention to form part
of the International Buddhist Conference
which is being held under the auspices of
the Buddhist Council of Japan, the
Chairman of which is the well-known
scholar and priest, Dr. Makoto Nagai. This
is the first time since 1935 that an
international Buddhist Conference is
being held in Japan and this years
ceremony is doubtless unique for Japan
in that for the first time delegates will
attend not only from Asian countries but
from other parts of the world as well.
Invitations have already been issued
direct by the Buddhist Council of Japan
and also by the Headquarters of the W.F.B.
in Ceylon. These delegates will be given

55
hospitality during their stay in Japan and
arrangements will he made for their travel
in Japan itself to Buddhist shrines and
meetings organized by the Conference.
In addition to these delegates, facilities
are also being provided for a certain
number of others representing Buddhist
organizations in different countries to
participate in the Conference.
One of the chief aims of the
Convention is to make the Buddhists of
the Mahyna and the Theravda
countries better acquainted with each
other, so that they may discuss common
interests and draw up plans in
collaboration for making the Teachings
of the Buddha known throughout the
world. They will also discuss ways and
means of making Buddhists better
followers of the Teachings of the Master.
Hopes For The Future
The third Convention is to be held in
Burma in 1954 and this will coincide with
the Chaha Sangayana, the Sixth Great
Buddhist Council for examination and
recension and translations of the Pli Texts.
The inaugural meeting of the Chaha
Sangayana will take place on the Visakha
The layman who holds to the
Teaching will not be addicted to
strong drink. He will never invite
anyone to drink, neither will he
approve of drinking in another,
since he knows that all ends in
madness. For, following upon
drunkenness, fools fall into vice and
induce others to drink. Men should
shun this haunt of all evil, this
madness, this foolishness, in which
only the witless find delight.
Dhammika Sutta.

Day of 2498 B.E. (Full moon day of May

1954) and will continue till the Visakha
Day of 2500 B. E. (the full moon day of
May 1956). Thus the bi-annual World
Fellowship of Buddhists Conference
which is scheduled to take place in Burma
in 1954 is also timed in such a way that
the delegates attending the Conference will
have the opportunity of participating in
the inaugural meeting of the Sangayana.
Since the Chaha Sangayana will be
held as a joint undertaking and with the
cooperation of the Buddhist people of the
world, The Buddha Sagha, the
Government, and the people of Burma
offer to all the Buddhist countries and the
Buddhist peoples of the world their
collaboration from beginning to end.
Burma is already preparing for the
Chaha Sangayana which will be of great
historic importance and a memorable
landmark of the great Buddhist Revival
and we hope and expect that from this
the whole of the Buddhist World will go
on from strength to strength, from purity
to purity, from Insight to higher levels of
Insight in its struggle, towards
enlightenment and immortality towards
Nibbna where alone is absolute peace.
Those in the world who are wicked;
who neglect the fulfilment of their
duties; who are slanderers and
falsifiers; dishonourable; who act like
the lowest of menof these, and not
of the mere eating of flesh, may we
utter the word unclean. Anger,
drunkenness, self-will, feigned piety,
treachery, envy, ostentation, pride and
conceit, companionship with the
unrighteousthis, and not the mere
eating of flesh, is impurity.
Amagandha Sutta.

56

Two Prime Ministers, leaders of Buddhism as well as leaders of their countries: The late
Honble D.S. Senanayake who was Ceylons leader until his tragic death by accident
early this year, and U Nu, Honble Prime Minister of Burma.

Dr. Malalasekera, President of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, at Mingaldon

(Burma) airport. Garland was presented by Thado Maha Thray Sithu U Chan Htoon
(left), Attorney-General, Burma, and President of Burma Regional Centre of the WFB.

57

A Sermon delivered to students at Rangoon University

by U Lokanatha a Buddhist Monk formerly an Italian
Roman Catholic
I am going to preach on a variety of
subjects connected with Buddhism, the
super science of the atomic age. I am
always happy in a University because I
remember the time when I was in a
University myself in America. And
recently I have just returned from three
and a half years survey around the world,
in which I have addressed thousands of
American students in the University of
Michigan, in the University of Chicago,
in the North Western University of
Minnesota, and in the Hamline University.
The world is on the brink of sudden
world destruction. No power on earth can
save the world except the beneficent rays
of the sublime BUDDHA DHAMMA.
Unless the people agree to destroy or
attenuate Greed, Hatred and Delusion
there is no hope. Materialism spells
destruction. Buddhism spells Salvation.
Buddhism is the eternal truth and never
grows old. It remains fresh like a fullblown lotus for all times. Ages may come
and ages may go, but the incomparable
BUDDHA DHAMMA lasts forever. Other
religions are a few thousand years old,
but Buddhism is timeless. Philosophy
What is philosophy? It is the search for
truth. Who is the Supreme truth- finder?
Our Exalted Buddha. How did he find the
truth? By paying the price for it. What is
the price for truth? Renunciation.
Renunciation. What is renunciation?
Renunciation of unreality. Life consists
of thoughts and only thoughts. Where is
your past? The past is gone. Where is your
future? The future is not here. Where is
the present? The word present is too long.

We cannot finish saying the present

before it has already passed. Then you
are in the flying thoughts and there can
be certainly no permanent self in the
fleeting thoughts. To renounce the dream
is not difficult once you realise that life is
a dream and one who renounces the
dream finds himself awakened. What is
ultimate truth? Ultimate truth is that which
never changes. What is untruth? Untruth
is that which changes. Truth and love go
together. Truth gives love, love gives
beauty. What is ugliness? Ugliness is
hatred. Buddhism the religion of truth and
love, has given rise to the highest beauty
in the world. Love and lust are near
enemies. One who practises METT
BHVAN, the meditation of boundless
love, must be careful that his love does
not degenerate into lust. One must
continually keep his mind on Death and
practise Meditation on gradual decay of
a dead body in order to destroy lust. That
is the way to keep away lust by realising
that everything is foul. The body inspite
of all human efforts to beautify and
bedeck it, living or dead, is intensely foul
if we see it as it really is. So those who
love life love foulness and those who love
Nibbna love the beautiful the supremely
lovely. What is the difference between
selfish love and selfless love? The
difference is that selfish love involves
me, mine and myself. Selfless love
is beyond the notion of a separate self.
Even worldly love which you find
everywhere is inherently selfish. Because
the self always enters into such forms of
love, but the real selfless love is pure love,

58
boundless love and infinite love where
the self never enters. How do we practise
boundless selfless love? We practise
loving kindness by realising that patience
is the highest asceticism. We must hear
and forbear with boundless love. We must
remember that selfless love is the highest
and selfish love the lowest. We must send
out thoughts of love, sitting, lying down,
standing or walking. This form of love,
this state of mind and heart is the finest
and greatest in the world. We begin
suffusing friends with love, then the
neutral, then the enemy. If we have no
enemy so much the better. If we have an
enemy we must change him into a friend.
How do we do so? We must reflect within
ourselves. With whom am I angry? Am I
angry with the body, nails, teeth, flesh,
bone, marrow, heart, liver, spleen? These
parts of the body are unconscious
impersonal matter. Am I angry with the
hair, with the air, water, fire, space? Am I
angry with the enemy of the past, the
present or the future? The future is not
here. Am I angry with the enemy of the
present? When we say present it is already
past. Then, with whom am I angry? Am I
angry with the flying thought of the
moment? It is impossible because the
flying thought of the moment is a force
and a form of energy like electricity
Electricity is impersonal and all forms
of energy are impersonal. How can the
impersonal be angry with the impersonal?
For thinking philosophically anger dies
and the enemy becomes a friend.
We must think of how the Buddha
during infinite past lives gave His eyes,
gave the flesh of His body and never
became angry and what He did we ought
to do, being the followers of such a Great
Master. For, if all our philosophical
attempts fail, then we must apply the

practical method the offering of a gift.

We approach the enemy and say, My
friend, here is a little gift. Take it. By his
taking the gift we will become friends and
become happy. When he takes the gift all
anger dies even the anger of the previous
births. And then he becomes your friend.
You suffuse him with love as a friend.
Love is equable with equal love for
the friend, the neutral, the enemy and
yourself; when the love is equal the
barriers are destroyed. There are no
frontiers of self. The heart expands
because boundless, cosmic, unlimited and
infinite love plunges us immediately into
ecstasy the absorption of the first stage
of Meditation of boundless love and we
immediately partake of the eleven
wonderful advantages of boundless,
selfless, loving kindness, that is to say,
we sleep happily, wake happily, see no
evil dreams. We are beloved by Devas
and by humans. Neither fire nor poison
nor sword can make their way to us. Our
complexion is serene, we are lovely to
behold, beautiful and sweet all over,
charming through boundless love. Our
thoughts are easily composed. We pass
away unbewildered and if we do not
attain Supreme Nirvana, we go to Brahma
Loka happy here, happy hereafter. These
are the eleven wonderful advantages of
boundless, selfless, loving kindness. So
by attaining the First Stage one enjoys the
happiness of Brahma Loka right here and
now, and not after death as they do in
other religions. Because Buddhism is the
religion of the present realization and
enjoyment. It does not postpone the
attainment to a future life.
We have spoken on boundless,
selfless love. Now, we are going to speak
on Buddhism and Materialism which is
the opposite of boundless, selfless love.

59
You have heard so much now-a-days
about materialistic ideologies. Let us
scientifically investigate to find out exactly
where we stand and what is the difference
between scientific Buddhism and
unscientific Materialism. Well, the first
point which comes to our mind is the
thought that materialism declares that all
men are equal. As you all know this is a
fallacy because there is no human
equality in the world. Each and every
individual is the sum total of all his actions
of the infinite past and since each one of
us performs different actions every
minute, we cannot be the same. There are
no two individuals alike because no two
individuals have performed the same
actions in the infinite past. We all act
differently, our actions make us what we
are and therefore different actions have
made us different individuals. The
scientific law declares that action and
reaction are equal and opposite. To give
is to receive, not to give is not to receive.
Why are people rich? Because they were
generous. Why are people poor? Because
they were stingy in the past. Hatred is the
cause of ugliness. We can prove it on a
laboratory table, because, if you take a
handsome man and you give him a good,
hard blow, when he does not expect it,
well, his body will be transformed into
ugliness after receiving the hard blow
because he becomes angry and ugly at
the same time. So you see how anger gives
rise to ugliness. But, on the other hand,
take a young person preferably let
us say a young lady who is homely to
behold. If she practises boundless, selfless
love METT BHVAN her
homeliness will be transmuted into charm
through METT BHVAN because
charm is not something physical. Charm
is something mental. It is the charming

heart which radiates outwards giving

charm all over. If one is charming within
one becomes charming without because
love attracts and hatred repels. If one
wants many friends and if one wants to
be popular, let him love. A great lover is
beloved by all. Beauty comes from loving
kindness and ugliness comes from hatred.
Every effect comes from a cause and
people are different on account of
different actions in the past as well as in
the present.
Materialism is intrinsically unscientific
and to prove it again, materialism says,
once a man is dead, he is dead he is
finished. There is no rebirth. When such
materialism claims to be scientific, it is
most utterly unscientific and untrue. How
do we know that there is life after death?
What is the scientific basis of Rebirth?
How do we know there is Rebirth? You
know very well that according to the law
of Physics, the fundamental law is the law
of Conservation of Energy. Energy can
neither be created nor destroyed. It can
only be transformed from one form into
another. This is the fundamental law of
Physics conservation of Energy. What
happens when a man dies? When a man
dies earth returns to earth as you all
know, water returns to water, air returns
to air, fire to fire, space to space.
We agree on this point; but is that all?
That is the question. What happens to the
dying mans craving force? Now please
do not tell me that his craving force simply
evaporates at the time of death and goes
into nothingness. Please do not tell me
that because that would be defying the
fundamental law of Physics and please
remember that the craving force is one of
the strongest forces in existence. The
craving force is stronger than electricity.

60
Just as electricity persists as a force,
craving force must exist as a force.
Whether it is mental force or physical
force a force is a force. The mental
force which can create an Atomic and
Hydrogen bomb is no mean force. The
craving force is the most potent force in
the universe and that force at the time of
death must follow the law of the
conservation of Energy like all other
forces. According to Physics a force once
it is liberated will always go on as a force
until it meets an opposite and equal force
to neutralize. That is Physics. We must be
purely scientific and tackle scientific
questions in a scientific way. Very well,
since a force will always go on as a force
forever until and unless it meets its equal
and opposite force to neutralize it, the
same thing applies to the craving force
which is liberated by a human being. It is
only when a human being by means of
MORALITY (Sla), CONCENTRATION
(Samdhi), INSIGHT (pa) can develop
an equal and opposite non-craving force
before he dies, if he can develop an equal
and opposite non-craving force to
neutralise his craving force then and then
alone will there be no Rebirth for him.
Therefore to destroy Rebirth we must
develop before death or even at the
time of death, though it may be too late at
the time of death, an equal and opposite
non-craving force by means of morality,
concentration and insight develop and
bring into being an equal and opposite
non-craving force which will completely
neutralize our craving force. Then and
then alone once the craving force is
completely neutralized is there no Rebirth,
only then, is there nothing to be reborn.
Nibbna has been attained, and you are
free from the rounds of transmigration
forever. But as a rule, most human beings

are not so fortunate as to develop this

equal and opposite non-craving force
before they die. The result is that the
craving force goes on its way and takes
Rebirth. There is Rebirth for most
individuals, that is to say, for every
individual who does not attain Arahatship.
There is Rebirth, amid Materialism
which says there is no Rebirth.
Materialism which says Let us eat,
drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
that cancels all this materialism is
extremely unscientific and it violates the
fundamental law of Physics the Law
of the conservation of Energy. What is
the aim the highest aim of materialism?
Well, the highest aim of materialism is to
give man a form of pleasure which is
wholly based on the six senses only
sensual pleasure and nothing more. That
is the only aim of materialism and nothing
higher than that. In other words, the aim
of materialism is to reduce man to the
status of an animal, because animals also
enjoy the pleasures of the senses and
nothing more. And since there is no
permanence in anything Materialism
cannot realise this aim, which is another
evidence of the unscientific basis of
Materialism.
But Buddhism gives forms of
happiness which are much higher than the
lowest pleasure the pleasure of the
senses. In the first stage of Meditation
the first absorption, Buddhism gives the
form of happiness which brings you in
the realm of the temporary Heaven. You
enjoy the same happiness even on this
earthly plane as Brahma Loka in the first
Stage which everybody can attain if he
tries. And that is not the only pleasure that
Buddhism gives. Buddhism gives you the
pleasure of the 2nd Stage, the 3rd Stage

61
and the 4th Stage and each pleasure is
infinitely higher than the preceding
pleasure. When you go into the 4th Stage,
you get the psychic powers.
That is not the only pleasure that
Buddhism gives.
It goes much higher than that to the
Formless Stage, that is to say, pleasure of
the realm of infinite consciousness, the
pleasure of the realm of nothingness, the
pleasure of nothingness, the pleasure of
the realm of neither perception nor yet
non-perception. And then finally, the
absorption of cessation the highest
pleasures of all where the four intoxicants,
the cankers of lust, of clinging to
existence, of speculation and of ignorance
are destroyed. Nirvana is attained
which is the paramount Good the
highest happiness of all.
While Buddhism leads from happiness
to happiness, materialistic ideology
plunges man into the animal state of
sensuality beastly pleasures and
nothing more than beastly pleasures.
Materialism degrades man to the brute
state while Buddhism elevates man into
divine state and finally enables man to
attain NIBBNA. That is the highest
reality of unchangeable TRUTH which is
the highest happiness forever and ever
where being fully awakened becoming
has ceased and one has attained the state
where he has finally become. No more
becoming in Nibbna. He has become
once and for all and forever. He has
become what? Become Reality.
Therefore you see the difference
between Buddhism and Materialism. This
is the comparison between Materialism
and our Supreme Buddha, the Man above
God. And what man has attained, man can
attain. Each one of us can become a

Buddha if we follow the example of the

Supreme Buddha.
So to summarize, what do we find? We
find that in their Materialistic regime the
individual must sacrifice himself. He
becomes a slave to the state. In a
materialistic regime men become slaves
to their senses slavery to the senses,
slavery to the State mental slavery.
There is no freedom of thought in a
materialistic regime. Hence materialism
is the opium of the masses of the people.
Materialism for the masses of the people
is the opium, that is my own slogan.
Science is the best instrument to defeat
materialism. Materialism offers three
forms of slavery: slavery to a totalitarian
state where man is zero and the state is
everything, slavery of the mind where
man has no freedom to think and slavery
through the senses where man becomes
an animal. These are three forms of
slavery under the Materialistic Regime.
And Buddhism saves us from all forms
of slavery.
So away with Materialism and up with
Buddhism! The Materialistic ideology is
opium, only Buddhism can give the
spiritual nourishment can give peace
and joy to a sorrow-stricken world.
Boundless, selfless, loving kindness
solves the problem between capital and
labour and gives peace. Said our Lord
Buddha, All worldly beings are
lunatics. Materialism offers only
sensuality as the goal and sensuality gives
strife, contention and war. Misery is the
only goal of materialism and materialism
falsely promising happiness is the real
opium and power loving dictators and
their sycophants offer this opium for their
own selfish gain.
Materialistic ideology will always fail
because it wants to extract happiness out

62
of Anicca, Dukkha and Anatt, out of
Transiency, Suffering and Insubstantiality.
If we squeeze an orange what do we get?
Orange juice. If we squeeze the world
what do we get? Anicca, Dukkha, Anatt.
Out of a world of Dukkha you can only
get Dukkha and nothing more and if you
want Sukha happiness you will have
to renounce the world of Dukkha to get
Nibbna the paramount Good.
That is the only way and there is no
other way. And when materialists promise
to give you happiness out of a world of
suffering do not believe them. Because it
is impossible to get happiness out of a
world whose characteristic is Dukkha.
An orange, remember, exists only on
account of its properties. Without
properties there is no orange. And the
world also exists on account of its
properties. Without its properties there
would have been no world. What are the
properties of the world... transiency,
suffering and insubstantiality and these
are the only things you can get out of the
Universe. You cannot get more out of the
Universe and therefore since the world
can only give transiency, suffering and
insubstantiality do not believe
materialists who promise to give you
happiness where there is no happiness in
the world. Because happiness is not one
of the properties of the world. The
property of the world is suffering and it
can only give suffering which can be
conquered by Insight. If you want
happiness you must renounce the world
(acquire enlightenment) as our Lord
Buddha did and attain Nibbna because
the absence of suffering is Nibbna. The
absence of darkness is light. The absence
of non-reality is reality. The absence of
untruth is Truth. The world is darkness of
untruth and Nibbna is the light of Truth

Reality. Just as a doctor to attain a cure

for the patient must remove the cause of
the disease, so to destroy suffering we
must destroy the cause of suffering.
Materialists never try to destroy the real
cause of suffering. They never try to
destroy Craving. Therefore how can they
ever get happiness without removing the
cause of unhappiness. See, how
unscientific the materialists are. But our
Lord Buddha, the great physician of the
world, scientifically shows the way to
remove the cause, Craving and by
removing the cause of unhappiness the
result is happiness.
The only reliable Guide is the Greatest
Physician in the Universe who removed
his own cause of unhappiness who
destroyed his Craving and attained the
highest happiness through the destruction
of the cause of unhappiness. Economic
ways will never give happiness because
economics never destroy Greed, Hatred
and Ignorance. Each one must attain his
own happiness within himself; each man
must be a physician to himself. Only by
conquering the passions, which burn
within can one attain the cool state where
there is no longer any burning. There is
no fire like lust, our Lord Buddha said. It
is the fiercest of all fires. And those who
think that burning is a pleasure, well, they
can go on burning. They can go on
burning because our Lord Buddha said
that the fires of lust are the fiercest fires.
And we have been burning from the
infinite past and we will go on burning to
the infinite future until and unless we
extinguish the flame by means of the
water of Truth and by withholding the fuel.
Adding water of Truth and withholding
the fuel. Withhold what fuel? It is the fuel
for the fires of passions. We must see
without attachment. We must listen

63
philosophically seeing and knowing
things as they really are without
attachment. And once we see, we smell,
we taste, we hear, we touch and we think
without attachment, then, we are using the
senses as our Lord Buddha used the senses
as the Master and not as a slave. He
used the senses without clinging. This
divine detachment withholds the fuel
from the senses and by withholding the
fuel the fires die.
The Universe was not created once
upon a time. The Universe is being
created every fraction of a second. As
soon as creation ceases, the Universe
vanishes. Creation is purely subjective. I
am forever creating my world millions of
times every fraction of a second by my
own craving rooted in ignorance, and you
also are creating your world millions of
times every fraction of a second by your
craving rooted in ignorance. Let us try to
stop creating the world. You know the
potter. He goes on turning the Potters
Wheel and why does the wheel turn ?
Because his finger is on the wheel. But
if he removes his finger from the wheel,
the wheel will finally cease to turn. We,
like the Potter, are turning the wheel of
Existence by our craving rooted in
ignorance. Let us remove the finger from
the wheel. Let us stop turning the wheel
and once we cease to turn the wheel,
Existence will begin to stop for each of
us. And the sooner we lift the finger from
the wheel, the better it will be for us.
Buddhism is self-research. What is the
aim of life? The aim of life is the
attainment of happiness through the
development of noble character and only
Buddhism will make us attain the highest
aim of life which is the attainment of
happiness through development of
character. Buddhism teaches how to attain

peace within. While Buddhism makes the

individual paramount, Materialism
degrades the individual and makes him a
cog in the wheel. Therefore, let us keep
our dignity and let us not degenerate.
You know, a certain Dr. Yang once
wrote me a letter in which he raised the
question, Venerable Sir! Please let me
know in what way Buddhism is supreme?
Tell me why is Buddhism the only real
Truth! So, I replied as follows : My dear
Dr. Yang, Buddhism is the finest religion
in the world because it gives Nibbna, the
supreme deliverance, right here and now.
I say that Buddhism makes the world
a lovely place to live in because boundless
love is its beauty.
Let us work for the spread of
Buddhism so that the world may become
a lovely place to live in through boundless
love.
Buddhism is the only religion which
has The Four Noble Truths and the Noble
Eightfold Path. Buddhism is what you
need because it teaches non-existence of
an enduring Ego. All things are transitory,
fraught with suffering and insubstantial;
renouncing that which has as qualities
transiency, suffering and insubstantiality
and one attains the highest Reality of
Supreme Nibbna which is one
unchangeable Truth.
Buddhism is the only religion which
teaches the cause of change and of
origination. All things derive from a
cause. All things cease from a cause.
And Buddhism is the only religion
which really destroys suffering, it is the
only religion rather the system of Noble
and Absolute Truths interpreted by a
supremely Enlightened Buddha and
followed completely by its perfect
Arahats. All other founders of religions

64
are only quacks because they could
not cure themselves much less could
they cure others.
All the theories that we find in science
are superseded by fresh theories and they
are always making fresh theories and the
old are overthrown, as you will all know
because scientists are not Arahats. They
are still bound, circumscribed by Greed,
Hatred and Delusion these three so
they have not seen Reality, they have not
attained the highest Truth. They can only
speculate and theorise while in Buddhism
there are no theories because the Buddha
was a seer. One who saw. He did not
speculate, he did not theorise. Every word
he uttered is the Highest Truth and
Buddhism has never been changed during
the 2500 years of its existence. How can
the Truth be changed? It is impossible.
Realisation, not mere intellectual
gymnastics is the criterion of spiritual
success.
Our Exalted Buddha is the only
scientist who solved the Riddle of the
Universe. He solved the riddle of the
Universe by realising that the Universe is
Unreal. And by renouncing unreality, he
woke up from the dream state. And while
the world dreams on and on, the Buddha
stops dreaming forever. The Buddha first
destroyed his own Greed, Hatred and
Ignorance and he taught others how to
destroy their Greed, Hatred and
Ignorance.
PART II
When a doctor sees a patient he first
makes sure that the patient is sick that
he is not make-believing with a fantastic
imaginary disease; and then when he
knows that the patient is really sick, he
tries to find the cause. Remove the cause
and the patient is cured. So the Buddha,

in the same way, realised that the whole

universe is suffering; that the cause of
suffering is craving. He said, Remove
the cause and the effect will automatically
disappear. And then he showed how to
destroy craving by walking on the Noble
Eightfold Path. He gave the finest
prescription the world has ever seen.
Buddhism is the Path. The finest Path. It
is a practical doctrine and we must walk
on the Path and not merely admire the
Path. If the patient merely admires a bottle
of medicine Quinine mixture he will
never get cured. He should gulp it down.
I have never seen anybody admiring
quinine mixture, but nevertheless, simply
looking at the bottle, admiring the label,
or anything else will not cure the patient.
He has to drink it; then he will get cured:
whether he admires or he does not admire
makes no difference. The chief thing is
to gulp it down, then only will the
medicine work. So we must walk on the
path. By walking on the path one will
attain peace.
Once in America after preaching to the
High School students at Anne Harbour,
Michigan, on Good Friday, Can you
imagine I was invited to preach on Good
Friday one boy asked me the question,
Is it possible to practise Buddhism without
renouncing Christianity? I said to him,
Dont worry. Simply walk on the Noble
Eightfold Path. If you walk on the Noble
Eightfold Path everything will take cave
of itself but, do walk on the Noble
Eightfold Path. No matter what label you
keep. It makes no difference. Walk on the
Path! That is the chief thing!
A materialist ideology, as I told you
before makes the world an ugly place to
live in with its hatred and process of
extermination. Mett solves the problem

65
between capital and labour and gives
peace. Capital should love Labour and
Labour should love Capital and by mutual
love they will serve each other and both
will be happy. Like the organs of the body.
If the organs were to fight one another in
a body we would not live long; but, by
co-operating, the heart co-operating with
the lungs, the lungs co-operating with the
liver and the liver co-operating with the
spleen if all the organs work
harmoniously that is health.
Now the whole world is diseased. Yes,
the whole world is sick because the organs
are upside down warring with each other.
So let us make peace with each other all
over the world. Then, there will be
happiness through boundless love
because love is a divine lubricant which
removes the friction of the machinery and
makes the machinery run very smoothly
indeed.
What is the core of Buddhism? The
Four Noble Truths. That is the core of
Buddhism. One must practise continual
awareness in Buddhism. Science is based
on observation and experiment.
Buddhism is also based on observation
and experiment but, it leads to realisation
and science does not lead to realisation.
The true Buddhist observes, experiments
and realises.
There is no rest for a Buddhist till he
attains Nibbna. The true Buddhist is a
subjective experimentalist, forever trying
to know himself. And how can a man
whose whole world is aflame lay himself
down to rest. Therefore, in Buddhism
there is ceaseless activity. Those who say
that Buddhism is the religion of laziness
are talking through their hats because
Buddhism teaches the utmost diligence.
Through zeal the goal is attained. Work

out your own salvation with diligence.

These were the last words of the Buddha.
We must try, with might and main to
escape from the prison house of existence.
That is the core of Buddhism to escape
forever and attain Reality. Buddhism is
the only religion which has shown in a
scientific way how to escape from the
prison house. The Exalted Buddha taught
one thing and one thing alone. Just as
the ocean has one Taste the taste of
salt so Buddhism has one taste, the taste
of deliverance.
How can the teaching of deliverance
be dubbed as pessimism? We must accept
Buddhism which gives supreme
deliverance in this very life itself which
is laboratory proof. In America they want
everything tested on a laboratory table.
Very well, our Buddha also tested
Buddhism on a laboratory table by
attaining Nibbna and Arahatship in his
very lifetime. So you see it leads to
practical results attainable in this very life
and such attainment is proof in itself that
Buddhism is Reality because it gives
Reality in this very life time, not after
death. Other religions cannot prove
themselves with practical results in this
life time. Buddhism is the only religion
which gives the highest proof right here
and now. Ehi passika (Come and see
for yourself) the Buddha said.
Buddhism is scientific because it can be
tested right here.
There are two kinds of religion: one
kind of religion is based on rites and
ceremonies. It is based on blind faith a
kind of religion which has many dogmas,
sacraments, hocus pocus. But there is
another kind of religion which is based
on pure knowledge alone and that is
Buddhism. Buddhism is pure knowledge

66
and nothing else but pure Knowledge.
And who can reject pure Knowledge? So
Buddhism is for the Wise. I grant that a
religion based on rites, ceremonies, blind
faith, dogmas, hocus pocus, sacraments
etc. might be a form of opium while
Buddhism which is based on pure
Knowledge that is Bliss Highest
Bliss.
What is life? Life is a process of
continual becoming. We are forever
becoming. Let us stop becoming forever.
What is man? Man is a bundle of factors
bound together by craving rooted in
ignorance. That is man. Now, how do we
explain the Four Noble Truths in terms of
these factors? the grasping factors.
Well, the 1st Noble Truth is that to have
the factors of grasping is suffering. The
cessation of the factors is the cessation of
suffering. And the way to the cessation
of the factors is the way leading to the
cessation of suffering. Now science
without morality spells destruction. You
know very well that science is a kind of
Frankensteins monster, a great monster
evolved by man. And now, unfortunately,
the very monster which man has created
has become more powerful than man
himself. Man can no longer control the
monster which he created. The scientists
are forever saying now on the radio,
in the magazines, in the newspapers
We are afraid. Why? Because we can
no longer control the science which we
have created. And why? Because science
is like a great locomotive. The engineer
cannot control the locomotive anymore.
The locomotive is going to plunge over
the precipice destroying the driver and
everybody. Scientists have invented the
atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb. And
now they cannot control the use of these
things. The craving is so strong. The only

brake which can control these things is

Morality Only the Five Buddhist
Precepts side by side with Science can give
happiness to mankind. Only this morality
can act as a brake to prevent man from
destroying the world. Science alone
would destroy the world but science plus
Buddhist morality will save the world and
make the people happy. So let us practise
this morality and thereby save the world
from destruction.
If we could place a copy of the
Dhammapada in the hands of every
human being in the world there would be
no World War No. III. It was the
Dhammapada which completely changed
my life. I became a Buddhist by reading
the Dhammapada, and if everybody will
read this book there will be no World War
III, no World War IV or any more wars
because this is the book which teaches
you to become sane and how to avoid
insanity.
The Buddha started with a clean slate
like an experimentalist without any
preconceived ideas. He sincerely left his
fellows his wife and son, and went into
the forest, struggled like a real warrior
he was a Khattiya a fighter by birth
and by fighting on the battle field against
Temptation, he won victory and attained
Buddhahood. He was an experimentalist,
he was willing to test everything himself
and after six years of self-mortification
he renounced this method when he saw
that it was useless and gained Nibbna
by following the Middle Path. So
therefore Buddha is the supreme
experimentalist of the Universe who really
got realisation after paying the highest
price.
In the Pahna, Buddhism teaches
Relativity, the highest relativity, three

67
thousand pages of Pli text, can you
imagine, of relativity? You see selfresearch is the highest research. There are
people doing research into all Science
based on recent developments of the
theory of Relativity; electrical research,
etymological research, astronomical
research and all kinds of researches but
only when we know ourselves do we
know everything. Looking outside one
sees nothing. If we look inside, that is the
only way to find who we are. Know
yourself and you know everything. But
some people want to know everything
except themselves, clinging to everything
except themselves. But in Buddhism we
believe we are always developing
Sakhras tendencies and we must
take care to avoid bad Sakhras which
we develop when we cling to things.
You know there were once two
ascetics. These two ascetics were
mentioned in the Majjhima Nikya. There
was a dog ascetic and a cow ascetic. What
do we mean by a dog ascetic? Well, you
see, in India at that time there were
ascetics performing various forms of
asceticism hoping to conquer themselves
thereby. So one thought that by acting like
a dog, living like a dog, as a form of selfmortification
he
would
attain
enlightenment. So he walked on all-fours
and he ate with his mouth on the ground.
Actually as he lived he began thinking
like a dog, acting like a dog but thinking
that he was going nearer to Nibbna.
And the cow ascetic also he lived
with the cows, walked on all-fours and to
show that he was a cow ascetic he had on
the horns which he had taken from some
dead cow and he wore them on his head
so that people would know that he was a
cow ascetic. And he wore the tail also of
a cow.

Both these ascetics went to the Buddha

and the cow ascetic said. O Lord a man
acting like a cow, behaving like a cow
etc. What is his destiny after death? Where
will he go? Lord Buddha said, Dont ask
me that question. But on the persistence
of his questioner, answered, He who acts
like a cow, behaves and thinks like a cow,
walks with cows develops the
tendencies of cows when he dies he will
be reborn as a cow if he is lucky if he is
unlucky he will go to hell.
That is the highest goal he would attain
birth as a cow. Then the cow ascetic
began weeping when he heard these
words. The Buddha said, Didnt I tell you
not to ask this question? He said, I am
not weeping because you answered the
question correctly. I am weeping because
I was cheated by my elders who told me
that by performing such austerities. I will
get Nibbna. Similar advice was given
to a Dog Ascetic who performed the
austerity of living like a dog. This ascetic
then said, I am ready to renounce the
world. Accept me into the Order.
The Dog Ascetic became a Buddhist
monk and in no long time attained
Arahatship. And now remember well that
it is starvation, spiritual starvation which
is the cause of misery in the world, and it
is spiritual nourishment which will give
the highest happiness. The world suffers
because it takes material food everyday
but takes spiritual food once in a blue
moon. If you take the right spiritual
nourishment every day you will all attain
Nibbna very quickly indeed.
The sky is in flames, the earth is in
flames, the water is in flames, the mind is
in flames all are in flames. So let us be
at peace with ourselves and the whole
world. War is the effect of a cause. We

68
Buddhists are not interested in effects. But
we are interested in the cause of War so
that we may destroy the cause and attain
world peace. What is the cause of War?
Internal fire is the cause of the external
fire. War is fire. The Exalted Buddha said
the six senses are burning. So to destroy
War we must extinguish the fire of senses.
Man is at war with himself. Then there is
national war, international war, global war
and all kinds of war. Only when we attain
peace within can we enjoy peace without.
So each man must police himself by
himself; no man can police another. We
extinguish the flames by adding the water
of Truth, by taking spiritual nourishment.
We extinguish the flames by withholding
the fuel seeing dispassionately,
smelling, tasting, touching, thinking
dispassionately. That is the way A
Universal Fire Brigade is required to
quench the raging flames of this universal
fire. Hence the Urgent need of Buddhist
Dhammaduta to the world. We must be a
Fire Brigade roaming all over the world
extinguishing the fires of lust, hatred and
delusion the Supreme Fire
Extinguisher, the incomparable Buddha
Dhamma.
And when each conquers himself and
attains peace within, there will be peace
without. There is no other way. They may
evolve this method and that method, they
may evolve a thousand different methods
but they will always fail as they have
always failed. If you study history what
do you find? Nothing but one war
following another war. You know what
Mussolini once said, War is continuous.
Peace is only a breathing space between
continuous warfare. So the people are
always fighting. There is never peace.
Whenever you have peace it is only makebelieve peace. Because peace is only time

for preparing for the next war and people

stop fighting only when they have no more
means to fight. If people had infinite
weapons and infinite ammunition always
ready, they would fight forever to the last
man. Remember that peace comes only
when people are thoroughly exhausted
when there are no more means to continue
fighting. The only way to produce real
peace is to make every man peaceful
to destroy violence in all its forms all over
the world. We should teach the young how
to he peaceful. We should not give them
toy soldiers and toy cannons, and give
military uniforms to the little boys,
encouraging warfare in the young. It is
that continuous strife which is going on
in the human heart which produces war
within, war without, war all over. And if
we destroy Greed, Anger and Ignorance
we get peace within, peace without and
peace all over. There is no other way. I
wonder when the world will understand
these few simple facts.
How much did the last War cost? It
must have cost millions of dollars, millions
of lives. A single stanza of the
Dhammapada if practised can prevent
World War.
Never indeed by hatred do hatreds
cease, By love alone doth hatred cease.
This is the law eternal.
This single stanza is worth more than
millions of lives because it can prevent a
World War. As a matter of fact, it can
prevent all wars, if everybody would
engrave this golden stanza in his or her
heart. It should be painted in gold and
displayed all over the world and then
perhaps, people might think a little bit of
peace. But as long as people think in terms
of war, there will always be war because
war is caused by our thoughts thoughts

69
of lust, hatred and delusion and when
each and every mans thoughts become
thoughts of love, goodwill, non-greed,
thoughts of enlightenment, then, there will
be peace. Loving kindness plays a great
part in Buddhism because it is Truth
which gives love a glorious
transmutation. Sixty perishable seconds
can be transmuted into sixty seconds of
glorious love if we practice Mett
Bhvan. You know that alchemists want
to change lead into gold. But we practise
Mett Bhvan which is better
changing lead into gold or changing
perishable time into imperishable Love?
I should think the latter is far more
precious. We are changing the changeable
into the unchangeable Mett Bhvan
love which lasts forever. And by this
glorious method your heart will one day
become full of immortal Love. And love
is indestructible. Love and Truth go
together. So, kindly enter the gymnasium,
not the gymnasium where we make our
muscles large but the gymnasium where
we expand the heart until it becomes
infinite with boundless love and this
infinite expansion of mind and heart
produces the Absorption which places us
in Brahma Loka.
What is the true philosophers Stone?
The Three Gems of Buddha, Dhamma,
Sagha, were evolved by the jewel of
thought. It is thinking the power of
thought which is the true philosophers
stone. It is the power of thought the
jewel of thought which is the true
philosophers stone because it can change
fleeting time into immortal love. It can
destroy Self. It can make one selfless. This
jewel of thought can liberate us from all
suffering. Buddhism leads to the highest
joy the Supreme Nibbna in this very life

itself. Everyone is invited to come and see

for himself how the highest is attained. It
can be tested in actual life Buddhism
is a way of living. The best proof of
Buddhism lies in realising and testing the
sublime truths which are offered in this
life itself. Just think, a mortal crawling on
the earth can taste the highest pleasures
of a Mighty God through the first stage
of Meditation and also Nibbna through
the end of ignorance. I am delighted I
became a Buddhist, overjoyed, enthused
and for that reason roam all over the
world dynamically urging others to walk
on the Noble Eightfold Path which leads
to deliverance. Self is a phantom. Self
is another Frankensteins Monster evolved
by the human brain. The self the
phantom came from craving rooted in
ignorance. From the infinite past we have
been thinking in terms of Me, Mine and
Myself With reference to the eye, with
reference to the form, with reference to
consciousness resulting from contact, the
feeling, the craving, and so the self has
grown stronger, has become great. So
from now on with reference to all
phenomenal things you must think in
terms of not Me, not Mine, not Myself.
And then gradually through Right
Mindfulness, right recollectedness,
knowing and seeing things in their true
transient, suffering, void state, we
relinquish, we let go. We detach ourselves
from all phenomenal things. We say, This
is not me, not Mine, not Myself and by
letting go, the phantom self becomes
smaller and smaller.
This is not My house, not My body. It
is transitory. What is transitory? The
phenomena Me, Myself. So we let go
and by this unique state of thinking, of
always letting go, we get into the habit

70
and finally we detach, completely detach
from external things, completely detach
from the body, detach from the mind. We
relinquish all attachment to the aggregates
of existence, the heavy load of the five
groups of grasping, matter, feeling,
perception, tendencies and consciousness
are thrown down. We no longer are
coolies carrying this heavy load of the
five aggregates. And then being relieved
of the burden, knowing that everything
is selfless we attain the state of
immortality, which is the supreme
Nibbna. This is the way to destroy the
Frankensteins monster, the phantom self
and there is no other way than that by
which one becomes a Divine Being by
purity. And this is the real God, not the
Creator, because you all know that the
Creator is ourselves, our own Craving.
That is the devil, the criminal who creates
this world of suffering. The creator is not
a God . So therefore, let us destroy
creation, let us stop creating self and then,
become selfless. We become Divine Being
because the aim of Buddhism is not to
become a Prophet of God, not to become
a son of God. The aim of Buddhism is to
become God Himself. And by God I mean
one who destroys craving and attains
Nibbna. That is the real God Divine
Being God by purity the highest,
he is the God of Gods by destroying
craving.
Now, you should practise Mett
Bhvan because that is the best way we
can practise philanthropy universal
philanthropy giving wellbeing to the
whole universe. And then, we will, in our
own humble way, try to neutralize the
fumes of hatred, the poisons of hate which
make the world such an ugly place to live
in. We should try to beautify the world

with the waves of boundless, selfless,

loving kindness. For two minutes let us
keep our backs straight, eyes half closed.
Let us not keep the eyes wide open, that
will provoke distraction. Let us not close
the eyes that may induce sleep, but
following the Middle Path, because
Buddhism is always the Middle Path
like our Lord Buddha Keep the eyes halfclosed, With back straight. Let us offer
love the waves of boundless, selfless,
loving kindness for two minutes in order
to neutralize the poison of hatred and to
make the world peaceful. This is the best
way we can exert ourselves for the world
by neutralizing hatred through boundless
love and by practising this meditation and
attaining the first Jhna one enjoys the
11 wonderful advantages right here and
enjoys the Happiness of the Mighty Gods
in this very earthly state. Let us practise
silence and boundless, loving kindness
sending our love like boundless waves to
the ends of the Universe if there is any
end. Let us make the love infinite and
suffuse every sentient being with infinite
waves, every blade of grass, with
boundless, selfless, loving kindness, and
may we all attain supreme Nibbna soon.
We offer the merit to all the Devas, all
the humans, all the ghosts, to all the
animals, to all the denizens of purgatory.
We offer the merit to all our relatives, who
are living, who have passed away, we
offer our merit to the sentient beings
throughout the whole universe. By
offering merit we receive merit. By
offering love and Truth we receive the
same. By offering joy, we receive joy.
Give happiness to all beings and all
happiness will surely come unto you.
Blessings.

71
Thoughts on the Dhamma: Excerpts from

Buddhism as World Religion

By Anagarika P. SUGATANANDA
There are many indications of an
awakening interest in Buddha Dhamma,
as a system of ethics and a philosophy in
keeping with modern thought, and
suitable for present day needs. Outside
Buddhist countries, this awareness is
showing itself in various movements for
the study and propagation of the Buddhas
teaching, and more and more thinking
people are turning towards it for a solution
of the many problems that perplex them.
To understand the diverse factors at
work in the world today, and obtain a
clear picture of the involved pattern that
life has taken, is no simple task. Often
the issues confronting the individual are
so obscure that the distinction between
right and wrong action is far from
obvious. It requires a disciplined mind,
with a firm anchorage in the unchanging
verities, as distinct from local and
contemporary fashions of thought, to
move with certainty and freedom between
the conflicting currents within and
without. A certain clearly-defined attitude
to life is essential, and it must be one that
is founded equally upon reason and
goodwill.
The present era is one of transition
and upheaval; but this is true also of every
era that has preceded it. Like everything
else, values change, and to seek for any
constancy throughout history is to seek
in vain. The sole difference lies in our
increased capacity to bring about
worldwide tragedy out of such upheaval.
The prevailing mood is one of disillusion,
scepticism and mistrust of everything

except that which can be seen and

handled. It is materialism without the
background of even a materialist
philosophy, and its cause lies in the failure
of religion to keep pace with independent
thought in the more educationally
advanced nations of the world.
Rationalism alone is only sufficient
for the small minority who are capable of
ordering their lives on an ethical basis, as
did Confucius, without enquiry into the
rationale of morality. For there is a point
beyond which reason alone will not carry
us. As Pascal has said, The final stage of
reason is to know that there is an infinity
of things that transcend it. Nevertheless,
reason must not be outraged, for to
abandon reason is to embark upon an
unexplored ocean whose farther shore is
not Truth but the fantasies of mental
derangement. This is the danger that
besets the followers of Bhakti cults,
leading them into extravagances of
conduct and belief that are repugnant to
commonsense.
It is time that we, who believe the
Buddhas middle way of Enlightenment
to contain the remedy for this centurys
ills, asked ourselves on what we base our
claim for Buddhism as universal truth and,
having examined that claim in a spirit of
impartiality, proclaimed its message with
a fearless spirit. What exactly does
Buddhism offer that other religions lack?
That is the question that must be
answered.
The value of religion shows itself
nowhere more clearly than in the

72
collective life of those who profess it.
Religion can be the most active power for
good within that life, or it can be a mere
formalised convention. In the first degree
it acts as a unifying element, in the second
it tends to split the community.
A religion, to fit the modern outlook,
must be one that does not depend upon
restriction of thought to maintain its hold
on the minds and hearts of its followers.
Despite this, the need for religion in
some form remains. So strong is it that
people are frequently driven to it by their
own intense inner craving, regardless of
the fact that in doing so they are forced to
accept dogmas that their intelligence
rejects. This in turn gives rise to further
internal conflict, which the individual has
to resolve as best he can. There are then
two alternatives open to him; one is to
strengthen himself to do without religion
altogether, which often results in a dryingup of the finer emotions and idealisms;
the other is to stifle the criticism of the
mind, and thereby commit intellectual
suicide. The position for such a person is
indeed an unhappy one. He is unable to
reconcile his spiritual needs with the
dictates of reason, and he falls victim to
mental anarchy. It is not surprising that
his state reflects itself in his life and actions
and, on a broader scale, projects itself into
the society of which he and his kind form
the majority.
But the scientific outlook has become
too firmly established to give way. There
can be no return to a mediaeval religious
dominance. What, then, is to take its
place? Philosophy, in the restricted sense
in which it is understood in the West, as
having its beginning and end in the Greek
schools and their Germanic derivatives,
is looked upon as a matter of academic

interest only. It is not thought of as having

any applicability to life as it has to be lived.
The tendency to regard all such
speculations as mere archaic survivals is
an unfortunate one, since it transfers to a
purely materialistic sphere all those
activities of the mind that have served to
elevate man, the thinking reed, of
Pascal, from a state of spiritual serfdom.
The scientific approach is itself a healthy
one, in that it takes nothing for granted. It
does not strive to make out a case to fit
some preconceived theory, but ventures
boldly upon unknown seas in quest of a
truth it dimly feels to lie somewhere
beyond the farthest horizon. What is
needed in the world to-day is a religion
or philosophy which will provide chart
and compass for the spiritual voyage; one
that will serve as a basis for conduct, yet
not attempt to confine the adventurous
mind of man within the prison walls of
superstition and mythology. The need can
be filled in all its requisites by a proper
understanding of Buddha Dhamma,
because the Buddha fostered the spirit of
enquiry in the minds of His disciples by
His frequent exhortations to accept
nothing on authority, even His own, but
to seek inwardly along the lines He
prescribed, and to test every proposition
by the principles of rationalism or right
thinking.
The Buddha preached a doctrine of
liberation, and it is notable that the ideal
of perfection He laid down is one that
teaches self-reliance above all else.
The Noble Eightfold path of Right
Understanding, Right Mindedness, Right
Action, Right Speech, Right Livelihood,
Right Effort, Right Recollectedness, and
Right Concentration is a sublime
proclamation of mans freedom to work

73
out his own destiny by means of his
Kamma, independent of the whims of a
capricious god. From the time when He
laid down the first principles of His
Doctrine in the sermon at Holy Isipatana,
to the last exhortation delivered to His
disciples before His Parinibbna, Be unto
yourselves a refuge seek no external
refuge. All compound things are
impermanent. Strive with earnestness,
the emphasis was always upon selfculture. He showed that man is elevated
to the highest pinnacle of selfresponsibility and is thereby invested with
the dignity of complete liberty to work
out his own Kammic weal or woe. The
Eightfold Path, together with the Five
Precepts of a layman, to abstain from
taking life; to abstain from theft; to abstain
from unlawful sexuality; to abstain from
harsh and untruthful speech; and to
abstain from mind- destroying intoxicants
and drugs presents a pattern of living that
for simplicity and completeness surpasses
all others. He taught the path to the
destruction of suffering, and it followed
of necessity that to refrain from the
infliction of suffering on any living thing
was a high virtue.
All tremble before the rod; all fear
death. Putting oneself in the place of
another, one should neither strike nor
slay. Dhammapada.
Universal appreciation of this truth
alone would free the world from the
nightmare oppression of war. In his Soul
of a People, H. Fielding Hall says:
There can never be a war of
Buddhism. No ravished country has ever
borne witness to the prowess of the
followers of Buddha; no murdered men
have poured out their blood on their
hearth-stones, killed in His name; no

ruined women have cursed His name to

high heaven. He and His faith are clean
of the stain of blood. He was the preacher
of the Great Peace, of love, of charity, of
compassion, and so clear is His Teaching
that it can never be misunderstood.
So clear is His Teaching that it can
never be misunderstood. There is the
stark and inescapable fact. Lord Buddha
taught without reservation and without
ambiguity. But it should not be imagined
because of this that Buddhism is a creed
of passive acceptance of evils, or of
escape from the responsibilities of living.
Far from it. In the Ten Pramits or
Supreme Perfections of Buddhism we are
presented with a virile and positive
doctrine with which to confront and
overcome the forces of evil. The Ten
Pramits
are
Charity,
Virtue,
Renunciation,
Wisdom,
Energy,
Forbearance, Truthfulness, Resolute
Determination, Loving Compassion, and
Equanimity. Many are the tales of courage
and resourcefulness given in the Buddhist
scriptures to illustrate these qualities. The
Buddha realised them all in Himself, and
by their means arrived through His own
effort at the goal of His striving. As
Bodhisatta He shared His merit with all
sentient creatures; as Buddha He
revealed, for the good of all, the path by
which He had arrived.
Avoiding all extremes, Buddha
Dhamma represents the middle Way of
sanity and self-mastery. It demands
nothing in the way of conduct that is
contrary to good sense or detrimental to
physical and mental health. The body is
important in that it is the vehicle of the
mind which alone defiles or purifies itself,
and it must function healthily as the first
essential to progress.

74
It is sometimes asserted, often by
those whose knowledge should give them
better understanding, that Buddhism is
pessimistic. This presumably arises from
its insistence upon Dukkha, Suffering, as
an essential constituent of being. But
surely no one would take so one-sided a
view of existence as to deny the
inevitabilty of suffering? Without
recognising the existence of suffering in
the world, all religions would be
superfluouslife would need no
antidote. By their very nature they seek
to give a haven from the suffering that
surrounds and threatens every living
creature. Buddhism could only be justly
accused of a pessimistic attitude if it
taught that there is no way out of the net
of suffering. But there is a way out, and
Buddhism sets it forth clearly, as being
available to everyone. Why then is
Buddhism accused of being pessimistic?
It would indeed be difficult to find any
religion, except the early paganism of
Greece, which disregarded the reality of
suffering. Suffering is all about us, and
the creed of everything being for the best,
in the best of all possible worlds may
have been satisfactory to an eighteenth
century Pangloss, but can hardly be said
to commend itself to a thoughtful man.
Yet because of this, are all those who
refuse to subscribe to the facile optimism
of Gods in his heaven, alls right with
the world to be condemned as
pessimists? There is no special virtue in
being unable to face facts.
All existence is a process of change
and becoming. Empty phenomena
continually unfold themselves before our
eyes. A true understanding of their nature,
as being transitory and without essence,
relieves the mind of craving and thus of

the suffering that arises from it. Just as

we can realise a solid object as being
composed of atoms and electrons moving
in space, because modern physics tells us
it is so, although we cannot see them, and
further can understand that in the final
analysis there is no substance in the atoms
and electrons, but only currents of pure
energy, so it is possible to realise
motivation without a motivator, objectivity
without an object. Once this is grasped,
the Buddhist doctrine of Paicca
Samuppda, or Dependent Origination,
becomes clear. There is then no need to
postulate an outside source of motivation,
or any permanent substratum behind or
within the procession of events. There is
no need to imagine a creator or a soul.
Such ideas are seen to be inconsistent with
the logic of causation, and in the
illumination of this knowledge the conflict
between science and religion comes to an
end.
Buddhism is not revealed religion. It
is the first example of the purely scientific
approach as applied to questions of the
ultimate nature of existence. The Vedas
contained the seeds of the method, but
they also had a tendency to make
unjustifiable statements about the nature
of god and the soul, and other matters that
only exist in the realm of assumption. It
was left to the Buddha to carry the system
of scientific analysis to its logical
conclusion without recourse to
dogmatising. In the religious thought of
all ages this stands out as an unique
phenomenon. The mind of the Buddha is
the sole example of an absolutely timeless
one, transcending His age and
environment in a way that none other has
done before or since. Hearing His voice
across the centuries, mystic and rationalist

75
alike recognise a kindred mind - the
thoughts of an Elder Brother of mankind,
who speaks direct to them, with a message
for their own problems, delivered in the
accents of authentic truth.
This absence of limitations of period
and locality is the prime necessity in a
religion which claims to have a universal
application. Without it no creed can
survive the onslaughts of criticism. The
Doctrines of Buddha Dhamma stand
today as unaffected by the march of time
and the growth of knowledge as when
they were first enunciated. No matter to
what lengths increased scientific
knowledge can extend mans mental
horizon, within the framework of the
Dhamma there is room for the acceptance
and assimilation of further discovery. It
does not rely for its appeal upon, the
limited concepts of primitive minds, nor
for its power upon the negation of thought.
Sakya Muni taught the doctrine of
compassion and right living as truth
capable of demonstration here and now.
He taught the necessity for dispassion, and
made its meaning clear to the point where
all who had within them the capacity for
understanding had to acknowledge it. In
propounding the unique Anatt Doctrine,
the Buddha at once placed His teaching
on a higher level than that of any other.
Buddhism alone asserts the validity
of moral values in the universe on a basis
of cause and effect, and so doing gives
them a power and reality that no theology
has succeeded in maintaining.
Revealed religions depend greatly
upon their miraculous element: by that
they stand or fall. But although the
miraculous element is present in
Buddhism also, its philosophy and ethics
are in no way dependent upon the

miraculous. Even stripped of every shred

of the so-called miraculous, the Dhamma
would still remain a complete cosmic
doctrinal system in its own right. Science
to-day is far from denying the possibility
of miracles, as it once did, but the view
of most scientific minds is that what are
known as miracles are but manifestations
of laws as yet unknown. The Buddha
Himself expounded this view: to Him
miracles were not in themselves to be
regarded as demonstrations of truth, but
showed only a mastery of little-known
powers that may be developed by the
Yogin, whatever his views. They were no
proof that their possessor was an
enlightened being. This being so, He not
only taught His Followers to be wary in
the exercise of any miraculous powers
they might acquire, but also warned others
not to be unduly impressed by such
exhibitions. Thus, whereas most other
creeds exploit their miraculous element
to the greatest possible extent, with the
intention of convincing the masses,
Buddhism treats all such things as of very
minor importance. What matters in
Buddhism is the release from Sasra,
and the method by which it is to be
attained. Even morality is only significant
in that it is an essential means to that end;
yet for this very reason the inculcation of
morality is stronger in Buddhism than in
any other faith. Buddhism recognises no
escape from the consequences of evildoing, save exertion in the sphere of
good.
The psychological system of
Buddhism is one more instance of its
many points of contact with modern
thought. Its conclusions are tending to be
confirmed more and more strikingly as
scientific investigation into the machinery

76
of consciousness progresses. Psychoanalysis has not discovered any
permanent element or unchanging
principle in human consciousness. The
Ego, on which the theory of personality
and individual survival was based, is
found to be non-existent. All that can be
traced is a succession of mental states, a
continuum formed of progressions
supervening upon, and conditioned by,
one another, and subject to modification
by all kinds of internal and external
influences. As in physics, the static
concept has given way to the dynamic,
and the process is a parallel one. Nowhere
is there evidence of any permanent reality
behind the phenomena, or any cause other
than that existing in the nature of change
from one state to another. In view of this
it is inevitable that the Buddhist
interpretation of causality must prevail. It
is the only one that satisfactorily fits the
facts as we know them. At the same time
it provides the much-needed incentive
towards well-directed effort and universal
good-will without which civilisation must
perish.
It has been rightly said that
Buddhism of all religions is the farthest

removed from paganism; in other words,

it contains the civilised qualities in a more
marked degree than any other.
Compassion and self-control are the
insignia of the civilised man; absence of
greed, and knowledge of the true nature
of impermanent things are what
distinguish him from the savage. All faiths
to some extent teach these truths, but in
Buddhism alone is to be found their
complete fulfilment.
The highest doctrine cannot be
realised by all at the same time, but
through elimination of the obstacles of
ignorance and attachment to self it may
be attained ultimately by everyone. In this
sense Buddhism knows neither
distinctions nor superiorities. Only
according to a mans attainments is his
worth measured by the Buddhist.
This is the message of hope that
Buddhism offers the world, and the
Buddhist asks nothing more than that the
Doctrine should be given a hearing and
judged impartially in the light of the
highest standards of human thought. We
offer it to the world, in the sacred name
of our Lord Buddha, the Compassionate.
May the world listen and learn.

What is past,let that seem best.

Before thee let there be nothing.
And if thou wilt not grasp what lies between,
Thou shalt walk in peace.
(Book 10, Story 9, Dhammapada Commentary.)
When an angry malicious thought, a sinful and evil inclination arises
in a man, let him throw it away from him, drive it off, destroy it, make
it that it shall cease to be.
Sabbsava Sutta.

77

News of Buddhists and Buddhism.

FINLAND
We have been very glad to receive a
report from Mr. Mauno Nordberg,
Mariankatu 17 A, Helsinki, of the
Buddhismin Ystavat of Helsinki which
shows that this Buddhist group in Finland
is doing remarkably good work. With
greater financial means they would be
able to do very much more and we hope
that the finances will be forthcoming.
They have been doing a great deal of
translation and publishing and are now
appealing for financial assistance in order
to increase their Dhammaduta work.
INDIA
Under the auspices of the South India
Buddhist Association, Champion Reef,
Kolar Gold Field, the foundation for a
Baudha Vihara was laid with appropriate
ceremonial. The building is fast nearing
completion, thanks to the Dharma Duta
Samaga.
The Dhammachakka Festival was
celebrated at Mahbodhi Ashram,
Perambur, Madras.
A public meeting was also held at the
Mulagandhakuti Vihara in Holy Isipatana
in commemoration of the festival. Prof.
Agrawala of the Benares Hindu University
presided and there were a large number
of speakers. The Dhammachakkappavaana Sutta was recited by the
Sagha, who administered the Five
Precepts to the gathering after students of
the Mahbodhi Primary School had sung
Magala. The Vihara was illuminated in
the night.
Burma is looking forward to a visit
from Prof. P. V. Bapat, M.A., Ph.D.,
Professor of Pli & Buddhism, Professor

in Charge, Department of Ancient Indian

Culture, University of Poona, a great Pli
scholar and sincere Buddhist.
Buddhist Revival In India
Dr. R. L. Soni of Mandalay has
recently made a trip through India
conducting a Dhammaduta Survey and
has found the beginnings of a great revival
of Buddhism there.
INDONESIA
By special invitation, of the Chinese
community of Indonesia, Mr. G. E. de
Saram, an English-trained teacher of many
years experience, is leaving Ceylon for
Dhammaduta work in that country.
VIET NAM
Social Services: The Buddhist
Association is very active in Social
Services. The Buddhist Art-CultureLiterature Committee collected funds by
means of dramatic shows for the Buddhist
orphanage. With the help of the Ban Van
My Nghe Phat Giao (Buddhist ArtCulture-Literature Committee) it also
organised performances, to help the
victims of war in Thai Binh. All expenses
were defrayed by the Organisation
Committee comprising many young
Buddhist actors, actresses and singers of
Hanoi Radio. The two performances were
presided over by the Governor and Mr.
Than Hoang Tin, Lotd Mayor of Hanoi.
Propagation of Buddism: Every
week a Buddhist delegation comprising
monks and laymen goes from province
to province to propagate Buddhism.
According to the weekly Buddhist News
(Tin Tuc Phat Giao) issued at Hanoi, there
are now 292 Buddhist branches in North
Viet Nam which are doing good work.

78
GERMANY
The German Buddhist Mission is also
flourishing and has established libraries
in Berlin, Hamburg, Stuttgart and Munich.
This month the Mission is holding its
Annual meeting in Stuttgart.
PALl TEXT SOCIETY, LONDON
Miss Homer writes that the Trustees of
the A. B. Gomes Trust of Colombo have
given a sum sufficient for the reprinting
of 1,000 copies of Kindred Sayings II,
and they are now in a position to send
another volume to the press for reprinting.
This gift is proof of the confidence of
Theravda Buddhists in a Society which
has been carrying on its work for 71 years.
The Society has also recently received a
few copies of B. C. Laws Ssanavmsa
translation. It is volume 17 in the Sacred

Books of the Buddhists series and is

priced at one guinea. Dr. Law himself had
been so kind as to finance the publication.
The Pali Text Societys translations and
their Pli-English Dictionary are famous.
Those who desire to obtain translations
of the Buddhist scriptures should write to
Miss I. B. Homer, Pali Text Society, 30,
Dawson Place, London, W. 2. Thanks to
generous donors their work has been
carried on in spite of the great difficulties
of publishing Pli Texts and translations
thereof but no less thanks are due to Miss
Homer and other scholarly and selfsacrificing workers. It is to be hoped that
those who wish to gain merit by the Gift
of the Dhamma will realise how much
good they can do in this way by a d
onation to the Pali Text Society.

What is it holds the world a prisoner?

What subjugating gains it liberty?
And by abandoning of what is it
That every bond is severed utterly?
By wishes is the world held prisoner,
Wishes suppressing gains it liberty,
By wish for this or that abandoning,
Lo every bond is severed utterly.
SAMYUTTANIKYA
Translated by Mrs. Rhys Davids, MA.

79

Pli Terms and Phrases

It has not been possible to avoid
entirely the use of Pli terms, since many
of these are not exactly translatable in
their subtlest nuances even by the use of
long and cumbersome English phrases.
They are not used in the magazine so
frequently as to detract from the style and
sense and in each issue we shall give a
short glossary of the Pli words contained
and trust that this will he found valuable.
We regret that we were unable to
obtain types with diacritical marks for
those Pli words which appear in the body
of the text, but in this glossary we have
added the diacritical marks. Pronunciation
is approximately as follows:
a is pronounced like a in what or u in hut
is pronounced like a in father
i is pronounced like i in mint
is pronounced like ee in see
u is pronounced like u in put
is pronounced like oo in pool
e is pronounced like a in acorn
o is pronounced like au in haul
k is pronounced like k in kind
kh is pronounced like kh in blackheath
g is pronounced like g in game
gh is pronounced like gh in big house
ng is pronounced like ng in singer
c is pronounced like ch in chance
ch is pronounced like chh in witch-hazel
jh is pronounced like dgeh in sledgehammer
is pronounced like ny in canyon
is pronounced like t in cat
h is pronounced like th in anthill
is pronounced like d in bad
h is pronounced like dh in red-hot
n is pronounced like kn in know
t is pronounced like th in thumb
th is pronounced like th in pot-herb

d is pronounced like th in then

dh is pronounced like dh in adherent
ph is pronounced like ph in uphill
bh is pronounced like bh in abhorrence
y is pronounced like y in yes
s is pronounced like s in sight
is pronounced like ng in sing
j, n, p, b, m, r, 1, v and h are pronounced
just as they are pronounced in English.
Attan (Atta): (1) The soul, in the sense
of an integrated, everlasting life, as
postulated in the animistic religions of
revelation; a separate Self. Buddhism
denies the existence of such. (2) oneself.
Ego-principle.
Anatt: Without a soul.
savas: Intoxicating extract or
secretion of a flower or tree. Figuratively
used in Buddhist Psychology for the four
biases of mind which intoxicate it, muddle
it, so that it cannot rise to higher things.
They are 1. Sensuality, 2. Lust for life, 3.
Clinging to mere views and speculation,
4. Ignorance.
Anicca: Impermanence.
Abhidhamma:
The
Special
Dhamma Theory of the Doctrine, the
doctrine classified, the analytic doctrine,
Name of the Third Piaka, the Third group
of the Buddhist canonical books.
Arahant: Used by the Buddhists as
technical term for one who has attained.
A Saint.
Ariyan: Noble, distinguished. Held in
esteem by the Aryan clans.
Buddha: One who has attained
enlightenment; a perfect man, superior to
all other beings human and divine, by His
knowledge of the truth. The word

80
Buddha is an appellative, not a proper
name. There are two sorts of Buddhas,
viz. Pacceka-buddhas, who attain
complete enlightenment but do not preach
to the world, and Sammsambuddhas
who have attained omniscience and
secured the 10 powers. The latest of these
was Gotama Buddha now referred to as
the Buddha.
Bodhi: (1) Enlightenment, (2) The tree
of wisdom (Ficus religiosa) under which
Gotama sat in meditation to attain the
Enlightenment of a Supreme Buddha.
Brahma: A God. Mahbrahm was
referred to as The Creator, the ancient of
days, the omniscient the omnipotent. The
Buddha in more than one sermon showed
that even Mahbrahm is impermanent.
Bodhisatta: A being destined to attain
fullest enlightenment.
Bhikkhu: (Sanskrit-Bhiksu) An almsman, a mendicant, a Buddhist monk or
priest. The Bhikkhu takes certain vows
(including chastity and celibacy) and lives
a monastic life, but is free from much of
the regimentation of the monks of other
religions.
Bhvan: Calling into existence,
producing, mental development.
Dhamma: (1) The liberating law
discovered and proclaimed by the
Buddha, is summed up in the four Noble
Truths. (2) Constitution, Norm, Law,
Justice, Righteousness. (3) Quality, thing,
object of mind, Phenomenon.
Dihi: view, belief, dogma, theory
speculation, false theory, ungrounded
opinion. (opposed to Samma-dihi:
firmly-grounded knowledge, right belief).
Dhamma-cariy: Walking
in
righteousness,
righteous
living,
observance of the Dhamma, piety.

Deva: Spirit, Holy Ghost, implying

goodness and brightness, in Buddhist
Literature many Gods including God
Almighty worship the Buddha and
certain outstanding Buddhist Saints. The
term is also applied to outstanding
humans, still implying goodness.
Dukkha: suffering, pain, discomfort,
misery, agony, unrest.
Dana: Gifts, giving, charitable
offering.
Ehipassika: (Ehicome here. passika
recognize, know, realise). Come see for
yourself the Dhamma, open to all.
Jhna: Trance, mental absorption.
Khattiya: The warrior caste In the
Buddhas day, the highest social caste.
Kamma: (Sanskrit-Karma) Doing,
deed, work, action : (The doer and the
deed are not differentiated) character.
Wholesome and unwholesome Volitions
and their concomitant mental factors
causing rebirth and shaping the destiny
of beings.
Kappa: world-period, is an
inconceivably long space of time, an aeon,
a so-called eternity.
Kammahana: occasion or ground
for Contemplating Kamma. Kammasubject, a technical term referring to
objects used for meditation to realise
impermanence.
Loka: world, state of existence
Mangala: prosperous, lucky, of good
omen, festive ceremony.
Mra: Death: The personification of
passions.
Mjjhima-paipada: The Middle Path,
is called The Noble Eightfold Path which,
by avoiding the two extremes of sensual
lust and self-castigation, leads to

81
enlightenment and deliverance from
suffering.
Mett: Love, amity, sympathy,
friendliness, active goodwill.
Mah: Great
Nibbna: The highest and ultimate
goal: extinction of craving.
Paipatti: way method, conduct,
practice of the Teaching, performance,
behaviour.
Paivedha:
penetration,
comprehension, attainment, insight,
knowledge. Realization of the Dhamma.
Paritta: protection, safeguard, refuge.
Pariyatti: adequacy, accomplishment,
competency, capability, accomplishment
in the scriptures, study of the holy texts.
Parinibbna: complete nibbna.
Paramattha: The highest good, truth
in the ultimate, absolute, sense,
philosophical truth.
Paa: understanding, knowledge,
wisdom, intelligence, comprising all the
higher faculties of cognition. Insight.
Pli: The literary language of the early
Buddhists: The canon of Buddhist
writings.
Pramits: Perfections
Sagha: multitude, assembly (2) the
order, the clergy, the Buddhist Church.
Ssana: Teaching of the Buddha.
Sutta: the part of the Buddhist
Scriptures containing the Suttas or
dialogues. The Sutta-Piaka.
Suttanta: a chapter of the Scriptures,
a text, a discourse, a sutta, a dialogue.

Samdhi: meditation, one-pointedness

of mind, concentration.
Sla: moral practice: morality.
Sasra: Round of Rebirth: whirlpool
of existence of which one life-time is
the merest tiny fraction.
Slabbataparmsa: clinging to mere
rules and ritual : one of the fetters
inhibiting attainment.
Thera: an elder : a senior.
Theravda: the doctrine of the Theras.
Tipiaka: the three divisions of the
Buddhist Canon.
Tipiaka-dhara: Knowing the
Tipiaka by heart.
Tathgata: The Perfect one: A title
of the Buddha.
Uccheda-dihi: Annihilation belief.
Vipassan: inward vision, insight.
Vinicchaya: decision, trial, judgment
(given by the King or his Ministers):
having the Vinaya as the Law Court.
Visakha (Wesak): A month
corresponding to the month of May-June.
Festival of the Anniversary of the
Buddhas Birth, Enlightenment and
Parinibbna.
A glossary such as this can from its
very nature be only sketchy. We would
refer students to the Pli Text Societys
Pali Dictionary, or if something less
expensive is required. to the wonderfully
good Buddhist Dictionary of Rev.
Nyanitiloka, obtainable through The
Buddhist World advertised in this issue.