Buddhist monks to preach without hurting other religions

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"It is our duty to make people with weak faith to have stronger faith... Monks are the only method to make [them] have strong faith... The monks shouldn't act carelessly." - Ven. Dr Sandavarabivamsa

Yangon, Myanmar -- Esteemed monks from Mogok Vipassana League called for monks to preach in accordance to Buddhist teachings and not resort to hurting other religions.

Over 150 monks from Mogok Vipassana League attended the ceremony on protecting nationality, religion and Sassana which was held at their headquarters in Yangon on Wednesday.

"[Monks] need to prioritise our own nationality, religion and Sassana and preach to make people believe while ensuring not to disturb other people and hurt other religions. We all need to avoid extremism and act in accordance with the truthful doctrine of the Buddha," said venerable monk Agga Nyana.

The meeting comes as Buddhist monks have come under the scrutiny of the international press. TIME magazine's July cover featured controversial Mandalay monk, U Wirathu citing cases of religious hatred and extremism. The article was met with strong condemnation in Myanmar, which is a majority Buddhist country, leading the government to ban the issue over fear of inciting more hatred.

"The world has accused us of being religious and social extremists. We have to keep denying this. We also have to prevent ourselves [from becoming extremists]. We have to build trust in Sassana. If we do this, our Sassana will not disappear in our lifetime," said senior monk Ven. Dr Sandavarabivamsa.

Religious violence between Buddhists and Muslims has spread across different towns and cities in Myanmar this year, often fuelled by rumours and hate speech. But as Myanmar embarks on a series of reforms opening up to the outside world many Buddhists feel that their time-old traditions are under threat.

This has led to numerous debates in the media about whether there should be law to protect religion. During the ceremony, Dr Sandavarabivamsa echoed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in saying that building peoples faith more than laws was what was important to maintain religion.

"It is our duty to make people with weak faith to have stronger faith. We have to make our devotees have strong faith in Sassana. Monks are the only method to make [them] have strong faith... The monks shouldn't act carelessly. We have to give sermons about religion," he added.

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Religions and Worldviews – the intimate connection

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Colombo, Sri Lanka -- The word ‘worldview’ (in German Weltanschauung, in Sinhala Chinthanaya) denotes the fundamental orientation of a society or civilization in dealing with the problems and challenges of the world – its basic attitudes on how man ought to interact with his fellows and the world so as  to ensure general beneficence for the living and  protection for the environment that supports him and his fellow-creatures. In translating this professed lofty ‘philosophy’ into practical action, what is deemed good for some may multiply misery for others. This is the great challenge for mankind in our current age.

<< US President Barack Obama and Senator elect Mazie Hirono

There is no universally agreed worldview – a source of great misery for mankind. It is a well-recognized fact that the Abrahamic Religions – Christianity, Islam and Judaism – prescribe a worldview (or incorporates this in their Gospels as a foundational assumption) that has the necessary implication that the ‘World was made for Man’.  It follows from this ‘thesis of bequeathal’ that he (mankind) has ‘custodial status’ so far as the Earth and all its goods are concerned. Contrast this ‘view’ with the modern scientific understanding that our Planetary abode is, in every sense, prior to man and  and indifferent to his pretensions of glory.  His true status (arguably) is that of an intruder out of harmony with the inalienable rhythms of nature.

That this grandiose posture – the Abrahamic encounter with the world – has brought civilization to a crisis is now acknowledged by all impartial thinkers. It is clear that we will stagger from crisis to crisis if present trends continue. Not only will our Planet and the life therein succumb to a thousand crises of this ‘anthropogenic’ kind but horrendous misery will prevail worldwide when this unfortunate  human ‘adventure’ draws to a close.

That there are other worldviews – notably the Buddhist – that offer hope  and generous living for mankind – is known abstractly by a few but has no ascendancy in shaping a globally dominant worldview. Contemporary Buddhist nations practice an Abrahamic realpolitic even if its citizens are ritualistically devout - as they lack the power and the momentum to change a world moving inexorably under the force of a world-order that has the ruling monotheistic ideologies deeply entrenched in the agenda of political action.

Indeed, it is the helplessness of those outside the Abrahamic tradition to influence the course of global events that is the greatest tragedy of our day and age. While Buddhism as a healing spiritual force is known to the compassionate elite across the world, this force is still outside the framework of global politics.

That ‘opponents’ are wicked and must be punished is the prevailing ethos of the Abrahamic worldview. Relations between nations are modeled on the Abrahamic understanding of interpersonal relations – that some are good while others must be punished ‘for disobeying God’. The concepts of  ‘Evil Empires’. and ‘Pariah States’ arise from a worldview that is hardly tenable today.

How can a Buddhist rethink on these fundamental matters be actively canvassed by those who hope to influence the wielders of Global Power? How can a new worldview work its way into the minds of a ruling  elite brainwashed over long centuries to ignore the enlightened and compassionate teachings of Eastern Religions and to hew to an Abrahamic tradition in world affairs that has caused so much misery to mankind?

The answer is simple – even if its practical realization seems at the moment to demand a measure of luck and foresight that seems unattainable given the asymmetric distribution of power in our world. We must have exponents of a Buddhist world-view sitting ‘cheek-by jowl’ with Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Western Imperium that currently steer planetary affairs. A Senator of the caliber of Edward Kennedy in the US Senate expounding to his Nation and the World on the need to fundamentally rethink the Abrahamic underpinning of the global chaos we witness would have been a great leap forward for mankind.

Thinking on these lines we note that there is now a newly elected Senator in this august assembly that can – perhaps – play this role.  Is she wise enough? Is she learned in the Teachings of the Compassionate Buddha? Above all, has she the drive and the charisma to launch the ideological revolution that will change the world for the better? Surely a great miracle and unsurpassable gift to humanity if all these questions can be answered in the affirmative.

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