November 21, 2008
Buddhism Has to Evolve
to Remain Socially Relevant in Asia By Madhusree Chatterjee
New Delhi
Buddhism will have to evolve rites and rituals to become more
socially relevant in Asian nations, including India, where people
identify religion with prayer rites, feels Buddhist scholar Lokesh
Chandra.
"Buddhism is an institution which is highly centralized and it does
not have a socio-religious structure. Most of its rituals are
monastic because monks live in communities. In India, especially
with regard to Hinduism, rituals give religion social relevance,"
Chandra told IANS, in response to the query why Buddhism, which was
born in India, has been reduced to a minority faith here.
According to the scholar, the mainstream Hindu religion in India
could be divided into three components - rituals, vidwan or vidya
(religious scholars or knowledge) and the priests or purohits, the
lords of the rituals.
The Hindu priest is always a married man - who must have his wife
next to him to conduct rituals, Chandra said. But Buddhist monks are
bound by vows of celibacy.
The 81-year-old scholar won this year's Dayawati Modi Award for
Arts, Culture and Education along with Tibetan spiritual leader the
Dalai Lama.
Buddhism has no texts, no domestic rites, the scholar pointed out.
"Last week, I told a Japanese delegation that unless you create
rituals, the religion will not survive. After the Buddhist
monasteries were destroyed in Islamic India, nothing remained of the
monks, barring their communes. The shrines were razed, and along
with it the scriptures and documents preserved over several
centuries.
"Most of the monks moved out of the country. As a result, the faith
became a code of monastic rites practiced within the precincts of
the monastery," Chandra explained.
The scholar supported his statement with arguments from everyday
existence. "What happens if a couple who are Buddhists by faith want
to marry? Where do they go to get married - at the monastery or at
home? The monastery has no wedding rites and the faith does not
provide for domestic rituals for couples to marry at home. Who will
sanction their wedding?"
Chandra said recently he had to create a set of ad hoc wedding
rituals for one of his Buddhist friends, who wanted to solemnize his
son's wedding according to the Buddhist faith. "But it was a
personal affair," the scholar said.
Chandra said the community of Jains in India faces a similar problem
because all Jain religious rituals relate to their seers. "They do
not apply to the common man".
Buddhism, Chandra feels, is a homocentric religion - one that serves
humanity - in contrast to Theo centric faiths like Hinduism that
centre on the concept of gods.
This aspect of the faith makes it relevant to today's troubled
times. The answer to conflicts around the globe could also lie in
Buddhism because it teaches "sharing", Chandra feels.
"Buddhism does not preach tolerance, but mutual respect," the
scholar said. The root of fundamentalism, he explained, lay in
absolutism and dogmas.
"The moment one learns to share and respect diverse cultures and
thoughts, terror will cease to exist and schisms will fade. If you
have to eliminate terrorism, you have to fight god because he is
dictatorial and absolute," he said.
Citing a tenet from Buddhism, Chandra said: "When the Buddha's
favorite disciple and cousin Ananda asked him who would lead the
Buddhists after the Buddha's death, Gautama replied, 'Seek the
dharma within you'."
Chandra is currently working on a 15th century biography of the
Buddha from the Ming period with illustrations and Chinese
notations. He has more than 360 works and texts to his credit,
including classics like the "Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary",
"Materials for a History of Tibetan Literature", "Buddhist
Iconography of Tibet" and a 20-volume dictionary of Buddhist art.
(Madhusree Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)
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