Keeping Buddhism alive

Chandradasa Nanayakkara’s piece on Buddhism (The Island, 18/11) fails to mention the sense of altruism that had been lodged deeply in human psychology (and for that matter in some animals’ too) – a faculty that seems to have evolved to our great advantage a huge number of millennia back. Those ancient societies, with no religion or philosophy to follow (or to write about!), have hung on and survived during all that time to evolve into the modern world. This must mean that some biological faculty – and I suggest altruism – alone has held them back from complete extinction. There would, of course, have been ups and some terrible downs, but not much worse than some covered-up goings-on today!

The word ‘Right’ precedes each category in the Noble Eightfold Path as given in the article; words such a ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ feature as well. These are difficult words and, without expansion, must surely register variously in people’s minds, depending on their particular circumstances. More importantly, and more simply, just the fostering of our common, often dormant, biological and long-evolved altruism, i.e. of the benefits, or pleasures if you will, of taking heart from helping others as best we could, should be encouraged and stressed far more actively.

The author says, further: “We live in a world that is full of suffering and sadness”. But there’s much joy and happiness here, too! Poetry, they say, is what’s lost in translation; one wonders if it’s the same with the Pali texts. Would the Buddha have been so naive as to expect a world with no suffering at all to emerge from his teachings? Could instead the Buddha not want to help us to adapt to the unsatisfactoriness (dukka) coming out of the inevitable impermanence, of joy and sorrow, that’s endemic in things here? It is a tough call, but surely it’s the crux of it all.

Lastly, history shows that the Buddha’s words were committed to script some centuries after his passing. One must always beware of changes and ornamentation possibly added to his teachings by devout followers – living at a time that was rife with superstition. Such well-meaning enquiry should keep Buddhism better alive, than drowned in needless ritual and add-ons to the Teacher’s original message.

IVOR TITTAWELLA