Why Buddhism?

May You Be Well And Happy

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Summary

The following talk was given by Ven. K. Sri Dhammananda of the Buddhist Missionary Society, Buddhist Temple, Jalan Berhala, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to a group of devotees. It has been transcribed from a video tape. Part 1 of this talk is produced in the Buddha Dhyana Dana Review Vol 2. No. 2, June 1992. Further installments will appear in future Reviews.

Content

Why Buddhism?

The subject that you have given for me to discuss is ‘Why Buddhism’. This is a very interesting subject.

In spite of various other religions, why is it necessary for us to maintain, to promote, another religion known as Buddhism? Have we got enough reasons to prove the uniqueness or the importance of this way? If not, can you single out that there are some extraordinary characteristics or features in this religion which we cannot find in other existing religions?

Usually, people practise their religion as their cultural heritage; their tradition according to their family background. Those who happen to be born into Christian families, they practise Christianity. They try to justify Christianity; they try to point out Christianity is the only important religion in this world. That is their duty because they think that it is our religion. Because of that feeling; our, our religion; they try to show that Christianity is more important than other religions. And those who are born in Buddhist families also try to do the same thing, although they are reluctant to say that Buddhism is the only true religion in this world. Even then, they try to show others that Buddhism is higher, greater, than all the other existing religions; and Muslims and Hindus also do the same thing because they feel that it is their duty; they are bound to do this to promote our religion.

The idea is good but the attitude is not very good; not very healthy. Because of this attitude, we face enormous conflict, pressures, misunderstanding, jealousy, grudges, discriminations. We have to consider this very carefully because the main purpose of religion, any religion: is to introduce peace, happiness, contentment, harmony, unity, understanding, co-operation, righteous way of life, noble life. If these qualities are not there, there is no meaning at all for practising any religion. If these qualities are not there; if they cannot practise, uphold, these good qualities; better to do away with religion.

To understand ‘Why Buddhism’, we have to go back 2500 years of history of Buddhism. Then you can understand why Buddhism is needed. When the Buddha appeared in India, at that time they had more than enough religions in that country. When you read Brahma Gala Sutta in Digha Nihaya; a very long Sutta; you can see at that time there were sixty-two religions in India. The Buddha, before his renunciation and gaining his enlightenment, studied under various religious teachers, studying art, language, science, technology, philosophy, psychology and meditation. Even then he could not satisfy. He realised he could not gain what he wanted after studying all those existing religions and sciences and philosophies. That is why he had decided to find out whether there is another method where he can find the answers.

There was a very big problem which has been bothering in his mind from his childhood. He discussed this method with various other religious teachers. He could not gain the satisfactory answer. What is that?

As a young prince, one day when he was sitting in the garden, he saw a snake suddenly appear and caught a frog or lizard. Now lizard is struggling to escape. The snake is trying to swallow. When this battle was going on, another bird came down from the sky, taking away the snake. The frog is still in the mouth. Then this has become the turning point for him to think very deeply about the living; survival. What a big battle is going on in this world for their survival; for their living; for their pleasure. Why is it difficult to organise or to create for living beings to exist without facing such big battles, facing fear without suffering? This was the question.

When you study the existence of all those living beings in the water, in the jungle and in the society, each and every living being depends on another living being. Prey on and catch. Then fight, then cry, then suffer, then die. Then what is the purpose of living in this way. Almost every minute we have fears. Fear of death, and there are thousands and one things for us to create fear, then worry.

Then where is the pleasure, where is the happiness, where is the satisfaction? What is the purpose in the end? What will we gain? Nothing. All day and night we are worrying and worrying, and thinking and thinking; how many commitments, how many responsibilities, how many disturbances, how many disappointments are there? One scholar has said ‘If I have recorded all the pleasant and unpleasant experiences that I had during my lifetime, I can see only according to the hours which I calculate, only one week, but the rest of my life I spend with fears, worries, problems, difficulties, suffering, disappointment, un-satisfactoriness. This is the nature of existence’.

So this young prince was thinking very deeply why living beings appear in this world. Then people say ‘Well, somebody create them’. Then the counter question – why would he want to create like this, allowing these creatures to suffer? And what is the difficulty for him to create, if he has got the power and the authority to create; and what is the difficulty for him to create all these living beings to exist without facing such problems and worries and suffering? He could not get the answer. Then he tries to find out the answer. He got the answer. ‘Why Buddhism’ starts from there.

Because all the other existing religions at that time could not give the correct answer to this question. What did they do? One group, all day and night going on praying and praying and reciting and offerings and worshipping in the name of God, thinking that God is responsible for everything.

But the Buddha; at that time he was not the Buddha; the Buddha could not agree with this. Later he said, simply by praying or worshipping or offering to anybody in this world in the name of any god or bodhisattvas or the Buddha, or any supernatural living beings, it is impossible for you to find out your final liberation and salvation; unless, until you work for them. You can pray; no harm. There is a saying; belief in God is very good. Pray and worship and do some offering in the name of that God for your protection. Very good, no harm. Nobody in this world can say it is wrong. Very good. But don’t forget to lock the door when you go out at night time. There is no guarantee that God will protect your house until you come back.

That is what the Buddha says. ‘Why Buddhism’ starts from there.

In the West, many people introduce Buddhism as ‘Do It Yourself’ religion. The new title for Buddhism – Do It Yourself. That means Buddhism is not a lazy man’s religion. Just go and pray and worship. Ask somebody else to do the job for you, send you to heaven. Buddhism is not that type of religion. But Buddhism is not against worshipping or praying or offering to any God. If you like, you can do so. We never say those who worship to God go to hell. So the Buddha did not accept that belief, that we can find out our salvation only by praying and worshipping to any God without working for that.

Another method. Some people believe that by torturing their physical body; burning, cutting, starving, without sleeping, without eating, without taking medicines when they are sick; the more they torture their physical body, more easily they can get rid of the sins committed by them, then find out their salvation. This belief was very common at that time; even today in certain countries.

Then the Buddha says, simply by torturing your physical body, you won’t be able to get rid of the effect of the bad deeds or the bad kammas that you have committed, because your deeds are not done by the physical body. Mind is the culprit. Body cannot do anything if the body did not get the order from the mind. If you want to torture, punish, you must punish your mind, not the body.

Then how are you going to punish your mind. Mind is crazy, mind is jealous, mind is greedy, mind is stupid, mind is wicked; punish all those things then you can get it off the bad effects that you have committed. That means train your mind, purify your mind, cultivate more and more good deeds. Then you can overcome, you can avoid for the time being. Then you can develop very easily to find out your salvation, not by torturing your physical body.

Another group, they believe by taking holy bath in certain holy rivers and some other places, they can wash away all the sins committed by them. Here in this country also some people come to temples to wash away their sins. Then what is the good of this? If you think you can wash away the sins committed by you by taking holy bath in a holy river, I think all those fishes and tortoises who are living in the water have no more sins, because every day they wash away their sins! And this is the way how the Buddha tried to ridicule these kinds of religious beliefs.

Again, Brahmins were regarded as high caste in the priests and all the others are belonging to low caste, even the Buddha who was born in Sakya caste, also lower according to them. Brahmins have written books against Buddhism. What they say? The Teaching of the Buddha is very good, but unfortunately, we cannot take because he was not born in a Brahmin family. You see, it is like this. The Teaching of the Buddha is just like pure milk, but the container is just like dog skin so we cannot take this milk. See how they ridicule the Buddha’s station because of the caste system.

The Buddha had a very big battle to wipe out, eradicate caste discrimination. The Buddha was criticised and condemned for giving due place, equal rights, to the labourers, coolies, low caste people. To practise their religion without any discrimination. Ordaining them as Monks, then allow kings and ministers to come and pay respect to reduce their pride. First time in the history a religious Teacher has done this.

Again, at that time poor ladies were not given freedom to practise any religion. Strictly prohibited to enter into any place of worship. They are not allowed to recite any holy books or any mantra in their religion. They say they are very impure. When this situation was going on, the Buddha, first time in the human history, gave full freedom for women to practise a religion, Buddhism, without any discrimination; and this freedom we still enjoy.

In certain religions, when they attend to their religious services, men and women cannot sit down together. Must separate. Now here we are enjoying freedom. No discrimination. So, when you study the historical background, you can understand what Buddhism has done to mankind before all these religions come into existence. Although they come and tell us that we are worshipping devils, when you study all those existing sixty-two religions in India at that time, you can see what sort of belief they had.

A religious Teacher who introduced his own Teachings had his own followers. He had recorded everything in his holy book, and followers were given advice not to do anything without referring to their holy book. Strictly observe the holy book. What happened? One day when the Teacher was crossing a river with his followers, a very narrow bridge, the Teacher fell into the river. And the followers were carrying their holy book. And the Teacher was shouting there; please save me, save me, but they were referring to their holy book to find out whether the Teacher had written in his holy book when he fell into the river to release him. It was not in the book, cannot do anything. This is the nature of religions at that time my dear friends. Even today, there are a few.

When scientists discover many things for the benefit of mankind to release their suffering, some religious groups say, ‘oh we cannot accept because it is not in our holy book’. Very unfortunate. That is what the Buddha said. Don’t become slaves to your holy book. Even Buddha’s book. I’ll tell you later why Buddhism.

Whether you can find this freedom in any other religion, he says, don’t accept my Teaching, thinking the Buddha is a great man. He is an enlightened religious Teacher, wonderful wisdom. He can perform miracles, he can cure sickness, therefore we must follow him. He said do not accept my Teaching, thinking I am a great man. What will happen; you will depend on that person, never understand the truth. That is the danger. You maintain belief and faith, never realise the Truth.

The second advice is: don’t depend on your holy book. Always people say, oh, our holy book says like this, therefore we must accept.

The Buddha has given us four chances to understand the truth. Unfortunately, people don’t use this. He says if you cannot understand any particular subject of the Dhamma, what do you have to do without listening to the public? Because I know your nature. Always you say whenever you want to find out something in Buddhism, you say, people say like this, you know only that much. Never listen to the public. But how many Buddhists are there who can tell ‘the Buddha says like this in Dhammapada, in Anguttara Nikaya, or in Sutta Pitaka, or in Vinaya Pitaka’. How many Buddhists are there?

But others can say, ‘Bible says like this, Koran says like this’. They can do that, but Buddhists say, ‘people say like this’. After listening to all these cock-and-bull stories from old ladies and all the others, they come and say, ‘People say we cannot do this’. That is your Buddhism. That is why the Buddha says don’t accept anything in this world thinking the majority here in this world believe this. That system is good for democratic government to get vote, not for religion. Why? The Buddha says majority here in this world are fools. Very few people are intelligent. It is true. Then if you are going to listen to the majority, you also become fools. Think. Allow your minds, give a chance for your mind to think without depending on the Teacher, without depending on your holy book, without depending on the public.

But still I did not explain the four methods introduced by the Buddha. He said if you can understand, you must refer to your religious book. That means the basic Teaching. People have written all sorts of rubbish in the name of this religion, in different schools of Buddhism. Please don’t depend on different schools of Buddhism; they have distorted, misinterpreted, misguided, misled people. Whether it is Theravada or Mahayana or whatever yana, or this yana or that yana, you can throw away all this rubbish! Try to find out what the Buddha taught.

Books are available. Alright. If after reading you find out it is difficult to understand, then what to do now. You cannot agree. Then the Buddha says there are books written as commentaries and sub-commentaries to explain the real meaning, the definition, the root, the significance of this particular issue. Take for instance now you want to know the real meaning of the Dhamma. What is Dhamma? What is Dhamma, you are not sure. Then you read a certain sutta, still you cannot understand. Then you refer to the commentary.

In the commentary you can see the definition. What is the definition? Definition is this word. Beautiful interpretation. Meaning of Dhamma. The Buddha did not introduce a religion. When you define, analyse the meaning of this word ‘religion’, you can understand. Actually, it is not a religion, it is the Dhamma. When you realise the meaning of this word you know how to value it.

What is it? Four kinds of unfortunate states of existence where living beings suffer. In the hells, animal kingdom, ghosts or spirit world. Then various kinds of spirits – there are four groups: hell, animal kingdom, spirit world, ghosts. Four unfortunate states. The method that we practise to avoid, to escape from these four unfortunate states of existence without allowing us to fall down, get into any of these unfortunate states of existence after our death; the method introduced by the Buddha; is called Dhamma. See if it is meaningful or not.

So Dhamma does not mean praying and worshipping to Buddha, burning your sticks and burning papers, reciting mantra and suttas. Dhamma. A method for you to practise, if you don’t like to suffer. Not only that, to get rid of this wheel of existence, repeated birth and death. We come into existence, changes take place, then again start to decay; after decaying and decaying we collapse; after that disintegrate, disappear. That is what we are doing life after life.

So in between we are going on fighting and quarrelling and killing and bluffing and stealing and cheating, doing all the bad things; very seldom we get the chance to do a little bit of good. To get rid of all these unfortunate states of existence, unsatisfactoriness, suffering, physically and mentally, the method introduced by the Buddha is called Dhamma. This interpretation you can see in the commentary. Otherwise, you do not know the meaning of Dhamma.

But still you cannot satisfy. Cannot understand. Then what to do. Then the Buddha says you must approach your Teacher who knows the Dhamma. Go and discuss with him. ‘I try to understand the meaning of this: I read this, I read this and still I cannot understand. Could you please explain to me?’. The Teacher tries his best to enlighten you. But still you cannot satisfy. Then the final choice is within you. See how the Buddha has given credit to human intelligence. Now, this is the time for you to use your sense of reasoning. Common sense. Understanding. You have gone through all these channels. Now use your human intelligence. Then you can give the answers.

So, when you study this way of teaching in every item he has given due place to human minds. But not to the Buddha, not to God or anybody else. Before His passing away, the parting word – last word that came out from His mouth in Mahaparinibbana Sutta, he says … ‘You must try to develop your self confidence; don’t depend on others. It is due to lack of self-confidence you always develop fear and worry, and unhappiness, unsatisfactoriness, uncertainty, jealousy, suspicion, because you have no confidence in you’. So he tried to cultivate this confidence. You do not know who you are. You do not know how dynamic, forceful, energetic mental force you are having. You do not know how to make use of your own mental energy, intelligence. You can go worship and worship and worship everywhere all over the world thinking you can get the blessings and protections and this and that. You displace your human intelligence.

Read the Dhammapada … Those who suffer from fear, the Buddha says, go and worship to the trees and jungles and rivers and idols and everything asking protection, protection, blessing, blessing, but we do not know how to develop, how to cultivate, how to strengthen our own mind to get rid of all this rubbish without worshipping here and there, without displacing human dignity, human intelligence. So Buddhism is not for us to worship and worship and pray and pray for us to do something to cultivate something until you gain the answer to our problem.

That is how the Buddha started. I told you that incident paved for him to think and think and investigate – finally he found out the answer. What is the answer? What is the main cause of our suffering? When you read Agganna Sutta, Digha Nikaya, this is very interesting. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, these three religions teach us something very meaningful. At the beginning when first human life appeared on this earth either created by God or automatically – nobody knows – according to Charles Darwin the monkeys responsible, not God, so they say the devil, devil influence human minds, create the temptations, then start to commit evil, bad things. So devil is responsible for all your bad deeds. This is their belief. So what you have to do? Now this path becomes a very chronic, incurable disease. As long as human beings exist in this world they carry germ that is called ‘original sin’, a germ that you carry. You cannot get rid of this germ by taking antibiotic injection. You must be baptised. Very wonderful. You must be baptised to get rid of these germs. After that all your sins disappear, you will be in heaven. How nice. Short cut. People believe it, think it very easy.

When you read Agganna Sutta you can understand what the Buddha said about the original human life because many people want to know what is the Buddha’s concept of the origin of human life on this earth. When you read that Sutta you get the answer. He says, the world where you live is impermanent. This is not everlasting. This is the combination of elements and energies; component things are subject to decay and disappear. It is natural. Not necessary to have any religion to understand it. So the world where we live is also impermanent, changeable, and one day there will be destruction, end.

But this is not the only world where there are living beings. Various types of living beings exist in many parts of the universe, then when the destruction has taken place here, but not at once, all these living beings after their death appear again in many other parts of the universe where there are living beings according to their own kamma. In certain places there is more suffering. We regard them as hells. Certain places more pleasure. Peaceful. We regard them as heavens. In certain places normal. Now this world, this is neither hell nor heaven. Mix. But we create hell, we create heaven according to our way of life.

So when rebirth takes place they exist there for a long time. The world disappears, disintegrated, but the magnetic power, molecules, no-one can destroy. They exist. Again all these dispersed particles start to accumulate; takes millions and millions and billions of years. Nobody knows. Then the formation takes place again. This the nature of world systems. Either this earth or that moon or suns or galaxies all are subjected to same universal law – impermanency. They are not permanent. So when this earth, this planet, is ready, those living beings who are here after their death in that new place, again existence takes place according to their karmic inclinations, craving, attachments, that developed when they were here.

Now the problem is how the first life appears. First human life. So, according to Buddhism, not created by any god or Buddha. Those devas or Brahmas came down to the earth, this planet, and settle down here. When they appeared on this earth they were very pure, not corrupted. Then how corruption, anger, jealousy, greed, appear in their minds? Who give them? According to other religions, devil influence them to be bad, but Buddhism says there is nobody to influence them. This is their own intrinsic hidden character. Although they are pure, potentials, ingredients are still active in their sub-conscious mind; although they look nice, very calm, serene and religious and honest when you look in their mind. When you look at a small baby you can understand me, very nice, very innocent, no jealousy, no greed, no anger and no grudge. Very innocent. But ingredients are there already. When that child grow up you can see all these things are there exactly like that. So it comes down to circumstances, environment develop, astir, then they become greedy, jealous; all the natural weaknesses, mental pollutions, mental defilements again become very active. Now you can see the difference.

So it is not original sin we have until we attain our sainthood, arahanthood, nirvana. We mention some of these mental defilements so devil has nothing to do with this. So that is why we never try to baptise anybody to wash away their sins. Impossible. No-one can do that. This is our own. So the Buddha has mentioned all these things.

When He trained the first missionaries; Buddhism is the first missionary religion in this world; when there were sixty of them, arahants, well trained, what did he say … Go forth, don’t stay here in the monastery: now your duty is to tell people because people are ignorant, many people do not know what is right, what is wrong, what to do and what not to do. Your duty is to tell them these are the things that you have to do, and these are the things you should not to do. Give them the correct path to live righteous, noble, respectable, harmless life. But he never said you must go out and convert them into Buddhism, because He did not introduce a religion. What he wanted was to teach people how to live a respectable, normal, harmless life. To us that is Buddhism, if you want to give a label. This is the nature of Buddhism.

So these few interpretations that I have given I think more than enough for you to understand why is it necessary for us to maintain another religion known as Buddhism. So it is not a religion, it is not an ‘ism’, it is the Dhamma. It is the Dhamma, a noble method for every human being to practise, irrespective of their religious labour.

Let them have their own religious labour. No harm, if they can live respectable, noble lives because principles are universal, not confined to any particular religion.

Take for instance, kindness. Now can you point out any difference between Buddhist kindness, Christian kindness, Muslim kindness, Hindu kindness and free thinkers’ kindness? Kindness is kindness.

Take another one. Honesty. Honest man. If man is honest, can you find out any particular label; Buddhist honesty, Christian honesty and Muslim honesty? Honesty is honesty, and these are the common principles where we can find universal value in the Buddhist Teachings.

Noble Eightfold Path. Common to every human being irrespective of their religious beliefs. If Christians and Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus and free thinkers also want to follow they can do it very well. And we don’t want for them to become Buddhists. Not necessary. And we don’t want to give that label to them. We cannot say – if you are not Buddhist you cannot touch this. What is it?

Samma-ditthi, samma-sankappa, samma-vaca, samma-kammanta, samma-ajiva, samma-vayama, samma-sati, samma-samadhi.

Try to develop Right Understanding. Without following anything blindly, without maintaining blind faith. Try to find out whether it is right or wrong. Anyone can do this. Right understanding. In the Buddhist Teaching.

Right thought. You must know what kind of thoughts appear in your mind. Some are cruel, selfish, cunning, dangerous, inhuman, but you must look at their way. Some are very good, very meaningful, very useful. Cultivate.

Right Thought. Is there any religious label for that because they are common. Cruelty, cunningness, wickedness, selfishness are common among the followers of all these religions. Again, kindness, compassion, honesty, patience, tolerance also common among all these religious people. Then how can we say this is only a Buddhist property? We cannot monopolise. Why Buddhism? The answer is here. Because Buddhism gives us freedom. Not necessary for you to hold this label.

Samma-vaca. You must know how to talk gently, quietly, without hurting, disturbing, rushing others; common to everybody. Since this method was introduced by the Buddha we say this is Buddhism. Anyone can follow, can experience the good results.

Samma-kammanta. When you are going to do some work you have to consider your actions that can create any disturbances, hurt others, kill or destroy others. Whether you are going to do some earning by bluffing and hurting others, if you can, do this without hurting, violating, disturbing others. Right action. Anyone can do this if they really want. Not confined to any particular religion.

Samma-ajiva. Right livelihood – for our living. We have to earn, support our families, fulfill our commitments, obligations, duties. Then we must know what to do. There are so many ways, so many methods for us to earn money, get enough. The five things the Buddha has mentioned, saying it is not advisable, but not a law. The Buddha has never introduced any religious law. Please remember this. If we observe religious principle as a law, you develop only fear, but not understanding. That is why he never introduced any religious law or religious punishment. No religious punishment in Buddhism. Punishment means bad effect you get naturally. It is natural. Dealing with living beings for slaughtering, liquor, dangerous weapons, poisons and human slavery. You know some people kidnap girls and boys and go and sell into slavery. The Buddha says these things are not respectable things for human beings to do. Not under right livelihood. Common to everybody.

Samma-sati. Right mindfulness. What does it mean? In this mindfulness also there is no religious label. One-pointedness when you talk, when you think; when you do something do that mindfully. This is called Right Mindfulness.

When you think, you must understand what you are thinking, then you have to analyse whether your ideas, your thoughts are dangerous, harmful, useful or not. That is the meaning of thinking mindfully. When you talk mindfully you have to consider the words, the terms, the subject matter to whom you are talking. By considering all these things you have to talk. Mindfulness must be there.

Mindfulness in your action … You read Satipatthana Sutta, the way of mindfulness … You must be mindful when you walk, when you sit down, when you lie down; when you go to toilet also you must be mindful, otherwise you come out without using the flush! Mindfulness must be there.

When you eat, when you sleep, mindfulness must be there. So when you train and train and train your mind in this way, then this is the initial stage for you to train your mind. Without allowing your mind to run here and there then you can do your work efficiently without making mistakes. Mindfulness is there. When you deal with electricity, mindfulness must be there. So common to everybody. Why Buddhism. Now this is the nature of Buddhism.

Samma-samadhi. You must know how to enjoy our human life by maintaining some sort of calmness, tranquillity, satisfaction in our life, in our mind. At the moment we have no peace, all the mind worrying and crying and thinking and lamenting and harbouring jealousy and anger and grudge, and greedy for this and crazy attitude. Mind is boiling, boiling, boiling and what will happen? This point of mind affects the whole system. Glands, brain cells, blood, heart, nervous system, our stomach; untimely death because of that mental pollution. We never think. We are crazy for earning and earning and earning, no time to sleep, no time to eat, no time to relax, all the time thinking, thinking how to make more money, more money, more money. For what? To enjoy. Meanwhile, kick the bucket, no time to enjoy. This is the nature of our enjoyment.

When you collapsed, when you paralysed, please pray for me, pray for me. I am in trouble now. But earlier they were taught, now we must pray for him. The Buddha has given this warning for all of us irrespective of their religion, to understand. This is called Noble Path. Noble way of life. Since Buddha has introduced such excellent, meaningful, effective Dhamma for us to uphold our human dignity, Buddhism is important not to become slaves to anybody in this world. Not to become slaves to any god, not to become slaves to any Buddha, but to maintain human dignity. We can practise Buddhism as gentlemen, not as slaves, not as worms.

A stand. Develop your confidence. Final advice. Develop your confidence. It is because you have not developed this confidence that you go and worship and worship and worship – no faith. No faith means in you, no confidence. You do not know who you are. You think you are stupid. You think you cannot understand. You think you cannot do anything without any support from another person. The Buddha wants us to develop all these things, but unfortunately still we depend on others. We respect the Buddha. We bow down out of gratitude. We honour in appreciation of his achievement, enlightenment, wisdom, for giving us this message, forever we worship but we don’t ask all these things from him, we had to follow … remember these sayings of the Buddha. If you want to see the real Buddha, he has given this warning to one of his disciples who had come to admire the beauty of the Buddha, the Buddha says, What are you doing? He says, I really enjoy, admire your complexion, your beauty, your features, your serenity; soothing to my mind.

That is what you also say: ‘My Buddha is very nice; better than your Buddha’. This is the way how you admire the Buddha, your Buddha. So the Buddha says; What do you gain by watching this dirty, filthy, smelly, uncertain, impermanent physical body. The Buddha is not here in this physical body. Buddha’s body also is smelly, just like your body, and my body. You go and smell the Buddha’s body – Buddha is alive – you can see, very bad smell. He also go to toilet.

But your Buddha is that physical body. Buddha say, the Buddha is not there … One who sees the Dhamma, just now explained, the Dhamma taught by me, through this Dhamma you can understand, you can see the real Buddha. What does this mean? When you understand the Dhamma you can see what a compassionate heart, what a great man, what a holy person, how he sacrificed everything for the sake of others to guide others, to enlighten others, how he had to tolerate, what sort of patience he had, how he could manage to train those wicked and wild animals to lead a holy life. Ah, Dhamma is there.

When you go through and understand all these things you can see the real Buddha through this Dhamma, not through this difficult body. That is why the knowledge of the Dhamma is important for us to understand the Buddha.

One Russian philosopher, although he was not a Buddhist he has made a beautiful statement – I think at that time Communism was not there in Russia – he said ‘The more I know him, the more I love him; the more I love him, the more I know him’, about the Buddha. One Muslim scholar, I think more than a hundred years ago, has written in his book of poems. In his poem he says, ‘If you want to know, to see, the most happiest and contented human being on this earth, look at that friend in beggar’s clothing’ – referring to the Buddha. The Buddha was a friend, he gave up everything, he was using only a piece of cloth, just like a beggar, but he was the most happiest, contented human being on this earth. A Muslim scholar, nearly a hundred years ago, they also know how to appreciate.

One Christian writer, he is a Catholic, written a long article on Vesak day in the newspaper. He say, ‘I really cannot understand why Christians are reluctant to respect the Buddha when you study the services he has rendered towards mankind for more than 45 years. Why can’t they appreciate the services rendered by that great man. If they can respect all the others like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, why can’t they respect the Buddha’, a Christian writer says. We have to think unbiasedly.

Now as Buddhists we can see. Why it is difficult for us to respect Jesus Christ. What way we can respect Jesus. He has sacrificed his life for the sake of mankind. And all the other religious teachers we can respect, no harm. Puja ca pujaniyanam: Mangala Sutta – respect those who are worthy of respect. Why Buddhism is there.

Buddhism encourages you to respect other religious teachers also. In Anguttara Nikaya; Whenever, wherever you find the truth, you must accept the truth. You should not say that it is not in our religion, in our holy book, if it is a truth. It may be in Christianity, or Islam, or any other religion; if it is a truth, you can accept, respect as Buddhism.

Why Buddhism? Because of this.