06.06.24.Buddha Dhamma Academy.Regd.Tiruvannamalai.TN.by Sivaji.UT news.Chennai.
Teachings Of Buddha Part - 2
Rebirth.5
The Buddha remembered clearly many of His past lives. Even today, many Buddhist monks, nuns and others also remember their past lives. Such a strong memory is a result of deep meditation. For those who remember their past life, Rebirth is an established fact which puts this life in a meaningful perspective.
The Law of Kamma can only be understood in the framework of many lifetimes, because it sometimes takes this long for Kamma to bear its fruit. Thus Kamma and Rebirth offer a plausible explanation to the obvious inequalities of birth; why some are born into great wealth whereas others are born into pathetic poverty; why some children enter this world healthy and full-limbed whereas others enter deformed and diseased... The fruits of bad Kamma are not regarded as a punishment for evil deeds but as lessons from which to learn, for example, how much better to learn about the need for generosity than to be reborn among the poor!
Rebirth takes place not only within this human realm. The Buddha pointed out that the realm of human beings is but one among many. There are many separate heavenly realms and grim lower realms, too, realms of the animals and realms of the ghosts. Not only can human beings go to any of these realms in the next life, but we can come from any of these realms into our present life. This explains a common objection against Rebirth that argues "How can there be Rebirth when there are ten times as many people alive today than there were 50 years ago?" The answer is that people alive today have come from many different realms.
Understanding that we can come and go between these different realms, gives us more respect and compassion for the beings in these realms. It is unlikely, for example, that one would exploit animals when one has seen the link of Rebirth that connects them with us.
No Creator God
The Buddha pointed out that no God or priest nor any other kind of being has the power to interfere in the working out of someone else's Kamma. Buddhism, therefore, teaches the individual to take full responsibility for themselves. For example, if you want to be wealthy then be trustworthy, diligent and frugal, or if you want to live in a heaven realm then always be kind to others. There is no God to ask favours from, or to put it another way there is no corruption possible in the workings of Kamma.
Do Buddhists believe that a Supreme Being created the universe? Buddhists would first ask which universe do you mean? This present universe, from the moment of the 'big bang' up to now, is but one among countless millions in Buddhist cosmology. The Buddha gave an estimate of the age of a single universe-cycle of around 37,000 million years, which is quite plausible when compared to modern astrophysics. After one universe- cycle ends another begins, again and again, according to impersonal law. A Creator God is redundant in this scheme.
No being is a Supreme Saviour, according to the Buddha, because whether God, human, animal or whatever, all are subject to the Law of Kamma. Even the Buddha had no power to save. He could only point out the Truth so that the wise could see it for themselves. Everyone must take responsibility for their own future well-being, and it is dangerous to give that responsibility to another.5.
Wise Story.Promise.
Remembering the Promise
The Bodhisattva was once born as Junha, the son of King Brahmadatta of Benaras. One day, while walking down a road in Takshila where he was sent to study, he accidentally ran into a poor Brahmin knocking him down and scattering all his alms. Even his begging bowl broke into pieces. Junha was very sorry for the damage and said to the Brahmin, Sir, I am very sorry to have caused you so much loss. Right now, I don’t have any money to help you. But I promise to compensate you handsomely in future when I am the king. Please remind me once I ascend the throne. In due course, Junha became the King of Benaras. One day, while on his daily round around the city, the Brahmin came in front of his chariot and held out his hand crying, Long live the King! and asked for the help that he had promised. At first Junha could not recognize him but when the Brahmin narrated the incident, he remembered instantly and showered him profusely with gifts.
FEATURES
The Secret Spiritual Lives of Buddhist Studies Scholars
- ByC. Pierce Salguero,Emily Lang
- June 5, 2024
Academic norms often encourage scholars of religion to present themselves in ways that emphasize objectivity and skepticism, and they hardly ever discuss their own personal experiences with religion. To echo the title of Prof. Russell T. McCutcheon’s influential 2001 book, the academy has for decades demanded that scholars be “critics not caretakers” of the religious traditions they study.
In order to try to quantify scholars’ involvement in religion, the co-authors of this article recently conducted an anonymous online survey. The survey revealed that, contrary to their public reticence, the majority of Buddhist studies scholars active in the field today are highly engaged in religious and spiritual activities. They even are prone to crediting mystical, spiritual, or religious experiences with influencing their choice to go into the study of religion.
Let’s dig into the details. . . .
Who were the respondents?
Our survey was conducted in early 2024 and was distributed through social media channels frequented by Buddhist studies scholars, as well as the H-Buddhism network (a scholarly online discussion forum). Although intended to measure Buddhist studies scholars’ involvement in religion, our survey was disguised as a demographic questionnaire so as not to attract or repel particular kinds of respondents and thereby skew the results. While a variety of different types of people participated in the survey, 109 reported being either currently active PhDs or current PhD students in the field of Buddhist studies. Those are the respondents we showcase here.
Overall, this pool was 53 per cent male, 40 per cent female, and 2 per cent “non-binary/other gender, ”with 5 per cent abstaining from answering. A majority identified as white (60 per cent), while other respondents identified as Asian/Pacific Islanders (22 per cent), Hispanic/Latino (7 per cent), Native American/Indigenous (1 per cent), or Other (9 per cent). No respondents identified as Black or North African/Middle Eastern/Persian.
The majority of respondents (60 per cent) received or are receiving their PhDs in the United States. Also represented were the UK (9 per cent), other European countries (13.5 per cent), Canada (8 per cent), Asia (7 per cent), and other countries/regions (2 per cent). Three quarters of the respondents (74 per cent) said that they primarily spoke English. Although we did not ask about employment status, the fact that 75 per cent of respondents reported annual incomes of over US$50,000 led us to surmise that a large number of our respondents were employed as full-time faculty members.*
Spiritual or religious participation
After the participants had completed the demography portion, our survey asked them a series of questions about their religious and spiritual lives. Here, the results were surprising. When asked how often they participated in “religious or spiritual activities (e.g., prayer, meditation, ritual practice, etc.) or attended religious services (e.g., church, synagogue, temple),” well over half of the respondents (58 per cent) reported that they participated weekly or more often. Notably, two-thirds (65 per cent) reported having had at least one “religious, spiritual, mystical, or awakening experience.” Furthermore, when asked about the impact of such experiences on their decision to enter the field of religious studies, a majority of the respondents said they were either “instrumental” (30 per cent) or “somewhat influential” (25 per cent).
We also asked the respondents to specify what kinds of spiritual, religious, or awakening experiences they had had, based on the types of experiences listed in the Brief Mysticism Scale. The graph below shows the number of respondents who reported different types of experiences. They were able to select more than one option.
When given the opportunity to elaborate in an open-ended question, these scholars described their experiences in ways that often were consonant with Buddhist spiritual norms. For example, respondents spoke of “remaining without thoughts,” “calm, peaceful, and joyful in my mind and body,” “a melting of myself,” “brightness around my head,” “overwhelming sense of love and wholeness,” and the “interconnectedness of everything.” Multiple respondents mentioned that these effects were specifically caused by engagement in meditation, and that they felt inspired to dedicate themselves to Buddhist practice and Buddhist studies ever since.
Although unprompted, some respondents commented on the tension between their personal experiences and the scholarly study of religion. As one scholar recalled: “It was after finding a [Buddhist] practice and recognizing a gap between what my fellow practitioners seemed to understand and what academics studying this community seemed to grasp that I decided to enter the academic field of religious studies.” Others mentioned being influenced by their experiences to focus specifically on the study of meditation or related topics in their academic work.
Conclusion
As Charles Prebish wrote in a recent article for Lion’s Roar, the number of Buddhist studies scholars who identify as practicing Buddhists is notably on the rise. He estimates that somewhere between 25–50 per cent of currently active scholars are Buddhist. Nevertheless, it remains rare today for scholars to speak publicly about their religious identities. Prebish suggests that, “in many cases, this defensive professional tactic is used to ensure that matters of religious preference and practice are excluded from important personnel matters such as promotion and tenure decisions.” (Lion’s Roar)
If they are reluctant to talk about their religious identities in public, there is an even firmer taboo in place when it comes to talking about first-hand religious experience or other effects of religious practice. As Jeffrey Kripal, one of the few scholars who has openly discussed his own mystical experience, put it in a recent interview: “We can talk about how things are social representations or how they privilege some groups and deprivilege others. But what we can’t talk about is . . . that human beings actually do have experiences of transcendence and they do have experiences of unity, not just with the species, but with the universe.” (Elise Loehnen)
Nevertheless, our study suggests that there is actually quite a bit going on behind the scholarly curtain, so to speak. While they may not always divulge it publicly, when asked in an anonymous survey, the majority of scholars reveal a sincere commitment to and a personal investment in spiritual practice.
* For more statistics about the profession, see “The Academic Discipline of Buddhist Studies: 2023 Survey.” (H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online)
References
McCutcheon, Russell T. 2001. Critics Not Caretakers: Redescribing the Public Study of Religion. New York: State University of New York Press.
Aurangabad: Call for Buddha Statue Along Ajanta Caves Route Met with Administration's Apathy
A delegation comprising Buddhist monks met with District Collector Dilip Swami and submitted a memorandum regarding this demand.
The Akhil Bharatiya Bhikhu Sangh, along with all Ambedkarite parties and the Ambedkarwadi Bahujan Vikas Samiti, have demanded the installation of a large statue of Lord Gautam Buddha at the Harsul T-point, considering the large influx of international and national tourists visiting Ajanta Caves via this route.
A delegation comprising Buddhist monks met with District Collector Dilip Swami and submitted a memorandum regarding this demand.
The monks highlighted that the Bhikhu Sangh and several other organizations have been advocating for the installation of a significant statue of Lord Buddha at the Harsul T-point, a crucial junction for tourists en route to the world-renowned Ajanta Caves. However, despite verbal assurances from former Municipal Corporation Commissioner Abhijeet Chaudhary, no concrete action has been taken by the administration. Although the Harsul T-point underwent beautification, the promised statue of Lord Buddha has not been erected yet.
2 statues already sanctioned
During the temporary tenure of Municipal Corporation Administrator G Srikanth as the district collector, he sanctioned two statues within the city, including one of Bhagwan Mahavir at Hotel Vedant and another of Rajmata Jijau at Cambridge Chowk, with a budget of ₹5 crores. Despite these developments, the administration has shown apathy towards fulfilling the longstanding demand for a statue of Lord Buddha at Harsul, as reiterated by the local residents for several years.
The delegation has issued a stern warning of launching a severe agitation if their demand is not addressed promptly.
Present during the delegation were Bhadant Vishudhanand Bodhi Mahathero, Bhante Sanghpriya, Deepak Nikalje, Bhante Bodhi Dhammo, Bhante Nirvan, and others.
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