The timeless word of the Buddha
by Kalakeerthi Edwin ARIYADASA
 “The
individual feels the nothingness of human desires and aims, and the
sublimity and marvellous order which reveal themselves both in nature
and in the world of thought. He looks upon individual existence as a
sort of prison and wants to experience the universe as a single
significant whole, thus beginning a cosmic religious feeling. The
religion of the future will be a cosmic religion.
“Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based
on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural
and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description.
If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs,
it would be Buddhism”.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
This is the moment we ceremonially celebrate the 2600th anniversary
of the attainment of Supreme Enlightenment, by Ascetic Siddhartha –
thus, transforming him into the Supremely Enlightened Buddha. To all
members of the human community – irrespective of faith – this is a
riveting event, as His spiritual triumph benefits the totality of
mankind, with no reservations at all.
Spiritual fervour
While the world exults in a heightened spiritual fervour currently in
human history, we inhabit the mega age of Science and Technology. At no
time in the past has the world metamorphosed so much as in the recent
years. These far-reaching changes have been wrought, primarily in the
material aspects of human life, by diverse technologies which have
arisen as inevitable byproducts of the advancement in science.
As science and its byproduct technology make headway, certain
entrenched views that reigned supreme in the past eras of human history
begin to prove untenable. Some predominant scientific theories that held
sway in a bygone era are set aside without much ado as they have lost
their validity.
The Theory of Relativity expounded by the great Albert Einstein has
been widely demonstrated as being seriously flawed. Science sage
Einstein is popularly awarded the encomium ‘genius of geniuses'. Public
opinion endowed upon him the honorific ‘Person of the Twentieth Century'
title.
Very much like the Supremely Enlightened Buddha, Einstein too
discovered the illusion of worldly reality, through deep contemplation.
This greatest man of the twentieth century accepted with due
deference the universality of the Buddha's credo, thus obliquely
acknowledging the Buddha as “the greatest man who ever lived”. Scientist
Einstein could not succeed in his effort to discover a unified theory
applicable to the totality of the universe.
For all time
By transcendental contemplation, the Supremely Enlightened Buddha
realised a formula that is valid for all time and for all places.
In His inaugural discourse titled Dhamma Cakka Pavatthana Sutta (The
discourse on the turning of the wheel), the Buddha presented to the
world a theory that is true for all time and valid everywhere.
In His Universal Declaration, the Buddha proclaimed that all
phenomena bear three characteristics. These are: Anicca (Impermanence),
Dukkha (Suffering – Disharmony) and Anatta (Soullessness). There is no
phenomenon in the whole of the universe that does not come within this
all embracing formula.
Besides, unlike many other scientific theories, this formula will
never suffer fluctuations. It will remain unchanged for eternity. The
Buddha's unified Theory for the Whole Universe is sufficient by itself
to characterise Him as the greatest scientist who ever lived. The total
dispensation of the Supremely Enlightened Buddha, declared exactly 2,600
years ago, taken together is a vast scientific treatise applicable to
any human situation.
As a universal scientist, the Buddha possessed a specialised
dimension. He was not limited to theory alone. He had a transcendental
pragmatic aspect to his spiritual–scientific formulations.
He would characterise in universal terms the nature of human
existence. As an absolute pragmatist, He would indicate the path of
liberation out of this morass. He was not one of those cynically
objective scientists who could not think in terms of the human scale. He
was a supreme being of compassion and loving kindness.
Lethal weapons
The greatest worldly scientist of mankind Albert Einstein had to
ultimately accept his responsibility for the unprecedentedly lethal
weapons that unleashed massive devastation on lives and property.
With deep regret Einstein wrote: “We scientists whose tragic
destination has been to help in making the methods of annihilation more
gruesome and more effective, must consider it our solemn and
transcendent duty to do all in our power in preventing those weapons
from being used”.
The scientific theories of worldly geniuses such as Einstein can be
used both for good and bad – for healing and for massive destruction.
Although they repented the misuse of their science, this evil is
implicit in it. In the science of the Buddha, there is no such
contradiction.
It is meant only for wholesome human use – for peace, harmony and
absolute liberation. The Buddha's science is for the good of the many –
for the well-being of the many.
His compassionate dispensation attracted men and women of high
intellectual and spiritual stature from all parts of the world,
Einstein, Rhys Davies, Wilhelm Geiger and Col. Henry Steele Olcott just
to name a few.
They esteemed the boundless rights of life the Buddha declared to be
applicable to the total universe. Two thousand and six hundred years
ago, He declared the rights of life that went far beyond the human
rights we have declared in 1948 – about 2,537 years after the Buddha's
declaration of the rights of life.
Rights of life
His declaration of the rights of life is titled Karaniya Metta Sutta
(Discourse on loving kindness).
The Buddha proclaimed thus in that discourse:
“Let a person not perform the slightest wrong for which wise men may
rebuke him. Let him think;
May all beings be happy and safe. May they have happy minds.
Whatever living beings there may be – feeble or strong, long, short
or of medium size, short, small, large, those seen or unseen, those
dwelling far or near, those who are born as well as those who are yet to
be born –
May all beings be happy and healthy.
Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so
let one cultivate boundless love towards all beings.
Let him radiate boundless towards the entire world – above, below and
across – unhindered without ill will, without enmity”.
This is the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Life delivered to
mankind by the Buddha 2,600 years ago.
Those who preach Human Rights to torment and thwart others and to
tread mercilessly upon the helpless, should take a look at the Buddha's
Universal Declaration of the Rights of Life. Sri Lankans have followed
the rights of life for over 2,500 years. |
