What
Buddhists Believe
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
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Why Does the World Population
Increase?
There is really no ground to think
that this is the only period in which the population of the world has
increased.
If
Buddhists do not believe in the soul created by god, how are they going to
account for the increase of population in the world today? This is a very
common question that is asked by many people today. People who ask this
question usually assume that there is only one world where living beings
exist. One must consider that it is quite natural for the population to
increase in such places where good climatic conditions, medical
facilities, food and precautions are available to produce and to protect
living beings.
One must also consider
that there is really no ground to think that this is the only period in
which the population in the world has increased. There are no means of
comparison with any period of ancient history. Vast civilizations existed
and have disappeared in Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Ancient
America. No census figures on these civilizations are even remotely
available. Population, as everything else in the universe, is subject to
cycles of rise and fall. In cycles of alarming increases of birth rate,
one might be consequently tempted to argue against rebirth in this or
other worlds. For the last few thousand years, there has been no evidence
to prove that there were more people in some parts of the world than there
are today. The number of beings existing in the various world systems is
truly infinite. If human lives can be compared to only one grain of sand,
the number of beings in the universe is like the grains of sand all the
beaches in the world. When conditions are right and when supported by
their good kamma, a few of these infinite number of beings are reborn as
human beings. The advancement of medicine especially in the 19th
and 20th centuries has enabled human beings to live longer and
healthier lives.
This is a factor that
contributes to population increase. Population can further increase unless
sensible people take measures to control it. Hence, the credit or
responsibility of increasing the population must be given to medical
facilities and other circumstances available today. This credit or
responsibility cannot be allotted to any particular religion or any
external sources.
There is a belief among
certain people that all unfortunate occurrences that destroy human lives
are created by god in order to reduce the population of the world. Instead
of giving so much suffering to his own creatures, why cannot he control
the population? Why does he create more and more people in thickly
populated countries where there is no proper food, clothing and other
basic and necessary requirements? Those who believe that god created
everything cannot give a satisfactory answer to this question. Poverty,
unhappiness, war, hunger, disease, famine are not due to the will of god
or to the whim of some devil, but to causes which are not so difficult to
discover.
Sex and Religion
'The lower part of us
is still animal.' (Gandhi)
The sex impulse is the
most dynamic force in human nature. So far-reaching is the sexual force
that some measures of self-control is necessary even in ordinary
existence. In the case of the spiritual aspirant, for whoever wants to
bring his mind under complete control, a still greater measure of
self-discipline is necessary. Such a powerful force in human character can
be subdued only if the aspirant controls his thoughts and practises
concentration. The conservation of the sexual force helps to develop this
strength. For if he controls the sexual force, he will have more control
over his whole make-up, over his lesser emotions.
Celibacy is one
of the requirements for those who like to develop their spiritual
development to perfection. However, it is not compulsory for each and
every person to observe complete celibacy in order to practise Buddhism.
The Buddha's advice is that observing celibacy is more congenial for a
person who wants to cultivate his spiritual achievements. For ordinary
Buddhist laymen, the precept is to abstain from sexual misconduct.
Although perversion of the sexual force is not under this same category,
the perverted person invariably suffers bad reactions either physically,
or mentally or both.
There is a need
for Buddhist laymen to exercise some degree of control over their sexual
force. Man's sexual urge must be controlled properly otherwise man will
behave worse than an animal when he is intoxicated with lust. Consider the
sexual behavior of what we call the 'lower animal'. Which really is often
'lower'? The animal or the man? Which acts in a normal, regular manner as
regards sexual behavior? And which runs off into all manner of
irregularities and perversities? Often it is the animal that is the higher
creature and man that is the lower. And why is this? It is simply because
man who possesses the mental capacity which if rightly used, could make
him master over his sex impulses, has actually used his mental powers in
such deplorable fashion as to make himself more a slave to those impulses.
Thus man can, at times, be considered lower than the animal.
Our ancestors played down
this sexual impulse; they knew that it was strong enough without giving it
any extra encouragement. But today we have blown it up with a thousand
forms of incitation, suggestive advertisements, emphasis and display; and
we have armed the sexual force with the doctrine that inhibition is
dangerous and can even cause mental disorders.
Yet inhibition the control
of impulse is the first principle of any civilization. In our modern
civilization, we have polluted the sexual atmosphere that surrounds us. So
great is the mind-body urge for sexual gratification.
As a result of this sex
exploitation by the hidden persuaders of modern society, the youth of
today have developed an attitude toward sex that is becoming a public
nuisance. An innocent girl has no freedom to move anywhere without being
disturbed. On the other hand, females should be dressed such a manner as
not to arouse the hidden animal nature of youths.
Man is the only animal
that does not have periods of natural sexual inactivity during which the
body can recover its vitality. Unfortunately, commercial exploitation of
the erotic nature in man has caused modern man to be exposed to a
ceaseless barrage of sexual stimulation from every side. Much of the
neuroses of present-day life is traceable to this unbalanced state of
affairs. Men are expected to be monogamous, yet women are encouraged in
every possible way to 'glamorize' themselves, not for the husband alone,
but to excite in every man passions that society forbids him to indulge
in.
Many societies try to
enforce monogamous relationships. Thus a man with many failings can still
be a moral man, meaning that he is faithful to the one wife that the law
allows him to have. The danger here lies in the fact that thoughtful
people who are intelligent enough to realize that these rules are
artificial and not based on any transcendental, universally valid
principles, are liable to fall into the error of thinking the same about
all the other ethical laws.
Sex should be given its
due place in normal human life; it should be neither unhealthily repressed
nor morbidly exaggerated. And it should always be under the control of the
will, as it can be if it is regarded sanely and placed in its proper
perspective.
Sex should not
be considered as the most important ingredient for one's happiness in a
married life. Those who over-indulge can become slaves to sex which would
ultimately ruin love and humane consideration in marriage. As in
everything, one must be temperate and rational in one's sexual demands
taking into consideration one another's intimate feelings and temperament.
Marriage
is a bond of partnership for life entered into by a man and a woman.
Patience, tolerance and understanding are the three principal qualities
that should be developed and nurtured by the couple. Whilst love should be
the knot tying the couple together, material necessities for sustaining a
happy home should be made available by the male partner for the couple to
share. The qualification for a good partnership in marriage should be
'ours' and not 'yours' or 'mine' . A good couple should 'open' their
hearts to one another and to refrain from entertaining 'secrets'. Keeping
secrets to oneself could lead to suspicion and suspicion is the element
that could destroy love in a partnership. Suspicion breeds jealousy,
jealousy creates anger, anger develops hatred, hatred turns into enmity
and enmity could cause untold suffering including bloodshed, suicide and
even murder.
-ooOoo-
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Source: Buddhist
Study and Practice Group, http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/
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Update : 01-11-2002
