What
Buddhists Believe
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
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Which is
the Proper Religion?
If any religion has the Four Noble
Truths and the Eightfold Path, then it can be regarded as a proper
religion.
It
is a very difficult for a man to find out why there are so many different
religions, and which religion is the true one. Followers of every religion
are trying to show the superiority of their religion. Diversity has
created some uniformity, but in matters of religion, men took upon each
other with jealousy, hatred and disdain. The most respected religious
practices in one religion are deemed ridiculous to others. To introduce
their divine and peaceful messages some people have to resorted to weapons
and wars. Have they polluted the good name of religion? It seems that
certain religions are responsible for dividing instead of uniting mankind.
To find a true and proper
religion, we must weigh with an unbiased mind what exactly is a false
religion. False religion or philosophies include: materialism which denies
survival after death; amoralism which denies good and evil; any religion
which asserts that man is miraculously saved or doomed; theistic evolution
which holds that everything is preordained and everyone is destined to
attain eventual salvation through mere faith.
Buddhism is free from
unsatisfactory and uncertain foundations. Buddhism is realistic and
verifiable. Its Truths have been verified by the Buddha, verified by His
disciples, and always remain open to be verified by anyone who wishes to
do so. And today, the Teachings of the Buddha, are being verified by the
most severe methods of scientific investigation.
The Buddha advises that
any form of religion is proper if it contains the Four Noble Truths and
the Noble Eightfold Path. This clearly shows that the Buddha did not want
to form a particular religion. What He wanted was to reveal the Ultimate
Truth of our life and the world. Although the Buddha expounded the Four
Noble Truths and the Eightfold Noble Path, this method is not the property
of Buddhists alone. This is universal Truth.
Most people find it
necessary to put forth arguments to 'prove' the validity
of the religion that they are following. Some claim that their religion is
the oldest and therefore contains the truth. Others claim that their
religion is the latest or newest and therefore contains the truth. Some
claim that their religion has the most followers and therefore contains
the truth. Yet none of these arguments are valid to establish the truth of
a religion. One can judge the value of a religion by using only common
sense and understanding.
Some religious traditions
require man to be subservient to a greater power than himself, a power
which controls his creation, his actions and his final deliverance. The
Buddha did not accept such powers. Rather, He assigned to man that very
power by asserting that each man is his own creator, responsible for his
own salvation. That is why it is said that 'There is none
so godless as the Buddha and yet none so godlike'. The religion of the
Buddhists gives man a great sense of dignity; at the same time it also
gives him great responsibility. A Buddhist cannot put the blame on an
external power when evil befalls him. But he can face misfortune with
equanimity because he knows that he has the power to extricate himself
from all misery.
One of the
reason why Buddhism appeals to intellectuals and those with a good
education, is that the Buddha expressly discouraged His followers from
accepting anything they heard(even if it came from Himself)without first
testing its validity. The teachings of the Buddha have remained and
survived precisely because many intellectuals have challenged every aspect
of the teachings and have concluded that the Buddha had always spoken the
undeniable Truth. While other religionists are trying to 'reassess' their
founder's teachings in the light of modern knowledge about the Universe,
the Buddha's teaching are being verified by scientists.
-ooOoo-
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Source: Buddhist
Study and Practice Group, http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/
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Layout: Chan Duc - Nguyen Thao
Update : 01-11-2002
