The Historical Background

The
triumph of materialism in the sphere of cosmology and metaphysics had
the profoundest impact on human self-understanding. The message it
conveyed was that the inward dimensions of our existence, with its vast
profusion of spiritual and ethical concerns, is mere adventitious
superstructure. The inward is reducible to the external, the invisible
to the visible, the personal to the impersonal. Mind becomes a higher
order function of the brain, the individual a node in a social order
governed by statistical laws. All humankind’s ideals and values are
relegated to the status of illusions: they are projections of biological
drives, sublimated wish-fulfillment. Even ethics, the philosophy of
moral conduct, comes to be explained away as a flowery way of expressing
personal preferences. Its claim to any objective foundation is
untenable, and all ethical judgments become equally valid. The
ascendancy of relativism is complete.

The Secularization of Life

The
intellectual background to our existential dislocation in a fair degree
of detail because it is  thought that any attempt to comprehend the
contemporary dilemmas of human existence in isolation from this powerful
cognitive underpinning would be incomplete and unsatisfactory is
sketched. The cognitive should not be equated with the merely
theoretical, abstract and ineffectual. For the cognitive can, in subtle
ways that defy easy analysis, exercise a tremendous influence upon the
affective and practical dimensions of our lives, doing so “behind the
back,” as it were, of our outwardly directed consciousness. Thus, once
the world view which extols the primacy of the external dimension of
reality over the internal gained widespread acceptance on the cognitive
front, it infiltrated the entire culture, entailing consequences that
are intensely practical and personal. Perhaps the most characteristic of
these might be summed up in the phrase that is used at the outset of
this paper: the radical secularization of life. The dominance of
materialism in science and philosophical thought penetrated into the
religious sphere and sapped religious beliefs and values of their
binding claims on the individual in public affairs. These beliefs and
values were relegated to the private sphere, as matters of purely
personal conscience, while those spheres of life that transcend the
narrowly personal were divested of religious significance. Thus in an
early stage the evolution of modern society replicated the dualism of
philosophical theory: the external sphere becomes entirely secular,
while ethical value and spirituality are confined to the internal.

In
certain respects this was without doubt a major step in the direction
of human liberation, for it freed individuals to follow the dictates of
personal conscience and reduced considerably the pressures placed upon
them to conform to the prevailing system of religious beliefs. But while
this advantage cannot be underestimated, the triumph of secularism in
the domain of public life eventually came to throw into question the
cogency of any form of religious belief or commitment to a transcendent
guarantor of ethical values, and this left the door open for widespread
moral deterioration, often in the name of personal freedom.

While
a dualistic division of the social order characterized the early phase
of the modern period, as in the case of philosophy dualism does not have
the last word. For the process of secularization does not respect even
the boundaries of the private and personal. Once a secular agenda
engulfs the social order, the entire focus of human life shifts from the
inward to the outward, and from the Eternal to the Here and Now.
Secularization invades the most sensitively private arenas of our lives,
spurred on by a social order driven by the urge for power, profits and
uniformity. Our lives become devoured by temporal, mundane
preoccupations even to the extent that such notions as redemption,
awakenment and deliverance — the watchwords of spirituality — at best
serve as evokers of a sentimental piety. The dominant ends of secular
society create a situation in which any boundary line of inward privacy
comes to be treated as a barrier that must be surmounted. Hence we find
that commercial interests and political organizations are prepared to
explore and exploit the most personal frontiers of desire and fantasy in
order to secure their advantage and enhance their wealth and power.

The
ascendancy of secularization in human life in no way means that most
people in secular society openly reject religion and acknowledge the
finality of this-worldly aims. Far from it. The human mind displays an
astounding ability to operate simultaneously on different levels, even
when those levels are sustained by opposing principles. Thus in a given
culture the vast majority will still pay homage to god or to the Dhamma;
they will attend church or the temple; they will express admiration of
religious ideals; they will conform to the routine observances expected
of them by their ancestral faith. Appeals to religious sentiment will be
a powerful means of stirring up waves of emotion and declarations of
loyalty, even of mobilizing whole sections of the population in support
of sectarian stands on volatile issues. This affirmation of allegiance
to religious ideals is not done out of sheer hypocrisy, but from a
capacity for inward ambivalence that allows us to live in a state of
self-contradiction. People in secular society will genuinely profess
reverence for religion, will vigorously affirm religious beliefs. But
their real interests lie elsewhere, riveted tightly to the temporal. The
ruling motives of human life are no longer purification but production,
no longer the cultivation of character but the consumption of
commodities and the enjoyment of sense pleasures. Religion may be
permitted to linger at the margins of the mind, indeed may even be
invited into the inward chamber, so long as it does not rudely demand of
us that we take up any crosses.

This existential dislocation has
major repercussions on a variety of fronts. Most alarming, in its
immediate impact on our lives, is the decline in the efficacy of
time-honored moral principles as guides to conduct. It is not to propose
painting our picture of the past in rosy colors. Human nature has never
been especially sweet, and the books of history speak too loudly of
man’s greed, blindness and brutality. Often, it must sadly be added,
organized religion has been among the worst offenders. However, while
aware of this, it would be to also say that at least during certain past
epochs our ancestors esteemed ethical ideals as worthy of emulation and
sanctioned moral codes as the proper guidelines of life. For all its
historical shortcomings, religion did provide countless people in any
given culture with a sense of meaning to their existence, a sense that
their lives were rooted in the Ultimate Reality and were directed
towards that Reality as their final goal. Now, however, that we have
made the radical turn away from the Transcendent, we have lost the
polestar that guided our daily choices and decisions. The result is
evident in the moral degeneration that proliferates at a frightening
rate through every so-called civilized part of the world. In the
self-styled Developed World the cities have become urban jungles; the
use of liquor and drugs spreads as an easy escape route from anxiety and
despair; sexually provocative entertainment takes on more and more
degrading forms; the culture of the gun hooks even middle-class youths
itching to break the tedium of their lives with murder and mayhem. Most
lamentably, the family has lost its crucial function of serving as the
training ground where children learn decency and personal
responsibility. Instead it has become merely a convenient and fragile
arrangement for the personal gratification of its members, who too often
seek their gratification at the expense of each other. While such
trends have not yet widely inundated Sri Lanka, we can already see their
germs beginning to sprout, and as modernization spreads extraordinary
vigilance will be required to withstand them.

The Religious Dimension

As
humanity moved  to the 21st century, the existential rift at the heart
of our inner life remains. Its pain is exacerbated by our repeated
failures to solve so many of the social, political and economic problems
that seem on the surface as though they should be easily manageable by
our sophisticated technological capabilities. The stubborn persistence
of these problems — and the constant emergence of new problems as soon
as the old ones recede — seems to make a mockery of all our
well-intentioned attempts to establish a utopian paradise on utterly
secular premises.

Ii is certainly not thought that the
rediscovery of the religious consciousness is in itself a sufficient
remedy for these problems which spring from a wide multiplicity of
causes far too complex to be reduced to any simplistic explanation. But
it is believed that the religious crisis of modern humanity is
intimately connected to these diverse social and political tragedies at
many levels. Some of these levels, it would added, lie far beyond the
range of rational comprehension and defy analysis in terms of linear
causality. It would see the connection as that of co-arisen
manifestations of a corrosive sickness in the human soul — the sickness
of selfishness and craving — or as kammic backlashes of the three root
defilements pinpointed by Buddhism — greed, hatred and delusion — which
have become so rampant today. It is therefore thought that any hopes we
may cherish towards healing our community, our planet and our world must
involve us in a deep level process of healing ourselves. And since this
healing, can only be successfully accomplished by re-orienting our
lives towards the Eternal Reality and Supreme Good, the process of
healing necessarily takes on a religious dimension.

It is hardly
within anyone’s capacity as a very limited individual to delineate, all
the elements that would be required to restore the religious dimension
to its proper role in human life. But it is  first briefly mention two
religious approaches that have sprung up in response to our existential
dislocation, but which is considered to be inadequate, even false
by-paths. Then it is sketched, in a tentative and exploratory manner,
several responses religion must make if it is to answer the deep
yearnings that stir in the hearts of present-day humanity.

The
two religious phenomena that are viewed are false detours which must
finally be rejected are fundamentalism and spiritual eclecticism. Both
have arisen as reactions to the pervasive secularism of our time; both
speak to the widespread hunger for more authentic spiritual values than
our commercial, sensualist culture can offer. Yet neither, it would be
argued, provides a satisfactory solution to our needs.

Fundamentalism
no doubt bears the character of a religious revival. However, it is
opinioned it fails to qualify as a genuinely spiritual type of
religiosity because it does not meet the criterion of true spirituality.
This criterion it would be described, in broad terms, as the quest to
transcend the limitations of the ego-consciousness. As it is  understood
fundamentalism, it draws its strength from its appeal to human
weakness, by provoking the ego-consciousness and the narrow, volatile
interests of the small self. Its psychological mood is that of
dogmatism; it polarizes the human community into the opposed camps of
insiders and outsiders; it dictates a policy of aggression that entails
either violence against the outsiders or attempts to proselytize them.
It does not point us in the direction of selflessness, understanding,
acceptance of others based on love, the ingredients of true
spirituality.

Spiritual eclecticism — omnipresent in the West
today — is governed by the opposite logic. It aims to amalgamate, to
draw into a whole a sundry variety of quasi-religious disciplines: yoga,
spiritualism, channeling, astrology, faith healing, meditation, I
Ching, special diets, Cabbala, etc. These are all offered to the seeker
on a pick-and-choose basis; everything is valid, anything goes. This
eclecticism often reveals a longing for genuine spiritual experience,
for a vision of reality more encompassing than pragmatic materialism. It
fails because it tears profound disciplines out from their context in a
living faith and blends them together into a shapeless mixture without
spine or substance. Its psychological mood is that of a romantic,
promiscuous yearning for easy gratification rather than that of serious
commitment. Owing to its lack of discrimination it often shades off into
the narcissistic and the occult, occasionally into the diabolical.

It
is believed that a viable solution to humanity’s spiritual hunger can
arise only from within the fold of the great classical religious
traditions. It must also be stated frankly that it is convinced that the
religious tradition that best addresses the crucial existential
problems of our time is Buddhism, especially in its early form based on
the Pali canon. However, to speak in terms of a more general
application, it would be maintained that if any great religion is to
acquire a new relevance it must negotiate some very delicate, very
difficult balances. It must strike a happy balance between remaining
faithful to the seminal insights of its Founder and ancient masters and
acquiring the skill and flexibility to formulate these insights in ways
that directly link up with the pressing existential demands of old-age.
It is only too easy to veer towards one of these extremes at the expense
of the other: either to adhere tenaciously to ancient formulas at the
expense of present relevance, or to bend fundamental principles so
freely that one drains them of their deep spiritual vitality. The middle
way, which fuses fidelity to tradition and relevance to contemporary
concerns, is always the most difficult. Above all, I think any religion
today must bear in mind an important lesson impressed on us so painfully
by past history: the task of religion is to liberate, not to enslave.
Its purpose should be to enable its adherents to move towards the
realization of the Ultimate Good and to bring the power of this
realization to bear upon life in the world. The purpose is not to
subordinate the individual to the institution, to multiply the numbers
of the faithful, and to sacrifice the individual conscience upon the
altar of the Establishment.

Despite the vast differences between
the belief systems of the major religions, it is thought there are
vitally important areas of common concern which unite them in this Age
of Confusion. With the world torn between senseless violence and vulgar
frivolity, it is critically necessary that representatives of the great
religions meet to exchange insights and to seek to understand each other
more deeply. Cooperation between the great religions is certainly
necessary if they are to contribute a meaningful voice towards the
solution of the momentous spiritual dilemmas that confront us.

The Tasks of Religion Today

Here
it would be mentioned several challenges that confront the major
religious traditions today, and it  would  also be sketched, very
briefly, the ways such challenges may be met from within the horizons of
the religion which it is followed, Theravada Buddhism. It is left to
the Christian scholars involved in this dialogue to decide for
themselves whether these points are of sufficient gravity to merit their
own attention and to work out solutions from the perspective of their
own faith.

(1) The Philosophical Bridge

The
first challenge that would be  discussed is primarily philosophical in
scope, though with profound and far-reaching practical implications.
This is the task of overcoming the fundamental dichotomy which
scientific materialism has posited between the realm of “real fact,”
i.e., impersonal physical processes, and the realm of value. By
assigning value and spiritual ideals to private subjectivity, the
materialistic world view, as it is mentioned earlier, threatens to
undermine any secure objective foundation for morality. The result is
the widespread moral degeneration that we witness today. To counter this
tendency,it is not thought mere moral exhortation is sufficient. If
morality is to function as an efficient guide to conduct, it cannot be
propounded as a self-justifying scheme but must be embedded in a more
comprehensive spiritual system which grounds morality in a transpersonal
order. Religion must affirm, in the clearest terms, that morality and
ethical values are not mere decorative frills of personal opinion, not
subjective superstructure, but intrinsic laws of the cosmos built into
the heart of reality.

In the Buddha’s teaching, the objective
foundation for morality is the law of kamma, and its corollary, the
teaching of rebirth. According to the principle of kamma, our
intentional actions have a built-in potential for generating
consequences for ourselves that correspond to the moral quality of the
deeds. Our deeds come to fruition, sometimes in this life, sometimes in
future lives, but in either case an inescapable, impersonal law connects
our actions to their fruits, which rebound upon us exactly in the way
we deserve. Thus our morally determinate actions are the building blocks
of our destiny: we must ultimately reap the fruits of our own deeds,
and by our moral choices and values we construct our happiness and
suffering in this life and in future lives.

In the Buddha’s
teaching, the law of kamma is integral to the very dynamics of the
universe. The Buddhist texts speak of five systems of cosmic law, each
perfectly valid within its own domain: the laws of inorganic matter
(utuniyama), the laws of living organisms (bijaniyama), the laws of
consciousness (cittaniyama), the laws of kamma or moral deeds and their
fruits (kammaniyama), and the laws of spiritual development
(dhammataniyama). The science that dominates the West has flourished
through its exclusive attention to the first two systems of law. As a
Buddhist, it would be argued that a complete picture of actuality must
take account of all five orders, and that by arriving at such a complete
picture, we can restore moral and spiritual values to their proper
place within the whole.

(2) Guidelines to Conduct

A
second challenge, closely related to the first, is to propose concrete
guidelines to right conduct capable of lifting us from our morass of
moral confusion. While the first project it is mentioned operates on the
theoretical front, this one is more immediately practical in scope.
Here we are not so much concerned with establishing a valid foundation
for morality as with determining exactly what guidelines to conduct are
capable of promoting harmonious and peaceful relations between people.
On this front it is thought that the unsurpassed guide to the ethical
good is still the Five Precepts (pancasila) taught by Buddhism.
According to the Buddhist texts, these precepts are not unique to the
Buddha Sasana but constitute the universal principles of morality upheld
in every culture dedicated to virtue. The Five Precepts can be
considered in terms of both the actions they prohibit and the virtues
they inculcate. At the present time it is  thought it is necessary to
place equal stress on both aspects of the precepts, as the Buddha
himself has done in the Suttas.

These precepts are:

1.
The rule to abstain from taking life, which implies the virtue of
treating all beings with kindness and compassion.(I do not want others
to take my life, so I will abstain from taking other lives)

2.
The rule to abstain from stealing, which implies honesty, respect for
the possessions of others, and concern for the natural environment.( I
do not want others to steal my things. So I will abstain from stealing
others things)

3. The rule to abstain from sexual misconduct,
which implies responsibility and commitment in one’s marital and other
interpersonal relationships.(I do not want my wife/husband to be taken
by others. So I will abstain from sexual misconduct)

4. The rule
to abstain from lying, which implies a commitment to truth in dealing
with others.(I do not want others to tell lies to me. So I will abstain
from lying)

5. The rule to abstain from alcoholic drinks, drugs
and intoxicants, which implies the virtues of sobriety and
heedfulness.(I will abstain from taking intoxicants because I may
violate  all the above four precepts)

In presenting the case for
these precepts, it should be shown that quite apart from their long-term
kammic effect, which is a matter of faith, they conduce to peace and
happiness for oneself right here and now, as well as towards the welfare
of those whom one’s actions affect.

(3) Diagnosis of the Human Condition

A
third project for religion is to formulate, on the basis of its
fundamental doctrinal traditions, an incisive diagnosis of the
contemporary human condition. From the Buddhist perspective it is
thought the analysis that the Buddha offered in his Four Noble Truths
still remains perfectly valid. Not only does it need not the least
revision or reinterpretation, but the course of twenty-five centuries of
world history and the present-day human situation only underscores its
astuteness and relevance.

The core problem of human existence,
the First Truth announces, is (Dhukka) suffering. The canonical texts
enumerate different types of suffering — physical, psychological and
spiritual; in the present age, we should also highlight the enormous
volume of social suffering that plagues vulnerable humanity. The cause
of suffering, according to the Second Truth, lies nowhere else than in
our own minds — in our craving and ignorance, in the defilements of
greed, hatred and delusion. The solution to the problem is the subject
of the Third Noble Truth, which states that liberation from suffering
must also be effected by the mind, through the eradication of the
defilements responsible for suffering. And the Fourth Truth gives us the
method to eradicate the defilements, the Noble Eightfold Path, with its
three stages of training in moral discipline, meditation and wisdom.

(4) A Practical Method of Training

The
next point is a practical extension of the third. Once a religion has
offered us a diagnosis of the human condition which reveals the source
of suffering in the mind, it must offer us concrete guidance in the task
of training and mastering the mind. Thus it is thought that a major
focus of present-day religion must be the understanding and
transformation of the mind. This requires experiential disciplines by
which we can arrive at deeper insight into ourselves and gradually
effect very fundamental inward changes. Buddhism provides a vast arsenal
of time-tested teachings and methods for meeting this challenge. It
contains comprehensive systems of psychological analysis and potent
techniques of meditation that can generate experiential confirmation of
its principles.

In the present age access to these teachings and
practices will cease to remain the exclusive preserve of the monastic
order, but will spread to the lay community as well, as has already been
occurring throughout the Buddhist world both in the East and in the
West. The spirit of democracy and the triumph of the experimental method
demand that the means of mind-development be available to anyone who is
willing to make the effort. The experiential dimension of religion is
an area where Christianity can learn a great deal from Buddhism, and it
is believed that Christianity must rediscover its own contemplative
heritage and make available deeper transformative disciplines to both
its clergy and its lay followers if it is to retain its relevance to
humanity in the future.

(5) The Preservation of the Human Community

The
last challenge I will discuss is the need for religions to re-affirm
and to actively demonstrate those values that are particularly critical
for the human race to attain the status of an integrative, harmonious
community. They must translate into concrete programs of action the
great virtues of love and compassion. Because the world has become more
closely knit than ever before, we have to recognize the enormous
responsibility that we each bear for the welfare of the whole. What all
religions need to stress, in the face of so much cruelty and violence,
is the development of a sense of global responsibility, a concern for
the welfare and happiness of all living beings as well as for the
protection of our natural environment. Love and compassion must issue
forth in active endeavor to alleviate the sufferings of others and to
ensure that the oppressed and afflicted are granted all the
opportunities that have hitherto been denied them.

This is an
area where Christianity, with its Social Gospel, has shown far greater
initiative than Buddhism, which too often has subscribed to a false,
fatalistic interpretation of the kamma doctrine that stifles social
action. But the foundation for a socially oriented expression of
Buddhism is already found in the Dhamma, especially in its formula of
the four Brahma Viharas, or “Divine Abodes,” as the ideal social
virtues: loving kindness towards all beings, compassion for those who
suffer, altruistic joy for those who are well, and equanimity as freedom
from arbitrary discrimination. Already a socially engaged form of
Buddhism has emerged and no doubt it will become an important
development in the future of the religion.

It is wished to
conclude this by drawing attention to the fact that religion today has
two crucial tasks to accomplish in responding to the vital problems of
our time. One is to help the individual fathom the ultimate truth about
his or her own personal existence, to move in the direction of the
Eternal Good, the Unconditioned Reality, wherein true liberation is to
be found. The other task is to address the problem of the Manifest Good:
the problem of the human community, of promoting peace, harmony and
fellowship. The urgency of combining these two tasks was beautifully
summed up by the Buddha in a short discourse in the Satipatthana
Samyutta. There the Blessed One said:

“Protecting oneself, one protects others,

Protecting others, one protects oneself”