Looking at Buddhism

Looking at Buddhism – Has it Failed in Asia?

To ask such a question is controversial and liable to

bring about various responses.

Some people who think of themselves and call

themselves a “Buddhist” may react with anger or

resentment to such a question.

Those who might think that Asian and Buddhist

countries and cultures are lands of enlightenment

might be disappointed or feel some anger or resentment

also.

But just by asking such a question we do not imply

that Buddhism has failed in Asia.

How can anyone accurately answer such a thing? We can

only perceive and analyze and understand that our

analysis may be flawed in some way or wrong.

And we always want to remember that we are flawed

already and that it is through Buddhism that we are

trying to become more focused and mindful.

Some insight into answering this question may be

derived from an interview with a well-respected

Buddhist monk from Tibet that I listened to some years

back.

During the course of the interview two interesting and important points were made that may shed some light

on this question.

One was that the interviewer made the point that

Buddhism came into different cultures and was able to

“merge’ with the culture and the Tibetan Buddhist monk

made the point that not all of the people in Tibet

were enlightened people.

As regards the first point, it seems that in some

respects Buddhism may have been weakened or

compromised in some manner by the forces at work in

the countries and cultures it came into.

It is sad to see that so many of the lay Buddhists in

Thailand do not trust or respect the monks anymore and

that many see the making of merit (the offering of

alms) as a way to get those things that they want,

kind of similar to asking Jesus or God to give us what

we want, instead of making an effort to understand and

apply the teachings of Jesus or the Buddha.

In addition, in Thailand there are widespread problems

with corruption, drug and drink abuse, prostitution,

gambling and domestic violence and violence and

murders relating to love and business.

From these ongoing states of affair it is hard to see

how Buddhism has made any impact on the actions of the

people here.

And this relates to the second point that was made in

the interview.

Because a country has a lot of temples, or a large

population of monks, or takes Buddhism as its religion

does not mean that many or most of the people

understand what these things really mean and tries to

learn and apply them.

Buddhism is there but there are forces in the society

that work against its understanding and practice.

But then again, if more people were practicing

Buddhism, perhaps there would not be so much economic

growth and new buildings going up here and there.

The forces that drive people in Asia, just as

elsewhere in the world are not Buddhism and its

practices but instead individual desires and greed.

In addition to this, the forces of nationalism and

xenophobia are much more powerful in Asia then

Buddhism is.

Since countries are very clearly built around one

ethnic group, people tend to see themselves as a group

with defined needs and goals and seldom look at

members of other ethnic groups or other countries in

the compassionate light of the Buddhist teachings.

So we have Thai Buddhists who hate and look down on

Cambodian Buddhists and vice a versa and the same

holds true for the Burmese and the Thai.

This type of situation may be truer in Southeast Asia

where we have three countries (Cambodia, Thailand,

Burma) that have a history based on wars and conflicts

between them then in other parts of Asia.

Of course, the history of Asia, just like other parts

of the world is one of fighting, wars and internal

conflicts, all based more on the desire for wealth,

power and influence then on gentleness and compassion.

There have been internal conflicts in and conflicts

between Japan, Korea and China, all countries that

have an historical affiliation with Buddhism and many

monks, temples and organizations devoted to Buddhism

in these modern times.

If these countries and cultures are not able to bring

Buddhism into the minds and actions of their people,

we will most likely continue to see the same problems

in the future, both within the countries and between

them, as people get lost in the material world and

suffer because of the greed and ignorance of those who

have more power and influence then them.

And what they will strive for will not be the wisdom

and compassion of the Buddha but instead the things

that they see in those who exploit and oppress them in

the present.

Perhaps the way it is going and will continue to go

will at sometime in the future give us a clearer

answer to this question.

(John lives and teaches in Bangkok, Thailand. He can

be reached at johnckimbrough@yahoo.com)