The Historical Background
The underlying historical cause of this phenomenon seems to lie in an unbalanced
development of the human mind in the West, beginning around the time of the
European Renaissance. This development gave increasing importance to the rational,
manipulative and dominative capacities of the mind at the expense of its intuitive,
comprehensive, sympathetic and integrative capacities. The rise to dominance
of the rational, manipulative facets of human consciousness led to a fixation
upon those aspects of the world that are amenable to control by this type of
consciousness -- the world that could be conquered, comprehended and exploited
in terms of fixed quantitative units. This fixation did not stop merely with
the pragmatic efficiency of such a point of view, but became converted into
a theoretical standpoint, a standpoint claiming validity. In effect, this means
that the material world, as defined by modern science, became the founding stratum
of reality, while mechanistic physics, its methodological counterpart, became
a paradigm for understanding all other types of natural phenomena, biological,
psychological and social.
The early founders of the Scientific Revolution in the seventeenth century --
such as Galileo, Boyle, Descartes and Newton -- were deeply religious men, for
whom the belief in the wise and benign Creator was the premise behind their
investigations into lawfulness of nature. However, while they remained loyal
to the theistic premises of Christian faith, the drift of their thought severely
attenuated the organic connection between the divine and the natural order,
a connection so central to the premodern world view. They retained God only
as the remote Creator and law-giver of Nature and sanctioned moral values as
the expression of the Divine Will, the laws decreed for man by his Maker. In
their thought a sharp dualism emerged between the transcendent sphere and the
empirical world. The realm of "hard facts" ultimately consisted of
units of senseless matter governed by mechanical laws, while ethics, values
and ideals were removed from the realm of facts and assigned to the sphere of
an interior subjectivity.
It was only a matter of time until, in the trail of the so-called Enlightenment,
a wave of thinkers appeared who overturned the dualistic thesis central to this
world view in favor of the straightforward materialism. This development was
not a following through of the reductionistic methodology to its final logical
consequences. Once sense perception was hailed as the key to knowledge and quantification
came to be regarded as the criterion of actuality, the logical next step was
to suspend entirely the belief in a supernatural order and all it implied. Hence
finally an uncompromising version of mechanistic materialism prevailed, whose
axioms became the pillars of the new world view. Matter is now the only ultimate
reality, and divine principle of any sort dismissed as sheer imagination.
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
I have sketched the intellectual background to our existential dislocation in
a fair degree of detail because I think that any attempt to comprehend the contemporary
dilemmas of human existence in isolation from this powerful cognitive underpinning
would be incomplete and unsatisfactory. 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 I 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, enlightenment
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. I do not 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, I must sadly add, organized religion has been among the worst
offenders. However, while aware of this, I would 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 moves ever closer 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.
I certainly do not think 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 I do believe that the religious crisis of modern humanity is intimately
connected to these diverse social and political tragedies at many levels. Some
of these levels, I would add, lie far beyond the range of rational comprehension
and defy analysis in terms of linear causality. I 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 karmic backlashes of the three
root defilements pinpointed by Buddhism -- greed, hatred and delusion -- which
have become so rampant today. I therefore think 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, in my view,
can only be successfully accomplished by re-orienting our lives towards the
Ultimate Reality and Supreme Good, the process of healing necessarily takes
on a religious dimension.
It is hardly within my capacity as a very limited individual to delineate, in
this paper, all the elements that would be required to restore the religious
dimension to its proper role in human life. But I will first briefly mention
two religious approaches that have sprung up in response to our existential
dislocation, but which I consider to be inadequate, even false by-paths. Then
I will sketch, 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 in my view 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, I would argue, provides a satisfactory solution to our
needs.
Fundamentalism no doubt bears the character of a religious revival. However,
in my opinion it fails to qualify as a genuinely spiritual type of religiosity
because it does not meet the criterion of true spirituality. This criterion
I would describe, in broad terms, as the quest to transcend the limitations
of the ego-consciousness. As I understand fundamentalism, it draws its strength
from its appeal to human weakness, by provoking the ego-consciousness and the
narrow, volatile interests 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.
I believe that a viable solution to humanity's spiritual hunger can arise only
from within the fold of the great classical religious traditions. I must also
state frankly that I am 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, I would maintain 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,
I think 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 I will mention several challenges that confront the major religious traditions
today, and I will also sketch, very briefly, the ways such challenges may be
met from within the horizons of the religion which I follow, Theravada Buddhism.
I leave it 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 I will discuss 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 I 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, I do not think
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, I would argue 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 I 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 I think 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 I think 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.
2. The rule to abstain from stealing, which implies honesty, respect for the
possessions of others, and concern for the natural environment.
3. The rule to abstain from sexual misconduct, which implies responsibility
and commitment in one's marital and other interpersonal relationships.
4. The rule to abstain from lying, which implies a commitment to truth in dealing
with others.
5. The rule to abstain from alcoholic drinks, drugs and intoxicants, which implies
the virtues of sobriety and heedfulness.
In presenting the case for these precepts, it should be shown that quite apart
from their long-term karmic 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 I think 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 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 I think 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 I believe
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 karma 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.
I wish to conclude this talk 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 Ultimate 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"
He then explains that the expression "protecting oneself, one protects
others" refers to the practice of meditation, which purifies the mind of
its defilements and gives insight into the real nature of the world. By "protecting
others, one protects oneself" he means the development of the virtues of
patience. Loving kindness and compassion, by which one safeguards others from
harm and suffering. I believe that a commitment to these two great principles
-- pañña and karuna in Buddhist terms, gnosis and love in Christian
terms -- is essential if religion today is to guide humanity from the brink
of darkness and despair to the realm of spiritual light and freedom.