THE CHALLENGE
TO THE SANGHA IN THE 21st CENTURY
By
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi, Lanka Daily News, July 19, 2006
http://www.buddhist
channel.tv/ index.php? id=8,2928,0,0,1, 0
Colombo,
Sri Lanka -- Challenge: The Sangha, the order of fully ordained monks and
nuns, is the visible representation of the Buddha in the world; for twenty-five
centuries, it has sustained the continuity of the Dhamma among humankind;
by its procedures of ordination and transmission it ensures that the Buddha's
legacy remains alive.
How
long will the Buddha Sangha continue to survive?
The
presence of the Triple Gem thus depends upon the Sangha, which symbolizes
the Third Gem, the ariyan Sangha or community of noble sages who have realized
the ultimate, world-transcending truth.
The
Sangha has survived for some 2500 years; that's longer than the Roman Empire,
longer than all the dynasties of the Chinese emperors, longer than the
British Empire. And it has survived without weapons, without financial
resources, without armies, merely through the power of wisdom and virtue.
However,
there is no guarantee that it will continue to survive or that it will
continue to make vital and important contributions to human life. This
is a task that depends on the members of the Sangha themselves, on each
new generation of monks and nuns, and this is an extremely important task,
because the future of Buddhism depends on the future of the Sangha.
As
we know, the Sangha has always existed in close interaction with the Buddhist
lay community. The relationship between the two is one of interdependence
and collaboration.
In
traditional Buddhism, the laity provides the members of the Sangha with
their material requisites - robes, food, dwellings, medicines, and other
material supports - while the Sangha provides the lay community with teachings
and with examples of those who lead lives fully dedicated to the Dharma.
For the Sangha to continue, this relationship must be maintained in some
form, but the changes taking place in society may well place this relationship
on a new footing.
The
most weighty factor affecting the Sangha-laity relationship has been the
transition, first, from a traditional social order to a modern social order,
and then to a technological social order. Now the distinctive mark of this
change is the shift from an emphasis on industrial production to the acquisition
and distribution of information. This shift has already taken place throughout
the West and in the most advanced social strata in all countries around
the world.
It
is sometimes characterized by saying that we are moving from the Industrial
Era to the Information Era, from a production-based civilization to a knowledge-based
civilization.
The
transition to an "information- intensive" society will alter the nature
of the Sangha-laity relationship in radical ways, and these will challenge
the Sangha to come forth with novel solutions to preserve the relevance
of the Dharma. I make no claim to be a prophet, and I can't foretell the
future in detail, but judging from present trends, I will try to sketch
some of the more important challenges facing the Sangha as I see them.
The
role of higher education
In
the Information Era, a high percentage of a country's population has acquired
a university education. People have access to much greater stores of knowledge
and information than they ever had in the past, and their understanding
of mundane realities, and even of Buddhism, is much more sophisticated
than in previous epochs.
They
will expect the Dharma to measure up to the standards they have acquired
through their academic training and won't simply accept the teachings presented
by monastic teachers out of reverence and unquestioning trust in an age-old
tradition.
They
have been trained to question and inquire, and they will apply the same
approach when they come to the study of Buddhism. Hence the monks and nuns
have to be ready to answer questions. They can't expect to receive humble
deference from the laity; they have to earn respect by clearly explaining
the Dharma, and by explaining it accurately and convincingly.
The
monks and nuns themselves will need to have received higher education,
primarily in Buddhism but also in subjects indirectly related to the Dharma,
such as modern philosophy and psychology and other relevant areas. Exactly
how to integrate such mundane knowledge into a monastic curriculum is a
difficult issue; the solution would have to be worked out by those responsible
for monastic education.
The
role of publishing
Closely
related to the opportunities for higher education among the laity is the
role of publishing. The use of writing transformed Buddhism sometime around
the second century B.C.; and so beginning in the second half of the twentieth
century, the printing press and commercial publication have transformed
Buddhism.
There
are now hundreds of books available in English on all aspects of Buddhism,
both popular and scholarly, and many books are available in other languages.
Thus any diligent student of the Dharma can acquire an extensive knowledge
of Buddhism based on books.
The
micro-computer has further revolutionized Buddhist Studies. Any diligent
person with a notebook computer can store an entire Buddhist library, including
several Tripitakas, on his or her hard disk. Through the internet they
can access vast resources on Buddhism and engage in discussion groups on
virtually every topic related to Buddhism.
Thus
book knowledge of the Dharma isn't a special privilege of monks, and for
a knowledge of Buddhist scriptures and commentaries, one is no longer dependent
on the monastery, as one would have been in a traditional Buddhist culture.
Buddhist Studies is also offered as a subject in universities and there
are many outstanding lay scholars who are doing research in highly specialized
areas of Buddhist Studies.
For
us, this raises the question what we as monks will have to offer. I would
say that our task will not be to compete with lay Buddhist scholars. We
should certainly seek to acquire scholarly knowledge of Buddhism, from
as many reliable sources as possible, and we should learn from lay scholars
when necessary.
But
what the Buddhist monastic life offers is an opportunity to put Buddhism
into practice; it gives the opportunity to combine study of the texts with
the living application of their principles in a life based on faith, devotion,
and commitment to the Triple Gem. We have to unite scholarly knowledge
with practice, intellectual understanding with faith and commitment. We
cannot settle for mere knowledge without practice; nor can we have blind
practice without clear intellectual understanding.
The
role of mental training
The
Dharma will convince people not only by its intellectual appeal, not only
by its practical ethics, but particularly by its system of mental cultivation.
This is what distinguishes Buddhism from virtually all other religious
systems: its emphasis on the central role of the mind in determining our
happiness or suffering, and the practical methods it offers for training
the mind.
So
a very important "door of entrance" to the Dharma for many people is the
practice of meditation. This is the special "door" for those who come from
non-Buddhist backgrounds, as has been particularly the case in the West.
But meditation has also been a "door" for traditional Buddhists who approach
the Dharma from scientific backgrounds and bring along skeptical, inquisitive
minds.
I don't
think meditation alone is the answer, and in this respect I am critical
of those teachers in the West who want to extract meditation from Buddhism,
rejecting Buddhist doctrine and religious faith. I think a balanced approach
is necessary: a triple balance between faith-and-devotion, the study of
Buddhist teachings, and the practice of meditation.
Faith
transforms the emotions, study brings right view, and meditation brings
tranquility and insight. Many people today are first attracted to the Dharma
through meditation. Once they gain concrete benefits through meditation,
their interest in the Dharma will be awakened and then they can be gradually
led to an understanding of Buddhist doctrine, to the study of Buddhist
texts, and then to faith, devotion, and even the monastic life.
The
Sangha as offering challenges
The
Sangha seeks to preserve and honour ancient traditions, and to live without
being encumbered by a excessive number of conveniences.
In
this way, the Sangha challenges others to adopt a frugal lifestyle, to
respect what is ancient, to honour and revere the natural environment.
In the modern world violence is exploding between people of different ethnic
and religious groups, who are convinced they can solve their problems by
the use of force.
The
Sangha is based on the principle of non-violence, on the conviction that
patience, discussion, and compromise is essential to harmony between human
beings. Thus the Sangha challenges people to solve their problems through
mutual understanding, tolerance, and loving-kindness.
By
upholding the world-transcending Dharma, the Sangha challenges all our
attempts to settle down and find a comfortable place in the world; it challenges
people to understand that the supreme wisdom, our ultimate freedom, lies
beyond the boundaries of the world.
A voice
of conscience
This
leads me to speak about one other major challenge facing the Sangha in
today's world.
Today
vast, terrible problems are crushing the lives of millions of people and
threatening untold harm to countless others. I have in mind such problems
as raging ethnic conflicts and destructive wars that take dreadful death
tolls among innocent civilians, including women and children.
I think
of oppressive governments that imprison their citizens without just cause,
torture and torment them, and hold even the free citizens in a constant
state of fear. I think of the gap between the rich and the poor, and between
the rich nations and the poor nations. I think of the ravenous illnesses
that claim millions of lives among poor people around the world, illnesses
that could be easily eliminated at minimal costs.
I think
of the degradation faced by millions of women forced into lives of prostitution,
often by their own families, on account of their poverty.
I think
of the hundreds of billions of dollars squandered each year, all around
the world, on weapons of enormously destructive power, while perhaps half
the people in the world barely obtain enough nutritious food to sustain
them each day.
And
finally I think of the reckless ways in which we are degrading our environment
- our air, our water, our soil, our food - without any concern for future
generations. In my view, it is a task for the Sangha to serve as the voice
of Buddhist conscience in the world.
That
is, the Sangha at least its most prominent members - should be capable
of giving expression to Buddhist ethical values in dealing with these vast,
overwhelming problems that confront humanity today.
viết
lời Courtesy: Bodhi Bulletin
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