| By
Lim Kooi Fong |
||||||
|
Cambodia's no God edict a ‘big mistake’
In his keynote
address to a symposium in honour of his "Lifetime Achievement
Award" presented at the World Fellowship of Buddhists meeting
held here, he said that the edict was wrong in every sense as it
was an opportunity to give other religionists ammunition to run
down Buddhism as an "atheistic"religion. "We need
to understand the concept of god in Buddhism, rather than denounce
or to ban it outright. Although Buddhists do not believe in a Creator
God the Buddha had never denied the existence of god," he explained.
"This understanding is important. We need to explain to others
that while we do not believe in a God that serves to reward or punish
our actions, nevertheless, we Buddhist believe that god exists as
another level of being with the capability to help or obstruct human
beings." He appealed
to the delegates attending the meeting to make their co-religionists
understand what the Buddhist concept of god is all about. "The Buddhist
concept of god or deva," he adds, "exists in higher realms
and they do make contacts with humans. The Buddha taught that such
beings have limited minds but possess extraordinary powers. However,
they do not have the intelligence or the level of wisdom which enables
them to become a Buddha. Only in the human realm can one have the
opportunity to be a Buddha." He warned that
by publicly renouncing the word "God" from public life,
Buddhists as a whole will attract unnecessary criticism. "For
some, the concept, belief and attachment to God is so strong that
they will be willing to do anything to protect it," he warned.
He further elaborated that by maintaining an anti-god stance, Buddhists
may invite ridicule, condemnation, insult and derision from others. "If we
are not careful, Buddhists may face calamities and dangers because
those not tolerant of such views may initiate backlashes,"
he says. To avoid mockery
in the eyes of other religions, the venerable says that instead
of callously issuing such an edict, it would be better to learn
how to better handle their own internal problems. "If we have
weaknesses, let us behave rationally to solve them," he advises. He further
advises that instead of looking at others as predators to the Buddhist
faith, it was more important to find out what is causing the malaise
facing Buddhism. So much so, he says, the Buddhist population has
been decreasing rapidly all over Asia in the last 30 years or so. "In 1979,
when I was in Mongolia, there were only five Christian organisations. Today, there
are over 250 Christian bodies, while there are only 120 Buddhist
organisations. Similarly, 25 years ago, Korea only had 5% of its
population embracing Christianity. Today, it has reached 50%. Even
in Sri Lanka, a very strong Buddhist country, the Buddhist population
now only makes up of 69% of the total." The Venerable
regrets that despite the numerous Buddhist conferences and meetings
organised all over Asia in the last 50 years, he noted that the
situation has gone from bad to worse. He appealed to the delegates
of the 22nd World Fellowship of Buddhists and the 13th World Fellowhip
of Buddhist Youth to examine thoroughly what they were getting out of their bi-annual fellowship. "You all
should not just come here and talk, exchange papers and comment
on how nice the venue is. What is more important is what sort of
constructive action comes out from such meetings to address these
problems," he appealed. The venerable
also advised the delegates to open their eyes and see how Malaysia,
despite its diverse culture, religion, people and language have
managed to live peacefully. "It is important to learn how to
be tolerant. It is important for us to learn how to live in an environment
that has diverse views and ideas. What wisdom and compassion really
mean is to have the ability to live in the moment, and how to deal
with situations that we are not familiar with, without causing trouble
and difficulties for others," advised the venerable. One of the
highlights of the evening was the presentation of the "Lifetime
Achievement Award" to the venerable by representatives acting
on behalf of Malaysian Buddhists. The award, endorsed by the World
Fellowship of Buddhists was given as a gesture of appreciation for
his unceasing effort towards Dhammaduta work in country for the
last 50 years. - |
||||||
Copyright © 2001 Wijeya Newspapers
Ltd. All rights reserved. |
