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The Buddha, a Humanist?

By Norman Joseph [Jou] Smith 13/4/2004Committee Member of the Humanist Society of Queensland 2004.

There seems to be much ignorance around regarding many things. In fact wecould say that the religion of ignorance is the biggest in the world. I would like tothink that most of the readers of this would not accept the saying, Ignorance isbliss. We would know for ourselves, as Humanists, that there are manymisconceptions about what Humanists believe and do. What would that be basedon, but ignorance? Stereotypes based on ignorance. Ignorance fuels fear, fear ofthe unknown and fear fuels humanitys mistreatment of itself and others [throughgreed and hatred], i.e. the breaking of the golden rule found in many religions. Ithink this is why I see such a strong emphasis on education amongst Humanists.

I have met some Humanists that are anti-religious and some that are non-religious and think the latter approach a more educated one. If anyone, or anymovement is to have any positive effect on the world at large, I think it will haveto work towards unity not division. To do so one would need to focus on thecommonalities, not the differences. Those that I have met that are anti-religiouswould not seem to be able to acknowledge ANY good in religion. From thatstance I doubt common ground could be found. In fact this would be exactly theattitude those religious fundamentalists have to other groups. The process ofdemonizing the other [and the correlative of deifying oneself], would not belimited to religious fundamentalists and it would be based on ignorance and fear.

To focus on the commonalities one would first have to clarify commonalities ofwhat? There is a big difference between Buddhism and the Buddhas teaching,

just as there is between Christianity and Christs teaching. For example, with thelatter, of which most of you would be more familiar, we can find two peoplescalling themselves Christian, or followers of Christ, killing each other, despiteChrist teaching not to kill [Matt. 26:52], but to love [John 15:12]. Closer to homewe have Christians spending much time judging others, when Christ taught not to

judge [Matt. 7:1] and taught that he himself did not come to judge, but to save[John 12:47].1

The teaching of the Buddha, as distinct from Buddhism, is one of those things

around which I have found much ignorance and I have written a book called TheGift of the Buddha a Happy Life [yet to be published] to try to dispel some ofthat ignorance. The Buddhist tradition knows that his teaching is said to be for

1 There seems to be two types of judgment in the New Testament, judging people, which isopposed and judging behaviour, to which one is told to judge rightly [not just by appearance, John7:24]. Matt. 7:16 says by their fruits you will know them, but fruit has an application other thanaction: The Fruit of the Spirit [Gal. 5:22], which are harder to see, not such a superficial thing asaction.

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this very life, but much of its interpretation thereof is not applicable to this verylife. One of the important teachings of the Buddha is ignorance is the cause ofsuffering and this might be a common ground shared with Humanists. [Popular]Buddhism says the Buddha taught that desire is the cause, but I consider that acorruption. Both ideas can be found in the early texts, but a core teaching,

Dependent Origination, traces suffering back beyond desire to ignorance2

. Thiscore teaching is also interpreted in popular Buddhism in a way that its relevancefor this life is missed.

One of the teachings ascribed to the Buddha in the early texts, which I think isauthentic, or uncorrupted is the teaching to the Kalama people3. It has beencalled the Buddhas Charter of Free Inquiry and I think it is a teaching that couldbe accepted by any Humanist. In it the Buddha lists ten things that could be usedto gather circumstantial evidence and which the Buddha discourages as takingas final authority they are:

1. Report2. Legend3. Tradition4. Scripture5. Logical conjecture6. Inference7. Analogy8. Agreement through pondering views9. Probability10.The thought, 'This is our teacher.

What he suggests instead is When you know for yourselves, 'These qualities areunskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by thewise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering' --then you should abandon them. So I take this as the Buddha advocatingpersonal experience as the final authority. Though personal experience wouldnot be limited to experiencing them directly oneself, but also the experience ofseeing others affected by them. I do not see that this teaching is saying thatthose ten things are useless, but one may come to an hypothesis via informationin them and then one must see if it works in experience.

He then goes on to ask the Kalama people: Does greed, hatred and delusionarise in someone for benefit or harm. They reply, harm. "And this deludedperson, overcome by greed, hatred, or delusion, his mind possessed by delusion,kills, steals, goes after another person's spouse, tells lies, and induces others todo likewise, all of which is for long-term harm & suffering?" They reply, yes. Hequestions whether they are unskillful etc. as above. They reply, yes. Then hegoes on to address the opposite case, avoiding greed, hatred and delusion, one

2 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel277.html3 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel008.html

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avoids those behaviours and it is for benefit not harm, so one should developthat.

The Buddha taught three kinds of action: mental, verbal and bodily and out ofthese three he said he found mental action as the most reprehensible for harm to

oneself and others4

. In this way he agreed with Cognitive BehaviouralPsychology. In the Kalama discourse he addresses these three kinds of action inthe reverse, first the grossest, the easiest to identify, then going to the subtler.Having addressed bodily [killing, stealing, sexual misconduct] and verbal action[lying] he then addressed mental action, but in the positive. He spoke of the fourexalted dwellings [or divine abodes] and related them to life here and now. Thefour are boundless indiscriminate thoughts of: loving kindness, empatheticsadness, empathetic gladness and equanimity.

Usually the divine abodes were and are thought of things we achieve in theNEXT life, not THIS one, but in the Kalama discourse the Buddha shows how

they are relevant to this life, no matter ones belief about an afterlife.

1. Suppose there is a hereafter and there is a fruit, result [vipaaka], of deeds[kamma/karma] done well or ill. Then it is possible that at the dissolution ofthe body after death, I shall arise in the heavenly world, which ispossessed of the state of bliss.

2. Suppose there is no hereafter and there is no fruit, no result, of deedsdone well or ill. Yet in this world, here and now, free from hatred, free frommalice, safe and sound, and happy, I keep myself.

3. Suppose evil results befall an evil-doer (in this very life). I, however, thinkof doing evil to no one. Then, how can ill results affect me who do no evil

deed?4. Suppose evil results do not befall an evil-doer (in this very life). Then I seemyself purified in any case.

Rather than arguing about something that cannot be proven or disproven,something that one believes or not, an afterlife, the Buddha shows howirrespective or our beliefs, what matters is how we live, HERE AND NOW, INTHIS VERY LIFE. This, I believe, is the type of approach we need to work andlive together recognizing what is important, how we want to live and not gettingcaught up in what is not, arguing about our beliefs.

There is another well-known teaching where the Buddha converted religiousritual into practical life skills5, where a young man was getting up early and goingout to pay respects [bowing] to the six directions of north, south, east, west, upand down out of respect for his fathers dying wish. The Buddha associated eachdirection with relationships the youth had with others in society and that to pay

4 Paali PTS M i 373 = M 565 http://www.accesstoinsight.org/canon/sutta/digha/dn31.html

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respects to the directions was to fulfill ones duties to each of the directions, i.e.relationships.

These teachings are very consistent with the report that one on the path toenlightenment will have given up three fetters: identity view, doubt and

attachment to rites and rituals6

. The first of these two being internally focused arealmost impossible to see in others, but if you want any evidence that Buddhismand the Buddhas teaching are very different, just go to a Buddhist temple andsee the ritual.

Finally to show that his teaching is for this human life we find this quote:

Mendicants, for a faithful disciple who is intent on fathoming the TeachersTeaching, it is proper that he conduct himself thus: Willingly let, only myskin, sinews and bones remain and let my flesh and blood dry up on mybody, by my energy shall not be relaxed so long as I have not attained

what can be attained by manly strength, manly energy, manlypersistence.7

In my opinion, one of the erroneous views of the Buddhas teaching is that hespoke of past lives and that is run with in later texts where the Buddha had manylives and they were not all human. The early text8 that is used as a support forthis doctrine does not mention lives (jiivitaani) at all in the original Indianlanguage. The closest word to life found there is aayu, which means life span,age, period of life. The other words translated as past lives are pubbe-nivaasam. which means past habitations or past dwellings. So the text couldread as he recalled his past [the past of his life], his many habitations, his many

births, he saw death at the end of one phase of life and birth into another, overand over again and knew, this is suffering [stress]. I think this is just one of themany examples of people talking about the Buddhas teaching when they havenot studied it, i.e. speaking in ignorance.

Birth, I suggest has a psychological meaning in the Buddhas teaching, just likeworld which is said to be found in this fathom long body with its senses andperceptions 9. I see birth as forging an identity by identifying with one aspect ofexperience and disregarding or suppressing the others and therefore creatingstress and tension within oneself. The five aspects of experience that the Buddhasays we cling to in this way are: form, sensation, ideas, formations anddiscernment. This is why he so often encouraged us not to think I am [not] oneof those five things, but to see all of them as they really are, i.e. to clearly knowones experience in the present moment.

6 Paali PTS S v 61, A V 177 Paali PTS M i 480-481 : MN 708 Paali PTS M i 22-23 = MN 49 Paali PTS A iv 45

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Of course some of you may be familiar with the idea that birth in at least Christianreligious circles has a psychological meaning, e.g. when Nicodemus and Jesusspoke [John 3:3-8]. It may just be that some religious teachers were trying towork with common ground, from within religious traditions, trying to bring changeby giving deeper more relevant meanings to words/ideas in those religious

traditions. It is much easier and requires less investigation, patience andwillingness to see good in others, just to judge it all as useless and advocate theend of religion.

So I hope you see that there are many ideas about what the Buddha taught andwhat Buddhism is, just as there are many ideas of what Humanism is and whatHumanists do. Some ideas are more informed than others. It is very easy tomake stereotypes and judge the whole thing as useless and thereby throw thebaby out with the bathwater. I hope as Humanists we are more willing to listen, investigate and see the humanity in all of humankinds endeavours.

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