Dr Peter D. Santina - Buddhism

1 EBUDDHANET'SBOOKLIBRARYE-mail: site: Dharma Education Association Peter D. SantinaFundamentals of BuddhismFundamentals of A MODERN PERSPECTIVETHE PREBUDDHIST BACKGROUNDLIFE OF THE BUDDHATHE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS PART ITHE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS PART IIMORALITYMENTAL DEVELOPMENTWISDOMKARMAREBIRTHDEPENDENT ORIGINATIONTHE THREE UNIVERSAL CHARACTERISTICSTHE FIVE AGGREGATES CONCLUSION131221284149596980901031131251 33 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTTHE GIFT OF TRUTH EXCELS ALL THE MERIT OF THIS VIRTUE,MAY ALL THE SPONSORS BE WELL AND HAPPY,AND ATTAIN THE BLISS OF Buddhism has long been an important part of thecultural heritage of South East asia .

2 The monuments ofAngkor Wat in Cambodia and Borobudur in Indonesia arejust two of countless testimonies to the former greatnessof Buddhism in this region. In Singapore too Buddhism isan important element in the cultural heritage of the fact that a large section of the Chinese Community aswell as the small but influential Srilankan Communityacknowledge Buddhism as the primary force shaping theirreligious ideals and moral values is more than proof ofthis. Nonetheless, it is certain that if Buddhism is tocontinue to exercise a positive influence upon present andfuture generations, it cannot remain content with theachievements of the past.

3 The religious ideals and moralvalues of Buddhism which have proved so useful to pastgenerations must be transmitted to men and women livingin a changing world. In order that this can be accomp-lished, it is important that the teachings of the Buddha bemade available to the largest number of this objective in mind, the SrilankaramayaBuddhist Temple invited Dr Santina to deliver a seriesof public lectures. The lectures outlined the funda-mentals of Buddhism and were well delivered. As aresult, it was decided to produce transcriptions of thelectures and publish them in the form of a book to bemade freely available.

4 It is also hoped that thepublication will contribute in a small degree to theunderstanding of the genuine teachings of the thanks are extended to all those who lenttheir invaluable support and contribution to this projectand especially to Dr Santina for imparting to us his deepunderstanding of the Buddha Sumana TheraResident MonkSRILANKARAMAYABUDDHIST TEMPLESINGAPOREVESAK 19843 Buddhism : A MODERN PERSPECTIVEWe are going to cover what we might call basicBuddhist teachings over a series of twelve lectures. Weare going to cover the life of the Buddha, the FourNoble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, Karma, rebirth,dependent origination, the three universal characteristicsand the five aggregates.

5 But before I begin the series oflectures, I would like to deal today with the notion ofBuddhism in perspective. There are many ways inwhich different people in different cultures viewBuddhism and particularly, I think we can contrast thewestern or modern attitude towards Buddhism with thetraditional attitude. The reason why this kind of per-spective study is useful is because when we understandhow people of different cultures view a certain thing, wecan then begin to see some of the limitation or one-sidedness of our own the west, Buddhism has aroused extensiveinterest and sympathy.

6 There are many persons ofconsiderable standing in western societies who are eitherBuddhists or who are sympathetic towards is most clearly exemplified by the remark made byAlbert Einstein in his autobiography, the remark that hewas not a religious man, but if he were one, he would bea Buddhist. This is quite surprising, and off-hand wewould not expect such a remark to be made by theFather of Modern Science. Yet if we look at contem-porary western societies, we will find an astrophysicistwho is a Buddhist in France, we will find an outstandingpsychologist who is a Buddhist at the University ofRome, and until recently a judge from England who is a4 Buddhist.

7 We will look into the reasons for this interestin Buddhism in the west in a moment. But before we dothat I would like to compare this situation with thesituation that we find in this part of the Europe generally, the attitude towards Buddhismis that it is very advanced, very rational and verysophisticated. It was therefore quite a shock to me when Icame to Singapore and found that a lot of people hereview Buddhism as old fashioned, irrational and too muchtied up with superstitions. This is one of the two attitudesthat work against the appreciation of Buddhism here. Theother is that Buddhism is so deep and so abstract that noone can ever understand it.

8 It is a complete turnabout. Thisis what I mean by perspective, because in the westernperspective Buddhism has a certain image, while in thetraditional perspective we have another image. Thisnegative image that people have about Buddhism has tobe changed before they can really come to appreciate theBuddha s teachings, before they can get a kind ofbalanced perspective regarding of the first things that a westerner appreciates aboutBuddhism is that it is not culture bound, not bound toany particular society, race or ethnic group. There arecertain religions that are culture-bound, Judaism is oneexample.

9 Buddhism is not. That is why historically wehave Indian Buddhists, Thai Buddhists, ChineseBuddhists, Srilankan Buddhists, Burmese Buddhists andso forth, and we are going to have in the near futureEnglish Buddhists, American Buddhists, FrenchBuddhists and so forth. This is because Buddhism is notculture-bound. It moves very easily from one culture to5another because the emphasis in Buddhism is oninternal practice rather than on external practice. Itsemphasis is on the way you develop your mind ratherthan the way you dress, the kind of food you take, theway you wear your hair and so second point that I would like to make regardsthe pragmatism or the practicality of Buddhism .

10 Instead oftaking an interest in metaphysics and academic theories,the Buddha deals with problems per se and approachesthem in a concrete way. This is again something which isvery much in agreement with western ideas aboututilitarianism. That is, if something works, use it. It is verymuch a part of western political, economic and scientificphilosophy. This attitude of pragmatism is clearlyexpressed in the Culama-lunkya Sutra where the Buddhamade use of the example of the wounded man. The manwounded by an arrow wishes to know who shoots thearrow, from which direction it comes, whether the arrowhead is made of bone or iron, whether the shaft is of thiskind of wood or another before he will have the arrowremoved.