Introduction
When someone meets with an unforeseen disaster like “tsunami,” we often hear people say, “Oh, it must be his or her karma.” All Buddhists will not only seem to agree but they will also try to sympathize with the unfortunate individual. Even the individual who suffers from the disaster will accept it and do nothing about it, other than cry and lament. It is this common reaction of Buddhists that makes people often say, “Buddhism is a pessimistic religion.” Is this attitude of the Buddhists in agreement with the teachings of the Buddha?
The Buddha has always pointed out that it is not what circumstance a person meets that matters but it is one’s attitude to the circumstance that really matters. This means, it is how one acts in response to the circumstance that is most important. Karma means action, not the consequence of the action. The consequence is called vipaka. Most Buddhists make the mistake of calling the consequence karma. It is the way one responds to one’s circumstances that matters not the circumstance alone. In other words, “It is your attitude that determines your altitude.”
Although this wrong attitude is prevalent today among Buddhists as well as Hindus and is accepted as correct, it was not accepted by the Buddha. This was why the Buddha was never a pessimist. The notion of karma and rebirth existed in India long before the Buddha. The Buddha even accepted it as true, after he became enlightened. Yet the Buddha did not centre his teaching on the notion of karma and rebirth. He did not base his ethical teachings or his higher spiritual teachings on the notion of “karma and rebirth.” Karma was of course the reason why often bad things happened to good people or even good things happen to bad people. Some disciples of the Buddha even gained the ability to recall their own past lives and even the past lives of others through meditation as taught by the Buddha. Thereby they understood that karma and rebirth was a fact.
However, the Buddha did not lay stress on the development of psychic powers, or even the self-centered “punishment-reward” morality based on the belief in past and future lives, with the desire to go to Heaven or to escape hell. The Buddha taught an unselfish morality, which was not based on punishment and reward, but based on “love,” or the concern for the weal and welfare of all beings (metta). The reason why the Buddhist should refrain from harming life is not because he might go to hell as a result, but because he feels a concern for other living beings. He feels that the happiness of others is as important as one’s own. The Buddhist is not a narrow minded individual, but he is one who thinks with a brought mind that encompasses all beings. This method of moral teaching of the Buddha is called the self-reflexive method of teaching (attupanayika dhamma pariyaya); “Do unto others as if others were you.”
Ven. Dr. M. Punnaji has made a research lasting more than 50 years on the original teachings of Buddha, which he called “Proto Buddhism.” He has discovered that Karma and rebirth is not an essential dogma, to blindly believe in, for one who wants to practice Buddhism. In fact, the unskilled reflection on karma and rebirth can hinder one’s progress on the path of the Buddha.
In this book, Bhante Punnaji explains that the teaching of the Buddha is centered on the insecurity of life (dukkha), the cause of insecurity (samudaya), the cure for the insecurity (nirodha), and the way to cure it (magga). This insecurity of life (commonly called suffering) is caused by our emotions. It is this emotional urge (tanha) that brings about a relationship between a subject and an object; the subject being personalized as “self,” and the object being alienated as other. It is through personalization and alienation that the “self” and the “world” come into being. With the coming of “being” (bhava), or “existence,” comes the concept of space and time. With space/time come birth, aging and death. This brings about the concept of “samsara,” or the pre- existence and the re-existence of “self.” In other words, the concepts of “samsara” and “self” are the result of the unconscious emotional arousal. It is this concept of “self” and “existence” that is at the basis of insecurity. Their removal, by removing the self-centered unconscious emotions, is the freedom from insecurity.
May the merits accrued from this effort by Venerable Dr. Madawela Punnaji Maha Thera help every one of you to be free from all sufferings of Samsara by gaining the ultimate bliss of Nirvana.