What
Buddhists Believe
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda Maha Thera
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Eternalism
and Nihilism
The Buddha
rejected both extremes of eternalism and nihilism.
To
develop Right View or Perfect View, we must first be aware of two views
which are considered imperfect or wrong.
The first view
is eternalism. This doctrine or belief is concerned with eternal life or
with eternal things. Before the Buddha's time, it was taught that there is
an abiding entity which could exist forever, and that man can live the
eternal life by preserving the eternal soul in order to be in union with
Supreme Being. In Buddhism, this teaching is called sassata ditthi ----the
view of eternalists. Such views still exist even in the modern world owing
to man's craving for eternity.
Why did the Buddha deny
the teaching of eternalism? Because when we understand the things of this
world as they truly are, we cannot find anything which is permanent or
which exists forever. Things change and continue to do so according to the
changing conditions on which they depend. When we analyse things into
their elements or into reality, we cannot find any abiding entity, any
everlasting thing. This is why the eternalist view is considered wrong or
false.
The second false
view is nihilism or the view held by the nihilists who claim that there is
no life after death. This view belongs to a materialistic philosophy which
refuses to accept knowledge of mental conditionality. To subscribe to a
philosophy of materialism is to understand life only partially. Nihilism
ignores the side of life which is concerned with mental conditionality. If
one claims that after the passing away or ceasing of a life, it does not
come to be again, the continuity of mental conditions is denied. To
understand life, we must consider all conditions, both mental and
material. When we understand mental and material conditions, we cannot say
that there is no life after death and that there is no further becoming
after passing away. This nihilist view of existence is considered false
because it is based on incomplete understanding of reality. That is why
nihilism was also rejected by the Buddha. The teaching of kamma is enough
to prove that the Buddha did not teach annihilation after death; Buddhism
accepts 'survival' not in the sense of an eternal soul, but in the sense
of a renewed becoming.
Throughout
the Buddha's long period of teaching the Dhamma to His followers,
He actively discouraged speculative arguments. During the 5th
century B.C. India was a veritable hive of intellectual activity where
scholars, yogis, philosophers, kings and even ordinary householders were
constantly engaged in the philosophical arguments pertaining to human
existence. Some of these were either ridiculously trivial or totally
irrelevant. Some people wasted valuable time arguing at great length about
all manner of subjects. They were far more concerned about proving their
powers in mental gymnastics than seeking genuine solutions to the problems
that beset humanity. (In the 18th century
Jonathan Swift satirized a similar pastime in England when he showed the
Lilliputians in 'Gulliver's Travels' waging a war to decide whether
an egg should be broken on its sharp end or its broad end).
The Buddha also refused to
get involved in speculations regarding the universe. He stated very
clearly that the problem facing mankind is not in his past or his future
but in the immediate present. Knowledge about Eternalism or Nihilism can
in no way help man to break the present fetters which bind him to
existence and which are the source of all his feelings of discontent which
arise from his inability to completely satisfy his cravings. The Buddha
stated that before one can begin to tread the path which leads to Nibbana
one must have Right View. Only when one knows clearly what one is seeking
will one be able to attain it.
-ooOoo-
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Source: Buddhist
Study and Practice Group, http://www.sinc.sunysb.edu/Clubs/buddhism/
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Update : 01-11-2002