Buddhism: Adapting to Change without Losing our Tradition

(NB: In this article Buddhist and Buddhism refer only to Theravāda Buddhist and Theravāda Buddhism respectively.)

The Buddha's teaching at its root is essentially a contemplative one. It deals primarily with the question of dukkha, i.e. the unsatisfactoriness and suffering in our lives. It is a discipline of training our mind in order to achieve liberation from dukkha. In its earliest form there is little that is ritualistic about it. The path to liberation from dukkha requires no rituals whatsoever. What it requires is a dedicated effort to investigate deeply into the nature of dukkha and its cause, to purify one's mind from the cause of dukkha, and thus realise its cessation. This effort is the work of contemplation. And no amount of rituals can accomplish its aim.

But later on this teaching was gradually institutionalised into a religion - Buddhism. And, as with any other religion, rituals become a necessary accompaniment and adornment. There is nothing really bad about turning the Buddha's teaching into a religion. It's a natural progression that takes place when the Dhamma starts to become popular among the general mass. When a big group of people come together for a common purpose to follow the Buddha's teaching, they need a system to organise and regulate their group practise, to impart and share knowledge about the Dhamma, to support each other in their commitment to the practise, and also to serve as their group identity. The religious system, Buddhism, gradually emerged out of this need.

Rituals are part of this system which serve many useful purposes. For example the ritual of recitation and reflection on passages from the scriptures serves to draw out and impress upon the Buddhist devotees the profound meaning of certain aspect of the Buddha's teaching. This promotes understanding and faith. Rituals also give the devotees a very real sense of closeness to the Buddha and his teaching. This promotes faith and dedication to the observance of his teaching. Devotees who participate together in a ritual also feel a sense of belonging to a common cause and community. This promotes fellowship which leads to the devotees supporting each other spiritually and materially in their spiritual quest, which strengthens the community.

In the Buddha's time, he and his core disciples, majority of whom were monks and nuns with contemplative bent, constitute more or less a contemplative movement. There were lay disciples to be sure but they were mostly on the periphery and played mostly supportive role for the core contemplative movement, the Saṅgha. And the majority of these disciples not only strive very hard in their meditative practise but also aim to bring the practise all the way to its conclusion, i.e. the realisation of the cessation of dukkha.

While most of these disciples of the Buddha during his time were satisfied with and could get by just on learning Dhamma and meditation alone, and their faith in the Dhamma is firmly established and affirmed by the profound clarity arising out of their contemplative work, the later non-contemplative masses of Buddhism (the religion), comprising mostly lay people whose aim of a religious life is not so much to strive in meditation practise, much less to realise the final goal of the Dhamma (not in this life anyway), but more to just live their daily life in accordance with the principles of the Dhamma, they needed rituals as an addition to their religious practise to continuously sustain their faith.

Watching Intention - Profound Insight through a Simple Act

One of the basic instructions in the practise of vipassanā meditation is to note the intention that arise prior to any bodily movements. But in carrying out this instruction many meditators "try" very hard to catch the intention before they move their limbs. And often we find that in their eagerness to observe the intention, let's say the intention before lifting the foot in walking meditation, they unwittingly produce the intention and then happily note the intention produced.

Actually this instruction to observe intention means to observe the natural intentions that arise prior to all our bodily movements. In our daily life as we go about our business many bodily movements occur seemingly by itself. We do not seem to consciously and deliberately produce these movements. They occur more out of the force of habits. For example when we approach a door our hand immediately reach for the knob, turn it, and push the door open. All these movements occur automatically out of the force of habit. We do not even think about it. Usually we are not even aware of these insignificant movements. Our mind is probably engrossed in thoughts about something else when these movements occur.