What kind of Buddhist I am NOT

Certain nouns are so widely used with evolving times that there is no more consensus among those who are using them regarding their actual connotations. ‘Socialism’ has very different meanings in Northern Europe, Cuba and China. ‘Subconscious’ becomes so common a word in daily life that we cannot be sure of what Freud refered to in his psychoanalysis theory. In the times of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, if a man said that he was a ‘Christian’ he would accept ‘a whole collection of creeds which were set out with great precision, and every single syllable of those creeds’. (Why I am not a Christian, Bertrand Russell) Based on the above, I feel the compulsion to state what it means to me being a Buddhist, more than twenty five hundred years after Śākyamuni was dead.

To many people in China, the word belief only has meaning in a religious aspect. In fact, everyone has his own belief about the universe which maybe kept unsaid. No matter if one has some religious belief or not, one’s understanding to life is unique in its breadth and profundity. That is why a lot of natural scientists can be Christians as well—they don’t have to actually believe in the Virgin Birth. Everyone has his own ‘religion’, be it democracy, freedom, science, or law as in the case of Socrates’ death. But if you accept anything without ruminating, your belief becomes superstition. ‘[I]ndividual scientists do sometimes slip back into the vice of faith, and a few may believe so single-mindedly in a favorite theory that they occasionally falsify evidence.’ (Is Science a Religion? by Richard Dawkins) That is to say, there is no difference between religious belief and superstition, unless it is an emotional difference. Can you really differentiate confident from arrogant, or adamant from obstinate?

Buddhism has diverse meanings among individuals as well. To me, as the original intention of any religion in the world, Buddhism purifies my soul. Moreover, Buddha’s thoughts are more like philosophy to me. Hannah Arendt refused the label of phylosopher on the grounds that philosophy is concerned with “man in the singular”. Exactly, Buddhism is philosophy to me because Buddhas are not keen on accounting for the genesis of the universe, but only for the arising and ceasing of man’s desire and worry. This does not conflict with my belief in science. My personal beliefs are different from those of other people. This put me in an embarassing position when I encounter other Buddhists for the following two reasons:

The first reason applies to Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. ‘What really moves people to believe in God is not any intellectual argument at all. Most people believe in God because they have been taught from early infancy to do it, and that is the main reason.’ (Why I am not a Christian, Bertrand Russell) Religion, as any cultural form, is heavily inertial. Chinese people have been indoctrinated with deep-rooted traditional values by their families: Confucianism, Buddism and Chinese traditional medical philosophy. We do not think whether these values make sense or not before our independent thinking is established. Cliches include: ‘When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will.’ ‘Chinese traditional medicine is both purely natural and without any side effects.’ Just as children born in Christian nations hear from their parents things like ‘God is love.’ ‘Jesus saves.’ ‘Good people go to Heaven, bad people go to Hell.’ If one accepts something without examining it, then this is called supersition. Beliefs contain nonsense without empirical evidence. The application of Yin and Yang theory and Five Elements theory in Chinese traditional medical philosophy are purely philosophical. The circulation around Six Realms theory in Buddhism lacks evidence as well and therefore is not part of my beliefs.

Another reason that Chinese people favour Buddhism is Chinese contradictory psychology. For most of the last three thousand years, the power of the Chinese empire cannot be mentioned in the same breath with its surrounding countries. The troops of Genghis Khan invaded as far as Hungaria and Poland in thirteenth century. However, the modern history of China turns out to be a history of shame; humiliated by western powers. In this case, Chinese people become contradictory in psychology. On the one hand, Chinese people are arrogant and this is very well dipicted in the writing of Lu Xun, a literary giant in modern China.

“A says, ‘China has vast territory and abundant resources and its civilization dates back to five thousand years ago. Moreover, the morals are the best in the world.’ This is conceit to the full extent.

B says, ‘Although material civilization in foreign countries is advenced, China is excellent in its spiritual civilization.’

C says, ‘All that foreign countries have, China had it already. Science in whatever discipline is exactly what whoever already advocated in Chinese theory.’ The typical ‘B’ and ‘C’ kinds of people represent those who contest that ‘Chinese learning is for fundamental principles and Western learning for practical application’” (Hot Wind, Lu Xun).

On the other hand, this kind of conceit comes from inferiority. Since the the ‘reform and open policy’ in 1978, Chinese people find few things which they can be proud of when they look around their surroundings: McDonald, jeans, automobiles, and so on and on. None of these are Chinese inventions. The contradictory psychology makes Chinese people boost, without reservation, things labeled Chinese: Buddhism, Confucianism, Chinese traditional medical philosophy, Four Great Inventions of ancient China, Beijing Opera, and so on.

Although people boost Chinese culture, they vote by feet. The books of political dissident Noam Chomsky censuring severely western societies are always on the top of the raking list of the bookstores. Protestors outside the 2009 G-20 Pittsburgh Summit can again and again seek the death penalty for capitalism, but the feet of Aficans, Latin Americans, and Asians swarming to Europe and North America will not be stopped. The human brain is so bright, but our feet have their own opinion. Compared to our hands holding a banner, our mouths with eloquence, and our impulsive brains, feet are more honest.

Postcolonial critics influenced heavily by poststructralism deem that the emphasis of native traditions in postcolonial countries roots in peoples’ need for a cultural identity. This identity makes the characteristics of postcolonial countries seem fixed from an outsider’s perspective. A lot of people believe in Buddhism on the grounds that it is so China and so Oriental, while I am tending to hold the position that Buddhist philosophy and western philosophy share common elements. If the differentiation of Chinese traditional medicine from other medicine is so emphasised that it refuses empirical evaluation and regulation, it will never be accepted worldwide. For the same reason, as a Buddhist, I’m sad to see Buddhist philosophy labeled as ‘Oriental’.








Notes:
1. Please see Five Elements theory at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing

2. Please see Yin and Yang theory at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

3. Please see Six Realms at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_realms

4. Please see Four Great Inventions of ancient China at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Inventions_of_ancient_China