Akalika :Timelessness of Buddha's Message
The teachings of the Lord Buddha is perfect in its beginning, perfect in the middle and perfect in its ending, in theory and in practice .
Summarising the essence of all spiritual intelligence from its earliest period , the Buddha taught the threefold training principle of avoiding evil, doing good, and purifying the mind. This principles translates into practice as the Moral Precepts ,Mental Discipline and Cultivation of Wisdom -the practice of Tisikkha (The Threefold training) .This is the doctrine of for all Buddhists everywhere, regardless of their school or order.
Following this principle ,Buddhist from different countries and cultural upbringing share a common way of life. When they meet each other they feel as if they found their long lost friends .The perfect principle expounded by the Lord Buddha reveals the Truth of life- a goal for everyone to pursue.
The present situation of the world makes some people feel that the world of the past is totally different from the present one, and that the future one will be yet again different from today's .
Consequently, they believe that it is necessary for us to adapt to these changing conditions .However, if we understand the true teachings of the Lord Buddha, we will find the answers to our present problems without much difficulty.Problems in the past, present and future have the same nature even though they seem to be different in their characteristics.The roots of problems remain the same, but their manifestations may differ. For example, in the past
when people went to the war, they killed their enemies with their swords and spears but not they use guns ,bombs and nuclear missiles.
Aggression of man is still the root problem but the magnitude of the disasters has increased.In contrast,we have the timeless virtues of compassion, generosity, and the right view of the Four Noble Truths.
For these reasons, the role of Buddhism in the present and in the future will not change fundamentally. The scope of propagation may need to be magnified in the future , but this will not change basic Buddhist philosophy and principles.
The Buddhist path is always open for use in society.For lay people, the minimum requirement is the practice of the Five Precepts
These practices are unchanging and will always lead ot the cessation of all sufferings,yield peace in the present life and in the next.
Hence ,the Lord Buddha's message is timeless - Akalika .The social situations in the future,however, may change the ways in which Buddhist virtues are best applied to help society. Only those who correctly understands the fundamentals of Buddhist virtues together with the their relevance to our world today, will be able to bring any real benefit to mankind in the future.This is the message I would like to impress on you on this vesak day
From The Bhante Desk ,Padipa ,newsletter of the Buddhist Library
May 1995
This will be posted on my new blogs ,so do come and view it
With Sincerity,
Bohiruci
[b]"Only those who correctly understand the fundamentals of Buddhist virtues together with their relevance to our world today, will be able to bring any
real benefit to mankind in the future ."[/b]