By Bhikkhu K. Tanchangya
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Kandy, Sri Lanka---The latest attempt to proselytize the Buddhist world comes in the form of a book titled ‘Peoples of the Buddhist World: A Christian Prayer Guide’ by Hattaway Paul. Anthropologically, the book deserves credit for its excellent well-researched academic fieldwork so much as it deals with the 238 distinct people-group profiles, photographs and maps of the Buddhist world – something that we Buddhists are incapable of producing. But the most conspicuous enterprise of the book is not hidden in itself: a know-how layout of Christian evangelical interests and zeal, a battlefront drawn to start craftily attacking the peoples of the Buddhist world. We, the educated and affluent Buddhists, however, should thank the author, an active evangelic leader for producing such an enlightening overview of the peoples of the Buddhist world because majority of the 238 groups mentioned by him have never been our headache to know. Indeed, majority of these Buddhist communities are ‘little-known and often forgotten…and some of the most neglected peoples of the world’. Much has been said on the evil intentions of the Christian evangelical missionaries for trying to ‘pray and touch the souls of ordinary people’ and bringing them into ‘the merciful rescue of God, the ruler of heaven’. My intention here is neither to write a review of the book condemning it as anti-Buddhist (which I should do as a staunch Buddhist) nor to parrot the accusations labeled against such greedy evangelical missionaries (knowing that the faulty system lies within) but to urge my fellow educated and affluent Buddhist brothers and sisters of the civilized world to understand that the wisest solution to such proselytization of the Buddhist world does not lie on how logically and convincingly we can criticize such undertakings and how many anti-conversion laws we succeed to enact so much as it lies on the reexamination of our own Buddhist system within.
It is often proudly claimed by us Buddhists that Buddhism has survived for 2500 years armed with its teachings of non-violence, tolerance, ability for different adaptation, and compassion. Perhaps we have forgotten the lost history of Buddhist lands of the entire Indian subcontinent. We have lost Afghanistan and Pakistan (East and West) to Muslim invaders, India and Nepal to Hindus, far eastern regions of the Middle East to hard-line Muslims and starting from the 20th century to now we are at the edge of losing the few Buddhist communities that survived the historic onslaught of Islamic invaders on these Buddhist lands to the present merciless onslaught of Christian evangelism. The few Buddhist countries remained today are also having large numbers of growing followers of other religions notably Christians. The 20th century Korea is an example of how easy it is indeed for Buddhists to be prey for Christian evangelism. Having lost so much, how much more are we waiting to lose? – is a question that every progressive Buddhist needs to look for an answer.
Historically, the strength of Buddhism evolved centered on its monastic priesthood. The institution of priesthood became the backbone of the entire Buddhist community in any given social context, be it Theravada, Mahayana or Tibetan throughout its 2500 years of history. The success of Buddhism is often measured by the strength of the monastic priesthood. The traditional defenders of Buddhism have been and are the monks. Consequently, Buddhist adherents tend to look too much up to the monastic priesthood. And this is a devastating trend of our Buddhist system, especially at a time when the monastic priesthood is losing its pristine social and spiritual position as moral models and embodiments of love, compassion and wisdom. For the last many decades the Buddhist monastic sangha in every Buddhist country has not been faring well enough to retain its followers and attract new converts. Some monks have been busy filling up pockets while some others have been poorly trained to cope with modern challenges and yet some other monks have been fighting for ecclesiastical ranking and power within the monastic sangha leaving a vacuum of promising and creative social and religious leadership within the Buddhist circles. Christian evangelicals have not failed to fill up that vacuum in no time. It is unofficially believed that the private properties owned by the monastic sangha may well surpass the private properties owned by the government of any given Buddhist country. Enormous public generosity has produced some of the richest monks and temples ever seen in Buddhist history while millions of Buddhists unknown to many of us Buddhists have been left out on their own, neglected and forgotten for centuries. Even the very existence of the small but distinct minority Buddhist communities of Burma, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet and Mongolia to name but a few is hardly ever known to the educated and affluent Buddhist world. The Buddhist communities of this part of the globe somehow manage to survive with the harshest realities of existence sticking to their Buddhist identities under oppressive and unfriendly governments without any help and consolation from their fellow Buddhists living in the more affluent parts of the globe. Is it their karma? How long more do we expect them to continue under the banner of Buddhism faced with everyday realities? Cannot Buddhism change their karma? Cannot the call of Buddha give them a hope, a chance to live a more affluent life? Any Buddhist claiming that even Buddha cannot alter the course of peoples’ living standard, say unto him terribly wrong. In any case, if Buddha cannot promise to help these desperate people who have been yawning for change and a better life, why shouldn’t they look up to a foreign God who promises them immediate prosperity, wealth and change here and eternal heaven hereafter? Indeed, ‘new God, new country’ – a phrase often utilized by missionaries to pinpoint modern Korea under Christianity – has been an enticing and eye-catching example of change brought about by Christian evangelism. It is time for the progressive Buddhists to meditate on this. Yes, these Buddhist communities are illiterate and poor – easy targets for evangelism. But they deserve education and material prosperity before they could think of religion. And evangelical missionaries are providing just that. Why cannot the richest monks, richest temples and richest Buddhist organizations of the affluent world mobilize work teams to visit and look into the grievances of these forgotten fellow Buddhists? Why are we just shouting at others who are helping them when we chose not to act ourselves?
The Buddhist teachings of karma, rebirth, suffering, selflessness, and contentment have all been part and partial of a deeper level of misunderstanding of Buddhism even among the most educated and affluent civilized Buddhists, and their misunderstanding has been a boon for the greedy missionaries to take advantage of these Buddhist teachings. Somebody is born poor because it’s his karma; someone is suffering and dying without proper hospice care – so what? – he got lots more births coming up next; somebody is poor but wants to have a better life – why cannot he stay poor and practice contentment? This is the mentality of Buddhists towards those who are at the bottom; no matter how openly they deny, this has been proved to be the case. Highly spiritual monks and committed practicing lay Buddhists tend to overlook the necessity of material development. But what these people forget to realize is that there cannot be spirituality where there is widespread hunger and poverty; and healthy spirituality cannot exist where there is widespread illiteracy, ignorance and superstitions. It is only in the very recent time that the affluent Buddhist world has felt the need to counter evangelism by establishing parallel institutions like schools, colleges, hospitals, aged homes and carry out relief works but the fact that this is largely to meet the needs of the local community, this is yet to affect the millions of forgotten Buddhists in unknown parts of the world. And this raises the extreme Buddhist need to establish cohesive, well-financed, dedicated and inspired international Buddhist organizations to safeguard the very existence of the peoples of the Buddhist world through active participation on field. But it is easy said than done. Accept it or not, Buddhists tend to be very proud and suspicious of fellow Buddhists. The powerful ecclesiastical monastic sangha of Thailand wouldn’t allow temples of any Buddhist country to be built on its soil, while the building of a Theravada temple in the Korean soil is most likely to be seen as an attempt to Theravadize the Mahayanist Koreans. Such is the suspicion and pride among Buddhists of different countries. Some other Buddhists yet take pride in promoting so-called inter-religious dialogues between Buddhists and Christians, between Buddhists and Muslims but the irony is that Buddhists of Theravada, Mahayana and Tibetan do not get along together at all. Sadly there is hardly any effective contact between and among these three major Buddhist dominations. Economically weak Theravada Buddhist temples and monks of Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, Laos and Cambodia have been struggling to cater the needs of their respective native followers living in the West, while economically stronger Mahayana Buddhist temples and monks of China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan have been struggling to expand their influences throughout the rich West pouring millions of dollars for building temples and universities there, and yet Tibetan monks have been struggling to get fame and popularity to draw the attention of the world to their Tibetan issue. All these trends effectively left the millions of native Buddhists forgotten and neglected at home and in unknown lands who are in dire need of financial investments, education, creative leadership and social betterment more than the West. It is a very devastating thing to believe that the West needs promising monks and Buddhist leaders more than anyone else. The Western public is intelligent and affluent but it is we, the Asians, who have taught them the Dharma. So it makes no difference for us whether they walk feet up and heads down, especially because such people are Buddhists in heads more than in their hearts. But the forgotten Buddhists of these unknown lands are our fellow Buddhists for centuries with identical Buddhist culture and history but are not getting what they deserve from their more fortunate and affluent fellow Buddhists. This being the case, how ethical are we to oppose anyone who goes to standby, help and live with these unwanted peoples of the Buddhist world? What Buddhist doctrine can we possibly use to justify and declare that such an action is immoral? Come on, let us be frank. Even the most fanatic Buddhists among us would have to accept the fact that no matter with what ulterior evil motives the Evangelicals choose to help such forgotten and neglected peoples, the intrinsic goodness of their action is something that cannot be denied or downplayed. And this only questions our inability and unwillingness to help our own fellow Buddhists. Indeed, evangelical groups are proving to be very successful with their slogan - ‘believe in Jesus, he will be always with you’. Many things would change if we Buddhists could learn to say ‘we are your friends in your need’ and prove our say with our active social engagement. The kind of Humanistic Buddhism promoted by some creative and progressive Buddhists or Engaged Buddhism as promoted by some is not inclusive enough because it has effectively failed to address and respond to the acute needs of these forgotten Buddhist communities who are now the targets of Christian evangelism. Indeed, the greatest challenge of sectarian Buddhist traditions and organizations is the unwillingness and hesitation to help those who are not following the form of Buddhism each of them follows. There seems to be the demand of internal evangelization within and among various sectarian Buddhists before they could be considered fit for help. The most affluent Mahayana Buddhists of Korea and Taiwan, for example, might not be willing to go and help those neglected Buddhist ethnic groups scattered throughout the border areas of Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh and India who are followers of Theravada Buddhism, while the able Theravada Buddhists of Thailand, Sri Lanka and Burma might not be willing to come out for the ethnic minorities of the Himalayan regions who are mostly followers of Tibetan Buddhism. This is certainly not the kind of mentality the Buddha would very much like his followers to have towards fellow Buddhists. The result is that this has effectively barred the interaction between and among the various sectarian groups of Buddhism.
Let’s not deny the historical fact that Buddha was the first and a successful leader of missionary activities hundreds of years before Christ got the smell of this earth. Let’s not pretend that we Buddhists do not convert followers. We do but the difference in us is that we love to target the most educated, the most affluent, and the most intelligent pundits of the world rather than taking advantage of peoples’ poverty and illiteracy. We take peoples’ intelligence and wisdom to our advantage which is the uniqueness of Buddhist evangelism. Perhaps this very prospect is leading us to the other disadvantage: losing our fellow poor, neglected and illiterate Buddhists. And this only calls for the implementation of the much acclaimed Buddhist ‘Middle Way’.
The well established large monastic sanghas and lay Buddhist organizations of the known Buddhist world are effectively failing to perform their duties well enough due to unscrupulous remnants of corruption, misbehaviors, mismanagement and inefficiency within. Some of these monastic sanghas need internal reformation to cope with modern challenges. The high rate of disrobing among the intelligent, educated, energetic and promising young clergy is indeed a headache for many of us. Yet despite all these weaknesses and shortcomings there are lots more that can be done, if we are only willing and are truly selfless – ‘for the welfare and happiness of many’, the slogan used by the Buddha himself to denote his kind of evangelism.
How many of the 238 plus people-groups of the Buddhist world would soon fall into victims of Christian evangelism is something we, as informed Buddhists, cannot wait any longer to see. It is time for the Buddhists to launch a counter attack and rescue those ill equipped Buddhists from the bloody hands of Jesus, the man who couldn’t rescue himself from his own crucified cross.
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