Compassionate Buddhism… (Lin Mingya)

慈悲的佛教有利世界和谐
A Compassionate Buddhism is Beneficial for World Harmony

● 林明雅
by Lin Ming-Ya ((given name means “bright and graceful,” appears to be a lady -xp))

　　读了3月9日《联合早报》整理自《新闻周刊》的专题文章《关心时事亚洲佛教徒日益激进、袈裟多了政治色彩》，笔者想就文内的一些看法发表个人的意见。
  In reading “United Early Edition’s” article “The Interesting Current Affair of Asian Buddhists Opportunistic Extremism, and the Great Politicization of Monastics,” excerpted from “Newsweek’s” feature article of 9 Mar 08 ((the publication date was 10 Mar in the West – xp)), it arrives that the author thinks that a number of these views represent popular opinion.

　　文章说：“美国著名的鲍登学院宗教学教授霍特认为……佛教的激化已有上升之势。”
  The article states: Bowdoin University’s Professor Jim Holt believes: “Buddhism’s militancy has already escalated.”

　　霍特教授立论的根据是：“缅甸僧侣去年上街游行，抗议军政府独裁专政。泰国僧人及支持者前年参与推翻达信首相的政治运动。印度一个以佛教徒为后盾的地方政党正把势力扩展到全国，其领袖很可能成为印度总理。斯里兰卡一群狂热的僧伽罗僧侣组成的政党不断向政府施压，主张以暴制暴，将搞分离运动的淡米尔人赶尽杀绝。”
  The basis of Prof. Holt’s position is: When Myanmar’s Buddhist Sangha demonstrated in the the street last year, it was to oppose the military dictatorship. The previous year in Thailand, The monks had a movement to overthrow Prime minister Thaksin Sinawatra. And in India, a local political party suppoorted by Buddhists has gained national influence, so that its leader could become India’s prime minister.

((it is at this point that the Zaobao author departs from what is asserted in the Newsweek feature article, and starts to voice her own opinion. -xp))

　　据笔者所知，事实是：缅甸、泰国及斯里兰卡的人口七八成是佛教徒，他们除了有教徒的身份之外，也具有当地社会公民的身份。这一些国家长期以来政治动荡不安是问题主要的症结点，如把矛头特意指向这一些国家公民的另一个身份：佛教徒，那是值得商榷的。
  On the basis of the author’s knowledge, the point is this: In Myanmar, Thailand, and Sri Lanka where the Buddhist population is seventy or eighty per cent, Buddhist disciples, besides having a religions stake, also have a nationalistic stake. (However), in these countries the history of instability is the primary sticking point in the problem. If you especially point out and target one characteristic of these countries’ people; i.e., their Buddhism, that is truly discussed from all angles. ((Yep, it’s a girl all right; I can hear the staccato rythim right across the water, and through several days of time. Of course she’s not being ironic either. Asian women never do that. -xp))

就如我们总不能把美国布什总统及英国首相布莱尔在全世界反对下，以及在没有得到联合国的授权之下，就向伊拉克进军；以及布什口误地喊出Crusades（十字军东征）时，就根据两人具有某种教徒的身份，而轻易结论说，某类教徒日益激进或好战。
  It’s just as if to say that when the American President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, invaded Iraq in the face of the entire world’s oposition, and without the authorization of the United Nations, compounded by President Bush’s slip of the tongue about the Crusades, that based on a certain relgious stake (or motivation) by these two personages, we utterly could not easily come to the conclusion that that kind of religious disciple would become progressively fanatic and warlike.

((I believe her point is that neither the Iraq war nor the political unrest which has gone on for a long time in parts of Asia is about religion, or at least, not about religion alone. In both places, you’ve got people who simply like to fight. -xp))

　　这更加印证3月19日早报社论《宗教和谐》中所说：“我国从独立至今，一直都能保持种族和宗教间的和谐，这是难能可贵的事，却并非理所当然，也不等于说这种和谐的关系就会因此而不断延续下去。”国际间的宗教和谐关系也是如此。
  Furthermore, as Zaobao’s editorial “Religious Harmony” of 19 Mar states: “That from the independence of our country, we have been able to continuously maintain harmony between different ethnicities and religions, is a difficult and precious thing. This is not automatic and natural, and it does not follow that harmonious relations can therefore continue to be perpetpuated without interruption.” Harmonious relations among religions in the international arena are similar.

至于印度，更是与佛教徒无关。一个非佛教徒的印度社会公民党党魁马雅瓦迪，要得到印度“贱民”的支持，来获取其政治目的，这又与佛教徒“日益激进”有着怎么样的必然因果关系呢？
  Going on to India, this has even less to do with Buddhists. When non-Buddhist Mayawati, the leader of a populist Indian political party seeks the support of the untouchable class for the purpose of taking over the government, what necessary causal relationship does this have with the “progressive extremism” of Buddhists?

((Refer to the Newseek article please. Many Hindus consider Buddhism to be part of Hinduism. This is why Buddhist radical reformers can succeed in India where Christians have failed miserably. Mayawati keeps Buddhist precepts, which also happen to be Hindu Brahmanic precepts. The fact that she calls them Buddhist precepts makes her Buddhist in many Hindu eyes, even though she may still be Hindu in many Buddhist eyes. -xp))

斯里兰卡的例子也扯得太远了。从公元前两世纪，淡米尔人开始移居到以僧伽罗人占多数的斯里兰卡之后，两族人民就开始有矛盾。加上英殖民者惯用的种族政策手法，加深了淡僧两族人民的矛盾激化，致使问题到今天依然无法解决。
  Sri Lanka has also been in disorder for too long. For the last two centuries, since the Tamils started to immigrate to sri Lanka with its Sinhala majority, the two ethnic groups have been in conflict. Add to this the racist policies of the British, which deepened the conflict between the Tamil and Sinhala ethnic groups, with the result that to the present, there has been no way to resolve it.

　　而淡米尔之虎组织自1983年成立以来，始终是以暴力作为其惟一的反政府手段；其本质就是要分裂斯里兰卡的国土。25年以来，这只“猛虎”一直试图要建立一个独立的淡米尔国家。英国、美国和印度从1991年至2001年先后宣布该组织为恐怖主义组织。
  Since the Tamil Tigers were founded in 1983, violence has been their own way to oppose the government. They essentially want to split up Sri Lanka’s territory. For the last 25 years, thisd “wild tiger” has schemed how to set up an independent Tamil country. From 1991 to 2001 England, America, and India have designated them a terrorist organization.

分裂运动违背佛陀教诲
Separatism is opposed to the Buddha’s Teaching　

　　文章指出：“佛祖（陀）宣扬慈悲与和平的教诲”。也知道“‘慈济’（等佛教组织）不过问政治……提倡普渡众生的生活方式……已被公认为亚洲地区最有效率的赈济组织之一。”
  The article states: “The Buddha propagated a compassionate and peaceful doctrine.” And it also understands: ” TZU Chi (a Buddhist organization) not to mention government — advocates methods of universally crossing over (saving) the lives of sentient beings — and is generally recognized as Asia’s most effective aid organization.

　　确实，像“慈济”这一类佛教组织，他们不但“已被公认为亚洲地区最有效率的赈济组织之一”，并且是第一个在中国成立的“一个非大陆人领导的民间基金会”，可见其影响日益深远，这深刻地说明了“佛教徒日益慈悲”。
  In reality, Buddhist organizations shuch a Tzu Chi not only are “generally recognized as Asia’s most effective aid organizations,” but they are (a kind of) Chinese-established “humanistic organizations not led by the mainland.” One can see that their influence is progressively profound, and they deeply proclaim that “Buddhists are becoming more compassionate day by day.”

　　文章同时指出：“佛教已存在2500年，但从来不与恐怖主义挂钩。如今一些信徒摆出激进强硬的态势，专家认为，这跟佛教徒人数激增不无关系。”
  At the same time, the article states that: “Buddhism has existed for 2500 years, but it has never been connected with terrorism. That at present some believers have adopted a tough-minded new profile, scholars say, is probably due ot a sharpp increase in their numbers.”

　　“越来越多佛教徒显然相信他们的伟大导师要他们敢于发言，敢于发起运动甚至敢于为他们的权利而斗争。而随着佛教徒激增和势力日益壮大，有朝一日，连强大的中国政府恐怕也挡不住他们。”
  “More and more Buddhists clearly believe that their great leader wants them to dare to speak out, and to dare to create movements, and even to fight for their rights. And subsequent ot the ssharp increase in their numbers, and influence which is becoming progressively powerful, there may come a day when even the great Chinese government fears that they cannot be stopped.”

　　“佛教已存在2500年，但从来不与恐怖主义挂钩。”这些都是事实，但文章的结论就有悖于事实。佛陀就是厌倦过太子的生活，才远离政治，抛弃唾手可得的政治最高皇位，而出家修行，怎么在悟道之后反倒会“要”其信徒再度卷入政治呢？
  “Buddhism has existed for 2500 years, but has never been implicated in terrorism.” This is true, but the article’s conclusion is not true. Buddhism is just exactly a “life of being disgusted of superceding the Prince.” Only then can one be free of the government. Having rejected the most prominint position that can be attained by the hand-spitters ((i.e., die-hard political activists, probably derogatory for Communists -xp)), and having left home to practice, how can those disciples then “desire” to be swept back into government?

　因此，一些长期深入参与政治活动，推动分裂国土运动的所谓“佛教徒”，本身就背离了佛陀的教诲。
  For this reason, all of those so-called “Buddhists” that are deeply sunken into governmental activities for the long haul, and who advocate separatist activities, have fundamentally departed from the Buddha’s doctrine.

((Yea! I thought I’d never see it! A native Chinese speaker who actually can identify the biggest problem in Asian Buddhism: Theocracy/Monks_in_Government. It’s one thing to have an opinion about your government; that’s part of our practice, and we’d be irresponsible citizens if we didn’t voice those. But to become part of the government when you’re a monk, or to use the Buddha’s teaching for separatist or racist purposes, while acting as a member of the government, is adharmic. -xp))

至于文章提出的西藏问题，近日除了西方传媒之外，不少观察者都认为那是骚乱及中国内部的分裂活动；即分裂主义者趁着2008年奥运会举行在即，故意扩大事端，想给中国政府难堪。
  Coming to the Tibetan problem identified by the article, today, with the exception of the Western media, many observers all recognize that this is disorder fomented by China’s internal separatists. This is just separatists taking advantage of the proximity of the 2008 Olympic games, and deliberately exaggerating the scope of the matter to embarass the Chinese government.

((She is not taking a side here. She is not a Communist sympathizer, but she understands the impossibility, and the unconsciousness, of the Tibetan position. The lamas couldn’t rule Tibet. The Dalai Lama ran away to India, instead of sinking into Mongolia, where he undoubtedly could have ultimately defeated the Chinese invasion, if he had been a nascent head of state. But he wasn’t one of those. He was a nascent media wonk. The Dalai Lama has consistently whined the same self-absorbed story to the Western media for 60 years, and he has decieved them. 60 years is *three* generations. There is no possibility that anything the Dalai Lama remembers from his youth is still true about either Tibet or China. -xp))

世界上所有存在分裂组织的国家，如西班牙的巴斯克、英国的北爱尔兰、俄罗斯的车臣、印尼的亚齐、斯里兰卡的淡米尔之虎等；只要这一些国家有能力制止分裂，都会进行各种努力来有效地制止其国土的被分裂。
  (With respect to) all of the countries of the world in which there are separatist elements, such as Spain with its Basques, England vis a vis Northern Ireland, Russia with respect to Chechnya, Sri Lanka with its Tamils tigers, etc., it’s only necessary for these countries to have the ability to prevent separation, and all of them can advance every kind of effort to effectively prevent their countries from being divided.

　　目前，西藏局势已经逐渐恢复平静，笔者衷心地希望，西藏真正的佛教徒能够秉持“佛陀宣扬慈悲与和平的教诲”，制止骚乱事件的再次出现，支持“不寻求西藏独立”的呼声。只要藏独分裂势力被消弭，相信西藏问题会早日获得和平解决。
  At present, the situation in Tibet has gradually returned to tranquillity, and the writer hopes in her innermost feelings that Tibet’s orthodox Buddhists can maintain “Buddhist doctrine that promotes compassion and peace,” to quell the possibility of chaos breaking out again. and to support the “Do not seek Tibetan independence” watchword. It is only necessary for the power of the Tibetan separatists to be obliterated, to believe that the Tibetan problem can attain a peaceful solution.

((True. Theocracy is a confusion of governmental and spiritual power, and it doesn’t work, and therefore simply is not permissible, in the modern era. The Dalai lama and his cohorts continue to assert that China won’t let the Tibetans practice their religion. That is simply not true. Lamasic Buddhism is, in real fact, presently practiced throughout China, as well as the entire Chinese cultural sphere of influence. What China won’t allow is the cult of the Dalai Lama, because that has political implications; the Dalai lama is, by definition, the head of the traditional Tibetan theocracy, and will be forced to compete with the Chinese government for political hegemony in Tibet, by the other lamas. -xp))

　　有朝一日，也许佛教将会引领中国再一次地走向类似佛教如日中天时的汉唐盛世，国威声名远播。到那时候，慈悲的种子将会撒下整个人间，为了全世界的和平，中国政府当然“挡不住”，也没有必要去挡。
  There may come a day when Buddhism will lead China towards a flourishing world such as the Han and Tang dynasties when Buddhism was like the noonday sun, such that the eclat of China’s greatness was spread far abroad. When that time comes, and the seeds of compassion can be scattered among all the people, for the peace of all the world, the Chinese government won’t be able to stop it, and there will be no need to stop it.

((True. Compassion starts at home. When you run away from your home, like the Dalai Lama did, you don’t call the terms of Buddhist Compassion for the entire planet. It’s just not real. -xp))

·作者是新加坡佛教总会高级文化研究员兼研读班讲师
The author is a high-ranking researcher of Singapore’s Buddhist Association and a lecturer of its reasearch study team.