01/14/2022
The Challenge to the Sangha in the 21st Century
Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Throughout the history of Buddhism, the Sangha has stood at the forefront of Buddhist activities. The Sangha is the visible representation of the Buddha in the world; for twenty-five centuries, it has sustained the continuity of the Dharma among humankind; by its procedures of ordination and transmission it ensures that the Buddha's legacy remains alive. The presence of the Triple Gem thus depends upon the Sangha, the Third Gem. The Sangha is an organization created by the Buddha himself. It is, in a sense, a reflection of the Buddha. The bhikkhus and bhikkhunis have followed the Buddha into the homeless life, leaving behind their families, their professions, their homes, the hopes and promises of life in the world. Out of faith, they accept the Vinaya, the code of discipline laid down by the Buddha, as the guide to their way of life. They live differently from ordinary people in the world. They have a distinct appearance: shaved heads, special robes, special customs. They have rules that set them apart from ordinary people, rules that require celibacy, restraint, simplicity, harmlessness, and detachment from worldly enjoyments. They live dedicated lives: lives dedicated to study, to meditation, to teaching and preaching, to running monasteries and training other monks, to a quest for purity and realization of truth. However varied their ways of life may be among themselves, the heart and center of their lives is devotion to the Buddha and the Dharma. They see their task in life to be the promotion of the Dharma.
We who have gathered here today are members of this Sangha, and naturally we want the Sangha to flourish: not so that we can have enough food to eat and comfortable monasteries in which to live, but because we consider the Sangha to be the channel through which the Dharma, the Buddha's message, can remain in the world and reach the hearts and minds of people. We consider the Dharma to be the true path to peace and happiness; we consider it the secure path to help people find relief from suffering. Thus, as an expression of our loving-kindness and compassion for humanity and all sentient beings, we want the Dharma to survive for a long time and to flourish in the world.
The Sangha has survived for some 2500 years: that's longer than the Roman Empire, longer than all the dynasties of the Chinese emperors, longer than the British Empire. And it has survived without weapons, without financial resources, without armies, merely through the power of truth and virtue. However, there is no guarantee that it will continue to survive or that it will continue to make vital and important contributions to human life. This is a task that depends on the members of the Sangha themselves, on each new generation of monks and nuns, and this task is an extremely important one, because the future of Buddhism depends on the future of the Sangha. For the Sangha to survive, we have to be constantly on the alert to meet challenges. In the new century, the twenty-first century, we are bound to meet new challenges, challenges we haven't met before, and we have to be prepared to face them and respond to them successfully.
The movement of history is always an interplay of challenge and response. Changing conditions--social, economic, political, and cultural conditions--create new challenges, and those people who successfully respond to these challenges change the course of history. The Sangha too grows and develops through this same process. It faces new challenges, and at its best moments, it meets them innovatively, with insight, courage, and conviction. Successful responses to the new challenge not only enable the Dharma to survive but often bring out hidden potentials in the Dharma itself, unfolding new dimensions of the Dharma that could not become manifest under the earlier historical conditions. These changes bring the Dharma into better accord with the spirit of the new age in which it must take root and thereby enable the Sangha to function more effectively in relation to the new epoch. When the Sangha does not address the challenge well, when the Sangha is foiled by the challenge, then Buddhism declines. Buddhism then continues to deteriorate, or remains in a stagnant condition, until some wise and courageous monk, or group of monks, rises up in the midst of the Sangha and once again overcomes the challenge.
This process of challenge and response has unfolded at certain key junctures in the history of Buddhism. For example, after the Buddha's parinirvana, the Sangha found itself faced with the task of maintaining the teaching without the Master present in its midst: this was a challenge. The monks responded to this challenge by collecting the teachings spoken by the Master and organizing them into the Vinaya and Sutra Collections. In the time of King Asoka, the numbers of lay devotees increased and practices were needed to sustain their faith: this was a challenge. The Sangha responded to this challenge by placing greater emphasis on devotional practices and taking on new roles that enabled them to oversee these devotional practices. Around the same time, brahmanic thought became more rigorous and analytical: this was a challenge. The Sangha responded to this challenge by developing a more rigorous systematic version of the Buddha's teaching, the Abhidharma. With the expansion of India's horizons came the recognition of other lands beyond India and the obligation to spread the Dharma far and wide: this was a challenge. The response was the Buddhist missions: to Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, to Central Asia and China, and later to Tibet and the Himalayan kingdoms. The missions in turn gave rise to challenges that called for new reserves of courage, conviction, and talent within the Sangha. The establishment of Buddhism in these lands required a special response: adaptations to new cultural and social conditions, the learning of new languages, and the translations of the Buddhist texts from Indian languages into languages with no relation at all to any language used in India. Then, as Buddhism became the dominant religion of these regions, new traditions were forged which enabled it to integrate easily with the customs and practices of the indigenous peoples. As a result, the Buddhism we see in different Buddhist countries displays striking differences: if we put Sri Lankan, Chinese, and Tibetan Buddhism side by side, we can find hardly any outward similarities, apart from reverence for images of the Buddha, monasticism, rituals, and meditation.
However great may have been the changes that took place in Buddhism from the time of the Buddha himself right up to the sixteenth century, all these changes occurred against a background that we might call traditional. Some characteristics of a traditional Buddhist culture are as follows: (1) the predominant mode of life is agrarian; (2) the world view of most people is saturated by religion, which is generally a mixture of doctrinaire Buddhism and indigenous "folk religion"; (3) the political system is monarchy, but with a high degree of self-government at the village level; (4) a major role in all aspects of people's lives is played by the Sangha, which is mainly responsible for educating the people and serving their social and cultural needs. (When speaking thus, I want to stress that I am aware that in China, Buddhism has met with persecution and has often played a subordinate role to the dominant Confucianism.)
For Buddhist Asia, the sixteenth century introduced a challenge that shook Buddhism right down to its foundations. For this century marked the beginning of the colonial period, and now traditional Buddhism was facing a challenge like no other it had ever faced before. One European nation after another set out to conquer the Buddhist homelands, grabbed control of the social and political institutions on which popular Buddhism depended, and sent over missions to convert the Buddhist populations to Christianity. Though the Christian missions had only limited success, all these measures dealt a hard blow to Buddhist self-esteem. In the Theravada Buddhist world, the imperialist program had its strongest impact on Sri Lanka. Here, first the Portuguese, then the Dutch, and finally the British gobbled up parts of the island, until by the early nineteenth century Britain extended imperial rule over the whole of Sri Lanka. As a result of imperial policy, the Sangha was marginalized and deprived of the dominant role it had played in the lives of the Buddhist population for centuries. In the cities, where large numbers of Sinhalese embraced Christianity, the monks even felt ashamed to walk out on the streets during the day. The Western colonialists and their native followers would ridicule them, dressed in their saffron robes, as "yellow birds."
But the Sangha didn't remain passive. They realized that the very future of Buddhism was at stake; they knew they had to rise to this challenge. In Sri Lanka, some monks learned English. They studied Western culture and philosophy. They learned how to find the weak spots in Christianity and issued criticisms of it in their own language. They found allies in modern science and in European humanism, which was also attacking Christianity and exposing its faults. The monks made positive changes as well. They altered traditional religious forms to meet the challenge of the modern world. They realized they could no longer give long, pompous, scholarly sermons that ordinary people couldn't understand. Instead, they began to give concise, meaningful sermons addressed to ordinary people, explaining how to apply the Dharma to everyday life. From the Christian missionaries they learned how to develop Buddhist forms of social service, using as a model the past lives of the Bodhisattva Sakyamuni recorded in the Jatakas. They established national Buddhist organizations, aimed to protect Buddhism from attack by other religions and to promote the Dharma at various levels. Sri Lankan Buddhist monks became widely respected for their scholarship in Pali and Dhamma. Buddhist seats of higher learning blossomed, among them Vidyodaya and Vidyalankara, which became so famous that they attracted students from other Asian countries.
In the recent history of Chinese Buddhism, the two monks, Master Tai Hsu and Master Yin Shun, became key figures in the Chinese Sangha precisely because they paved the way for the modernization of Chinese Buddhism. These two monks not only had to meet the challenge. They also had to define the challenge, to explain clearly to their fellow monks the nature of the problems that were besetting Chinese Buddhism. Other monks (perhaps with a few exceptions) did not even see the challenge; they were troubled, but clueless about their troubles, and it was because they didn't see the source of their troubles that they couldn't do anything about them. But Ven. Tai Hsu and Ven. Yin Shun recognized, like no others before them, the problems internal to Chinese Buddhism. They both diagnosed the illness of Chinese Buddhism; and having done so, they saw what had to be done to remedy the illness. They both realized that Buddhism was never intended to be a religion merely of funerals and ceremonies, of worship and devotion, but was in essence a deep and boundless system of spirituality aimed at the highest enlightenment. They recognized its philosophical profundity, its rationality, its ethical purity, and its practical relevance to the conduct of human life. They both set out, in their own ways, to transform Chinese Buddhism and bring it into accord with the modern era. Thus we have Ven. Tai Hsu's program of "Buddhism for Human Life," and Ven. Yin Shun's philosophy of "Human Realm Buddhism."
Now we have come to the twenty-first century, a new crossroads bringing new challenges different even from those faced by the reformist monks of Sri Lanka in the nineteenth century, different from those faced by the two reformist monks of Chinese Buddhism in the mid-twentieth century. At this present stage in history, we can see, on the one hand, much potential for the advancement of the Dharma, many new opportunities before us; yet on the other side, there are new challenges, external and internal.
Among the external challenges, I will just mention two, but I won't deal with them at length. One is the potential threat posed by the missionary efforts of fundamentalist Evangelical Christianity and the thrust of Islam. Of the two, Christianity has so far been more active, but it is also possible that in the near future Islam may undertake active proselytization. The Christian missions, backed by strong financial resources, target poor populations in heavily Buddhist areas. They draw up masterful strategies based on psychological research and marketing techniques for converting these populations. They use financial inducements to attract people to Christianity and then, once they become dependent on their economic assistance, compel them to renounce Buddhism and embrace Christianity. I don't have an easy answer about how to address such a challenge, but I don't agree with the policies proposed by some countries which entail placing restrictions on freedom of religion and preventing a person from changing religions. In my view, we shouldn't achieve security, even the security of our own religion, by placing restrictions on people's freedom to embrace the religion of their choice, even when that choice is governed by mercenary motives. I think a sound solution must come through healthy economic development, which would make conversion to another religion for economic benefits lose its attractiveness.
The other problem, faced by the more rapidly developing Buddhist countries, is the tendency of economic development to give rise to a consumerist culture that emphasizes immediate sensual gratification as the ultimate end of life. This undercuts the traditional Buddhist emphasis on self-restraint and inner tranquillity. The best remedy for this, I believe, is Buddhist education, imparted to Buddhist children from an early age onwards. Such education should be constantly reinforced at home by the parents, who by their conduct and attitudes should show their children that they themselves uphold the fundamental Buddhist ethical virtues and recognize the limits in sensual gratification.
So now let me pose the question: What are the special challenges that the Sangha faces today, and are likely to face in the near future?
The most basic challenge for the Sangha is maintaining the relevance of the Buddha's teaching to humankind. Now the distinctive mark of the passage from the twentieth century to the twenty-first century is the transition from an emphasis on industrial production to the acquisition and distribution of information. This transition is taking place already in the most advanced countries and in the most advanced sections of the populations in all countries around the world. It is sometimes indicated by saying that we are moving from the Industrial Era to the Information Era, from a production-based world to a knowledge-based world.
As we know, the Sangha has always existed in close interaction with the Buddhist lay community. The relationship between the two is one of interdependence and collaboration. In traditional Buddhism, as I have sketched it above, the laity provides the members of the Sangha with their material requisites--robes, food, dwellings, medicines, and other material supports--while the Sangha provides the lay community with teachings and with examples of those who lead lives fully dedicated to the Dharma. The monastics are expected to devote their time to study, meditation, teaching, preaching, and the conducting of ritual practices (such as daily liturgies and sutra chanting). The laity content themselves with the practice of giving alms, undertaking precepts, performing devotions, and some of the more ritualized forms of meditation. These two "streams" of Buddhism are typical of most traditional Buddhist cultures. I will call the former stream "liberative Buddhism." This stream of Buddhism emphasizes the core principles of the Dharma: understanding the Buddha's teachings; insight meditation; the development of wisdom; the realization of prajnà, enlightenment, or nirvàna. I will call the other stream "accommodative Buddhism": this is the Dharma adjusted to the needs and capacities of ordinary people. It emphasizes: devotion to the Buddha and holy persons (bodhisattvas, arahants, saintly monks) and the performance of meritorious deeds (generosity, precepts, worship, pilgrimage) in order to attain a fortunate rebirth. It presupposes that the Buddhist devotee isn't yet ready for deep Dharma study and serious meditation practice, but needs gradual maturation based on faith, devotion, and good deeds.
I believe that the changes that are taking place at present will radically transform the relationship between these two "streams" of Buddhism, and with this transformation, the Sangha will face new challenges never faced before, challenges for which its members should be well prepared in advance. I am not a prophet, and I can't foretell the future in detail. But judging from present trends, I will just try to sketch some of the more important challenges, as I see them coming.
1. The role of higher education. Now in the Information Era, a high percentage of a country's population has acquired a university education. People have access to much greater stores of knowledge and information than they ever had in the past, and their understanding of mundane realities, and even of Buddhism, is much more sophisticated than in previous epochs. This could cause a seismic shift in the relations between the Sangha and the laity. If the Sangha is to continue to make the Dharma relevant to the lay community, it must be able to fulfill the needs of the lay supporters, needs determined partly by their education. Since we live in a time when many people have gained a university education, people will expect the Dharma to measure up to the standards they have acquired through their academic training. They will not simply accept the teachings presented by monastics out of reverence and unquestioning trust. They have been trained to question and inquire, and they will apply the same approach when they come to the study of Buddhism. Hence the monks have to be ready to answer questions. They cannot expect to receive humble deference from the laity--in time, they will receive respect, but they have to earn this respect by proving that they can clearly explain the Dharma. The monks will themselves need to have received higher education, primarily in Buddhism but also in subjects indirectly related to the Dharma, such as modern philosophy and psychology and other areas of interest. Exactly how to integrate such mundane knowledge into a monastic curriculum is a question that would have to be worked out by those responsible for monastic education.
2. The role of publishing. Closely related to the opportunities for higher education among the laity is the role of publishing. Just as the use of writing transformed Buddhism sometime around the second century B.C., so beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, the printing press and commercial publication have transformed Buddhism. There are now hundreds of books available in English on all aspects of Buddhism, both popular and scholarly, and many books are available in other languages. Thus any diligent student of the Dharma can acquire an extensive knowledge of Buddhism based on books. For a knowledge of Buddhist scriptures and commentaries one is no longer dependent on the monastery and on monks, as one would have been in a traditional Buddhist culture. The micro-computer has further revolutionized Buddhist Studies. Any diligent person with a notebook computer can store an entire Buddhist library, including several Tripitakas, on his or her hard disk. Through the internet they can access vast resources on Buddhism and engage in discussion groups in virtually every type of Buddhism. Thus book knowledge of the Dharma isn't a special privilege of monastics. Buddhist Studies is also offered as a subject in universities and several universities have faculties of Buddhist Studies. There are many outstanding lay scholars of Buddhism who are doing research in highly specialized areas of Buddhist Studies.
For us, this raises the question what we as monks will have to offer. I would say that our task will not be to compete with lay Buddhist scholars. We should certainly seek to acquire scholarly knowledge of Buddhism, from as many reliable sources as possible, and we should learn from lay scholars when necessary. But what the Buddhist monastic life offers is an opportunity to put Buddhism into practice; it gives the opportunity to combine study of the texts with the living application of their principles in a life based on faith, devotion, and commitment to the Triple Gem. It is this way of life that has enabled the Sangha throughout history to attract capable men and women to the path of renunciation, and this will also be the source of strength for the Sangha in the new century. But we have to be firm in our attempts to unite scholarly knowledge with practice, intellectual understanding with faith and commitment. We cannot settle for mere knowledge without practice; nor can we have blind practice without clear intellectual understanding.
3. Shifting populations. With higher education, more and more people migrate from the countryside to the cities, and we thus see the cities expand, both outwards and upwards. In Buddhist countries like Taiwan, this brings about a change in the quality of Buddhist religious life. The old forms of "accommodative Buddhism" based on faith, devotion, and deeds of merit won't be enough to sustain the loyalty of thoughtful lay people who are leading professional lives in the cities. These people may have been trained as computer engineers, medical doctors, physicists, business executives, and financial experts. If we expect them to remain loyal to Buddhism, they will be disappointed if the type of Buddhism we offer revolves largely around beliefs concerning heavens, hells, and future lives. Such people have been taught to expect concrete results, results that are visible here and now, and Buddhism must be able to meet their expectations. If it doesn't, they will turn away. However, people living under stressful conditions won't lose their need for the Dharma. If anything, they will need the Dharma even more urgently, just as a sick man needs medicine more urgently than a healthy man. It is essential that the Sangha can offer teachings that help people deal with the problems of everyday life, and deal with them in a clear, realistic way, based on realistic insights into human psychology and an understanding of the true facts of existence. This is the way the Buddha himself usually taught, and thus we have the resources we need in the most ancient records of his teachings. If the Sangha doesn't present the Dharma in such a way, people might well lose their faith in Buddhism and turn to other religions.
When I speak about making the Dharma accessible to people today by emphasizing its concrete experiential benefits, I want to make it clear that I am not advocating that we dilute or revise the Dharma to make it more "digestible" for people. What I mean is that we must adapt the Dharma to the dispositions and capacities for understanding of the people of today. That is, we should first emphasize those aspects that come within the scope of their immediate experience in order to generate trust in those aspects of the Dharma that go beyond an ordinary person's experience. But eventually, any complete and adequate presentation of the teaching must convey a clear and complete picture of what the Buddha actually taught, encompassing all elements essential to the framework of the Dharma. This will necessarily include such teachings as karma and rebirth, the different planes of existence, the higher meditative realizations, the stages of liberation, and so forth--teachings that lie far beyond the range of the ordinary person's experience.
But one must proceed skillfully, in a gradual step by step way, leading from the simple to the profound, from what is immediately clear to what only can be understood through deep reflection. If we begin by emphasizing such teachings as rebirth and other planes of existence, or if we start with an approach to Buddhism based mostly on faith and devotion, people brought up on modern ways of thinking might become skeptics and abandon all interest in Buddhism.But others might not lose their interest in the Dharma. Instead, they might pursue a "Buddhism without the Sangha." Educated lay Buddhists might form groups among themselves--Dharma discussion groups and meditation groups--and thus a type of lay Buddhism will emerge running parallel to monastic Buddhism. Monastic Buddhism, with its ceremonies, rituals, and devotional practices, will remain the preference of simple city folk and the people of the countryside. The educated urban Buddhists, the educated elite, will prefer their Buddhism without a monastic Sangha, except when needed for funeral ceremonies and other merit-making occasions. The living transmission of Dharma will go on entirely among lay Buddhists. Indeed, I have already seen indications of this happening, in different ways, in Sri Lanka and the U.S.
To avoid misunderstanding, let me say that I do not want to dismiss the beliefs of "accommodative Buddhism," such ideas as karma and rebirth, as mere fictions, or the need for faith, devotion, and works of merit, as mere "expedients" suitable for simple people. The point I want to make is that in the years to come, for an increasing number of educated people, the "door of entrance" to the Dharma won't be traditional faith but the rational, empirical, and practical appeal of the Dharma, and those versions of Buddhism that address these needs best will have the best chance of flourishing.
4. The role of mental training. An extremely crucial point is that the Dharma will convince not only by its intellectual appeal, not only by its practical ethics, but particularly by its system of mental training and internal cultivation. This is what distinguishes Buddhism from virtually all other religious systems: its stress on the central role of the mind in determining our happiness or suffering, and the practical methods of mental cultivation it offers. So a very important "door of entrance" to the Dharma for many people is the practice of meditation. This is the special door for those who come from non-Buddhist backgrounds, which has been particularly the case in the West. But it has also been proving effective for traditional Buddhists who approach the Dharma from scientific backgrounds and bring along skeptical, inquisitive minds.
I don't think meditation alone is the answer, and in this respect I am critical of those teachers in the West who want to adopt meditation alone from Buddhism, rejecting Buddhist doctrine and Buddhist faith. I think a balanced approach is necessary: a triple balance between faith-and-devotion, the study of Buddhist teachings, and the practice of meditation. But it remains a fact that many people today are first attracted to the Dharma through meditation. Once they gain concrete benefits through meditation, their interest in the Dharma will be awakened and then they can be gradually led to an understanding of Buddhist doctrine, to the study of Buddhist texts, and then to faith, devotion, and even to the monastic life.
In Chinese tradition, when a monastic was drawn to meditation, it was usually with a sense of "world weariness and flight from the world." The monastics would adopt a reclusive lifestyle. They would withdraw deep into the forest or the mountains and avoid human contact for decades, meditating for their personal enlightenment. Now, at the turn of the new century, meditation has become the Buddhist practice that attracts many educated people to the Dharma because they see it as helpful for living in the world. They take up meditation, not because they are weary of the world and keen to escape from life, but because they recognize that happiness and suffering depend on the mind, and they see that they must train their own minds to find true peace and happiness. At present, in the West, meditation has become an activity that is generally communal. It is not practiced alone in remote mountains, but in groups--in cities and towns, or in meditation retreat centers located in quiet areas. It is taught to prisoners in high security prisons and has often transformed their lives. It is taught in pain clinics in hospitals to enable cancer patients to cope with overwhelming pain. It is taught to followers of all religions, who integrate it into their own religious lives. Psychological studies are showing that those who meditate lead happier lives, even with busy careers and families. Thus, for the Chinese Sangha to preserve its relevance to people in the coming era, it is important for it to reclaim the special role of meditation and to define it as a group activity, not an activity only for solitary hermits.
5. A role for the Yin-shun lineage. I would now like to say a few words about what I think is the special contribution that Chinese Buddhism, and especially the lineage of scholar-monks stemming from Master Yin-shun, can make to Buddhism in the new century, with reference to Buddhism in the West. In the West, other forms of Buddhism are now well represented. There are active Theravada centers--though mainly with emphasis on meditation, not yet with emphasis on textual study; there are many Tibetan centers with different points of emphasis, from scholarship to intensive meditation. But East Asian Buddhism is represented primarily by Japanese and Korean Zen, neither of which stresses study of texts or knowledge of Buddhist doctrine. The whole Early Mahàyàna tradition is virtually missing from Western Buddhism. This is perhaps best preserved in the Chinese Buddhist lineage stemming from Master Yin-shun. This lineage represents a branch of Chinese Buddhism that looks for authority, not to the linages of Chinese Buddhism, but to the Early Indian Mahàyàna. Thus this lineage could "round out" the picture of Buddhism in the West by providing what we might call "the body" of classical Indian Mahàyàna Buddhism out of which later East Asian Buddhist schools, like Zen and Pure Land, and Vajrayana Buddhism, developed.
6. The Sangha as offering challenges. I've spoken about some of the ways the Sangha should meet the challenge of the new century. But one additional point I want to make is that the Sangha's crucial mission is not only to meet challenges but to offer challenges. The Sangha must stand up to the modern age and present its own challenges. The modern world is being spun around in circles by the blind pursuit of sensual pleasures; the Sangha is a community of men and women who have devoted their lives to the renunciation of sensual pleasures. By their peaceful manner and inner happiness, the monks and nuns challenge others to see that the way to happiness lies in mastery of sensual desires, not in their indulgence. The modern world is based on the conviction that happiness is to be won by wealth and power; the Sangha is founded on the conviction that happiness is to be won through simplicity, voluntary poverty, and inner development. In this way, monks and nuns challenge others to see that happiness lies in simplifying their lives, in reducing their craving for wealth and power; they present them with the powerful challenge of turning inwards to find true happiness and peace. The modern world seeks endlessly for satisfaction in technological innovations, always assuming that new things are better things. The Sangha seeks to preserve and honor ancient traditions, and to live without being encumbered by too many conveniences. In this way, the Sangha challenges others to adopt a frugal lifestyle, to respect what is ancient, to honor and revere the natural environment. In the modern world violence is exploding between people of different ethnic and religious groups, who are convinced that violence can solve their problems. The Sangha is based on the principle of non-violence, on the conviction that patience, discussion, and compromise is essential to harmony between human beings. Thus the Sangha challenges people to solve their problems through mutual understanding, tolerance, and loving-kindness.
The Sangha should also challenge the world with its commitment to what I call the "world-transcending" or "supramundane" aspect of the Dharma. Though I spoke earlier about using the visible, concrete benefits of the Dharma as a way to attract people of the modern generation to the Dharma, I want to emphasize that the ultimate benefits of the Dharma are not merely mundane. Whether in Theravada Buddhism, based on the Early Buddhist teachings, or in classical Mahayana Buddhism, the Dharma is directed towards a world-transcending goal: nirvana or supreme enlightenment. It is the task of the Sangha to uphold this world-transcending Dharma in the face of all the temptations to dilute the teachings to make them more acceptable, to make it seem that our sole purpose is to find happiness and peace within the limits of mundane life. By upholding the world-transcending Dharma, the Sangha calls attention to the limits intrinsic to all worldly happiness. It challenges all our attempts to settle down and find a comfortable place in the world, even to use the Dharma for such a purpose; it challenges people to understand that the supreme wisdom, our ultimate freedom, lies beyond the boundaries of the world.
7. A voice of conscience. This leads me to speak about one other major challenge facing the Sangha in today's world. Today vast, terrible problems are crushing the lives of millions of people and threatening untold harm to countless others. I have in mind such problems as raging ethnic conflicts and destructive wars that take dreadful death tolls among innocent civilians, including women and children. I think of oppressive governments that imprison their citizens without just cause, torture and torment them, and hold even the free citizens in a constant state of fear. I think of the gap between the rich and the poor, and between the rich nations and the poor nations. I think of the ravenous illnesses that claim millions of lives among poor people around the world, illnesses that could be easily eliminated at minimal costs. I think of the degradation faced by millions of women forced into lives of prostitution, often by their own families, on account of their poverty, and my heart trembles at the lives they have to lead. I think of the hundreds of billions of dollars squandered each year, all around the world, on weapons of enormously destructive power, while perhaps half the people in the world barely obtain enough nutritious food to sustain them each day. And finally I think of the reckless ways in which we are degrading our environment--our air, our water, our soil, our food--without any concern for future generations. In my view, it is a task for the Sangha to serve as the voice of Buddhist "conscience" in the world. That is, the Sangha--at least its most prominent members--should be capable of giving expression to Buddhist ethical values in dealing with these vast, overwhelming problems that confront humanity today. This is one of the major challenges in the task of formulating a "human-realm Buddhism" truly relevant to the twenty-first century.
If Master Yin-shun were alive today, in the prime of his life, I think he would be in agreement with me. We cannot just enjoy our good fortune in being able to live the monastic life in comfort. We must become the voice of great compassion for suffering humanity, for those billions of people voiceless and helpless against the cruel, powerful forces that are victimizing so many human lives, and so many other forms of life, all over this planet. We must be ready to stand up and speak the truth before it is too late, before human greed, hatred, and delusion destroy all life on earth. We must challenge injustice with justice, falsity with truth, cruelty with compassion, ignorance with understanding. This may well turn out to be the greatest challenge facing the Sangha in the twenty-first century.
