Philosophy Of Buddhism

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Philosophy of Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion that started from the Indian region by the teaching of Buddha. The real name of Buddha was Siddhartha Gautama. He was the prince who grew up in Kapilavasthu, Nepal. Before his birth, Buddha’s mother saw a dream which was interpreted as the baby will be either a king or a saint one day. Due to this reason, his father kept him away from the experience of ordinary life and gave him luxurious life within the palace. He wanted him to be a king who could conquer other regions. However, after his marriage, one day he left everything in the search of enlightenment. He sat in the meditation under a tree and finally found his answer regarding the reality of life and the solution to suffering. He was not ready for teaching initially as he believed that people acquire jealousy, greediness, and lies within them. However, with time, he started preaching his teachings to the people and Buddhism religion spread in India, Sri Lanka, China, Korea, Japan, and later in Europe and Africa. His message and preachings tell a lot about social justice, assisted suicide, ethics, good and evil, and afterlife without having much struggle.

Buddha who was the prince and had a luxurious life left his wealth, status, and family for enlightenment. Buddha got enlightenment and spread the message of peace, freedom, and equality. His teachings tell lots about social justice. He didn’t ask to leave everything to family, society, a normal lifestyle and spending life in isolation, nor he promoted self-interest. Instead, he taught people to live a normal life, in a normal environment, and like a normal human being. Humans have unlimited wishes for which they make choices. Within Buddhism, human choices are based on the concept of Karma. Karma is the process of reward that means whatever man does, either good deeds or bad deeds, he gets the same response in return from nature in the form of karma. In other words, if a person spent his life in society with compassion and wisdom, he will get happiness and peace but if he spent his life in delusion, greed, or hatred then, he will be suffered in return.

Buddha explained that a person cannot live alone or cannot leave his society. This world has a natural process and people are tied with each other in the form of family and society. Therefore, every person should spend his life in a way that does not spread sorrow, hate, or harm to the other person. The human brain acquires various wishes and wants which is not a bad thing but if he gets these things through lies, violence, and social injustice, then it is bad. Buddha said, "He who has renounced violence towards all living beings, weak or strong, who neither kills nor causes others to kill — him do I call a holy man." This indicates that Buddhism does not encourage people to spend life praying or performing rituals instead he asked to live peacefully and not to spread violence in society.

In the context of social justice Buddhism teaches us that it is an ordinary thing to acquire pleasure of life because conflicts arise only when the greed becomes excessive. This conflict has a correlation with limited resources. When an individual tries beyond what is equitable, then others lose their share. Therefore, greed, violence, lies, distrust, and crime is the stem of social injustice. It explains the duty and responsibility of the authority who should ensure the well-being and safety of the people as well as nature. This can understand the concept of dharma which explains that every individual should follow the principle of nature in his life and agreed to what is right for all. Buddha teachings tell that "Not by observing silence does one become a sage, if he be foolish and ignorant. But that man is wise who, as if holding a balance-scale accepts only the good,” which indicates that social justice does not mean that an individual stays quite or ignores inequality in the society, instead, he himself performs the act which is good for him and society.

Buddhism varies on three basic division which teaches about the process to attain social justice. First is the wisdom which means right view and right intention. People would believe in the afterlife and nothing ends with death unless one gets “nirvana”. This belief can lead to the right intention because with the belief in the afterlife and karma, individual does not make the decision on the basis of self-interest, cruelty, and greediness. Second is the moral virtue that is the right action, right speech, and right livelihood. When individuals consider moral virtue as a ritual and way of life, then factors like lying, rude speech, killing, violence, sexual abuse, and misconduct will eliminate from society. This will ensure social justice and people will be able to adopt the right livelihood which means satisfaction on the things which they acquire and no desire for more than what is right. The third is meditation which consists of the right concentration, right mindfulness, and right effort through which individuals can control their desires, thoughts, and behavior which are bad for society. Buddha said, "Good is restraint in the body; good is restraint in speech; good is restraint in thought. Restraint everywhere is good. The monk restrained in every way is freed from all suffering,” Therefore, by achieving these divisions through full devotion and considering the teaching of Buddha in daily life, social justice can be achieved. Equality is the main element that helps in social justice and it can be done by the right act of every single person living in society.