Monday, November 2, 2009

Buddha for the Indian Middle Class

Buddhism from my point of view is the most sensible and the least dogmatic of all religions and can really help humans to get away from mental suffering (which leads to elimination of most physical suffering also!). But unfortunately it failed to make any inroads in the land where it originated. I am trying to list the reasons below and as always they are debatable!

1) After Dr. Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, the buddhists only tried to target the so called lower caste populations. This plan is not the most suitable for Buddhism because unlike the monotheistic religions Buddhism is not all about accepting a savior and attending a friday or sunday service and carry on. It is about thinking and thinking very deeply about life's suffering. Firstly the target should be educated at least a little bit and secondly the target should have the minimum prosperity to feed his family. Leave alone kapda (cloth) and makan (home). Also the target should have been brought up in a family where the elders thought about religion and morality at least a little bit. Other wise the target will have no interest in anything Buddha's teachings have to offer. If you notice from the Buddha's stories also, majority of his followers were brahmins!

2) The real targets for Buddhist teachings in modern Indian society are the educated great Indian urban middle class irrespective of caste. They are the bankers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, people from armed forces, merchants of the Indian cities. These people will be the most receptive audience for Buddhist teachings. Because they have the education and an ability to think deeply and have the problems and suffering which is common to everyone. If these people get influenced by Buddha's teachings they can make life better for themselves as well as for the so called lower caste and rural populations.

3) Though Buddhism had the greatest advantage in India, they alienated the real targets by portraying themselves more like monotheistic religion rather than a Dharmic religion. Hindu middle class already share the concepts of reincarnation/rebirth, karma and dharma though there are subtle differences. Also fortunately Hindus do not cling passionately to their gods unlike their monotheistic counterparts. But I saw that in India if one has to "accept" Buddhism they have to reject Hindu gods, practices etc. There is a list some where on wiki and it seems to be endless. There is nothing like "accepting" Buddhism. There is only benefiting from the ideas and realizing the truths spoken. I think it is just the arrogance of the Mahayana Buddhists (may be some theravada ones also). When you can take Buddha without dropping a savior in France or the United States, why should one drop Krishna to take up Buddha. Do not Hindus consider Buddha to the be the 9th avatar? Hindus do not destroy Buddha's statues like in South Korea!. The savior and Buddha have more distance between each other compared the distance between Krishna and Buddha. As long as Buddhists have this attitude, Buddhism will be a failure in India once again.

4) Think about the influence of Buddhism in Africa. Then you will understand why Buddhists targeted the wrong guys in India. Buddhists please show some consideration to the educated brown guy, because it was a thinking brown guy who gave you your philosophy and religion 2500 years ago ! and also gave Dalai Lama his Dharamshala !