I am a medical doctor. That does not mean my care is limited only on my patients. But I would consider the welfare of my patients as well as all other living creatures. Whenever I have a chance, I help. I have been ready to help old people on the street whenever they require to do so. I assist the disabled people. I feed starved foxes. I donate some money on a regular basis for rescued pets. I have been a regular donor in RSPCA, Oxfam, Cancer research and many local charities. With the help of DEC, I was able to contribute some to 2001 Bhuj (Indian) earthquake, 2004 Tsunami, 2005 Kashmir Earthquake and 2007 Nargis. I love my profession. I love my hobby.
A few days ago, I requested a senior Burmese blogger to sign a petition. That is about to stop brutal killing seals in Canada. Unfortunately it was declined to do so. I never expected such a disappointing response. I know our action will be a little effective or zero effective. But I strongly believe that we need to fight against brutality in this civilized world as much as we can.
I still remember about Burma where approximately 75% of people are Buddhists. Buddha explained that if someone does a bad thing, he or she has to pay back in the future. Someone has to suffer in this life. Because that one did a wrong thing in the past life. It is logical, I think, if we are really travelling from one life to another after death. But interestingly, many followers of Buddha have a different concept. For example, if someone had to have his leg amputated after an accident, they might blame him by saying he might cut other's leg in the past life, as a result he has to return similar thing this time. Of course, there are some sympathy and empathy. But these are diluted by their concepts. Again, Buddhist people see animals as living creatures with sins. Because of their sins in the past, this time they have to become animals to suffer. It is not uncommon to see women in Burma donating monks with delicious foods while stoning starved stray dogs. In many Burmese households, it is traditional that their pet dogs are fed with food remains and bones instead of preparing a proper dog food.
According to the concept based on Buddha's guide , can we say Nay Phone Latt has to go such a long term jail because he did a similar thing on someone else in his past life? How would you explain in Buddha's way why U Than Shwe is untouchable so far?
5 comments:
bro, i can't agree with you more. :)
Good, looking forward to reading your educated arguement.
Hi Steve,
I would like to ask you one reactionary question concern with your though.
"Is there any perfectionist in human beings basically?"
I suppose, we should more looking forward to positive instead of commenting and accusing to others.It better to realise ourself by knowing intimately about human psychology. This is the way teaching by our Buddha to improve and mature our spiritual.Isn't it?
"To know not to do is not yet to know"
Normann
i mean, i totally agree with u..
I would like to share my modest opinion here, based on my rather limited knowledge and experience.
There are two main types of Buddhists: true believers / followers of Buddha's teachings and traditional buddhists who inherited the religion from their ancesters. The former is the group of people who care to explore the essence of Buddha's way of living a meaningful life whilst the latter work on certain things in order to gain some benefits for themselves in their present/ future lives.
A true follower of Buddha's teachings will try to treat any living creatures with compassion and loving kindness. Of course, we all are still ordinary human beings with emotions and reactive nature to external stimuli which can contaminate our thoughts and actions many a times. However, such a true follower will have the awareness of his action and try to rectify it before it is too late.
I think it is not entirely fair or accurate to generalise all Burmese Buddhists as being stuck in a dogma. At the same time, I see your point as I have observed similar situations at different places at different times.
'What goes around comes around' is not a concept known only to the Buddhists. However, it may well be the most commonly-used ready-made explanation in our culture. From psychological point of view, it serves like a psychological defence mechanism that gives some comfort in many difficult and intolerable situations and hardships.
The impact of religion on people's beliefs and behavious is a complex and delicate matter to understand fully and to reach a single conclusion.
I would also take into account the effect of the way we were brought up - accepting what we are told, without testing it out/ reasoning back. This obviously conditions and limits the curious nature of our minds to the extent that we don't even recognise it as a deficit.
Having said that, I still remain optimistic that, with time, these conditioned mindsets can be un-conditioned, at least to some extent, through knowledge and exposure to the outside world.
Thank you for your thought-provoking post.
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