The grinding miseries that are ailing humanity? By Ven Bhikkhu Bodhi

In this insightful message to the world Buddhists, Ven Bhikkhu Bodhi one of the most scholarly and revered American Buddhist monk discusses the sufferings of Humanity world wide, he also points to the role of Buddhists in reaching out to the needy and socially, morally  and economically oppressed and suppressed, this is exactly what our great Buddha himself taught and practiced,

if we can eliminate the suffering from innocent and underprevileged humans around the globe, lot more better humanity can be build around us, this is not anything new in Buddhists society, Buddha did this 3500 years ago, but, the Buddha's Dhamma should not be sabotaged by the few elite or educated or one who can afford to take it for introvert purposes, after all such great tool as eliminating one's suffering must be shared with others, then to others and then to others ultimately taking the Dhamma to as many as possible.

What a great thoughts Ven Bhikkhu Bodhi brings to us so often as we need, just like a glowing light in the darkness of this era we live with so much sufferings.

While you are reading this great piece of information, do not forget to read our great P.P.LakshmanJi's remarks and vision about today's Buddhists (look at the left side bar in this blog for PPL's remarks). Lakshmanji is another scholarly writer and a revered Buddhists within our Dalit Brotherhood/sisterhood who often enlightens us.

A challenge to Buddhists
By Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Each morning, I check out a number of Internet news reports and commentaries on websites ranging from the BBC to Trutbout. Reading about current events strongly reinforces for me the acuity of the Buddha's words: "The world is grounded upon suffering."

Almost daily I am awed by the enormity of the suffering that assails human beings on every continent, and even more so by the hard truth that so much of this suffering springs not from the vicissitudes of impersonal nature but from the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion raging in the human heart.

Seeing the immensity of the world's anguish has raised in my mind questions about the future prospects for Buddhism in the West. I've been struck by how seldom the theme of global suffering - the palpable suffering of real human beings - is thematically explored in the Buddhist journals and teachings with which I am acquainted.

It seems to me that we Western Buddhists tend to dwell in a cognitive space that defines the first noble truth largely against the background of our middle-class lifestyles: as the gnawing of discontent; the ennui of over-satiation; the pain of unfulfilling relationships; or, with a bow to Buddhist theory, as bondage to the round of rebirths. Too often, I feel, our focus on these aspects of dukkha has made us oblivious to the vast, catastrophic suffering that daily overwhelms three-fourths of the world's population.

An exception to this tendency may be found with the Engaged Buddhist movement. I believe this is a face of Buddhism that has great promise, but from my superficial readings in this area I am struck by two things.

First, while some Engaged Buddhist seek fresh perspectives from the Dharma, for many Buddhism simply provides spiritual practices to use while simultaneously espousing socio-political causes not much different from those of the mainstream Left. Second, Engaged Buddhism still remains tangential to the hard core of Western interest in Buddhism, which has fastened upon the Dharma principally as a path to inner peace and self-realisation.

If Buddhism in the West becomes solely a means to pursue personal spiritual growth, I am apprehensive it may evolve in a one-sided way and thus fulfil only half its potential. Attracting the affluent and the educated, it will provide a congenial home for the intellectual and cultural elite, but it risks turning the quest for enlightenment into a private journey that, in the face of the immense suffering which daily hounds countless human lives, can present only a resigned quietism.

It is true that Buddhist meditation practice requires seclusion and inwardly focused depth. But, I ask myself, wouldn't the embodiment of Dharma in the world be more complete by also reaching out and addressing the grinding miseries that are ailing humanity?

I know we engage in lofty meditations on kindness and compassion and espouse beautiful ideals of love and peace. But note that we pursue them largely as inward subjective experiences geared towards personal transformation.

Too seldom does this type of compassion roll up its sleeves and step into the field. Too rarely does it translate into pragmatic programs of effective action realistically designed to diminish the actual sufferings of those battered by natural calamities or societal deprivation.

American Jewish World Service doesn't aspire to convert people to Judaism but to express Judaism's commitment to social justice by alleviating "poverty, hunger, and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion, or nationality."

Why doesn't Buddhism have anything like that? Surely we can find a supporting framework for this in Buddhist doctrine, ethical ideals, archetypes, legends, and historical precedents.

I recognise that many individual Buddhists are actively engaged in social service and that a few larger Buddhist organisations work tirelessly to relieve human suffering around the globe. Their selfless dedication fully deserves our appreciation. Unfortunately, however, their appeal has as yet been limited

Buddhist teachers often say that the most effective way we can help protect the world is by purifying our own minds, or that before we engage in compassionate action we must attain realization of selflessness or emptiness.

There may be some truth in such statements, but I think it is a partial truth. In these critical times, we also have an obligation to aid those immersed in the world who live on the brink of destitution and despair.

The Buddha's mission, the reason for his arising in the world, was to free beings from suffering by uprooting the evil roots of greed, hatred, and delusion. These sinister roots don't exist only in our own minds.

Today they have acquired a collective dimension and spread out over whole countries and continents. To help free beings from suffering today therefore requires that we counter the systemic embodiments of greed, hatred, and delusion.

In each historical period, the Dharma finds new means to unfold its potentials in ways precisely linked to that era's distinctive historical conditions.

I believe that our own era provides the appropriate historical stage for the transcendent truth of the Dharma to bend back upon the world and engage human suffering at multiple levels - even the lowest, harshest, and most degrading levels - not in mere contemplation but in effective, relief-granting action illuminated by its own world transcending goal.

A special challenge facing Buddhism in our age is to stand up as an advocate for justice in the world, a voice of conscience for those victims of social, economic, and political injustice who cannot stand up and speak for themselves.

This, in my view, is a deeply moral challenge marking a watershed in the modern expression of Buddhism. I believe it also points in a direction that Buddhism should take if it is to share in the Buddha's ongoing mission to humanity.