Publish Date:2024-10-26
(25) I reckon the most valuable service Buddhism and all the Buddhist institutions in our country have provided to our contemporary society can probably be summarized as follows: Buddhist votaries have been exerting to the utmost for imparting to the people the awareness that, as a human being, an individual
? needs to have his or her own right and mature outlook,
?must have faith in the expectation that he or she can broaden his or her mental horizon, and
?must have the firm belief that the world will change for the better.
This service rendered by Buddhism is of fundamental importance. A clarion call to action, which is very popular with Buddhist votaries, is that “do everything in your power to purify the social life and do everything in your power to purify every individual’s life”. The clarion call is thoroughly at one with the awareness Buddhist votaries have been exerting to the utmost to impart to the people. In history, generations of Buddhist votaries have been carrying on the aforesaid clarion call with determination, while pushing on with their own self-cultivation schemes. If an individual lives without a decent and mature outlook, he or she would have no respect for anything. In that case he or she would be capable of anything because he or she would not harbor a fear of anything. According to Buddhism, such an individual would be inevitably condemned to suffer in “the three evil paths” in his or her afterlife. A decent and mature outlook is the prerequisite for a righteous life. An individual with decent and mature outlook knows whom to venerate and what to fear. In that case he or she would be able to hold in check the evil in him or her. A legal religion can function to instill the decent outlook into an individual. All the activities of a religion are intended for instilling the momentum for exercising self-control into an individual. All the activities of Buddhism are no exception.
Hot News