Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom that we have lost in Knowledge?
Where is the Knowledge we have lost in information? ~T.S.Eliot: The Rock
Jacques Delors, Chairman of the UNESCO International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, said “Humankind sees in Education an indispensable asset in its attempt to have the ideals of peace, freedom and social justice.” And that education is “one of the principal means available to foster a deeper and more harmonious form of human development and thereby to reduce poverty, exclusion, ignorance, oppression and war.”
Buddhism, over 2500 years ago, already had the same ideals. Buddha carried out social reform to raise the living and spiritual standards of all by placing significant emphasis on education.
BabaSaheb Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was the purest ore of character produced from the hottest furnace of striving (struggle). He was the brightest thunderbolt of intellect elicited from the darkest storm of castism. Therefore the followers of Ambedkar, the so called Ambedkarities must emulate their leader and should give up the repeated labeling of themselves as dalit, depressed and suppressed class. By repeating such labels they are giving auto-suggestion and self-hypnotizing themselves to believe that they are depressed and suppressed, and therefore can do nothing except to look for the help from someone there up in the sky. Or they may be waiting for another Ambedkar or Buddha to arrive and relieve them from their bondage and humiliation.
The Ambedkarities, who also call themselves as Buddhist, should have self-confidence and believe in self-effort, in order to gain self-respect. Respect is not to be begged or bargained but to be earned according to one’s own ability. That is what Ambedkar did throughout his life. Therefore Ambedkarities should try to be as much as possible like Ambedkar - of high moral character, high education, and self-confidence.
On October 14, 1956 Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar reintroduce Buddhism to the majority (dalits and women) in particular and to India in general. To introduce such a dhamma is itself a great contribution. Hiduduism was then rotten to the core and became a sore due to its caste and gender inequality as advocated by Manu and the dirty, cunning politics of Chanakya who taught that enemy’s enemy is our friend and thereby setting a stupid trend in the politics of India. It was due to such evil teachings and disunity in the caste system that led India into slavery for centuries.
In the Western mind India is virtually synonymous with poverty. Poverty will remain both a moral and a practical problem and a political embarrassment to any Indian Government. More than half of the world’s poorest people live in India, mostly in the rural north and east. The poorest 10 percent of the Indian population (more than 100 million) earn slightly less than $1 a day, and 35 percent of all Indians, approximately 300 million, fall below the Government’s own poverty line.
It has taken several generations, but many of India’s lowest and poorest castes, including the dalits (formerly labeled” Untouchables”), are turning to the ballot and the street to gain political power. These castes and poorer Muslims and other non-Hindu groups, including India’s Christian and animist tribal population have discovered that their one great political advantage is in their numbers. They have learned to develop “Vote Banks” and negotiate with political parties for their support, at election time. But in caste-ridden areas such as Utter Pradesh, Bihar, and parts of other states, the democratic revolution meets stiff resistance from middle and high castes that are reluctant to share power. Violence is one result.
Yet there are practical limits to these conflicts. India is, overall, a highly accommodating society, and its politicians are skilled at the art of compromise. Historically, Hinduism has absorbed and incorporated outside ideologies and culture, even as it has helped spawn other faiths, including Jainism, Sikhism, and Buddhism. There is no Hindu Church, nor is there agreement on a “Standard” Hinduism.
India’s caste and class warfare will likely be confined to a few northern states. As for the struggle for a new Indian identity, the BJP does not want to push Muslim into the arms of the Congress Party. India’s political system is a complex machine that required an enormous amount of maintenance, but it functions well enough to satisfy most of its members most of the time.
Dr Ambedkar said, my final words of advice to you is “Educate, Agitate, Organize” have faith in yourself. With justice on our side, I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for reclamations of the human personality.
Amedkar was Bharat Ratna in the refuge of Tri- Ratna Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Therefore all Ambedkarites must call themselves as Buddhist and nothing else. Thus Ambedkar’s whole life and mission was a practical contribution to humanistic Buddhist education in India and not just intellectual and philosophical which is common these days. Though he was not a Buddhist by birth but by practice and at heart he was a Buddhist.
Dr Ambedkar had said, “Our greatest enemy is poverty and not human beings, (Upper Castes Hindus) and if we want progress, we will have to fight poverty” there was a need for people to understand that poverty was their common enemy and not their human beings. Our enemy is poverty. It is the root cause of our problems and should be the object of our fight.”
The world bank Director General, Mr. Mike Moore called” Poverty a time bomb lodged against the heart of Liberty.” Insecurity and the sinister role that the terrorism plays must be confronted. “To speak of development fight is to speak also of a strong and determined fight against terrorism.”
It is not “Ambedkar Buddhism” to follow world Buddhism but for the world Buddhism to follow Ambedkar Buddhism if they truly understand Buddha’s ultimate teaching of Bahujan Hitay, Bahujan Sukhay.
It is not enough to always find faults with Brahmins and Hinduism. Now one should seek one’s own faults and also things done and left undone. Those who are lazy, indolent, foolish for them there is no place in Buddhism. As Buddha says:
Addhiviriyassa ayam dhammo- For zealous, is this dhamma
Nayam dhammo kusitassa- This dhamma is not for indolent
Panyavantassa ayam dhammo- For wise is this dhamma
Nayam dhammo duppanyassa- This dhamma is not for unwise.
