Buddhist Q&A 19-27

19.	Is it justified for a Buddhist to believe that he could be a real Buddhist only through meditation, and to discard all concerns about serving society ?
	To be a real Buddhist is just to take the Triple Gem as one’s guide, that is to say, if anyone puts his or her faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha, he or she is regarded as a Buddhist. This is according to the answer of the Buddha to Prince Mahanama’s question about being a Buddhist.
	There is an advice for progress in practice called the Basis of Merit Making as taught by the Buddha as follows:
	1.	Charity or generosity (Dana),
	2.	Morality (Sila), and
	3.	Development of Meditation (Bhavana), which is of two kinds, namely: tranquillity of the mind and spiritual insight.
	From the above mentioned principle it is clear that charity and serving society in the way of giving a helping hand and other spiritual practices are regarded as the additional (practices) of being a Buddhist.
20.	Why do monks wear patched robes? Does a darker brown robe signify strictness of the wearer ?
	Buddhist monks are homeless and do not have any valuable personal belongings. Originally they had to collect discarded pieces of cloth wherever they could be found, and wash and sew them together. Then the robe was dipped in natural dye from bark or the pith of a tree. The robes were mostly brownish in color. The different shades of the color did not signify the strictness of the wearers at the time of the Buddha, nor do they today.
	Venerable Ananda, the Buddha’s cousin and personal attendant, designed the robe at the request of the Buddha. The pattern of the robe was taken from the pattern of the paddy fields in the Magadha Kingdom. It was accepted by the Buddha and had become standardized since then.
	In Thailand, usually the darker robed monks tend to be forest monks. However, there are some monks living in the city who also prefer wearing darker brown robes.
	The reason why the Buddha accepted a patched robe was to distinguish monks’ robes from lay people’s clothing and to discourage thieves.
21.	Why do monks go on alms round in the morning?
	In order to appreciate this act, one needs to have a background understanding of Buddhist society, Buddhist society consists of four groups of people: monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen. Monks and nuns have left household life and have gone forth to spend time fully in the study and practice of Buddhist teaching. Once they are well fortified with study and practice, they are expected to teach the laypeople and provide them with spiritual comfort and guidance.
	Lay people, on the other hand, are householders who are still engaged in worldly activities. It is expected that able Buddhists should support the ordained ones by providing them with material requisites such as clothing, food and medicine. Buddhist societies are expected to work out with this compromise division of responsibilities.
	When the monks go for alms round, from the monk’s point of view, they are to make available the opportunity for the lay people to make offering to the ordained ones who are the “field of merit”, worthy of offering. Also by taking care of the material needs of the ordained ones is a way to reinsure the stability of Buddhism and its institute on the one hand and also to uplift the lay peoples’ own practice on the other.
22.	How is universal loving-kindness taught in Buddhism?
	Loving-kindness (Metta) means extending goodwill or benevolence which is opposite to ill-will. Buddhism teaches that loving-kindness should be diffused to all sentient beings, be they human or non-human. If the world follows the teaching of diffusion of universal loving-kindness, conflicts may be solved not by confrontation but through peaceful means.
23.	What is the Buddha’s teaching about caste and color?
	There is no division of caste and color in Buddhism. In some countries, the caste system is a very important social structure. However, Buddhism is free from casterace, racial and gender prejudices. Everyone has equal spiritual potential to attain enlightenment.
	The Buddha explained that a man’s virtues or vices depend on his deeds, not his birth or wealth. One who comes to be ordained in Buddhism has equal rights such as the right to vote in meetings. The only difference is the order of seniority which goes according to the precedence in ordination.
	Buddhism lays stress on human equality by pointing to the importance of knowledge and good conduct. Lord Buddha taught that one who is endowed with knowledge and good conduct is excellent among divine and human beings.
24.	What is the Buddhist attitude towards ecological problems?
	It is well known that more than 2,500 years ago the Buddha had laid down rules and regulations for his disciples to take care of the environment. Examples may be given as follows:
	1.	Not to throw the rinsings of the bowl mixed with lumps of boiled rice into the house compound.
	2.	Not to ease oneself or spit on grass and greenery.
	3.	Not to ease oneself or spit into water.
	4.	Not to cut any living plant.
	5.	Not to burn the forest.
	6.	Not to throw waste through the window.
	7.	Not to leave the toilet dirty without cleaning it or asking others to do so.
	Buddhists are encouraged to maintain the balance of nature and material development. Recycling of used material was already mentioned in the Buddha’s time. In Buddhist teaching, life is a part of nature. Everything is interdependent. So the concepts of natural conservation and ecological awareness can be found in the teaching of Buddhism in the early period.
	If we now take a trip to rural villages, we could visit the Buddhist monasteries and enjoy the feeling of serenity, fresh air, the beauty of flowers and trees, pets and tame animals living happily together with human beings.
25.	Is it true that Buddhism is pessimistic?
	The belief that Buddhism is pessimistic derive from the misunderstanding of the First Noble Truth which teaches that all sentient beings are subject to the suffering of birth, old age and death. Only when one accepts the truth of this suffering will one begin to investigate the cause of suffering, the cessation of its cause and practice the path leading to its cessation.
	In this sense we will see that Buddhism is neither pessimistic nor optimistic; It is rather realistic. The Buddha may be compared to a medical doctor who diagnosed that human beings do have a severe disease, but he did not stop there. He pointed out that it can be overcome and further prescribed medicine to remedy it. Buddhism seeks to overcome human suffering. Each individual needs to develop morality, concentration, and wisdom in order to solve the problems of life. Buddhists are taught to face the world in its reality and try to overcome its binding forces and ultimately arrive at spiritual freedom which is known as Nirvana or Nibbana.
26.	What is the purpose of Buddhists in worshipping and making Buddha images ?
	Buddhists cast Buddha images and statues as reminders of the Buddha.
	People of various countries designed national flags to represent each of their own countries which are held as important, worth of respect. Such practice does not imply paying a respect to the cloth or its color but to the highest national institution. In the same manner, Buddha images and statues also are objects of respect.
	Our respect does not aim only at wood or metal which Buddha images are made of but mainly at the 3 qualities of the Buddha, namely; wisdom, purity, and compassion.
	A Buddhist paying respect to a Buddha image is a way of reminding oneself that one needs to improve one’s own wisdom, purity, and compassion in order to follow the Buddha’s triple quality at the same time.
27.	What is the real meaning of “merit making”?
	Literally speaking, the word ‘merit’ is translated from Pali Pu? ? a which means ‘cleaning or purification’. To make merit is to cleanse greed, hatred and delusion from one’s mind. The Buddha taught His followers to make merit by means of charity (Dana), morality (Sila) and spiritual development (Bhavana). When we know the real meaning of ‘merit making’ in Buddhism as described above we can decide for ourselves that there are many ways and means to make merit. At any moment in one’s daily life, even while sitting comfortably on a chair, trying to cleanse greed, hatred, delusion or other mental defilements from one’s mind is also reckoned as making merit.