Be Your Own light

Sir Edwin Arnold calls him the “Light of Asia” and William Dalrymple calls him the largest export of India; Buddha certainly is the global brand ambassador of Bharat. Gautam Buddha was born in 563 BC. His teachings reached far and wide: Tibet and Mongolia in north; China, Korea, and Japan in east; Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Philippines in southeast; and Arab world and Roman Empire in west.
Buddhism is the first missionary religion of the world with the goal of serving people and spreading knowledge and wisdom. It spread not due to coercion and sword but due to love, care and service. Its’ ideal is Bodhisatva who spends life in serving people rather than for personal liberation.
Many scholars see Buddhism through the lens of Brahman-Kshatriya conflict and/or rejection of vedic practices, but they forget that the first five disciples of Buddha were all brahmins. Buddha himself went to brahmin gurus for knowledge but being unsatisfied, he attempted to seek it himself. Similarly, ascetic or Shraman tradition rejecting practices like animal sacrifice, yagya, and varnashram goes deeper in history. Brahman and Shraman, both traditions were accepted and respected in the vedic age.
The USP of Budhhism was not the rejection of practices like sacrifice, yagya, etc. (there were hundreds of such sects in Buddha’s time) but the syncretic approach towards the world and life. At the time of Buddha, Charvak, Lokayat, Swabhavvad, Yadrichhavad, etc., were believers of non-eternal material reality, whereas, Sankhya, Nyaya, Vedant, etc., were believers of eternal non-material reality like atman/ishwar. Buddha syncretized these beliefs and evolved a new philosophy of non-eternal non-material reality. This saved his teachings from ignoring this world for some eternal afterlife and from moral objections raised on materialistic traditions. This syncretic approach is further expressed in middle path of moderation away from the extremes. All this made Buddhism attractive to everyone: laity and clergy.
The strength of Buddhism was in recognising the power of Sangha. Buddha understood that even for metaphysical goals, Sangha is the force multiplier. Sangha became part of Buddhist Triratna and popularised Buddhism across the globe. Subsequently, it became a popular saying: “sanghe shakti kalau yuge (unity is strength in this era).”
Buddha, being a pragmatic man, remained true to the logical outcome of his teachings. His philosophy of anatmwad, anityawad and kshnikwad doesn’t allow for eternal things. Buddha said that as a boat is not worth carrying after crossing the river, similarly, his teachings are not worth carrying after attaining the goal. He was also aware that in this changing world, teachings and sects tends to become dogmatic and unable to show the right path. It is only the inner light which shows the right path. When Anand asked, “after Buddha who?” Buddha answered: appodeepo bhav ( be your own light ).
In a world where people are killing others for dogmatic and misinterpreted religious teachings; in a world where people are destroying the world for some promised otherworldly gains; in a world where ideological and religious intolerance is gaining momentum; Buddha’s message of Appodeepo bhav is the light people can look at to make this world humane.


Authored by: B. Purushartha
The writer is Joint Secretary in GoI. Views are personal
purusharthab@icloud.com