New Way Of Approach In Buddhist Studies

Author(s): Hajime Nakamura
Publisher: Hajime Nakamura

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RELIGIOUS STUDIES IN JAPAN
it avoids extremes. One extreme is the outright pursuit of worldly desires; and the other, the severe, ascetic, physical exerting discipline of the ascetics. Thus the trait of Buddhist ethics is humanistic.
A similar thought was advocated by Chinese sages also. Mencius tells us that 'Confucius was one who abstained from extremes.' (IV, 2; X., cf. Analects XI, 15.) The Mean in Action is one of the great Chinese classics. The doctrine of the Mean was was held by Aristotle also. The Buddhist teaching, however, represents a unique standpoint.
The doctrine of the Middle Path that the Buddha proclaimed is related even in religious life to the fundamental attitude of Buddhism which is mainly represented as the absence of special dogmas. The universal norms of human life are constant, although the ways of applying them vary. Therefore in each case they must be applied in the most applicable way. The general principles must be adjusted to the infinitely varying circumstances of actual life. Otherwise, there would be a danger that minute outer regulations may encroach unduly on the moral autonomy of the individual. In order to avoid this danger the Buddha advised his disciples to resort to the spirit of the Middle Path. This fundamental character has been preserved up to now throughout the Buddhist world, although its application differs with periods and people. Today each Buddhist prescribes to the principle of the Middle Path.
II. The Value of Man
Just as in other religions, Buddhism also regarded gods, men and animals alike as beings obsessed by delusion in the mundane world. Buddhism admits to six kinds of living beings, viz. gods, men, animals, ghosts, fighting spirits and the damned in various hells. Following the general tendency of a popular faith among the lower classes, Buddhism also inserted the concepts of gods, ghosts and the damned in hells. In Buddhism gods are the beings who are superior to men in mystic power and intuitive knowledge, but nothing more. The Buddhist conceptio of gods is comparable to that of gods by Epicurians. Gods were also regarded as confering good fortune upon devout men who observe moral disciplines. "The man who has the grace of the gods, good fortune he beholds”. (Mahaparinibbana-suttanta, I, 31, vol. II, p. 88.)
Then where does the value of man lie? Birth as a man is essential for the appreciation of the dharma. Gods are too happy to feel a dislike for conditioned things, and they live much too long to have appreciation for the teaching of impermanence. Animals, ghosts, fighting spirits and the damned lack clarity of mind. Therefore the Buddhas appear as men, and the human state is in general more favorable than any other to