Humanism of Buddha
The philosophy of humanism dates back to the ancient age and exerting its impact on man and society, it has now come to the forefront in modern times. Although it was branded as atheistic and anti-religion to suppress its language of justice and equality, yet it has traversed a long way to highlight the true place of man in the universe. Since the philosophy of humanism is directly related with man and his social well-being it has survived with all its glory and glamour for mankind. It has fought against the forces of obscurantism, dogmatism and fanaticism. It has raised its voice against injustice, inequality and exploitation. It is, in fact, a perennial theme, a movement and a thought for sustaining the forces of justice, equality and inquiry.
Humanism, as a philosophy and movement, is based on respect for the dignity of man, concern for his welfare, his all-round development and the creation of favorable conditions for a just social life. The humanistic ideas originated spontaneously in popular struggles against social evils and individual vices. It grew into a distinct ideological movement right from the age of the Buddha, Socrates and Confucius. It got prominence in the time of Renaissance from the 14th to the 16th century, when it became a movement against feudalism and common man. Humanism as a philosophical system stands very individual, it opposes religious asceticism, fanaticism and fundamentalism, and it vindicates man’s right to life, property and pleasure. Humanism reached its heights when during the 18th century a host of writers and enlighteners put forward the slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity and stood for man’s right freely to develop his natural talent and potentiality.
One must, however, distinguish between humanism and humanitarianism; both are, if not opposed. different; and the latter is not a system of philosophy as the former has come up in the realm of philosophical knowledge Humanitarianism is a feeling of doing some good to those persons who are entrapped in certain difficult situation like the one created as a result of earthquake, devastating fires or floods or to those people who are rendered homeless due to communal violence or due to ravages to war in different countries. If one gives alms, food and shelter to the poor, it is out of humanitarian feelings. We also help the destitute, lepers and disabled in various ways by offering to them money, clothes and other articles which seem necessary to them. This is because we entertain in our hearts certain feelings of kindness and compassion. The richest persons like Tats and Birlas often do so; even poorest people show their kindness and compassion by stretching their helping hands to those whom they find helplessly suffering due to natural disasters.
Humanism grows out of a fight for the legitimate demands of man; it has a logic to ask for human rights, and it becomes a movement, at times revolutionary, for mobilizing the popular support in favor of certain problems to be solved by those who are in authority and places of power such as government. Whereas humanitarianism begs for help and appeals to people for doing some acts of kindness and compassion; it rouses the conscience; but dies not force anyone to come out for help and succor to those who are in deep water. So humanitarianism is not a system of philosophy and anyone could be humanitarianism irrespective of his beliefs. But as a philosophy, humanism rests itself on certain ideas and principles which distinguish it from humanitarianism. Humanism is an ideology, a discipline of thought and action often resulting in revolutionary movements for a total social transformation in the existing situation, whereas humanitarianism is a feeling, an inner conscience for doing good and welfare activities out of humaneness; it is not a philosophy of social change and revolutionary transformation as humanism stands out .
The making of the distinction between humanism and humanitarianism is to draw the idea that all men and women, rich and poor, wise and fool, etc. can be humanitarianism, but not the humanists, because someone, by doing good to others who are in trouble, becomes a humanitarian, whereas for being a humanist he has to abide by certain principles and ideas for raising his voice against injustice and exploitation. A humanitarian can be a theist or an atheist, thief or an exploiter; but a humanist cannot be a believer in supernatural power like God, for him man is the center of all activities, and he cannot be a thief, or an exploiter. An ascetic, or a fanatic, or a fundamentalist may be a humanitarian, but not a humanist, because humanism is opposed to asceticism, fanaticism and fundamentalism. Even a dacoit may be a humanitarian by looting goods and distributing them to the poor and the needy; but he can never be a humanist since as a humanist, he has to fight against evils on the basis of some logic and wisdom; he has to justice. Thus, a feeling of doing good to the needy and the helpless may be roused in anyone, but a philosophy like that of humanism is not easily implanted and developed in one’s mind.
The demands for social justice, including jobs for the unemployed and free education to the poor and weaker sections of society, are not being made on any humanitarian grounds; but they are a part of humanistic movements launched by some political parties and aggrieved people on the basis of reason and law. The protection of human rights and the provision of the political and fundamental rights are all the logical results of the movement for social justice. It is not a matter of begging and pity. The movement of mother Teresa is being carried on philosophy of humanism, for all its activities are performed in the name of God. This makes a clear distinction between humanism and humanitarianism.
Taken in the above sense, all the theistic sects and religions are humanitarian, hut not the humanistic ones, because they cannot afford to be so by doing away with certain dogmatic beliefs which form their basic teachings. their teaching are related to the belief in Almighty God, immortal soul, reincarnation and transmigration, supernatural powers, reward for virtuous and punishment for evil in heaven and hell, and ultimately getting Moksha, a union with the Supreme Being. Humanism does not entertain such beliefs which easily beguile human beings and make them off the road to justice, equality and freedom. Hence humanism is out of tune with all the theistic sects and religions; they may, however, be humanitarian in the name of Almighty God, for they can prick the conscience and rouse the feeling of man to do some good to others; but they do not have logic and wisdom for upholding man’s dignity and welfare. A man cannot challenge the authority and sanctity of the Holy Texts even if these texts entertain bygone belief and practices nave some sacred things which cannot be polluted in any way by anyone; and eventually if it so happens, there is a lot of communal violence and religious punishments are pronounced against those individuals who dare say anything against the authenticity of sacred things.
Out of the sanctity and authority of theistic religions and the infallibility of their Holy Texts has emanated the disastrous trends of fundamentalism. What is fundamentalism? Most of the educated persons regard it as a synonym for bigotry, fanaticism and zealotry. It also stands for a strict adherence to orthodox tenets, i.e., the literal inerrancy of scriptures held to be fundamental to the Christian faith, and it is visibly opposed to liberalism and modernism, and is wedded to faith and tradition. Although it was close to Christianity earlier, yet the same phenomenon has grappled other religions like Hinduism, Islam, Jainism and Sikhism. The underlying current of these religions is backward looking and opposed to the progressive trends of science and humanism…………………
[Extracted from Humanism of Buddha]