By Subhash C Arya
The significance of the Lord Buddha’s Jayanti or Buddha Purnima or Vaishakh Purnima is that coincidently his birthday, his enlightenment day and his Mahaparinirvana day all fall on the same day that is why Gautam Buddha’s Jayanti day is the holiest, purest day in the world. This Full moon day is on 14th May, 2014 which is 2558th Vaishakh Purnima of Lord Buddha. In this small write up, the relevance of Lord Buddha’s teaching of Five Precepts to solve the problem corruption in India has been highlighted.
Indian has witnessed unprecedented corruption in the recent in walks of life. This is clearly reflected from the various movements such as JP movement, Anna Movement etc. we could not eliminate as we wanted a corruption free Indian Society. This is primarily because we are unable to address the problem the way it should be. India’s position among the corrupt countries is alarming and this is not because of only so called corrupt leaders, but because of the Indian society as a whole as the leaders are the products of the society and they do what people want. If people want corrupt free India after reforming themselves first, who are the leaders to stop them to make India corrupt free. Therefore, there is high need of changing the character of people. In this regard, Lord Buddha taught five basic principles of life popularly known as Panchsheela among Buddhist worldwide since 2500 years. However, we Indians have not given due attention to this universal moral principle instead we re-defined this as our national foreign policy what a travesty of moral principle which we gave to the world. We ourselves have forgotten Five Basic valuable Principles (Panchsheela) taught by our great seer and sage the Lord Buddha and thrown to the border of the country in the form of national foreign policy. Now, reader must be curious to know what Panchsheela is taught by great Buddha to humankind for peaceful co-existence and flourishing life. The first sheela (Precept/virtue) is “I shall abstain myself from killing”. Second sheela is, “I shall abstain myself from stealing”. Third sheela is, “I shall abstain myself from sexual misconduct”. Fourth sheela is, “I shall abstain myself from telling lies”. And Fifth Sheela is, “I shall abstain myself from any form of intoxicant consumption. To follow these Panchsheela, one need not be a Buddhist by religion. In other words Panchsheela is a universal moral and spiritual principle which can elevate human existence to a truly advanced and evolved human living in congruent with the potential of human nature to blossom and flower to the fullest possible human excellence.
The empirical data of murder rate in India is among the highest in the world. It shows that we Indians have not imbibed the first Panchsheela. Non-killing for Buddha is non-violence in thought, word and deed. However, it should be clearly understood that Gautma Buddha did not mean complete passive surrender to irrational external aggression and violence to self or to society or to nation. His message is the middle path and to show the respect for life in general. One should treat all being with kindness, love and compassion. The significance of second sheela is not to take anything from anybody what is not due to me. For example bribery, misappropriation of public fund, dowry, plagiarisms, charging exorbitant prices etc are the various forms of stealing. This sheela expresses respect for others property and by adopting this sheela we can avoid all types of corrupt practices and we can adhere to the truth. If common people of India shall follow this very basic principle of abstaining oneself from stealing then I am sure that India will be much better off from the table of among the most corrupt countries of the world. Due to non-observance of third sheela, Indian society is witnessing a very high rate of divorce cases, rape, molestation, eve-teasing, infidelity, adultery, high rate of abortion leading to maternal death and the peace and happiness of the family is under fire. In other words abstaining from sexual misconduct means respect for our pure nature. The fourth sheela is about the honesty. One should not speak lie, neither involve in meaningless debate nor abuse others. It also tells about not backbiting, speaking harshly or hurtfully to others and not to bear any false witness. In other words one should speak truthfully, gently and kindly to everyone. The fifth sheela is about the keeping away oneself from drugs, alcohol, wine, beer, fermented drinks and any other intoxicants. This precept is in nutshell talks about the purity of mind. The five vital precepts of good living is integrated into the holistic and organic moral and spiritual principle into the symbol of a Flag popularly known as Panchsheela Flag. The significance of the Panchsheela flag is explained below:
Blue (Nila): Loving kindness, peace and universal compassion
Yellow (Pita): The Middle Path – avoiding extremes, emptiness
Red (Lohita): The blessings of practice – achievement, wisdom, virtue, fortune and dignity
White (Odita): The purity of Dharma – leading to liberation, outside of time or space
Orange (Manjesta): The Buddha’s teachings – wisdom
On 14th October, 1956, Bodhisatva Dr. B. R. Ambedkar brought back the teachings of Lord Buddha to their motherland India after embracing Buddhism along with more than about 5 Lakhs poor and depressed people in India. I am optimistic that after Dr. B. R. Ambedkar has revived Buddhist Ideals for high moral quality living, India may march towards the path of enlightenment, happiness, peace, brotherhood, prosperity and corruption free India. Lastly, on the occasion of Buddha’s Jayanti, I sincerely call upon all right thinking human being to seriously ponder and introspect and to truly celebrate the positive values of life
(The writer is Head of Department, Electronics & Communication Engineering, North-Eastern Hill University and can be reached at [email protected])