Buddha is the word derived from the root Budh, “to wake”, it means one who knows in the sense of having become one with the highest object of knowledge, supreme Truth. And therefore, Buddha is just a title but not the name of a person. Buddhism is a set of logical teaching and practice taught by The Buddha. There were Buddha in the past and there will be Buddha in the future. The Buddha who had laid his teaching in our current world was Sakyamuni Buddha or Gatama Buddha. Many people say that there are no self in Buddhism. If there are no self, who will be the person “to wake”? And, the whole meaning of Buddha will be meaningless. I believe that the real meaning of “no self” does not deny the existence of “individual”. This individual is an vehicle to achieve enlightenment through the experience of life. Buddha practiced in this world, became enlightened in this world, saved sentient beings in this world, and entered into Nirvana in this world. Buddha existed in this world as an individual just like we do. Buddhism talks about the past life, the present life and the future life, but emphasizes in this life; it talks about this world, other world, and endless worlds, but emphasizes this world; it talks about sentient beings of the ten Dharma realms, but emphasizes the importance of human beings. Buddhist teachings focus on the teachings concerning human beings. In various sutras, The Buddha emphasized that during his past lives, he was a part of the society. Venerable Master Hui Neng had said, “Dharma teaching can be sought in the human world. If we look for Dharma teaching beyond this world, it is like looking for a hare with horns.” In order to attain enlightenment, it needs to be practiced and experienced affliction of the human world. Sakyamuni Buddha’s enlightenment taught us three important ontological laws in this world. They were (1) Cause and effect (2) Law of dependent origination and (3) All sentient beings has Buddha’s nature. The Law of dependent origination implied that individual has to be existed in order to interact with other individuals. The Law of dependent origination states that all phenomenon arise depending upon a number of casual factors. In other words, it exists in condition that the other exist; it has in condition that others have; it extinguishes in condition that others extinguish; it has not in condition that others have not. An individual can not seek enlightenment without the existence of the others. As seen in the Mahayana texts, such as the Teaching of Vimalakirti, the often-mentioned phrase, “When one’s mind becomes purified, the society will also be purified,” tell us that Buddhism had a classic or rather naïve notion concerning social or communal good can be realized through the promotion of individual morality. The ultimate goal of practicing Buddhism seems to be attaining enlightenment which points out that Buddhism focus on self nature and personal enlightenment – an ontological concern – and the need to think about the daily behavior of the Buddhism practitioner in society – a phenomenal concern. The Buddhist theory of selflessness, when considered in terms of the individual and his/her place in the community is redefined to include all other selves through the theory of mutual inter-penetration. Buddhism is like an ocean and individual is like a drop of water. Without the existence of every drop of water, there is no meaning for the ocean to be existed.
By Daniel Tam
