BLUE PRINT Buddhist Movement In India

BUDDHIST MOVEMENT IN INDIA

          A BLUE PRINT

    For Mission Activities

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By:-

_sUREn_MeshraM_

     AMRAVATI

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Buddha need no passport nor visa.

       The International Buddhist Conference was held on 4th December 1954 at Rangoon (Burma). Dr. B. R. Ambedkar attended the Conference. He delivered the speech in the Conference. He had prepared an enlarged version of his talk in the form of Memorandum in two parts : 

*Part I*

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of the memorandum Contains programme of propagation of Buddhism in India. Out of the points which Dr. Ambedkar has raised in the memorandum I, he himself fulfilled two important points : 

(1) by publishing the Buddhist Gospel under the title "BUDDHA AND HIS DHAMMA" and

(2) introducing a cermony for conversion to Buddhism.

*Part II*

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 consists of the conditions of Indian Buddhist in South-India.--Edotors.

Following are the Memoranda :

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  *Memorandum - I*

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Record of My Talk to the Buddhist Sasana Council of Burma An Enlarged Version

 1.To spread Buddhism outside Burma to be one of the aims of the Sasana Council then India is the first country they should make the centre of their effort. No other country will yield so much as India will.

2. The reason is obvious. India is a birthplace of Buddhism. It flourished in India from 543 BC to 1400 A.D i.e.for nearly 2.000 years. Although the Buddhist Religion has vanished, the name of the Buddha is still held in great veneration and the memory of His. Religion is still green. In India Buddhism may be a withered plant: but no one can say that it is dead at the roots. He is regarded by the Hindus as Avatar of Vishnu. In India we do not have to restore veneration for a new prophet as Neburchnerar had to do for his Gods among the Jews. All that we have to do is to bring back His religion. Such easy conditions for a fruitful effort cannot be found in any other country. In them there are well and long established religions and Buddhism would be regarded as an intruder without a passport. So far India is concerned the Buddha needs no passport nor does He require any visa.

 3.   There are sections among the Hinduism who are eager to leave Hinduism and go overto Buddhism. Such are the Untouchables and the Backward Classes. They are against Hinduism because of its doctrine of graded inequality. In the present stage of their intellectual awakening these classes are up in arms against Hinduism. Now is the time to take advantage of their discontent.

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 They prefer Buddhism to Christianity on three grounds :- 

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(1) Buddhism is not a religion which is alien to India:

(2) The essential doctrine of Buddhism is social equality which they want; (3) Buddhism is rational religion in which there can be no room for superstition. 

4. There should be no hesitation in launching the movement on he ground that the majority of the people entering Buddhism in its any early stages will be coming from lowerclasses.The Sasana Council must not make the mistakes which the Christian Missiona- ries in India made.The Christian Missionaries began by attempting to convert the Brahmins. Their strategy was that if thc Brahmins could be converted first the conversion of the rest of the Hindus could not be difficult. For they argued that if the Brahmins could be converted first they could go to the Non-Brahmins and say "When the Brahmins have accepted Christianity why don't you; they are the heads of your religion." This strategy of the missionaries proved fatal to some Christians. Why should they? They had all the advantages under Hinduism. The Christian Missionaries in India realized their mistake and turned their attention to the Untouchables after wasting hundreds of years in their effort to convert the Brahmins. By the time they turned to the Untouchables the spirit of nationalism had grown up and every thing alien including Christianity was regarded as enemical to the country. The result was that the Christian Missionaries could convert very few Untouchables. The Christian population in India is surprisingly small notwithstanding the missionary efforts extending over 400 ycars. They might have converted the whole of Untouchables and the Backward Classes if they had begun with them first.

5. Attention may be drawn to the entry of Christranity in Rome. For it is very instructive. Irom the pages of Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" it is clear that Christianity entered first among the lower classes as Gibbon says among the poor and the dispizecd section of the Roman population. The higher classes came in later on. Gibbon ridicules Christianity as a religion of the poor and thc downtrodden. In holding this view Gibbon was thoroughly mistaken. He failed to realize that it is the poor who need religion. For religion, if it is right religion, gives hope of betterment to the poor who having nothing clse need as a soothing suction. The rich have everything. They need not live on hope. They live on their possession. Secondly, Gibbon failed to realize that Religion, if it is of the right type, ennobles people and elevates them . Pcople do not degrade religion.

6. I will now turn to the preliminary step which must be taken for the revival of Buddhism in India. I mention below those that occur to me : 

 (i) The preparation of a Buddhist Gospel which could be a constant companion of the convert. The want of a small Gospel containng the teachings of the Buddha is a great handicap in the propagation of Buddhism. The common man cannot be cxpectedto read the 73 volumes of the Pali Cannon, Christianity has a great advantages over Buddhism in having the message of Christ contained in a small booklet 'The Bible'. This handicap in the way of the propagation of Buddhism must he removed. In regard to the preparation of Buddha's Gospel care must be taken to emphasise the social and moral teachings of the Buddha. I have to emphasise this because what is emphasised is meditation, contemplation and Abhidhamma. This way of presenting Buddhism to Indians would be fatal to our cause.

(ii) The introduction of a ceremony like Baptism is in Christianity for the laity. There is really no ceremony of conversion i. c. for becoming a lay disciple of the Buddha. Whatever ceremony of conversion there is, is for becoming a Bhikkhu, for entering into the Sangha. Among the Christians there are two ceremonies - 

(1) for Baptism showing acceptance of Christianity and

(2) for ordination i.e. becoming a priest, In Buddhism there is no ceremony like Baptism. This is the main reason why people after becoming Buddhist slip out of Buddhism. We must not introduce a ceremony like the Christian Baptism which every lay person must undergo before he can be called a Buddhist. Merely uttering the Pancha Sila is not enough. Many other points must be added to make person feel that he is ceasing to be a Hindu and becoming a new man.

(iii) The appointment of a number of lay preachers who could go about and preach the Buddhists and see how far they are following the Buddha's Dhamma. The lay preachers must be paid and secondly they may be married persons. In the beginning they may be part time workers.

(iv) The establishment of a Buddhist Religious Seminary where persons who wish to bccome preachers could be taught Buddhism and also comparative study of other Religions.

(v) The introduction of congregational worship in the Vihura every Sunday followed by a sermon.

(7) In addition to these preliminary steps it is necessary to do some other things which require to he done in a big way as aid to our propagation campaign. In this connection I make the

 following proposals :

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 i. In addition to this preliminary steps it is necessary to do some other things which require to be done in a big way as aid to our propagation campaign. In this connection I make the fallowing proposals:

Building the templates and Vichara in the four important towns,

(1) Madras; (2) Bombay: (3) Nagpur and (4) Delhi.

 ii. Establishment of High Schools and Colleges in the II following towns: (1) Madras: (2) Nagpur: (3) Calcutta and (4) Delhi.

III. Inviting Essays of Buddhist topics and giving prizes to the first three sufficient in value so as to attract people to make their best efforts to study Buddhist literature. The essays should be open to all, Hindus, Muslims and Christians; to men as well as to women. This is the best way of making people interested in the study of Buddhism.

(8) Temples should be as big as to create the impression that something big is really happening. High Schools and Colleges are necessary adjuncts. They are intended to create Buddhist atmosphere among younger men. Besides they will not only pave their way but bring a surplus which could be used for other misssionary work. It should be remembered that most of the Christian Missions find funds for financing their activities from the surplus revenue which is yielded by the Schools and Colleges they run.

(9) I have set out above that preliminary steps must be taken. I feel that I must also set out what precautions must be taken in launching the movement for the revival of Buddhism in India, if Buddhism is not to disappear again.

(10) Buddhism has not disappeared from India, because its doctrines were found or proved to be false. The reasons for the disappearance of Buddhism from India are different. Buddhism was in the first place over powered and suppressed by the Brahmins. It is now sufficiently known that the last Maurya Emperor, decendent of Emperor Asoka, was murdered by the Brahmin Commander-in-chief by name Pushya Mitra who usurped the throne and established Brahminism as a State religion. This led to the suppression of Buddhism in India which is one of the causes of its decline. While the rise of Brahminism brought about the suppression of Buddhism in India the Muslim invasion of India brought about its complete destruction, by the violence it practised in destroying Viharas and killing Bhikkhus.

(11) The danger to Buddhism from Islam no longer exists but the danger from Brahminism exists. It will be its toughest opponent. A Brahmin will remain a Brahmin no matter what colour he assumes or what party he joins. That is because Brahmins want to maintain the system of graded social inequality. For it is this graded inequality which has raised the Brahmins above all and to be on the top of everybody. Buddhism believes in equality. Buddhism strikes at the very root of their prestige and power. That is why the Brahmins hate it. It is quite possible that if the Brahmins are allowed to lead the movement of revival of Buddhism they may use their power to sabotage it or misdirect it. The precaution to exclude them from position of power at least in the early stages of our movement is, therefore, very necessary.

(12.) All these proposals raise a question of finance. This question it must be frankly said, cannot be solved by India. The only people who could help are the Buddhists in India, who in the early stages must be very few. The burden must, therefore, be borne by the Buddhist countries outside India which I feel they can easily do by diverting their Dana to this purpose. 

        (Sd.) B. R. Ambedkar.

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 *Memorandum II*

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    Report on The Condition of Buddhism in South India

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(1) I went on tour of South India to see for myself the condition of Indian Buddhist Communities there, I was there from 7th to 14th July.

(2.) I found that there exists Buddhists Communities in the following places: 

A. Near Madras city there are two centres :

(i) Perambur; and 

(ii) Kanchipuram (Chingeput)

 B. In the Interior of the Madras State :

(i) Palikonda (in North Arcot District ):

(ii) Tripuram (in North Arcot District):

(iii) Vellature (in Vellur District) and 

(iv) Vaniveda (in Banipeth)

C. In the Mysore State :

(i) Kolar Gold Fields: 

(ii) Prazer Town. Cantonment Banglore City and

(ii) Near Central Jail in the Bangalore City.

   These centres of Buddhism in South India have been in existence for about 30/40 ycars. It speaks of their remarkable tenacity to hold on to Buddhism, surrounded though they are by Brahamins and Hindus. 

4. The Viharas that they have built out of their own resources are poor structures. It would be a great encouragement if some help could be given to them to renovate, rebuilt and repair their Viharas.

5. I met the Maharaja, the Rajapramukh of Mysore State on the 8th July and requested him to grant a picce of land which is situated in Bangalore and which is his personal property for opening a centre for our work in Bangalore. The Maharaja was very graciously pleased to donate 5 acres of land. I enclose herewith a copy of letter from the Personal Secretary to His Highness the Maharaja. Please keep this matter a secret. The gift deed has yet to be drawn up.

6. This is a beautiful piece of land and has a beautiful situation. It is also very valuable. My idca is to use this land for constructing a Buddhist Religious Seminary for training our priests and our preachers and also a centre for propagation of Buddhism in South India.

      (Sd.) B. R. AMBEDKAR.

From:-

Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Writing and Speeches