BURMA DIGEST

True religion is not about proving anything; it is about trying to be the best we can ever be as humans. As humans, the best we could ever be is to have humility and compassion toward others, in order to benefit others. However, to have such divine aspirations is not easy for most of us.

True religion is about understanding ourselves, and learning to understand others. The religions or beliefs we aspire to, should not lead to any conflict toward other religions at all, instead it should lead us to peace and happiness.

Looking at the world today, we might easily forget that the main purpose of our life is to be happy. Ultimately, happiness is what we all wish for and what we are all seeking, knowingly or unknowingly: a lasting happiness, which is free from suffering. So if we all want to be happy, why do we say or do the things that only lead to further suffering for ourselves and for others?

The Dalai Lama said, “It does not matter which religion you follow, what matters is that you have loving kindness in your heart”. In many of his teachings he has quoted the Lord Buddha as well as Jesus Christ.

I know that there are many of us who are angry toward missionaries who had converted some of our ethnic groups, such as Karens, Nagas and Shans into Christianity. Some of these people are now quite happy to be Christians, and I have met some who are proud of their religion. So why are we angry?

I think the reason is because we fear that Buddhism may perish, if more and more people become Christians. I do not think so. If we are true Buddhists, we will understand the law of Karma, and that whatever religion a person follows, it is because they have karmic connections to that religion. We are all free spiritually and whatever faith we follow is good for us, as long as we follow it correctly.

There is another reason why we may fear that Buddhism may not survive in Burma. This is because the military regime is corrupting the religion, by using occult cabbalistic practices, and because of their atrocious heinous actions, destroying Burma’s reputation as a country which was well known for Theravada Buddhism.

There are possibly many reasons why we fear our religion may not survive. We are not alone in our anxiety. There are many people elsewhere in the world who feel the same. For instance, when the Chinese took over Tibet, many of the Tibetan monasteries and temples along with numerous Buddhist doctrines were destroyed. Nowadays, Tibetan Buddhism is still going strong all over the world, and many Westerners now follow the religion, and it is still strong in Tibet.

Religious doctrines are important, but if we want our religion to survive, it should not be by anger or fear but by example.

If we have faith in our religion, our motivations, words and actions are the most important expression of our faith.

FERAYA NANGMONE