desire , c ) ending of desire means ending of suffering , d ) following a controlled and moderate lifestyle will end desires and therefore end suffering . This is the quintessence of tenets of Buddha . It means , according to Buddha the process does not stop at arising consciousness out of conditions , but also consciousness can act upon the conditions . Thus , Buddha expressed dialectical relationship between consciousness and conditions . This is what Buddha meant by his precept : “ The function of Religion is to reconstruct the world and to make it happy ...”. But Dr Ambedkar misinterpreted it as an idealist concept irrespective of conditions . We shall later discuss the lacuna of Dr Ambedkar ’ s understanding of Buddha ’ s philosophy and also , if possible , the influence of idealism in Buddha ’ s dialectical approach though starting from a material base .
3 . Dr Ambedkar emphasized a particular teaching of Buddha : Worth and not birth is the measure of a man . According to Buddha : “ Not by birth does one become outcaste , not by birth one becomes brahmana . By one ’ s action one become an outcaste , by one ’ s action one becomes a Brahman ”. [ Vesala Sutta quoted in Guide to Tripitaka , compiled by U Ko Lay , Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc ., p138 ] From this Dr Ambedkar made an ahistorical sweeping remark , without going to the depth , confusing a ‘ democrat ’ at Buddha ’ s period and a ‘ democrat ’ at the period of Marx and later . Otherwise , he could find that even Buddha used discriminating standards against women . Dr Ambedkar had talked much about the bhikkhus , but remained silent about the bhikkhunis . Let us find out the conditions of admission into the order of bhikkhus for women laid down by Buddha . When after his Enlightenment Buddha visited his birthplace Kapilavastu , his foster mother Mahapajapati ( Ambedkar mistakenly referred to her as 6
Buddha ’ s mother in a different context ) requested him to admit her along with five hundred Sakyan ladies into his Order . Buddha did not allow them . After death of Buddha ’ s father , Suddodhana , she along with those five hundred ladies went all the way to Vaishali to join Buddha ’ s Order . Buddha had still been opposing their admission . Finally , one of his main disciples Ananda persuaded Buddha to admit them by reminding him that Mahapajapati had been the person who after the death of his mother , Jogmaya , raised Buddha suckling him . Even then Buddha agreed only if Mahapajapati accepted the 8 rules laid down by him for the bhikkhunis . We are mentioning only two of them for brevity to understand it ’ s undemocratic patriarchal essence if judged by today ’ s standard . i ) A bhikkhuni , even if she enjoys seniority of a hundred years in the Order , must pay respect to a bhikkhu though he may have been a bhikkhu for a day . ii ) A bhikkhuni must abide by the instructions given to her by bhikkhus , but must not give instructions or advice to bhikkhus . So when Dr . Ambedkar , irrespective of the social conditions present at the time of Buddha , depicts him that “ he was born a democrat and he died a democrat ” he forgets the reality under which Buddha preached his Dhamma . Buddha ’ s Dhamma was really a protest . Protest against the change in political economic as well as social order where taxation , slavery , extortion , torture , mortgage , usury , dislike for manual work , above all Varna divisions that arose as specific of India where with the development of productive forces new areas were conquered , the indigenous people , different tribes were drawn into the victor ’ s society , assimilated and put into lower order of society . These new institutions brought unheard of miseries in the lives of people who lived in a condition of tribal equality . Buddha sought remedies from those miseries and tried to remove the causes of miseries . His was a protest , not a revolt to change the social order imposed upon the people forcibly or not . It was not historically possible for Buddha to promote a path of radical change in that condition . His object was extinction of suffering ( misery , dukkha ) and release from the conditional existence . At the beginning he wished to achieve it through meditation with the Eightfold Noble Path [ 1 . Right belief , 2 . Right resolve , 3 . Right speech , 4 . Right conduct , 5 . Right occupation , 6 . Right effort , 7 . Right mindfulness , 8 . Right samadhi ] and practice of five Silas [ abstaining from killing , abstaining from stealing , abstaining from sexual misconduct , abstaining from telling lies , abstaining from alcoholic drinks , drugs , or intoxicants that becloud the mind ].
So , in the beginning recitation of Buddham Sharanam Gachchhami / Dhammam Sharanam Gachchhami “ was the formula of declaration of faith in the Buddha and his Teachings . It was essentially a path of personal practice of individuals to get rid of miseries . Later when Sangha became established , the formula was extended to include the third commitment : Sangham Sharanam Gachchhami .” [ U Ko Lay , Guide to Tripitaka , p35 ] Why did this extension take place ? Because Buddha found that the protest should be a collective affair . Collectively to go out of the society that brings sufferings ( pabajja ) and to aver at ( upasampada ) sanghas , modelled consciously on tribal collectives . From the four Noble Truths , Five Silas and Eightfold Path it is clear that they altogether had strong individualistic components to be practiced . To make it stronger as protest , Sanghas were established . But the collectives were not centres for establishing democratic structure in the society as a whole . Rather for the society at large it was limited
Class Struggle