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No Sinners

In Buddhism, bad actions are merely termed as unskillful or unwholesome, and not as sinful.

BUDDHISTS do not regard humans as sinful by nature or ‘in rebellion against god’. Every human being is a person of great worth who has within him or herself a vast store of good as well as evil habits. The good in a person is always waiting for a suitable opportunity to flower and to ripen. Remember the saying, ‘There is so much that is good in the worst of us and so much that is bad in the best of us.’

Buddhism teaches that everyone is responsible for his or her own good and bad deeds, and that each individual can mould his or her own destiny. Says the Buddha, ‘By oneself, indeed, is evil done; by oneself is one defiled. By oneself is evil left undone; by oneself indeed, is one purified. Purity and impurity depend on oneself. No one purifies another.’ (DHAMMAPADA 165)

Our sorrow is of our own making and is not handed down as a family curse or an original sin of a mythical primeval ancestor. Buddhists do not accept the belief that this world is merely a place of trial and testing. This world can be made a place where we can attain the highest perfection. And perfection is synonymous with happiness. To the Buddha, human beings are not an experiment in life created by somebody and who can be done away with when unwanted. If a sin could be forgiven, people could take advantage and commit more and more sins. The Buddhist has no reason to believe that the sinner can escape the consequences of his or her actions by the grace of an external power. If we thrust our hand into a furnace, the hand will be burnt, and all the prayer in the world will not remove the scars. The same is with the person who walks into the fires of evil action. This is not to say that every wrong doing will automatically be followed by a predictable reaction. Evil actions are prompted by evil states of mind. If one purifies the mind, then the effects of previous actions can be reduced or eradicated all together. The Buddha’s approach to the problems of suffering is not imaginary, speculative or metaphysical, but essentially empirical and impartial.

According to Buddhism, there is no such thing as “sin” as explained by other religions. In these religions sin is a trangression of a law laid down by a Divine law giver. To the Buddhists, sin is unskilful or unwholesome action—Akusala Karma which creates Papa—the downfall of people. The wicked person is an ignorant one who needs instruction more than punishment and condemnation. That person is not regarded as violating god’s will or as a person who must beg for divine mercy and forgiveness. What is needed is only guidance for enlightenment.

All that is necessary is for someone to help them to use their reason to realise that they are responsible for their wrong action and that they must pay for the consequences. Therefore the belief in confession is foreign to Buddhism, although Buddhists are encouraged to acknowledge their wrong doings and remind themselves not to repeat their mistakes.

The purpose of the Buddha’s appearance in this world is not to wash away the sins committed by human beings nor to punish or to destroy wicked people, but to make them understand how foolish it is to commit evil and to point out the consequences of such evil deeds. Therefore there are no commandments in Buddhism, since no one can control another’s spiritual upliftment. The Buddha has encouraged us to develop and use our understanding. He has shown us the path for our liberation from suffering. The precepts that we undertake to observe are not commandments: they are observed voluntarily. The Buddha’s Teaching is this: ‘Pay attention; take this advice and think it over. If you think it is suitable for you to practise My advice, then try to practise it. You can see the results through your own experience.’ There is no religious value in blindly observing any commandment without proper conviction and understanding. However, we should not take advantage of the liberty given by the Buddha to do anything we like. It is our duty to behave as cultured, civilised and understanding human beings to lead a religious life. If we can understand this, commandments are not important. As an enlightened teacher, the Buddha advised us how to lead a pure life without imposing commandments and using the fear of punishment. The Five Precepts that a Buddhist takes as part of the daily practice are therefore not commandments. They are by definition training rules which one voluntarily undertakes for spiritual development.

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Редакция перевода от 01.07.2015 19:56