Why Isn’t Everyone a Buddhist?

Why Isn’t Everyone a Buddhist?

According to the Buddha himself, as recorded in the Nikaya Sutta, one must be very blessed to be able to hear the true Dhamma. He’s even more blessed if he appreciates it and decides to take refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. The Dhamma is the most precious thing in the Universe, even the highest Deva agrees and pays respect to the Buddha and learns from the Buddha. The Buddha doesn’t go around selling Dhamma to everyone; but he gives it freely to anyone who is blessed enough to hear about it and wants to learn it. In fact, the Buddha told his disciples not to speak Dhamma to anyone who doesn’t show respect for it. Love it for your own happiness and benefits; ignore it at your own risk and suffering. Therefore, the lack of marketing leads to fewer Buddhists in the world. On the contrary, marketing something makes the product look cheap, although more people will buy it. There are good and bad for both cases; but there’s no simplistic self-boasting of superiority nor deprecating of others as inferior. Some people claiming themselves as the Maha or greatest are self-boasting which only goes to exhibit their strong ego and self-identification. Some people deprecating others as Hina or inferior are committing evil karma and not showing Right Speech. The truth is different religions or sects possibly make some good points and some bad ideas. The Buddha criticised the wrong views of others solely for the purpose of educating his disciples to avoid attachment to views. The Buddha never said other religious sects are inferior but advised his disciples to continue paying respect and making Dana donations to them.

Buddha said: “One who wants to admonish another should first ponder like this; ‘Am I or am I not one who practices complete purity in body and speech? Are these qualities present in me or not?’ If they are not there will no doubt be people who will say; ‘Come now, why don’t you practice complete purity in body and speech first?’ Again, one who wants to admonish another should first ponder like this; ‘Have I freed myself from ill will and developed a mind of goodwill towards others. Are these qualities present in me or not?’ If they are not there will no doubt be people who will say; ‘Come now, why don’t you develop a mind of goodwill yourself?’”

The true Dhamma is like a piece of wood plank with a hole at the center which is floating in the great ocean. The chance for a turtle to encounter the wood plank is extremely small. The chance for the turtle to put its head through the hole at the center of the wood plank is even much smaller. This is how small the chance for a person to hear of true Dhamma and then appreciate it so much that he decides to become a Buddhist.

The greatest benefit to a person is being able to feel happy under any circumstances. This is the kind of benefit that the true Dhamma can give a person. That is why it is the most precious thing in the Universe. A person will be able to feel happy under any circumstances when he totally abandons greed, hatred and delusion. It also means that he has perfected his virtue, equanimity, and wisdom. Perfect virtue makes him have no guilt. Perfect equanimity makes him calm and his emotion unmoved (i.e. no fear, anger, grief, lamentation and despair) by wrong views or whatever happens in the outer world. Perfect wisdom makes him see reality as it is; he has no wish to see reality happen this way or doesn’t happen that way. Therefore, perfection of virtue, equanimity and wisdom surely will bring a much more superior form of happiness to the person. If a person doesn’t become happier after hearing the true Dhamma, it only means he has not learnt it. He is not practising in a way which reduces his greed, hatred and delusion. He must not blame or doubt the efficacy of the Dhamma. Instead, he must learn to have personal accountability and take responsibility for not working hard enough to make himself happy. The person who is not concerned with the good of his own has only himself to blame. An old man may give the detailed ways to travel from town A to town B, but he can never guarantee a young man will be able to follow exactly the detailed ways and reach the desired destination. In the same way, the Buddha can only show us the path; we ourselves must walk the path.

Buddha said: “Just as a stick from a funeral pyre, burning at both ends and smeared with dung in the middle, can serve no useful purpose as fuel in the village or as timber in the forest – using such a simile do I speak of the person who is concerned neither with his own good nor the good of others. The person who is concerned with the good of others but not his own is more excellent and higher than this. The person who is concerned with his own good but not the good of others is more excellent and higher still. And he who is concerned with both his own good and the good of others – he is of the four persons the chief, the best, the topmost, the highest, the supreme.” A person who is not concerned with his own good is either the worst or second worst of the four types of persons.

Love is characterized as promoting the welfare of others. Its function is to desire welfare. It is manifested as the removal of annoyance. Its proximate cause is seeing the loveableness in beings. It succeeds when it makes ill-will subside, and it fails when it gives rise to selfish affection. 

Compassion is characterized as promoting the removal of others’ suffering. Its function is not bearing others’ suffering. It is manifested as kindness. Its proximate cause is seeing helplessness in those overwhelmed by suffering. It succeeds when it makes cruelty subside, and it fails when it gives rise to sorrow. 

One who truly loves another should build his capacity to radiate Metta or loving-kindness. The efforts he put in and the hardship he endures to promote the welfare of others is a “Dana” of Metta. The radiation of Metta is successful if ill-will, selfish affection, cruelty, and sorrow don’t arise.

When we buy something, we sometimes don’t get the quantity or value for money. If we feel unhappy about it, we are being unkind to ourselves. The unwholesome thoughts are due to our greed and not seeing reality as it is; we choose to attach to the view that it’s our right to get what we paid for. In doing so, we are effectively shot by two arrows: one causes loss of value-for-money, and another causes the arising of ill-will and mental suffering. If we can instead show compassion and kindness to the helplessness of others, we can build our capacity to radiate Metta. We will feel happier and it will promote our progress in the perfection of virtue, equanimity and wisdom.