Devadatta was a disciple of the Buddha. He thought highly of himself and he had many followers. He was a vegetarian while the Buddha accepted whatever alms given by lay devotees and was not in favor of choosing what to eat and what not to eat (so long as there was no killing of animals intentionally to prepare food for the alms giving). One day, Devadatta suggested the Buddha was old and should pass the leadership of the Sangha to him. The Buddha criticized the ego/conceit of Devadatta and graded his attainment as being much lower than the Buddha’s favorite disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana. Devadatta was very angry and he left the Sangha with his followers.
Would you not judge Devadatta as a false Buddhist? Today, there are still a few Buddhist sects who worship Devadatta. They made excuses to extenuate the unwholesome deeds of Devadatta. Would you not judge these followers as false Buddhists? The Buddha disowned Devadatta because he was deemed as a false Buddhist. Sariputta and Moggallana were tasked to go around telling other Buddhists about the departure of Devadatta away from the Sangha.
Devadatta became an advisor to Prince Ajātasattu and enjoyed a lot of offerings from the prince. He later encouraged the prince to kill his father, King Bimbisāra, to take over the throne.
Would you not judge Devadatta as a false Buddhist?
Devadatta used the soldiers of Prince Ajātasattu and plotted to assassinate the Buddha. The assassins were instead tamed by the Buddha and became lay followers of the Buddha. On another day, Devadatta beat a drunken elephant and directed it to charge towards the Buddha. The elephant was also tamed by the Buddha.
Would you not judge Devadatta as a false Buddhist?
There are many Buddhist sects today. Many have created new sutras and lied to followers as if these were words of the Buddha. They further claimed that they are the greatest and true Buddhists but denigrate others as “inferior vehicle” or Hinayana. The ego, pride and conceit are so obvious; which contradict the teaching of the Buddha. The act of name-calling others as “inferior vehicle” or Hinayana is a violation of many teachings of the Buddha in the Noble Eightfold Path. It violates Right View; they are not seeing reality as it is, but wish reality to be what they want to see. They are not seeing the Four Noble Truths; the excessive desire is causing suffering to themselves, and they are not walking the path leading to cessation of suffering.
They violate Right Speech; they are telling lies, saying malicious and divisive speech against other Buddhist sects, and saying rude remarks (calling others Hinayana).
They violate Right Thought; having so much ego and conceit, thinking about their selfish gain, and attacking other Buddhist sects.
They violate Right Livelihood. They tell lies to gain donations from lay followers, use the money to build lavish temples, buy luxury cars, and spend a lot of money on marketing and propaganda. They provide chanting services to increase their income. They organize chanting gatherings of lay followers to gain wealth from the admission fees.
They violate Right Efforts. They don’t prevent unwholesome thoughts from arising, and they don’t abandon the unwholesome thoughts which have arisen.
They violate Right Mindfulness. They are not mindful of the Dharma recorded in the Nikayas or Agama sutras. Instead, they held onto the counterfeit sutras. They are not mindful of the Three Marks of Existence: suffering, impermanence, and non-self.
They violate Right Concentration. They have no equanimity and Samadhi; as exhibited by their sensual desire, ill will and hatred, restlessness and worries, sloth and torpor, and doubt about the original teaching of the Buddha, doubt about the training, and doubt about Samadhi.
Would you not judge them as a false Buddhists? There are monks who wear the robe but still live lay life like householders. There are monks who get married and also monks who engage in sexual misconduct. There are monks who despise the Four Noble Truths because they enjoy having desire. There are monks who mainly pray to devas and devis in their temples.
The Buddha taught us to cultivate the Four Brahmavihara: loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. Out of loving kindness, we wish all Buddhists to hear the true Dharma and gain liberation for themselves. We have no ill will or hatred against the various Buddhist sects. Calling them out as false Buddhists is out of loving kindness, i.e. we hope they realize their unwholesomeness and return to the right path leading to cessation of suffering. We have compassion for them even if they don’t change their ways; we empathize with their powerlessness to control their bodies and minds.
We live joyfully every second, wanting little. We are equanimous, unmoved by the eight winds: gain and loss, fame and disrepute, praise and blame, pleasure and pain.
“Questioning based on preconceived views, you’re confused by what you have grasped.
And so you are unable to glimpse even the slightest notion of the real truth.
That’s why you mistook the truth as nonsense.
Whoever construes ‘equal’, ‘superior’ or ‘inferior’, by that he’d dispute;
whereas to one unmoved by these three,
‘equal’ or ‘superior’ does not exist.
With whom would the true man argue ‘this is true’ or ‘this is false’?
He in whom there is no ‘equal’ or ‘unequal’, with whom would he join another in dispute?”
– SNp 4.9 Magandiya Sutta
Judging Buddhists as false or true Buddhists does not necessarily go against the teaching of the Buddha. The determining factor is the intention or volition. It is encouraged if the intention is for oneself to emulate the true Buddhists and avoid following the wrong ways of false Buddhists which can otherwise lead to decadence. Buddhists are discouraged to debate with outsiders about right and wrong ways. The judging of right and wrong ways is just for personal consumption rather than praising/blaming others. The criticism must not be personal, i.e. not name-calling and not calling out the name of an individual.
RESILIENT KID 