BUDDHISM IN OUR DAILY LIFE By Dr. C. T. Shen

In the Christian Bible, in the Book of John, Chapter XVI, Verse 12, Jesus Christtells his disciples, "I have yet many things to say unto ye, but ye cannot bear them

now." That is to say, what Christ did teach his disciples was only a small part ofwhat he knew, because the level of understanding of his disciples at that time was

such that they could only absorb so much. Unfortunately, Jesus died at the age of

33. Time did not allow him to give his disciples a complete course of teaching.

What Christ knew and did not say remains an unanswerable question.On the other hand, Buddha lived for 80 years. He had 45 full years from the

time of his enlightenment to teach his disciples: long enough to gradually lead hisdisciples to learn and practice various stages of teaching, from a self-centered

liberation from human suffering to the most profound supramundane doctrine.If we assume that these founders of two of the greatest religions on earth were

 both persons possessed of profound wisdom, then many teachings expounded byBuddha could be those which Christ knew but did not have time to teach. With this

view in mind, it seems to me that the study of Buddhism by Christians can have aspecial significance, that is, the search for what Christ knew but did not say.

The Buddhist concept of birth and death could be a good example of just suchan area of thought. That is why I have said these few words first.

 Now, let me go to the mysterious question which has hung over the humanmind for thousands of years. The question is, "What happens to one after death?"

Practically all systems of political thought and philosophical ideas, such asConfucianism, deal in their teaching only with the living. Confucius said, "eve do

not even know the living, how can we know the dead?" From a practical point ofview, it is true that problems concerning the living are more important and intimate

to us, but such an approach evades the search for a real answer to the question. The

fact of death, and the question as to what happens afterward, remain. Furthermore,

it could very well be that the attitude toward the living could be very muchchanged if we knew what happen ed to one after death.

It should be noted that Confucius did not say that death is extinctions nor did hesay that there is no future life after death. He meant that to live as a decent person

on earth is more important than to search for the answer to life after death.

Most religions, however, have a teaching about life after death. Two teachings

 predominate among world religions: one is the one-life theory and the other is themulti-life theory. The one-life theory says that birth begins the life of a physical

 body, wherein a spiritual entity called the "soul" abides, and death is thedestruction of that body, but of the soul. After death, the soul, depending upon the

 judgment of the creator, will ascend to heaven or descend to hell. Christianity

 

represents this theory. This teaching ends here, somehow,- and goes no further.

The implication is that each person has only this one life on earth and willthereafter remain eternally either in heaven, in bliss, or suffering in hell with no

chance of ever leaving. Whether or not this implication represents a complete

understanding of Christ's teaching is unclear. It could be that Christ had muchmore to teach about birth and death, but, in his time, even this limited concept of

 birth and death was not easy for people to understand. He did not have time toteach them more and to bring them to a higher level understanding.

The multi-life theory says that the birth and death of a being is only one segment ofa chain of infinite lives of a being, who wanders among five major kinds of

existence. The five existences are: heaven-dweller, human being, animal, ghost,

and hell-dweller. After death a human being is reborn into another existence. He orshe could again be a human being or perhaps would be a heaven-dweller, or an

animal, or a ghost, or a hell-dwelIer. by extension, a dweller in hell can also bereborn as an animal, a human beings etc., and a heaven-dweller can also die and be

reborn as a human being, hell dweller, and so forth.This change of life form, or existence, goes on indefinitely until and

unless the chain breaks, which occurs when this concept of birth and death

 becomes no longer significant to a being. Hinduism and Buddhism hold this multi-life theory, but with a major difference in their views, Hinduism sustains the belief

that the concept of birth and death becomes insignificant when the being is merged

with the Brahman--Almighty God. Buddhism says that it becomes insignificantupon enlightenment, because the concept of birth and death is no longer applicable.

To understand this Buddhist concept, we must first understand that Buddhism

explains world phenomena at two levels: one is called the enlightened level, that is,realization of the ultimate truth by the enlightened ones, and the other is called the

mundane level. which can be further divided into the intellectual level, where mostof us here find ourselves, and the common level, to which the majority of the

 people on earth belong.