The Noble Buddha once said “Bhikkhus, you have come from different countries and castes. Rivers flow separately when they flow in their provinces, but they lose their identity when they meet the sea. They become one and the same. The Buddhist Sangha is like an ocean. In this Sangha all are equal”.
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was born among the so-called “untouchables” in India, but through his remarkable genius he became one of the most prominent personalities of his time. After India achieved independence in 1947, Ambedkar became the first law minister in independent India. He was the principal architect of India’s Constitution. It’s the world’s longest democratic constitution, and includes many articles against the practice of untouchability. It also provides for affirmative action; people from all backgrounds should have access to education, scholarships, and government jobs. Dr. Ambedkar was responsible for all that.
Ambedkar Buddhism, or Navayana Buddhism, began on 14 October 1956 in Nagpur, India, when nearly 400,000 Dalits, formerly known as Untouchables, converted from Hinduism. Led by Ambedkar the anti-caste activist, lawyer, politician and scholar the new Buddhists soon numbered in the millions, growing most notably in the populous states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Dalit history
October 1956 was clearly an important moment in Dalit history. On this day, B R. Ambedkar along with 365,000 of his Dalit followers decided to exit the folds of Hinduism and embraced Buddhism. Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism marked a moment when Dalit’s in the country got a new impetus Ambedkar had long been frustrated by the basic tenets of Hinduism, and considered the inherent characteristics of the religion, particularly the caste system to be a bigger threat to freedom in Indian society than that of the British. Dr. Ambedkar was a religious person in some ways. He considered that “Religion is absolutely essential for the development of mankind” and diverged from the Marxists’ atheism in that respect.
For Dalits, access to clean drinking water has always been a source of daily suffering and a potent symbol of their oppression. In 1927 Ambedkar led the Chowdar Tank campaign to gain access to drinking water from a tank, in Mahad municipality. Despite having a legal right to draw water from it, the untouchables were prevented by the high caste Hindus from going near the tank and in March 1927, almost 10,000 untouchable representatives attended a conference in Mahad. Led by Dr. Ambedkar they walked in procession through the town to the Chowdar tank. There he took water from the tank and drank it – followed by the other untouchables.
Dr. Ambedkar had studied Buddhism throughout his life and had often quoted the Buddha’s teachings in his speeches. During the 1930s he had explored the possibility of converting to other religions but by the 1950s he was clear that only Buddhism offered the possibility of the freedom that the Untouchables longed for.
‘The greatest thing the Buddha has done is to tell the world that the world cannot be reformed except by the reformation of the mind of man and the mind of the world.’- Dr. Ambedkar.
Societal values
In that sense, Buddhism is a democratic religion and Ambedkar, eventually found in this religion the societal values he had tried to promote via political democracy. He tried to instill in the Indian society a more fraternal sense of human relations by making assemblies places of endosmosis, by arguing in favour of a new unity between the majority and the minorities within the Constituent assembly itself.
This rediscovery of Buddhism had important implications. If the teaching of the Buddha was democratic, then democracy is not an invention of the West – as the manner in which Dr. Ambedkar drew his inspiration from so many European and American scholars and leaders suggested -, but it’s a product of the Indian history. In his historic speech of 25 November 1949 where Dr. Ambedkar presented the final draft of the Indian Constitution to the Assembly which was to pass it on 26 January 1950. Unlike Mahatma Gandhi, who considered the internal reform of the caste system to be the way forward, Ambedkar believed that the only way the Dalits could find a place for themselves in Indian society was by way of conversion.
India, no doubt, continues to be proud of its Buddhist heritage. Since regaining independence Buddhist symbols like the Wheel of Dhamma, have become national symbols and the Mathura Buddha adorns the house of Parliament and inspires Indian lawmakers.
Wheel of Law
The Ashoka Chakra finds its origins in the Dharma Chakra, or Wheel of Law, which appears on a number of edicts of Emperor Ashoka from the 3rd century BCE. The Dharma Chakra was adopted as the emblem of the Indian state in 1947. Ashoka embraced Buddhism and adopted the Wheel of Law as his emblem. It symbolised the Buddhist values of moral righteousness and served as a reminder to live a virtuous life.
This chakra or the ‘Wheel of Law’ is a prominent Buddhist symbol signifying Buddha’s ideas on the passage of time. Dharma (virtue) is eternal, continuously changing and is characterised by uninterrupted continuity. The 24 spokes align with the 24 qualities of a Buddhist follower, as defined by the noble Buddha in his sermons.
Buddha’s teachings are based on wisdom, morals and concentration, which are applicable not only for Buddhist nations but are of Universal application. Ambedkar was, of course, a towering leader of the Untouchables, but he was also much more patriot, scholar, thinker and Founding Father of the Indian Constitution. This is what Jawaharlal Nehru wrote of the commitment of Ambedkar to the untouchables: “Dr. B. R. Ambedkar would be remembered mostly as the symbol of revolt against all the oppressing features of Hindu society. In a way he symbolised the hopes and aspiration of the oppressed and the Untouchables”.
Therefore, one can safely put forth that revival of Buddhism in Modern India is mainly the contribution of Dr. Ambedkar. He saw Buddhism as a religion based on wisdom and compassion, which supports tolerance and human rights and fulfills the deep spiritual needs of people. Let the scent of the Dhamma spread in all directions and illumine the minds of those who put much faith in steel and fire but ignore the value of peace, loving kindness and compassion.
Courtesy : Cylone Daily News
Note: This news is originally published in cylonedailynews.com and was used solely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights.
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