An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Buddhist Spirituality (6 page)

The second, or practical, component of religion may be broken

into two: namely, worship and morality. Worship, the sacramental ele-

ment properly so-called, general y takes the form of participation in

the revealed rites (public or private) of a given religion, with a view to

conforming man’s will to the norms of the Absolute, in other words,

to the will of God. Morality, the social element, is “doing the things

which ought to be done, and not doing the things which ought not to

be done”. Some of the contents of morality are universal: “thou shalt

not kil ”, “thou shalt not steal”, etc.; and some of the contents are spe-

cific to the religion in question: “thou shalt not make a graven image”,

“whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder”, etc.

We have thus reached the three elements which René Guénon

considered to be the defining features of every religion: dogma, wor-

ship, and morality. When raised to a higher or more intense degree,

namely that of spirituality or mysticism, they become, in the words

of Frithjof Schuon: truth, spiritual way, and virtue. The purpose of a

spiritual way is the assimilation or realization of divine truth—in other

words effectively to know and love God.

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An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism

The most important single point about religion is that it is not

man-made. Religion is not invented by man, but revealed by God.

Each religion is a unique revelation of Ultimate Reality. Divine revela-

tion is a
sine quâ non
;
without it, there is no religion, only man-made

ideology, in which there is no guarantee of truth and above all no sac-

ramental or salvational means.

The next important fundamental is tradition. Having once been

revealed, religion is then handed down—unchanged in essence, but of-

ten increasingly elaborated in expression—from one generation to the

next, by the power of tradition. And final y, closely linked with tradi-

tion, comes the attribute of orthodoxy, which is viewed as the principle

of truth, or, at the practical level, the preservation of doctrinal purity.

In summary: religion’s essential contents comprise dogma, wor-

ship, and morality; and religion’s indispensable “container” or frame-

work comprises revelation, tradition, and orthodoxy.

Page from the
Astasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sutra
,

depicting Green Tārā (
center
), Nepalese script, 11th century

It is difficult for pleasure-loving people to understand the causes

of things.

The Buddha (
Majjhima-Nikāya
, ii, 32)

7

(3) What is Orthodoxy?

Nowadays, more often than not, orthodoxy is considered to be simply

a form of intolerance: one set of people imposing their own views on

others. In this connection, however, it is useful to recall the first item on

the “Eightfold Path” of Buddhism: this is “right views” or “right think-

ing”. It is obvious why “right thinking” should enjoy pride of place, for,

both logical y and practical y, it is prior to “right doing”. And what is

the English word (derived from Greek) that signifies “right thinking”?

None other than “orthodoxy”.

To take the matter further: 2 + 2 = 4 is orthodox; 2 + 2 = 5 is

unorthodox. Rather simple—but it also works the same way at much

loftier levels. Another way of looking at it is this: even in the circum-

stances of today, many people still preserve the notion of “moral pu-

rity”, and lay high value on it. Orthodoxy is “intellectual purity”, and

as such is an indispensable prelude to grace. Seen in this way—and far

from “telling others what to believe”—orthodoxy is no more than a ref-

erence to the primacy and priority of truth. Orthodoxy, indeed, is the

principle of truth that runs through the myths, symbols, and dogmas

which are the very language of revelation.

Like morality, orthodoxy may be either universal (conformity to

truth as such) or specific (conformity to the forms of a given religion).

It is universal when it declares that God is uncreated, or that God is

absolute and infinite. It is specific when it declares that Jesus is God

(Christianity), or that God takes the triple form of Brahmā, Vishnu,

and Shiva (Hinduism).

Departure from orthodoxy is heresy: either intrinsic (for example,

atheism or deism), or extrinsic (for example, an adherent of a Semitic

religion rejecting the divinities of the Hindu and Greek pantheons).

Orthodoxy is normal, heresy abnormal. This permits the use of a

medical metaphor: the study of the various traditional orthodoxies is

the affair of the religious physiologist, whereas the study of heresies

(were it worthwhile) is the affair of the religious pathologist.

The notion of orthodoxy is particularly important in a world in

which the great religions have become explicitly aware of one another,

and in which their adherents often live cheek by jowl. It is similarly

important in the field of comparative religion. This point has been well

expressed by Bernard Kel y:

8

An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism

Confusion is inevitable whenever cultures based on pro-

foundly different spiritual traditions intermingle without

rigid safeguards to preserve their purity. The crusader with

the cross emblazoned on his breast, the loincloth and spindle

of Mahātmā Gandhi when he visited Europe, are images of

the kind of precaution that is reasonable when traveling in a

spiritual y alien territory. The modern traveler in his bowler

hat and pin stripes is safeguarded by that costume against any

lack of seriousness in discussing finance. Of more important

safeguards he knows nothing. The complete secularism of the

modern Western world, wherever its influence has spread, has

opened the floodgates to a confusion which sweeps away the

contours of the spirit. . . . Traditional norms . . . provide the

criteria of culture and civilization. Traditional orthodoxy is

thus the pre-requisite of any discourse at all between the Tra-

ditions themselves.1

Monks reciting the scriptures, Bodh-Gayā, northern India

1
Dominican Studies
(London), vol. 7, 1954, p. 256.