S: The Muslims have the Koran, the Christians

have the Bible, the Hindus have the Vedas as

their holy books. Do the Buddhists have their

holy books as well?

U: We don't have only one holy scripture, but

a set of scriptures called the Tipitaka. It

contains the essence of the Buddha's teachings

• the result of his 45 years of ministry. It is
  so voluminous that it is estimated to be
  about eleven times the size of the Bible. This
  is one of the reasons why you don't see
  Buddhists carrying around one particular
  religious book as their holy scripture.
  S: I see - what is contained in them? I mean,
  are they classified into broad topics?
  U: There are three collections or literally 'three
  baskets' in the Tipitaka. The first collection is
  that of discourses or Sutta Pitaka. This
  collection contains the discourses, sermons
  and sayings of the Buddha. It is like a large
  encyclopedia of prescriptions, as the sermons
  were delivered to suit different occasions and
  temperaments of various persons. The
  Dhammapada, which contains some of the
  verses uttered by the Buddha, falls within this
  collection.
  S: The Dhammapada - yes, I have read it.And
  was moved by it. I think Prof. Lin Yutang in The
  Wisdom of India said that it is a great spiritual
  testimony. It is one of the very few religious
  masterpieces of the world. It combines the
  genuineness of spiritual insight with literary
  expression. What about the two other
  collections?
  U: The Sangha is guided by the Vinaya Pi taka
  which contains the disciplinary code for the
  Order of monks. The profound philosophy and
  metaphysics of the Buddha's teachings are
  found in the Abhidhamma Pitaka or the
  collection of Higher Doctrines. It analyses the
  relationship of mind and matter and helps
  the understanding of things as they truly are
  and the ultimate truth.

S: With the expansion of knowledge and

science, many people have started to rethink

concerning the nature of the universe. Science

has greatlyreduced faith in religious dogmas

and certain concepts of life presented by many

religions. Can Buddhism meet the modern

challenges of scientific knowledge?

U: Albert Einstein once said that if there isany

religion that would cope with modern

scientific needs it would be Buddhism. One

reason is because Buddhism is free from

dogma. The Master stressed that an individual

should only accept something after thinking

rationally and testing it with his reasoning and

experiences. I will. agree with you that we

have come to a state of knowledge at which an

intelligent, well-informed man can only keep

his faith in many of the religions by willfully

ignoring the conflicts with his reason.

S: Is freedom from dogma the only reason why

Buddhism could cope with ourmodern needs?

U: No. Many of the things the Buddha taught

are in line with modern philosophy and

scientific discoveries. Ideas such as Einstein's

general theory of relativity, gravity,

conservation of energy, the space-time

concept, the insubstantiality of matter are not

really new ideas and are implicit in the Buddha

Dhamma. When Berkeley proved that the atom

could be split, when Bergson advocated the

doctrine of change, when Prof. William James

referred to the mind as a stream of

consciousness, when Spinoza asserted that all

existenceis transitory and when Schopenhauer

presented the truth of suffering and its cause,

they were only restating what is found in

Buddhism. The Buddha expounded these

doctrinesof change (Anicca), sorrow (Dukkha),

and no soul (Anatta) some 2,500 years ago.

Some of our present-dayscientific philosophers

are, all unconsciously, making it easier for the

modern man to understand the concepts of

Buddhism. They are approaching the same

truth by a different, more roundabout way. The

Buddha went towards it directly through the

mind itself, which the basis of all phenomena.

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