S: The Muslims have the Koran, the Christians
have the Bible, the Hindus have the Vedas as
their holy books. Do the Buddhistshave 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 youdon'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 likea large
encyclopedia of prescriptions, as the sermons
were deli-vered 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 Pitaka
which contains the disciplinary code for the
Orderof 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
relation-ship ·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 greatly reduced 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 is any

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 our modern 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

existence is 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

doctrines of change (Anicca), sorrow (Dukkha),

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

Some of our present-day scientific 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.

3

4