Scholar Explores Gandhi's Relationship to Buddhism
Professor of philosophy Nicholas F. Gier, a senior fellow at the Martin Institute for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, University of Idaho, and a friend of the Boston Research Center, shared his current research into Gandhi's philosophy of nonviolence and its parallels with Buddhist teachings at a Boston lecture in late October.
Professor Gier is convinced that Gandhi incorrectly viewed Buddhism as a reform movement within the Hindu religion. The Buddha, Gandhi said in a speech in Sri Lanka, never intended to start his own religion; it was his disciples who later established a religion separate from Hinduism. Professor Gier attributed this misconception, in part, to Gandhi's passionate belief and desire for all religions to be unified.
In fact, according to Professor Gier, the Buddha envisioned a clear break with the Hindu tradition. This is evident in his Middle Way teaching and his views on "the nature of reality and the self and its relationship to the gods. In addition," Dr. Gier pointed out, "the Buddha totally rejected the caste system, which Gandhi wanted to preserve in a revised form."
What is interesting, Dr. Gier observed, is that "Gandhi often speaks of both the self and reality in dynamic and relational ways that are Buddhist in their implication." Dr. Gier explored Gandhi's apparent convergence with Buddhism by examining Gandhi's use of fasting to transform the behavior of people around him. When Gandhi's self-suffering is seen "as a process of self-purification rather than doing penance for other people," the professor of philosophy explained, Gandhi's actions take on some of the meaning of a Bodhisattva's suffering. (A Bodhisattva is defined as one who has postponed personal salvation in favor of compassionate effort to save all sentient beings.) Furthermore, while traditionally many scholars have viewed the Buddha as "a world-denying ascetic" and Gandhi as more of a political and religious activist, Gandhi himself claimed, as some modern research does, that the Buddha supported "intensely direct action."
In his lecture, Dr. Gier posed the question originally suggested by Ramjee Singh, author of Gandhi and the Modern World: Is Gandhi "the Bodhisattva of the twentieth century"? Nicholas Gier thinks not because Gandhi's self-suffering, while on the surface similar to a Bodhisattva's passion, was often conditioned on changing other people's behavior. A Bodhisattva's actions, by contrast, are completely unconditional. However, Gandhi's fasting, Professor Gier said, "had the effect of establishing his absolute seriousness, sincerity, and fearlessness," which clearly resonates with the Bodhisattva spirit.
Dr. Gier concluded that Gandhi would most probably have supported the Mahayana view that we all possess a Buddha nature, "particularly since it respects diversity within unity and supports a dynamic and engaged concept of self." He suggests that the practice of "Buddhist humanism--a humanism of nonviolence and compassion--may be the very best way to take Gandhi's philosophy into the twenty-first century."
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