Page 137 - Applied Buddhism

destroys the antecedent culture, creates chaos, and sometimes regrettably, her face was Eastern.)
bloodshed. There is no evidence to prove that the effort to save a
few souls really see those souls ending up in heaven, but what is The perceived host culture of a religion therefore has an
evident is that hell is created on earth when strife and bloodshed important role to play in the promotion and development of that
occurs. religion. Buddhism, unfortunately, is considered part and parcel of
oriental culture, and hence has become less attractive, particularly
What can Buddhists do? What is amazing is that most Buddhists amongst the elites of the East. The cultural background of Buddhism
do not even know the problem exists, let alone think about what to has become an impediment to its growth.
do. (How many Buddhist conferences really look at this problem?)
For Buddhists living in predominantly-Buddhist countries, who are Can Buddhism help to strengthen and enrich oriental culture,
aware of the problem, they do not seem to know what else to do, which in fact is a way of helping itself? Buddhism has done well
apart from grumbling and pressuring their governments to stop the in this in the past. This time around, under the dominance of
missionary assault. Western culture, can it do it again? In the light of globalisation, can
Buddhism contribute to the global culture? How should Buddhism
The Challenge of Cultural Dominance. renew itself to meet these challenges?

Since the colonial era, Western culture has become dominant The answers to all these challenges are not at hand. Buddhists
in the world. It is associated with advancement, modernity (or post- the world over need to seriously search for the answer and work
modernity), and superiority. The oriental culture, on the other hand, towards addressing these challenges.
is associated with superstition, backwardness, and inferiority. Such
perceptions are not right, but they nonetheless work in the minds
of people, both in the East and in the West. There is a subconscious
or unconscious tendency for people to embrace everything and (Speaking as President of Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia, at the BMSM
anything that is perceived as more superior, hence a strong inclination Annual Dinner on 18th Oct, 2003 at Buddhist Mahavihara, Brickfields, Kuala
for people of the East to embrace everything Western, including Lumpur.)
its religion (although Christianity emerged in the Middle-East, it
is nonetheless perceived as Western), since they are perceived as
superior. We are proud of Western clothing, Western customs and
habits; fond of Western food and even adopt Western names. We
even frown at Eastern culture as a way of showing our allegiance
to the west. (The late Song Mei Lin, second wife of Chiang Kai
Sek, was proud to declare that she is everything Western except,

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