Page 89 - Applied Buddhism

On the other hand, we must always be mindful that any ethical
codes, no matter how well formulated, are by nature abstract and
absolute. When applied to real life situations, problems are bound Could this large scale,
to arise. Thus, while ethical standards are necessary, they should military-like, and politically-
not be mechanically formulated. Global motivated missionary
Evangelisation activity be just a simple act
Moral choices are often not simple and straight forward, as
circumstantial choices can make ethical applications complicated of spreading the Christian
and difficult. This is where the development of moral conscience gospels?
becomes important. Therefore I am of the opinion that while
affirming the role of the Global Ethic Standards, their introduction
should include equal, if not more, emphasis on the development of
moral conscience. In the wake of globalisation, one of the greatest challenges
facing Buddhism, and for that matter, Hinduism, Confucianism,
The development of moral conscience is part and parcel of Taoism, Islam and Orthodox Christianity, is evangelisation and the
the development of the mind. Mental development is a practical spread of Christian culture. To fully appreciate its impact, one must
exercise which could be acquired through the technique of understand the history of evangelisation in Asia.
meditation (bhavana). Through meditation, one can replace greed
with generosity; hatred with love, and delusion with wisdom. When The History
the mind is purified, moral conscience is then naturally embedded,
and will allow human choices to be made based on wisdom and China was a superpower during the Tang dynasty. Every known
compassion, rather than on emotion and twisted logic. religion in the world then attempted to convert the Chinese to their
fold. Christianity, specifically the Nestorion Church, entered China
during this period. It was however, not well accepted and failed to

(Paper presented at the International Seminar on Global Ethics and the take root.
Teaching of Common Values organised by Konrad Adenauer Foundation with
the cooperation of the Ministry of Education Malaysia held at Renaissance In l6 CE, the Portuguese and Spanish colonial powers began to
Hotel, Kuala Lumpur on 6-12-2005) spread Christianity to the east with the evangelists following closely
behind. Through the use of brute force and violent means, they
managed to gain success in Goa (lndia), Sri Lanka, and Philippines.

In Sri Lanka, a sizeable proportion of the population was

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