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By the performance of acts of punna and the avoidance of acts of
papa one contributes to social welfare while gradually transforming
oneself in such a way that noble qualities of mind conducive to
produce the maturity and insight that bring full liberation of the
mind could sooner or later be attained. Until such time as one attains
the final liberation, acts of punna protect a person from falling
into unhappy rebirths and furnishes one with all the desirable material
conditions of living. Buddhism provides a great incentive to believers
by emphasizing the effects of punna_deeds to engage in acts of social
welfare. The concept of punna is connected with the doctrines of
kamma and rebirth. These doctrines appeal to the concern of everyone
with one's own interest and have the effect of preventing people
who have faith in them to avoid engaging in any conduct that is
productive of suffering to others and encouraging them to do positive
good to others which is productive of beneficial effects to themselves.
It is to be noted that the Buddhist notion of social welfare is
wider than a purely mundane notion in such a way that it includes
an awareness of the material needs that are necessary for the promotion
of social welfare. The welfare of people can be promoted only when
all their needs are adequately fulfilled. Humanist psychologists
have pointed out that human beings have a hierarchy of needs.xv
They do not attain their real humanity unless certain higher and
uniquely human needs are also satisfied. Buddhism can fully agree
with that view, for Buddhism recognizes the necessity to attend
to the basic material needs of man not as an end in itself, but
as a means to an end which is much higher than that. The greatest
happiness that a human being can attain by becoming entirely free
from the corruptions of mind is considered in Buddhism as the highest
in the hierarchy of human needs.
There is nothing beyond that in terms of excellence that a-human
being may desire to attain. When the lower and basic needs are not
satisfied human beings will move away from the search for the higher
good that could be attained by means of the culture of mind. Buddhism
makes the observation that the moral consciousness of human beings
disappear when they have to live under conditions of absolute destitution
in respect of their basic material requirements. Therefore Buddhism
focuses attention on the need to promote the welfare of people in
respect of the conditions of their material living. However, from
the Buddhist point of view such a pursuit is not an end in itself.
It is perhaps on that ground that Buddhism has introduced the concepts
of two persons of great benefit to mankind. One is the concept of
a universal monarch (cakkavattiraja), the foremost among men who
are engaged in the promotion of the material welfare of the people.
The other is the concept of a fully enlightened Buddha, the foremost
among men who are engaged in the promotion of the spiritual welfare
of the people. However, in the Buddhist scheme of values the latter
is given a higher status than the former.
What may be concluded from the above discussion is that Buddhism
can be credited with a much more comprehensive notion of social
welfare than a narrow notion of social welfare that takes into account
only the material aspects of human needs. It is this more comprehensive
approach of Buddhism that attributes a greater value to spiritual
welfare that is misconstrued as a life denying, asocial and salvation
doctrine.
This article was read out as a paper
at the Theravada Mahayama Buddhist Conference held in 2004 in Thailand. |
