Malala Yousafzai: The Essence of Courage

I’m not going to relive the tragic events that fell upon Malala. The world has already done that. What struck me was that in this day and age hate still seems to rule. The history of the world follows two paths: the road to enlightenment and the road to perdition. We know those who travel or have traveled on the road to enlightenment. The Buddha, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Albert Schweitzer, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and now Malala Yousafzai. On the other road we also know the travelers. They are the ones who spew hate, hijack thoughts and beliefs, and refuse to acknowledge that we are one species: human. Catholics and Protestants made Europe their battle grounds.

Too many people have died for professing their beliefs. A case can be made that it is how we interpret things may be a major cause of humans acting non-human. Catholics and Protestants differed not on the existence of God but how His Words were interpreted. Sunni and Shiite paths diverge after the death of the Prophet Mohammed. In Buddhism differences among the different traditions could be attributed to the interpretations of The Buddha’s teachings, or who can achieve Buddhahood. Because of these differences of opinions and beliefs, millions of people have died in the course of history.

So, what was Malala’s crime? She wanted to be educated. She wanted all girls to have access to education. She wanted to learn. We may never know who called out her name on the bus and shot her. What many of us do know is that Malala represents us. We may eventually achieve religious and racial equality, but it will mean nothing if we still view women as less equal.  -Glenn

Birth Control and Buddhism

The subject of “birth control” is a complicated topic for theistic or non-theistic adherents; including Buddhist and Jain devotees – who advocate non-injury to all living beings.  Controlling birth involves a number of complexities of the modern world, ranging from technologically advanced socio- ethical, psychological, philosophical, sociological, moral, economic, and political ramifications.

There was a time in the history when people did not care much about birth control due to the fact that it was not an important, burning issue involving peoples’ daily lives. In fact, only through unfettered birth could clans or groups expand. Having many members in a clan or group had both survival and sociological implications. Large groups could expand their territories through aggressive and non-aggressive means.  In modern society, warfare continues to be the method of expansion and exploitation of people and resources. Overpopulation strains the social and political fabric of any nation or society. The migration of undocumented people or unchecked population growth continues to have negative effects on many countries and regions.

The primitive method of birth control was feticide and/or infanticide which in modern medical science transformed into varieties of abortion methods; most of which are either ante-natal or post-natal, done.  From the Buddhist standpoint the ‘male sperm’ or ‘female egg’ is a living or potentially-living being in its micro-level existence within the human body.  Therefore, he question that arises is if the Buddha has condemned the destruction of a life by the mean of violent action, and in the same time, fostered the loving-kindness (mettā/maîtrī) to all living beings, how and what could be the Buddhist attitude toward the birth control which prevents conception?

In Buddhist Scriptures, the Buddha instructed to his followers to extend loving-kindness, amity and friendliness not only to all living beings who are already born (bhūta vā), but also to all those who are still to be born (sambhavesi vā); and here the reference to the latter section of the quotation is meant to life of the “foetus”.  In brief the Buddha’s overall attitude toward the living beings was ‘may all the beings be happy- sabbe sattā suhkitā bhavantu.” (Mettā Sutta, SN 1:8).

Nevertheless, the Buddha did not preach any discourse relevant to this question and with Buddhism being one of the major world religions, it cannot ignore the controversy of birth control.  There is no such esthetic literature as the “kāmasūtra” (of Vatsayana) in Buddhism to explain human esthetic practices. But, considering the nature of problem and the depth of the question, despite the lack of any discourse (sutra) regarding the procreation process in Buddhism, it is possible, in fact, to reconstruct a method akin to the Buddhist teachings, of the inartificial way of birth control.

We must consider here that the Buddha did not discourage sexual pleasure for the laity with the exception of the monastics. It is clearly indicated in the Cakkavattīsīhanāda Sutta (DN 26) and Aggañña Sutta (DN 27) of the Dīgha Nikāya where it is suggested that the members of the society should abstain from the sexual misconduct (kāmesumicchācāra verāmani)-among other precepts, in order to prosper and run a righteous society. The Pali literature mentions five qualities of sexual or sensual pleasures (pañcakāmaguṇa) which can be enjoyed by people as the kāmasukha – “happiness or welfare arising from (sensual) pleasure” (PTS Pali Dictionary- P.206). The “kāmasutta” of the Sutta Nipāta (SN 4:1) tells us both the positive and the negative sides of the sensual/sexual pleasures. It is not prohibited there.

However, in Buddhist appraisal, there are three factors that must be met: (a) both parents must get together for the purpose of (sex) procreation; (b) the mother must be in her proper period; and (c) there must be a gandhabba/gandharva –an intermediary life, be present to be conceived in the womb of the mother by this union  (For further reference on this term, please refer The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvāṇa in early Buddhism by Brian Peter Harvey, London: Curzon Press, 1995). If any one of these three factors, nevertheless, is absent, there is no possibility of conceiving of an embryo in the womb of the mother. Thus the Buddha said in the Mahātaṇhāsamkhaya Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya (MN38) as:

“… the descent of the embryo takes place through the union of three things. Here, there is the union of the mother and father, but the mother is not in season, and the gandhabba is not present—in this case no descent of an embryo takes place. Here, there is the union of the mother and father, and the mother is in season, but the gandhabba is not present—in this case too no descent of the embryo takes place. But when there is the union of the mother and father, and the mother is in season, and the gandhabba is present, through the union of these three things the descent of the embryo takes place”. (The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha -Majjhima Nikāya. Eng. Tr. By Bhikkhu Ñānamoli & Bhikkhu Bodhi, 2005 (3^rd Edition). Boston: Wisdom Publications, p. 358)

From the philosophical standpoint we should remember that the Buddha taught the cessation of birth (jāti) or re-becoming.  But that is a different theological, ontological and religious issue; here the issue is population control. We should also remember that the Buddha emphasized intention (cetanā) and volition of mind (citta) as every root of action. Whatever action (kamma/karma) – mental (mana), vocal (vāca) and physical (kāya), one undertakes, he/she has to observe as to whether such an action is conducive to oneself – (attabyāvādāya pi saṃvattati), to others- (parabyāvādāya pi saṃvattati), and to both (ubhayabyāvādāya pi saṃvattati) (MN-Ambalaṭṭhikā Rāhulovāda Sutta). However, it must be noted here that this is a theoretical/methodological observation and the author, who lacks practical knowledge, does not make any recommendations.
Finally, considering all the factors noted above, it leads us to conclude that the Buddhist attitude towards the Birth control is affirmative as long as there is no harm to any ‘micro’ or ‘macro’ level existence of living being. We should be aware of our responsibility to our earth as well as our environment.  We should know the limitation of our resources. We should not overuse this little earth as we should consider our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and those of theirs. We should not overpopulate our planet.

-Lokānanda Bhikkhu