Can we live without killing others?

“We do not know how to live with one another, how to live peacefully, how to live without killing each other. This is happening all over the world, in Sri Lanka, America, England, Iraq, Iran, you name it!”
__________________________________

by Jayatissa Perera

(March 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) One often hears that man is the most advanced living being on earth, but it is obvious that man’s achievements are nothing compared to the psychological achievements of every other insect, fish, bird or animal. They know how to live without psychological divisions, psychological fragmentation as Sinhalese, Tamils, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians etc.

Take this tiny island of Sri Lanka for instance. We have a population of a little over 20 million. See how difficult it is for us to live in peace! If you get into a bus or train, can you without fear, start a conversation with your fellow passenger? You may be a Buddhist and the other a Christian, or you maybe a Sinhalese and the other a Tamil. Is there a human relationship between two fellow passengers in a bus? We have acquired vast knowledge about almost everything on earth. We are now exploring the moon and other planets. All this is possible because the three pounds of tissue inside our skull, what we call the brain, is almost capable of anything.

But we do not know how to live with one another, how to live peacefully, how to live without killing each other. This is happening all over the world, in Sri Lanka, America, England, Iraq, Iran, you name it!

The human mind is the only mind in the world that is psychologically conditioned, shaped, programmed. You are a Christian and I am a Buddhist, can we ever meet? You are a Muslim and I am an Indian, can we honestly live peacefully? The Buddhist brain is programmed to think that only Buddhism, and Buddhism alone is correct. That is not what a programmed brain of a Christian or Hindu or Muslim would say.

All human beings, unlike insects, birds, fish or animals, are programmed soon after birth. Though we are born free, we are in psychological chains thereafter. You and I are conditioned, programmed. You are given a label, I am given a label; you are Sinhalese, I am Tamil or whatever and thereafter you belong to that group and I belong to this group.

Who or what programs us? It is tradition, the constant repetition of our stories which glorify our warriors as the greatest heroes. Our songs, our dramas, our books, they all boast of our past glories, how we killed our enemies, how we destroyed them. There are present day politicians who boast of their relationship to a Dutugemunu! and they run riot invading state institutions claiming royal blood in their veins and carrying licensed guns in their pockets! Do animals behave like this? Animals who have no religions, no Bibles, Qurans or Tripitakas! Animals, insects, birds and fish are not psychological cripples like you and me! They live in peace. They have enough food for their need. We too have enough food for our need if distributed, but we do not have enough for our greed. They have no Bandula Gunawardenas to control prices but they don’t need ministers or price controllers! The rich nations spend billions on guns, bombs spy planes to spy on other humans while poor humans go without a piece of bread! Does this happen in the animal world which has no God or Buddha?

From childhood till we die we live in conflict. The Homosapiens, the creations of God, we who have temples and churches and mosques, we who pray several times a day, observe sil, go to places of saints to pay homage to them, make vows and offerings, we don’t have true love for anybody. Is it possible for us to ever reach that advanced state of animals who live without conflict, who do not have religious gurus, who teach us how to be free from attachment but are shamelessly attached to religious hierarchies, to honours, titles, degrees, medals, to all the traps of worldliness calling themselves Popes, Mahanayakas, Imams, bishops etc. And while their followers live in poverty, they live in luxury asking the followers to give as much as possible to the temples, churches, kovils and mosques. If you examine the balance sheets of these rich religious institutions, you will know!

Isn’t there a way of living for us without killing each other? Surely, we don’t kill another human being for our food? The other day this writer heard a monk saying on TV that the Buddha has approved the formation of armies and that the life of a soldier is not contrary to Buddhism! This is probably nothing but blasphemous to a great human being who said, "May all living beings be well happy." That preacher on TV is also a popular TV guru who teaches ‘Maithree Bhavana’ week after week to Sri Lankans! If somebody wants to kill, let him do so, but it is indeed an evil deed to say that the Buddha approved it! The Buddha is one thing and Buddhism is evidently another, like Islam and Islamism. Islam means ‘peace’ but where there is Islamism the Sunni Muslim kills the Shia Muslims. If that is not blasphemous, what is?

Human beings have existed in this world at least for 50,000 years and during the last 5,000 years, according to recorded history, we have had at least 5,000 wars, human beings killing human beings. Are we going to live the next 5,000 years too, killing each other?

We have had revolutions; the French Revolution in 1789, the Marxist Leninist Revolution in 1917 and so on. They were supposed to bring liberty, equality and justice. We observe Women’s Day on 8th March every year like Valentine’s Day or Vesak Day or Christmas, but we go on living the same cruel way, violent and unkind to each other, more than ever!

The priest of whatever faith says "Follow me, I will show you the way." Every monk or bishop says this but everyday we are more violent than yesterday, despite our Sil campaigns, Holy Masses, pilgrimages, relic worship.

What is the solution? If man is not to live in conflict for the rest of time, he must de-programme himself and let the mind, on its own, without the influence of holy books or their eloquent gurus be totally free of all the bonds of tradition. If he is to continue praying for peace while being divided, as Hindus or Muslims or Arabs or Jews etc., he will live and die in miserable conflict!
- Sri Lanka Guardian