ENGAGED DHAMMA AND TRANSFORMATION OF DALITS- AN EGALITARIAN EQUATION IN INDIA TODAY

Abstract

Engaged Buddhism refers to Buddhists who are seeking ways to apply the insights from meditation practice and dharma teachings to situations of social, political, environmental, and economic suffering and injustice. The Non-duality of Personal and Social Practice is making such engagement possible even today. Buddhist teachings themselves as the restrictive social conditions within which Asian Buddhism has had to function. To survive in the often ruthless world of kings and emperors, Buddhism needed to emphasize its otherworldliness. This encouraged Buddhist institutions and Buddhist teachings (especially regarding karma and merit) to develop in ways that did not question the social order. In India today, Modern democracy and respect for human rights, however imperfectly realized, offer new opportunities for understanding the broader implications of Buddhist teachings. Furthermore, while it is true that the post/modern world is quite different from the Buddha‟s, Buddhism is thriving today because its basic principles remain just as true as when the Buddha taught them. A classic case of engaged Buddhism in India is discussed in this paper which deliberates on the Dalit- Buddhist equation in modern India. For Dalits, whose material circumstances were completely different from the higher castes, the motivation continually remained: to find out concerning suffering and to achieve its finish, in every person‟s life and in society. Several of them have turned to Dhamma in response to the Buddha‟s central message concerning suffering and therefore the finish of suffering. Previously lower-caste Hindus, the Indian Buddhists in Nagpur regenerate under the political influence of Babasaheb Ambedkar, the author of India‟s constitution, to denounce caste oppression. They became Buddhist for political and religious reasons, and today, the implications of their actions still unfold in some ways. Their belief in the four seals of Buddhism – • All physical things are impermanent, • All emotions are the reasons for pain, • All things don't have any inherent existence and • Nirvana is the moderation in life, Have created them renounce the atrocities and injustice of Hindu savarnas that were carried on since last several centuries.