Most Ven.Prof. Tue Sy

I. THE NOTION OF A BUDDHA-LAND

Rarely does genesis have significance in the teachings of the Buddha, although it was challenged more than once by His disciples. Buddha refused to reveal the proplem since it is of no use for leading to the ultimate aim, and partly because of the shortness of human knowledge unable to cover the infinity of time and space . Nevertheless, whenever the question of the origin of castes and social inequity arose, the revelation of Buddha is unambiguous. Variety in the world is caused by the very deeds of sentient beings. Human life is but a stage in the endless evolutions and revolutions of living. Up to a definite point of time, individuals come to recognize the presence of others not only in their physical existence but also with their emotions and thoughts. This gives rise to the consciousness of rivalry. Struggle for life took place among members of the primordial community who accidentally lived together in a limited geographic area sharing a common identity, facing the scarcity of external materials on which the satisfaction of their wants and needs depended. People were then aware of the fact that one man’s gain is the loss of others. Fight for gathering natural resources was getting more and more intense as the population was growing thicker and thicker. Social conflict had to be dealt with and the primitive government was constituted under the arbitration of a Mahasammato. Land was then distributed by hypothetical social contract or taken by force. New classes gradually emerged firstly with land-owners or ksatriya and eventually with the oppressed ones.