Bloggers' Morality

A word or an expression which comes out of a speaker can more or less identify who s/he is. A man whoever, therefore, should be careful with all his/her terms in speaking as well as in writing. At this IT age, due to the assistance of the Internet and computers, many people have created their own websites including blogs where they can freely compose whatever they want. Most bloggers are appreciated for their blogs which provide helpful and useful general knowledge to readers. On the contrary, however, there are a few blogs such as messengerforbuddhist.blogspot.com which are bitterly insulting other religious controversial points which need to be understood with sufficient knowledge.

This post does not intend to fight against any blog but is obligated to defend its own right. This evening, one of forwarded emails revealed that the blog mentioned above has onesidedly abused Buddhism and its pious followers as a whole by using some impolite languages. A reader can google this blog and find what these terms are. I believe in human right in terms of a civilized way. But if this right is wrongly used, there must be some solutions. I am convinced that every action deserves the same reaction. Even if that blogger has not been so far received any reaction or punishment from general readers, the blogger cannot escape from at least his own black shadow. I am sure that the blogger is not pleased with the situation he is presently facing with in his mind.

In that blog, he points out many unimportant problematic issues such as a precise length of the Buddha and some facts of the canonical and paracanonical texts which are periodically contradicted. The blogger, however, doesn't seem to understand those issues have already been explained by many religious scholars concerned. In fact, the points, which seem to be problematic for him, are not such problems at all. The core of Buddhism is not such minor cases. The arguments given by the blogger cannot shake those who are well educated and pious-minded. In contrast, the black motives against his opponent faith will be following him like his own silhouette. As a result, his mind will never be in a peaceful situation.

The blogger who is fighting against Buddhism seems to be an ex-Buddhist who is somewhat learned in the texts. However, his knowledge cannot obviously reach a deeper level of reality. His revengeful mind can be clearly seen full of psychic trauma. His uncivilized languages and abusive expressions have identified who he actually is. At this age, all religions are sitting on the same platform and working together hand in hand. Exception some religiously extremists, no one abuses other faiths. Information Technology makes the whole world a global village. Globalization, in turn, makes the people more united and civilized.

There is a saying 'No one is perfect'. It suits to be applied another expression which reads 'Nothing is perfect'. From a critical point of view, not only Buddhism but also all other religions more or less might have some controversial issues which cannot provide an appropriate answer to the contemporary arguers. However, a reader of religious texts ought to measure him/herself how much s/he understand from what s/he has read. Reading one sentence cannot cover a whole book. Reading a whole book, likewise, from cover to cover cannot provide a complete knowledge on the subject matter. Reading , in fact, in terms of religious texts, without any practice cannot give a full comprehension in the religion. For some individuals, reading incomplete materials might make them more confused. They need to go through a whole subject relevant.

In this case, a statement made by one of well-known western Buddhist scholars is very much notable. He says "To my mind, the texts of the four Nikayas form a strikingly consistent and harmonious edifices, and I am confident that the apparent inconsistencies are not indicative of internal fissuring but of subtle variations of method that would be clear to those with sufficient insight". The name of this academic is 'Bhikkhu Bodhi'. A reader can check online, if curious, who he is or if his statement is reliable enough or not. As this academic points out, without having any adequate knowledge of religious texts and with a mere retaliation, abusing other religion is a totally disdainful behaviour which is avoided by the wise.