Buddhism and Dalits Social Philosophy and Traditions

Buddhism and Dalits: Social Philosophy and Traditions highlights the social, religious, political, legal and secular matters of life according to Dr. Ambedkar's teachings. It offers research works with conclusions and suggestions on Buddhist minority problem in Maharashtra State and application of Dr. Ambedkar's thought to social organizations observed in Scheduled Caste associations in Madhya Pradesh. It has penetrated into the Buddhist marriage traditions and succession Act issues and perused the legality and the recognition by the Indian society for the same. The book touched on educational problems and its remedial provisions, Pali language, significance of social Buddhism, Om Mani Padme Hum like tantra practices, social works and real hurdles and contributions of Dr. Ambedkar as Law Minister, Buddhist Scholar and visionary builder of Bharat into casteless, exploitation-less, gender-bias-less, egalitarian society. It is a source of contemporary socio-economic-educational, cultural and historical biography of Buddhism viewed from the social change agents of Dalits in the background of various other thought currents and traditions, philosophies and practices prevalent in the existing situations in India.

The author of Buddhism and Dalits: Social Philosophy and Traditions became an understudy of Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan at Bhikkhu Nivas, Deeksha Bhoomi Nagpur and travelled with his Buddhist missionary tours across the country in east, west, south and north. From the year 1974 to the year 1984 as a full-fledged Buddhist ordained monk, he travelled in neighboring countries in South-East Asia, Europe, America and Canada and propagated Buddhism in the West as Head of Ambedkar Buddhist Viharas and Associations. During his spiritual teacher's ill-health he returned to India and lived close to him till his death on 22nd June, 1988. From thence onward he took up the secular educational and research career in Nagpur University and as senior monk teacher pursued studies in Pali, Buddhism, Sanskrit, French, Philosophy, English, Political Science, Law, Sociology, and Literature. In the year 1996 he was appointed Professor at Babasaheb Dr. Ambedkar's National Institute of Social Sciences at Mhow in Madhya Pradesh. Since then he has been heading Dr. Ambedkar Chair and the Division of Dr. Ambedkar Thought and Philosophy and supervised hundreds of dissertations and theses, wrote dozens of books and organized scores of national seminars, symposiums and participated in international conferences across the country. At present he is a Member of the Management Board of Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi Visvavidyalaya, Wardha.

Buddhism is nothing if it is not social. A man from Kapilavastu on the border of Nepal saw the interaction of interests among individuals, associations, kingdoms and general folks with murderous hunt for enthronement, cut-throat competition between kins, rule of might over meek from a corner of Uruvela forest and found the way leading to the end of this misery and professed and propagated his vision of new and fresh dispensation by words of mouth while treading the rugged lands from east to west and north to south on foot for forty five years and breathed his last at the age of eighty years in Kusinagar. This was Siddhartha Gautama the Buddha whose legacy is transmitted to the world through Buddhist countries and missionaries who cared it more than their own and passed it on to us at present.

Buddhism as philosophy appealed to the rational and as art to the artists. In the later half of the 19th century the attention of European scholars was drawn to the study of the Buddha and his religion. The story of Buddhism in India extended to Far East with its ramifications into different schools and sects, its literature, its education, its rulers and writers, during the fifth and seventh centuries A.D., its art, its revival and its present status in the world.

The most compassionate feature of Buddhism was its adoption of Dalits as its own and rendering service to uplift them on par with generality. Dr. Ambedkar, the 14th Dalai Lama, Ven. Thich Nhat Hanh, Sulak Sivaraksha and alike belonged to this social stream of Buddhism. They have always espoused the cause of the most degraded and downtrodden sections of society and set them free from the thraldom of social slavery, economic exploitation, educational backwardness and political subjugation.

Buddhism and Dalits: Social Philosophy and Traditions is the latest issue of the author. It has eleven chapters based on research papers, projects and articles prepared by the author earlier. The chapter (I) on Rise and Decline of Buddhism: History gives historical outline of how Buddha introduced the revolutionary system of society and how his descendents continued that spark of life through vicissitudes of reactionary forces and rising and falling tides of time. Chapter (II) on Globalisation and Dalits tells the story of the effect of privatization and marketisation of goods and services on the state role and Dalits' fate falling more and more apart from each other as helpless victims of corporate power and its empire across the globe. It is a research paper of the author focusing on the wild spread economic speculation at the cost of public work, welfare and will. Chapter (III) on Social Message of Buddhism highlighted the Buddha's Dhamma meant not only for individual perfection alone but also for sublime service to mankind as a whole. It traced contributions of Dr. Ambedkar and the significance of Buddhism for the Asian world to lead the humanity in the footprints of the Bodhisattvas and uproot the socio-economic political-religious-ethnic-religious suffering by selfless service to the world community through Buddhist spirit.

Chapter (IV) on Sociological Aspects of Buddhism reflected relevance of Dr. Ambedkar's thought to the contemporary social principles and practical realities of working in and for society. This paper was presented in National Seminar of the Sayaji University Department of Social Work, Vadodara as key note and was appreciated very much by the audience as it set the real note of modern social needs and remedies.

**Contents and Sample Pages**