Buddhism's Teachings of Reincarnation and Karma Are a Poisoned Bowl of Chicken Soup

I personally agree with and admire most of the philosophical views of Shakyamuni Buddha, but I strongly disagree with his teachings on reincarnation across three lifetimes and karmic retribution. Perhaps this sage of the ancient Indian forests was simply raised with such religious beliefs since childhood, or perhaps he promoted such a system hoping to improve the world. But in practical terms, this bowl of spiritual soup that the Buddha brewed to deceive himself and others is quite poisonous.

This spiritual opium has numbed many people, turning them into Ah-Q characters who entrust the injustices they suffer in life to some karmic rule of three-lifetime reincarnation in the unseen world, giving up on defending their own rights and living on self-deceptive spiritual consolation.

Buddhism has had a profound influence on our Chinese nation. Buddhist culture has become part of our national culture; Buddhist reincarnation and karma have entered the blood of the people. Whether or not one is a Buddhist, one is influenced by it. When people are filled with resentment, they often use the saying it is not that there is no retribution, only that the time has not yet come, or evildoers will be undone by other evildoers, to vent their indignation.

I personally do not advocate vengeful reciprocity, but when I see evil forces running rampant while victims rely on this spiritual opium to numb themselves rather than rising up to defend themselves, I feel immense sorrow. I used to love righting wrongs and speaking out, but after doing so many times, I discovered that the people I helped, as long as their character remains cowardly, will respond the same way the next time their interests and dignity are violated.

We often say Chinese people are accustomed to each sweeping the snow before their own door, regardless of the frost on the neighbor's roof. In my view, most Chinese people will not even sweep their own doorstep snow; they are accustomed to swallowing their anger, so that arrogant evil forces grow ever more brazen. Through every dynasty in China, autocrats, corrupt officials, unscrupulous merchants, and local bullies violate the people's interests either openly or through smooth words, yet few ordinary people dare stand up for themselves. In China it is easy to get rich; one only needs to cross moral boundaries that ordinary people will not cross. And the danger of crossing moral boundaries in China is far less than imagined, because we Chinese are too cowardly.

This cowardice in the national character leads us to worship heroes. Most victims fantasize about a hero who will stand up for them. Once a so-called hero does stand up, Chinese people easily fall into blind personal worship; the Cultural Revolution is one example.

This character makes it hard for us to build an ideal civil society. In an ideal civil society, citizens have a duty to uphold social justice, and citizens' rights must be defended by themselves.

Mr. Liang Shuming said: There are two strange phenomena in Chinese culture—one is life without religion, and the other is a feudal system unchanged for over two thousand years. I personally think this is problematic. Chinese life does have religious belief; it just does not look as obvious as Westerners'. If we criticize many traditional Chinese beliefs in public, we immediately become a target, like stirring up a hornet's nest and being besieged by wasps—that is itself a sign of belief.

For example, this humble essay of mine is quite mild, but once published, it will attract streams of abuse. The reason is none other than that I have stepped on the tails of a crowd of blind Buddhist fans. After so many years of writing, were it not for my extraordinary psychological resilience, I would have been cursed to death long ago. Being scolded a lot is actually fine; my writing gradually shifted from early constraint to later exuberance, where jest and invective both became essays.

Though I personally advocate tolerance, it is tolerance built on mutual non-malfeasance. Those who do evil must be opposed. When society tolerates evildoers, they gradually grow bolder until their power becomes unstoppable. Like the unlicensed medical institutions run by Putian people that have survived for decades. The reasons include both government dereliction and ordinary people's inaction. If you yourself have been harmed and will not defend your own rights, who will come as a savior to rescue you? Those who do not act deserve, to some extent, what happens to them.

Karmic retribution, as Mr. Ji Xianlin said, does exist to a certain extent, but it is by no means an iron law. There are many cases where good is not rewarded with good and evil is not punished with evil. For a person to entrust justice for their own victimization to some unseen karmic cycle is utter ignorance and cowardice.

The great Buddhist monk Daosheng of the Jin-Song period wrote Treatise on Good Deeds Not Receiving Reward, proposing that good does not necessarily receive good reward, and that even the most irredeemable person can become a Buddha. This treatise caused an uproar in Buddhist circles; Master Daosheng was attacked mercilessly and even expelled by the assembly of monks. He was stubborn, held to his views, moved elsewhere, and continued propagating them, emphasizing that sudden enlightenment can make one a Buddha. His thought eventually developed into China's Chan (Zen) school.

Only when the *Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra* was translated into Chinese did Buddhists realize that Master Daosheng's view was exactly the Buddha's own meaning. I doubt many Buddhist teachers in China today would recommend Master Daosheng's Treatise on Good Deeds Not Receiving Reward to their followers. Because our present Buddhist masters are busily promoting the karmic theory of three-lifetime reincarnation. Without promoting these, how would they collect offerings from believers? The monks of ancient Chan were men of integrity who lived by their own labor, unwilling to be social parasites; so their words and deeds were straightforward and not aimed at deluding the masses.

A person whose forbearance arises from true magnanimity is admirable. But a person who, out of cowardice, still forbears when their interests or even life is violated and does not stand up for themselves is foolish. Know that it is precisely because of our inaction that those who violate our interests may not only escape retribution but live more comfortably than we do. People can only protect themselves. Talk of karmic retribution across three lifetimes is pure nonsense.