Racial tolerance
In the United States people used various means to justify slavery and racial domination. Some cited the "curse of Ham" from Genesis in the Bible. Samuel Morton, an anthropologist in the mid-1800s claimed that whites and Negroes belonged to different species. About the same time, Josiah Nott popularized the view that slavery saved Negroes from reverting to their original barbaric state. In its 1857 Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court declared that "the Negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit."
In the sixth century B.C., Buddha clearly delineated the Buddhist attitude toward racial differences and thereby precluded all grounds for prejudice. |
The Buddhist Sangha is open to all, regardless of race or class. Diorama in Wat Suthat, Bangkok, Thailand. |
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If you observe the trees or the grass,
Without knowing it, they exhibit different types and kinds.
There are many different species.
Then observe beetles and moths or small insects like ants, . . .
And in the four-footed creatures, both great and small, . . .
Observe creatures that crawl on their bellies, snakes and reptiles, . . .
Observe fish and those that have the water as their home; . . .
Observe birds on the wing, those that travel through the sky,
They exhibit different types and kinds.
There are many different species.
In these creatures types and kinds can be seen;
In humans no such types or kinds can be seen.
Not in hair or head, not in ears or eyes,
Not in mouth or nose, lips or eyebrows
Is there any great difference.
Not in neck or shoulder, not in abdomen or chest,
Not in genitals is there any great difference.
Not in hands or feet, nor in fingers or nails,
Not in calves, thighs, or complexion
Are there different types or kinds as there are with other creatures.
Human types do not differ greatly as other species do.
The differences between humans are only differences of convention.
--Majjhima Nikaya |
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Buddha repeatedly proclaimed that a person should be judged by his deeds alone. "One is not low because of birth, nor does birth make one noble. Deeds alone make one low, deeds alone make one noble." (Sutta Nipata)
Realizing that rituals encourage a sense of exclusiveness and an intolerance which could lead to distrust and even hatred of members of other groups as outsiders, Buddha de-emphasized the rites, rituals, and ceremonies connected with birth, marriage, and death. He also disdained rituals of initiation and confirmation because these have a tendency to burden the mind and interfere with moral and spiritual growth. Buddha repeatedly taught that racial feelings, feelings of national pride, and pride of self defile the mind and hinder the development of loving-kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna).
Equality is also incorporated into the order of monks and nuns, the Sangha, which is the oldest institution of humankind. Monks are ranked only by seniority, depending upon the date of ordination. Buddha explained that as the great Indian rivers--Ganges, Yamuna, Achiravati, and Mani--lose their names and separate identities when they enter the great ocean, in the same way, those of the five castes--princes, Brahmins, merchants, farmers, and outcasts--lose their names and identities when they enter the Sangha.
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