Nizmo

    I have this eagerness/urge to share with people things that I feel strongly about. Among other things that I consider important, is this: Asia+Asianness. Not that I’m trying to promote ethnocentrism which may lead to jingoism which, I believe, is utterly to be avoided.

What I’m trying to say here today my friends, is we should give credit to and take pride in our Asian heritage more, if not as much as the ‘mat sallehs’ take pride in theirs. There are a number of things that the white men consider as the source of their pride in their so called western civilization. One of these things, is their band of Greek philosophers (who expounded and taught many forms of philosophy that eventually defined the white people’s culture, beliefs and mindset).

Over here in Asia, religion is a big thing, possibly the biggest of all things and perhaps the only allowable source of pride. The Hindus are proud with the achievements of their Gods, The Taoists with their Deities and the people who abide by the Abrahamaic religions, with their prophets and God. Well, if I were to write about all these, it would take me forever as the scope is immensely large. I say, let’s make a detour here.

What I’m trying to concentrate on here is our very own Asian philosopher whose words and ideas are comparable, if not better in their brilliance, to those of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. This man may very well be the source of our pride in our asian civilization.

His name was Siddharta Gautama, known more famously by nearly everyone as the Buddha. Yes, nowadays there are people who are called Buddhists and yes, there is a religion called Buddhism. But no, I’m not preaching a religion here, I’m saying that he is first and foremost a philosopher and a teacher, not unlike his Greek counterparts (the three whose names I mentioned before).

However we, Asians, have taken his words and made them into a religion and nearly made him a deity. We categorize his teachings, bundled them up and called the bundle a ‘religion’ when it doesn’t have to be like that. His philosophy is for all, like a good advice, you have the choice of taking up whichever suits you.

Even among the Malays, who are by majority Muslims, his philosophy has shaped and defined the Malay culture. Some words that carry a certain special quality in the Malay language I trust ,can be directly traced back to his sayings. Derma:Dharma, Bakti:Bhakti, Suka:Sukka, Jiwa: Jiva etc. Some of the malay customs too can be traced back to his teachings; Chief among his teachings were responsibility towards one’s parents and elders, hence why the Malays kiss the hands of their elders and bow down when they walk in front of them long before the arrival of Arabs and Islam.

After the death of the Buddha, he was regarded by many as a great teacher and a great number of people have taken up his teachings which they deemed wholesome and good. The funny thing is, it was the Greeks who first idolized him, they made statues of the Buddha as a sign of respect just as they did with other famous Greeks.

When Alexander the Great conquered parts of northern India and established an empire there, the Greeks came into contact with the philosophy of the Buddha (who have died several hundred years before their arrival) and some of them were greatly impressed by this and they started making statues of him (the Greeks were very good sculptors). Only then, Asians started making statues of the Buddha as well.(which, I think is the turning point where the philosophy became a religion)

Below are pictures of old coins left behind by the Greek empire in India and among the first statues of the Buddha sculpted by the Greeks.

On one side it is written in Greek: Basileos Soteros Menandroy. On the other side, it is written in Kharosthi (an Indian language): Maharaja Tratasa Menadrasa. English translation: The Savior King Menander.

Among the first statues of the Buddha, you can clearly see the Greek workmanship.