Wherever I went I moreover saw, as I had seen time and time again all those years ago, how overwhelmingly grateful Ambedkar’s followers were for whatever Buddhist teaching they received. This time, however, they would not have to wait for years before they heard another lecture on Buddhism. This time they were in contact with a new Buddhist movement, a movement that was the direct continuation of Ambedkar’s work for the Dharma, so that even after I had gone there would be plenty of opportunities for them to hear lectures, to learn how to meditate, and to go on retreat. There would, in short, be plenty of opportunities for them to practise Buddhism, and it was in the individual and collective practice of Buddhism that – Ambedkar believed – they would find the inspiration which would enable them, after centuries of oppression, to transform every aspect of their lives.
Doctor Ambedkar: Bringing Buddhism Back to India
Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar dedicated his life to improving the lives of India’s Untouchables socially, economically, politically and spiritually. He saw that this could only be done by breaking down the dominance of Brahminism and Caste Hindus over all aspects of Indian society:
"What struck me most was that my community still continues to accept a position of humiliation only because caste Hindus persist in dominating over them. You must rely on your own strength, shake off the notion that you are in any way inferior to any community.
Untouchability shuts all doors of opportunities for betterment in life for Untouchables. It does not offer an Untouchable any opportunity to move freely in society; it compels him to live in dungeons and seclusion; it prevents him from educating himself and following a profession of his choice."
Doctor Ambedkar arriving at the Diksha BhumiFor Ambedkar political change sprang from social and religious change:
History bears out the proposition that political revolutions have always been preceded by social and religious evolutions… the emancipation of the mind and the soul is a necessary preliminary for the political expansion of a people.
Although he made political alliances with Hindu anti-caste activists, and with Socialist and Communists at various times, Dr Ambedkar believed that Untouchables should take full responsibility for their own advancement and that included women as well as men:
"I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved."
"My final words of advice to you are educate, agitate and organize; have faith in yourself. With justice on our side I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is the battle for the reclamation of human personality."
Dr Ambedkar had studied Buddhism throughout his life and had often quoted the Buddha’s teachings in his speeches. During the 1930s he had explored the possibility of converting to other religions but by the 1950s he was clear that only Buddhism offered the possibility of the freedom that the Untouchables longed for:
"A religion which discriminates between one of its followers and another is partial and the religion which treats crores of its adherents worse than dogs and criminals and inflicts upon them insufferable disabilities is no religion at all. Religion is not the appellation of such an unjust order. Religion and slavery are incompatible.
Buddha stood for social freedom, intellectual freedom, economic freedom and political freedom. He taught equality, equality not between man and man only, but between man and woman.
The fundamental principle of Buddhism is equality… There was only one man who raised his voice against separatism and Untouchability and that was Lord Buddha."
On 14th October 1956 in Nagpur Dr Ambedkar and his wife took the three Refuges and five Precepts from U Chandramani - the most senior bhikkhu in India. Dr Ambedkar then repeated the twenty two vows which he had written and in which he renounced all Hindu religious practices and vowed to follow the teachings of the Buddha. In a break with tradition, Dr. Ambedkar himself then administered the same Refuges and Precepts to the 380,000 of his followers who had assembled in response to his call to convert to Buddhism. He then gave them the twenty two vows.
The following day a further 100,000 people attended a conversion ceremony at the Diksha Bhumi, led by Dr Ambedkar.
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The greatest thing the Buddha has done is to tell the world that the world cannot be reformed except by the reformation of the mind of man and the mind of the world.
