Vol. 3 · pages 451–455

PART IV Buddha or Karl Marx The Committee found three different typed copies of an essay on Buddha and Karl Marx in loose sheets, two of which have corrections in the author’s own handwriting. After scrutinizing these, this essay is compiled incorporating the corrections. The essay is divided into sub-topics as shown below: Introduction 1. The Creed of the Buddha 2. The Original Creed of Karl Marx 3. What survives of the Marxian Creed 4. Comparision between Buddha and Karl Marx 5. Means 6. Evaluation of Means 7. Whose Means are More Efficacious ? 8. Withering away of the State —Editors.

CHAPTER 18 Buddha or Karl Marx A comparison between Karl Marx and Buddha may be regarded as a joke. There need be no surprise in this. Marx and Buddha are divided by 2381 years. Buddha was born in 563 B.C. and Karl Marx in 1818 A.D. Karl Marx is supposed to be the architect of a new ideology-polity—a new Economic system. The Buddha on the other hand is believed to be no more than the founder of a religion which has no relation to politics or economics. The heading of this essay “Buddha or Karl Marx” which suggests either a comparison or a contrast between two such personalities divided by such a lengthy span of time and occupied with different fields of thought is sure to sound odd. The Marxists may easily laugh at it and may ridicule the very idea of treating Marx and Buddha on the same level. Marx so modern and Buddha so ancient! The Marxists may say that the Buddha as compared to their master must be just primitive. What comparison can there be between two such persons? What could a Marxist learn from the Buddha ? What can Buddha teach a Marxist ? None-the-less a comparison between the two is a attractive and instructive. Having read both and being interested in the ideology of both a comparison between them just forces itself on me. If the Marxists keep back their prejudices and study the Buddha and understand what he stood for I feel sure that they will change their attitude. It is of course too much to expect that having been determined to scoff at the Buddha they will remain to pray. But this much can be said that they will realise that there is something in the Buddha’s teachings which is worth their while to take note of. I THE CREED OF THE BUDDHA The Buddha is generally associated with the doctrine of Ahimsa. That is taken to be the be-all and end-all of his teachings. Hardly any one knows that what the Buddha taught is something very vast; far beyond Ahimsa. It is therefore necessary to set out in detail his tenets. I enumerate them below as I have understood them from my reading of the Tripitaka :—

442 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES 1. Religion is necessary for a free Society. 2. Not every Religion is worth having. 3. Religion must relate to facts of life and not to theories and speculations about God, or Soul or Heaven or Earth. 4. It is wrong to make God the centre of Religion. 5. It is wrong to make salvation of the soul as the centre of Religion. 6. It is wrong to make animal sacrifices to be the centre of religion. 7. Real Religion lives in the heart of man and not in the Shastras. 8. Man and morality must be the centre of Religion. If not, Religion is a cruel superstition. 9. It is not enough for Morality to be the ideal of life. Since there is no God it must become the law of life. 10. The function of Religion is to reconstruct the world and to make it happy and not to explain its origin or its end. 11. That the unhappiness in the world is due to conflict of interest and the only way to solve it is to follow the Ashtanga Marga. 12. That private ownership of property brings power to one class and sorrow to another. 13. That it is necessary for the good of Society that this sorrow be removed by removing its cause. 14. All human beings are equal. 15. Worth and not birth is the measure of man. 16. What is important is high ideals and not noble birth. 17. Maitri or fellowship towards all must never be abandoned. One owes it even to one’s enemy. 18. Every one has a right to learn. Learning is as necessary for man to live as food is. 19. Learning without character is dangerous. 20. Nothing is infallible. Nothing is binding forever. Every thing is subject to inquiry and examination. 21. Nothing is final. 22. Every thing is subject to the law of causation. 23. Nothing is permanent or sanatan. Every thing is subject to change. Being is always Becoming. 24. War is wrong unless it is for truth and justice. 25. The victor has duties towards the vanquished. This is the creed of the Buddha in a summary form. How ancient but how fresh! How wide and how deep are his teachings!