How could we use the DN 16 Sutta to talk about today?
Having finished listening to the six-part explication of the Mahāparinibbāṇa sutta by Bhikkhu Punnadhammo, and come to the end of the first of four explanations of the same Sutra by our Ajahn Sujato …I had a chilling feeling. There, one leader of One aggregation of Nations was considering going to war with another aggregation of Nations. He was asking the Buddha “will I have success?”
This is what lept out at me. This recourse to the Buddha was taking place at a juncture of time in which the Old World Order would be passing away and the New World Order would come to take place. As I am 74 years old my whole life has been spent enjoying the stability and the features of the world order that came into place after World War II. I see Russia and China and Iran outside and I see the uprise of unsatisfaction Within and I can’t help but think of the Buddha asking" are the elders at least listen to -and are the established Rules of Order respected?" in the United States the answer to the both question this is no, and if you look at Germany and Hungry and now France as well as the United States the answer is also no.
The Buddhist order survived the catastrophic transition to a new world order because adopted by a powerful leader Ashoka the Great. Us that what will be needed for Buddhists to survive this next transition?
The Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta has many features that like the facets of a jewel seem to like lighthouse beans to illuminate the world I live in in many directions.
