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RELIGION AND DHAMMA
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In Dhamma there is no place for prayers, pilgrimages, rituals, ceremonies or sacrifices.
Morality is the essence of Dhamma. Without it there is no Dhamma.
Morality in Dhamma arises from the direct necessity for man to love man.
It does not require the sanction of God. It is not to please God that man has to be moral. It is for his own good that man has to love man.
ยง 6. Mere Morality is not Enough. It must be Sacred and Universal
When is a thing sacred? Why is a thing sacred ?
In every human society, primitive or advanced, there are some things or beliefs which it regards as sacred and the rest as profane.
When a thing or belief has reached the stage of being sacred (pavitra) it means that it cannot be violated. Indeed it cannot be touched. It is taboo.
Contrary to this, a thing or a belief which is profane (apavitra), i.e., outside the field of the sacred, may be violated. It means one can act contrary to it, without feeling any fear or qualms of conscience.
The sacred is something holy. To transgress it is a sacrilege.
Why is a thing made sacred ? To confine the scope of the question to the matter in hand, why morality should have been made sacred ?
Three factors seem to have played their part in making morality sacred.
The first factor is the social need for protecting the best.
The background of this question lies imbedded in what is called the struggle of existence and the survival of the fittest.
This arises out of the theory of evolution. It is common knowledge that evolution takes place through a struggle for existence because the means of food supply in early times were so limited.
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