An Ambedkarite Buddhist Today

By Sayuri Moon | | Buddhistdoor Global

The experience of being a Buddhist is always different, depending on time and context. Over the past 2,500 years, Buddhism has encountered different cultures, different contexts, and a variety of approaches. It is no surprise, therefore, that even today there are many different contexts and approaches existing alongside one another. Still it would be of delight to any Buddhist to know how the Dhamma has worked to emancipate millions from the prolonged domination of socio-religious caste oppression in India. Let me begin with my own story. It is said that something taught to you as a child stays with you forever. As a child, I used to be really upset that we never celebrated the Hindu festivals Holi, Diwali, or Durga Puja at home. Instead, the festivals we observed were Dhamma-Chakkra-Pravarttan Day,* Vesak, and the birth anniversary of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar. I did not understand this as a child, but I do now. It was a struggle for every Buddhist family to follow in Dr. Ambedkar’s footsteps to be and remain Buddhist, and leave behind old Hindu beliefs and customs. This juxtaposing of Buddhism and Hinduism is specific to the Buddhist assertion in India as taught by Dr. Ambedkar to his followers: Buddhism is distinct from Hinduism, Buddhism is not a part of Hinduism, and the Buddha is not an avatar of Vishnu. There still are many households in various parts of India who face casteism in everyday life. As for me, I feel privileged to have been born into a Buddhist family in the city of Nagpur, surrounded by people who understand Buddhism and Dr. Ambedkar. I was unaware of the word caste until one memorable day in class when I was in grade 5. Our teacher asked us to ask our parents what caste each of us belonged to. The next day, when teacher started collecting the answers, I realised I had completely forgotten to ask my mom. All of us were asked to stand up when our caste category was called out, Scheduled Tribes (ST),** Scheduled Castes (SC),*** Other Backward Classes (OBC),**** Open Category,***** and minorities, etc. I was absolutely clueless throughout this process. Finally, the teacher noticed that I hadn’t stood up for any of those categories, trying to help me figure it out, she asked what religion I belonged to? I happily told her that I was Buddhist. She must have noted down my name in the SC category since almost all Buddhists in Maharashtra come from the Ambedkarite conversion movement and were “untouchables,” i.e. lower than the lowest. The lowest caste are Shudras, also known as OBCs.