Religion, Aging and Health

A Global Perspective: Compiled by the World Health Organization

William M. Clements

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429670299
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This book, first published in 1989, attempts to identify from within religious cultures those elements of tradition, behaviour and lifestyle that are health protective in that, by adhering to them, physical, mental and social wellbeing will be maintained as people grow old. It examines how different faith traditions view aging and its impact on health.

Add Life to Years the Buddhist Way

Daw Khin Myo Chit

A news item in Time, 1970 March 16, featured a picture of the then Secretary-General U Thant prostrating before his 87-year-old mother. The caption runs as follows:

The formal manners of international diplomacy must have come easily to UN Secretary-General U Thant. A Burmese youth is taught to show respect for parents and elders by prostrating himself when he leaves their presence. And, a son is never too old or too important to kow-tow to his mother, as the 61 year-old statesman demonstrated last week at the Rangoon home of Daw Nan Thuang, 87.

One of the things a small baby learns to do is to clasp its two hands palm to palm and raise them to its forehead in an act of kadaw. He does so in humility and with a feeling of gratitude. This act is also a silent apology for any trespasses he might have committed by thought, word, or deed. The seniors do not merely receive the gesture, but they, on their part, ask forgiveness for any wrongful act they may have been guilty of, even if unwittingly. With this reciprocal action of mutual apology, the young and the old can start life afresh; they can start over again with a clean sheet, or as the Burmese say, “erasing the slate,” which is synonymous with burying the hatchet.

In Burmese Buddhist society, to be respectful to elders is a strict Permission to publish this material has been granted by the World Health Organization. religious code and it is also the mark of a well-bred man. Any youngster lacking this manner is regarded as “someone who lacks parental guidance,” which is an unflattering reflection on the parents. So, parents usually take pains to teach their young this important tenet taught by the Buddha himself. Young people usually absorb this teaching of being respectful to parents, teachers, and elders through Jataka stories, the stories of the Buddha’s former births. Children hear them from their parents or grandparents; they see them illustrated in paintings and sculpture on the pagoda precincts; they see them acted on the stage; they hear them featured in pop songs; and as a recent development, they read them in comic-papers.

THE STORY OF THREE ANIMALS

One well known story is that of the three animals who dwelt near a huge banyan tree in the forest – an elephant, a monkey and a partridge. One day it struck them that it was unseemly to live together without proper respect to one another. They decided to discover who was the oldest among them by asking one another how each first came upon the banyan tree. The elephant said that the tree was only a mere bush when he first saw it and that its topmost branch reached his belly. The monkey said that the tree was only a tiny shoot when he first saw it. The partridge said that there was no tree when he first came to the place; he had eaten the fruits of a banyan tree in a faraway place and voided in this spot, and there grew the tree they now saw. So, the partridge was the oldest; and henceforth the other two, the elephant and the monkey, treated him with due respect. They sought and took counsel whenever needed. The three animals lived with proper ordering of their life by revering and honoring the senior member of the group.

The Buddha taught this story to his disciples to establish the rule of paying respects to the seniors in his Order of Monks. As a preamble to the story, he said:

In the religion I teach, the standard by which precedence in the matter of lodging and the like is to be settled, is not noble birth or having been a Brahman or having been wealthy before the entry into the Order; the standard is not familiarity with the rules of the Order, with the Suttas, or with the Metaphysical books, nor is it either the attainment of any of the four stages of mystic ecstasy, or walking in any of the four paths of salvation.

Brethren, in this religion it is seniority which claims respect of the word, deed and salutation and all the services; it is the seniors who should enjoy the best lodging, the best water, the best rice. This the true standard –

In times past, Brethren, even animals came to the conclusion that it was not proper for them to live without respect and subordination to one another, or without the ordering of their common life–

Titira Jataka: Bk. 1.37

The seniority in the Buddha’s Order is counted from the moment one enters the Order and becomes a monk. Seniority of age is the criterion among the lay people, however.

The tradition of being respectful to the seniors teaches the young people courtesy and good manners in their daily behavior. But then, there are certain cultural gaps which often cause “culture shocks” in social encounters with Westerners.

Among the Burmese who are not yet exposed to the ways of the West, the conversation between people who are just introduced starts with the question: “How old are you?” A faux pas, according to the Westerners, but actually a polite gesture showing the willingness to treat the other party with due respect.

The Burmese preoccupation with age and seniority is evident in language; for example, there is no equivalent to the word “brother”; there are two Burmese words, nyi (younger brother), a-ko (elder brother), but no word for just “brother.” This peculiarity once caused an awkward predicament in the Burmese section of the BBC when the news of the Dalai Lama’s brother in London was to be on the air. The Program Officer demanded to know whether the man was an elder brother or a younger brother, so that he could render it into Burmese. It so happened that the information was not available; and the Burmese version of the news which was stilted and ridiculous, remained one of the things the BBC man did not like to think of.

The Burmese seldom, if at all – except on occasions that call for strict formality – address a person by name. The epithets, a-ko-gyi (big brother), a-ma-gyi, (big sister), u-lay or u-gyi (uncle), daw daw or daw-gyi (aunt), are used according to the age seniority of the persons involved.

It is seniority, always seniority, that decides how a well-bred person addresses and speaks to another person. Those who grew up during the pre-war days still remember addressing their teachers of missionary schools as Ma Ma Davis (Miss Davis), or Ma Ma Butt (Miss Butt), “ma ma” being a very affectionate and respectful form for “elder sister.” Even today, there are people who remain so Burmese that they do not feel at ease calling their non-Burmese friends by their first name because it means doing without the suffixes Mr., Mrs., or Miss. They often call them Ko gyi Joe, or Ma Ma Dorothy, et cetera, because they have been taught that this is the polite way of addressing people.

Such customs and manners are more in evidence in places other than Rangoon, where people are more exposed to the ways of the outside. Even there, in the suburban areas, where emigrants from small towns and villages settle, old customs still prevail.

THE BUDDHIST WAY OF LIFE

The Buddhist Way of Life among the lay people is to live according to the tenets laid down in Sangala Sutta, a discourse given to a brahman, Sangala by name. The discourse deals with the layman’s conduct in daily life and his relationship with his family, teachers, and community. Reciprocal duties between the members of the family are specifically laid down in the discourse. That children should look after their parents in their old age is one of the duties. The Buddha called the parents Brahma, a word which denotes the highest and the most sacred in Indian thought.

Next to parents as worthy of reverence come the teachers and elders, relatives and non-relatives alike. Those who do not have parents do not let themselves lack persons for reverence; this is an essential ingredient in a good life, to have ones to revere and respect. (Second Uruvela Sutta: Angiittra Nikaya catukka Nipata.) With this teaching in mind, younger senior citizens often play the role of well-bred youths by paying respects to some elder in the clan or in the community; it is one way to feel young and cared for, if “only” spiritually. The tradition of paying respects to elders is a source of spiritual strength.

THE RITUAL OF KA-DAW

Today the ritual of paying respects or ka-daw ceremony, is one of the features in school and communal activities. Round about the full-moon day of Thadingyut which falls in October, school children of all ages and sizes take part in the ceremony of paying respects to their teachers. In the community, the elders are the recipients of gifts from the younger members.

For the elders it is a pleasurable experience to be so remembered. And as it happens, the elders of the community are never-failing means of moral support on important social occasions. When a young man wants to make a formal request for a girl’s hand, and he has no parents to stand by him, an elderly relative or a senior member of the community is ever ready to substitute. In this way, an elderly person plays an important role in family and communal affairs. Of the vicissitudes of life, old age is often a grim reality of living with a sense of inadequacy and uselessness. When younger people of the family or community show courtesy and respect, and above all, give them a sense of being needed, it certainly tempers the sting of old age.

To Be a Buddhist, If Possible a Burman

Sir George Scott, a British civil serviceman who wrote under the pseudonym of Shwe Yoe, is well known for his deep understanding of the Burmese, and his book The Burman, His Life and Notions is still a reliable source of information on Burma. According to Shwe Yoe,

The best thing a Burman can wish for a good Englishman is that in some future existence, as a result of good works, he may be born a Buddhist and if possible a Burman.

One of the good things about being a Buddhist and a Burman is that one can look forward to the declining years of life with all the blessings which should accompany old age, such as honor, love, obedience and troops of friends. This kind of anticipation has, in these days of materialistic thinking, become a far-off dream in many lands.

In Burmese Buddhist society, the onslaught of materialism is met with the steadfast acceptance of the Samsara, the round of rebirths and the working of the Law of Kamma. Burmese Buddhists have their share of human desire for material things of life; to them, however, the attainment of such is not for its own sake, but as a means of support to help them on the long cycle of rebirths until they attain the final goal of Nibbana.

A Burmese Buddhist is anxious to do good deeds so that he will be attended by comfort and happiness in all the lives to come as he makes a steady progress along the spiritual path. To be respectful to the elders and parents is one of the best deeds of merit, after the tradition of the noble ones of old, and it is something that can be done with minimum physical effort; it is the spirit that matters.

Young people, like those anywhere, are not always docile. They may question the wisdom of the teaching that the young must be respectful and reverent to the elders, simply by virtue of their years. But then, Buddhist teaching also instructs the elders the proper way to conduct themselves so that they will be worthy of respect and reverence. There are many judicious and forceful admonitions in the Buddha’s teachings on this point.

A man who has learned little grows old like an ox,

His flesh increase, but not his wisdom.

Not, therefore, is a man an elder, because his head is grey,

Though he be ripe for years, yet he is called old in vain.

A man in whom dwell truth, righteousness, non-injury, temperance, and self-control,

He that has rid of himself of faults and is steadfast, that man is truly called an elder.

Dhammapada

In this way, receiving respects and reverence puts the elders in a very responsible position. The blessings of old age, have to be earned by one’s own good conduct and practice.

One of the things Buddhism teaches is not to react to people’s frailties with one’s own viciousness; in other words, you should not let the other’s imperfections decide your conduct, for then you are not in command of yourself. Instead of reacting to people’s frailties with one’s own viciousness, one should be in control of one’s own actions, as laid down by the wise ones:

One should overcome anger with kindness;

One should overcome evil with good;

One should overcome the niggard with gifts;

And speakers of falsehood with truth.

Dhammapada 223

Communal Activities

Activities in a Burmese Buddhist community in many ways promote amicable relations between the young and the seniors. What with the year-round festivals and still more festivals in honor of the local pagodas and family celebrations, all of which have to be done in the traditional manner, community life is a busy one.

On such occasions, the elders have an important role to play. They sit over a pot of green tea with the accompaniment of jaggery sweets and crispies; they give counsel while the young ones do the “leg work”; they reminisce among themselves, this last activity being enjoyed most by the young people. There are few things more interesting than what follows after an elderly person begins a yarn with, “When I was young –.”

At such gatherings, there persists a mixture of reverence and familiarity, seriousness and levity, propriety and broad humor, when the older ones are as willing to dig up their questionable pasts as the young ones are eager to listen. If an old gallant is giving the local swains the benefits of his experience, there in another corner his female counterpart is holding court with the sweet young things.

This kind of free and easy relationship between the old and the young coexists with the custom of the young bowing down at the feet of the elders in an act of ka-daw. This custom of ka-daw, highly placed in the code of conduct, is sometimes a source of somewhat unseemly jokes. For example, this is how a man commented on the toughness of meat, an item on...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Behavior, Lifestyle, Religion, and Aging in a Global Perspective: An Introduction
• Lifestyles Leading to Physical, Mental and Social Wellbeing in Old Age
• Islam and the Health of the Elderly
• Add Life to Years the Buddhist Way
• Church Conservatism and Services for the Elderly
• Judaism: Lifestyles Leading to Physical, Mental, and Social Wellbeing in Old Age
• The Teachings of Confucianism on Health and Old Age
• Catholicism, Lifestyles, and the Wellbeing of the Elderly
• On Perennial Youth and Longevity: A Taoist View on Health of the Elderly
• A Study of the Health of the Elderly from the Standpoint of Shinto
• Religious Factors in Aging, Adjustment, and Health: A Theoretical Overview