"Applying the Buddha's Teaching In Daily Life", Part 4: Engaged Buddhism

The historical Shakyamuni Gotama Buddha (also bore the given name Siddhartha and family name Gotama, while Shakyamuni means wise man of the Shakya clan) is an awakened man who lived and taught in places. Standing in the places where he stood, and seeing sites he saw himself, reminded me that, whatever other dimensions we may envisage, the Buddha was a real person made of real flesh and real blood.

As a privileged prince, Siddhartha Gotama already had every pleasure his world had offered; everyone got into marriage, and he did so when he was 16 and had a son at the age of 29.

However, he left home and became a spiritual seeker for one compelling reason: "To understand suffering human beings caused themselves and others, as well as to find a way out." It was the Iron-Age. Much land was reclaimed from the forest for cultivation and trees felled, resulting in deforestation. Slave labour were used and the outcaste exploited. To them the work was never over. Life was tied to the endless cycle of the seasons and the demands of the upper castes.

In modern parlance, he was asking, "I can't understand why is the world so messy? Why can't people not be exploitative and selfish. Why can't they stop making others miserable, particularly those with power and possessions who blatantly manipulate the world for their own benefit?" Or in the words of Rodney King, victim of Los Angeles riot (1992), "Why can't we all just get along?"

"The-haves" always have and probably always will. The "have-nots" have to ceaselessly suffer through no fault of their own -- in a sense "powerless" other than trying to survive in a world unfairly tilted against them. That was the nature of a social-historical reality, a pervading samsara dukkha (endless cycle of suffering, dissatisfaction) witnessed by a privileged prince back in the 5thcentury BCE.

The historical Buddha Sakyamuni was a radical social reformer who fought strongly against the caste system and ritualistic animal sacrifices. He was also the first leader in history to educate women en masse with the Dharma. His disciples were exhorted to plant at least one tree per year as replenishment. Not only did he play the role of the UN General Secretary in brokering political peace agreements, but also a spiritual teacher to gods and human beings, community elder, and leader of the untouchable outcaste. Indeed, this Bodhisattva career is an unsurpassed role model for us today.

In short, what the Buddha eventually came to teach and demonstrate after his awakening was a path of compassion, empathy -- personal engagement to help liberate those around him, from paupers, outcastes and serial killer to devas, kings, queens and princes.

In the late 19th century in China, a humanistic Buddhism movement(Chinese: renjian fojiao) was promoted by Masters Taixu and Yinshun. Its goal: "To groom Buddhists to be energetic, enlightened and endearing persons who strive to help all living beings liberate themselves.

It focuses on returning to the true teaching of the Buddha rather than its heedless application of expedient means, focuses on contemporary issues of the world rather than on how to leave the world behind, on caring and benefiting others rather than benefiting oneself, and on universal salvation rather than for only oneself." It is presently led by the Buddhist monastics such as Ven Cheng Yen of Tzu Chi,an international humanitarian organization with about 10 million members, and chapters in 47 countries), Master Hsing Yun (Fo Guang Shan), and the late Master Sheng Yen’s disciples (Dharma Drum) in Taiwan.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzu_Chi

The bodhisattva ideal of Mahayana Buddhism often emphasizes the use of skilful means, guided by wisdom and compassion. Edward Conze in A Short History Of Buddhism says, "Skill in means is the ability to bring out the spiritual potentialities of different people by statements or actions which are adjusted to their needs and adapted to their capacity for comprehension." Bodhisattvas see the correlation between the inner world and outer engagement as a powerful catalyst for liberation. Kenneth Kraft writes: "An exclusively inner transformation, however profound, is not the end of the trail. Greed, anger and delusion need to be uprooted in personal lives, but they also have to deal with environmental, economic, poverty, injustice, suffering, social and political realities."

Ken Jones, who founded the Network of Buddhist Organisations in the UK, advocates that because Buddhists point to the interconnectedness of things, therefore sometimes "it is claimed that all authentic Buddhism must inevitably be 'engaged'." Indeed, each and every situation – locally and globally is an opportunity for compassion, for the practice of generosity, for truth and for equanimity.

Maitrisara, from the Network of Engaged Buddhists asks: "So what has Buddhism got to offer when something needs to be done in the world?" Her answer is, "effectiveness and sustainability". Effectiveness: How many times have decisions that have adversely affected our communities and our planet been based on greed, rage, revenge and the egotistical craving? And in terms of sustainability, Buddhist based mind trainings boost calm, clarity, patience, energy and courage which help to address greed, hostility and confusion.

Thich Nhat Hanh who has published more than 100 books, inspires us with his personal experience practising the Dharma: "When bombs begin to fall on people, you cannot stay in the meditation hall all of the time. Meditation is about the awareness of what is going on-not only in your body and in your feelings, but all around you. When I was a novice in Vietnam, we young monks witnessed the suffering caused by the war. So we were very eager to practice Buddhism in such a way that we could bring it into society. That was not easy because the tradition does not directly offer Engaged Buddhism. So we had to do it by ourselves. That was the birth of Engaged Buddhism."

Today, there are numerous organizations devoted to building the movement of engaged Buddhists such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, Zen Peacemakers, Benevolent Organisation for Development, Health and Insight, Gaden Relief Projects, the UK's Network of Buddhist Organisations, Sri Lanka's Sarvodaya, Taiwan's Tzu Chi, Fo Guang Shan and Dharma Drum, among many others. Prominent figures in the movement include Robert Aitken Roshi, Ven Nichidatsu Fujii, Joanna Macy, Gary Snyder, Alan Senauke, Sulak Sivaraksa, Maha Ghosananda, Sylvia Wetzel, Joan Halifax, Tara Brach, Taigen Dan Leighton, Ken Jones and Bhikkhu Bodhi, and so on.

We also have Bhikkhu Buddhadasa, B. R. Ambedkar, S. Bandaranaike, Han Yong-un, Seno Giro, U Nu and Norodom Sihanouk who called themselves Buddhist socialists or "Dhammic Socialism."

The 14th Dalai Lama in Beyond Dogma Beyond Dogma: Dialogues and Discourses in 1996 says:

"Of all the modern economic theories, the economic system of Marxism is founded on moral principles, while capitalism is concerned with only with gain and profitability. Marxism is concerned with the distribution of wealth on an equal basis and the equitable utilization of the means of production. It is also concerned with the fate of the working classes – that is the majority – as well as with the fate of those who are underprivileged and in need, and Marxism cares about the victims of minority-imposed exploitation. For those reasons the system appeals to me, and it seems fair … The failure of the regime in the Soviet Union was, for me not the failure of Marxism but the failure of totalitarianism. For this reason I think of myself as half-Marxist, half-Buddhist."

http://mysticpolitics.com/the-spiritual-crisis-of-capitalism-karl-marx-the-dalai-lama/

What more can we say, but to take up active leadership role in our local Buddhist community – i.e. putting your money where your mouth is!

We are not powerless, we are not helpless

We can do it; thank you very much "in deed!" 

Smile

Yick kh :)