Buddhist Visions of the Good Life for All 9780367561819, 9781003100454, 9780367607685

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Buddhist Visions of the Good Life for All

This book highlights what Buddhism has to offer for “living well” here and now—for individuals, society as a whole, all sentient beings and the planet itself. From the perspectives of a variety of Buddhist thinkers, the book evaluates what a good life is like, what is desirable for human society, and ways in which we should live in and with the natural world. By examining this-worldly Buddhist philosophy and movements in India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Tibetan diaspora, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and the United States, the book assesses what Buddhists offer for the building of a good society. It explores the proposals and programs made by progressive and widely influential lay and monastic thinkers and activists, as well as the works of movement leaders such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, for the social, economic, political and environmental systems in their various countries. Demonstrating that Buddhism is not solely a path for the realization of nirvana but also a way of living well here and now, this book will be of interest to researchers working on contemporary and modern Buddhism, Buddhism and society, Asian religion and Engaged Buddhism. Sallie B. King is Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University, USA and Affiliated Faculty at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Georgetown University, USA.

Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism Edited by Stephen C. Berkwitz, Missouri State University, USA Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism is a comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition. The series explores this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of perspectives, using a range of different methodologies. The series is diverse in its focus, including historical, philological, cultural, and sociological investigations into the manifold features and expressions of Buddhism worldwide. It also presents works of constructive and reflective analysis, including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary, critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive and imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research works that are of significance and interest to the broader field of Buddhist Studies. Editorial Advisory Board: James A. Benn, McMaster University, Canada; Jinhua Chen, The University of British Columbia, Canada; Rupert Gethin, University of Bristol, UK; Peter Harvey, University of Sunderland, UK; Sallie King, James Madison University, USA; Anne Klein, Rice University, USA; Lori Meeks, University of Southern California, USA; Ulrich Pagel, School of Oriental and African Studies, UK; John Powers, Australian National University, Australia; Juliane Schober, Arizona State University, USA; Vesna A. Wallace, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA; Michael Zimmermann, University of Hamburg, Germany For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/RoutledgeCritical-Studies-in-Buddhism/book-series/RCSB Ethical Practice and Religious Reform in Nepal The Buddhist Art of Living Lauren Leve Early Buddhist Meditation The Four Jhânas as the Actualization of Insight Keren Arbel Birth in Buddhism The Suffering Fetus and Female Freedom Amy Paris Langenberg Theravada Buddhism in Colonial Contexts Edited by Thomas Borchert Buddhism, Meditation and Free Will A Theory of Mental Freedom Rick Repetti Women in British Buddhism Commitment, Connection, Community Caroline Starkey Buddhist Visions of the Good Life for All Sallie B. King

Buddhist Visions of the Good Life for All

Edited by Sallie B. King

First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 selection and editorial matter, Sallie B. King; individual chapters, the contributors The right of Sallie B. King to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: King, Sallie B., editor. Title: Buddhist visions of the good life for all/edited by Sallie B. King. Description: 1. | New York: Routledge, 2021. | Series: Routledge critical studies in Buddhism | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020055358 | ISBN 9780367561819 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003100454 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Buddhism–Social aspects. | Quality of life–Religious aspects–Buddhism. Classification: LCC BQ4570.S6 B834 2021 | DDC 294.3/37–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020055358 ISBN: 978-0-367-56181-9 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-60768-5 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-10045-4 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

This volume is dedicated with gratitude to all my teachers.

Contents

List of illustrations List of contributors Preface Acknowledgments Introduction

ix x xiv xvi 1

SALLIE B. KING

PART I

The ancient Buddhist world

7

  1 A map of the good life: The 38 blessings of the Maṅgala Sutta

9

VEN. BHIKKHU BODHI

  2 Compassion blesses the compassionate: The basis of human flourishing in Buddhist thought and practice

36

STEPHEN JENKINS

PART II

The contemporary Buddhist world

55

  3 Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision: A social democratic republic

57

CHRISTOPHER QUEEN

  4 The good life as envisioned by A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement GEORGE D. BOND

82

viii Contents   5 The development of well-being: Gross National Happiness and Bhutan’s vision for the ideal society

95

BARBRA CLAYTON

  6 The good life: A Tibetan understanding

121

JAY L. GARFIELD

  7 Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society: A Buddhist activist movement in South Korea

135

SUJUNG KIM

  8 Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society

154

SALLIE B. KING

  9 Tzu Chi: Buddhist compassion relief and the bodhisattva path to a good society

176

RICHARD MADSEN

10 Japan’s Soka Gakkai: Transforming the human spirit to save humanity from itself

192

DANIEL A. MÉTRAUX

11 Gary Snyder’s vision

206

CHRISTOPHER IVES

12 Mutual morality: Joanna Macy’s vision of the Great Turning

227

STEPHANIE KAZA

Index

247

Illustrations

Figures 6.1 Tibetans versus Americans on dimensions of the good life 6.2 Overall good life index

127 128

Table 1.1 Path attainments, fetters eliminated and rebirths remaining

27

Contributors

Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi is an American Theravada Buddhist monk. He received ordination as a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka in 1972 and lived in Sri Lanka for over 20 years. He was the president of the Buddhist Publication Society in Kandy (1988–2010) and now lives at Chuang Yen Monastery in Carmel, New York. His publications include The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (1995), The Connected Discourses of the Buddha (2000), The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (2012), The Buddha’s Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony (2015) and the Suttanipāta (2017). He is also the founder of Buddhist Global Relief, a charity dedicated to combating chronic hunger and malnutrition around the world. George D. Bond is Professor of Religious Studies and McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence, Emeritus, at Northwestern University. He specializes in Buddhist studies and South Asian religions and works primarily on Theravāda Buddhism, studying the texts and the practices of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. He received his PhD from Northwestern University. His teaching focuses on Buddhism, Hinduism and the history of religions. His publications include: The Buddhist Revival in Sri Lanka (1988), The Word of the Buddha (1980), Sainthood: Its Manifestations in World Religions (1989), co-author, R. Kieckhefer; and Buddhism at Work: Community Development, Social Empowerment and the Sarvodaya Movement (2006). He has also written numerous articles on Buddhist texts and Buddhist practice. Barbra Clayton is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Mount Allison University in Canada. She is the author of Moral Theory in Śāntideva’s Śikṣāsamuccaya (Routledge, 2006), “The Changing Way of the Bodhisattva: Superheroes, Saints, and Social Workers,” in the Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Ethics (2018) and “Buddhist Ethics” in the Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy (2011). Her recent work focuses on ethics in contemporary Buddhism, and she has published articles on environmentalism and monasticism in the Shambhala Buddhist community in Canada. Her current research centers on Bhutan and its alternative economic policy of Gross National

Contributors  xi Happiness. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics and the Canadian Journal of Buddhist Studies. Jay L. Garfield is Doris Silbert Professor in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy, Logic, and Buddhist Studies at Smith College, Visiting Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Harvard Divinity School, Professor of Philosophy at Melbourne University and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies. Prof. Garfield works in the philosophy of mind, the history of Indian philosophy, ethics, epistemology, logic and Buddhist philosophy, particularly Indo-Tibetan Madhyamaka and Yogācāra. His most recent books include Knowing Illusion: Bringing a Tibetan Debate into Contemporary Discourse (with the Yakherds, 2021), What Can’t Be Said: Paradox and Contradiction in East Asian Thought (with Yasuo Deguchi, Graham Priest and Robert Sharf) (2020), The Concealed Influence of Custom: Hume’s Treatise from the Inside Out (2019), Minds Without Fear: Philosophy in the Indian Renaissance (with Nalini Bhushan, 2017) and Engaging Buddhism: Why it Matters to Philosophy (2015). Christopher Ives is Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. In his scholarship he focuses on ethics in Zen Buddhism, and currently he is working on Buddhist approaches to nature and environmental issues. His publications include Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage (2018); “Resources for Buddhist Environmental Ethics” (Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2013); Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics (Press, 2009); Zen Awakening and Society (1992); a translation of Nishida Kitarō’s An Inquiry into the Good (co-translated with Abe Masao, 1990); a translation of Hisamatsu Shin’ichi’s Critical Sermons of the Zen Tradition (co-translated with Tokiwa Gishin, 2002); The Emptying God (co-edited with John B. Cobb, Jr., 1990); and Divine Emptiness and Historical Fullness (edited volume, 1995). Stephen Jenkins is Professor Emeritus of Religion at Humboldt State University. He researches Buddhist concepts of compassion, their philosophical grounding and ethical implications. His recent work includes “Heavenly Rebirth and Buddhist Soteriology,” in Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice (forthcoming); “Confronting the Harmful with Compassion,” in Nonviolence in World Religions (Routledge, forthcoming); “Buddhism and Violence: Indian Foundations,” in Cambridge Companion to Religion and War (forthcoming); “Once the Buddha Was a Warrior,” in The Nature of Peace and the Morality of Armed Conflict (2017); “Debate, Magic, and Massacre: The High Stakes and Ethical Dynamics of Battling Slanderers of the Dharma in Indian Narrative and Ethical Theory,” Journal of Religion and Violence (2016); and “Waking into Compassion: The Three Ālambana of Karuṇā,” in Moonpaths (2015). Stephanie Kaza is professor emerita of environmental studies, University of Vermont, and Soto Zen practitioner. Her books include Green Buddhism: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times (2019); Hooked!

xii Contributors Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume (2005) and Conversations with Trees: An Intimate Ecology (2019). She co-edited with Kenneth Kraft, Dharma Rain: Sources of Buddhist Environmentalism (2000) and edited the tribute volume: A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time (2020). She currently works on climate issues in Portland, Oregon, where she pursues her love of trees, tides and deep time. Sujung Kim is an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at DePauw University. While her research centers on the premodern transcultural interactions between Japan and Korea, her interdisciplinary research interests include modern/contemporary Korean Buddhism, Buddhist visual and material culture, as well as performative aspects of Buddhist narratives. She is the author of Shinra Myojin and Buddhist Networks of the East Asian “Mediterranean” (2019), one of the first book-length studies to deal with the Buddhist interactions between Japan and Korea in the premodern period. She has also published several articles in journals such as Tendai gakuho (in Japanese) and Pojo sasang (in Korean), Pulgyohak yon’gu (in English), chapters in volumes such as The Sea and the Sacred in Japan (2018), New Perspectives in Modern Korean Buddhism (forthcoming) and The New Nanzan Guide to Japanese Religions (forthcoming). Sallie B. King is Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Religion at James Madison University and Affiliated Faculty, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, Georgetown University. She works in the areas of Buddhist philosophy and ethics, Engaged Buddhism, Buddhist-Christian dialogue, women in Buddhism, and the cross-cultural philosophy of religion. In the area of Engaged Buddhism, she is the author of Being Benevolence: The Social Ethics of Engaged Buddhism (2005), Socially Engaged Buddhism (2009) and “Right Speech Is Not Always Gentle: The Buddha’s Authorization of Sharp Criticism, its Rationale, Limits, and Possible Applications,” (Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 2017). She is the co-editor (with Christopher S. Queen) of Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (1996). Richard Madsen is Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the UC-Fudan Center for Research on Contemporary China at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of books on moral order and religion in both the United States and China. His books include Democracy’s Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan (2007) and most recently, co-edited with Becky Yang Hsu, The Chinese Pursuit of Happiness: Anxieties, Hopes, and Moral Tensions in Everyday Life (2019). Daniel A. Métraux is Professor Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Asian Studies at Mary Baldwin University in Virginia. He received his PhD from the Department of East Asian Studies and Languages at Columbia University in 1978. He has served as President of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies and Editor of the Southeast Review of Asian Studies. Currently Editor of the Virginia Review of Asian Studies, he has written extensively on Japanese history, politics and religion, including several

Contributors  xiii books on Japan’s Soka Gakkai Buddhist movement. His most recent books include The Asian Writings of Jack London and The Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony Farm and the Creation of Japanese America. Christopher S. Queen, a scholar of socially Engaged Buddhism in Asia and the West, has authored and edited many works in the field, including Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (with S. B. King; 1996); American Buddhism: Methods and Findings in Recent Scholarship (with D. R. Williams; Routledge, 1998); Engaged Buddhism in the West (2000); and Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism (with C. S. Prebish and D. Keown; Routledge, 2003). He taught Buddhist Studies and World Religions and served as Dean of Students for Continuing Education at Harvard University (1989–2018), and has served as President of the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies; convener and honorary chairman of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics online conference on Socially Engaged Buddhism; and co-founder of the Dharma Chakra Mission and Academy in Bodhgaya, India.

Preface

This volume has its roots in my studies of Engaged Buddhism over the last two and a half decades. Engaged Buddhism is a politically and socially active form of Buddhism that came into being in the twentieth century and continues to this day, found throughout Buddhist Asia (wherever there is sufficient political freedom) and the West. It is non-sectarian and non-centralized. It is unified by its intention to actively, concretely and nonviolently apply Buddhist values—especially compassion and loving-kindness—and Buddhist thinking to the problems of this world. Some of its leaders—B. R. Ambedkar, A. T. Ariyaratne, Thich Nhat Hanh—appear as the subjects of chapters in this volume. I have been aware for some time that a great deal of the action of Engaged Buddhism has been reactive in nature. This is only natural, given that most Engaged Buddhist movements in Asia sprang up in response to crises—war, invasion, oppression, casteism, post-colonial poverty, environmental calamities.1 The fact that these movements have often been reactive in no way diminishes the greatness of their courage and achievements, often against great odds. Nevertheless, it does raise the question: once the crisis is over, what do these Buddhist leaders have to say? In other words, given the opportunity, what kind of cultures, societies and world would contemporary progressive, activist Buddhists seek to build? This volume undertakes to answer that question. For a while this project stalled over the lack of a name for that which proactive socially activist Buddhists were trying to build, a name that would be appropriate across all sectarian and national lines. “Utopias” sounded too pie-in-the sky; these are ideals that are meant to be realistic. A “Pure Land on Earth” might work for East Asians, but not for Buddhists elsewhere. The title of this book finally was born when I learned of a project in the Netherlands led by Manuela Kalsky that was called a search for the “Good Life for All.” That project focuses on the changing social landscape in the Netherlands, where there is much more religious diversity than in the past; it seeks to identify ways in which the people who hold this variety of views can thrive and live harmoniously together within a single society.2 While the present project differs greatly from that one, the phrase “Good Life for All” captured so well the ethos of the socially, politically, economically and environmentally proactive Buddhism that I wanted to see articulated that

Preface  xv I immediately gravitated toward it. Many thanks to Dr. Kalsky for generously allowing me to use this phrase to name the theme of this book and serve as its title! Sallie B. King

Notes 1 See Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King, eds., Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 1996). 2 See “A Discussion with Manuela Kalsky, Vrije Uniersiteit,” Berkley Center, Georgetown University, September 19, 2016, https​:/​/be​​rkley​​cente​​r​.geo​​rgeto​​wn​.ed​​u​/int​​ ervie​​ws​/a-​​discu​​ssion​​-with​​-manu​​ela​-k​​alsky​​​-vrij​​e​-uni​​versi​​teit

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the authors of this volume for their patience, persistence and professionalism. Some had to wait a long time for this volume to see print and others had to complete their work quickly after late invitations to join the project. Many of the authors suffered very difficult personal challenges during this period but nonetheless saw the project through. I am deeply grateful to them all. Special thanks to Christopher S. Queen for our many years of professional collaboration and for his good advice and support through the process of editing this volume. I gratefully acknowledge the following permissions: Permission from Wisdom Publications to reprint excerpts from Patrul Rinpoche, The Essential Jewel of Holy Practice in Chapter 6 (Patrul Rinpoche, excerpts from The Essential Jewel of Holy Practice, translated by Jay L.Garfield and Emily W. McRae. Copyright © 2017 by Jay L. Garfield and Emily W. McRae. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Wisdom Publications, wisdompubs​.o​rg). Permission from the Jungto Society to reprint the “1,000 Day Prayer” in Chapter 7 (Jungto Society, “1,000 Day Prayer” https://www.jungtosociety.org/ wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Jungto_1000-Day_Practice_2021_002.pdf). Permission from Parallax Press to reprint numerous quotations from Thich Nhat Hanh throughout Chapter 8. Permission from the Jing Si Publishing Company for permission to reprint the “Ode to the Jing Si Dharma Lineage” Prayer in Chapter 9 (https​:/​/tz​​uchi.​​us​/bl​​og​/ od​​e​-to-​​the​-j​​ing​-s​​i​-dh​a​​rma​-l​​ineag​e). Sallie B. King

Introduction Sallie B. King

What is the “Good Life for All”? A Good Life is a life that is well lived. Philosophers and religious teachers differ on what it is to live well, but generally we may say that to live a Good Life is to live a morally good life, a happy life, a life of value to oneself and others, a life that has purpose and meaning. In speaking of a Buddhist Good Life for all, we are emphasizing two things. First, we are emphasizing that Buddhism is not solely a path for the realization of nirvana but also very much is a way of living well here and now, in this lifetime, in this world. Second, we are emphasizing that the Good Life that we portray in this volume is the good life for “all,” in the widest sense, i.e., not only for the individual but also for society as a whole, for all sentient beings and for the planet itself. A Good Life for all would help all individuals, human societies and the natural world to flourish and thrive. In this volume, we will bring forward what Buddhism has to offer in envisioning such possibilities and contributing to their realization. Students of the Buddha might think that for a Buddhist the Good Life consists in the effort to realize nirvana, but this is one part of what the Buddha taught, not the entirety of the teaching. Bhikkhu Bodhi writes in his chapter in this volume: Early Buddhism is often depicted as a spiritual path that devalues life in the world and extols an austere discipline of renunciation and contemplative practice aimed exclusively at a world-transcendent liberation. However, a careful and thorough examination of the discourses of the Buddha, as preserved in the Pali Canon, shows this depiction to be a caricature. When we look into the discourse collections we find a rich and wide assortment of texts that address the concerns of people living in the world with sensible, downto-earth guidance in both the mundane and spiritual dimensions of their lives. Thus, the teachings of the Buddha in fact give quite concrete guidance not solely on how to seek nirvana but also on how to live a Good Life here and now. Certainly, there have been many Buddhist teachers, in many times, places and traditions, who have taught an other-worldly kind of Buddhism, devoid of interest in this world and lacking in contributions to the flourishing of this world. For example, despite its major contributions to the flourishing of Chinese civilization during its earlier heyday in China, in late premodern China, Buddhism had become

2  Sallie B. King strongly identified in the popular mind as the religion that dealt with death and the afterlife, and that performed funeral services and prayers for the dead. Other religions (Confucianism, Daoism) were thought to be the ones that addressed this life and its concerns; people did not look to Buddhism for guidance on such matters. Indeed, the present editor, while living in Japan, frequently heard echoes of this attitude when, upon asking people if they were Buddhist, often was met with the reply: “Oh no; I’m not that old yet!” In response to this kind of thinking, the great Chinese Buddhist reformer, Taixu (1890–1947), created a “Buddhism for Human Life” that turned the focus of Buddhism to human life lived here and now. This ultimately developed into the “Humanistic Buddhism” that flourishes in Taiwan today. One version of this approach will be the focus of Chapter 9 in this book. A Buddhism that focuses rather exclusively on death or nirvana cannot be taken as normative for all of Buddhism. As we have seen, Bhikkhu Bodhi has made it clear that the Buddha himself had many teachings for living this life well, here and now. In his contribution to this volume, Stephen Jenkins argues that historically Buddhism has often been a system for human flourishing. Buddhism as a system for human flourishing, Jenkins argues, is based upon an ideology of practicing kindness and compassion for the mutual benefit of self and other. This way of living, it is taught, results in benefits to the individual in the form of psychological, physical, social and economic boons (prosperity, safety, health, popularity, a good night’s sleep etc.), and benefits to society in the form of peace, prosperity and societal flourishing. As Jenkins writes, this is the kind of ideology that grandmothers can teach to children. In addition to the Good Life for the individual and society, we consider in this volume the “Good Life” for the natural world. What is meant by this? If, in mid-2020, one enters into an internet search engine the words, “the good life for all,” what comes up first is a variety of discussions of “a good life for all within planetary boundaries.” As Buddhist environmentalists emphasize, and as should be obvious to all, the individual and human society are both interdependent with the natural world. We do not exist for a moment without entirely relying upon the natural world for air, water, food, resources of all kinds, and a place to be. Nevertheless, we are wreaking havoc upon the natural world by causing global climate change and warming, species die-off, habitat and resource depletion, and more. We “inter-are” with the Earth, as Thich Nhat Hanh says, but we have long lived as if there were no need for us to take into account the needs and limits of the Earth. That era is over. Researchers at the University of Leeds have found that “no country meets basic needs for its citizens at a globally sustainable level of resource use.”1 This means that we must either substantially change our way of living on the Earth or run out of resources (and then change the way we live). We now must ask ourselves: What is a Good Life, that is, sustainable viability and flourishing, for the planet, its flora and fauna, waters and atmosphere? How must we change our way of thinking and living in order to allow the Earth to live the planetary Good Life of sustainable flourishing? In sum, Buddhist visions of the Good Life for all encompass the Good Life of all individuals, of our human societies and of the natural world. How can all these

Introduction  3 dimensions of life flourish? The present volume profiles the thought and action of a variety of Buddhist thinkers and movements who have devoted themselves to addressing these concerns. These Buddhist visions of the Good Life for all are expressions of ideals, but at the same time they are meant to be realistic; they are ideals that are meant to be possible and toward which we can strive. The book begins with two chapters that focus on the ancient world. Bhikkhu Bodhi (Chapter 1) begins our inquiry with an exposition of the Buddha’s views on the Good Life as recorded in the Maṅgala Sutta, an important text from the Pali canon. Stephen Jenkins (Chapter 2) follows with his chapter on the important role of loving-kindness and compassion in Buddhist texts and civilizations. From there we move to the modern and contemporary world. It is a characteristic trend of Buddhism in our time as it adapts to the demands of the modern world that it addresses the “this-worldly” concerns of laypeople. This can be seen in the thought and practice of many leaders of Engaged Buddhism, Humanistic Buddhism, lay-oriented Buddhism and modern Buddhism. Some of the leaders of these movements are profiled in this volume. We will see among them a thoroughgoing devotion to improving life here and now—for the downtrodden, for humankind, for all sentient beings and for the planet itself. Devotion to life here and now presupposes that this life and this world are of value. This assumption among many modern Buddhists is so solid that it requires no defense. Indeed, none of the leaders and movements profiled in the second part of this volume troubles themselves to defend that it is worthwhile to protect the planet, to overcome casteism, to develop impoverished countries. It is easy to know that we do not want a world in which there is deep poverty, racism, violence and profound harm to the planet. The question is, what exactly do we imagine a better world to be like, and how do we bring it into being? Some values and principles occur repeatedly in the second part of this volume. Analysis in terms of interdependence is ubiquitous among our subjects. It comes up in almost all contexts and discussions—relations among people in society; relations between people and the natural world; peacemaking; freedom and community; economics, education and environmentalism. Macy’s (Chapter 12) thought is a good example of this. She writes, “the liberation of the individual and the health of her society are inseparable. Indeed, they point to a profound mutuality between personal and social transformation.” Likewise, the basic Buddhist virtues of benevolence are ubiquitous among our subjects—compassion, kindness, generosity. Tzu Chi, the “Buddhist Compassionate Relief Foundation” (Chapter 9), is perhaps the epitome of this, with compassion at the heart of everything they do, but benevolence in its several forms is found throughout these chapters. Given the importance of the virtues of benevolence, the reader might be surprised to learn that our subjects hold varying views regarding the proper balance that should be given to the welfare of the self vis-à-vis the other. According to both Bhikkhu Bodhi and Stephen Jenkins, the classic Buddhist texts offer instruction and practices to benefit both the self and the other. Nevertheless, Jay Garfield finds (Chapter 6) that contemporary Tibetans, perhaps drawing upon their classic traditions, embrace the idea that a good life entails elevating one’s concern

4  Sallie B. King for others over one’s concern for oneself. Tzu Chi, with its bodhisattva path of charitable giving and compassionate service, also emphasizes other-concern over self-concern (though they fully realize that this causes one to progress along the path to buddhahood, thereby benefiting oneself, a paradox pointed out by Jenkins). Altruism is indeed a prominent view in Buddhist tradition. In contrast, a very strong emphasis is placed on the importance of the individual gaining personal happiness in the thought and practice teachings of a number of our subjects. Among these is Ven. Pomnyun (Chapter 7), who is responding to the high stress and overworked “burnout society” of South Korea with its suicide rate that is the highest in the developed world. Others as disparate as Thich Nhat Hanh (Chapter 8) and the Soka Gakkai (Chapter 10) also stress personal happiness as an intrinsic and vital part of Buddhism and of the Buddhist life. In none of these cases, of course, does the goal of personal happiness eliminate the importance of caring action on behalf of others, or come at the expense of action to build a better world. On the contrary, it is regarded by Pomnyun and Nhat Hanh as a prerequisite of the latter. Going beyond benevolence, we note that Buddhist understandings of the human being—what a human being is and can be—play an extremely important role in the thought of several of our subjects. For Ambedkar (Chapter 3), who devoted a lifetime of nonviolent struggle to raising the status of the so-called “untouchable” class, the Buddha’s teaching of the nobility of human persons, all of whom are born equal, is perhaps the most important Buddhist teaching of all. Another example can be seen in Bhutan, with its famous “Gross National Happiness” project (Chapter 5). This project fundamentally rejects the notion of a human being as an insatiable consumer, instead regarding the human being as a being possessed of a Buddha nature and taking seriously the social and economic consequences of this view. Another value emphasized by several of our authors that might surprise some readers is freedom, specifically, a free and open society. For Ambedkar, the dignity he sought for the “untouchable” community necessitated a free society, for how could one make use of one’s potential as a human being without freedom: The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. … For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality. Thich Nhat Hanh also strongly embraces freedom: “Freedom is one of the most basic rights of human beings, of all humans and not just a number of them.” Freedom of thought is particularly important to both Ambedkar and Nhat Hanh. In Nhat Hanh’s case, this can be seen in the very first of the Tiep Hien precepts (the precepts of the order he founded): “Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.” Balancing freedom with community is an important theme in Snyder (Chapter 11) and Nhat Hanh. Both have a deep love for their own personal

Introduction  5 freedom. Yet both also emphasize the importance of community, though in different ways. Snyder explicitly embraces anarchism, which he defines as “a nonviolent political philosophy that finds order in the possibilities of a free society,” yet he also devotes much of his thought to articulating optimal forms of community. Nhat Hanh loves freedom and recognizes how essential it is but also finds excessive individualism in Western countries. He expends a great deal of his effort in developing methods to build communal and intercommunal harmony but also allows a weekly “lazy day” of freedom in his monasteries. For those who emphasize the Buddhist understanding of the human person, education is often stressed. Ambedkar, again, saw the dignity and freedom that he sought for the “untouchables” as dependent upon access to education and lifelong learning emphasizing freedom of thought and inquiry. Education is also very important in the Soka Gakkai, which developed from an educational institution that advocated replacing rote learning with critical and creative thinking. Now a religious organization that embraces Buddha nature as a core belief, they also advocate (and have built institutions for) education as a vehicle to create an enlightened and empowered citizenry who will build a peaceful world. The idea of building a culture of peace is perhaps a quintessentially Buddhist way of building upon Buddhism’s traditional emphasis on inner peace while turning the focus to the concern for societal and intercommunal peace. Several of our subjects are seriously engaged in such efforts. Thich Nhat Hanh’s work began in wartime Vietnam and he has ever since worked on methods by which individuals can learn to “be peace” and societies can become nonviolent, not only avoiding war but proactively building a culture of peace as a comprehensive way of life. The Soka Gakkai, whose founders heroically resisted Japan’s wartime culture and laws and addressed a country broken by their experience of war, expends a great deal of its effort on proactive efforts to build a culture of peace, particularly stressing peace education, in an effort to make people realize the horrors of war. The Sarvodaya Shramadana movement of Sri Lanka (Chapter 4) made tremendous efforts to build a culture of peace in the very midst of the intercommunal hatred and violence of the Sinhala–Tamil conflict, working both to transform the conditions that produced the war and to build a widespread desire and support for peace throughout the population, culminating in massive interreligious and intercommunal meditations for peace. Finally, Ven. Pomnyun seeks to shape a culture of peace by removing hierarchy, discrimination and competition, while building friendship, social solidarity and support for reunification with the North. While on the subject of peace, we note that three of the subjects of this volume have been awarded the Niwano Peace Prize, the so-called “alternative Nobel”: A. T. Ariyaratne (1992), Ven. Cheng Yen (2007) and Ven. Pomnyun (2020). In economics, there is consensus among our subjects on the need to reject at least certain aspects of capitalism, both for its “excessively bitter competition” (Soka Gakkai) that inevitably produces both winners and losers, and for its substantial contribution to the assault on the natural world. From this general agreement, our subjects develop a variety of views and strategies. Sarvodaya (Chapter 4) stands out for the large number of concrete economic institutions and

6  Sallie B. King ventures it has created and supported over the years, as well as for its leadership in developing “small is beautiful” economics and its vision of a society of “no poverty, no affluence.” In recent decades, Bhutan has carried on this torch with its “Gross National Happiness” plan as the foundation for its national development program. Among our subjects, Sarvodaya and the Bhutanese Gross National Happiness project have most fully fleshed out their visions of the Good Life for All and have been the most able to put significant elements of that vision into practice. Many of the subjects of this volume have emphasized the importance of rethinking our relationship with the natural world and radically changing our behavior toward it. The Sarvodaya Shramadana movement, the Bhutanese “Gross National Happiness” project, Ven. Pomnyun’s “Eco Buddha” organization and the Tzu Chi organization have all undertaken concrete and far-reaching environmental projects and are environmental leaders in their respective societies. In the area of environmental thought, Gary Snyder, Joanna Macy and Thich Nhat Hanh are important leaders of the Deep Ecology movement. They go far beyond an instrumental environmentalism in which one’s concern ultimately is for the well-being of humankind, while the value of the natural world is measured in terms of what it can do for humanity. These thinkers, in contrast, are particularly clear in valuing the natural world for its own sake, ultimately nullifying the line between “self” and “world”: Macy calls the world, “the beloved” and the self, Snyder invites us to “make intimate contact with the real world, the real self,” and Thich Nhat Hanh says, “The Earth is not just the environment. The Earth is us. Everything depends on whether we have this insight or not.” This volume explores ten contemporary Buddhist visions of the Good Life for All. The editor hopes that these Buddhist visions of the Good Life for All will contribute to conversations among Buddhist thinkers that will inspire even more creativity around the application of Buddhism to the challenges of this world.

Note 1 O’Neill, Daniel W., et al., “A good life for all within planetary boundaries,” Nature Sustainability 1:88–95 (2018); https​:/​/ww​​w​.nat​​ure​.c​​om​/ar​​ticle​​s​/s41​​893​-0​​​18​-00​​21​-4, accessed August 10, 2020.

Part I

The ancient Buddhist world

1

A map of the good life The 38 blessings of the Maṅgala Sutta Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Early Buddhism is often depicted as a spiritual path that devalues life in the world and extols an austere discipline of renunciation and contemplative practice aimed exclusively at a world-transcendent liberation. However, a careful and thorough examination of the discourses of the Buddha, as preserved in the Pali Canon, shows this depiction to be a caricature. When we look into the discourse collections (called the Nikāyas) we find a rich and wide assortment of texts that address the concerns of people living in the world with sensible, down-to-earth guidance in both the mundane and spiritual dimensions of their lives. These texts testify to the breadth of the Buddha’s teachings and his humble compassion. From the heights of perfect enlightenment, his message descends into the mire of worldly life, offering practical guidelines for finding genuine happiness and well-being. The Maṅgala Sutta, or “Discourse on Blessings,” is a text in the Pali Canon that demonstrates this broad range of the Buddha’s teachings.1 The discourse is one of the most popular in the Theravada tradition and is often recited on ceremonial occasions as a source of good fortune and protection. The sutta enumerates 38 factors that constitute maṅgala, “auspicious signs” or blessings. Although at first sight the 38 blessings seem to be thrown together at random, when considered carefully the blessings can be seen to fall into distinct—though partly overlapping—stages that constitute a comprehensive map of the good life: the life that is beneficial both to oneself and to the wider social circles in which one is enmeshed, ranging from the family to the entire society. I have called this sequence of stages “the ground plan” of the Maṅgala Sutta. Although the sutta itself does not explicitly demarcate these stages, I have found this ground plan an effective tool for understanding how the individual factors fit together both in the design of the sutta itself and in the Early Buddhist vision of the good life.2 The key word around which the sutta revolves, maṅgala (the same in Pali and Sanskrit), means “that which is auspicious, that which brings happiness.” In the Indian thought-world of the Buddha’s time, maṅgala corresponded to the idea of a lucky sign, an omen of good fortune, usually interpreted through a lens that today we would consider superstitious. As with so many other terms of his age, the Buddha took the word maṅgala and ascribed to it a new significance. It still meant “that which brings happiness,” but it was no longer conceived as an adventitious

10  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi object or event that augurs good fortune. Instead, he interpreted it to mean the elements that constitute the good life. The Pali commentaries explain that the practice of the Buddha’s teachings is intended to lead to three kinds of good. One is “the good here and now” (diṭṭhadhammika attha), benefits pertaining to the present life, including worldly success, respect and honor, a harmonious family life, cordial relations with others, and a peaceful society. The second is the good pertaining to future lives (samparāyika attha), a fortunate rebirth and felicity in one’s next existence. And the third is the supreme good (paramattha), the attainment of nibbāna. The maṅgalas enumerated in the Maṅgala Sutta are proposed precisely because they bring all three types of benefit. A contemporary Thai treatise, A Manual of Peace, describes the series laid down in the Maṅgala Sutta from several points of view.3 The manual explains that the series is comprehensive, in that it provides a holistic picture of the good life. It is sequential, in that the maṅgalas unfold in a progressive series, with the earlier blessings serving as the basis for those that follow. The series is self-catalyzing, in that each stage contributes to the emergence of the next stage. It is multi-dimensional, in that the maṅgalas cover multiple spheres of human life—the personal, family relations, the community and the whole society. They are universal, in that (with slight modifications) they can be applied to virtually any culture in any era. And above all they are practical, in that they are guidelines to right living. Strictly speaking, the series is not sequential in a unidirectional sense but comprises two alternative routes, two different ways of life. One is the route taken by a person who adopts the life of a householder, with its family and social responsibilities; the other is the monastic path taken by those who seek to accelerate their progress toward the fruit of liberation. But with this qualification, the terms in the series do display a definite sequence. Since the Maṅgala Sutta takes the form of verse, it does not offer explanations of the factors constituting the good life. Under the constraint of the śloka meter, in which each line must have eight syllables, the text merely offers a list of factors, each represented by a single word or phrase. However, the poem seems to presuppose that the reader or listener is familiar with the body of the Buddha’s discourses and thus can extrapolate from the words and phrases in the verses to other suttas in which these components of the good life are treated at length. We might thus see the sutta as a kind of menu, with each item representing a particular dish, from appetizer to dessert. A person familiar with the protocol of restaurants will know how to use the menu to order the dishes and thereby enjoy a fulfilling meal.

Proper orientation The sutta begins with a passage that describes how a deity comes to the Buddha to ask the question from which the discourse unfolds. According to the Pali commentaries, in the middle of the night, when others are sound asleep, deities descend from various celestial realms to ask the Buddha questions.4 Although the Buddha is a human being, as a perfectly enlightened one his wisdom surpasses even that

A map of the good life  11 of the deities, who depend on the Buddha for guidance. In this case, the deity approaches the Buddha, bows to him in homage, and states in verse 1 the theme of the sutta, which is indeed the problem at the core of human existence. Deities and human beings, he says, have long pondered the question of what constitutes maṅgala, the source of all welfare, without being able to arrive at a clear answer. He then asks the Buddha to explain the highest blessing (maṅgalam uttamaṃ). The Buddha’s reply begins at verse 2 by stating the conditions for success in mastering all the other elements of the good life. The verse mentions three factors, which in my ground plan I have grouped together under the heading “proper orientation”: not associating with fools, associating with the wise and honoring those worthy of honor. What unites these three factors is their role in contributing to the formation of a person’s character, particularly in developing the faculty of moral discretion, the ability to distinguish clearly between the good and the bad, between right and wrong, and to acquire a preference for the one over the other. The first two factors represent complementary sides of right association. To avoid fools is one blessing (M1); to associate with the wise is another (M2).5 What underlies both is the premise that our attitudes, views and ideals—particularly as we reach the threshold of maturity—are strongly influenced by the people with whom we associate. Elsewhere the Buddha repeatedly asks us to examine the effects that the people we associate with have on our own inclinations. If we find that by associating with a particular person, unwholesome dispositions increase in us and wholesome dispositions decline, then we should avoid that person—except out of compassion, when we think we can help that person change their ways (see AN 3:26). But when we see that by associating with a person, wholesome qualities increase in us and unwholesome qualities decline, then we should associate with that person and follow their example (see AN 10:54). A pair of similes illustrates the effect of wrong and right association on us. Associating with fools is like wrapping rotten fish in sacred kusa grass; when the wrapping is removed, the kusa grass gives off a rotten odor. Associating with the wise is like wrapping fragrant tagara, a sweet substance, in the odorless leaves of a tree; when the wrapping is removed, the leaves give off a sweet scent (It §76). Since the verse instructs us to avoid the company of foolish people and to associate with the wise, we need criteria for distinguishing the two. Briefly, it is said, the fool is characterized by misconduct of body, speech and mind; the wise person by good conduct of body, speech and mind (AN 3:2). The “Shorter Discourse on the Full-Moon Night” (MN 110) distinguishes the two by way of their personal qualities, the people they associate with, the kind of advice they give, the way they speak and behave, their views and the way they give gifts. At AN 4:115 the Buddha lays down another criterion for distinguishing between the foolish and the wise. He first delineates four kinds of deeds: (1) the deed that is disagreeable to do and leads to future harm; (2) the deed that is disagreeable to do but leads to future benefit; (3) the deed that is agreeable to do but leads to future harm; and (4) the deed that is agreeable to do and leads to future benefit. The first and last deeds, he says, cannot serve as a criterion, for both the fool and the wise person will avoid the one and undertake the other. The distinction emerges with

12  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi respect to deeds (2) and (3). In each case, the fool will put present pleasure above the long-range good, while the wise person will place the long-range good above immediate pleasure. The next maṅgala, “to honor those worthy of honor” (M3), further contributes to the development of a proper orientation. The commentaries identify those worthy of honor as the Buddha and the noble disciples as well as parents and religious teachers. Showing veneration to these worthy ones plants in the mind an innate reverence for the virtues they represent, disposing us to emulate their virtues and strive to acquire them ourselves. This process might be compared to the way a musician uses a well-tuned guitar to tune a guitar that has gotten out of tune. By revering those endowed with exalted virtues, we take them as our own models of human excellence, establish them in the altars of our hearts, and seek their guidance, either directly or through the legacy of teachings they have left behind.

Establishing secure foundations Once a person has acquired a proper orientation and developed a sense of discretion, to continue the pursuit of the good life, one requires certain supporting conditions. These conditions, which I designate “secure foundations,” are enumerated in verse 3, which again mentions three factors. These factors balance the external and the internal, and also the inheritance from the past and opportunities provided by the present. The first, “dwelling in a suitable locality” (M4), describes the ideal external condition. According to Buddhist doctrine, dwelling in a suitable locality is the fruit of good karma created in the past. This factor highlights the influence of the natural and social environment on our moral and spiritual development. The commentary interprets “suitable locality” in a narrow sense, as a place where the Buddha’s teaching flourishes, but we might interpret this expression in a broader sense, taking it to signify a peaceful country endowed with amenities conducive to spiritual pursuits. These would include a righteous government that provides its citizens with essential social services, a relatively benign climate, safe neighborhoods, a just legal system, a relatively equitable economy and easy access to nature, to fortify the spirit and remind us of our innate connections to the natural world. From a contemporary perspective, a suitable locale would safeguard such basic rights as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion. For those who aspire to follow the Buddhist path, it would also provide access to monasteries, temples and centers that offer instruction in the Buddha’s teachings and opportunities for both devotional and contemplative practice. While living in a suitable locality is an external condition for the good life, determined partly by one’s karmic inheritance from the past, the next blessing, “merits done in the past” (M5), highlights an internal factor explicitly said to derive from the past. The idea of merit (puñña) is not unique to Buddhism but is widely shared by the various Indian spiritual systems, yet it does not have a precise counterpart in Western religion. The word “merit” signifies wholesome karma viewed by way of its capacity to yield desirable fruits, among them a long

A map of the good life  13 life span, good health, pleasant physical features, economic security, an attractive personality and keen intelligence. Merit also opens up opportunities to achieve one’s personal goals. Behind the order of visible causality, merit operates as an invisible causal order that molds the course of events so that one can achieve a good education, succeed in one’s work, establish a loving family and, if one engages in contemplative practice, progress easily toward the higher stages of attainment. Deficiencies in merit result in obstacles and hardships. Early Buddhism speaks of three “bases of merit” (puññakiriyavatthu), means of creating merit: giving, moral conduct and mental development (AN 8:36). Later texts expand this list into ten bases of merit: giving, moral conduct, mental development, service to others, reverence, sharing one’s merits with others, rejoicing in others’ merits, listening to the Dhamma, teaching the Dhamma and straightening out one’s views. While “merits done in the past” is an internal item coming down from the past, the next factor of the good life, “right resolution” (M6), is an internal or subjective factor pertaining to the present, ensuring that one follows a meritorious course in this life. “Right resolution” means setting oneself on the right course. It entails forming the determination to abstain from evil and cultivate good conduct of body, speech and mind. The importance of this factor can be gauged from the role the Buddhist texts assign to the mind in determining our future destiny. The Buddha says that he sees nothing that leads to such harm as the undeveloped mind, and nothing that leads to such benefit as the developed mind; nothing that leads to such suffering as the undeveloped mind, and nothing that leads to such happiness as the developed mind (see AN 1:24–40). One begins to develop the mind by making a resolve, a determination, to set out on the right course, to train oneself to overcome the baser drives of greed, hatred and delusion and to cultivate the noble qualities of generosity, kindness and wisdom.

Preparations The next verse (v. 4) mentions four factors conducive to a life of blessings. The first, “abundant learning” (M7), might be understood in the traditional way as an extensive study of the Buddha’s teaching. This is the explanation to which the commentary gives precedence, but if we see the sutta as laying down a graded sequence of development, this interpretation seems out of place. More likely, what is intended is secular learning, which in the Buddha’s time would have involved the study of such subjects as grammar, astronomy, medicine, logic and traditional lore. Its parallel, “skill in a craft” (M8), is intended to provide one with the means to earn a living and thereby support one’s family. While these two factors aim to provide one with the practical means of subsistence, the next two are intended to ensure that one follows a moral code to regulate one’s behavior and speech, the primary means by which one interacts with others. The third blessing is “being well trained in discipline” (M9). The word vinaya used here usually refers to the code of discipline—the rules and regulations—that the Buddha laid down for the monastic community. Here, however, it seems to

14  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi be used in a broader sense, and even the commentary, which usually shows a monastic bias in its interpretations, explains that vinaya can be understood as “the discipline of a layperson and the discipline of a renunciant.” In relation to the layperson, the commentary takes it to mean abstaining from the ten courses of unwholesome action, which will be elaborated in the discussion of verse 6. Such conduct is said to lead to well-being and happiness both in this life and in future lives. In relation to the monastic person, the commentary explains it as the fourfold purification of conduct: observance of the monastic rules, restraint of the senses, reflection on the use of the requisites and purified livelihood.6 While both codes of discipline govern all types of conduct—bodily, verbal and mental—the blessing of “well-spoken speech” (M10) has probably been singled out for special mention because of the crucial role that speech plays in human affairs. Unwise speech can deceive minds, break hearts, foment discord, create enemies and even ignite wars; wise speech can convey understanding, win friends, promote concord, heal divisions and establish peace. Habitual lies and malicious deception, especially on the part of those in positions of authority, can tear asunder the bonds of trust on which a harmonious society depends; a commitment to truth, even when it runs counter to self-interest, can preserve and fortify those critical bonds of trust. With this in mind, the Buddha lays down four standards of right speech, four modes of speech to be avoided and four to be followed. These are avoiding false speech, malicious speech, harsh speech, and idle chatter, and instead speaking only in ways that are truthful, harmonious, gentle and meaningful.

Leading a virtuous life in the world The next two verses of the Maṅgala Sutta highlight the obligations of a person who has already fulfilled the preparatory stages sketched in the preceding verses and has now taken up life as a householder. Although the two verses partly overlap, I see the first (v. 5) as concerned primarily with fulfilling one’s family responsibilities, and the second (v. 6) as indicating the factors that enable one to promote the well-being of others beyond one’s immediate family. Although the Buddha himself left the household life in order to adopt the life of a renunciant, he did not lose sight of the crucial role that the family plays in shaping a person’s character and determining the general atmosphere of society as a whole. The Buddha sees society as maintained through an intricate system of reciprocal binary relationships, each of which requires that those joined in these relationships fulfill their duties toward their counterparts. The Sīgalaka Sutta, for instance, specifies six such binary pairs: children and parents, pupils and teachers, husband and wife, friend and friend, master and servants, and householders and ascetics.7 Within this complex network the family stands at the center. Verse 5 enumerates three blessings: supporting one’s parents (M11), maintaining a wife (or husband) and children (M12) and earning one’s living by a harmless occupation (M13). The most basic binary relationship that ties a society together is that between parents and children. As in most traditional societies,

A map of the good life  15 the Buddha sees children as obliged to honor and respect their parents. He extols filial piety, declaring that those families in which the children revere their parents are divine, even holy, for “God,” “divinities” and “holy ones” are synonyms for parents. The reason children incur their debt to their parents is because the parents give them their very flesh and blood, bring them up, feed them and clothe them, educate them about the world and help them in times of difficulty (AN 4:63). He also says that one’s mother and father are two people that are hard to repay, yet the only way to adequately repay them is to establish them in faith, virtuous conduct, generosity and wisdom (AN 2:33). The filial disciple, according to the Sīgalaka Sutta, maintains his or her parents by supporting them in old age, performing their tasks for them, keeping up the family tradition, making oneself worthy of one’s inheritance, and after their death, performing deeds of merit on their behalf.8 Parents, in turn, incur certain obligations toward their children. They are responsible not only for their material support but also, and primarily, for ensuring that their children learn from them the principles of an ethical life. The parents must restrain their children from evil and encourage them to practice generosity, observe the precepts and respect spiritual teachers.9 These are the values that sustain a cohesive social order, which can endure only when parents transmit these values to their children. When such a transmission takes place, society will flourish both materially and spiritually; when a breach occurs in this transmission, society will head toward moral decline and be torn apart by flagrant greed, dishonesty, conflict and violence. Wholesome relations between parents and children depend in turn on the mutual affection and respect of husband and wife. The Buddha therefore offers concrete guidelines for proper marital relations (see DN III 190). What holds a marriage together is not only the affection between husband and wife but a shared commitment to moral values. In one sutta the Buddha speaks of four kinds of marriage, describing the ideal marriage as that between a “god and a goddess.” This is a marriage in which both husband and wife observe the five precepts, have hearts “free from the stain of stinginess” and revere ascetics and brahmins (AN 4:53). The third blessing in this verse —“a harmless occupation”—highlights the need for right livelihood. In many suttas the Buddha explains that a lay disciple should acquire wealth righteously, “by energetic striving, by the strength of his arms, by the sweat of his brow.”10 He specifically mentions five occupations that a lay disciple should avoid: trading in weapons, trading in living beings, trading in meat, trading in intoxicants and trading in poisons (AN 5:177). In today’s world, this simple list of wrong types of livelihood could be extended to include all the many occupations that directly or indirectly entail suffering and death for humans and other living beings. I title the overarching theme of verse 6 of the Maṅgala Sutta “becoming a pillar of society.” With this verse the beneficence and compassionate concern of the householder are extended beyond the narrow confines of the immediate family. The verse mentions four blessings, the first being giving or generosity (M14). The suttas formally define the practice of generosity in terms of the

16  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi disciple who “dwells at home with a mind free from the stain of miserliness, freely generous, delighting in giving and sharing.”11 In praise of giving, the Buddha says: If people knew, as I know, the result of giving and sharing, they would not eat without having given, nor would they allow the stain of miserliness to obsess them and take root in their minds. Even if they were down to their last morsel, their last mouthful, they would not eat without having shared it, if there were someone to share it with. (It §26) While the practice of giving has broad philanthropic applications, it also has a more specific sense determined by the social structure of Indian spirituality. In India during the Buddha’s time and even today, those who sought to devote their full time to the quest for enlightenment and liberation left the home life, with its guarantee of material security, to take up a life of ascetic self-discipline and contemplation without reliance on any remunerative means of employment. Often these renunciants would reject a fixed abode and wander from town to town, either individually or in small groups, depending on householders to provide them with their simple material requisites: robes, a daily meal, a simple dwelling place and medicines. The gifts offered to them, given out of faith in the worthiness of the spiritual quest, were seen as a source of merits, wholesome karma that would lead the donor to a higher rebirth and gradual progress toward the final goal of the spiritual life. In the Buddhist community, the two major sections were bound together in a relationship of mutual support in which the act of giving flowed in both directions. The lay community would provide the monastics with their material requisites, and the monastics in turn would offer the laity “the gift of the Dhamma,” teachings that are “good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end.”12 The expression “righteous conduct” (dhammacariyā), used to designate the next blessing (M15), seems general enough to encompass all the practices enumerated in the Maṅgala Sutta, but the commentary, with reference to MN 41, defines it as the ten courses of wholesome action (dasa kusalakammapathā).13 The ten are divided into three groups according to the “door” or channel through which they are exercised. The first three are bodily: abstaining from killing, stealing and sexual misconduct; the next four are verbal: abstaining from false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, and idle chatter; and the last three are purely mental: non-covetousness, goodwill and right view, particularly the view that affirms the karmic law of moral causation. Observing these ten courses of wholesome action is said to create the good karma that leads to a happy rebirth in the human realm, to rebirth into the various celestial realms, and, when coupled with the training in meditation, to the attainment of the successive stages along the way to nibbāna. The third blessing in this verse, “rendering assistance to relatives” (M16), extends the sphere of one’s concern to one’s wider family and to friends and colleagues. The commentary explains:

A map of the good life  17 When they suffer loss of wealth or illness and come to one for help, one assists them with food, clothing, money, and so forth. This is called a blessing because it is a cause for the achievement of excellence in the present life, such as praise, and a good rebirth in one’s next life.14 The fourth blessing, “blameless deeds” (M17), again seems to overlap with “righteous conduct,” but to draw a distinction between them, the commentary explains the term to mean any deeds “that exemplify good conduct of body, speech, and mind, such as undertaking the factors of the uposatha,15 performing services to others, constructing parks and groves, building bridges, and anything else that benefits others.”16 Underscoring the positive impact that the “good person,” the virtuous disciple, has upon the entire social network in which he lives, the Buddha says (AN 5:42): When a good person is born into a family, it is for the good, welfare, and happiness of many people: for the good, welfare, and happiness of his mother and father; his wife and children; his servants, workers, and helpers; his friends and companions; and ascetics and brahmins. Just as a great rain cloud, nurturing all the crops, appears for the good, welfare, and happiness of many people, so too, when a good person is born into a family, it is for the good, welfare, and happiness of many people.

Personal ethics I have subtitled this section of my ground plan “a life of moral integrity.” The first two maṅgalas mentioned here—“to cease [from evil]” and “to abstain from evil”—again seem to replicate factors already mentioned in the earlier verses. Thus, at first blush it appears that this line is redundant, restating in different words the basic ethical injunctions covered by the idea of being “well trained in discipline” (v. 4) and “righteous conduct” (v. 6). However, I believe that if we consider the overall design of the sutta, and view this design in relation to the architecture of the Buddha’s teachings, we would find that this verse involves a distinct break from what precedes it, shifting the exposition to a different and higher level. Up to this point, I would maintain, the sutta is delineating, in its terse and suggestive way, the virtues and practices that constitute the pan-Indian conception of a virtuous life lived within the bounds of conventional morality and the karmic order of causation. The qualities that are highlighted there—chiefly, generosity and ethical conduct—are prized because they conduce to success in this life and in future lives. In terms of the three aims that the Buddha’s teachings are intended to fulfill, these factors belong to “the good pertaining to the present life” and “the good pertaining to future lives.” They lead to social harmony, win respect from others and generate the meritorious karma that ensures a fortunate rebirth— rebirth back into the human state or into the heavens of the “desire realm,” the lowest of the three realms of existence.17 In short, they contribute to happiness and well-being within the round of rebirths, bearing their fruits within the confines of

18  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi this flawed and conditioned world. Such benefits could have been appreciated by householders following any of the mainstream Indian spiritual traditions, whether Brahmanism, Jainism, Buddhism or any other school of thought that affirmed the law of karma. On my interpretation, with verse 7 we take a step beyond the practices aimed at mundane well-being and reach the lowest rung of the world-transcending Dhamma, the teaching aimed at the attainment of nibbāna, the unconditioned state beyond the cycle of rebirths, which for Early Buddhism is the ultimate goal of the holy life. The words “mundane” and “world-transcending” here render the Pali terms lokiya, “pertaining to the world,” and lokuttara, “overcoming of the world.” Roughly speaking, all virtues undertaken to promote the well-being of others, ensure social harmony and create wholesome karma are considered, in that respect, “mundane”; in contrast, virtues and practices that aim at overcoming bondage to the world, at the attainment of nibbāna, are considered “world-transcending.” The world-transcending path consists of three stages of training—in ethical conduct (sīla), concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā); its goal is liberation (vimutti). The need for this training is determined by the worldview of Buddhism, a worldview shared to a large extent by all the major spiritual traditions of India, whether “orthodox” (such as Vedanta and the Yoga system of Patañjali) or “heterodox” (such as Buddhism and Jainism). From this perspective, any given human life is merely a link in a chain of lives, a sequence of rebirths without any apparent first point. This sequence is called saṃsara, a word that literally means “the meandering,” that is, the wandering from one life to the next. As the Buddha states the matter: “This saṃsara is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not seen of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving” (SN 15:1). As we roam from life to life, the Buddha says, “weeping and wailing because of being united with the disagreeable and separated from the agreeable, we have shed more tears than the water in the four great oceans” (SN 15:4). For this reason, he continues, our task is “to become disenchanted with all conditioned things, to become dispassionate towards them, to be liberated from them.” The training in ethical conduct, concentration, and wisdom is precisely the means to eliminate ignorance and craving and thereby win release from the round of rebirths. Since the path to liberation begins with the training in ethical conduct, it is inevitable that the verse that signals the transition from the path of mundane virtue to the world-transcending path will highlight ethical qualities that correspond to those already mentioned. But despite their similarity, they still differ because of the different context in which they are situated and the different purpose for which they are taken up. Here, the ethical training does not merely aim at engendering wholesome karma in the hope of a happy rebirth. Rather, it is intended to serve as the platform for the subsequent stages of training, as the starting point for a process that will rise ever higher and culminate in the final goal. To avoid misunderstanding, it must be stressed that this distinction between the mundane and the world-transcending levels does not hinge explicitly on the

A map of the good life  19 difference between laypersons and monastics, but on whether the aim for which a particular practice is adopted is good fortune within saṃsara—that is, happiness in this life and a fortunate rebirth—or liberation from saṃsara. Many serious lay Buddhists pursue liberation and are thus engaged in the practice of the “worldtranscending Dhamma,” while many monastics remain satisfied with the lower aim of a fortunate rebirth. During the Buddha’s time, hundreds of his lay disciples had attained the lower three of the four stages of realization—stream-entry, oncereturning and non-returning (see MN 73 at I 490–94).18 The Buddha included lay followers among his most distinguished disciples (AN 1:248–67). In relation to the householder–monastic distinction he says: I praise right practice, whether of a layperson or of one gone forth. One practicing rightly, whether a layperson or one gone forth, because of their undertaking of right practice, is one who achieves the method, the Dhamma that is wholesome. (SN 45:24) He then defines “right practice” as the noble eightfold path, which is precisely the way leading to nibbāna. For this reason, the qualities extolled in the verses to follow should not be construed as narrowly applicable only to monastics but as virtues undertaken by all disciples aspiring to follow the world-transcending path, whether they be householders or renunciants. The first two blessings mentioned in the verse—ceasing from evil (M18) and abstaining from evil (M19)—seem synonymous, but the commentary draws a distinction between them thus: “Ceasing from evil is not delighting in it with the mind when one has seen the danger in it; abstaining from evil is abstaining by way of body and speech.”19 The commentary defines evil (pāpa) with reference to four “defilements of action,” the actions prohibited by the first four precepts: namely, the destruction of life, taking what is not given, sexual misconduct and false speech. The action prohibited by the fifth precept is mentioned separately. Again, the commentary distinguishes “abstinence” (virati) into three types.20 The first may be called “spontaneous abstinence,” the deliberate refraining from an evil deed when one encounters the chance to transgress; such restraint is motivated by an innate sense of self-respect or fear of the painful consequences of transgression. The second is “abstinence through undertaking precepts,” the avoidance of transgression because one has accepted precepts that prohibit such actions. In the case of a layperson, this would entail formally undertaking the five precepts: abstinence from killing, from stealing, from sexual misconduct, from false speech and from the use of intoxicants. For monastics, the corpus of precepts would be more extensive, but the core training rules are essentially the same, with the observance of celibacy taking the place of abstinence from sexual misconduct. The third of the three types of abstinence is “abstinence by eradication,” which occurs when one eradicates the defilements that motivate transgression.21 Since, on my understanding of the sutta, this verse depicts a disciple who has newly embarked on the course of training, I see this line as referring to abstinence by undertaking precepts.

20  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi The next blessing is “refraining from intoxicating drinks” (M20). Abstinence from intoxicants—including wine and liquor—is expressly enjoined by the fifth precept. Although the use of alcohol and other intoxicants is not itself inherently a moral offense, the use of such substances erodes moral scruples and thus can readily lead to more serious transgressions. When speaking to a young householder, the Buddha enumerates six harmful consequences of indulging in intoxicants: loss of wealth, increase of quarrels, susceptibility to disease, a bad reputation, shameless exposure of the body and impairment of intellectual functions.22 Modern studies on the excessive consumption of alcohol draw conclusions that closely correspond with those stated by the Buddha and add still other consequences: unintentional injuries such as automobile accidents, falls and burns; intentional injuries such as sexual assault, domestic violence and gun violence; family problems and broken marriages; high blood pressure, stroke and other heart-related diseases; and damage to the liver, nervous system and brain.23 When these dangers are brought into view, it becomes readily apparent why the Buddha considered refraining from intoxicating drink to be a blessing. While the precepts are formulated negatively, as abstaining from unwholesome courses of action, they can also be viewed in a positive light by taking into account their role in preventing the harm that follows from their transgression. Thus the Buddha says, with respect to each of these precepts, that one who observes them “gives to an immeasurable number of beings freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction,” and in turn “enjoys immeasurable freedom from fear, enmity, and affliction.” He therefore describes them as “great gifts, primal, of long standing, traditional, ancient, not repudiated by wise ascetics and brahmins” (AN 8:39). The fourth maṅgala in this verse is “heedfulness in wholesome practices” (M21). Heedfulness is the factor that protects all the other components of the ethical life. The original Pali word, appamāda, is a negation of pamāda, “heedlessness,” formally defined as “the laxity through which one allows the mind to roam into bodily, verbal, and mental misconduct and into the enjoyment of sensual pleasures.”24 As the antidote to this, “heedfulness” suggests vigilance exercised over the subtle movements of the mind in order to prevent a drift into unwholesome thoughts, which, when they gain force, lead to moral transgression. The quality of heedfulness combines mindfulness, clear comprehension and right effort into a unified endeavor to observe one’s states of mind, to understand their deep undercurrents and to replace unwholesome states with their wholesome counterparts. The Buddha calls heedfulness the path to the deathless (Dhp 21), and praises it as the chief of all wholesome qualities, the linchpin that holds all the others in place: Just as the footprints of all other animals fit into the footprint of the elephant, which is declared the chief with respect to size, so too whatever wholesome states there are, they are all rooted in heedfulness, converge upon heedfulness, and heedfulness is declared to be the chief among them. (SN 45:140)

A map of the good life  21

Developing a spiritual life The next two verses (vv. 8–9) span nine maṅgalas, which may be divided into two categories: those that constitute inner virtues and those that contribute to the growth of wisdom. I place six under the former heading and three under the heading of “incipient wisdom.” Since the two verses largely overlap, I will treat them jointly by way of this twofold distinction. The six inner virtues are reverence, humility, contentment, gratitude, patience and being amenable to advice. With these verses the sequence moves from an ethic of restraint to an ethic of positive virtue, from the view of the moral life as consisting primarily in fidelity to a code of prohibitions toward a more positive view of ethics as the cultivation of certain traits of character that are beneficial both to oneself and to others. The virtues endorsed by these verses serve as a bridge connecting the ethic of restraint to the more advanced stages of the path consisting in the cultivation of concentration and wisdom. The first two inner virtues mentioned in verse 8—reverence (M22) and humility (M23)—were probably assigned to this position because they function as the prerequisites for a truly fruitful spiritual life. Reverence (gārava) corresponds closely to “honoring those worthy of honor,” the third maṅgala in the series (mentioned in v. 2). However, while the subjective character of these two virtues is similar, given the structure of the sutta, it is likely that “reverence” was intended to serve in a somewhat different role. “Honoring those worthy of honor” is prescribed for those at an early stage in life, where it helps us choose the models and teachers to whom we turn for guidance in the course of our education, vocational training, professional career and life in the family and community. In other words, this mode of veneration is intended to provide us with a spiritual anchor as we pursue the goals of secular life. In contrast, in my interpretation of the discourse, “reverence” here signifies the attitude we should adopt when standing at the threshold of the spiritual training that leads to liberation. Reverence is the emotion that arises when we come into contact with those persons, entities and places that represent the sacred. It is the appropriate response to our encounters with a dimension that lies beyond the sphere of ordinary experience, when we run into those crossroads where the transcendent intersects with the mundane. Such encounters arouse in us the realization that the world we cognize through our senses, the sphere of phenomena extended in space and time, is not self-sufficient but is enfolded within another dimension promising a fulfillment far more complete, far more satisfactory, than the fleeting and contingent enjoyments of ordinary life. The Buddha specifically mentions seven objects of reverence: the Teacher (the Buddha himself), the Dhamma, the Sangha, the training, concentration, heedfulness and hospitality (AN 7:32). Other objects of reverence in the Buddhist tradition include stupas (memorial mounds honoring the Buddha and eminent monks), Buddha images, relics and books on the teachings. Within the Sangha, senior monastics are to be venerated by junior monastics. Laypeople, in turn, typically show reverence to monastics. Hospitality is itself an extension of reverence.

22  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi According to the monastic discipline, monks residing at a particular monastery are to treat visiting monks with kindness and respect, provide them with accommodation and refreshments and ensure that they feel welcome through the duration of their visit. The natural counterpart of reverence is humility, which is the antidote to conceit and arrogance. Whereas the arrogant person rates himself as superior to others, the humble person recognizes his shortcomings and thereby opens himself to learning from others. The commentators hold up Sāriputta as the outstanding exemplar of humility. Although he was the Buddha’s chief disciple, he compared himself to “an outcast boy or girl, clad in rags and holding a vessel, who enters a village or town with a humble mind.” In his harmlessness, he was like “a bull with his horns cut, mild and well trained, who wanders from street to street and from square to square without hurting anyone” (AN 9:11). The third maṅgala in this verse, contentment (M24), also plays a major role in monastic life. The act of renunciation by which one enters the monastic order entails a willingness to give up the conveniences of the household life in favor of a life sustained by the most basic material supports. The suttas mention four “requisites” of the renunciant life: robes, almsfood, a dwelling place and medicines. The Buddha instructs the monks to be content with whatever requisites they obtain: Monks, you should train yourselves thus: “We will be content with any kind of robe, and we will speak in praise of contentment with any kind of robe, and we will not engage in what is improper for the sake of a robe. If we do not get a robe we will not be agitated, and if we get one we will use it without being tied to it, not blindly absorbed in it, seeing the danger and understanding the escape.” (SN 16:1) The same attitude is enjoined in regard to almsfood, lodgings and medicines. The Buddha also holds up contentment as an ideal for householders. In a long, complex discourse given to the lay disciple Anāthapiṇḍika, he describes various ways in which a layperson may earn a living, concluding with the most praiseworthy layperson as one who seeks wealth righteously, without violence; makes himself happy and pleased; shares the wealth and does meritorious deeds; and uses the wealth “without being tied to it, not blindly absorbed in it, seeing the danger and understanding the escape” (AN 10:91). The next maṅgala is gratitude (M25), which the commentary defines as “recognizing and repeatedly recollecting the help given by anyone, whether little or much.”25 The Thai Manual of Peace distinguishes three types of gratitude: (1) appreciation for favors received from others; (2) appreciating the favor and repaying the debt of gratitude to others; and (3) appreciating the favor, repaying the debt of gratitude and honoring the goodness of the person who has done us the favor.26 The persons usually said to deserve our gratitude are our parents, elders, teachers both secular and spiritual, benefactors, and above all, the Buddha and

A map of the good life  23 the Sangha. By reflecting on the chain of conditions that support us in our wholesome endeavors, the web of benefactors can be expanded indefinitely, until our gratitude embraces even the unknown farmers who grow our food, the garment workers who make our clothes, the postal officials who deliver our mail, and even the sun, oceans, rivers and clouds, and the countless living beings that share this planet with us. The next inner virtue, which begins verse 9, is patience (M27), which the commentary defines as “forbearance, possessing which one remains unaffected when others insult or injure one.”27 Patience is primarily directed to other people, and as such is the antidote to anger and resentment. In the suttas the Buddha mentions various methods to overcome anger and replace it with patience. In one text he explains five methods to use in the face of provocation: one should develop loving-kindness toward one’s antagonist, or compassion, or equanimity, pay no attention to that person, or apply to the antagonist the idea that they are responsible for their own karma.28 Elsewhere he says that when others speak to us in provocative ways, we should maintain a mind as steady as the earth: Our minds will remain undisturbed, and we shall utter no evil words. We shall abide compassionate for their welfare, with a mind of loving-kindness, without inner hate. We shall pervade that person with a mind of loving-kindness; and starting with that person, we shall pervade the whole world with a mind like the earth, without hostility and without ill will. (MN 21, I 127) The last of the inner virtues enumerated in this verse is compliance, or “being amenable to advice” (M28). The commentary explains this to mean that when one has fallen into error and is advised by others to correct one’s ways, “one does not respond evasively or fall silent or think of one’s own excellent qualities and the faults of others, but after first showing deep respect, reverence, and humility, one expresses appreciation.”29 This quality, the commentary says, is called a blessing because it is a cause for receiving exhortations and instructions from one’s fellow monastics and for abandoning one’s faults and achieving excellent qualities. Though the commentary has a monastic situation in mind, openness to accepting guidance and advice from others is essential for anyone who aspires to advance in their moral and spiritual life. The three maṅgalas that contribute to the growth of wisdom are listening to the Dhamma, seeing renunciants and participating in discussions on the Dhamma. According to the model established by the prose suttas, the seeing of renunciants (M29)—specifically, in a Buddhist context, seeing Buddhist monks and nuns— would come first.30 The sight of well-disciplined monastics inspires faith and confidence and a desire to hear the Dhamma. Thus, when one sees such monastics, one has to approach them to learn the Dhamma. It is by “timely hearing of the Dhamma” (M26) that one deepens and expands one’s understanding of the Buddha’s teachings—the guidelines to the practical conduct of life and the principles that lead to liberation. Having listened to the Dhamma, one might engage

24  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi with the teacher, or with one’s fellow students, in discussions on the Dhamma (M30). Through discussions one can clear up one’s understanding, dispel doubts, learn to see the teachings from a variety of perspectives and receive feedback from others about one’s own interpretations. The suttas often mention five stages in the process of learning, which we can see in the following passage describing a worthy elder: He has learned much, remembers what he has learned, and accumulates what he has learned. Those teachings that are good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end, with the right meaning and phrasing, which proclaim the perfectly complete and pure spiritual life—such teachings as these he has learned much of, retained in mind, recited verbally, mentally investigated, and penetrated well by view. (AN 5:87) The first step is listening to the Dhamma. However, listening alone is not sufficient. Having heard the teachings, one must retain the teachings in mind, which today is best accomplished by taking notes. Then one must review what one has heard, the third step. The fourth is to examine the meaning and explore the teaching’s implications. Finally, the fifth step is to penetrate by insight the principles one has learned. By proceeding through these five steps, the teachings are gradually integrated into one’s being, transforming conceptual understanding into experiential wisdom.

The ascent to realization While the two verses just discussed allude to virtues and practices shared by dedicated lay practitioners and monastics, the next two (vv. 10–11) give priority to practices that fall within the specific domain of monastic life. This, however, does not mean that only monastics can practice these steps and attain the stages of liberation. The texts of Early Buddhism state that many householder disciples, even those with large families, attained the first three of the four planes of realization, while a few even attained the fourth plane, arahantship. Nevertheless, Early Buddhism extols the life of renunciation as most conducive to progress along the path of liberation and the proper sphere for those who have attained the highest fruit. The stress on the benefits of monastic life in Early Buddhism is determined by the ultimate ideal of the Dhamma. The final goal of the Buddha’s path is release from saṃsara, the beginningless round of birth and death, a goal to be attained by eradicating the mind’s defilements, particularly craving and ignorance. The practice prescribed for overcoming the defilements is a gradual course of training that includes celibacy, restraint over the sense faculties, simple living, constant vigilance over one’s thought processes and dedicated effort in developing concentration and insight. Early Buddhism regards the fulfillment of this practice as normally beyond the reach of those immersed in the temptations, tensions and

A map of the good life  25 obligations of household life. They depict a common scenario in which a disciple who has gained faith in the Buddha’s teaching reflects: Living at home is confinement, a path of dust; the life of renunciation is like the open air. It is not easy for one living at home to lead the utterly complete, utterly pure spiritual life, which is like a polished conch shell.31 The Buddha adopted this life himself when he set out on his quest for enlightenment, and to make this “utterly pure” spiritual life available to others, he established a monastic order that was designed to provide the most suitable conditions possible for fulfilling the higher stages of training. The life of a householder might be seen as a reflection of our immersion in saṃsara, the life of renunciation as a precursor of the freedom and detachment gained with the attainment of nibbāna. In a few words, verses 10–11 lay out this training and the state of liberation in which it culminates. Verse 10 mentions four blessings. Of these, the first two highlight the preparatory practice; the other two point to the results that follow when the practice reaches fulfillment. The first maṅgala is “austerity” (M31). The Pali noun tapas originally meant heat, warmth or light. In the Vedas tapas signified the cosmic heat responsible for the act of world creation. In time, in the Indian spiritual culture preceding the rise of Buddhism, the word acquired a distinct meaning determined by the belief system that inspired contemplative endeavor. Since heat has the function of burning up, the idea arose that austere ascetic practices are capable of “burning up” defilements and incinerating old karma, thereby facilitating the attainment of liberation. The Jains, for instance, held that “austerity can annihilate old karma.”32 The Buddha himself, during his time as a seeker, experimented with extreme ascetic practices, which included going naked, squatting for days on end, fasting for long periods, plucking out his hair and beard and sleeping on a mat of thorns. He even claimed that no ascetic had ever surpassed him in the intensity of such practices.33 As with so many other ideas of his time, the Buddha revised the meaning of tapas, shifting it from its nuance of self-mortification toward the “heat” of energetic striving or “right effort.” Most often, to designate right effort, he uses the word ātappa (derived from tapas), which conveys the sense of “ardor” or “fervor.” The commentary glosses tapas in the Maṅgala Sutta first with restraint of the senses, “because it burns up longing and dejection,” and then with energy, “because it burns up laziness.”34 The second explanation seems more satisfactory but still too limiting. The suttas often explicate right effort as four kinds of striving: the striving by restraint, which entails restraint of the senses; the striving by abandonment, by which “a monk does not tolerate unwholesome thoughts of sensual desire, ill will and harming, but abandons them whenever they arise”; the striving by development, by which he develops the seven factors of enlightenment; and the striving by protection, by which he maintains and safeguards a congenial object of meditation (AN 4:14). All these seem relevant here as an exegesis of tapas.

26  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi Tapas, in this line of the verse, is coupled with brahmacariya (M32), a compound that literally means “the conduct of [the god] Brahmā” or “holy conduct.” In the suttas, brahmacariya is used in two principal senses. The first is celibacy, abstinence from sexual activity, a practice undertaken by devout lay disciples on special occasions (usually on the full-moon and new-moon observance days) and by monastics as a full-time commitment made compulsory by their code of training rules. The reason the Buddha enjoins celibacy is deeply rooted in the framework of his teaching. The four noble truths declare that the cause or origin of suffering—the suffering of our bondage to the round of rebirths—is craving, and the first of the three kinds of craving is sensual craving. The most powerful expression of sensual craving, in turn, is sexual desire, and thus, for Early Buddhism, progress along the path to liberation requires the gradual subduing and conquest of sexual desire. This is fully achieved only at the third of the four stages of realization —the stage of the non-returner—but the preparatory training to reach this stage calls for physical abstinence from sexual indulgence and the effort to overcome thoughts of sensual desire. This practice of physical restraint and mental self-mastery is one nuance of brahmacariya. The other meaning of brahmacariya is the spiritual life in its entirety, summed up in the noble eightfold path. Hence in a sutta when a monk asks the Buddha, “What, sir, is the spiritual life, and what is the goal of the spiritual life?” the Buddha replies: “The spiritual life is the noble eightfold path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration” (SN 45:6). Since we can presume that the person traveling along the path of the maṅgalas has already developed the first five factors of the path, at this point such a disciple would likely be engaged in the last three factors, that is, applying right effort (designated here as tapas) to the practice of right mindfulness and the achievement of right concentration, which is the launchpad for liberating knowledge. The practice of right mindfulness, in its full application, revolves around the balanced cultivation of two factors, calm (samatha) and insight (vipassanā). The cultivation of calm is the endeavor to overcome distraction, to stabilize the mind, to unify it on its object and to bring it to one-pointed focus. It comes to fulfillment in concentration (samādhi). The cultivation of insight involves carefully observing phenomena, investigating their individual characteristics and discerning their universal characteristics: impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and emptiness of self. Its full application is called wisdom (paññā).35 Different meditators differ in their capacities and thus diverse approaches to meditation are mentioned in the texts to adapt the practice to different temperaments. Some emphasize calm; others emphasize insight. In the end, however, both calm and insight are needed to bring the development of the path to fulfillment. As insight is developed in conjunction with calm concentration, it penetrates more and more deeply into the three characteristics, culminating in the insight into the characteristic of non-self (anattā). At a certain point, when the practitioner’s faculties reach a sufficient degree of maturity, and all other conditions are optimal, the mind turns away from the entire expanse of conditioned

A map of the good life  27 phenomena, transcending the intricate network of causes and effects. It then pierces through to that which is not subject to conditions, to the unconditioned element, nibbāna, the deathless. The mist of ignorance temporarily lifts and the mind directly sees nibbāna, at the same time comprehending all four noble truths simultaneously: suffering, its origin, its cessation and the path to cessation. While previously the four truths may have been comprehended conceptually and sequentially, now they are penetrated experientially, all four at once. This is the attainment called in the suttas “the breakthrough to the Dhamma” (dhammābhisamaya) and “the opening of the eye of Dhamma” (dhammacakkh upaṭilābha).36 In the Maṅgala Sutta this experience is indicated by the blessing “the seeing of the noble truths” (M33). The Buddha declares the seeing of the four noble truths to be a great achievement, a blessing on an altogether different plane from the earlier maṅgalas. With this breakthrough, one rises up from the level of a puthujjana—an ordinary person of the world—to the ariyabhūmi, the plane of the noble ones. The Buddha highlights the momentous significance of this attainment when he says that for a noble disciple who has made the breakthrough, the suffering that has been destroyed and eliminated is vast, like the water in the ocean, while that which remains is trifling, like two or three drops of water, not amounting even to a fraction. (SN 56:60) The initial direct seeing of the four noble truths confers on the disciple the status of a stream-enterer, the first and lowest of the four stages of realization. Each stage involves the eradication of certain defilements, with a corresponding reduction in the number of rebirths remaining (see Table 1.1).

Table 1.1 Path attainments, fetters eliminated and rebirths remaining Attainment

Fetters eliminated

Stream-entry

(1) view of a substantial self (2) doubt about Buddha and Dhamma (3) clinging to precepts and observances Weakens greed, hatred, and delusion (4) sensual lust (5) aversion

Once-returner Non-returner Arahantship

No. of rebirths remaining

At most seven, either in the human or celestial realms. Finished is rebirth in the three lower realms (hells, animals, afflicted spirits). One or two, in the human or celestial realms. Reborn into the form realm (pure abodes), attains final liberation there without returning to this world. (6) desire for form realm No rebirth anywhere in any realm, (7) desire for formless realm attains ultimate nibbāna. (8) conceit “I am” (9) restlessness (10) ignorance

28  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi The stream-enterer still has to endure seven more lives, lives ending in old age and death. Thus to reap the highest blessing, the ardent disciple does not remain content with the attainment of stream-entry but presses on toward the ultimate goal, resuming contemplation of phenomena as impermanent, unsatisfactory and non-self, repeatedly examining all experience through the lens of the four noble truths. As the knowledge of the four truths penetrates into the most fundamental stratum of the mind, in successive stages it uproots the āsavas or “taints,” the three primordial defilements that sustain bondage to the round of rebirths. With this, the mind wins the highest freedom, the freedom called arahantship. The standard canonical passage describes the attainment thus: When he knows and sees [the four noble truths], his mind is liberated from the taint of sensuality, from the taint of existence, and from the taint of ignorance. When it is liberated there comes the knowledge: “It’s liberated.” He understands: “Destroyed is birth, the spiritual life has been lived, what had to be done has been done, there is no more coming back to any state of being.”37 This marks the achievement of the fruit of arahantship, the culmination of the path in Early Buddhism, spoken of in the Maṅgala Sutta as “the realization of nibbāna” (M34).

Embodying the world-transcending Dhamma in the world Verse 11 is a paean to the arahant, the ideal person of the Early Buddhist texts. The standard passage on the arahant describes this person as one “whose taints are destroyed, who has lived the spiritual life, done what had to be done, laid down the burden, reached the proper goal, utterly destroyed the fetters of existence, one completely liberated through final knowledge.” For the arahant, the taints, the primordial drivers of saṃsara, are not merely controlled, not merely suppressed, but are “cut off at the root, made like a palm stump, done away with so that they are no longer subject to future arising” (MN I 250, MN I 298). The arahant has “lived the spiritual life and done what had to be done,” that is, has fully understood the truth of suffering, abandoned its causes, realized nibbāna, and fully developed the path. Thereby the arahant has “utterly destroyed the fetters,” the fetters of craving and attachment that bind one to continued existence. With the fetters destroyed, the arahant is “liberated through final knowledge,” admitted into the living experience of nibbāna. Just as a lotus flower, though born in muddy water, is not tainted by the mud, so the arahant, while living in the world, is not tainted by greed, hatred and delusion (see Sn 845). Verse 11 praises the arahant by way of his mind. While the minds of ordinary people are swayed by the pairs of worldly opposites, the arahant’s mind is “unshaken by the vicissitudes of life” (M35). It cannot be elated by gain, honor, praise and pleasure; it cannot be cast down by loss, disrepute, blame and pain. It

A map of the good life  29 cannot be excited by extremely attractive sense objects or hurt by disagreeable objects. Thus the arahant Soṇa, reporting his experience to the Buddha, says: Even if powerful objects come into range of the arahant’s senses, they do not obsess his mind; his mind is not at all affected but remains steady, imperturbable, and he observes its vanishing. It is like a mountain of solid stone, which cannot be made to quake and tremble even by a violent rainstorm. (AN 6:55) The relationship among the next three blessings is best understood by inverting the first and second, so that “dust-free” precedes “sorrowless.” The former is the cause, the latter the effect; the sequence seen in the verse must have been governed by the meter. Because the arahant’s mind is free from greed, hatred and delusion, it is said to be “dust-free” or passionless (M37), “dust” being a metaphor for the defilements. Being free from craving and other defilements, the mind is no longer vulnerable to sorrow, dejection and misery, and so it is described as “sorrowless” (M36). And because the arahant’s mind is no longer subject to the future dangers of aimless meandering in saṃsara, it is “secure” (M38). The Suttanipāta (v. 953) says that the arahant “sees security everywhere,” on which the Mahāniddesa, an ancient commentary, remarks: “Lust, hatred, delusion, and all other defilements are makers of fear. When these are abandoned, the arahant sees security everywhere, sees no peril anywhere, sees no hazard anywhere, sees no calamity anywhere, sees no disaster anywhere.”38

Conclusion The concluding verse of the Maṅgala Sutta (v. 12) says that those who have fulfilled all these steps—the blessings enumerated in the preceding verses—are victorious everywhere and win the highest blessing. This verse can be seen as recapitulating all that has come before. In retrospect, we begin with a person setting out on the journey of life who acquires a sense of discretion—the capacity for moral judgment and ethical behavior—by avoiding contact with fools, associating with the wise and honoring those who deserve honor. Building upon the assets of a good environment and past merits, we determine to live a life of moral and spiritual integrity. Having acquired an education and trained for a vocation, we adopt a code of moral discipline as a guide to action and speech. On reaching maturity, we arrive at a crossroads offering two alternatives: to live an upright life as a householder or to enter the life of renunciation. Against the backdrop of the Buddha’s time, if a man chooses the household life, he will marry and support a wife and children; a woman who takes up the household life will assist her husband, look after the home and raise the children. One will earn a living by an honest livelihood and care for one’s parents, especially when they have grown old. Extending the sphere of one’s concern, one will give generously to those in need, help relatives and friends and perform various other meritorious

30  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi deeds. In this way one will create the wholesome karma leading to rebirth in one of the heavens or under fortunate conditions in the human realm. To follow the distinctive Buddhist path to liberation, we will formally undertake the precepts and be heedful in cultivating such virtues as reverence, humility, contentment, gratitude and patience. We will visit the monastery to meet monastics, listen to discourses on the Dhamma, and engage in discussions on the Dhamma. In these ways we will be accumulating the virtues that support contemplative practice and ripen in liberation. If we want to devote ourselves fully to the spiritual quest, we will, of course, also cultivate the same virtues and take the same measures to learn the Dhamma. But we will go a step further and adopt the life of renunciation. As monastics, we will observe celibacy and rigorously endeavor to follow the training in moral conduct, concentration and wisdom. When we have gained proficiency in calm and insight meditation, we will gain the experiential insight into the four noble truths. By pursuing the path further, in the end we will realize nibbāna and enjoy the fruit of arahantship. With this, we will live out our lives blissfully, with an unshakable mind, and finally gain the supreme security from bondage, the nibbāna without residue, release from the beginningless cycle of birth, aging and death.

Appendix 1 Mahāmaṅgala Sutta: The Great Discourse on Blessings (Suttanipāta II,4, verses 258‒69)39 Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Blessed One was dwelling at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s Park. Then, when the night had advanced, a certain deity of stunning beauty, having illuminated the entire Jeta’s Grove, approached the Blessed One, paid homage to him, stood to one side, and addressed the Blessed One in verse: 1. “Many deities and human beings have reflected on blessings, longing for safety, so declare the highest blessing.” [The Buddha replied:] 2. “Not associating with fools, associating with the wise, and honoring those worthy of honor: this is the highest blessing. 3. “Residing in a suitable place, merit done in the past, and to set oneself on the right course: this is the highest blessing.

A map of the good life  31 4. “Abundant learning, skill in a craft, being well trained in discipline, and well-spoken speech — this is the highest blessing. 5. “To support one’s father and mother, to maintain a wife and children, and a harmless occupation — this is the highest blessing. 6. “Generosity, righteous conduct, rendering assistance to relatives, and performance of blameless deeds — this is the highest blessing. 7. “To cease and abstain from evil, to refrain from intoxicating drinks, and heedfulness in wholesome practices — this is the highest blessing. 8. “Reverence, humility, contentment, gratitude, and the timely hearing of the Dhamma— this is the highest blessing. 9. “Patience, being amenable to advice, the seeing of renunciants, and timely discussion on the Dhamma — this is the highest blessing. 10. “Austerity, the spiritual life, seeing of the noble truths, and the realization of nibbāna — this is the highest blessing. 11. “A mind that is not shaken when touched by the vicissitudes of life, sorrowless, dust-free, and secure — this is the highest blessing. 12. “Those who have fulfilled these steps are victorious everywhere; they attain security everywhere— they win the highest blessings.”

32  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Appendix 2 The ground plan of the Maṅgala Sutta with its 38 blessings v. 1. The opening inquiry: What is truly a blessing? v. 2. Proper orientation Cultivating the conditions for discretion (1) Not associating with fools (2) Associating with the wise (3) Honoring those worthy of honor v. 3. Establishing secure foundations The inner and outer requisites for success in life (4) Residing in a suitable place (5) Merits done in the past (6) To set oneself on the right course v. 4. Preparations Training oneself for success in life (7) Abundant learning (8) Skill in a craft (9) Being well trained in discipline (10) Well-spoken speech vv. 5, 6: Leading a virtuous life in the world v. 5. Fulfilling family responsibilities (11) Supporting one’s mother and father (12) Maintaining a wife (husband) and children (13) A harmless occupation v. 6. Becoming a pillar of society (14) Generosity (15) Righteous conduct (16) Assistance to relatives (17) Blameless deeds v. 7. Personal ethics A life of moral integrity (18) Ceasing from evil (19) Abstaining from evil (20) Refraining from intoxicating drinks (21) Heedfulness in wholesome practices

A map of the good life  33 vv. 8, 9: Developing a spiritual life Cultivating inner virtues and wisdom v. 8.

v. 9.

(22) Reverence (23) Humility (24) Contentment (25) Gratitude (26) Timely hearing of the Dhamma (27) Patience (28) Being amenable to advice (29) Seeing of renunciants (30) Timely discussion on the Dhamma

v. 10. The ascent toward realization Practicing and attaining the world-transcending Dhamma (31) Austerity (32) The spiritual life (or celibacy) (33) Seeing of the noble truths (34) Realization of nibbāna v. 11. Fulfillment Embodying the world-transcending Dhamma in the world (35) A mind unshaken by the vicissitudes of life (36) A mind that is sorrowless (37) A mind that is “dust-free,” passionless (38) A mind that is secure v. 12. Conclusion: These are victorious everywhere; they attain security everywhere. Key to abbreviations AN Dhp-a DN It MN Pj I Pj II SN Sn Vin Vism

Aṅguttara Nikāya Dhammapada-aṭṭhakathā (Commentary to the Dhammapada) Dīgha Nikāya Itivuttaka Majjhima Nikāya Paramatthajotikā I (Commentary to Khuddakapāṭha) Paramatthajotikā II (Commentary to Suttanipāta) Saṃyutta Nikāya Suttanipāta Vinaya Piṭaka Visuddhimagga

34  Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi All references are to the Pali Text Society editions. I refer to the short suttas of the Aṅguttara Nikāya and Saṃyutta Nikāya by the chapter number followed by the sutta number; for the longer suttas of the Dīgha Nikāya and Majjhima Nikāya I give the sutta number followed by the page number.

Notes 1 The Maṅgala Sutta occurs twice in the Pali Canon. Its original locus is in the Suttanipāta, where it is the second sutta in chapter 4 (vv. 258–69). Here it is titled the Mahāmaṅgala Sutta, “The Great Discourse on Blessings.” It also occurs as section 5 in the Khuddakapāṭha, a small anthology intended for the training of novice monks. See Appendix 1 for the text of the sutta (in English). There is an extensive commentary on the Maṅgala Sutta, which occurs twice: in the commentary on the Khuddakapāṭha and again in the commentary on the Suttanipāta. For a translation of the commentary, see Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Suttanipāta: An Ancient Collection of the Buddha’s Discourses together with its Commentaries (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2017). 2 See Appendix 2. 3 Dhammakaya Foundation. A Manual of Peace: 38 Steps Towards Enlightened Living (Bangkok: Dhammakaya Foundation, 2005), pp. 22–24. 4 See the account of the Buddha’s daily routine in Pj II 131–34, translated in Bodhi 2017: 497–500. 5 The numbers in parentheses, preceded by “M,” signify numerically the 38 maṅgalas. 6 For details, see Vism 15–16. 7 See DN 31, III 188–91. 8 These duties are mentioned at DN 31, III 189. 9 Also at DN 31, III 189. 10 The expression occurs at AN 4:61, AN 4:62, AN 5:41, AN 5:58 and AN 8:54. 11 For example at SN 55:6, V 351; SN 55:32, V 392; AN 3:79, I 226; AN 4:53, II 58, etc. 12 See in this connection especially It §107. 13 The expression occurs in AN 10:176 and DN 33 (III 269) but the ten constituents, without this designation, are explained as a group in many other suttas, for instance, in MN 41 as “righteous conduct, even conduct” (dhammacariyā samacariyā). 14 Pj I 141. 15 The factors of the uposatha are an extended set of eight precepts that devout lay Buddhists observe on the days of the full moon and new moon. The first five correspond to the five precepts, except that the third becomes abstinence from all sexual activity. The others are: abstaining from eating after midday, from personal ornamentation and worldly entertainment, and from high and luxurious beds. Additionally, those who undertake the uposatha precepts at a monastery will spend the day listening to Dhamma talks and practicing meditation, especially the recollective meditations on the qualities of the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. See in this connection AN 3:70 and AN 8:41. 16 Pj I 141–42. 17 The three realms are, in short: (1) the desire realm (kāmadhātu), which includes the three bad destinations (the hells, the sphere of afflicted spirits and the animal realm), and seven good destinations, namely, the human state and the six lower heavens; (2) the form realm (rūpadhātu), more exalted divine realms to be reached by attaining the meditative absorptions known as the jhānas; and (3) the formless realm (arūpadhātu), planes of existence in which even materiality is transcended, to be reached by attaining the formless meditative absorptions. 18 On the stages of realization, see the discussion of verse 10 below. The canon and commentaries include a few accounts of laypersons who attained the fourth stage, arahant-

A map of the good life  35 ship, but on attaining it they either requested monastic ordination (such as Yasa at Vin I 17 and the acrobat Uggasena at Dhp-a IV 63) or soon after passed away (such as the chief minister Santati at Dhp-a III 78–81). 19 Pj I 142. 20 The Pali terms, mentioned at Pj I 142, are sampattavirati, samādānavirati and samucchedavirati. 21 Pj I 142–43. The commentary is referring to DN 31, III 181–82. 22 DN 31, III 182–83. 23 I have taken these from: http:​//​www​​.drug​​freew​​orld.​​org​/d​​rugfa​​cts​/a​​lcoho​​l​/sho​​rt​-te​​rm​-lo​​ ng​-t​e​​rm​-ef​​fects​​.html​ 24 Vibhaṅga §846. 25 Pj I 147. 26 Dhammakaya Foundation, Manual of Peace, pp. 283–84. 27 Pj I 149. 28 These are mentioned in AN 5:161. For another set of five, see AN 5:162. 29 Pj I 150. 30 See for example MN 95, II 171–73; SN 46:3, V 67–68. 31 See for instance MN 27, I 179. 32 MN 14, I 93: Purāṇānaṃ kammānaṃ tapasā byantibhāvā. 33 For accounts of these practices, see MN 12, I 77–81 and MN 36, I 242–46. 34 Pj I 151–52. 35 For the tasks involved in cultivating calm and insight, see AN 4:94. 36 See SN 13:1, II 133–134. 37 The formula occurs in numerous texts. See for example DN 2, I 84 and MN 27, I 183. 38 The passage is at Mahāniddesa I 332 (VRI edition). 39 Translation by Bhikkhu Bodhi. The translation is original to this volume.

2

Compassion blesses the compassionate The basis of human flourishing in Buddhist thought and practice Stephen Jenkins

Introductory comments When speaking of the good life for all, one of the first things to consider is that in the past, as today, the vast majority of Buddhists were neither philosophers nor meditators. In Buddhist ethical theory, and commonsensically, understanding emptiness or selflessness was considered highly exceptional and for most people, ethics was sattvālambana, having sentient beings as its basis.1 Even among contemporary scholars the ethical implications of emptiness and selflessness continue to be matters of strong disagreement. Classical Buddhist thinkers recognized that the vast majority of Buddhists understood neither selflessness nor emptiness and accounted for this in their systematic thought. Compassion is the motivation to pursue higher wisdom, and so must precede it. Similarly, suggestions that we should be compassionate because we are all interconnected, although an attractive and easy to express argument, are as rare in classical texts as they are prominent in modern discourse. What modes of ethical thinking, then, could grandmothers employ in developing a compassionate civilization? I demonstrate below that rather than basing moral selflessness on ontological selflessness, Indian Buddhist texts supported ethics on the basis of the ordinary perception of sentient beings and the distinction between self and others.2 Rather than an ethic of self-abnegating altruism rooted in ontological deconstruction of the self, they advocated the inseparability and mutuality of self and other benefit. The distinction between self and other is prominent, pervasive and thematic. As shown below, classical texts claim that concern for others leads to maximum self-benefit, even in worldly terms of health, wealth, safety and prestige, while self-interested disregard for the benefit of others leads to poverty, harm, humiliation and misery. On personal, social and even political levels, compassion blesses the compassionate and hostility harms the harmful. The benefit of self and other are interrelated in a productive paradox that broadly informs Buddhist ethics. The benefit of others is impossible without self-empowerment. Interest in others is the most self-interested perspective possible, and, in both Mahayana and Mainstream3 sources, exclusive interest in the benefit of others was explicitly considered inferior to exclusive interest in oneself. Below, I elaborate on the selfish benefits of compassion and giving, which are so strong that it can seem as if they are disingenuous. Then we will examine a

Compassion blesses the compassionate  37 variety of self and other themes that demonstrate the fundamental idea of reciprocal mutual benefit. Finally, I will show that, in addition to karmic moral causality, these ideas are grounded in practical insights into the good life that honor concerns for prosperity, security and happiness that led to the florescence of philanthropic activity across Asia.

Distinguishing between moral and ontological selflessness Based on the distinctive Buddhist teaching of selflessness, it is natural for Westerners to conflate moral and ontological selflessness in reading Buddhist ethics. But, these two uses of “selflessness” mean completely different things and have no necessary relationship. The Western moral convention “self-less” is connected to a strong ontological conception of the self, but Buddhists, for whom selflessness is an ontological term, never use “selfless” as a moral descriptor. It is not possible to become selfless in Buddhist thought, because we are selfless to begin with. One of the challenges of translating svārtha or ātmahita is that terms like self-interest, self-serving, self-centered, self-ish and so on, including almost any term with the prefix “self,” have such negative moral associations in Western languages. Long ago, Bendall and De La Vallée Poussin used “egoism” for svārtha, but I suspect this would be even less well received today.4 Normal definitions of altruism often rule out selfinterest and Abrahamic conceptions of the suffering servant and martyr messiah may also have some influence on Western interpretations of Buddhism. Suspension of such bias will support the reading of this chapter. As we will see below, selfinterest and self-benefit have positive meanings in their function as Buddhist moral categories. This is particularly important for the socially disenfranchised. The emphasis on self and other, sva and para, in ethical motifs (such as exchange of self and other, sameness of self and other, protection self and other, and benefit of self and other), shows Buddhist ethics is about distinct persons or beings. Judging by the proportion of nuns and monks that meditated or studied philosophy, only a small percentage of monastics historically understood no-self to the degree that it would inform their ethics. Monasteries teemed with children, adolescents and persons at every level of understanding. The laity, who generally focus on merit making, blessings, healing and auspiciousness, would be even less likely to think in terms of emptiness or selflessness.5 It is a philosopher’s conceit to think that elite abstract constructs lie at the root of ethical choices. Buddhist systematic thought explicitly recognized this. So if we want to understand Buddhist ethics, we need to look beyond elite philosophical constructions. Although in rare instances one finds arguments that relate ontological selflessness and compassion,6 the Mainstream tradition consistently insists that compassion is a conventional perspective with the sentient beings of the desire-realm for its object. According to the Abhidharmakośa: The Immeasurables [compassion, loving kindness etc.] have living beings for their object. More precisely, “They have the living beings of the Kāmadhātu for their sphere.” … However according to the Sūtra [Dīgha, i.250, iii.223

38  Stephen Jenkins etc.] the ascetic produces the mind of goodwill [maitrī, Pali: mettā] with regard to one cardinal direction, with regard to two cardinal directions, … The sūtra speaks of the physical world, but it has in view the beings that are to be found in the physical world.7 In Mahayana theory, compassion for beings seen as selfless and composed of elemental dharmas, dharma-ālambana karuṇā, is only possible for arhats and advanced bodhisattvas; and compassion based on emptiness is only possible for bodhisattvas on or above the eighth stage or bhūmi. In both Mahayana and Mainstream realms of thought, compassion with sentient beings for its basis, sattvālambana karuṇā, is operative for most or all people.8 The tendency in the study of Buddhist ethics to associate compassion with special ontological or meditative perspectives is dubious and misleading. Most Buddhist ethical thought is based not on emptiness or selflessness but on the simple perception of beings.9 For instance the “sameness of self and other,” which seems to suggest ontological identity, almost always appeals to psychological sameness. By far the most common argument for non-harm and compassion in Buddhist thought is that all sentient beings, even ants, are the same as us in fearing suffering. It is assumed that recognition of this basic psychological similarity will result in empathy for all varieties of beings. Rather than an impersonal perspective, Buddhism gives distinctive attention to the infinite diversity of sentient beings and the need to understand and attend to their particular characters. In Mahayana Buddhism, this may even include teaching beings that communicate with smells. If sameness implied that there were no meaningful distinctions between self and other, or between what kinds of beings are in need, it would render bodhisattvas helpless. Even karmic outcomes are based on personal distinctions; for instance, it is an “immediate,” a sin that leads directly to hell, to kill one’s own mother, but not to kill someone else’s mother. Moral status also informs distinctions; to harm a buddha is completely different than harming an evil person.10

The personal benefits of compassion If compassion is not generally rationalized based on subtle philosophical or meditative perspectives, then what supported this value as it broadly influenced public and polity? One important factor is the belief that compassion, including all kind and benevolent activity, benefits the compassionate, which supports the productive and typically Buddhistic paradox that both persons and societies flourish most when they are characterized by a compassionate interest in the benefit of others.11 There are standard litanies of benefits for the cultivation of “loving kindness,” mettā.12 These include many that are easy to appreciate from modern perspectives, for instance, good sleep (including auspicious dreams and freedom from nightmares), happiness, human affection, health, long life, peaceful death, serenity, and ease of meditation. Love and freedom from stressful negative emotions have been scientifically proven to have all these benefits, just as hate and stress have been proven to shorten life and undermine mental and physical health.13 Since

Compassion blesses the compassionate  39 “mindfulness” is currently employed for so many therapeutic purposes, perhaps it would be fruitful to consider the compassion practices identified by the tradition as having the benefits they seek. Other benefits of generating mettā are more challenging; these include the affection and protection of nonhumans (especially divinities), invulnerability to fire and weapons, karmic merit and heavenly rebirth. We will return to many of these throughout the chapter, including Mahayana sources. For now, I want to establish that tradition celebrated the blessings of compassion for the compassionate. There is a circular relationship here between self and other benefit that can be confusing. The following famous passage from the Bodhicaryāvatāra is usually taken to express the essence of a bodhisattva’s exclusive altruistic interest in others. From the desire to elevate only oneself [come] bad birth, lowliness, and stupidity. From that very desire directed elsewhere, [come] good birth, respect, and intelligence …Whoever is pained in the world, they all are so due to desire for their own happiness. Whoever is pleased in the world, they all are so due to desire for others’ happiness.14 However, this is a stock expression that not only is the exclusively self-interested person actually harming their own selfish interest, but those who are altruistically interested in others’ benefit actually receive abundant worldly blessings such as auspicious rebirths, social status, intelligence and happiness, that is, they benefit with the “good life.” This second aspect is under appreciated. Asaṅga expressed this circularity centuries earlier in a verse that could have been a template for the Bodhicaryāvatāra’s. Foolish people striving for their own benefit, [svārtha] fail to attain it and always head toward suffering. The wise, however, always strive for the benefit of others, [parārtha] and delivering both [sva and parārtha] head toward cessation.15 Generosity and loving kindness benefit those who have them independently of whether they benefit others. Anāthapiṇḍika (Sanskrit: Anāthapiṇḍada), the paradigm of the wealthy donor, whose name means “food for the protectorless,” is famous for buying the Jeta grove for a monastery by covering the grounds with gold coins. He was told by Buddha that producing a mere squirt of mettacitta accumulates more merit than donating whole monasteries.16 The Abhidharmakośa says meditation on compassion gains merit from the compassion itself, even when there is no other beneficiary, just as donations to relic shrines produce merit even though Buddha is gone.17 If indeed there is only merit from benefiting others, [then] there would be none for mentally cultivating maitrī and the other immeasurables and in cultivating the right viewpoint … As in regard to maitrī etc., even without a

40  Stephen Jenkins recipient or benefit to another, merit is produced, arising from one’s own thoughts.18 Śāntideva, responding to the question of why, if there have been countless bodhisattvas who have perfected generosity, does the world continue to be filled with poverty and starvation, answers that it is impossible to change the world and the perfection of generosity is a state of mind. V.10: [Response] The perfection of generosity is said to be the thought to give all beings everything, together with the fruit of such a thought, hence it is simply a state of mind… V.12: Unruly beings are as (unlimited) as space: they cannot possibly all be overcome, but if I overcome thoughts of anger alone, this will be the equivalent of vanquishing all foes. V.13: Where would I possibly find enough leather with which to cover the surface of the Earth? But (wearing) leather just on the soles of my shoes is equivalent to covering the earth with it. V.14: Likewise for me it is not possible to restrain the external course of things; but should I restrain this mind of mine, what would be the need to restrain all else.19 Concrete action for the sake of others is nowhere dismissed here, and the rest of the text is filled with calls to relieve material suffering, but it is clear that developing a generous mind is in one’s interest, regardless of whether it benefits others or not.20 The idea that generosity can be perfected, even if suffering is limitless, also protects practitioners from despair.

Karmic merit, heavenly rebirth and the good death Perhaps the most important and standard benefit of cultivating compassion was heavenly rebirth. The Nikāyas explain that unlike the ordinary worldling, those who attain heaven in this way will never regress and will complete their path to liberation there.21 The good death is an important factor in the good life, and otherworldly expectations play a fundamental role in ethics. In the classic definition of “wrong view,” denying rebirth is an ethical disaster leading directly to hell “as if someone led you there.”22 Dogmatically speaking, it is a definitive rejection of basic Dharma. In Buddha’s third to last life, visually portrayed in most Southeast Asian temples, King Aṅgati decides karmic retribution is false, and reacts by ending regular donations to the poor. Like any good Buddhist, his daughter prays to the devas for help. Buddha was then reborn as Great Brahma, still worshipped today throughout Theravada countries, whom we might regard as an archangel more than a “god.” Personally representing heavenly rebirth, he descends and tells the king: “Men like you, … following false doctrines, are bound for hell,” and terrifies him into reassuming “the responsibilities of his realm,” including

Compassion blesses the compassionate  41 providing for the poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, aged and sick.23 This shows ideal giving was not only directed toward monastics and, like other examples below, suggests broad government responsibility for the unfortunate. We see later that this was also considered a practical concern for maintaining a robust economy and even maintaining power. The story shows as well that the Buddhist good life has a shadow. Hells are as elaborated as heavens and contemporary shrines commonly include horrific hell realm dioramas that often make children burst into tears. The dead are led before Yama, the Lord of the lower realms, who adjudicates their karma and sends them on to the razor trees and other torments. Draconian penal codes were a normal aspect of most Buddhist polities. Karmic causality also reflects the reciprocity of self and other benefit. The Karmavibhaṅga, a standard text that correlates actions and their fruits, says those who offer food will never be hungry; those who offer riches will always be wealthy; those who give clothing will always be clothed; those who give medicine will have long life, etc.24 Conversely, parsimony results in poverty in this life and the next. It is often suggested that karma affirms social inequities, since everyone experiences the results of their actions. This is too simplistic; the attribution of poverty to former miserliness also suggests that the privileged await a similar fate, if they fail to be generous to the poor. As we will discuss below, eradication of poverty was considered a social necessity, and generosity was considered to contribute to general prosperity. As Sizemore and Swearer put it: [Buddhism] projects a vision of social order that sees a perfect harmony between virtue and prosperity … following the Dhamma is not only morally the best and religiously the highest life; it is prudentially the wisest and ultimately the most profitable. And yet, non-attachment is still the dominant motif: if self-serving greed becomes the motive of such a life, the virtue of even the best action will be lost.25 Here again we see the same kind of paradox; generosity enriches the generous. This might seem to privilege the wealthy, but as we saw with Anāthapiṇḍika above, purity of attitude is more important than the value of the gift. Andy Rotman insightfully analyzed the Divyāvadāna as presenting a dynamic of faith, prasāda, in which humble offerings of the disenfranchised routinely lead to heavenly rebirth.26 When we think of the good life for all, at least soteriologically, this dynamic offered robust and inclusive possibilities that could motivate entire cultures, rather than just a group of ascetics seeking the distant goal of nirvana. The dynamic of faith provided opportunities, even for those of little merit, to attain heavenly realms in which they continue to make spiritual progress. This obviously foreshadows sensibilities found in Pure Land Buddhism, which are often mistaken as Chinese in origin.27 The conception is similar to the popular Christian idea that the good go to heaven and become angels. This concern for heavenly rebirth was not just a lay practice. Even for most monastics, enlightenment or nirvana are distant pole stars lifetimes away. Many great historical figures, including Buddhaghosa, Tsong Khapa and Xuanzang, explicitly aspired to heavenly

42  Stephen Jenkins rebirth or are remembered this way in hagiographies.28 The dynamics of faith, karma and a multiple-life perspective grounded Buddhist ethics for millennia and may be threatened by modernist attempts to reduce Buddhism to philosophy and meditation.

Protection of self and other Invulnerability to harm and the protection of devatā, the angelic beings of the heaven realms, are among the standard blessings of compassion. According to the commentary, the famous Mettā Sutta was first expounded to protect monks being harassed by terrifying forest divinities. This classic expression of “loving kindness” was originally taught for self-protection.29 Theravadins still recite it at births and weddings, when moving, opening a new building, for protection from snakebite or to dispel misfortune.30 Mettā (Sanskrit: Maitrī) is inseparable from notions that it protects its agent, that it serves svārtha. This explains why the Prajñāpāramitā calls generating bodhicitta “putting on armor”; and why a vajra, which since early tradition is the weapon of Buddha’s armed bodyguard Vajrapāṇi, is the main symbol for the power of compassion. Compassion’s protection and the perils of living without it are illustrated in wonderful tales of murderous elephants being pacified by Buddha’s loving kindness, or of kings hit by arrows just when their compassion lapsed. The progenitor of the Sinhalese was the patricidal son of a lion. When he attempted to kill his father, the arrows bounced off him, because he was filled with love on seeing his son. But on realizing what was happening, he became enraged; the armor of affection lapsed, and the arrows slammed home.31 Buddhaghosa offers another tale of a cow who could not be speared by a hunter while it nursed its calf, because it was filled with simple love, and explicitly points out that such protection is not due only to special meditative absorption.32 A Burmese nun once told my class how she chanted the Mettā Sutta when threatened by stormy seas off the Alaskan coast. The seas calmed and dolphins danced in circles around the boat. Such tales are common. There is an aspect of supernatural thinking here, but I show below a concrete side to this idea in which society is safer and political regimes more secure when informed by compassion. The inverse idea is that anger endangers us, but social activists and the disenfranchised sometimes argue that their anger empowers them. Buddhism offers the counterargument that anger is gratifying and advantageous to enemies. Reverse mirroring many of the benefits of compassion, the angry lose their reputation, are emotionally ugly—even suicidal, alienate their friends and family, their wealth is confiscated by kings (through fines for misconduct), good sleep eludes them, and they have bad rebirths, because anger leads to harmful conduct. Most compellingly, the angry are unsuccessful, because anger ruins their ability to discern effective courses of action.33 Maintaining compassion even for enemies disempowers those enemies’ ability to cause us emotional harm and empowers those struggling with the harmful to maintain the clarity necessary for effective action.

Compassion blesses the compassionate  43 Even the use of deadly force is sometimes validated in Buddhist texts, but never hatred or anger.34 In the Nikāyas it is said that one who protects herself protects others and one who protects others protects herself. This is taught in one example through the allegory of a pair of acrobats, one standing on the other’s shoulders, who depend on each other for mutual support. They each must mind themselves or their partner will fall, but they must also mind their partner in order to keep their own balance.35 The Akṣayamatinirdeśa and Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtras explain loving kindness, maitrī, as protection for oneself and delight in benefiting others, and tolerance, kṣānti, as protecting self and other.36

Benefit of self and other The “benefit-of-self-and-other,” svaparārtha, theme runs throughout the historical and cultural range of Buddhist thought from Indian Mainstream and Mahayana to the early Chinese Pure Land thought of Tanluan and the Sōtō Zen essays of Dōgen.37 Indian commentaries tell us that exclusively pursuing the benefit of others is mistaken. Benefit of self and other should be reciprocal and complementary. This cuts against two stereotypes. One is that Mainstream Buddhism emphasizes self-interested pursuit of individual liberation. The other is that the Mahayana emphasizes benefiting others at the expense of self-interest, sometimes, it is thought, even undermining their own spiritual progress. This can be seen in the once-standard misconception that bodhisattvas sacrifice their own enlightenment. Interest in others’ benefit is strongly emphasized throughout Buddhist texts for several reasons. One is that self-interest is considered natural, even animalistic, and needs no encouragement. Another, as Asaṅga put it above, is that interest in others ultimately benefits both self and other. The focus on developing interest in others as a motivational quality is informed and explicitly encouraged by the understanding that this is paradoxically most beneficial to oneself. Nothing could be more self-beneficial in Buddhism than altruistic motivations. The scheme of svaparārtha is portrayed in simple statements about benefiting both self and other throughout the literature.38 It is implicit in the bodhisattva vow to attain the ultimate self-development, buddhahood, for the sake of benefiting others, and, as shown below, structured accounts of the path used the svaparārtha theme to frame the attainment of enlightenment in this way. I have often encountered feminist objections to the supposed Buddhist idea of sacrificing self-interest for the sake of others, since women need to resist cultural pressures to sacrifice their empowerment, but the model of svaparārtha urges maximum self-empowerment for the sake of others. Svaparārtha is elaborated by comparing four types of persons in the following hierarchical order: those concerned for nobody’s benefit, those concerned only for others, those concerned only for themselves, and those concerned for mutual benefit. Those concerned for no one’s good are compared to firebrands from a funeral pyre, smeared with dung in the middle, and lit at both ends; no fire will be kindled

44  Stephen Jenkins from it.39 Third best of these four is the person concerned only for others. One problem with being solely interested in benefiting others is that it presents a bias. Meditation techniques for expanding compassion do not negate self-cherishing for the sake of others but expand self-cherishing until it includes others without bias. The effect of “breaking down the barriers” between self and other is to generate an impartial love that does not discriminate. Oneself is included among the class of all sentient beings toward which compassion is generated. As the Dalai Lama often says, those who do not love themselves can never love another. Buddhaghosa, discussing the practice of “breaking down the barriers” (between oneself, a neutral person, an enemy and a friend), describes a hypothetical situation where four such people are captured by bandits. They demand a captive be chosen for a blood offering to Kālī. One might expect ideal Buddhists to jump up, shouting “pick me,” but those who prefer to sacrifice any of the three, including themselves, fail to break the barriers between these categories. The ideal attitude is to impartially prefer neither the sacrifice of self nor other.40 The other problem with those only interested in others, identified concretely in the suttas, is that such a person attempts to aid others without developing the proper qualifications to do so. The ultimate self-interest here is construed as progress toward nirvana, and one must progress on the path before being capable of leading others. Returning to the Aṅguttara Nikāya, those concerned only for themselves are considered better than those exclusively interested in others, but they too are found lacking.41 These at least accomplish their own empowerment, and so are superior to those who try to benefit others without being qualified. Merely by purifying themselves as merit fields, monks and nuns benefited all those who offered to them. Another Aṅguttara passage shows concern for the apparent selfishness of monastic life. Here, a Brāhmaṇa raises a doubt, which could have been phrased by a Mahāyānist, that monastics seem interested only in self-cultivation. Brahmins offer sacrifice and get others to do so. All these are following a course of merit, due to sacrifice, that benefits many people. But whoever … has gone forth from home into homelessness, he tames but one self, calms but one self, makes but one self attain final Nirvana.42 The response is that Buddhist renunciants call others to follow them, and so they also benefit others. The Aṅguttara’s account of selfish monastics would make a valid description of the Mahayana’s straw man, and shows that, even in the Nikāyas, interest only in one’s own liberation was considered inferior. Prominent themes like global empathy, lokānukampā, and the mind of loving kindness, mettacitta, show that, even in early texts, those interested only in self-benefit would disregard Buddha’s most persistent exhortations. Every monastic activity, from begging to meditation, should be motivated by intentions to benefit and gladden the multitude, out of global empathy, for the benefit and happiness of devatā and humans.43 In many cases, Mahayana expressions of universal compassion are merely adapted in identical form. Mettacitta, with suggestive similarity to bodhicitta, is the pervading thought to benefit all beings. It is an essential quality of a true

Compassion blesses the compassionate  45 monk and a prerequisite for properly receiving alms.44 The Aṅguttara concludes its discussion of self and other by describing those interested in both self and other as the best among them all.45 Only these have the self-empowerment that qualifies them to help others. The same concern for both self and other also applies to the laity.46 Asaṅga devotes a chapter of the Bodhisattvabhūmi to svaparārtha. As in the Aṅguttara, benefiting self and other are correlated with advancing oneself and others on the path. He defines effort for one’s own sake as striving for the attainment of enlightenment, and effort for others as the liberation of sentient beings. In Mahayanasūtrālaṃkāra, Asaṅga divides the perfections of the bodhisattva path according to whether they are for the benefit of oneself or others. Generosity, morality and tolerance (dāna, śīla and kṣānti) are for the sake of others, and meditation, wisdom and strength (dhyāna, prajñā and vīrya) are for the sake of oneself.47 The Ratnagotravibhāga divides the buddha-bodies according to their benefit of self and other. The attainment of the “reality body,” dharmakāya, is for oneself, and the attainment of the enjoyment body, sambhogakāya, and manifestation body, nirmāṇakāya, are for the sake of others.48 Just as the svaparārtha scheme illustrates the importance of interest in others in Mainstream traditions, it illustrates the importance of self-interest in the Mahayana. But these are circular; the epitome of self-empowerment is for the sake of others. Returning to the Bodhisattvabhūmi, Asaṅga sees those interested only in themselves as inferior simply because they fail to cultivate others. But, as in the Nikāyas, those interested only in others are actually worse than those interested only in themselves. People interested in benefiting only others actually succeed in benefiting no one, because they fail to develop in themselves the necessary powers and capabilities to help others. When both [self-empowerment and training of followers] are present … the bodhisattva’s actions for others become abundant and fitting, since he is capable of helping others. And the bodhisattva who has become like this quickly matures [both] his own buddha-qualities and sentient beings in the three vehicles; and he [both] realizes unsurpassed true awakening and liberates matured sentient beings.49 By developing in herself the power to help others, the ideal practitioner benefits both self and other.50 This is the elegant interrelation of benefiting self and other in both the arhat and bodhisattva ideal, which is to empower oneself for the sake of others. Benefit of self and other are linked, since the best way to benefit others is by pursuing the ultimate benefit to oneself. Even supererogatory acts of apparently radical self-abnegation are empowering and self-rewarding. In the Hungry Tigress Jātaka, Buddha’s companions are fearful as they enter the jungle, but in anticipation of offering his body, Buddha declares this is a day of great opportunity.51 In the Hare Jātaka, Buddha describes the act of hurling himself into the flames as doing himself a favor.52 When bodhisattvas are obstructed from giving their heads, or someone protests that this

46  Stephen Jenkins is harmful to them, they rebuke them for hindering their spiritual progress.53 This double-edged quality can easily lead to misunderstanding. Motivations purely for the benefit of others do not entail the sacrifice of self-interest. It is precisely the least self-interested motivation that is most self-beneficial. This is not to argue that extreme acts of generosity and suffering for the sake of others are not actually being advocated, but only that they are in fact the basis of extreme self-benefit, including heavenly rebirths and massive acceleration of spiritual progress. More importantly for most of us, being kind results in the good life: happiness, wealth, popularity, health and sweet dreams. What can appear to be a subtle selfishness behind these practices is only the other side of a naturally double-edged relationship between developing oneself and benefiting others. This double-edged quality leads to many paradoxical constructions. Nothing assures future wealth better than generosity and so receiving can be the greatest kindness. Subhūti, a key character of the Diamond Sūtra, set in the Jeta Grove donated by his brother Anāthapiṇḍada (Pali: Anāthapiṇḍika), was idealized as the worthiest recipient of offerings. This was because he meditated on maitrī (Pali: mettā) as he went begging alms, thus boosting the merit received by those who gave to him. Receiving alms becomes a form of compassion for monastics, since by receiving alms they allow others to accrue merit. Susanne Mrozick notes this kind of paradox in her study of the body in Buddhist thought. Those who sacrifice their bodies for the sake of others are the very ones who attain the exquisite body of a Buddha.54 Self-sacrifice is so self-beneficial that giving becomes a form of receiving. Being eaten by a tiger or self-immolation are opportunities, and protecting others is the best way to protect oneself. Bodhisattvas are even encouraged to see their enlightenment as being dependent on sentient beings, since without them they could never accumulate the merit necessary for buddhahood. When the bodhisattva thus gives to those sentient beings, he truly regards those he helps as being more helpful to him than he himself (is to them). Because (he thinks) they serve as the very foundation (for my attainment) of unexcelled perfect enlightenment.55 Conversely, the inferior attainment of śrāvakas is a result of only pursuing their own interest, instead of pursuing the interests of others. While altruism ultimately blesses the altruistic, selfishness ultimately undermines the selfish.

Social and political perspectives The immense, and historically well documented, impulse to philanthropy and prosocial activism that Buddhism generated in Southeast and East Asia is difficult to show in India, because of its historical ambiguity and the demise of Buddhism there. However, what we see in the rest of Asia is clearly modeled in Indian texts. The Kulāvaka Jātaka illustrates the protective power of compassion and models organized civic activism. The bodhisattva, a villager named Magha, organizes

Compassion blesses the compassionate  47 the men of his town to do good works, leveling roads, clearing obstacles, cutting trees that obstruct chariots, building causeways, digging water tanks and building a public hall for offering shelter and distributing water, rice and alms to the poor. The corrupt village headman is not happy about this prosocial behavior. Previously he would have sold these villagers whiskey and then made more money by fining them for the resulting crimes. So he slanders them to the king, convincing him to execute them. Facing death, the bodhisattva encourages his fellows to resort to the protective power of mettā by generating love in their hearts for all concerned. One after another, the execution elephants refuse to crush them. The awestruck king demands to know the source of their power. Magha tells him that they follow the precepts and “we abound in loving kindness, we show charity, we level the roads, dig tanks [reservoirs] and build a public hall; this is our spell, our safeguard, and our strength.”56 The men, apparently including the bodhisattva, are resistant to allowing women to participate in their merit making, but the women use bribes and trickery to convince the men to include them. The women put a pinnacle on the alms hall, offer benches, water and a constant flow of food. They build an enclosure around the hall, fill the water tank with lotuses, and plant all manner of fruit and flower trees. This results in the group attaining the otherworldly blessing of heavenly rebirth but also clearly models organized social activism that concretely creates a better community for all. In a classic piece on the bodhisattva ideal in East Asia, Luis Gómez offered a host of legendary and historical examples of similar kinds of activities in Japan and China, including famine and epidemic relief.57 These include Japanese monk Gyogi Bosatsu (668–740), who directed construction of bridges, highways and canals. The Empress Komyo founded dispensaries, bath houses, and “compassion-field hospices” and, according to legend, cleaned the pus from a leprous beggar’s boils. Ninsho Bosatsu (1217–1303) later built a leper colony on the site famed for this act and built dispensaries, rest houses for the destitute, bridges, roads and wells. Gómez cites Dōgen for encouraging activities like bridge-building and providing ferries. Arthur Wright reports that in China “the growth of Buddhism as a common faith was accompanied by a great increase of charitable works of all kinds,” including dispensaries, free hospitals, epidemic relief, famine relief grain, hostels, road building and tree planting.58 He notes that by the Song Dynasty many of these activities were funded by the state, including “public clinics, an empire wide system of homes for the aged, infirm, and the orphaned, and public cemeteries.”59 In an excellent summary including Nepal, Todd Lewis adds activities such as boat construction, public education and sanitary toilets, highlighting that these were collectively organized by lay committees and often set up as endowed charities.60 The great Khmer emperor Jayavarman VII built an imperial hospital network. Inscriptions elaborate the staffing, payment and supplies of 102 hospitals with 101 personnel each, 10,302 in all, including doctors, pharmacists, laborers to cook and grind medicine, storekeepers, guards and cooks, all supervised by two priests and an accountant. All this was free to anyone and included food for the patients. At the center of each hospital was a shrine to the Medicine Buddha.61

48  Stephen Jenkins The great Mahayana thinker Asaṅga gives an expansive description of the activities of a bodhisattva: [A bodhisattva] assists others in their work and activities. For example, one assists in agriculture, commerce, tending livestock; service to the king, scribal work, counting, record keeping, calculating and signing; resolving difficulties with an employer/overlord, among family members, between friends and foes, and within a royal palace; [the activities of] accumulating, preserving, storing, making use of, and distributing wealth; [the activities of making] matrimonial arrangements in which a bride is sent out [to another family] or brought into [one’s own family]; [the activities of] extensive feasting and communal feasting; as well as other similar types of activities.62 For Asaṅga, bodhisattvas could also engage in unseating kings or ministers who “are excessively fierce, merciless and solely set out to afflict others.”63 Obviously, such roles varied dramatically among the great diversity of traditions, cultures and times, but it is reasonable to generalize that Buddhist institutions and actors were deeply embedded in society and influenced every dimension of social life. Space does not allow a treatment of the broad range of monastic business activities and involvement of monks in government administration. There may at times have been disengaged Buddhists, but the idea of a socially disengaged Buddhism is incoherent. It is well established that Buddhism attributed social degeneration and crime to poverty.64 This connection was also regarded as a practical threat to royal power. General social welfare depended on the ruler’s virtue and benevolent activities. In Rājovāda Jātaka, a king, who is told that “the whole realm becomes bad and flavorless” when it is ruled unjustly, scientifically tests the idea by deliberately doing so, and indeed the figs turn bitter.65 Although this idea has supernatural overtones, as a general sensibility it has practical and topical relevance. Gaṇḍatindu Jātaka describes an oppressive king who brutally overtaxed his citizens, and then failed to protect them from the crime that arose from the resulting poverty.66 The king toured his ruined villages in disguise and heard people draw practical connections between his misrule and their daily misfortunes, for instance, an old woman fallen from a tree while trying to gather scarce fuel, and a man kicked by a wild cow that he tried to milk in desperation. Even frogs curse him because the crows, who in more prosperous times are fed by offerings to the gods, attack the frogs instead. In each instance, his royal minister repeats: “Surely you can’t blame the king for this,” with the ironic implication that we can. The text warns that his children will never inherit the throne and he will come to destruction in this life and the next. The Kūṭadanta Sutta depicts another kingdom ravaged by poverty and the ensuing crime.67 It advises, with current relevance, that the punishment and incarceration of criminals will never solve the problem. Instead, kings should support agriculturalists with grain and fodder, supply capital to businessmen and ensure proper wages for government workers. Rather than merely threatening his downfall or hellish rebirth, the tale emphasizes that royal revenues will increase

Compassion blesses the compassionate  49 when the economy flourishes and he will win the heart of his people. Generosity is enriching. Benevolent rule ensures his wealth, power and security. Rather than financial concessions of the privileged to the entitled, support for trade, food security, healthcare and housing is fundamental to a prosperous economy for all. The practicality of this idea is reflected as I write during the great pandemic of 2020, in which failures to provide basic food, health and income security threaten the collapse of the world’s most powerful economy. Similar arguments are extended to the treatment of vassals, interstate relations, and the conduct of warfare. From the perspective of the important Satyakaparivarta Sūtra, the idea that compassion protects and blesses was extended to social and political perspectives.68 A compassionate nation, benefiting both self and other, tends to have many allies and no enemies. So the arising of enemies should prompt analysis of one’s own culpability. Benevolent external relations lead to greater security, while exploitation generates enemies. Flourishing neighbors enhance security and provide ready allies. From this perspective, contemporary problems like mass migration of the poor and terrorism can never be solved by spending trillions on barriers and security measures, but only, once again, through wealth being directed at poverty. Benevolent internal governance creates a culture of generosity, rather than tax evasion. Support for trade, agriculture, healthcare, transportation and infrastructure result in strong economies. So the royal coffers of a compassionate king are full, while those of the exploitive are empty. Such ideas as that warfare should be a last resort, that prisoners should not be abused, that infrastructure should not be destroyed in warfare might all be taken as naive moral concessions, but ignoring these in recent wars have been catastrophic mistakes even in terms of the raw calculations of political power.69 In contrast to the idea of enlightened self-interest, according to which the maximum pursuit of self-interest results in the good of all, this might well be described as “enlightened other-interest,” according to which altruism results in the supreme fruition of the ultimate self-interest. The productive paradox in which a culture of generosity leads to prosperity and compassion blesses the compassionate appears across diverse dimensions of life. Compassion leads to the good life, prosperity and both personal and national security.

Notes 1 See Stephen Jenkins, “Waking into Compassion: The Three Ālambana of Karuṇā,” in Moonpaths, ed. Jenkins et al. (New York: Oxford University, 2015), 97–118. 2 Indeed all Buddhist ethics is based on conventional perception of beings. I refer to sattva-ālambana-karuṇā, compassion for beings without ultimate analysis. 3 “Mainstream” refers to non-Mahayana Indian traditions throughout. 4 Cecil Bendall and Louis de la Vallée Poussin. “Bodhisattvabhūmi: A Textbook of the Yogācāra School. An English Summary with notes and illustrative extracts from Other Buddhistic works,” Le Muséon, Nouvelle Série, VII (1906), 213–30. 5 Modern rereadings of dependent origination as ontological “inter-connection” are mistakenly projected on traditional texts and are also unlikely to inform ethical decisions. See Lambert Schmithausen, “The Early Buddhist Tradition and Ecological Ethics,” Journal of Buddhist Ethics 4, (1997): 13 and footnote 73.

50  Stephen Jenkins 6 Excepting Bodhicaryāvatāra, such passages are rarely if ever cited by modern scholars basing compassion on selflessness or emptiness. Lambert Schmithausen observes they are found more often in tension. “Buddhism and the Ethics of Nature—Some Remarks,” The Eastern Buddhist, New Series 32, no. 2 (2000): 33–34. For evidence that this “tension” is thematic in Mahayana and Mainstream, see Jenkins, “Waking into Compassion.” 7 Louis de La Vallée Poussin, Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam, vol. 4, trans. Leo Pruden (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1988–1990), 1266. It is recently argued Buddhist compassion is different from empathy, because it is impersonal. 8 For ālambana of karuṇā in classical sources, see Jenkins, “Waking into Compassion.” 9 Where selflessness or emptiness perspectives are operative, the objects of compassion are conventional beings seen as selfless or empty, not dharmas or the void per se. See Jenkins, “Waking into Compassion.” 10 Stephen Jenkins, “On the Auspiciousness of Compassionate Violence,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 33, no. 1–2 (2010): 299–331. 11 “Compassion” is shorthand throughout for qualities related to care and benevolence. 12 On standard benefits of mettā see: A.iv.150–51; Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans., The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha (Somerville: Wisdom, 2012), 1111; A.v.342; Bodhi, Numerical Discourses, 1573; Buddhaghosa, The Path of Purification, trans. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1979), 337–39. T. W. Rhys-Davids, Questions of King Milinda, vol. 1 (New York: Dover,1963), 279; Harvey Aronson, Love and Sympathy in Theravada Buddhism (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1980), 58; Étienne Lamotte, Le Traite de la Grande Vertue de Sagesse de Nāgārjuna (Louvain: Université de Louvain, 1944–1976), 1264; Ulrich Pagel, The Bodhisattvapiṭaka (Tring: Institute of Buddhist Studies, 1995), 140, note 79. 13 Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini and Richard Lannon, A General Theory of Love (New York: Vintage Books, 2000). 14 Sridhar Tripathi, ed., Bodhicaryāvatāra of Śāntideva with the Commentary Pañjikā of Prajñākaramati, Buddhist Sanskrit Texts no. 12, 2nd ed. (Darbhanga: Mithila, 1988), [VIII:127–29] 169; cf. Nāgārjuna’s Bodhicittavivaraṇa, v. 76–78, in Christian Lindtner, Nāgārjuniana (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1990), 207. 15 Author’s trans. Sylvain Lévi, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra: exposé de la doctrine du Grand Véhicule selon le systèm Yogācāra. Tome 1 Sanskrit Text (Paris: Champion, 1911) [Chapter V, v. 8], 21. 16 A.iv.395. 17 Poussin, Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam, 4:121 b, 702. 18 Shastri, Abhidharmakośa, vol. 2, 548; cf. Poussin, Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam, [iv.121b], 702. 19 Stephen Batchelor, Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Dharamsala: Library Tibetan Works and Archives, 1987), 45–46. 20 Stephen Jenkins, “Do Bodhisattvas Relieve Poverty? The Distinction Between Economic and Spiritual Development and Their Interrelation in Indian Buddhist Texts,” in Action Dharma: New Studies in Engaged Buddhism, ed. Damien Keown et al. (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), 38–49. 21 A.ii.129; Bodhi, Numerical Discourses, 507–10. 22 See Jenkins, “Debate Magic and Massacre,” for classical definitions. 23 Mahānāradakassapa Jātaka, J.554; E. B. Cowell and W. H. D. Rouse, The Jataka, vol. 6 (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2005 [1907]), 114–25. 24 Bruno Galasek-Hul, Exposition of Karma: Karmavibhaṅga (84000, 2020). 25 Russell F. Sizemore and Donald K. Swearer, eds., Ethics, Wealth, and Salvation: A Study in Buddhist Social Ethics (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1990), 4. 26 Andy Rotman, “The Erotics of Practice: Objects and Agency in Buddhist Avadāna Literature,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 71, no. 3 (Sep., 2003): 557.

Compassion blesses the compassionate  51 27 Jacqueline Stone, Right Thoughts at the Last Moment: Buddhism and Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 2016), 16. Stephen Jenkins, “Heavenly Rebirth and Buddhist Soteriology,” in The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice, ed. Paula Arai and Kevin Trainor (London: Oxford University, forthcoming 2021). 28 Jenkins, “Heavenly Rebirth,” forthcoming 2021. 29 Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, Minor Readings and Illustrator (London: Pali Text Society, 2005), 266–70. 30 Sarah Shaw, The Jātakas: Birth Stories of the Bodhisatta (New York: Penguin, 2006), 123. 31 Jenkins, “On the Auspiciousness”; Maurice Walshe, trans. Thus Have I Heard: The Long Discourses of the Buddha (London: Wisdom, 1987), 613, n. 986; Rhys-Davids, Milindapañha, vol. 1, 282, note 1. 32 Buddhaghosa, Path of Purification, 339. 33 Bodhi, Numerical Discourses, 1066–69. 34 Jenkins, “Auspiciousness of Compassionate Violence.” 35 S.v.169; Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, vol. 2 (Somerville: Wisdom, 2000), 1648. 36 Jens Braarvig, Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra: The Tradition of Imperishability in Buddhist Thought. (Oslo: Solum Forlag, 1993), 345, 146, 373; Robert Thurman, The Holy Teaching of Vimalakīrti (London: Penn State, 1976), 56. 37 Stephen Jenkins, “Benefit of Self and Other: The Importance of Persons and their SelfInterest in Buddhist Ethics,” Dharma Drum Journal of Buddhist Studies 16 (2015): 141–68; Lambert Schmithausen, “Benefiting Oneself and Benefiting Others: A Note on Aṅguttaranikāya 7.64,” in Gedenkschrift J.W. de Jong, ed. H. W. Bodewitz et al. (Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2004), 152–58. Stephen Jenkins, The Circle of Compassion: An Interpretive Study of Karuṇā in Indian Buddhist Literature, Cambridge Buddhist Institute Series, ed. R. C. Jamieson (Edinburgh: Hardinge Simpole, 2003). [Harvard Doctoral Dissertation 1998.] 49–67. 38 John Powers, Wisdom of Buddha: The Saṃdhinirmocana Sūtra (Berkeley: Dharma, 1995.), 261; Thomas Cleary, The Flower Ornament Scripture (Boston: Shambhala, 1993), [Daśabhūmika Sūtra] 708; Thurman, Vimalakīrti, 57; Braarvig, Akṣayamatinirdeśa, 354, 410 and 412; Alexander Naughton, “Classic Mahāyāna Soteriology: An annotated translation of chapters 1–7 of Haribhadra’s Short Commentary on the Abhisamayālaṃkāra known as Sphutārthā.” Annual Memoirs of the Otani University Shin Buddhist Comprehensive Research Institute, vol. 9 (1991), 93. 39 A.ii.95; F. L. Woodward, trans., The Book of Gradual Sayings, vol. 2 (New York: Oxford, 1933), 104. Cf. [mis-cited as AN.4.95] in Bhikkhu Bodhi, The Buddha’s Teachings on Social and Communal Harmony (Boston: Wisdom, 2016), 99. 40 Visuddhimagga, IX: 41, Buddhaghosa, Path of Purification, 332–33; cf. Thurman, Vimalakīrti, 57: “What is the upekṣā of a bodhisattva? It is what benefits both self and others.” 41 A.iii.12; E. M. Hare, trans., The Book of the Gradual Sayings, vol. 3 (New York: Oxford, 1934), 9–10. 42 A.i.168–169; Edward Conze, Buddhist Texts Through the Ages (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1954), 37–38. 43 D.ii.119; cf. Walshe, Thus Have I Heard, 253; I. B. Horner, The Book of Discipline, vol. 4 (Lancaster: Pali Text Society, 2007), 28: “Monks you should carefully assume those practices which I have taught for the sake of direct knowledge … This is for the welfare of the multitudes, the benefit, welfare …”. 44 Jenkins, Circle of Compassion, 67–87. 45 A.ii.95–97; Woodward, Gradual Sayings, 104–7; see also A.iii.12; Bodhi, Numerical Discourses, 638–40. See also D.iii.233, Walshe, Thus Have I Heard, 494. The commentary says the exclusively self-interested are virtuous. Those exclusively other-inter-

52  Stephen Jenkins ested are learned, but wicked. Those interested in neither are wicked and unlearned. Arhats interested in both are virtuous and learned. See A.iii.12, Hare, Gradual Sayings, 10, fn. 1. 46 A.iv.218–21; Bodhi, Numerical Discourses, 1154–55. 47 Lobsang Jamspal et al trans., The Universal Vehicle Discourse Literature (Mahāyāsū trālaṃkāra) by Maitreyanātha/Āryāsaṅga together with its Commentary (Bhāṣya) by Vasubandhu., edited by Robert Thurman (New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2004), xvi.3, 191–92. Cf. Braarvig, Akṣayamatinirdeśa Sūtra, 114. 48 Jikido Takasaki, A Study on the Ratnagotravibhāga (Rome: Instituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1966), 318–19. 49 Author’s translation. Asaṅga, Bodhisattvabhūmi, ed. Nalinakṣa Dutt (Patna: Jayasawal Research Institute, 1978.), 22.3; Cf. Asaṅga, The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpassed Enlightenment, trans. Artemus B. Engle (Boulder: Snow Lion, 2016), 54; For abundant Mahayana sources on svaparārtha, see Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature (New York: Samuel Weiser, 1978), 359, note 107, and 180–81. 50 Schmithausen notes Mahayanists rank persons interested in both highest, but without citation. Schmithausen, “Benefiting Oneself and Benefiting Others, 152. 51 R. E. Emmerick, trans., The Sūtra of Golden Light (London: Luzac, 1970), 88–100. 52 Peter Khoroche, Once The Buddha was a Monkey, Ārya Śūra’s Jātakamālā (Chicago: University Chicago, 1989), 32–38; Caroline Rhys-Davids, Stories of the Buddha: Being Selections from the Jātaka (New York: Dover, 1989), [J.316] 131–35. 53 For examples, Reiko Ohnuma, Head, Eyes, Flesh, Blood: Giving Away the Body in Indian Buddhist Literature (New York: Columbia, 2013), 118–19. 54 Susanne Mrozick, “The Relationship Between Morality and the Body in Monastic Training According to the Śikṣāsamuccaya” (PhD Diss., Harvard University, 1998), 78–79. 55 Jamspal, Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra, 197; Cf. Lindtner, Bodhicittavivaraṇa, 59. “If Buddhas attain the unsurpassed stage by [giving] living beings support, what is so strange if [those] not guided by the slightest concern for others receive none of the pleasures of gods and men …”. 56 J.31; E. B. Cowell, trans., The Jātaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Lives, vol. 1 (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2004 [1895]), 78–79. 57 Luis O. Gómez, “From the Extraordinary to the Ordinary: Images of the Bodhisattva in East Asia,” in The Christ and the Bodhisattva, edited by Donald Lopez and Steven Rockefeller (Albany: SUNY, 1992). 58 Arthur F. Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1959), 58, 75. 59 Wright, Buddhism in Chinese History, 93–94. 60 Todd Lewis, “Altruism in Classical Buddhism,” in Altruism in World Religions, ed. Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton (Washington: Georgetown University, 2005), 88–114. 61 Peter Sharrock and Claude Jaques, “The Grief of Kings Is the Suffering of Their Subjects: A Cambodian King’s Twelfth-Century Network of Hospitals,” in Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources, ed. C. Pierce Salguero (New York: Columbia University Press, 2017), 226–32. 62 Asaṅga, Bodhisattva Path, 12. Thanks to Hudaya Kandahjaya for this reference. 63 Mark Tatz, Asaṅga’s Chapter on Ethics with the Commentary of Tsong-kha-pa, the Basic Path to Awakening: The Complete Bodhisattva (New York: Edwin Mellen, 1986), 70–71, 215, 324–26. 64 Richard Gombrich, Theravāda Buddhism: A Social History (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1988), 82–84; Jenkins, “Do Bodhisattvas Relieve Poverty?” 38–49.

Compassion blesses the compassionate  53 65 Rājovāda Jātaka, J.334; H. T. Francis and R. A. Neil, trans., The Jātaka, vol. 3 (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2004 [1895]), 73–74. See also Kurudhamma Jātaka, J.276; Rouse, The Jātaka, vol. 2, 251. 66 Gaṇḍatindu Jātaka, J.520; H. T. Francis, trans., The Jātaka, vol. 5 (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2004 [1905]), 54–58. 67 D.i.136–138; Walsh, Thus Have I Heard, 135–37. 68 Stephen Jenkins, “Making Merit through Warfare According to the Ārya-Bodhisattvagocara-upāyaviṣaya-vikurvaṇa-nirdeśa Sūtra,” in Buddhist Warfare, ed. Mark Juergensmeyer and Michael Jerryson (New York: Oxford University, 2010), 59–75. 69 See Jenkins, “Making Merit through Warfare.”

Part II

The contemporary Buddhist world

3

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision A social democratic republic Christopher Queen

Long before his conversion to Buddhism in 1956, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar had become the face of India’s struggle for human rights. While M. K. Gandhi gained international recognition as leader of the struggle for Indian Independence, Ambedkar warned that independence would be meaningless as long as Indians like himself were shackled by caste and untouchability. In his writings on religion and society, Ambedkar argued that although the caste system was founded on ancient Hindu scriptures, citizens in the modern world should be free to choose or reject religious teachings that advanced or inhibited their welfare. Following a career of firsts for an untouchable, including graduate education in the United States and Britain, organizing mass protests, testifying in government hearings, teaching economics and law, founding schools for the poor, publishing a steady stream of editorials, scholarly articles and books, and chairing the constitutional drafting committee as independent India’s first Law Minister, Ambedkar fulfilled a promise he had made 21 years earlier: to embrace a religion that offered dignity and freedom to its adherents. The Dhamma Diksha ceremony he led in the central Indian city of Nagpur on October 14, 1956, resulted in the largest mass conversion in Buddhist history. By the time of the 1961 census, more than three million ex-untouchables called themselves Buddhist for the first time.1 Ambedkar’s public conversion to Buddhism took place only weeks before his death, yet he was no stranger to the tradition. He had been studying Buddhist history and philosophy all his adult life. Upon graduation from high school, he was given a biography of the Buddha by its author, a progressive educator and activist in Mumbai. By the time he returned from doctoral studies in New York and London, he had begun to amass one of the largest personal collections of Buddhist texts and commentaries in India. His copies of the Buddhist scriptures were heavily marked with underlining and marginal comments, and his final work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, published after his death, was the product of a decade of research. He chose Buddhist names for his residence in Mumbai and the colleges he founded in Mumbai and Aurangabad, and he served as keynote speaker at the international meetings of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Ceylon, Burma and Nepal.2 In the decades that separate us from the Buddhist conversion of the Dalits (“oppressed” or untouchables) in India, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956)

58  Christopher Queen has risen in Indian public opinion to be thought of as “the greatest Indian” in the post-colonial era. His birthday is observed as a federal holiday, a place in national life analogous to that of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the United States. Yet his name and legacy remain virtually unknown outside of India—except by historians and an emerging subculture in the non-Indian world. This is the movement of socially Engaged Buddhism that has appeared wherever Buddhism is practiced. Predicated on the belief that Buddhism is a social as well as a spiritual teaching, pioneers and practitioners of Engaged Buddhism have transformed the ancient tradition since the middle of the last century. These include monastic leaders such as the Dalai Lama of Tibet, Thich Nhat Hanh of Vietnam, Ven. Cheng Yen of Taiwan and Ven. Karma Lekshe Tsomo of the United States; and lay leaders, such as Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne of Sri Lanka, Sulak Sivaraksa of Thailand, Daisaku Ikeda of Japan and Bernard Glassman of the United States. In light of his deep conviction that the Buddhist Dhamma is a social teaching that has relevance to any society where oppressed minorities struggle for survival and respect, it is not difficult to see why Ambedkar occupies a prominent place among Engaged Buddhists. Yet Ambedkar’s place is unique. Since the 1950s, Engaged Buddhists have launched movements opposing war, poverty, colonial domination and environmental injustice. They have exposed the corruption of governments and corporate interests and, in India, the upper-caste domination of electoral politics, the courts, commerce, education, religion and the press. Typically, they have pursued these objectives as subaltern players, working from below in the fight with official power and expertise. As an untouchable, Ambedkar fit this pattern. Yet he displayed both the passion of the dispossessed and the authority of the highly placed. His elite training in economics and political science and his posts as a law school professor and dean, publisher, barrister, elected representative, Law Minister and draftsman of the Indian Constitution increasingly elevated him to positions of influence, power and authority.

A vision forged in struggle Ambedkar’s vision of a good life for all was born of harsh experience at both the bottom and the top of India’s social and political hierarchies. Viewed as literally untouchable—ritually polluting—by orthodox Hindus, Ambedkar faced frequent shunning throughout his life. As a child, he was forced to sit on a burlap bag at the back of the classroom. In his first government position, as attaché to the Maharaja of Baroda, his upper-caste subordinates refused to enter his office to file reports, throwing them through the door instead. He was barred from using office drinking water and physically ejected from lodgings when landlords discovered his caste. Thirty years later, as a cabinet minister in New Delhi, suffering from chronic illness, he could not find a medical doctor to treat him in his government residence. Observing his rapidly failing health, a Brahmin woman physician finally offered to marry the widower to provide in-home care, causing a scandal in both of their caste communities. Years earlier, Ambedkar had discovered communities free of caste prejudice in New York and London. Witnessing the beginnings of the

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  59 modern civil rights movement in America, he had come to realize that removing caste consciousness in South Asian societies, like racism in the West, would require an epic battle. In the 1920s, Ambedkar returned to India as an attorney with two doctoral degrees. His early battles for untouchable rights were waged in marches and rallies on the streets and in the courts. His actions were widely publicized, but he and his followers were often driven back by the orthodox Hindu power structure. In 1932 he experienced his first major defeat when Gandhi, an upper-caste Hindu, threatened suicide by fasting if Ambedkar accepted the independent voting rights for untouchables proffered by the British. Late in his career, Ambedkar resigned as Law Minister in Nehru’s cabinet when Hindu forces defeated his bill to grant equality to women in family law. Forged in the face of constant opposition, Ambedkar’s conception of a good life was sustained in the end by his extensive knowledge of history, law and social science, and his faith in the efficacy of Buddhist teachings. Dr. Ambedkar regularly invoked three famous slogans in his campaigns for human rights. During his graduate work at Columbia University, he studied the history and meaning of the motto of the French Revolution, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. While attending the London School of Economics, he encountered the slogan of the British Fabian Society: Educate, Agitate, Organize. And in his last years, he frequently invoked the Three Jewels, the refuge formula that marks the commitment of practicing Buddhists worldwide and the core declaration of the conversion ceremony of 1956: “I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.” The eighteenth-century French revolutionary motto was often cited by Ambedkar as an expression of Buddhist principles and a template for a just and compassionate society. At the time that these ideals were inscribed in Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and ratified by the United Nations in 1948, Ambedkar chose them for the preamble to the Indian Constitution. In an interview on All-India Radio in 1954, the retired cabinet minister made a surprising connection: My social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty, equality, and fraternity. Let no one, however, say that I have borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha.3 In a speech delivered before an international meeting of Buddhist leaders in Kathmandu days before his death, Ambedkar compared the French ideals with the social teachings of the Buddha and Karl Marx. The French Revolution promised equality but did not secure it. The Russian revolution, inspired by Marxism, offered equality but sacrificed liberty and fraternity. In the end, he concluded, “It seems that the three [ideals] can coexist only if one follows the way of the Buddha.”4

60  Christopher Queen The slogan “Educate, Agitate, Organize,” attributed to George Bernard Shaw, co-founder of the London School of Economics and a Fabian socialist, appeared often in Ambedkar’s speeches. Education, for Ambedkar, who earned his second doctorate at LSE, was the key to personal liberation, particularly for Dalits deprived of property and rank. Agitation, in the absence of political consensus, was the key to social reform. Organization of social movements, political parties, government structures and judicial due process was the key to enduring social change. Addressing 70,000 followers in Nagpur in 1942, Ambedkar prefigured his conversion there, 14 years later, tying the slogan of the British socialists to his belief in the power of religion: My final word of advice to you is educate, agitate and organize, have faith in yourself. With justice on our side, I do not see how we can lose our battle. The battle to me is a matter of joy. The battle is in the fullest sense spiritual. There is nothing material or social in it. For ours is a battle not for wealth or for power. It is a battle for freedom. It is a battle for the reclamation of human personality.5 Presenting the final draft of the Constitution to the Constituent Assembly in 1949, Ambedkar reminded the body that many features of the massive document were prefigured in Buddhist history. The ancient Buddhist monastic order, the Sangha, had devised and recorded “all the rules of parliamentary procedure known to modern times … rules regarding motions, resolutions, quorum, whip, counting of votes, voting by ballot, censure motion, regularization, res judicata, etc.”6 In Ambedkar’s last major work, The Buddha and His Dhamma, published posthumously as a bible for millions of ex-untouchables, the narrative is organized around the refuge formula of allegiance to the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha. The first two sections narrate the life and early career of the Buddha; the next two sections detail the Dhamma, his teachings and their meaning for today; and the following two sections present the values and rules of the Sangha in relation to the surrounding culture. The final chapters narrate the Buddha’s last days and his place in history.7 In the pages that follow, I will combine these three slogans to present the outlines of Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision for the good society in the terms he used himself. For him, Buddha exemplified personal freedom through formal study and practice; accordingly, nation builders must “educate for liberty.” The Dhamma was a recipe for social reform through nonviolent struggle; founders and reformers must “agitate for equality.” And the Sangha represented a community designed to maximize democratic values; the architects of a just and free society must “organize for fraternity.” At a press conference on the night before his conversion, Ambedkar was asked by reporters which brand of Buddhism he planned to embrace. He announced that he would “cling to the tenets of the faith preached by Lord Buddha himself, without involving [new converts] in differences which have arisen on account of Hinayana and Mahayana”—the two major divisions of Buddhist practice

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  61 throughout Asia. At the same time, he said, this Buddhism might truly be called a neo-Buddhism or Navayana—“a new vehicle.”8 By linking the ancient Buddhist refuge formula with the secular slogans of modern movements for social and political liberation, we may begin to see what Ambedkar imagined as an ideal society for the future.

Buddha: educate for liberty Ambedkar’s vision of the good society for all was grounded in his belief that freedom of thought and access to education were fundamental rights that should be guaranteed to all citizens. Liberty, the notion that an individual must not be enslaved or inhibited by others on the bases of superficial characteristics such as caste, class, race, gender, religion or ideology was in turn grounded in his belief that formal education—literacy, access to quality instruction, and the opportunity to pursue knowledge without physical or financial constraint—was prerequisite to a free and open society. These intertwined beliefs were the product of Ambedkar’s extensive exposure to quality education and, not incidentally, his exposure to the life and teachings of the Buddha. In India, Ambedkar is recognized as a scholar and national teacher, whose name is often followed by a mantra of his academic degrees: BA, MA, PhD, MSc, DSc, LLD, DLitt, Barrister-at-Law. India is dotted with his statues, from the towering bronze image on the Parliament grounds in New Delhi, holding the Constitution and pointing to the future, to the handmade images erected on street corners in every city and slum neighborhood, sporting a Western suit and tie, scholarly eyeglasses, a large fountain pen in his breast pocket, with his right finger raised as if making a point worthy of note-taking and memorization. Dozens of colleges, universities and awards for academic achievement and public service are named for Ambedkar. Among the galaxy of literary and scientific giants of India, it is Ambedkar who is most associated with formal education as a key to liberation for the disinherited masses. For Ambedkar, education and the life of the mind were associated with the Buddha and with the essence of a free and open society. To decorate the pages of The Buddha and His Dhamma, Ambedkar borrowed two visual motifs representing intellectual and spiritual awakening from the archives of Buddhist iconography he collected in his library: the lotus, a universal symbol of mental and moral awakening, and the tarjani mudra (raised forefinger) representing admonishment and instruction.9 In the section of the narrative treating the Buddha’s hesitation to preach his newfound path in a world of ignorance and conflict, Ambedkar depicts the deity Brahma Sahampati challenging the new Buddha to become a teacher. After the Buddha consents, the deity proclaims, His doctrine is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Blessed is the Buddha, for his is the path of reason, and his is the way of emancipation from superstition. Blessed is the Buddha who teaches the middle way. Blessed is the Buddha who teaches the law of righteousness. Blessed is the Buddha

62  Christopher Queen who teaches the peace of Nibbana. Blessed is the Buddha who preaches love, kindness, and fellowship to help fellow beings to obtain salvation.10 Ambedkar’s characteristic style of blending passages from the Pali originals with phraseology from his study of law (“the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth”), philosophy (“the path of reason … emancipation from superstition”) and social-ethical theory (“peace … love, kindness and fellowship”) illustrates his belief that the study of religion deserves a place alongside the secular teaching of his graduate school mentors.11 On the road to formulating a vision of the good society, Ambedkar’s debt to John Dewey cannot be overestimated. By the time they met, Dewey was internationally recognized as a leading philosopher of education. Although Dewey referenced Buddhism only in passing in his political and educational philosophy, Ambedkar’s linkage of Dewey’s pragmatic social theories to the Buddha’s rational social ethics has been noted in recent studies.12 Ambedkar attended Dewey’s classes at Columbia University in the years 1913–1916 and likely heard Dewey lecture on the material he published in 1916 as Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. In the opening chapters of his book, Dewey defines education as a prerequisite for a realized life and the principal means for a society to grow and flourish. Democracy and education are inextricable, according to Dewey, and years after his studies under Dewey, Ambedkar marked his own copy of Democracy and Education with colored pencils. In blue he highlighted the words, “Since a democratic society repudiates the principle of external authority it must find a substitute: the involuntary disposition of interest and the impulses and dreams of citizens. These can be developed by education. But there is a deeper explanation.” Here Ambedkar picks up his red pencil and continues to underline: “A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience”—a sentence that he quotes in his most famous essay, Annihilation of Caste (1936).13 For Ambedkar, the notions of democracy, education and the French triad of liberty, equality and fraternity were linked conceptually and pragmatically. Ambedkar’s notion of liberty, in particular, evolved from lifelong experiences of constraint and subordination as an outcaste citizen. Upon receiving K. A. Keluskar’s biography of the Buddha as a youth, he discovered a kind of liberation that transcended civil rights. As he pursued post-graduate training in the social sciences and law, he began to operationalize the notions of liberty and freedom as a set of social arrangements that were subject to negotiation, power politics and legislative enactment. But the social and political freedoms that allow for equality of opportunity, personal dignity and the social intercourse intended by the word “fraternity,” are all founded on freedom of thought and inquiry, lifelong learning and education. On July 8, 1945, Ambedkar founded the People’s Education Society (PES). Deriving its mission from the teachings of the Buddha, the PES was dedicated to offer affordable post-secondary education to low-caste and outcaste citizens. Its slogans were “Knowledge and Love” and “Knowledge is Power.” Ambedkar

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  63 personally bankrolled the purchase of books for the new libraries. In the years following his death, colleges of law, engineering and technology were added to the faculties of arts and sciences at Siddharth and Milind Colleges. By the early 1960s, high schools and dormitories for secondary school students were added to serve more than 7,000 students. At the present time, the People’s Education Society comprises ten affiliated colleges, four high schools, and undergraduate and graduate diploma programs in Arts and Sciences, Commerce, Law, Engineering, Education, Mass Communication, Industry, and Administration—a flowering of Ambedkar’s dream of education for all. In the first full study of the Buddhist movement in Maharashtra, Ambedkar’s home state, the American historian Eleanor Zelliot reported that “next to the advanced castes, the Buddhists are most consistently concerned about education. One observer told me, ‘The Buddhists will go back into Hinduism eventually, but not as Untouchables. Because of education, they will have higher status.’” More than a half-century later, few Buddhists have returned to Hinduism, but hundreds of thousands have benefited from the educational opportunities offered by the PES.14 Ambedkar strove to fulfill his Buddhist vision to “educate for liberty” by defining free compulsory public education as a right of citizenship in the Indian Constitution. In 1946 the Constituent Assembly, chaired by Ambedkar, began the task of drafting the Constitution. By the following year, its subcommittee on fundamental rights had drafted clause 23: “Every citizen is entitled to … free primary education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years.” But the clause was voted down in the realization that the fledgling state could not yet afford the expense of universal public education. By 1949, the clause had been amended to read “The State shall endeavor to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, free primary education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years,” and this was ratified as Article 45 in the Constitution of India in 1950. It would not be until 2009 that Article 21A (Amendment 86) was added to fully confer the right of free primary education to the age of 14 on all citizens.15

Dhamma: agitate for equality Among the freedoms of the good society envisioned by Ambedkar is the right to speak out and, if necessary, to act out in nonviolent ways for social justice and reform. Every citizen should have equal opportunities for free speech, public dissent and protest. Few observers of Ambedkar’s career would fault him for seeing the quest for equality as a relentless battle against implacable supporters of caste and privilege. His struggles were personal and political, as he proclaimed in his fiery speeches—not primarily “material or social … not for wealth or for power.” They were rather for “freedom … [and] the reclamation of human personality.” “With justice on our side,” he roared in Nagpur, “I do not see how we can lose our battle … [that is] a matter of joy… [and] in the fullest sense spiritual.” In the context of persistent caste violence in the villages and social and economic marginalization in the cities, few observers would fault Ambedkar’s adoption of a French protest

64  Christopher Queen slogan, a socialist chant or a Buddhist vow, however far from revolutionary Europe and however advanced in age the embattled freedom-fighter may have been. The Buddhist Dhamma—teaching, instruction, doctrine, virtue—is commonly associated with forbearance (Pali khanti), nonviolence (ahimsa), equanimity (upekkha) and right speech (samma vaca), meaning the avoidance of lying, slander and divisiveness; harsh, rude, impolite, malicious and abusive language; and idle, useless and foolish babble and gossip.16 And while not explicitly forbidden in the ancient conduct codes for monks and laity, traditional Buddhists are not expected to speak out in the face of social injustice, and certainly not to agitate in the pursuit of social change.17 Ambedkar read the early records differently. In a memorable passage from The Buddha and His Dhamma, Ambedkar imagined the stern marching orders of an embattled Buddha to his disciples: A bhikkhu must fight to spread virtue (dhamma) …We wage war, O disciples, therefore we are called warriors … for lofty virtues, for high endeavor, for sublime wisdom … Where virtue is in danger, do not avoid fighting, do not be mealy-mouthed.18 One may argue that Ambedkar’s new vehicle is reflected as much in the style of its expression—vehemence and passion—as in its content. If virtue was worth fighting for in the face of daunting social conditions, what was the message that Ambedkar returned to again and again in his writings on the new Buddhism? Ambedkar distinguished between Dhamma, the teaching of personal mindfulness and morality, and Saddhamma, the social teaching that makes mindfulness and morality possible. For Dhamma to be Saddhamma, he writes, it must, above all, “promote Equality between Man and Man.” Men are born unequal. Some are robust, others are weaklings. Some have more intelligence, others have less or none. Some have more capacity, others have less. Some are well-to-do, others are poor. All have to enter into what is called the struggle for existence. In the struggle for existence, if inequality be recognized as the rule of the game, the weakest will always go to the wall … it results in the survival of the fittest. The question, however, is: [Are] the fittest the best from the point of view of society? No one can give a positive answer … This was the viewpoint of the Buddha, and it was because of this that he argued that a religion which does not preach equality is not worth having…Is not that a better religion which promotes the happiness of others simultaneously with the happiness of oneself, and tolerates no oppression? These were some of the most pertinent questions which he asked the Brahmins who opposed Equality. The religion of the Buddha is perfect justice, springing from a man’s own meritorious disposition.19 If the core teaching of the Buddha was social equality, then Ambedkar’s account of the formation and composition of the primitive Sangha should offer

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  65 illustration of this commitment. Accordingly, a major section of The Buddha and His Dhamma is devoted to the campaign of conversion and the range of persons who applied and were accepted into the new order. Hearing of the Buddha’s first sermon on the universality of suffering and its origins in social conflict and division, rich and highly educated young men of the upper classes were attracted to the new teaching. These were followed by two local kings, Bimbisara and Prasenajit, by Anathapindika, a wealthy banker, and Jeevaka, a renowned physician. All took refuge and repeated the vows offered to lay followers. Seventy Brahmin priests repudiated their training to become postulant monks in the Buddha’s new order. But now something unprecedented occurred. Hearing of a teacher who showed equal compassion for all, “the low and the lowly” began to apply for ordination. First came Upali the barber, then Sunita the scavenger, then Sopaka and Suppiya the untouchables, and Supprabuddha the leper. The Buddha’s stepmother, Mahapajapati Gautami, and his wife Yeshodhara and her female companions approached for ordination and were accepted. Ambedkar’s account of the egalitarian foundations of the Buddhist movement concludes with the ordination of Prakrati, the untouchable girl, Angulimala, the serial killer, 500 criminals who had eluded law enforcement for years, and a band of professional hunters, who renounced killing and followed their wives into the Buddha’s monastic order.20 Ambedkar, the untouchable lawyer and freshly minted PhD, was familiar with these stories by the time he returned from graduate studies in the West. He wasted no time in the late 1910s and 20s in launching multiple campaigns for social equality in British- and Brahmin-controlled India. While attempting to support his family as a private tutor, accountant, investment counselor and college professor, Ambedkar founded the weekly publication Mooknayak (Leader of the Voiceless) to document the discrimination faced by untouchables. He testified before the British-sponsored Southborough Committee on future voting rights for lowcaste citizens. He advocated for separate voting blocks and reserved employment opportunities for marginalized communities and successfully defended anti-caste activists who were sued by Brahmin oligarchs in the Bombay High Court. In 1924, he founded the Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha (Depressed Classes Association), a non-government organization to promote the welfare of the untouchables and bring their grievances before appropriate governmental bodies. In 1925, he was appointed to the Bombay Presidency Committee of the All-European Simon Commission to draft recommendations for a future constitution of India. In the face of protests across India, the 34-year-old Ambedkar produced a memorandum that shaped the discussion over the next two decades.21 The year 1927 marked Ambedkar’s first major protest movement, aimed at the denial of access to public drinking water to untouchables. The city of Mahad, following a new law of the Bombay Presidency, had passed a local ordinance guaranteeing water access to all, but the statute was not enforced. As a classic satyagraha, or nonviolent mass protest, the Mahad demonstrations of March and December revealed Ambedkar’s genius for public agitation. The campaign comprised several elements: a ritual sip by thousands of untouchables at the bank of the local water reservoir; an appeal to Dalit women to wear dignified saris

66  Christopher Queen like upper-caste women when they joined the protests and appeared in public generally; and the burning of the Manusmriti, the ancient Hindu Laws of Manu, which imposed brutal punishments on untouchables who stepped outside their roles as menial workers and unpaid servants. In response, the Brahmins attacked the protesters with rocks and clubs, the local court prohibited further protests, and the reservoir was “re-purified” by Hindu priests with cow dung, urine, milk, curds and butter. Ambedkar filed a court case that resulted, ten years later, in the enforcement of the water rights laws for all citizens. Today, Dalits remain barred from access to public drinking water in many parts of India, yet the agitations for equality of 1927 established a powerful precedent. Ambedkarites observe March 20 as Mahad Satyagraha Day and December 25 as Manusmriti Burning Day. Following the violent attacks of Hindus against nonviolent Dalit protesters in Mahad, Ambedkar launched two publications and two new organizations. Bahishkrit Bharat (Outcaste India) and Samata (Equality) were fortnightly papers publicizing Dalit issues to different readerships. The Samaj Samata Sangh (Social Equality Organization), staffed by Dalits working side-by-side with progressive upper-caste Hindus, was founded to promote social interaction, such as intermarriage and inter-dining between castes. And the Samata Sainik Dal (SSD— Equality Volunteer Army) was founded “to bring new vigor and militancy to the march for equality.”22 Ambedkar recruited retired military officers from his own Mahar caste to organize and train youth for neighborhood outreach, social services and crowd control during demonstrations. While these uniformed boy and girl scouts learned to march and salute authority, they defied upper-caste critics who called them “hooligans,” implying that they were being trained for physical confrontations. Addressing the annual meeting of the SSD, which had grown to more than 20,000 members by 1942, Ambedkar said, There are people who object to such volunteer organizations. They are believers in Ahimsa [nonviolence] and they object to … exhibitions of strength. I am myself a believer in Ahimsa. But I make a distinction between Ahimsa and meekness. Meekness is weakness, and weakness which is voluntarily imposed upon oneself is not a virtue. In one of the Upanishads, there is a story of a lamb who went to God and lodged a complaint saying [God] was the father of all the creatures and all the creatures were therefore brethren. But notwithstanding this, every creature, said the lamb, was threatening its life, forgetting all brotherly affection. How do you explain this? The reply God is alleged to have given is very instructive. God said you look so meek that even I am tempted to devour you! We have been very much like the lamb in the story and that is why everyone has threatened to devour us.23 Ambedkar’s lifelong agitation for social equality, grounded in his understanding of the radicality of the early Buddhist movement, was trumpeted in the streets, outdoor assemblies, government hearing chambers, classrooms and courtrooms.

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  67 It was inscribed in two documents which zeroed in on equality as the indispensable ingredient of a democratic society. One was his blistering speech, Annihilation of Caste, self-published in 1936 when the sponsoring organization previewed the speech and canceled the conference. Annihilation of Caste is perhaps Ambedkar’s most fiercely argued condemnation of the religious roots of inequality. His repudiation of Hindu sacred texts in which caste distinctions and sanctions are spelled out is often expressed with passion, if not contempt. The Hindu must be made to unlearn all of this … To allow this [social hierarchy] based on worth to be designated by such stinking labels as Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra, indicative of social divisions based on birth, is a snare. The speech was widely circulated. Gandhi issued a strong rebuttal to the speech, upholding Hinduism and arguing that the caste system should be reformed to eliminate untouchability, not abolished. Ambedkar attached Gandhi’s rebuttal and his own extended rejoinder to subsequent editions, as well as his study, “Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development,” originally presented in a seminar at Columbia University. Ambedkar named equality “the most contentious part of the slogan of the French Revolution.” Citing the natural inequality of individuals’ strength, intelligence, capacity and effort that he would return to later in The Buddha and His Dhamma, the embattled statesman and constitutional lawyer now offered a new reason for the practice of equality in a democratic society. A statesman is concerned with vast numbers of people. He has neither the time nor the knowledge to draw fine distinctions and to treat each one equitably, i.e. according to need or according to capacity. However desirable or reasonable an equitable treatment of men may be, humanity is not capable of assortment and classification. … The doctrine of equality is glaringly fallacious but, taking all in all, it is the only way a statesman can proceed in politics—which is a severely practical affair and which demands a severely practical test.24 The second document reflecting Ambedkar’s understanding of equal rights in a democratic society was the Indian Constitution itself. While he did not write every word, his hand as principal draftsman and chair of the drafting committee is evident throughout. The principles of equal protection and affirmative action for citizens marginalized or harmed by the practices of untouchability and caste may be found in many sections of the world’s longest federal constitution. Under Part III, “Fundamental Rights,” for example, we find the articles titled “The Right to Equality”: 14. The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

68  Christopher Queen 15. (1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.(2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to—(a) access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or (b) the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly or partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public …. 16. (1) There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State. (2) No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State …. 17. “Untouchability” is abolished and its practice in any form is forbidden. The enforcement of any disability arising out of “Untouchability” shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law. Following Articles 15 and 16, the text goes on to affirm that “nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision” for citizens that may face special civil disabilities: women and children, “socially and educationally backward classes of citizens” termed Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and citizens “not adequately represented or served by the State.” In these cases, the Constitution typically defines its “special provisions” as the reservation of places in public educational institutions and the reservation of employment opportunities and appointments in the federal bureaucracy of the State.25

Sangha: organize for fraternity Ambedkar saw the ancient Sangha as a quintessential model for society, based on common ownership, shared ideals, due process and humanistic values. Unlike traditional monarchy and the graded discriminations of the caste system, the Bhikkhu Sangha represented a new way to structure society, one that ultimately erased distinctions of birth, wealth, gender and personal charisma. Ambedkar compared the social philosophies of Buddhism and Marxism and found the latter wanting. His notion of “fraternity,” influenced by Dewey, was described in Annihilation of Caste: In an ideal society there should be many interests consciously communicated and shared. There should be varied and free points of contact with other modes of association. This is fraternity, which is only another name for democracy. Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associate living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen.26 Balancing Ambedkar’s belief in education and agitation was his conviction that social organization, through rational planning and negotiation among competing interests, was the only way to build a democratic society.

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  69 Ambedkar did not consistently apply the designation of Sangha (he used the Hindi spelling sangh) to laypersons as well as ordained members of society, as in the traditional fourfold Sangha of bhikkhus and bhikkhunis (monks and nuns), and upasakas and upasikas (laymen and laywomen). But his conception of a society organized around equal access, meritocracy and due process for all is illustrated in his presentation of the structure of the orders of monks and nuns in the third section of The Buddha and His Dhamma. While their predecessors, the ascetics called parivrajakas, were “a mere floating body of wanderers,” it was for the first time that the Blessed Lord organized his followers into a Sangh or fraternity, and gave them rules of discipline and set before them an ideal to pursue and realize… the Sangh was open to all, there was no bar of caste … sex … status … all were equal [and] rank was regulated by worth and not by birth… When a Bhikkhu entered the Sangh, he became one with the rest like [rivers entering] the water of the ocean.27 Members of the Sangha achieved rank through observance of the precepts, a period of formal instruction by a senior monk, and tenure dating from the day of ordination. There were three stages in the monk’s career: Shramanera, a novice below the age of eighteen, Parivraja, a candidate in training, and Bhikkhu, a monk who has passed the Upasampada, an oral examination administered by the full Sangha after recommendation by an Uppadhya, a senior preceptor. One sees the appeal for Ambedkar of a social order in which rank was measured by “worth, not birth,” where worth was achieved by adherence to commonly held standards of ethical conduct and a formal period of training, followed by rigorous examination. As one so heavily invested in formal education, Ambedkar found both precedent and justification in this definition of merit and worth both in his reading of early Buddhist history and in John Dewey’s philosophy of education and democracy. Two manifestations of this affinity may be cited: the due process for rule enforcement within the monastic orders, and the role of women in monastic and lay communities. When a monk or nun violated the standards outlined in the Vinaya or monastic code, he or she was entitled to a fair trial before the Sangha. “No Bhikkhu could be punished without a trial by a regularly constituted Court.” A court of fellow monks or nuns must be empaneled at the place where an offence had taken place, must be constituted by a quorum or minimum number of attendees, must follow the filing of a definite charge, and must be held in the presence of the accused monk, who must, in turn, “be given the fullest opportunity to defend himself.” The penalties may include warning, probation, boycott and expulsion. The accused may also be declared mentally incompetent or pardoned following a period of punishment or probation. A related feature of Buddhist monastic rule that Ambedkar saw as an innovative precedent for modern jurisprudence was the practice of Uposath or public confession. While this ritual may sound more like the Roman Catholic sacrament of confession, Ambedkar’s view of confession was more likely influenced by Dewey’s notion of democracy as “a mode of associate living, of conjoint

70  Christopher Queen communicated experience … essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen.” The most original and unique institution created by the Blessed Lord in connection with the organization of the Bhikkhus was the introduction of Confession, called Uposath. The Blessed Lord realized that it was possible to enforce what he had laid down as offences. But he had laid down certain restrictions which were not offences. He said that the restrictions were most intimately connected with building up of character and maintaining character; and that there was equal necessity to see that they were observed.28 Opportunities for public confession are provided three times a month at meetings of the full Sangha. The monk convening the session reads the Patimokha, the code of discipline, consisting of the 227 rules for monks or the 311 rules for nuns. Following the reading of each rule—such as abstaining from food after the noontime hour—the leader repeats three times, “I take it that none of you have transgressed this Rule, that is why you are silent.” Confessions, if there are any, may lead to a trial or to simple admonishment. A major area of modern social organization for which Ambedkar found precedent in early Buddhist history was the role of women in society. Fraternity was a gender-neutral ideal for Ambedkar, and his vision of the good society for all consistently embraced the rights and dignity of women as co-equal citizens. Women of high and low birth were given prominence in the conversion narratives in The Buddha and His Dhamma. The theme of female participation in the movement is underscored when Ambedkar features Ambrapali, the celebrated courtesan of Vesali, and Vishakha, a wealthy donor of Shravasti, among the chief benefactors of the order, along with King Bimbisara and Anathapindika, the wealthiest banker in the region. Ambrapali attracted notoriety by inviting the Buddha and his followers to stay in her mango grove and come for dinner at her mansion. When the neighboring Licchavi clan heard of this they attempted to buy the invitation from her and to persuade the Buddha to reside and dine with them instead. Both Ambrapali and the Buddha declined. Vishakha’s reputation as “Chief Alms-Giver” was secured when the Buddha allowed her to purchase robes, food and medicine for monks and nuns during the rainy season every year, and to build a temple-monastery for the Sangha’s use when they were in the vicinity. When the Buddha inquired what benefit Vishakha expected to gain from such generosity, she replied, Gladness will spring up within me; thus gladdened, joy will come to me; and so rejoicing all my frame will be at peace. Being thus at peace, I shall experience a blissful feeling of content, and in that bliss my heart will be at rest. That will be to me an exercise of my moral powers, an exercise of the seven kinds of wisdom.29 On January 21, 1950 a Hindu author published an article in the popular Indian magazine, Eve’s Weekly, arguing that Buddhism was to blame for the depressed

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  71 condition of women in India, and that the ancient suttas depicted the Buddha as forever exhorting his monks to shun and beware of women. An initial rebuttal to this article was published by Lama Govinda in The Maha Bodhi, journal of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, but amidst his intense politicking for final ratification of the Constitution, Dr. Ambedkar took the time to prepare a more exhaustive response to the claim that Buddhism was anti-women. Titled “The Rise and Fall of the Hindu Woman: Who was Responsible for It?” the extended rebuttal appeared in The Maha Bodhi in March. Ambedkar argued that occasional passages of scripture that appear to impute misogyny to the Buddha—such as his initial hesitance to ordain women and his warning to monks to be mindful in the presence of women—were later interpolations by male monastics who were in fact misogynist. He cites historian Thomas Rhys Davids’ support of this thesis, based on massive evidence of the Buddha’s frequent and respectful association with lay and ordained women. In addition to the cases of Ambrapali and Vishakha, he cites the Buddha’s tutoring of Queen Mallika and 500 almswomen who came to him for regular instruction. As to the legend of the Buddha’s hesitation to ordain women, Ambedkar acknowledges concerns about the maintenance of celibacy by the monks and the fact that women of the time, deprived of religious instruction and worldly experience, would have to begin their training from scratch. Finally, however, these concerns are overshadowed by the Buddha’s historic founding of the Bhikkhuni Sangha for women and his unstinting commitment to their education and guidance. Ambedkar quotes inspired passages from the Therigatha, the collection of devotional poems by the early Buddhist women, as a ringing refutation to all who would blame the fallen condition of Indian women on Buddhism. Ambedkar lays the blame for the subordination and degradation of women in India on the same Hindu scripture that consigns untouchables to the bottom of the social system, the Manusmriti or the Laws of Manu. In a detailed and exhaustive analysis, Ambedkar enumerates the disabilities imposed on women by the Laws of Manu, written centuries after the Buddhist women were ordained. He focuses on Hindu women’s subordination to male members of the family: father, husband, sons. “By a girl, by a young woman, or even by an aged one, nothing must be done independently, even in her own house,” states article V.147 of the code, one of scores of statutes cited by Ambedkar. The customs of child marriage and widow burning were among the most notorious manifestations of this tradition. In this essay, Ambedkar demonstrates both his skills as a scholar and his passion as a reformer who exposes the religious underpinnings of the abuses endured by women at all levels of society.30 Following the national attention directed to the Mahad water rights dispute, Dalit women throughout India came to know of Dr. Ambedkar’s special concern for women’s rights. His words of encouragement on that occasion were only the first of many to be focused on women’s struggle for civil rights. In a volume celebrating the personalities and achievements of this struggle, We Also Made History: Women in the Ambedkarite Movement, editors Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon devote a chapter to “Babasaheb’s Views on Women.”

72  Christopher Queen Comprised of speeches and incidents in which Ambedkar went out of his way to encourage women, school girls and even children to “educate, agitate and organize,” the survey ends with an account of the battle over the Hindu Code Bill.31 The Indian Constitution provided a broad framework for civil society in a democratically organized republic, including voting rights for adult men and women of all castes. But it did not address specific religious and social customs that governed family life in a country of 5 world religions, 22 major languages, 13 scripts and more than 720 dialects. Debates related to social custom and cultural heritage—including ancient statutes of the kind found in the Manusmriti—were tabled during the drafting of the Constitution because the issues were subject to emotion and sectarian dogma. As soon as the Constitution was ratified, Ambedkar turned his attention to these matters and, working with a select committee, produced a draft document that focused on women’s rights. The provisions of the Hindu Code Bill guaranteed women the legal right to initiate divorce, receive alimony, be the sole wife, adopt children, control her own earnings, receive an equal share of the father’s income, be an equal heir of the father’s property, inter-marry across caste barriers, and enjoy legal ownership of her own property. Liberal members of the new government including Prime Minister Nehru pledged support of the bill. At the same time, orthodox Hindu leaders and conservative Members of Parliament waged a ferocious campaign against its passage. Protest marches were launched and death threats hurled against Ambedkar, the untouchable politician who dared repeal the eternal sacred laws of society. Women’s organizations across the country rallied in support of the bill and scholars familiar with woman’s “rise and fall” in Indian history wrote editorials and fliers in support of the bill.32 But the tide turned in the course of the struggle as the majority of Hindu voters and leaders opposed the bill. In the end, Pandit Nehru, President Rajendra Prasad and other putative allies of Ambedkar backed away and the bill was defeated. Furious at the outcome, Ambedkar resigned his cabinet position on September 27, 1951.

Toward a Buddhist-inspired social democracy Notwithstanding this debacle, Ambedkar remained deeply engaged in national politics in his final years, guiding the lobbying and legislative activities of the Scheduled Caste Federation, founded in 1942 to champion the rights of untouchables and “other backward classes” (OBCs). This work represented Ambedkar’s unshaken belief in the power of collective action in a democratic society. The Scheduled Caste Federation was the successor to the Depressed Classes Federation (1930) and the Independent Labor Party (1935), and the predecessor of the Republican Party of India (1956), all founded by Ambedkar. Not to be sidelined or daunted by opponents who disapproved of his policies or his person, Ambedkar continued to run for office in India’s Parliament, sometimes losing, sometimes winning. In his final post, as MP in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house, he continued to push for passage of the provisions of the Hindu Code Bill, which were eventually passed in stages in the years following his death.33

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  73 Underlying the twists and turns of his political fortunes was Ambedkar’s determination to advance Buddhism, both as a religious option for millions of oppressed Dalits, and also as a template for a society that might serve the interests of all citizens. He set the stage for his vision of a Buddhist-inspired social democracy in 1950, when he addressed his followers in Bombay: I have fought in politics, I have worked sincerely for the cause of the untouchables and made you conscious of your power. I can now depend on you to carry on your work. I am now going to devote the rest of my life to the revival and spread of Buddhism in India.34 This involved meeting with Buddhists on the international stage, to learn what the Dhamma meant to them and to identify elements of their practice that would inspire and sustain his followers. His addresses to the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Ceylon, Burma and Nepal allowed him to try out his ideas about the potential role of Buddhist conversion in India. At the same time, he was digging deeply in his library to select Buddhist texts and teachings to guide new converts in a nation yet to be transformed by the new Constitution. Ambedkar was making final corrections to The Buddha and His Dhamma on the night of his death six years later. How may we sum up Ambedkar’s vision of a social democratic republic, grounded in his life experience and inspired by Buddhist institutions and teachings? Let us return to the policies and achievements that marked his career of activism, scholarship and leadership, following the slogans that guided his thought. In each case we note that India faces unfinished business in its pursuit of these ideals. The first slogan is Buddha: educate for liberty. Ambedkar first encountered the story of the Buddha as a teenager passing from secondary to college studies, at a time of exploration of his own identity in a systematically oppressive society. His impression of the Buddha was of an independent thinker who rejected conventional wisdom, sought instruction from respected pundits and formulated his own philosophy along the way. With encouragement from Krishna Arjun Keluskar, the activist teacher who wrote and gifted the Buddha biography to him, and funding from progressive upper-caste patrons such as the Maharajahs of Baroda and Kolhapur, Ambedkar sought and applied his elite international education to the ills of his own society. Little wonder that he would regard education as the cornerstone of a free society, and that John Dewey, the best-known progressive educational thinker of his generation, would become Ambedkar’s mentor in conceiving the relationship of education to democracy. For Ambedkar, the political concept of liberty was grounded in the intellectual and spiritual notion of freedom—freedom of thought and expression and access to quality information and instruction. This conviction was reflected in Ambedkar’s founding of the People’s Education Society in 1945 and its many institutions: high schools, colleges and residential dormitories for untouchables and other low-caste citizens seeking liberal, vocational and professional training. Similarly, Ambedkar’s commitment to primary and secondary education as a pillar of free

74  Christopher Queen society was written into the Constitution, first as a desideratum and finally, years after Ambedkar’s death, as a right for all citizens. Sixty years after Ambedkar’s time, it would be heartening to learn that his vision of access to equal education for all Indians had been achieved. Yet the schools, colleges and universities of India remain the sites for continued casteism, bullying and violence today. While these problems are not unique to India—racism and bullying are present at all levels of American education, for example—they often take extreme forms. Ambedkar’s introduction of compensatory discrimination in the form of “reservations” of student admission quotas in state universities and employment quotas in the State bureaucracy, under Articles 14–16 of the Constitution was initially applied to the outcaste citizens termed “Scheduled Castes” and “Scheduled Tribes” (SC and ST). But in 1990, after a decade of fierce debate, these “special provisions” were extended by the Mandel Commission to members of “other backward classes” (OBCs), enlarging the potential pool of beneficiaries to 49 percent of the population. The reaction of upper-caste students who believed their places in universities and government jobs would be taken by Dalits was immediate and violent: more than 200 students committed selfimmolation on street corners of Delhi and elsewhere, with 62 succumbing to their burns.35 In a more recent example of the struggle for Dalit human rights in the universities, Rohith Vemula, a PhD candidate on the elite state campus of the University of Hyderabad, committed suicide on January 17, 2016, after the suspension of his fellowship and housing by the university. Vemula and four other members of the Ambedkar Student Association had engaged in a verbal dispute with members of the conservative Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) student association, affiliated with Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) party. The upper-caste students accused Vemula and his Dalit classmates of violence against a conservative student leader—a charge that was later disproved. Under pressure from the government, the university expelled the students. Facing the hatred of majority-caste students, the collusion of the university with the Hindu nationalist government, and the end of his dream of doctoral studies, Vemula hanged himself with a banner of the Ambedkar Student Association. His death sparked massive protests and widespread media attention throughout India.36 Throughout these struggles to find equity and justice in India’s vast educational system, Ambedkar’s vision of a nation founded on universal education, with special assistance to those suffering structural disadvantages, nevertheless remains alive and vibrant among his followers. The second slogan is Dhamma: agitate for equality. From the time of the water rights protests of 1927 to the gathering of a half-million pilgrims in the city of Nagpur in 1956, Ambedkar presided over protest marches, rallies, convocations and, finally, one of the largest religious gatherings in Buddhist history. Unlike most of the Socially Engaged Buddhists of the second half of the twentieth century—with the possible exception of Sulak Sivaraksa, founder of the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, who has been repeatedly jailed for documenting the corruption of the military government of Thailand—Ambedkar

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  75 was never “mealy-mouthed” in his challenge to the British imperial government and their caste Hindu collaborators. In his outspokenness he followed in the footsteps of three anti-caste crusaders, whom he called his gurus. These were the Buddha, who challenged caste by welcoming petitioners of all backgrounds into his religious movement; the fifteenth-century poet-saint Kabir, who honored Hindus and Muslims, rich and poor alike in verses that obliterated hierarchy and privilege; and the nineteenth-century anti-caste writer and educator, Jyotiba Phule. Ambedkar’s parents were devotees of Kabir and introduced his casteblind mysticism to their fourteenth child, the talented Bhim, while Dalit activists throughout India were familiar with Phule’s writings on the social liberation of the underclass.37 Freedom of thought, speech and assembly inevitably entailed the freedom to choose and practice the religion of one’s choice. At a gathering of 10,000 leaders of the Depressed Classes movement in 1935, Ambedkar announced that, though he was born Hindu, he would not die as one. If you want to gain self-respect, change your religion. If you want to create a cooperating society, change your religion. If you want power, change your religion. If you want equality, change your religion. If you want independence, change your religion. If you want to make the world in which you live happy, change your religion.38 These declarations at Yeola were vigorously contested by Gandhi, who denied that one’s religious identity could be changed like a garment or a home address. But Ambedkar never backed down on the freedoms that were basic to the great democracies of the West and to the republic he envisioned for India. How have these ideals worked out? In India today, the constitutional freedoms of speech (Article 19) and religion (Articles 25–28) continue to be a battleground of competing interests. The government of Narendra Modi is committed to a brand of Hindu nationalism that makes practitioners of other faiths fear for their safety. Casteism in reverse was on display in 2014 when Navayana Publishers issued a critical edition of Annihilation of Caste, with an introduction by prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy and annotations by Navayana’s founder-editor, S. Anand. Ambedkarite activists launched protests, editorials and academic seminars charging that upper-caste writers Roy and Anand exploited the memory and the work of their standard-bearer for personal gain and political advantage. The metrics of equality in any society are manifold, including income security, access to education, employment and healthcare, and impartiality to differences of gender, race, class, caste and ideology. With 1.3 billion citizens and the persistence of widespread discrimination in all of these areas, India continues to occupy the lower rungs of progress, despite a growing middle class. Official corruption and neglect of widespread poverty and communal violence continue to impede the realization of Ambedkar’s vision.

76  Christopher Queen The third slogan is Sangha: organize for fraternity. Ambedkar regarded the ancient Buddhist Sangha as a model of social inclusion, deliberative government and judicial due process. But he was ambivalent about the voluntary poverty, renunciation of private property, and common ownership of goods described in the early records. Unlike the laity, monks must be celibate, obedient to seniors and unencumbered by property. Yet Ambedkar was quick to condemn the poverty of the traditional ascetics of India, whom he viewed as “hypocritical and deceitful … envious and grudging … cunning and crafty, hard-hearted and vain.”39 Strongly rejecting the Christian teaching of “blessed are the poor,” he wrote, Religion must not sanctify or ennoble poverty. Renunciation of riches by those who have it, may be a blessed state, but poverty can never be. To declare poverty to be a blessed state is to pervert religion, to perpetuate vice and crime, to consent to make earth a living hell.40 On the other hand, monastic wealth and privilege, in the absence of service to the poor, was offensive to him. Visiting Ceylon in 1950, he observed monks comfortably cloistered in permanent viharas, preoccupied with ritual and meditation and not visibly serving the community—“a huge army of idlers.”41 To consider the ancient Sangha as a paradigm for a modern republic based on liberty, equality and fraternity, the issue of property ownership and affluence required closer attention.42 Ambedkar was a trained economist who published his graduate theses on “Administration and Finance of the East India Company,” “The Evolution of Provincial Finance in British India” (Columbia), “Provincial Decentralisation of Imperial Finance in British India,” and “The Problem of the Rupee—Its Origin and its Solution” (London School of Economics). His approach to economics evolved over time and may be described as an amalgam of Keynesian capitalism, where state-regulated private property forms the basis of social prosperity, on the one hand, and the democratic socialism of the British Fabian Society, where the state plays a more assertive role in regulating the ownership and distribution of wealth. His differences with Gandhi encompassed many issues facing India, but his opposition to Gandhi’s village-based subsistence economics, symbolized by the Mahatma’s spinning wheel and homespun clothing, was pronounced. Ambedkar, in his three-piece suits, engaged in tireless fundraising for his publications, schools and colleges, and promoted collective farming, heavy manufacturing and the belief that property and wealth, while not evil, must be closely regulated through taxation and market intervention by a strong, democratically elected government.43 It is significant that Dr. Ambedkar’s final speech was devoted to a contrast between the social visions of Karl Marx and the Buddha. Delivered days before his death at the fourth meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, held in Kathmandu on November 16, 1956, the ailing freedom-fighter argued that the two great social philosophers, separated by 2,500 years, nevertheless agreed on two things: (a) that oppression and suffering were caused by poverty and the violent

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  77 competition for resources by classes or castes, and (b) that control of the means of production, in the form of private property, was the means by which the poor are dominated by the rich. Ambedkar argued that the Vinaya rules restricting monks to a few personal items were more rigorous in their implications for a socialist society than were the teachings of the Marxists, but he admitted serious doubt about the relevance of such teachings for a secular republic. “The only question is, to what extent can this rule of denial of private property be applied to society as a whole?” In the last words of his valedictory speech on the comparative merits of Buddhism and Communism as guideposts for modern society, having stressed the objective of removing impediments to liberty, equality and fraternity, Ambedkar stressed the decisive importance of means over ends: The means that the Communists wish to adopt in order to bring about Communism (by which I mean the recognition of Dukkha [and] the abolition of poverty), is violence and killing of those opposed. There lies the fundamental difference between the Buddha and Karl Marx. The Buddha’s means of persuading people to adopt the principles are by persuasion, by moral teaching and by love. He wants to conquer the opponent by inculcating in him the doctrine that love and not power can conquer anything.44 In this we hear, not the pragmatism of Dewey or Ambedkar’s other modern mentors in political and economic theory, but an echo of the Dhammapada, the early sermon of the Buddha, with which Ambedkar was intimately familiar: “For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.”45 In conclusion, we have explored Ambedkar’s evolving vision of a Buddhistinspired social democratic republic during the eventful years leading up to the founding of the Indian Republic. His audiences and his interlocutors included academic mentors, officials of the British and Indian governments, committees and councils, and the millions of Dalit women and men who followed his speeches and actions with rapt attention. The pattern of policy recommendations that we ferret out of the voluminous record reveals the influence of Buddhist teachings and values with increasing frequency. Ambedkar’s Navayana Buddhism, in addition to being a path of social engagement and service that resonates with Buddhist activists around the world, also contributed significantly to the social democratic vision he wrote into the Constitution of India. The intersection of these traditions is memorably depicted in a popular poster. In the artist’s rendering, Ambedkar is handing the completed Constitution to Prime Minister Nehru and President Prasad in 1950. Floating on a cloud high in the sky, the Buddha is projecting a beam of inspiration down upon the head of Ambedkar. Also flying above the three figures is the brand-new flag of India, displaying the Dharmachakra, the Buddhist king Ashoka’s wheel of law and righteousness. The flagpole is mounted on a pedestal of four roaring lions, Ashoka’s symbol of the sound of the Buddha Dhamma, and the Hindu slogan, “Truth Alone Prevails”—the official seal of the Republic of India.46 These ancient symbols of

78  Christopher Queen human rights and human flourishing were all contributed to the national discussion by the belated Buddhist, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar.

Notes 1 Gauri Viswanathan, Outside the Fold: Conversion, Modernity, and Belief (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1998), p. 225. A first-hand analysis of Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism is found in Sangharakshita, Ambedkar and Buddhism (Glasgow: Windhorse Publications, 1986). An annotated bibliography of Ambedkar’s contributions to Buddhism is found in Christopher Queen, “Ambedkar Buddhism,” in Oxford Bibliographies in Buddhism (online), Richard Payne, ed., http://www. oxfor​​dbibl​​iogra​​ phies​​.com/​​view/​​docum​​ent​/o​​bo​-97​​80195​​39352​​1​/obo​​-9780​​19539​​​3521-​​0189.​​xml, 2014. 2 Markers on Ambedkar’s path to Buddhist conversion are analyzed in Sangharakshita, op. cit., and D. C. Ahir, Dr. Ambedkar on Buddhism (Bombay: Siddharth Publication, 1982). Ambedkar’s standard biography, by Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission (Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1962), is based on public and private records, interviews and extensive coverage of Ambedkar’s career in the press. Additional biographies are listed in Queen, 2014. 3 Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, p. 459. 4 B. R. Ambedkar, “Buddha or Karl Marx,” in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches (BAWS) compiled and edited by Vasant Moon (Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1987), Vol. 3, p. 462. The 21 volumes of Ambedkar’s writings and speeches is hereinafter referenced as BAWS. The title Babasaheb, “respected father,” is the honorific often used by Ambedkar’s followers in formal and informal settings. The essay “Buddha and Karl Marx” and its companion speech, delivered at the fourth meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists, Kathmandu on November 15, 1956, contain what may be Ambedkar’s final thoughts on religion and politics. The speech version is transcribed in BAWS, Vol. 17, pp. 549–58. 5 Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, p. 351. 6 B. R. Ambedkar, Thus Spoke Ambedkar, Vol. 1, edited by Bhagwan Das (New Delhi: Navayana, 2010), p. 216. 7 B. R. Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, annotated and edited by Aakash Singh Rathore and Ajay Verma (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2011). 8 Keer, Dr. Ambedkar, p. 498. 9 The designs were adapted from Antoinette Gordon’s Iconography of Tibetan Buddhism (1939) and are discussed by Gary Michael Tartakov, “The Navayana Creation of the Buddha Image,” in Reconstructing the World: B. R. Ambedkar and Buddhism in India, Surenra Jondhale and Johannes Beltz, eds. (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004), pp. 157–64. It is interesting that Ambedkar did not choose the dhammachakkapavattana mudra, the “wheel-turning gesture” that stands for the Buddha’s teaching. But that two-handed sign is more complicated to represent in two dimensions, and not as recognizable to children and grownups everywhere as the raised forefinger. 10 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, pp. 66. 11 For Ambedkar’s use of Buddhist scriptures, see Adele Fiske and Christoph Emmrich, “The Use of Buddhist Scriptures in B. R. Ambedkar’s The Buddha and His Dhamma,” in Reconstructing the World, Jondhale and Beltz eds., pp. 97–119; Christopher Queen, “Dr. Ambedkar and the Hermeneutics of Buddhist Liberation,” in Christopher S. Queen and Sallie B. King, eds. Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia. (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1996), pp. 45–71; and detailed annotations in Aakash Singh Rathore and Ajay Verma’s edition of The Buddha and His Dhamma. 12 See Scott Stroud, “Creative Democracy, Communication, and the Uncharted Sources of Bhimrao Ambedkar’s Deweyan Pragmatism,” Education and Culture 34 (1) (2018):

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  79 3–22; Scott Stroud, “Pragmatism, Persuasion, and Force in Bhimrao Ambedkar’s Reconstruction of Buddhism,” Journal of Religion 97 (2) (2017): 214–43; Meera Nanda, “A ‘Broken’ People Defend Science: Dewey Meets the Buddha of India’s Dalits,” in Breaking the Spell of Dharma and Other Essays (New Delhi: Three Essays, 2002), 33–102, republished as A Prophet Facing Forward (New Delhi: Critical Quest, 2006). 13 Christopher Queen, “A Pedagogy of the Dhamma: B. R. Ambedkar and John Dewey on Education,” International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture 24 (February 2015): 7–21. On Ambedkar’s method of research, see Christopher Queen, “Ambedkar’s Dhamma: Source and Method in the Construction of Engaged Buddhism,” in Reconstructing the World, Jondhale and Beltz, eds., pp. 132–50. 14 Eleanor Zelliot, Ambedkar’s World: The Making of Babasaheb and the Dalit Movement (New Delhi: Navayana, 2014), pp. 204–5. Zelliot (1926–2016) was the pioneering American historian whose doctoral dissertation, “Dr. Ambedkar and the Mahar Movement” (Princeton University, 1969) was the basis of the 2014 volume. Recent statistics on the PES were accessed at http://drbacmahad​.org​/pcs​/about​-pes/ on February 6, 2019. 15 The Constitution of India: https​:/​/ww​​w​.ind​​ia​.go​​v​.in/​​my​-go​​vernm​​ent​/c​​onsti​​tutio​​n​-ind​​ia​ /co​​nstit​​ution​​​-indi​​a​-ful​​l​-tex​​t. Articles: https​:/​/ww​​w​.ind​​ia​.go​​v​.in/​​sites​​/uplo​​ad​_fi​​les​/n​​pi​/fi​​ les​/c​​oi​​_pa​​rt​_fu​​ll​.pd​​f. Accessed on March 11, 2019. 16 The terms in Sanskrit and Pali in this chapter are presented as they appear in Ambedkar’s writings, without diacritical markings and sometimes with modern spelling. 17 For more on Ambedkar’s interpretation of Buddhist right speech, see Christopher Queen, “Gentle or Harsh? The Practice of Right Speech in Engaged Buddhism,” in David W. Chappell, ed., Socially Engaged Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Sulak Sivaraksa On His 70th Birthday (Bangkok: Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation, 2003), pp. 2–19. 18 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, p. 237. 19 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, pp. 165f. 20 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, pp. 64–116. 21 Keer. Dr. Ambedkar, pp. 121–123. 22 Rāmacandra Kshīrasāgara, Dalit Movement in India and Its Leaders, 1857-1956 (New Delhi: M.D. Publications, 1994), p. 159. 23 BAWS, Vol. 17, Part III, p. 289 (emphasis added). At the fiftieth anniversary of the Buddhist Conversion in Nagpur in 2006 I photographed a banner flown by SSD youth that listed the objectives of the organization: “(1) I take an oath to serve people as practiced and taught by Babasaheb Ambedkar. (2) From now onwards, before the next birthday of Babasaheb, I will teach at least three persons in my neighborhood who cannot read and write. (3) I will work with determination to remove the pain of at least one family needing help in my neighborhood. (4) I will not support any discrimination on account of community [caste] or language. (5) I will lead an honest life free from all corruption and will set an example for others to adopt a transparent way of life.” Hundreds of young, uniformed Equality Volunteers of the SSD provided information and crowd control with whistles and hand gestures in a gathering numbering over one million Buddhist pilgrims. See the website of the SSD here: http://ssdindia​.org​/about. Accessed March 11, 2019. 24 B. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste. The annotated critical edition, edited and annotated by S. Anand, introduced with the essay “The Doctor and the Saint” by Arundhati Roy (New Delhi: Navayana, 2014), pp. 262–265. In the tradition of controversy surrounding Ambedkar’s speech-turned-book, the Navayana edition was met with harsh reaction from Ambedkarites who objected to two non-Dalit writers, Anand and Roy, publishing an expensive edition when the original text is available for free on the internet and in less expensive editions. Should non-Dalits profit from Ambedkar’s labors, and are they qualified to understand his experience and his arguments? Further

80  Christopher Queen objection to Roy’s essay focused on her lack of academic credentials and the length of her essay, which exceeded that of Ambedkar. The debate is extensively covered online. 25 The Constitution of India: https​:/​/ww​​w​.ind​​ia​.go​​v​.in/​​sites​​/uplo​​ad​_fi​​les​/n​​pi​/fi​​les​/c​​ oi​​_pa​​rt​_fu​​ll​.pd​​f, accessed March 11, 2019. Volume 13 of BAWS is devoted to “Dr. Ambedkar as Principal Architect of the Constitution of India” and contains the minutes of all deliberations leading up to final ratification on November 26, 1950 (1240 pp.). Ambedkar’s own summary of the basic features of the Constitution may be found in Valerian Rodrigues, ed., The Essential Writings of B. R. Ambedkar (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 473–95. A detailed analysis of the politics surrounding the drafting and ratification of the constitution may be found in Christophe Jaffrelot, Dr. Ambedkar and Untouchability: Analyzing and Fighting Caste (New Delhi: Permanent Black, 2005), pp. 53–114. 26 Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste, p. 260. Here Ambedkar uses the language he has underlined in red in his copy of John Dewey’s Democracy and Education (New York: Macmillan, 1916), p. 101. For further discussion of Ambedkar’s use of Dewey, see Scott Stroud, “Echoes of Pragmatism in India: Bhimrao Ambedkar and Reconstructive Rhetoric,” in R. Danisch, ed., Recovering Overlooked Pragmatists in Communication, https​:/​/li​​nk​.sp​​ringe​​r​.com​​/chap​​ter​/1​​0​.100​​7​%2F9​​78​-3-​​​030​-1​​4343-​​5_4 (accessed February 5, 2021); Arun Mukherjee, “B. R. Ambedkar, John Dewey, and the Meaning of Democracy,” New Literary History 40 (2009): 345–70; and Queen, “A Pedagogy of the Dhamma.” 27 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, pp. 222–23. 28 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, pp. 225. 29 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, pp. 248–50. 30 B. R. Ambedkar, “The Rise and Fall of the Hindu Woman: Who was Responsible for It?” BAWS, Vol. 17, Part II, pp. 109-29; reprinted in D. C. Ahir, Dr. Ambedkar on Buddhism (Bombay: People’s Education Society, 1982), pp. 75–96. Originally published in The Maha Bodhi Vol. 58 (Calcutta: March 1950). 31 Urmila Pawar and Meenakshi Moon, eds. We Also Made History: Women in the Ambedkarite Movement (New Delhi: Zubaan, 2008). 32 Ibid, pp. 162–65. 33 Details of Ambedkar’s political career are treated in detail by Keer, Zelliot and Jaffrelot. 34 Ahir, Dr. Ambedkar on Buddhism, p. 1. 35 On Ambedkar’s writings concerning reservation, see Sukhadeo Thorat and Narender Kumar, eds., B. R. Ambedkar: Perspectives on Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policies (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008); on the evolution of the Mandal Commission (Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission) and the backlash following its implementation, see Hiranmay Karlekar, In the Mirror of Mandel: Social Justice, Caste, Class and the Individual (Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1992) and Nicholas B. Dirks, Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), pp. 275–80. 36 Sreenivas Janyala, “Behind Rohit Vemula’s suicide: How Hyderabad Central University showed him the door,” Indian Express, January 20, 2016: https​:/​/in​​diane​​xpres​​s​.com​​/ arti​​cle​/i​​ndia/​​india​​-news​​-indi​​a​/beh​​ind​-d​​alit-​​stude​​nt​-su​​icide​​-how-​​his​-u​​niver​​sity-​​campu​​​ s​-sho​​wed​-h​​im​-th​​e​-doo​​r/, accessed March 5, 2019. And Shikha Trivedy, “At Campus Where Rohith Vemula Died, New Tension For ABVP And Dalit Group” NDTV online, January 15, 2018: https​:/​/ww​​w​.ndt​​v​.com​​/hyde​​rabad​​-news​​/at​-c​​ampus​​-wher​​e​-roh​​ith​-v​​ emula​​-died​​-new-​​tensi​​on​-fo​​r​-abv​​p​-and​​​-dali​​t​-gro​​up​-17​​98961​, accessed March 5, 2019; and https​:/​/en​​.wiki​​pedia​​.org/​​wiki/​​Suici​​de​_of​​_Rohi​​t​h​_Ve​​mula, accessed March 5, 2019. 37 Zelliot, Ambedkar’s World, pp. 21–57. 38 Queen, “Dr. Ambedkar and the Hermeneutics of Buddhist Liberation,” pp. 50–51. 39 Ambedkar, The Buddha and His Dhamma, p. 231. 40 “Buddha and Future of His Religion,” BAWS, p. 104, first published in The Maha Bodhi, journal of the Maha Bodhi Society of Calcutta, Volume 58, May 1950.

Ambedkar’s Buddhist vision  81 41 Ibid., p. 107. 42 For an overview of Buddhist teachings on wealth, see Christopher Queen, “Economic Justice in the Buddhist Tradition,” in Richard Madsen and William M. Sullivan, eds., Economic Inequality and Morality: Diverse Ethical Perspectives (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2019), pp. 235–60. 43 A detailed overview of the evolution of Ambedkar’s economic theories (“Ambedkarism”) vis-à-vis those of Gandhi, Nehru and the Indian Communist Party may be found in Gail Omvedt, Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in Colonial India (New Delhi: Sage, 2014). 44 B. R. Ambedkar, “Buddha or Karl Marx,” in BAWS, Vol. 17, Part 3, p. 554. 45 Dhammapada 1.5. (trans., Max Müller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 10, 1881, to which Ambedkar referred for his quotes from the Dhammapada.) Ambedkar’s quotation from this text in The Buddha and His Dhamma is extensive. In the section “On Anger and Enmity,” he paraphrases, “Cherish no anger. Forget your enemies, Win your enemies by love. This is the Buddhist Way of Life” (ibid., p. 189.) For Ambedkar’s references to the Pali sources throughout The Buddha and His Dhamma, see footnote annotations in the Oxford annotated edition, and “Pali and Other Sources of The Buddha and His Dhamma, with an Index,” BAWS, Vol.11 Supplement. 46 From the author’s collection. The poster is reproduced and discussed in Viswanathan, op. cit., pp. 226–28. On the symbolism of the Dharmachakra for Engaged Buddhism and Indian history, see Christopher S. Queen, “The Peace Wheel: Nonviolent Activism in the Buddhist Tradition,” in Daniel L. Smith-Christopher, ed., Subverting Hatred: The Challenge of Nonviolence in Religious Traditions (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2007), pp. 14–37.

4

The good life as envisioned by A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement George D. Bond

When A. T. Ariyaratne was a young science teacher at a high school in Colombo, Sri Lanka, he had not yet developed the comprehensive vision of the good life that he later worked out as the Sarvodaya movement evolved, but he knew that the good life involved applying Buddhist values such as compassion and lovingkindness to improve life for all. So he took his students to work in depressed rural villages to help people who had largely been left behind by modern society. He knew that these work camps or shramadanas would enrich the lives of not only the villagers but also the students. He shared the Buddhist optimism of that post-independence period and the Buddhist belief that the time had come to improve the country and the world by realizing and applying the Dharma. Ariyaratne would go on to clarify his vision of the good life to include not only the idea of liberation for poor villagers but also a new vision of Buddhist liberation as a dual liberation: a liberation of the individual and the society together. His work led to the development of the Sarvodaya movement that would bring Buddhist and Gandhian development to hundreds of villages in a dynamic attempt to reform the society. When Sri Lanka entered into a civil war in the early 1980s, Ariyaratne would articulate a vision of peace as essential for the good life and he would transform his Sarvodaya movement into a great force for peace in an attempt to resolve the war and save all of the people on both sides. Ultimately, he would articulate a vision for the kind of total revolution that is needed not only in the villages of Sri Lanka but also across the nation and the world. This would be a nonviolent revolution based on Dharmic values and Gandhian ideals that would offer a comprehensive plan for a new way of life that could rescue the world from the inequities and problems brought by Western values and development.

The context and early period To understand the origins of Ariyaratne’s vision we should look at the historical context in which it all began. In 1958 Ariyaratne initiated what he called an “educational experiment,” taking students and teachers from Nalanda College, a Buddhist secondary school in Colombo, to live and work in Kanatoluwa, which was a depressed, low-caste, rural village. This was a time of great optimism among Buddhists in Sri Lanka and in South Asia generally. Sri Lanka had gained

A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement  83 its independence from British colonial rule in 1948 and the country was very hopeful about its future. In addition, in 1956 Buddhists throughout South Asia celebrated the Buddha Jayanti, the two-thousand five-hundredth anniversary of the Buddha’s entry into Parinirvana. This event had great significance for the Buddhists because they held a traditional belief that the Buddha had prophesied that his Dharma would endure for 5,000 years and at the mid-point of that period would enjoy a great resurgence and revival. The Burmese had taken the lead in celebrating the Buddha Jayanti by convening the Sixth Buddhist Council in 1954, reviving the ancient tradition of Buddhist councils that rehearsed the Dharma, and issuing a charge to the Buddha’s followers to revive and propagate his religion. An important feature of the Burmese reforms at this time was the emphasis that they placed on the role of the lay Buddhists. They developed, for example, the lay Buddhist meditation movement which represented a new option for the lay practice of Buddhism and they opened the way for the laity to take on new roles as leaders in areas such as meditation and community service in this new era for Buddhism. Buddhists in Sri Lanka joined the celebrations and felt that a Buddhist renaissance had begun that would transform life and improve society. The lay Buddhist meditation movement became very popular in Sri Lanka and the laity felt empowered to take the lead in moving Buddhist values forward. The Sri Lankans held and promoted the additional belief, deriving from their sacred chronicle, the Mahavamsa, that the Buddha had given the Sinhala Buddhists in Sri Lanka a special destiny to preserve and promote the Dharma, and they saw the Jayanti as a sign that this was the time to fulfil their distinctive mission as the guardians of the Dharma. As Smith observed, in Sri Lanka, “The land, the race and the faith were intimately associated in the national mystique which the Jayanti helped to elaborate.”1 A pervasive slogan circulating in Sri Lanka in this post-independence period proclaimed that the time had come to “restore Buddhism to its rightful place.” This call to action meant many things to many Buddhists and led to various approaches by the lay Buddhists to promote the religion and the Dharma. There were two major types of approaches that Buddhist groups took in responding to this challenge. One approach was that followed by the Buddhist Nationalists or the Political Buddhists. They sought to restore the institution of Buddhism and reestablish control of the country for the Sinhala Buddhist majority. The other approach was followed by those who came to be called, “Socially Engaged Buddhists.” Their approach sought to affirm Buddhism by harnessing its values to solve social problems. Ariyaratne’s mobilization of his students to help the poor represented one of the best-known forms of the latter interpretation of the Jayanti mandate.

Buddhist nationalism or political Buddhism The first national elections were held in 1956, the Buddha Jayanti year. This conjunction of the national elections and the two-thousand five-hundredth anniversary of the Buddha led to politicians embracing the cause of Buddhism and

84  George D. Bond seeking to be elected by campaigning as the political saviors of the religion. They were aided and supported by many Buddhist monks who sought to regain the prestige and power that they had lost under colonialism. The leading political Buddhist was S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (1889–1959). Campaigning under a banner of “Restoring Buddhism and Buddhists to their rightful place,” Bandaranaike won the election in a landslide and became the first prime minister. He immediately took up the cause of Buddhism and the Sinhala Buddhists, promising to restore Buddhism to its proper place as the state religion and to restore the Sinhala people and their language to their “rightful place” in the country. The actions of Bandaranaike and others undoubtedly helped revive the fortunes of the religion, which had suffered decline during the period of the Christian colonial rulers. New temples were built, ancient ones were restored, Buddhist festivals were promoted again and new initiatives such as lay meditation emerged and swept the country. However, the actions of these Buddhist nationalists and political Buddhists in granting priority status to the Sinhala Buddhists sowed seeds of division in the country that led to the alienation of the Tamils and other minorities. Buddhist nationalism was the primary cause of the ethnic conflict that divided the nation in a bloody war two decades later.

Sarvodaya and socially Engaged Buddhism Ariyaratne and other socially Engaged Buddhists also began in the same context of the Buddha Jayanti and the post-colonial revival of Buddhism in Sri Lanka. However, they had a very different vision of what it meant to restore Buddhism to its proper place. To them, this mandate meant that Buddhist values and ideas should be reinterpreted to provide guidance in a new age. Where Sinhala Buddhist nationalism sought to restore the privilege and entitlement of Buddhists and stressed Buddhist identity, Ariyaratne stressed the opportunity for and the responsibility of Buddhists to apply the Dharma’s values to transform society. To that end he led his students into the remote rural areas to carry out the work camps or shramadanas, a term that they translated as “gifts of labor and service.” These shramadanas became very popular and soon were attracting students and lay Buddhists from beyond the student body of Nalanda College as volunteers to work in these rural villages. In 1961 Ariyaratne and his followers held a work camp in the sacred city of Anuradhapura, and resolved to call this movement, the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement. At this meeting they pledged to further “the cause of the movement in the service of the spiritual and economic regeneration of Sri Lanka according to Buddhist principles.”2 Ariyaratne’s vision for this movement drew on several different sources which can be subsumed under the headings of the Theravada Buddhist tradition from Sri Lanka and the Gandhian tradition from India. At that time, Mahatma Gandhi’s work to liberate India from hundreds of years of colonial rule was a shining light over all of South Asia and Ariyaratne’s vision for his new movement was strongly influenced by Gandhi’s ideals. As a student, Ariyaratne had met Gandhi when the great leader made a tour of schools in Sri Lanka, then

A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement  85 Ceylon. Later, Ariyaratne went to India to work with Vinoba Bhave, who was a disciple of Gandhi and was considered to be Gandhi’s spiritual successor. Vinoba Bhave had been one of the leaders in Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance campaign and later traveled the country working for land reform to restore the village cultures of India. The Gandhian influences shaped Ariyaratne’s vision in several ways. Ariyaratne and his followers named their new movement “Sarvodaya,” adopting a term that Gandhi had coined. Gandhi used the term to mean the “the welfare of all” but Ariyaratne gave it a Buddhist interpretation, defining it as “the awakening of all.” The Gandhian example of selfless service for humanity as the highest form of religious practice was very important in shaping the path of the Sri Lankan Sarvodaya movement. Gandhi believed that the village represented the heart of the social structure of India and that village values were crucial for the welfare of society. Ariyaratne also subscribed to this idea, making the village the focus of his reform movement. An associate of Ariyaratne recalled that in the early days of the Sri Lankan Sarvodaya movement pictures of Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave were displayed prominently and their teachings were studied to provide guidance and inspiration for the young volunteers. Sarvodaya adopted the Gandhian values of truth, nonviolence and self-denial as central principles for its philosophy. Some people later came to refer to Ariyaratne as the “Gandhi of Sri Lanka.” The other major influence that shaped Ariyaratne’s vision of Sarvodaya was, of course, the Buddhist tradition. Among the many factors here was the work of Anagarika Dharmapala who fought for the revival of Buddhism in the late colonial period in Sri Lanka. Dharmapala was a Sinhala Buddhist layman, whose given name was Don David Hevavitharana. He created a new name and a new role for himself as an Anagarika, a homeless layman who sought to bring Buddhist reforms to society and protect Buddhism. Dharmapala had been a protégé of the founders of the Theosophical Society, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, a former American military officer, and Madame Helena Blavatsky, a Russian philosopher and author. Olcott had worked in both India and Ceylon to uplift the Buddhists in the face of colonial suppression of Buddhists and Buddhism. He met Dharmapala in Ceylon and encouraged him to join the Theosophists in protecting and reviving Buddhism, a task that Dharmapala enthusiastically embraced. Espousing an ideal of activism and service, Dharmapala said that “Greater than the bliss of sweet Nirvana is the life of moral activity.”3 Dharmapala sought to establish Buddhist schools and hospitals and he campaigned to reestablish Buddhist festivals in order to give the Buddhists pride in their heritage. He advocated that the Sinhalese should return to the Dharma in order to both rediscover their identity and respond to the modern situation. Ariyaratne was influenced by Dharmapala’s emphasis on the value of the traditional culture and the importance of trusting the moral compass of the village Buddhists. He felt that their sense of Buddhist values was a more trustworthy guide for the future of the country than the Western and colonial values. Ariyaratne and the other leaders of Sarvodaya were influenced by Dharmapala’s teachings about the possibility of reviving these culturally embedded values that had shaped traditional Buddhist civilizations.

86  George D. Bond They subscribed to Dharmapala’s idea that the Dharma presented a strong social ethic. As Dharmapala wrote, “The ideal of the Buddhist faith consists in realizing through spiritual experience and moral actions, the continuity of life in man and nature and the fellowship of all beings.”4 Following the views of reformers such as Gandhi and Dharmapala, Ariyaratne interpreted Buddhist thought and values to provide a philosophy for social engagement. He did not accept the views of some Western scholars and colonial leaders who described Buddhism as a “world-denying” philosophy that was focused more on disengaging from society rather than engaging with it. By naming his movement Sarvodaya, “the awakening of all,” he expressed the belief that people should seek awakening by engaging with the world rather than by withdrawing from it. Ariyaratne says that the movement accepted Buddhist ideals because they not only represented their heritage as Buddhists, but they also offered the most hope for building the peaceful human society of tomorrow. His socially engaged interpretation of the Dharma can be seen in the Engaged Buddhist interpretation that Sarvodaya provides for the Four Noble Truths, which formed the essence of the Buddha’s first sermon. These truths are traditionally interpreted in terms of individual existential perspectives, but Sarvodaya says that before people can realize the existential meaning of the four noble truths, they must see the social meaning of them. To that end, Sarvodaya has offered social interpretations for these truths. The first truth, dukkha, suffering or unsatisfactoriness, is translated as “There is a depressed or disadvantaged village, or area.”5 This concrete form of suffering becomes the focus of mundane awakening. People should recognize the problems in their environment, such as poverty, disease, oppression and disunity. Confronting suffering constitutes the first step toward awakening. The second truth, samudaya, the origin of suffering, now signifies that the suffering of the village has one or more causes. Sarvodaya teaches that the causes lie in factors such as egoism, competition, greed and hatred, as well as environmental causes, and these causes should be discovered in order to correct the problems. The third truth, nirodha, cessation, understood in traditional Buddhism as an indicator of liberation, becomes hope that the villagers’ suffering can cease. The means to solving these problems lie in the fourth truth, the Eightfold Path. If persons can awaken to the mundane truths about the conditions around them, then realizing the need for change, they can work in society in the spirit of the Buddha. As society is changed, the individual is changed. One who addresses mundane problems with compassion finds the mundane world becoming more compassionate, and in a more compassionate world it is easier to develop wisdom. The interconnectedness of this process of awakening points to one of the key insights of Ariyaratne’s Sarvodaya movement: the idea of a “dual awakening” or “dual liberation.” Ariyaratne has said that “The struggle for external liberation is—at the same time—a struggle for inner liberation from greed, hatred and ignorance.”6 Through putting Buddhist values in action, such as in a shramadana camp, Sarvodaya implements the path of this-worldly asceticism that leads to the goal of dual liberation: the liberation of the individual and the liberation of society. Ariyaratne points to the connection here when he says that “To change society we

A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement  87 must purify ourselves, and the purification process we need is brought about by working in society.”7 Sarvodaya teaches that the liberation of the individual from greed, hatred and ignorance is dependent on the liberation of society from the structures that promote these poisons. In this way, Sarvodaya’s Engaged Buddhist path provides a means to awaken both self and society together. At times, Ariyaratne compares Sarvodaya’s conception of the path to that of the bodhisattva, the being who postpones her/his own enlightenment in order to remain in the world to work for the enlightenment of all.8 The Bhagavad Gita’s ideal of the karma yogi, which is an important teaching in Hinduism, also functions as a central paradigm for Sarvodaya’s path. A karma yogi is one who sees doing service and work for others as the highest form of spirituality. This ideal was especially emphasized by Gandhi. The idea of a dual liberation or awakening of self and society formed the basis for Sarvodaya’s vision of social development and the philosophy behind its work in the villages. The best example of Sarvodaya’s reinterpretation of the Dharma for social engagement is its explanation of the Four Divine Virtues (Brahma Viharas) as central factors in a this-worldly path. The Four Divine Virtues or Abidings comprise loving-kindness (mettā), compassion (karuṇā), sympathetic joy (muditā) and equanimity (upekkhā). The traditional interpretation of these concepts had been that they represent states of mental tranquility reached by withdrawing from the world and practicing the meditation of calmness, samādhi. Ariyaratne, however, teaches that the Four Divine Abidings serve as guidelines for social action. “Loving-kindness towards all is the thought that an awakening personality should have. But this thought is not enough; it is only the motivation which should lead us to compassionate action.”9 He maintains that in traditional Sri Lankan village culture, the awakening of the personality was based on these four principles.10 Therefore Sarvodaya promotes them as central elements of its plan for employing the Dharma to assist and uplift the rural poor. Sarvodaya takes the first principle, mettā or loving-kindness, to mean “respect for all life,” and cultivating love for all beings. This principle leads to the second, karuṇā or compassion, which Sarvodaya understands as “compassionate action.” Muditā, or altruistic joy, results from acting on the first two principles because one sees how one’s efforts have helped others. This joy represents an important factor in Sarvodaya’s mundane awakening, for to be awake and liberated is to be joyful. Sarvodaya does not downplay the element of joy derived from losing oneself in the service of society. The fourth principle, upekkhā or equanimity, becomes important for developing a sense of centeredness and calmness in the midst of the world: a personality structure unshaken by praise or blame, by gain or loss. This can be regarded as the ultimate goal of Buddhist meditation, but here developed through social action. With this socially engaged interpretation of the central principles of Buddhism. Ariyaratne developed a vision of a new social order and a new understanding of what development and awakening mean. Following this approach, Ariyaratne guided his Sarvodaya movement in addressing the problems of the country. Between 1968 and 1980, Sarvodaya transformed itself from a volunteer movement to become the largest non-governmental

88  George D. Bond organization in Sri Lanka and was working in thousands of villages and urban areas across the country. They did community development and helped the people to carry out basic development projects in their villages, such as building connecting roads and gravity water systems, constructing schools and hospitals, and establishing micro-lending systems for small businesses in the villages.

Ariyaratne and the vision of peace In the early 1980s a conflict arose in Sri Lanka between a Tamil insurgent movement and the Sri Lankan army that went on for over 25 years and came to be called “the ethnic conflict.” This war radically changed the nature of life in all parts of the country with violent battles in some areas and sporadic attacks and suicide bombings in others. The ethnic conflict was a direct result of the policies of the Sinhala Buddhist nationalist governments that had come to power after independence. The Sinhala nationalist governments, as we have noted above, privileged the Sinhala Buddhists and discriminated against the Tamils and other minority groups. These minority groups who had enjoyed a measure of equality with the Sinhalese during the British period now found that they were not able to attain university admissions or to get good jobs in the government or private sectors in the same way that the Sinhalese were. There had been clashes between Sinhalese groups and Tamil groups in the late 1970s, but the conflict erupted onto the national scene in the early 1980s when a Tamil insurgent group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, arose demanding independence for what they regarded as the Tamil homelands in the northern and eastern parts of the country. The LTTE carried out attacks on Sinhala areas and sent suicide bombers into the cities and towns in the south. The Sri Lankan government responded with force, sending the army to the northern and eastern parts of the country to confront the insurgents. Responding to this new reality, Ariyaratne and Sarvodaya shifted their focus from development to peacemaking in order to heal the divisions in the country. The Sarvodaya movement became one of the major voices for peace during the long-running conflict in Sri Lanka. Sarvodaya was uniquely positioned to be an arbiter for peace in this conflict because it had been working in all areas of the country for many years, in the towns and villages in both the south and the north. It was carrying out development programs in many Tamil villages in the north and east and Tamils held prominent positions in the leadership of Sarvodaya. Ariyaratne and Sarvodaya sought to aid in this crisis with a two-pronged approach, addressing the immediate need to work to halt the fighting and provide aid to the victims while also seeking to discern and correct the underlying causes of the conflict. They sought not just to resolve the conflict but to resolve it in a way that would provide a lasting and just peace. Ariyaratne based his response to the war on the two main sources of inspiration for the Sarvodaya movement, Buddhist and Gandhian thought. The Buddhist tradition reflects a strong emphasis on peace and nonviolence going back to the Buddha himself. The Buddha taught his followers to cultivate peace and nonviolence in order to progress on the path toward enlightenment.

A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement  89 The first of the five moral precepts advises Buddhists to avoid killing or harming any living being. The Dhammapada teaches that “hatred never ceases by hatred … hatred ceases by love; this is an eternal law.”11 The Gandhian movement in India also was based on the ideals of peace and nonviolence. Gandhi’s nonviolent campaign to liberate India demonstrated his commitment to peace. But just as Gandhi’s movement employed nonviolence to actively oppose oppression, so also Ariyaratne’s nonviolent quest for peace during the ethnic conflict generated an active campaign that mobilized the people and sought to build up the people’s power. Ariyaratne said, “We have demonstrated an active nonviolence,” and he further explained that “to be active in a (violent) situation like that and to work in a nonviolent and non-sectarian way, you need great spiritual power.”12 Sarvodaya’s peace plan formed an integral part of its overall vision of a nonviolent, socially Engaged Buddhism. Their peace plan called for a total, nonviolent revolution as the basis for a lasting peace. This idea of a nonviolent revolution represented a Gandhian principle that Ariyaratne had adopted as the Sarvodaya movement had grown and reflects the degree to which Sarvodaya was crafting an alternative approach to development. Ariyaratne recognized that the war was a manifestation of the corrupt structures that had prevailed in the country since colonial rule and had been largely perpetuated by the Sinhala nationalist governments and that to solve the conflict one had to address these structures. Two of the requirements for a lasting peace according to Ariyaratne were, first, that peace must come from the people, from the grassroots; it could not be imposed from above through either political or military solutions. Second, following Gandhi, Ariyaratne held that to bring lasting peace one must not only stop the actual conflict but one must also work to transform the conditions that permit and produce the violence. Ariyaratne interpreted Gandhi’s model for social change and focused on the village to emphasize the need for decentralization and a bottom-up approach. He regarded the village as the level of Sri Lankan society that had been most adversely affected by the conflict and that held the greatest potential for resolving the conflict. Sarvodaya’s key documents on peace all focused on these two essential aspects that were necessary for a nonviolent revolution to come about and establish a new order. Sarvodaya said that people must work to transform the economy and the values underlying it. It also said that work must be done to establish an alternative political system that devolves power to the grassroots level, a “bottom up system.” When the war broke out in 1983, Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya leadership were major players in the People’s Conference for National Peace and Harmony, which drafted a declaration spelling out these ideas and the steps needed for peace. Following Ariyaratne’s lead, the declaration that the Conference issued said that to remove one of the major causes of the degeneration behind the violence, they needed to reestablish “a suitable economic lifestyle, simple, plain and sustainable.”13 This would be a village economy that gave the people living in the villages power to determine their future. Ariyaratne regarded this kind of village-oriented society and economy as the antithesis of the kind of top-down government and economy that prevailed

90  George D. Bond in the country. The Sri Lankan government had inherited this top-down model from the colonial governments and had continued this kind of centralized social, political and economic approach. Ariyaratne believed this model had led to the war because it ignored the views of the villagers who were the people at the bottom, and to resolve the war they needed to transform the paradigm. The people could bring peace by uniting at the village level—Sinhalas and Tamils and others. Sarvodaya sought to bring about this unity of the people at the village level. In its shramadanas it always placed the prayers and songs of the minorities first in the group ceremonies and it made sure that all decisions were made together. Ariyaratne believed that the villages could also unite beyond the shramadana settings. By uniting at the village level, the people could begin to replace the current system dominated by party politics, which Ariyaratne regards as a vehicle for the elite to maintain their power over the rural people. Breaking the power of the elite was crucial for bringing peace in Ariyaratne’s view because the elite on both sides had been the ones perpetuating the conflict for the sake of their own power. To implement its vision of peace, Sarvodaya has worked on various levels and in various ways. Following the 1983 riots that effectively began the war, Sarvodaya established camps for the Tamil refugees and was one of the main organizers of a national, interfaith, interethnic peace conference that drafted a “People’s Declaration for National Peace and Harmony.” After this conference, Ariyaratne sought to implement the spirit of the conference by undertaking a Gandhi-styled peace march or “peace walk” from the town of Kataragama in the south all the way to the center of the insurgency in Jaffna at the northern end of the island. This march was designed not only to protest the war but also to demonstrate and generate those qualities of the nonviolent revolution that Ariyaratne sought to build: people’s power and spiritual power. The march was organized and set out from Kataragama with Ariyaratne leading several thousand marchers. Unfortunately, however, it was halted after only a few miles because of a request from President J. R. Jayawardene, who said that he feared for the safety of the marchers and felt that the march might disrupt negotiations that were underway. After this discontinued march, Sarvodaya successfully carried out numerous other “people’s peace marches” in other parts of the country. At one of these marches, Ariyaratne declared, “Let it be known to those who bear arms that there are about two million members in Sarvodaya who are prepared to brave death anywhere and anytime.”14 Ariyaratne also organized enormous peace meditations involving thousands of people who assembled to spend one day or several days meditating and hearing talks about the need for peace by Ariyaratne and others, including Buddhist monks and leaders from the Christian, Hindu and Muslim communities. One of the largest of these peace meditations was held on March 15, 2002, at the Maha Bodhi Tree shrine in the sacred city of Anuradhapura. This meditation drew an estimated 650,000 people to the sacred site to meditate for peace for three days. These meditations were designed to raise the people’s consciousness of peace and to generate the kind of “spiritual power” that would fuel the nonviolent revolution.

A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement  91 Ariyaratne’s work for peace earned him national and international recognition. In 1992 he was awarded the Niwano Peace Prize from Japan’s Niwano Peace Foundation, which is given annually to a person who has “contributed to peace in the spirit of religion.” In 1996 he received the Gandhi Peace Prize from the government of India. Ariyaratne’s work with the peace marches and the massive peace meditations also caught the attention of the Sri Lankan government that was promoting the war. The government began to regard Ariyaratne with some suspicion because of these massive demonstrations against their war policies. The government even tried to dissuade the Japanese from awarding the Niwano Peace Prize to Ariyaratne, although it later denied this, and it placed restrictions on the stipend associated with the award.

Ariyaratne’s vision of the good life today Although Ariyaratne has developed his vision of the good life as the Sarvodaya movement has evolved through addressing all of these situations and events over six decades, in many ways his vision of the good life remains the same as it was when he began to take his students to work in the depressed villages: the good life is to be found in serving others. The good life for the individual is to seek awakening and the way to find one’s own awakening is to work for the awakening of others. Buddhism teaches that to awaken oneself, one must overcome the three negative states: desire, hatred and ignorance. Ariyaratne and his Sarvodaya movement have taught that the awakening of the individual from desire, hatred and ignorance is to be found through working to awaken society from the structures that promote these poisons. The liberation of the individual and the liberation of society are necessarily connected. As noted above, Ariyaratne has said that, “To change society we must purify ourselves, and the purification process we need is brought about by working in society.”15 The Sarvodaya movement has captured and expressed this goal in the slogan that they have used to describe their work in the villages: “We build the road, and the road builds us.” Sarvodaya uses this slogan to summarize this practical philosophy of the movement, the idea that by working in society one not only could help others to awaken and find new possibilities, but one also could find awakening and new meaning for oneself. This is the goal of dual liberation that is central to Sarvodaya’s vision of the best life. For both the individual and society, awakening must start with the development of what Ariyaratne has called spiritual power. This is the quality that Sarvodaya sought to generate through the peace marches and peace meditations. Ariyaratne is a spiritual person, and he expresses and nurtures this spirituality not only through practices such as meditation but also through working tirelessly for social empowerment and uplift. The concept of spiritual power is difficult to define precisely, but it clearly represents the opposite of the materialist power that is to be seen in the Western models of development that fueled colonialism and the wars and conflicts of recent times. Spiritual power provides the will and assurance to go forward and trust the path to a goal, such as the goal of the uplift of all

92  George D. Bond and peace for society. It is the power that enabled Gandhi to mount his nonviolent campaign opposing the might of the British colonial system. Ariyaratne’s view of what the awakening of society means has evolved with the evolution of the Sarvodaya movement. He has said that the awakening of society is an integrated process involving six interconnected levels. The awakening and reform of a society’s social, political and economic elements should take place as the society reforms its moral, cultural and spiritual elements. These six elements of an integrated development process illustrate both the traditional and the radical nature of Ariyaratne’s vision of Sarvodaya, the awakening of all. The ideal society, a society where people could live awakened and fulfilled lives, would be one where people live morally following the Buddhist precepts or other religious moral guidelines, where cultural elements such as traditional literature, music and drama help to keep people united as a community, and where the spiritual element is found in traditional religious practices such as devotion and meditation. These elements provide the foundation for the other three elements: the social element of a stable and peaceful society that provides people with both equality and a good quality of life; a political element that affords all people power and equal rights; and an economic element that is based on people’s power and on meeting human needs. This kind of awakening leads to a society in which people can live together in harmony and have an opportunity to fulfil their spirits. The Engaged Buddhist nature of this ideal can be seen in Sarvodaya’s view of economic matters. Rather than advocating economic growth as the goal, Ariyaratne has said that the goal is “right livelihood,” a value that constitutes the fifth step on the Noble Eightfold Path. Right livelihood in the traditional Buddhist context meant earning one’s living in ways that followed the moral principles of Buddhism. In the current context, Ariyaratne takes right livelihood to imply living in peace with others and seeking quality of life for all rather than living by self-ambition and seeking profit and gain. In this sense, his understanding of right livelihood signifies a way of living that is based on values that run counter to the Western or capitalist model of development. Another key element in Ariyaratne’s vision of an ideal society is the environment. Whether it is at the village level or the global level, Ariyaratne argues that a clean, healthy environment is essential for quality of life. As part of reconceiving what it means for a society to be developed, Ariyaratne formulated a list of the ten basic human needs. He defined these basic human needs as (1) a clean and beautiful environment, (2) a supply of safe drinking water, (3) basic clothing requirements, (4) a balanced diet, (5) simple housing, (6) health care, (7) communication facilities, (8) energy sources, (9) total education related to life, (10) cultural and spiritual needs.16 Of all the important human needs on this list the environment ranks first, and Ariyaratne has continued to stress the importance of environmental care and conservation. The list of basic needs was in part based on a survey that Sarvodaya conducted in many villages, asking people to express their opinions about what was most important to them, and among the villagers the health of the environment was essential. This emphasis on the environment represents a part of

A. T. Ariyaratne and the Sarvodaya movement  93 Sarvodaya’s bottom-up and integrated view of development that challenges the top-down model of governments and corporations. Ariyaratne has been critical of Western systems of development that run counter to this kind of integrated model. He describes them as systems designed to benefit those at the top and in power at the expense of the people on the bottom, and he has advocated reversing this pyramid structure to create his bottom-up model that empowers the people. Ariyaratne has said, “In production-centered societies the total perspective of human personality and sustainable relationships between man and nature is lost sight of … The higher ideals of human personality and social values are disregarded.”17 He has spoken out against the kind of materialistic and capitalistic forms of development that the West has sought to promote in Sri Lanka and other developing nations and has called for Sarvodaya to bring about a social and economic order shaped by spiritual values and resulting in a “No poverty, no affluence society.” The means to this end would be a nonviolent revolution that shifts power to the grassroots level. Ariyaratne extends his vision of the good life for the individual and society to include the global society as well since all people and all societies are interconnected. He argues that we need to transform the forces of globalization and Westernization that emphasize individualism and materialism, thereby almost elevating human desire to the level of a virtue. Drawing on his Buddhist and Gandhian heritage, he believes that these emphases foster structures of violence that lead the world away from peace and closer to social and environmental destruction. He says that the world needs to move toward Sarvodaya’s ideal of social and individual awakening through a global nonviolent revolution. This revolution could begin to heal the gap between poverty and affluence and bring society into harmony with the environment. Noting that there is a certain urgency to this need for reform, he says that we must awaken ourselves through this work and execute our responsibilities to our people and the world by taking initiatives to change and transform society. … This initiative has to be taken by men and women as individuals who have a vision of planetary consciousness and of the interrelationship of everything in nature.18 In this age of global interconnectedness, Ariyaratne’s vision is that the good life is to be found when people work together to both counter the structures that reinforce the three poisons of greed, hatred and ignorance, and create new systems that nurture generosity, compassion and wisdom. Ariyaratne has expanded his goal of awakening from Sarvodaya, the awakening of all, to Vishvodaya, the awakening of the world, and calls for people to develop “a state of dynamic consciousness directed toward achieving peace and happiness for one and all.”19

Notes 1 Donald E. Smith, ed., South Asian Politics and Religion (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966), 458.

94  George D. Bond 2 Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere, Buddhism Transformed (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988), 248. 3 Ananda Guruge, ed., Return to Righteousness (Colombo: Government Press, 1965), 737. 4 Ibid., 337. 5 A. T. Ariyaratne, In Search of Development (Moratuwa: Sarvodaya Press, 1982), 12. 6 Ibid., 16. 7 This comment was made during one of my interviews with Ariyaratne in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, 2002. 8 A. T. Ariyaratne, Collected Works Vol. II (Moratuwa, Sarvodaya Press, 1988), 84. 9 Ariyaratne, Collected Works, Vol. II, p. 49. 10 Ariyaratne, Collected Works, Vol. I, p. 119. 11 Irving Babbitt (translator), The Dhammapada: Translated from the Pali with an Essay on Buddha and the Occident (New York: New Directions Paperbook, 1965), 3. 12 A. T. Ariyaratne, “What to do?” cited in D. Kantowsky, Learning How to Live in Peace (Ratmalana: Sarvodaya Vishva Lekha Press, 1987), p. 16. 13 Ariyaratne, In Search of Development, 21. 14 Dana: International Journal of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, Vol. XI, Nos. 10–11, 26. 15 Ariyaratne, In Search of Development, 16. 16 Ibid., 4. 17 Dana, Vol. XIV, no. 9 (1989), 13. 18 A.T. Ariyaratne, A Buddhist Vision for the Future (Sarvodaya: Vishva Lekha Press, 2002), 16. 19 Ibid., 5.

5

The development of well-being Gross National Happiness and Bhutan’s vision for the ideal society Barbra Clayton

A king’s vison The somewhat disarming phrase, “Gross National Happiness,” was coined by the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuk (r. 1972–2006), to capture his country’s unique approach to development. While the king is reported to have begun speaking of Gross National Happiness (hereafter, GNH) in Bhutan as early as 1972, the introduction of the idea of GNH to the international community was in 1979, when the king, returning from a conference of non-aligned countries in Havana, was asked by an Indian reporter about Bhutan’s Gross National Product. He is said to have responded with this now famous quote:1 “Gross National Happiness is more important than Gross National Product.”2 Jigme Singye Wangchuk, Druk Gyalpo IV As this statement highlights, GNH was conceived as a challenge to the predominant economic model, with its focus on Gross National Product (GNP) and the attendant goal of unlimited growth. The following definition of GNH further makes this clear: Gross National Happiness (GNH) measures the quality of a country in a more holistic way [than GNP] and believes that the beneficial development of human society takes place when material and spiritual development occurs [sic] side by side to complement and reinforce each other.3 In the view of the former prime minister, Jigme Thinley, GNH offers the world an example of a new economic system, one not based on the “dangerous illusion that limitless growth is possible on our precious finite planet, or that endless material gain promotes wellbeing.” Instead, GNH is a vision of an economy which promotes harmony and respect for nature and for each other, that respects our ancient wisdom traditions and protects our most vulnerable people as our own family, and that gives us time to live and enjoy our lives and to appreciate rather than destroy our world. It will be an economic system, in

96  Barbra Clayton short, that is fully sustainable and that is rooted in true abiding happiness and wellbeing.4 Thinley goes on to stress that while environmental sustainability is a precondition for any “sane” economic system, an economy exists for more than mere survival. It exists to provide “the enabling conditions for human happiness and the wellbeing of all life forms.” Such an economy is based on a “genuine vision of life’s ultimate meaning and purpose” that nurtures “true human potential, fulfilment, and satisfaction.”5 In these words, we can see how GNH reorients the economy toward the goal of well-being. We can also see key features of this new vision: an economy that recognizes our embeddedness in the natural world and takes the necessity of environmental sustainability to be a given; an economy that nourishes the well-being of not only humans but all life forms, and where the meaning of well-being or happiness is broadly understood to include both material and spiritual dimensions, nourishing humanity’s highest capacities. As such, GNH is understood by its proponents to offer a more holistic, ecologically sustainable, and human view of the economy and development. As the current, fifth king succinctly puts it, GNH is “development with values.”6 Since its first articulation, GNH has been cultivated in a number of ways, and can be said to have at least three significant dimensions: it is (1) a development strategy and philosophy of governance; (2) an indicator system; and (3) a project and policy Screening Tool used by the GNH Commission, the government body charged with policy and plan development.7 Additionally, GNH is sometimes understood to take an individual form as a “personal ethos” for orienting one’s life toward well-being. This has also been called “inner GNH.”8 My focus in this chapter is on GNH as a particular governance strategy and approach to development, and the philosophy behind this, with secondary reference to the other aspects of GNH. Because most of the existing literature on GNH is written from the perspective of development studies or political science, it tends to assume that GNH is a Buddhist model of development because of its Bhutanese provenance, but treats the Buddhist dimensions of GNH superficially9 or, on the other hand, dismisses the significance of Buddhism.10 By contrast, my aim in this chapter is to build on the scholarly work which does treat the Buddhist dimensions of GNH seriously11 and to consider whether and precisely how GNH might be viewed as a Buddhist perspective on the economy and development. I will argue that in order to make sense of the way proponents of GNH understand and represent GNH one needs to make reference to Buddhist principles. Further, I will suggest that we can discern two forms of Buddhist modernism in the phenomena of GNH: one nationalist, which closely associates GNH with the Bhutanese monarchy and the sovereignty of Bhutan, as well as Bhutanese Buddhist culture, and another that connects GNH with a universalist and secularized form of Buddhism, sometimes associated with Engaged Buddhism. While the former aspect of GNH is more associated with Bhutanese citizens, and the latter is oriented to a transnational audience, I will argue that the boundary between these two forms of Buddhist modernism as evident in GNH cannot be drawn on

The development of well-being  97 the basis of citizenship, but rather that they reflect two different functions of GNH that coexist in tension.12

Context and history of GNH Bhutan is a small Himalayan kingdom with a population of less than one million. It has historic ties to Tibet and is dominated by the Drukpa Kagyü school of Tibetan Buddhism.13 From 1634 to 1907 Bhutan was a theocracy ruled by a Shabdrung (Tib. zhabs drung, “at the feet of”), a religious potentate whose position has been compared to that of the Tibetan Dalai Lamas.14 In 1907 Bhutan transitioned to rule by the monarchy of the Wangchuk Kings, which lasted until 2006 when the fourth king—in what may be a historically unprecedented move by a reigning monarch—voluntarily abdicated as part of his commitment to decentralizing the government. Thus in 2008, Bhutan became a constitutional democracy, and in 2018 held its third parliamentary elections.15 Although the term “Gross National Happiness” was originally introduced to the international public in the late 1970s, its proponents suggest it reflects a longstanding Bhutanese view that the purpose of government is the people’s happiness. They point to Bhutan’s first legal code, dated to 1729, which states that “if the Government cannot create happiness (dekid) for its people, there is no purpose for the Government to exist.”16 The third king, Jigme Dorje Wangchuk (r. 1952–1972), was a proponent of a deliberate and conservative form of development and modernization, and it has been suggested that the fourth king (Jigme Singye Wangchuk, r. 1972–2006) may have simply been attempting to encapsulate this approach when he coined the expression “GNH.”17 The Center for Bhutan Studies reports that while modernization efforts were being stepped up in Bhutan during the 1970s, the fourth king began to recognize that “the process of conventional development often overlooked a universal desire people had—happiness and peace in their life,” and began to speak regularly about the importance of “happiness (gatogtog) and contentment (kitogtog).”18 The king reported to the Financial Times of London in 1987, in the first printed reference to GNH:19 We are convinced that we must aim for contentment and happiness. Whether we take five years or ten to raise the per capita income and increase prosperity is not going to guarantee that happiness, which includes political stability, social harmony and the Bhutanese culture and way of life. Expressing concerns with problems in rapid development such as corruption and the selling of religious and cultural artifacts, the king added, “Bhutan sees the maintenance of its unique lifestyle as its best bulwark against its powerful neighbors or disruption by some future political upheaval.”20 In reorienting development toward what are seen as goals emerging from traditional Bhutanese culture, GNH is seen as a buffer against modernization and a framework for integrating outside approaches and aspects of modernity into Bhutanese culture and tradition.21 Thus

98  Barbra Clayton in an important way, GNH is perceived to embody and reflect the ideals, beliefs and practices of Bhutanese society. In the early 2000s GNH was developed through the creation of a GNH Survey and Index, and a project and policy Screening Tool, that together are the key means for operationalizing GNH at the national level. The survey and index were developed by a government research institute, the Center for Bhutan Studies & GNH Research (hereafter, CBS)22 to serve as the metric of happiness of the Bhutanese, and a means to gauge their progress. The index is based on a multidimensional understanding of well-being, using “nine domains” and thirty-three indicators. The nine domains reflect the attempt to “specify the most important factors or conditions that give rise to happiness in the Bhutanese context,” though they are also thought to be applicable in other cultures.23 The nine domains are: Psychological Well-being, Health, Time Use, Education, Cultural Diversity and Resilience, Community Vitality, Good Governance, Ecological Diversity and Resilience, and Living Standards. These nine areas are measured via 33 indicators and 124 variables that assess different dimensions of each domain and include both subjective (self-reports on life satisfaction, for example) and objective (e.g., hours of sleep, years of formal education) factors.24 The index follows a sufficiency model: for each domain, indicator, and variable, a threshold is set at which one is deemed “sufficient” in that condition for happiness. For example, a balanced use of time is considered important for well-being under the GNH framework. In order to assess whether people are overworked, the Time Use indicator looks at the number of hours of work (which, significantly, includes unpaid work)25 and sleep. Those reporting at least eight hours of sleep per night are considered “sufficient” in this indicator, and those working more than eight hours a day are considered “less than sufficient” in time availability: they are “time poor,” so to speak. In order to be deemed even “narrowly happy” overall, a person would have to have achieved sufficiency in 66 percent of the indicators, in six of the nine domains. This reflects the view that individuals will differ in their values and priorities, and a person does not have to achieve sufficiency in every indicator in order to be considered happy. There are also categories for “extensively happy” (sufficiency in 66–76% of indicators), and “deeply happy” (sufficiency in 77% or more indicators). This domain-based framework is used in order to measure happiness holistically and reflects the idea that happiness, like all things, arises interdependently and through a complex array of conditions.26 The Screening Tool was created by the Center for Bhutan Studies to provide a systematic process to assess the impact of government projects and policies on the GNH of citizens, and to integrate GNH into all of its policies and plans.27 Any proposed policy is evaluated by members of the GNH Commission (comprised of civil servants and elected representatives, including the prime minister) and a variety of stakeholders. Each member uses a scoring system that looks at 22 variables derived from the nine domains, and rates a proposed action or policy according to how it might impact GNH. In addition, all policies are screened with consideration for five key factors: Gender, Environment, Climate Change, Disaster and Poverty. The Screening Tool and these five factors function as a

The development of well-being  99 “GNH lens” with which to systematically review all government plans, to ensure that they are favorable to GNH.28 In addition, since 2012, the GNH Centre Bhutan has been working closely with other Bhutanese civil society organizations and partners to deepen grassroots-level understanding and applications of GNH in Bhutan, particularly among schools and colleges.29 Overall, the aim of GNH is that “collective happiness is the end goal of all development policies and plans.”30 However, it is important to note that it is not assumed that the state can make individuals happy; rather, the state can provide the conditions for happiness. Thus, the nine domains are considered “the enabling conditions to pursue happiness,” not a guaranteed determinant of happiness.31 This view accords with the Buddhist idea that though individuals are conditioned by various social and environmental factors, individual intention and choice is still the crucial determinant of karma, which in turn forms a person’s present and future well-being. The idea of GNH was adopted and actively promoted by the first democratically elected prime minister, Jigme Yozer Thinley (b. 1952; r. 2008–2013), who deemed this alternative view of the economy and development to be “His Majesty’s gift to the world.”32 In 2008 GNH was inscribed in the country’s constitution, which requires the state to “promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness.”33 That same year, GNH was operationalized through the creation of the GNH Commission and the development of the GNH Index and Screening Tool.34 Since the country’s tenth five-year plan (2008–2013), each five-year plan has used the GNH Index to measure and set targets for development.35 Under the deft leadership of Thinley, the government of Bhutan took a number of initiatives to promote GNH ideals internationally. In 2011 it co-sponsored a General Assembly resolution at the UN on “Happiness: Towards a Holistic Approach to Development” that passed unanimously.36 In addition to hosting the high-level meeting at the UN in 2012, they presented a proposal for a new global economic paradigm at the UN “Rio+20” Summit meeting in 2013. This proposal subsequently helped shape the UN’s post-2015 development agenda, reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals.37 Finally, under Thinley’s leadership, March 20 was declared World Happiness Day. John Helliwell, the renowned scholar of well-being, credits Bhutan with being the country “that made happiness famous.”38 These efforts have helped to give Bhutan an international presence and profile far beyond what might be expected for a small and, by conventional standards, poor nation. Bhutan has made key strides in development in a remarkably short time, but without mass industrialization, as has usually been the case.39 In particular, through the provision of free public education and health care, it has made significant improvements in life expectancy and literacy, and in reducing child and maternal mortality.40 It has also achieved remarkable economic growth by conventional standards, with GDP growth of over 8 percent per year between 2011 and 2016. In recent years it has in fact been one of the fastest growing economies in the world, though this has slowed somewhat since 2017.41

100  Barbra Clayton Some of the more notable development policies include the country’s commitment to maintaining at least 60 percent of its land in forest cover in perpetuity, its current carbon-negative status, and its commitment to being a carbon-neutral nation in perpetuity.42 Currently, it prohibits the export of unprocessed timber, and 51 percent of the country is in protected areas (national parks, wildlife preserves or wildlife corridors). As a result, more than 70 percent of the country is still under forest cover43 and, as home to many endangered Himalayan species, it is considered a biodiversity “hotspot.” In 2012 Bhutan committed to transitioning to 100 percent organic agriculture; if successful, it would become the first country to do so.44 Bhutan also has a “High Value, Low Impact” tourism policy, which entails charging very high tariffs for tourist visas ($USD 250 /day).45 The intent is to limit the number of foreign visitors while still providing substantial revenue from tourism, with the complementary effect of preserving its culture and environment.46 The ever-increasing numbers of visitors remains a serious concern, however.47 Although some of these policies are only obliquely associated with GNH, certain government actions can be directly attributed to GNH policy and tools. A notable example is the decision by Bhutan not to join the World Trade Organization (WTO). Bhutan originally applied for membership in the WTO in 1999, and the GNH Commission Secretariat initially favored the proposal. However, after putting the proposal through the policy Screening Tool, the Secretariat reversed the vote. This was due to perceived negative impacts in several areas, including loss of biodiversity, increased income inequality and stress levels, and decreased time to spend in nature and in spiritual pursuits. Similarly, through the use of the GNH Screening Tool, the mineral development policy was revised to minimize environmental harm and negative impacts on communities.48 When the results of the GNH survey indicated that mental health was a growing problem, meditation was introduced in schools.49 To address the challenge of maintaining employee motivation among civil servants, after GNH analysis, the government instituted a number of policies to enhance community vitality and particularly well-being for families of civil servants, including flextime, crèche facilities and enhanced maternity and parental leave. With the aim of enhancing the three Buddhist trainings of morality, meditation (mindfulness and concentration) and wisdom, the government also introduced mindfulness meditation and opportunities for tenday meditation retreats.50 Because lay Bhutanese—like most Asian Buddhists— would not traditionally have practiced meditation, this choice seems to reflect the modern Buddhist trend toward an emphasis on meditation as a key practice for all Buddhists and suggests that in addition to embodying certain Buddhist perspectives and beliefs, GNH is also influencing the nature of Buddhism in Bhutan.51 Overall, despite some claims to the contrary,52 these examples suggest that GNH philosophy and the policy tools that have been developed with it are significant and impactful, even if limited in number. Despite these achievements and notable policies, Bhutan is still far from the “happy place” its tourist bureau claims, and Bhutan is considered one of the world’s least developed countries by conventional standards.53 Furthermore, it is no doubt

The development of well-being  101 correct to suggest that some of the attention and praise that Bhutan and GNH have garnered is rooted in Orientalist idealizing of this remote Himalayan kingdom. However, one would be hard pressed to blame Bhutan’s level of development on GNH, and that there is exotic mystique surrounding Bhutan and GNH—and that its government should wish to capitalize on it through tourism—does not obviate the need for a serious look at the Buddhist features of this policy. Therefore, the focus of this research is on how GNH has been influenced by its provenance in a predominantly Buddhist country: in what ways might we consider this a Buddhist model of development and economics? More specifically, do the proponents of GNH consider it to be Buddhist? If so, what do they take to be its Buddhist features? What might this tell us about contemporary Buddhism?

How Buddhist is your economic model? Buddhist dimensions of GNH While certainly a number of political factors influenced the development of GNH,54 as understood by its proponents, GNH embodies a number of central Buddhist ideas and values. Although most participants interviewed for this research stressed that these values are universal, and that GNH was relevant to any and all social contexts, religious or secular, there was also general agreement that because GNH evolved from a Buddhist cultural context it also clearly reflected Buddhist views in several important ways. As indicated above, GNH was deliberately conceived as an alternative to Gross National Product as a measure of economic well-being. As former prime minister Jigme Thinley stated in 2012, GNH was conceived “as a sharp critique of our current materialist obsession and growth-based economic system.”55 In a summary of this critique, he asserts that: our modern world, and particularly its economic system, promote … a profound sense of alienation from the natural world and from each other. Cherishing self-interest and material gain, we destroy nature, degrade our natural and cultural heritage, disrespect indigenous knowledge, overwork, get stressed out, and no longer have time to enjoy each other’s company, let alone contemplate and meditate on life’s deeper meaning.56 In this critique we can see some of the key features that emerge in GNH: a concern about human relations with the natural world; an interest in social cohesion and cultural preservation and, in the reference to time for contemplation and “life’s deeper meaning,” an acknowledgment of the importance of religious values. In a conscious contrast to GDP, GNH was developed in recognition that material and psycho-spiritual well-being are interdependent, and that “true development” cannot be achieved at the expense of the latter. As the government’s tenth five-year plan (2008–2013) states, there should be “a more meaningful purpose to development than just the mere fulfillment of material satisfaction.”57 For the crafters of Gross National Happiness, GNH articulates and embodies this more meaningful

102  Barbra Clayton and holistic aim of development. GNH has thus been defined as distinct from GDP as a development path that “judiciously balances sustainable and equitable economic development with environmental conservation, good governance, and the dynamism and wisdom of our profound and ancient culture.”58 As one GNH leader described it, one important Buddhist value reflected in GNH is that it is a “middle way” approach: one that balances material and spiritual well-being (“the needs of the body and the needs of the mind”) and aims at neither extreme asceticism or poverty, nor indulging in limitless consumption.59

Four pillars In Prime Minister Thinley’s definition of GNH (above) we can see the four strategic areas that have been identified as basic components and core objectives of GNH, namely, (1) sustainable and equitable socioeconomic development; (2) environmental conservation; (3) the preservation and promotion of culture; and (4) good governance.60 While most GNH leaders stressed that these “four pillars” are essential for any well-functioning society, they also interpret and understand them in ways specific to Buddhism and/or Bhutan. Three proponents of GNH61 explained these pillars in terms of the four brahmavihāra: the four “immeasurable” or “divine” virtues. Sustainable and equitable socioeconomic development is said to reflect upekṣā (equanimity), in that it is development that is inclusive and non-discriminating, and aims to bring equity to society. Preservation of the environment is seen in light of karuṇā, or compassion for all sentient beings and the Earth. Ha Vinh, for example, emphasized that the only real way to protect the environment is to develop compassion for nature—for animals, plants, and even rivers, mountains and elements—and that this is grounded in recognizing the subjectivity or “being-ness” of nature. This is in contrast to the predominant Western view which sees nature and animals as objects and property. Out of this recognition of the “being-ness” of nature can grow compassion, meaning the wish to eliminate the suffering of other life forms. The preservation and promotion of culture is compared to muditā, joy, because of the belief that community and the products of human culture—athletics, art, music, literature—are the principal sources of joy in human life. Finally, good governance is interpreted through the virtue of maitri, loving-kindness. Fundamentally, the government should be based on the benevolent intention to bring happiness and well-being to all, and thus the basic responsibility of a government is to create an environment where citizens can be happy. Furthermore, just as the four divine virtues are interrelated, the four pillars are described as interdependent: only when the four are working together can you achieve the goal of happiness. In addition to being understood in terms of the four “divine virtues,” certain GNH proponents also symbolically connect the four pillars with Bhutan’s four sacred animals: the snow lion, tiger, garuda and dragon. These are prevalent symbols in Bhutan that the Bhutanese associate with auspiciousness and good fortune. Some Bhutanese citizens also align the four pillars with the “four harmonious

The development of well-being  103 friends” (Dz. thuenpa puenzhi): the elephant, monkey, rabbit and pheasant, that, according to Bhutanese lore, worked together to find a seed, plant it, water and protect it. Just as the four friends worked together to nourish a tree to provide food, the four pillars represent the elements of a harmonious society. On this analogy, the tree that grows from the seed is GNH, and the fruit of the tree is happiness.62

GNH and the Buddhist lens: What is happiness? Another prominent Buddhist idea perceived to be reflected in GNH centers on the idea of happiness. Although the phrase “Gross National Happiness” was first expressed in English and only later translated into the national language of Dzongkha,63 as indicated above the fourth king had already been speaking about the importance of happiness and contentment within Bhutan when he coined the term “GNH.” The term for “happiness” or “wellbeing” in Dzongkha, bde-skyid, also means “peace,” and has a clear spiritual connotation in the Bhutanese context.64 The spiritual and specifically Buddhist meaning of happiness is evident in the overt critique of the prevailing economic system that is the basis of GNH. As the prime minister has put it, the idea that “endless material gain” promotes wellbeing is a “dangerous illusion.”65 The basis of the critique of GNP and the pivotal idea of GNH is that true abiding happiness does not come from material wealth. For GNH proponents this reflects the Buddhist context out of which it arose and the basic Buddhist principle that the satisfaction of sense desires in terms of material goods (for example) does not in itself lead to true satisfaction. Rather, from a Buddhist perspective, greed is one of the root poisons which cause suffering, and so an economy based on cultivating endless desire is bound to lead to dissatisfaction (duḥkha). As one interviewee stated, “The whole idea of consumerism and endless growth is that greed must be encouraged, because that is what keeps the economy growing. So the idea of limitless growth is thoroughly connected to the idea that greed is good.” By contrast, “the idea in GNH is that in order to achieve peace, happiness and well-being, one needs to transform desire and make a distinction between greed, desire, wants, and actual needs.”66 The form of happiness denoted in GNH is one equated with contentment and ultimately the quelling of desires, rather than their endless cultivation.67 Furthermore, it is this Buddhist background that helps make sense of phrases like “true happiness” or “abiding happiness” in the literature and speeches on GNH.68 For example, in a statement in support of a new global economic paradigm based on GNH, the prime minister states: “The new economy will be an economy based on a genuine vision of life’s ultimate meaning and purpose—an economy that does not cut us off from nature and community but fosters true human potential, fulfillment, and satisfaction.”69 Implicit in these references to “true” happiness or “genuine” meaning and purpose is the idea of false or nonabiding happiness, which suggests the Buddhist view that the satisfaction of material needs, and particularly the desire for material goods, is actually a source of duḥkha, whereas true abiding happiness is found in the pursuit of awakening. As

104  Barbra Clayton the Bhutanese Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi states, there is a “true unfabricated happiness that does not come from transitory material attachments. Those types of attachments, even if seemingly very pleasurable for a moment, will ultimately lead to suffering due to their impermanent nature.”70 Although material wellbeing in the sense of an ability to meet basic physical needs is seen as a necessary condition for any form of happiness, the source of what is called “true happiness” in GNH discourse lies in the ultimate good of buddhahood and the path to that. It is thus within a Buddhist perspective that we must understand the use of the term “happiness” in the phrase “Gross National Happiness.” Furthermore, the Mahayana context is significant. In a document explaining the GNH Index, the authors distinguish the happiness of GNH from its more conventional use. They suggest that contrary to how the concept is sometimes used in Western literature, “happiness” in GNH not only refers to subjective well-being, but is a multidimensional concept that incorporates responsibility and other-regarding motivations.71 As the former prime minister Jigmi Thinley has stated, We have now clearly distinguished the “happiness” in GNH from the fleeting, pleasurable “feel good” moods so often associated with that term. We know that true abiding happiness cannot exist while others suffer, and comes only from serving others, living in harmony with nature, and realizing our innate wisdom and the true and brilliant nature of our own minds.72 The concept of “happiness” here clearly refers to something distinct from the individualistic, hedonic notion of the term that is associated with a pleasurable but fluctuating mood, and, as one proponent suggested, is better grasped by the Greek notion of eudaimonia (flourishing), or the term “well-being,” which is often used synonymously with happiness in the GNH context. To understand the notion of happiness in GNH it is important to recognize basic Buddhist principles, prominent among them, those expressed in the Mahayana tradition’s bodhisattva ideal. In the emphasis on altruism and compassion as the basis for happiness we can clearly see this value, and indeed the prime minister’s words—“true abiding happiness cannot exist while others suffer, and comes only from serving others”—directly paraphrase those of the eighth-century Indian Buddhist master Śāntideva who said, “All the suffering in the world comes from seeking pleasure for oneself. All the happiness in the world comes from seeking happiness for others” (Bodhicāryāvatāra Ch. 8, v. 129). This quote was also used by the director of the GNH Center to help explain the basis of GNH,73 as well as by the authors of the GNH Index.74 The emphasis on compassion is in fact seen as one of the features that distinguish the view of happiness in GNH from that of other traditions and measures. As the authors of the GNH Index suggest, GNH is distinct not only because it is a multidimensional view of happiness, incorporating both subjective and objective measures,75 but also inasmuch as it “internalizes responsibility and other-regarding motivations explicitly.”76 For example, within the “social support” indicator, which is part of the domain of community vitality in the GNH Index, citizens

The development of well-being  105 are asked how often they volunteer and how much they donate of their resources. This reveals the assumption that generosity and concern for others is important for happiness.77 Similarly, in the domain of psychological well-being, compassion and generosity are considered two important positive emotions, along with forgiveness, calmness and contentment. Notably, the GNH Index also uses one’s level of spirituality as an indicator of psychological well-being, and so measures the frequency of prayer recitation, temple visits, meditation practice and whether one reflects upon one’s karma.78At a conference on “Educating for GNH,” each day ended with the typical Mahayana practice of dedicating the merit for the benefit of all beings. Prime Minister Thinley identified this reminder that the purpose of the work was to serve others as the “very essence of Gross National Happiness.”79 Thus the idea in GNH that human well-being derives from genuinely wishing and working for the happiness of others clearly has Buddhist roots.80

GNH and the Buddhist lens: A Buddhist anthropology Prime Minister Thinley’s definition of happiness reveals further evidence of the Buddhist roots of GNH. The reference to “our innate wisdom and the true and brilliant nature of our own minds” indicates the assumption that humans are endowed with an inherent capacity for a kind of insight that is the source of our highest good. This is a reference to Buddha nature and the idea that all beings have an innate capacity for awakening—that, as one interviewee put it, “love, compassion, and wisdom are our true nature.”81 Because of the predominance of the Drukpa Kagyü school in Bhutan, it also likely reflects more particularly the Kagyü concept of Mahāmūdra, i.e., the idea that luminous emptiness forms the base of reality and our consciousness. In his keynote address to a conference on bringing GNH to education in Bhutan, Prime Minister Thinley urged that the proposed transformations would be resistant to the “seductive” challenges of a “materialist and consumerist world” if they were built on an “indestructible framework” that would stem from “our ancient teachings on the true and indestructible nature of mind that is characterized by innate wisdom and expressed in natural compassion.”82 Here Thinley explicitly uses the Vajrayana term dorji (diamond) to explain the idea of indestructibility, referencing the notion of the diamond-like nature of mind. Hence in the idea that happiness comes from realizing one’s innate wisdom and compassion we can clearly see a kind of “Buddhist anthropology,” or key Buddhist beliefs about human nature and its capacities. Another aspect of this Buddhist anthropology is non-anthropocentrism, or the inclusion of non-human beings such as animals, birds and insects within the realm of moral concern. The fact that compassion is extended to “all sentient beings” – a common expression in the Buddhist context—and not just humans, and that human well-being is rooted in wanting the happiness of all of those “others,” marks it as distinct from the worldview that informs the predominant economic development model.

106  Barbra Clayton

GNH and the Buddhist lens: Interdependence Interdependence is another Buddhist theme perceived to be associated with Buddhism and reflected in GNH. “Interdependence” is a common rendering of the term, pratītya-samutpāda, more precisely translated as “conditioned arising” or “dependent origination.”83 At its base this is the idea that all phenomena—all things and states of being—arise as a result of certain causes and conditions. In early Buddhism, this doctrine was used to understand and explain the factors that gave rise to the experience of suffering and existence within the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (samsara), in order to be liberated from suffering and rebirth. By contrast, in the modern period, and in particular with the advent of the science of ecology in the late nineteenth century, the doctrine of conditioned arising has been seen to be linked with the idea that all the organisms in an ecosystem are connected and dependent on each other for their existence. Furthermore, interdependence is now commonly taken to entail an ecological moral imperative to care for the interconnected web that supports life. Although this is a distinctly modern reading of the doctrine of conditioned arising, it is common among contemporary Buddhists, and is also perceived to be an important reason for the environmental concern embedded in GNH. That is, a recognition of human “interdependence” with all life forms, and compassion for all sentient beings, was seen by several interviewees to be foundational to GNH’s emphasis on environmental protection and sustainability. Interdependence was also seen to be reflected in GNH’s emphasis on the social and communal dimensions of human well-being. Ha Vinh, for example, interpreted the GNH idea that humans are thoroughly reliant on each other and on nature for their well-being as evidence of the Buddhist view of interdependence. For him, this was in contrast with Western society’s emphasis on individuality, and the high value placed on self-determination and independence.84 For other proponents of GNH, interdependence was seen in the fact that GNH is a “holistic” model of development that recognizes human well-being to be a multidimensional phenomenon influenced by many interconnected factors (environmental, cultural, economic, political).85 Related to the idea of interdependence in the philosophy of GNH is the doctrine of karma. Karma, which simply means “action,” is associated with what is considered a universal law that all actions, including those of body, speech and mind, create consequences that are consonant with the nature of the action. These consequences will be experienced at some point in the future, either in this life or the next. In the context of GNH, karma appears to have two different dimensions. On the one hand, as one interviewee suggested, the doctrine of karma imbues GNH with an appreciation for the complexity of the cause-and-effect relations that influence human behavior, as well as an awareness of the enduring consequences of decisions. The understanding of karma lends a more long-term view to the GNH perspective, and a capacity to recognize the complex variables behind human and non-human well-being. Interestingly, GNH also reflects a collective interpretation of karma that seems to be unique.86 Karma Ura explains as follows:

The development of well-being  107 By recognizing the true nature of interdependence, one can see that all Karma is collective, that all enlightenment is collective, and therefore that happiness and the policies required to promote it must be oriented toward collective achievement.87 That is, because all human (and non-human) actions are mutually influencing, we are connected in an “intricate web” of karma, which is constantly changing. Recognizing this causes us to overcome a narrow, isolated view of the self and to then “engage meaningfully with others and pursue collective happiness.”88 According to Ura, the “gross” in Gross National Happiness reflects the importance of considering the collective or combined nature of our actions and their results.

Sum of Buddhist dimensions of GNH In sum, GNH is understood by its proponents as a “middle way” approach to development based on recognition of the interdependence of the well-being of humans and all life forms, for whom we need to show compassion. It is founded on the principle that development should aim at the “true abiding” happiness that can be found in serving others, and at creating the conditions for humans to realize their capacity for wisdom. This Buddhist anthropology, with its assumption that beings have Buddha nature, was contrasted with the view of humans as selfish, greedy, self-serving individuals, namely, Homo Economicus, which is the basis of classical and modern economics. Therefore, while it may be true that there is nothing particularly unique about GNH as a development philosophy,89 it is clear that we cannot make sense of how it is understood by those who developed and now promote GNH without reference to Buddhist ideas and principles.

GNH as Buddhist economics? In many ways, GNH resonates with other Buddhist models of economics.90 From the perspective of a number of Buddhist thinkers, the ultimate goal of economics is like the goal of Buddhism itself: the well-being and, ultimately, perfection of the individual. On this view, material wealth should not be seen as a goal in itself but as a means to this end. Thus the purpose of economic development should be to serve the wider goal of developing well-rounded and happy human beings. As we have seen for GNH, the goal of the economy should be the “true abiding happiness” of human and other sentient beings, i.e., their awakening. Citing the etymological root of the word “economics” in the Greek oikonomia or “household management,” GNH thinkers and leaders point out that the true goal of the economy should not be wealth for its own sake but be the welfare and well-being of society.91 The term “Happiness,” as we have seen, captures this goal. A common feature of Buddhist economics is a critique of the conventional consumerist model. We saw that the term “Gross National Happiness” itself reflects the fact that GNH was conceived as a deliberate challenge to the

108  Barbra Clayton predominant GDP-based model of economics and development. Like other models of Buddhist economics, it is perceived to be a “middle way” approach that strives for neither extreme asceticism or poverty nor indulgence in limitless consumption. “We should not have the very rich or the very poor,” as one interviewee expressed it.92 In this we can see a moderate view of materialism—one that allows for meeting basic material needs while still trying to limit hedonism. In aiming for sufficiency, but not excess, in all key conditions for happiness, GNH embodies this middle way. Furthermore, like other models of Buddhist economics, GNH might also be seen as a middle way between free market capitalism and socialism.93 Bhutan does not completely reject the free market, but there is state control of major industries like forestry and mining and major projects like dams and roads. Though it does significant trade with India and Thailand, Bhutan, as we have seen with regard to the WTO decision, has so far resisted the complete opening of its borders to globalized free trade. The government’s “GNH Business” certificate program, proposed by Bhutan’s second prime minister, Tshering Tobgay, is perhaps the clearest indication of GNH’s capacity to accommodate capitalism to a certain degree.94 This program was launched in 2017 at the 7th International Conference on GNH,95 the theme of which was business. The goal of the program is to integrate GNH values into the private sector by offering GNH certification for meeting standards based on the nine domains of GNH. Moreover, GNH cannot be said to fall prey to what has been identified as a central problem with Buddhist economic theories, namely, that they tend to center on analyzing and critiquing the individual, psychological problems with the economy, such as the idea that consumerism is based on greed.96 By contrast, in GNH we clearly see a systemic analysis and national approach to the challenge of development that also takes into account individual “interior” dimensions, including the spiritual and psychological. For example, in its programs the GNH Centre emphasizes the importance of balancing and cultivating both the “inner” well-being of the individual and the “outer,” social and environmental conditions of happiness. This incorporation of the individual and the social is also reflected in the nine domains, which include both individual factors, such as Psychological Well-being and social ones, such as Living Standards. While not without its flaws and challenges, it seems that inasmuch as it takes into account both individual and systemic roots and solutions to socioeconomic problems, GNH reflects a significant advance over Buddhist economic theories that focus primarily on the individual.97

Challenges and criticisms Some critics and skeptics see the evidence that Bhutan is not an idyllic, happy place as a challenge to the validity of GNH. Some point out that in addition to its low level of development, Bhutan is low on various measures of happiness, or that they have problems such as high youth unemployment, for example.98 However, apart from the authors of tourism brochures, few Bhutanese are likely to suggest

The development of well-being  109 that Bhutan represents the model society, or that Bhutan has achieved perfection in all of the domains. As Prime Minister Thinley acknowledged, Bhutan is not a country that has attained GNH. Like most developing nations, we are struggling with the challenge of fulfilling the basic needs of our people. What separates us, however, from most others is that we have made happiness, the foundation of human needs, as the goal of social change.99 Thus, the fact that Bhutan faces social-economic or other types of problems does not challenge GNH in principle. On the contrary, Bhutan’s system is designed to highlight areas where Bhutanese are “less than sufficient” in the conditions for happiness and to shape government policies and plans in order to redress those deficiencies. A more serious critique lies in the accusation that there are internal tensions or inconsistencies within GNH, and that it is therefore not realistic to seek the achievement of all components of GNH. Bhutanese historian Karma Phuntsho raises this objection and points out, as one example, that “many symbols of hierarchy in the name of culture are not consistent with the egalitarian outlook required for good democratic governance.”100 Here he is indicating that the feudal social stratification embedded in traditional forms of etiquette (driglam namzha), promoted as part of the preservation of culture in GNH, directly conflicts with the democratic idea of universal equality. Although one might be tempted to think that the preservation of traditional forms of etiquette primarily serves a symbolic function, one practical implication has been the government’s promotion, and periodic enforcement, of wearing the kira and gho, traditional forms of dress.101 The conflict of this with democratic ideals becomes evident when we consider that driglam namzha and these traditional clothes are associated with the peoples of western Bhutan (Ngalong), who are historically related to Tibet, as distinct from other groups in Bhutan, such as the Burmese and Assamese peoples of Eastern Bhutan, and the Southern Bhutanese (Lhotsampas) of Nepali origin.102 The government’s promotion of “traditional Bhutanese culture” emerged in the late 1980s when the king realized that since Bhutan lacked military might and economic power, Bhutan’s unique cultural identity was “its defining strength for its sovereignty.”103 In addition to the requirement to wear Bhutanese traditional dress in public, the policy of national integration included the removal of Nepali language instruction from schools. The government’s push for cultural unity became a flashpoint for unrest in the southern lowlands of Bhutan in the early 1990s, and was one of the conditions leading to a serious conflict between the Bhutanese government and some Lhotsampas, which ultimately resulted in the flight under duress of thousands of Lhotsampas from Bhutan. At its peak this resulted in more than 100,000 people living in UNHCR refugee camps in eastern Nepal.104 While this troubling crisis occurred prior to the government’s full efforts to theorize and operationalize GNH, it is difficult to deny that the importance of cultural preservation in GNH could be connected with a form of ethnic nationalism that belies the goal of universal equality, also upheld in GNH.105 However,

110  Barbra Clayton on scrutiny, it would seem that neither the philosophy nor policy tools of GNH necessitate or promote an ethnocentric form of nationalism. The relevant domain here is, after all, “cultural diversity and resilience,” the aim of which is to defend and promote the various subcultures within Bhutan as important to Bhutanese identity. Indeed, the Bhutanese government upholds that GNH is a “framework for the protection, promotion and integration of human rights into the fabric of Bhutanese society,” and explicitly connects the pillar of “the preservation and promotion of culture” with the protection of cultural rights and non-discrimination.106 As an example, the GNH Index assumes that knowledge of any of the indigenous languages in Bhutan contributes positively to one’s measure of happiness. This is also true for participation in local cultural festivals and knowledge of local lore,107 suggesting that the GNH Index—in these examples at least—is being used, and importantly, in principle, can be used to support cultural diversity within Bhutan, rather than undermine it. Indeed, arguably the biggest threats to cultural diversity in Bhutan are the forces of globalization,108 and it is precisely as a protection from globalization that the pillar of “the preservation and promotion of culture” is intended. Thus, while the past connection between protecting one form of Bhutanese culture with Bhutanese national unity and sovereignty would suggest that GNH could be used to promote a particular ethnic identity within Bhutan, it is clear that the GNH need not be used in this way and that there is therefore no necessary conflict between the protection of the diversity of Bhutanese cultures and the GNH’s principle of equality.109 Another key challenge is the worry that modernization and consumerism are undermining the traditional values (such as compassion and contentment) out of which GNH grew, and that GNH may be reduced to mere “branding”—a catchy slogan to be used by Bhutanese politicians and elites to promote Bhutan to the outside world, while most Bhutanese still struggle to meet basic material needs.110 This concern is echoed in Hayden’s suggestion that a “strong” form of GNH—as an alternative economic model based on the ideals of sufficiency and environmental sustainability—is being undermined by the pressures on Bhutan to meet the demands of conventional economic growth. This, he argues, is yielding a weakened form of GNH that one journalist termed “Growth National Happiness.”111 Hayden saw the former prime minister Tobgay’s promotion of the private sector, with its focus on profit over sociocultural and environmental concerns, as evidence for this weakening.112 However, it seems that the current prime minister, Lotay Tshering, may embrace the values of “strong” GNH, as one of his first acts as prime minister was to raise the salaries of teachers and medical workers, making them the highest paid public servants in the country.113 Whether Bhutan can withstand these pressures will depend on a number of factors that remain to be determined, but Bhutan’s efforts to enforce the values of GNH by bringing GNH into its public education system, as well as promoting a new development paradigm internationally, are certainly significant, as are the efforts by the GNH Centre Bhutan and individuals such as Ha Vinh to promote GNH both within and outside of Bhutan.

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Two iterations of Buddhist modernity? The potential tension between the values of universal equality and the value of preserving traditional Bhutanese culture is echoed in two types or “modes” of Buddhism which the scholar David McMahan has argued characterize Buddhist modernism,114 and which we can see in the phenomenon of GNH. That is, GNH appears to be a “site” for two forms of Buddhist modernity: one aligned with a secularized and universalist form of Buddhism, and one aligned with traditional Bhutanese culture and nationalism. The first “mode” is described by McMahan as cosmopolitan and universalist or “de-territorialized,” i.e., not attached to or associated with any particular country, and also largely “demythologized,” or tending to eschew magic and myth in favor of the rational, and in this sense aligning Buddhism with science and secularity. This form of Buddhism generally focuses on meditation rather than ritual or merit-making, and caters mostly to the educated middle class around the world.115 By contrast, the mode or form of Buddhist modernism that would be described as nationalist identifies Buddhism with particular states and includes “counter-cosmopolitan” movements which, though relying on global technology, criticize globalization and international influences as corrupting. This form of Buddhism also emphasizes a (constructed) “tradition” associated with a particular nation and place. McMahan points to ethnocentric Buddhism found in Sri Lanka as a good example of this form of Buddhist modernism. In some ways, the “cosmopolitan” form of Buddhist modernism aptly describes the Buddhism associated with GNH. As Schwerk points out, GNH was developed through intercultural discourse and co-operation between societal elites from Bhutan and Asian and Western scholars of economic and social sciences, and thereby from its inception transcended not only national borders within Asia (mainly Thailand, India, and Japan), but also outside of Asia.116 Similarly, the participants in GNH Centre’s internationally focused programs117 are often highly educated, well-off North Americans, Europeans and Asians who are in a position to apply and adapt GNH principles in their own contexts. These people tend to fit the profile of educated elites that McMahon describes.118 In terms of the focus on mindfulness, it seems notable that mindfulness practice was introduced into schools and the federal civil service as a result of GNH, and the GNH Centre includes mindfulness as a key practice in its programs.119 As we have seen, the government of Bhutan, as well as the GNH Centre, promote GNH as a globally relevant—“deterritorialized”—model of holistic development. Furthermore, while they insist that GNH is not necessarily Buddhist, some interviewees saw GNH as a form of Engaged Buddhism120 and their work in promoting GNH as part of their Buddhist spiritual practice—again in alignment with the characterization of cosmopolitan, modern Buddhism as socially active. On the other hand, there is evidence for the “counter-cosmopolitan” or nationalist form of Buddhism in GNH as well. It is clear that GNH has become invaluable to Bhutan’s national sovereignty by allowing it to carve out a unique identity

112  Barbra Clayton on the global stage.121 As Hayden suggests, while the promotion of GNH has been motivated by a genuine need to ensure that Bhutan is not a “GNH bubble in a GDP world,” this has also been a way “to enhance Bhutan’s profile and ‘soft power,’ and ultimately protect its status as an independent nation.”122 Nationalism is also evident in the close association between GNH and the monarchy. As we have seen, the fourth king is widely celebrated as the “father of GNH,” and his son and successor, the current fifth king, is an enthusiastic supporter of GNH. One of the royal princesses, Ashi Kezang Choden, currently serves as the president of the board of the GNH Centre.123 The close association between GNH and the monarchy led Matt Branch and Thierry Mathou124 to suggest that GNH serves as a kind of proxy for the monarchy—filling the “ideological void” left when the king abdicated.125 Moreover, because the king is regarded as an enlightened bodhisattva and called a “Dharma king,”126 a clear link can be made between GNH, Buddhism and Bhutanese national identity via the Bhutanese monarchy. We should be cautious, however, about assuming that these two aspects of Buddhist modernism are reflective of a divide between the “East” and “West,”, especially in terms of the people involved. That is, we might presuppose that the Bhutanese proponents of GNH uphold the nationalist dimension of GNH, whereas the “western”127 proponents reflect its cosmopolitan and universalist form. Although my sample size for this study is admittedly small, the results of this study indicate that the cross-fertilization, transnational connections and influences, and complexity of contemporary globalized identities undermine any easy divide we might want to make between Asian and Western forms of Buddhism or Buddhists. For example, one Bhutanese interviewee attributed his understanding of Buddhism to reading the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh—teachers associated with the cosmopolitan and secularized form of Buddhism—as well as his Bhutanese lama. Another Bhutanese leader was undertaking a course in Vipassana or insight meditation, which is a form of meditation rooted in Theravada Buddhism that has now been globalized and arguably secularized. As has been indicated, young Bhutanese are being introduced to mindfulness through the schools, and many of the Bhutanese participants of GNH Center programs were introduced to mindfulness meditation by the GNH Centre. On the other hand, some of the non-Bhutanese GNH leaders I interviewed participated in Bhutanese devotional practices and received blessings from Bhutanese lamas, and one interviewee was then living and working for a Bhutanese lama in a remote part of Bhutan. As such, their practices seem a far cry from a strictly rational, demythologized Buddhism that is sometimes assumed to be the Buddhism of Westerners. This suggests that while GNH in some ways reflects the two types of Buddhist modernism, the people who promote GNH cannot easily or accurately be divided in terms of those modes. GNH as a phenomenon, however, shows evidence of functioning in both of these dimensions: as a way to promote and uphold Bhutan’s sovereignty and identity, and also as an alternative, sufficiency-based economic and development strategy focused on well-being that is relevant to all countries. As such, GNH reflects both the nationalist and universalist forms of Buddhist

The development of well-being  113 modernism. Whether and how there may be conflicts between these two modes would require further study, but for example, while it may be intuitive to assume that there is tension or even direct conflict between nationalism and universalism, so long as it is a form of nationalism that defends Bhutan’s diverse traditional cultures and spiritual traditions, there should be no clash between the role of GNH in maintaining Bhutanese identity, and cosmopolitanism. On the other hand, there may be friction between the rational, secularized and demythologized form of Buddhism, and the promotion of traditional forms of Bhutanese Buddhist practice that focus on merit-making and devotion to local deities and bodhisattvas. This suggests that there may be some constitutive tensions between the two modes of Buddhist modernism present in GNH.

Conclusion In order to summarize this particular vision of the good life for all, we can do no better than to consider this quote by the former Prime Minister Thinley, who was so instrumental in operationalizing GNH in Bhutan. According to him, the meaning of “happiness” that is the goal of Gross National Happiness should be understood as: the deep abiding happiness that comes from living life in full harmony with the natural world, with our communities, and with our culture and spiritual heritage, and from knowing and trusting that our leaders care for the common good—in short from feeling totally connected with our world.128 As these words reveal, GNH provides an inspiring vision for an ideal state and governance that I have tried to argue is rooted in Buddhist ideas and principles. This includes a view of humans as having the capacity for deep wisdom and compassion, and the idea that our true happiness, which should be the focus of our economies, lies in striving for that potential and helping others to do the same. Importantly, it is based on a recognition that our well-being is grounded in our interconnectedness with nature and each other. I have also suggested that though GNH certainly serves as an instrument of Bhutan’s sovereignty and national identity, there is in principle nothing in GNH as philosophy or policy that necessarily entails the kind of ethnocentric nationalism that seems to have played a role in precipitating the refugee crisis of the 1990s. Overall, GNH challenges us to rethink the purpose of the economy, and to consider a fuller meaning of happiness than that promised by consumerism. In drawing attention to the multidimensional and communal nature of well-being, it invites us to recognize that our happiness is less about what we can get than it is about having a community to give to. Moreover, at this point in history when the world is waking to the reality of the environmental catastrophe generated by the predominant, growth-based economic model, that this small country has provided the world with a functioning national example of an alternative should also cause us to consider this example of Buddhist economics very seriously.

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Notes 1 Jigme Y. Thinley, “Bhutan Will Be the First Country with Expanded Capital Accounts,” in Remarks of the Hon’ble Prime Minister at the Press Conference Releasing the First Natural, Social and Human Capital Results of Bhutan’s New National Accounts (Thimphu, Bhutan: Prime Minister’s Office, Royal Government of Bhutan, February 10, 2012), 1; Karma Ura et al., Provisional Findings of the 2015 Gross National Happiness Survey (Thimphu, Bhutan: Center for Bhutan Studies & GNH Research, 2015), 4; Thierry Mathou, Le Bhoutan: Royaume du Bonheur National Brut: Entre Myth et Réalité (Paris: Harmattan, 2013), 255. 2 Although one of the first reporters to interview the king about GNH reports that he actually responded by suggesting that it might be more useful to measure Gross National Happiness instead of GNP (John Elliot, “The Pursuit of Happiness: BhutanStyle,” Newsweek, November 29, 2015, www​.n​​ewswe​​ek​.co​​m​/pur​​suit-​​happi​​ness-​​ bhuta​​n​-sty​​le​-39​​9199). 3 Cited in Karma Ura et al., A Short Guide to Gross National Happiness (Thimphu: Centre for Bhutan Studies, 2012), 7. 4 Jigme Y. Thinley, Sustainability and Happiness—The Vital Link: GNH: A Development Philosophy for Bhutan and the World (Thimphu: Prime Minister’s Office, Royal Government of Bhutan, 2012), n.p. 5 Thinley, Sustainability and Happiness, n.p. 6 Tshering Tobgay, The State of the Nation (Thimphu: Royal Government of Bhutan, 2016), 3. 7 Tho Ha Vinh, “GNH: An Introduction” (lecture, Paro, Bhutan, September 24, 2013); GNH Commission, “Mandate,” Royal Government of Bhutan, June 3, 2014, www​ .gnhc​.gov​.bt​/mandate/; cf Hayden, “Bhutan: Blazing a trail to a postgrowth future? Or stepping on the treadmill of production?” Journal of Environment and Development 24, no. 2 (2015): 161–86. doi: 10.1177/1070496515579199. 8 Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 7. The term “inner GNH” was used in the context of a GNH Master Class (2017–2018) led by staff of the GNH Centre and Schumacher College. 9 For example, Hayden, “Bhutan: Blazing a trail”; Jeremy S. Brooks, “Avoiding the Limits to Growth: Gross National Happiness as a Model for Sustainable Development,” Sustainability 5 (2013): 3640–64; Bob Frame, “Bhutan: A review of its approach to development,” Development in Practice 15, no. 2 (2005): 216–21. 10 For example, Mathou, Le Bhoutan, 263. 11 Samdoup Pascal Guesdon-Allier, “Bhoutan, Bonheur National Brut et Philosophie Bouddhiste,” (MA diss., Université de Grenoble, 2013); Michael Givel, “Mahayana Buddhism and gross national happiness in Bhutan,” International Journal of Wellbeing 5, no. 2 (2015): 14–27. doi: 10.5502/ijw.v5i2.2; Dagmar Schwerk, “Drawing lines in a mandala: A sketch of boundaries between religion and politics in Bhutan,” in Working Paper Series of the HCAS “Multiple Secularities—Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities” 12 (Leipzig University, 2019), multi​​ple​-s​​ecula​​ritie​​s​.de/​​publi​​catio​​ns​/wo​​ rkin​g​​-pape​​rs/; Ura et al., A Short Guide, 2012. 12 This chapter is based on textual analysis, interviews and participant observation. In November 2015 and May 2018, I conducted semi-structured interviews with eight experts in GNH, including a senior civil servant, the former ambassador to the UN, a former advisor to the government, and the executive staff of the GNH Centre Bhutan. The GNH Centre Bhutan is an NGO established in order to demonstrate and teach the philosophy of GNH to both Bhutanese and international participants. Five of the interviewees were Bhutanese and three were non-Bhutanese. The textual analysis incorporates documents on GNH produced by the Center for Buddhist Studies and GNH Research, a government research body focused on GNH and charged with creating and evaluating the GNH Index, as well as government documents, particularly

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13 14

15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

26 27

28 29

those released by the Prime Minister’s Office in relation to a “High Level Meeting” convened by the Bhutanese government at the UN, which took place on April 2, 2012, and which I attended. This meeting was on the subject of a new economic paradigm based on GNH that the Bhutanese government was promoting. In September 2013 and November 2015 I took part in programs offered by the GNH Centre: a “GNH Facilitator’s Training Program” and “GNH and Education” program, respectively. In 2017/18 I undertook a year-long GNH Master Class facilitated through the GNH Centre and Schumacher College, UK. Along with secondary source material, this chapter incorporates the documents received through these programs as well as notes taken during lectures by government representatives, civil servants and GNH center staff. Karma Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan (London: Haus Publishing, 2013), 8–11. Michael Aris, The Raven Crown: The Origins of Buddhist Monarchy in Bhutan (London: Serindia Publications, 1994), 11; Richard W. Whitecross, “Buddhism and Constitutions in Bhutan,” in Buddhism and Law: An Introduction, ed. Rebecca Redwood French and Mark A. Nathan (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 355. Marian Gallenkamp, “When agency triumphs over structure: Conceptualizing Bhutan’s unique transition to democracy,” Heidelberg Papers in South Asia and Comparative Politics: Working Paper No. 68 (Heidelburg University: South Asia Institute, Department of Political Science, May 2012), 15–18; Samdrup Rigyal and Alyson Prude, “Buddhism in Contemporary Bhutan,” in The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Buddhism, ed. Michael Jerryson (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 61–75. Cited in Ura et al., A Short Guide, 6; Schwerk, “Drawing lines in a mandala,” 33, 34. Frame, “Bhutan: A review of its approach,” 216. Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 4. Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 595. John Elliot, “The Modern Path to Enlightenment,” Weekend Financial Times, May 2, 1987. Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 5; Elliot, “The Pursuit of Happiness.” Formerly called simply the Center for Bhutan Studies. Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 12. Ibid., 23. By including unpaid labor as work, many activities that might not be defined as work in other contexts are taken into account, including care of children and sick family members, kitchen gardening, household maintenance and volunteer labor for the community (woola). This is obviously an important acknowledgment of the effect of unpaid labor on life balance and well-being, and has particular significance for women. The thresholds for sufficiency were set based on international and local standards, participatory meetings and the normative judgments of the Index authors (Ura et al., A Short Guide, 23f; Hayden, “Bhutan: Blazing a trail,” 167). Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 12, 21, 23–25. Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 9; Sangyay Dorji, “GNH Policy Screening Tool” (lecture, Paro, Bhutan, September 19, 2013). Centre for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research, “GNH Tools” http:​/​/www​​.gros​​snati​​onalh​​appin​​ess​.c​​om​/gn​​h​-pol​​icy​-a​​nd​-pr​​ oject​​-scr​e​​ening​​-tool​​s/, accessed Feb. 5, 2021. Phuntsho Wangyel, “The GNH Screening Tool: Bringing GNH into Policy Making in Bhutan” (lecture, GNH Master Class, Thimphu, Bhutan, May 9, 2018). R. Zangmo, “Promoting GNH Values Among Bhutanese Youth,” Kuensel August 9, 2018, www​.k​​uense​​lonli​​ne​.co​​m​/pro​​motin​​g​-gnh​​-valu​​es​-am​​ong​-y​​oung-​​bhuta​​nese/​; GNH Centre Bhutan, “Our National Programs,” http:​/​/www​​.gnhc​​entre​​bhuta​​n​.org​​/ our-​​natio​​nal​-p​ ​​rogra​​ms/

116  Barbra Clayton 30 Gross National Happiness Commission, “Mandate,” Royal Government of Bhutan (RGB), http://www​.gnhc​.gov​.bt​/mandate/, accessed June 3, 2014. 31 Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 23. 32 Thinley, “Bhutan,” 1. 33 Royal Government of Bhutan, The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Article 9, Section 2, www​.n​​ab​.go​​v​.bt/​​asset​​s​/tem​​plate​​s​/ima​​ges​/c​​onsti​​tutio​​n​-of-​​bhuta​​n​-200​​8​.pdf​, accessed May 13, 2020. 34 Dorji, “GNH Policy Screening Tool.” 35 Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 8. 36 Thinley, Sustainability and Happiness. 37 NDP Steering Committee and Secretariat, “Happiness: Towards a New Development Paradigm,” Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2013, www​.new​deve​lopm​entp​aradigm​.bt. 38 John Helliwell, “Using Happiness Research to Support Better Lives,” Beyond GDP: International Experiences, Canada’s Options Workshop, Dalhousie University, Halifax, May 23, 2019. 39 Gallenkamp, “When agency triumphs,” 15. 40 UNDP, “About Bhutan,” United Nations Development Program, www​.u​​ndp​.o​​ rg​/co​​ntent​​/bhut​​an​/en​​/home​​/coun​​tryin​​fo/, accessed June 27, 2019; Gallenkamp, “When agency triumphs,” 12–15; Randy Schroeder and Kent Schroeder, “Happy Environments: Bhutan, interdependence and the West,” Sustainability, 6 (2014): 3524. doi:10.3390/su6063521. 41 Tobgay, State of the Nation, 1; Yoichiro Ishihara and Tenzin Lhaden, “Bhutan Development Update: Accelerating Reform Momentum (English),” Bhutan Development Update (Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2018), docum​​ents.​​world​​ bank.​​org​/c​​urate​​d​/en/​​51017​​15420​​39840​​599​/B​​hutan​​-Deve​​lopme​​nt​-Up​​date-​​Accel​​erati​​​ ng​-Re​​form-​​Momen​​tum, accessed June 27, 2019. 42 UNDP, “About Bhutan”; Schroeder and Schroeder, “Happy Environments,” 3524. 43 United Nations Data. “Country Profile: Bhutan,” http:​/​/dat​​a​.un.​​org​/C​​ountr​​yProf​​ile​.a​​ spx/_​​Image​​s​/Cou​​ntryP​​rofil​​e​.asp​​x​​?crN​​ame​=B​​hutan​, accessed January 24, 2020; Matt Branch, “Climate change projects in the land of gross national happiness: Does religion play a role in environmental policy in Bhutan?,” in How the World’s Religions Are Responding to Climate Change, ed. Robin Globus Veldman, Andrew Szasz and Randolph Haluza-DeLay (London and New York: Routledge, 2013), 47, 51. 44 Thinley, “Bhutan,” 7; cf “Conference Declaration” (IFOAM Conference on Organic and Ecological Agriculture, Thimphu, Bhutan, March 8, 2014). However, according to Colman, Bhutan has balked on this commitment [Ron Tashi Colman, “What Really Counts: In Search of the New Economy from Nova Scotia to Bhutan” (Beyond GDP: International Experiences, Canada’s Options Workshop, Halifax, May 24, 2019)]. 45 Even at this high visa rate Bhutan now accommodates over 100,000 tourists a year—a phenomenal increase compared to the early 2000s, when the number was less than 10,000. The impacts of these numbers are a serious concern and it is notable that the current “High Value, Low Impact” tourism policy was formerly called “High value, Low Volume” (Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 585), which may be suggestive of an erosion of a commitment to GNH. 46 Tobgay, State of the Nation, 26. 47 Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 595; Hayden, “Bhutan: Blazing a trail,” 176. 48 Karma Ura and Dorji Pejore, “GNH Policy and Project Selection Tools,” Centre for Bhutan Studies, 2008. www​.g​​rossn​​ation​​alhap​​pines​​s​.com​​/gnh-​​polic​​y​-and​​-proj​​ect​-s​​ creen​​ing​-t​​ools/​, accessed July 13, 2019; Hayden “Bhutan: Blazing a trail,” 168. 49 Wangyel, “The GNH Screening Tool”; Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 50. 50 Karma Tshiteem, interview, Thimphu, Bhutan, November 2, 2015; Karma Tshiteem, “GNH in Civil Service Reforms” (International Conference on GNH, Paro, Bhutan, November 4, 2015).

The development of well-being  117 51 On meditation see David McMahan, The Making of Buddhist Modernism (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), esp. Ch. 7. On GNH influencing Buddhism, see Branch, “Climate change projects,” 50. 52 Colman, “What Really Counts.” 53 Although Bhutan has been moved from the UN’s category of Lowest Developed Countries (LDC), it is still considered to be only at the “Medium Development Level” and is ranked 134th in the world on the UN’s Human Development Index (UNDP, “About Bhutan”; Gallenkamp, “When agency triumphs,” 12). 54 See Mathou, Le Bhoutan, esp. 263. 55 Thinley, Sustainability and Happiness. 56 Ibid. 57 Cited in Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 9. 58 Jigme Thinley, “Educating for GNH Keynote Address,” in Proceedings: Educating for Gross National Happiness Workshop December 7-12, 2009, by Karen Hayward and Ronald Colman, 2010, 14. http:​//​www​​.gpia​​tlant​​ic​.or​​g​/pdf​​/educ​​ating​​forgn​​h​/edu​​ catin​​g​_for​​_gnh_​​pr​oce​​eding​​s​.pdf​, accessed May 16, 2014. 59 Tho Ha Vinh, interview, Paro, Bhutan, November 3, 2015. 60 Ura et al., A Short Guide, 7. 61 Saamdu Chetri, interview, Paro, Bhutan, October, 31, 2015; Ron Tashi Colman, untitled lecture, Thimphu, Bhutan, September 19, 2013; Ha Vinh, interview. 62 “GNH and the Family,” panel discussion, GNH Facilitator Training, Paro, Bhutan, September 24, 2013. 63 Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 596. 64 Sonam Tsoki Tenzin, “The Meaning of GNH,” lecture, GNH Master Class, Haa, Bhutan, May 13, 2018. Thus, the Dzongkha translation of GNH is “national collective wellbeing” or “overarching combined peace/happiness” (rgyal yongs dga skyid dpal ‘rzoms). 65 Thinley, Sustainability and Happiness. 66 Ha Vinh, interview. 67 This critique of consumerism is a prominent theme in other Buddhist approaches to economics. See, e.g., Peter Harvey, “Economic Ethics,” in Introduction to Buddhist Ethics (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 187–328, and James Mark Shields, “Buddhist economics: Problems and possibilities,” in Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Ethics, ed. Daniel Cozort and James Mark Shields (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), 407–31. 68 Thinley, “Educating for GNH,” 14; Sustainability and Happiness. 69 Thinley, Sustainability and Happiness. 70 Khenpo Phuntsok Tashi, “The positive impact of Gomchen tradition on achieving and maintaining gross national happiness,” Journal of Bhutan Studies, 12 (Summer, 2005), 82. 71 Ura, et al., Provisional Findings, 1, 7. 72 Thinley, “Educating for GNH,” 14. 73 Ha Vinh, “GNH: An Introduction.” 74 Ura et al, Provisional Findings, 13. 75 Subjective measures of happiness include one’s perception of level of happiness or life satisfaction, whereas objective measures include factors such as one’s standard of living, health measures like the number of days of illness, and community involvement measures such as days of volunteering. The GNH Index incorporates both subjective and objective measures, but weighs objective ones more heavily. 76 Ura et al., A Short Guide, 7. 77 Ibid., 29. 78 Center for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research, The Third Gross National Happiness Survey Questionnaire (Thimphu: Center for Bhutan Studies and GNH Research,

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79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86

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95

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Royal Government of Bhutan, 2014) www​.gro​ssna​tion​alha​ppiness​.com. This inclusion of spirituality or religion is another unique feature of the GNH Survey (see Drew Chaboyer, “Happiness and Religion: Analyzing the Role Religion and Spirituality Play in Happiness Indices: Canada and Bhutan,” Honours Thesis, Mount Allison University, 2017). Thinley, “Educating for GNH,” 18. See also Givel, “Mahayana Buddhism.” Ha Vinh, interview. Thinley, “Educating for GNH,” 16. McMahan, The Making of Buddhist Modernism, 150. Ha Vinh, interview. Ura et al., Provisional Findings, 10. That is, karma is normally understood in terms of an individual’s actions and the results experienced by that individual in their present and future lives. e.g., see Peter Harvey, Introduction to Buddhist Ethics (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 14–16. Karma Ura cited in Givel, “Mahayana Buddhism,” 16. Ibid. Mathou, Le Bhoutan, 13. See Shields, “Buddhist economics,” and Harvey, “Economic Ethics.” e.g., Colman, lecture. Chetri, interview. Cf Shields, “Buddhist economics,” 415. Craig Lewis, “Bhutan Proposes a Buddhist Approach to Business at 7th International Conference on Gross National Happiness,” The Buddhist Door, November 11, 2017, accessed June 17, 2019, www​.b​​uddhi​​stdoo​​r​.net​​/news​​/bhut​​an​-pr​​opose​​s​-a​-b​​uddhi​​st​-ap​​ proac​​h​-to-​​busin​​ess​-a​​t​-7th​​-inte​​rnati​​onal-​​confe​​rence​​-on​-g​​ross-​​natio​​nal​-h​​appin​​ess. It should be noted, though, that within the GNH model, profit and growth would be viewed as a means to help beings attain the end of “true abiding happiness” or to sufficiency in the nine domains, rather than as ends in themselves. Since the goal of happiness might also require limiting profits and even degrowth, GNH economics would not be compatible with neoliberal capitalism, in which profit is an end in itself and constant growth is a necessity (Della Duncan, personal communication, September 5, 2019). Craig Lewis, “Happiness Before Profit: Bhutan Seeks to Redefine Business Using Buddhist Values,” The Buddhist Door, Global, December 15, 2017, accessed June 17, 2019, www​.b​​uddhi​​stdoo​​r​.net​​/feat​​ures/​​happi​​ness-​​befor​​e​-pro​​fit​-b​​hutan​​-seek​​s​-to-​​redef​​ ine​-b​​usine​​ss​-us​​ing​-b​​uddhi​​st​-va​​lues. Shields, “Buddhist economics,” 423, 425, 428. In this regard it shares much in common with Sarvodaya Shramadana, a Sri Lankan development movement. GNH is like Sarvodaya in having a systemic approach, but where GNH focuses and began at the national level, Sarvodaya began as a grassroots, village-based movement that later became a national movement. E.g., Julie McCarthy, “The Birthplace of ‘Gross National Happiness’ Is Growing a Bit Cynical,” Parallels, National Public Radio, February 12, 2018, www​.n​​pr​.or​​g​/sec​​tions​​ /para​​llels​​/2018​​/02​/1​​2​/584​​48104​​7​/the​​-birt​​hplac​​e​-of-​​gross​​-nati​​onal-​​happi​​ness-​​is​-gr​​ owing​​-a​-bi​​t​-cyn​​ical, accessed August 13, 2019; R. Biswas-Diener, E. Diener, and N. Nadezhda Lyubchik, N., “Wellbeing in Bhutan,” International Journal of Wellbeing 5, no. 2 (2015): 1–13. doi: 10.5502/ijw.v5i2.1. Jigme Y. Thinley, “Address by the Honorable Jigmi Y. Thinley, Prime Minister of Bhutan,” (High Level Meeting on Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm, UN Headquarters, New York, April 2, 2012). Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 598. The kira is an ankle-length woven skirt worn by women, and the gho, a knee-length robe-like garment worn by men.

The development of well-being  119 102 The term “Drukpa” is sometimes used to refer to the western Bhutanese, but according to Phunthso more properly refers to all Bhutanese (Karma Phuntsho, “Bhutanese Reform, Nepalese Criticism,” Open Democracy, October 12, 2006, www​.o​​pende​​ mocra​​cy​.ne​​t​/en/​​bhuta​​n​_nep​​al​_39​​96jsp​/, accessed September 26, 2019). Lhotsampa (“Southerner”) is the term used for people of Nepali origin who have legally settled in Bhutan, although not all of those who became refugees are Nepali (Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 579). Of course, who of the southern Bhutanese population had legally settled there is the crux of the dispute. For a description of the considerable cultural and linguistic complexity present in this small nation see Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, Chapters 2 and 3. 103 Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 598. 104 Ibid., 581. For accounts sympathetic to the Bhutanese perspective on this issue see Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 578–82 and “Bhutanese Reform, Nepalese Criticism,” and; Bhutan, National Report Submitted in Accordance with Paragraph 15 (A) of the Annex to Human Rights Council Resolution 5/1, September 3, 2009, A/HRC/WG.6/6/BTN/1. For the refugee perspective, see Amnesty International, “Bhutan: Forcible Exile,” (August, 1994) AI Index 14/04/94. 105 For instance, the government asserts that the first pillar, equitable socioeconomic development, “ensures that each person in the country benefits from socio-economic development” (Bhutan, National Report, 8, paragraph 39). 106 Bhutan, National Report, 8, paragraphs 37 and 39. 107 Ura et al., A Short Guide, 19, 20. 108 That is, the exposure of Bhutanese to Bollywood movies, K-pop music and Western dress is probably a bigger threat to traditional Bhutanese cultures than GNH, which is in part intended as a buffer against such influences. 109 However, to fully answer the question of whether GNH is being used to cultivate or repress cultural minorities in Bhutan would require a separate study that looked at the various iterations of GNH Survey and Screening Tool, and how they have been interpreted and used since their inception. 110 Phuntsho, The History of Bhutan, 598. 111 Hayden, “Bhutan: Blazing a trail,” 176, 178; R. Krantz, “Growth National Happiness,” Kuensel, August 10, 2013, www​.k​​uense​​lonli​​ne​.co​​m​/gro​​wth​-n​​ation​​al​-ha​​ppine​​ss/. 112 Hayden, “Bhutan: Blazing a trail,” 175. 113 “In Bhutan, teachers, medical staff will now be the highest paid civil servants,” The Indian Express, June 12, 2019, india​​nexpr​​ess​.c​​om​/ar​​ticle​​/indi​​a​/web​​/in​-b​​hutan​​ -teac​​hers-​​medic​​al​-st​​aff​-w​​ill​-n​​ow​-be​​-high​​est​-p​​aid​-​c​​ivil-​​serva​​nts​-5​​77660​​4/, accessed September 3, 2019. 114 See David McMahan, “Buddhism and multiple modernities,” in Buddhism Beyond Borders: New Perspectives on Buddhism in the United States, ed. Scott A. Mitchell and Natalie E. F. Quli (Albany, NY: SUNY, 2015). 115 McMahan, “Buddhism and multiple modernities,” 184. 116 Schwerk, “Drawing lines in a mandala,” 32. 117 The CNH Center also leads Bhutanese-focused GNH programs, which are attended by Bhutanese participants. 118 Note that though not all the people involved with helping to develop and promote GNH would identify as Buddhists, those that do would likely fit this socioeconomic profile. 119 Schwerk notes that it is a “western” form of mindfulness that has been introduced into the school system in Bhutan, rather than a form of mindfulness and meditation found traditionally in the Drugpa Kagyü (or other Bhutanese Buddhist) school, and she sees this as clear example of the secularization of Buddhism in Bhutan (Schwerk, “Drawing lines in a mandala,” 38, n106). 120 “Engaged Buddhism” is a term used to refer to a modern form of Buddhism that addresses the social, political and environmental issues facing the contemporary

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world. For a discussion of debates over how best to understand this term see Main, Jessica and Rongdao Lai, “Introduction: Reformulating ‘Socially Engaged Buddhism’ as an analytic category,” Eastern Buddhist 44/2 (2013): 1–34. E.g., McCarthy, “The Birthplace of ‘Gross National Happiness’”; Mathou, Le Bhoutan, 263. This phrase was used by former Prime Minister Thinley in the opening address to the first meeting of an International Expert Working Group for the New Development Paradigm in Thimphu, Bhutan, on January 30, 2013. Cited in Hayden, “Bhutan: Blazing a trail,” 170. GNH Centre Bhutan, “About Us/Honourable Board,” accessed February 10, 2020, http:​/​/www​​.gnhc​​entre​​bhuta​​n​.org​​/abou​​t​/hon​​orabl​​​e​-boa​​rd/. Branch, “Climate change projects”; Mathou, Le Bhoutan, 260. The connection between GNH and the monarchy was strikingly apparent at the opening ceremony of the Centre for Bhutan Studies’ GNH conference in November 2015: the raised platform for the speakers was flanked by massive images of the current (fifth) king and his wife on one side, and an image of the fourth king, the father of GNH, on the other. The ceremony was opened by the monks of the Central Monastic Body (Karma Ura and Dorji Penjore, GNH: From Philosophy to Praxis – Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Gross National Happiness, 4–6 November 2015, Paro, Bhutan (Centre for Bhutan Studies & Gross National Happiness, 2017), 5, www​.b​​hutan​​studi​​es​.or​​g​.bt/​​publi​​catio​​nFile​​s​/Con​​feren​​cePro​​ceedi​​ ngs​/6​​th​%20​​GNH​%2​​0Conf​​erenc​​ing​/6​​th​%20​​GNH​%2​​0Proc​​eedin​​gs​%20​​DP​%20​​06​.01​​ .2018​​.pdf, accessed September 5, 2019) and the current king honored the conference participants with a visit. While it is true that images of the monarchy are prevalent in Bhutan, this visual connection between the GNH conference speakers and monarchy, and the actual physical connection between the king, Buddhist monks and GNH conference participants, seems to me suggestive of the ideological connections between GNH, Buddhism and Bhutanese monarchy. Dorji, Tsugla Lopen Samten Dorji, ed. The Dharma King: A Tribute to His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuk The Fourth King of Bhutan (Tashichodzong: Zhung Dratshang Library, 2014). The categories of Asian or Eastern and western are of course themselves problematic, and perhaps especially so with regard to individuals. In this case some of the proponents of GNH have Asian heritage but are from the west (Europe and North America), so cannot accurately be defined as either Asian or western. Thinley, Sustainability and Happiness.

6

The good life A Tibetan understanding1 Jay L. Garfield

Introduction To understand the vision of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA, the government of the Tibetan community in exile) of a good life for a free Tibet, we can turn to the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile (henceforth the Charter), the document adopted by the Parliament of the CTA in 1991 as the constitution for the exile community and hopefully for a future free Tibet. That document outlines not only the administrative procedures governing the Tibetan Administration, but also the vision of the good life for Tibetans it is meant to facilitate. We will turn to that document directly at the close of this chapter. But we cannot understand this document and the vision it articulates without first contextualizing it through an account of how Tibetans themselves understand the good life. It is that shared cultural understanding that animates the dry legal words of that document. So, the bulk of this chapter will be devoted to establishing that context, to asking what Tibetans think that the good life is for an individual, so that we can see how that vision is realized in the Charter. We will discover a remarkable consistency between Tibetan religious ideology regarding the good life, individual Tibetans’ own articulation of their visions of the good life, and the secular political articulation of the vision of the good life in the Charter. When we ask what the good life is according to Tibetans, we must first recognize that there are a lot of Tibetans, and that they are a heterogeneous lot. So, just as we find many different conceptions of the good life in the United States today, we can expect to find a plurality of conceptions among Tibetans. Still, there might be some common ideas or strands of thought distinctive of Tibetan thought about the good life; we must, however, be cautious about overgeneralizing, even if we can discover them. Moreover, even with this caveat firmly in mind, we must be careful about what we mean when we ask this question. There are many senses that it might have. On the one hand, we might adopt a purely normative reading of the question, asking what the most highly regarded prescriptive texts in philosophical literature say that the good life is. This might not tell us much. Compare asking the question in this register in our own culture. We might then turn to the Nicomachean Ethics, and conclude that Americans or Europeans take it that the good life is a contemplative life characterized by action motivated by a fixed set of virtues. Or we

122  Jay L. Garfield might consult the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, and decide that we believe that the good life is one of happiness as a reward for action performed from respect for the moral law. Neither would be a useful characterization of our own culture. On the other hand, consulting these texts would have a legitimate purpose in such an inquiry: they might tell us about the background ideology that informs our conception of the good life, one that we might take as a clue to our actual values. So, it might be close to true that there is a national consensus that a good life requires friends, a good character, material conditions, a bit of luck, and so forth, and that it should reflect our humanity—all Aristotelian ideas. And it may be part of that consensus that a good life is one lived with dignity, that permits the exercise of agency, and involves respect for others, all Kantian ideas. But reading the texts themselves cannot tell us that, and a good deal of flesh is needed on those textual bones to get at our actual conception; that flesh would have to be sought by consulting actual Americans. For the same reason, reading normative Buddhist texts to give us some clues regarding Tibetan conceptions of the good life would be inadequate, although useful. We might well—and we will—consult some, but we still need to hear from actual Tibetans in order to understand the degree to which, and how, these texts inform everyday ideology. On the other hand, we might simply observe how people live. We might ask ourselves what they pursue, following Mill’s questionable dictum that the best way to determine what is desirable is to see what is desired. But the fallacy of equivocation in Mill’s argument would vitiate this approach as well. People often fail to desire what they think they ought to desire; people often act against their considered values and sense of the good. One might believe deeply that honesty is the best policy, but nonetheless lie from time to time; one might even think that murder is wrong but make one’s living as a hit man. So, while behavior is a clue to values, it is not an infallible clue. I will propose and follow a middle way. I will first discuss one normative text respected by many Tibetans regarding what it is to lead a good life; that will give us some fix on at least one ideal. But then I will consider the results of a survey of contemporary Tibetans (at least contemporary Tibetans living in America), and compare what they say about the good life to what non-Tibetan Americans say. By examining the similarities and differences, and by calibrating these responses against a normative text, we may get a slightly more nuanced view of what Tibetans actually take the good life to be.

The religious vision: Patrul Rinpoche on the good life Patrul Rinpoche (Orgyen Jigme Chokyi Wangpo, 1808–1887) was a titanic figure in the ris med, or nonsectarian movement that swept Eastern Tibet in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He was renowned for his simple life, for his profound spiritual attainment and for the clarity of his teaching and writing. He was personally responsible for popularizing the practice now ubiquitous

The good life  123 among Tibetans of chanting the Avalokiteśvara mantra om mani padme hum, and his teaching and example have had a lasting effect on Tibetan practice and scholarship. But I turn to him here because while most Tibetan religious texts are addressed primarily or exclusively to monastic audiences, Patrul often wrote for lay audiences as well. He is best known for Words of my Perfect Teacher (Kun bzang lama’i zhal lung), but his beautiful poetic text Essential Jewel of Holy Practice (Thog mtha’ bar gsum du dge ba’i gtam lha sgom spyod gsum nyams len dam pa’i snying nor) is the text aimed at lay people.2 We will turn to that text for a normative sense of at least one influential Tibetan view of the good life. Patrul Rinpoche addresses a lay patron asking for advice regarding how to lead his life. Near the beginning of the text he writes: 8. Granted, we are unable to perfect ourselves, but it still makes no sense to neglect our minds. Aren’t we just throwing away our precious lives When we fail to engage in Dharma practice? 9. Ordinary people are so degraded. Their vicious thoughts and actions do no good for themselves or others. And they are deceitful. What can you do for them? Wouldn’t it be best to withdraw from all of this? (Patrul Rinpoche, 2017) Several important points emerge from these early verses. First, a life that neglects religious practice is a wasted life; a life in which religious practice predominates is a good life. Second, the degradation of ordinary people consists primarily in the fact that they “do no good for themselves or others,” and in the fact that they are deceitful—that is, they are neither true to themselves or others; their lives fail to accord with their professed values. We might put this in existentialist terms by saying that they live inauthentic lives, lives led in bad faith. A good life, then, among other things, is a non-deceptive, authentic life, where authenticity is understood in the sense of Heidegger’s Eigentlichkeit, or owning, or being true to one’s own life. But the third point, and perhaps the most important here, is that the best way to lead a good (beneficial, authentic) life is to withdraw from the affairs of the world, since the world is too degraded a place in which to fare well. This valorization of a renunciation of mundane affairs is central to Patrul’s vision, and is a leitmotif of Tibetan normative accounts of good lives. (Indeed, following the classical Indian pattern of a good life, many Tibetans do renounce the world and even take robes late in their lives.) A truly good life, on this account— even a truly good lay life—is a life that renounces mundane entanglements and concerns in favor of spiritual practice, and that does so intentionally and with conviction. Patrul Rinpoche reaffirms this point a bit later, after a long discussion of the vices of ordinary people and the difficulties of leading a good life among them, even if one attempts to do so earnestly:

124  Jay L. Garfield 15. Nobody is authentic anymore; they’re all just impostors. They utter not authentic speech, but deceptive lies. Who can you trust? Absolutely no one. So, go! Always live alone and keep your independence! The resonances of the Tibetan su mthongs with Heidegger’s Eigentlichkeit are powerful here. So Patrul Rinpoche affirms both the importance of authenticity in this sense to the good life, but also the need for retreat and for independence in order to facilitate self-cultivation. Lest there be any confusion regarding this ideal, he says a few verses later: 17. Conceal your body by living alone on a desolate mountain. Conceal your speech by cutting off all contact and saying but little. Conceal your mind by attending carefully to each of your own faults. This is what it takes to be a concealed practitioner. One might wonder whether this advice runs contrary to the bodhisattva practices of directly benefitting others so valorized in Tibetan ethical thought. After all, this admonition to withdraw seems like an admonition to pursue one’s own good alone. And indeed, this kind of hermetic ideal has been called into question by some contemporary Engaged Buddhists, prominently including the Dalai Lama XIV. Patrul is explicit, however, that the life devoted directly to meeting others’ needs is a wasted life: 20. Placing hope in everyone you meet, you greet them with a smile; with so many demands, you are always running about: first do this, then do that, torn between your hopes and doubts! From now on, no matter what you face, stop acting like that! One is reminded here of the Willie Loman of Death of a Salesman. Ordinary lay life, Patrul emphasizes, even if devoted to service to others, degenerates into a frenzy of ineffective activity that only stands in the way of meaningful selfimprovement. He continues this theme more explicitly: 23. Nothing good has come from your useless knowledge. Nothing good has come from working for this life. Nothing good has come from your delusional thinking. Now is the time to do some good. Chant the six-beat mantra. A good life is not a life dedicated to mundane knowledge and understanding; simply working to improve one’s position or that of others in this life is a waste of the opportunity afforded by a human life; even thinking that attending to everyday affairs—even for what might look like the best of reasons—is “delusional thinking” (sems tshad ‘khrul pa). To do some good, Patrul suggests, is to work to cultivate the attitude of universal care (karuṇā/snying rje) to which he refers metonymically in the admonition to chant the Avalokiteśvara mantra. The good life, then, is the life dedicated to cultivating a caring attitude toward the world, an

The good life  125 attitude that might appear to be manifested in mundane actions for the benefit of others, but which in fact requires prolonged solitary meditative exercise to attain. This point is made clear in the following verse: 35. Subdue the enemy of hatred with the sword of love. Protect the family of the denizens of the six realms with skillful care. Reap from the field of confidence the harvest of experience and realization. Accomplishing your life’s work, chant the six-beat mantra. One’s life’s work (tshe ‘dis las) is to develop the qualities of love (maitrī/byams pa), care and confidence (śrāddha/dad pa). A good life is a life imbued with those qualities; this is the measure, not one’s actions (“running about”). The criterion, Patrul emphasizes, is internal, not external. This is a commitment that, we will see, runs deep in the Tibetan understanding of a good life. Patrul emphasizes this distinction, and the need to focus on inner cultivation rather than external activity in a dramatic series of verses. 65. What has all you’ve done accomplished? It just leads to samsara. Since you can see that it is all so meaningless, from now on, please just stop acting this way. Dropping all activities, chant the six-beat mantra. 66. What have all your words accomplished? They are just idle chatter. Since you can see that they have caused so much pointless distraction, from now on, please just stop talking this way! Giving up all speech, chant the six-beat mantra. 67. What has all your traveling accomplished? It just wears you out. Since you can see that your rambling mind has taken you so far from the Dharma. From now on, please let your mind relax in a single place. At rest, relaxed and at ease, chant the six-beat mantra. 68. What has all your eating accomplished? It just produces shit. Since you can see that your appetite is so insatiable, from now on, please take nourishment from meditation! Instead of eating and drinking, chant the six-beat mantra. 69. What has all your thinking accomplished? It has only caused delusion. Since you can see that you have accomplished so little, from now on, please don’t plan for this life! Cutting off all thought, chant the six-beat mantra. 70. What have all your riches accomplished? They just cause clinging. Since you will have to leave it all behind so soon, from now on, please give up your self-obsession. Abandoning the pursuit of wealth, chant the six-beat mantra.

126  Jay L. Garfield The last verse is not surprising. We expect a Tibetan Buddhist teacher to condemn the pursuit of wealth as a component of the good life. But the important, and perhaps surprising, thing to note about this series of verses is that Patrul Rinpoche treats the pursuit of wealth as on a par with a whole range of activities that one might think of as contributing to the good life: actions (perhaps even generous, compassionate actions); speech (perhaps helpful advice); travel (even the life of a homeless mendicant); eating and drinking (hospitable, convivial activity with friends and family); and even thinking (careful reflection about values would be included). All of these are, for instance, on Aristotle’s list of what is involved in the good life. Patrul rejects them all simply because they are external. The good life, he emphasizes, is one devoted to internal cultivation. To be sure, that cultivation might eventually be manifested in action, speech, thought, friendship, and other external phenomena, but those are mere manifestations of a good life, not the good life itself. As I emphasized at the outset, this is a normative account of the good life, not a description of how ordinary Tibetans think about the good life, let alone of how they conduct their lives. But as we examine how ordinary Tibetans do think about that good life, it will be useful to have this normative account in the background. It is certainly in the background of their thinking. As we will see, while contemporary Tibetans may not valorize the solitary life of a recluse, and while they may not mention religious practice explicitly in their understanding of the good life, the emphases on moral cultivation rather than desire satisfaction, inner life rather than material goods, and non-egocentricity vs. egocentric goals that these practices are meant to inculcate, and that are so prominent in Patrul Rinpoche’s account, are evident in contemporary Tibetans’ conception of the good life.

How individual Tibetans see the good life: Some data In order to find out how Tibetans understand the good life, we conducted a series of very brief structured interviews with 20 randomly selected Tibetans living in the United States and 20 randomly selected non-Tibetan Americans as a comparison group. All interviewees were between the ages of 16 and 60, with equal numbers of men and women in each sample. Interviewees were approached on the street or in shopping malls by one of the two research assistants, and signed consent forms. We asked three questions, and recorded the answers. The Tibetan participants were interviewed in Tibetan, and the other participants in English. The questions were: 1. What would you say constitutes a good life? 2. What makes your life a good life? 3. Think of someone else you know with a good life. What makes their life good? By asking these questions without any preparation in everyday situations, we hoped to get spontaneous responses reflecting people’s everyday understanding. The answers were transcribed and blind scored by two independent scorers on a five-point Likert scale on each of three dimensions. There was very high interobserver reliability in the scoring. The first dimension was desire satisfaction vs. moral cultivation. A score of 1 indicates that the answer was entirely in terms of

The good life  127 the satisfaction of one’s desires (e.g., earning lots of money and having a nice house and a good spouse); a 5 indicates that the answer was entirely in terms of the cultivation of moral qualities (e.g., being a kind and generous person). The second dimension was material vs. psychological goods. A 1 indicated an answer that referenced external material possessions (e.g., a house, a car); a 5 an answer that referenced inner psychological states (e.g., being happy, or being content). The third dimension was egocentric vs. non-egocentric goods. A 1 indicated that the answer was entirely in terms of goods for the individual (e.g., that I am happy or that my children succeed), with a 5 indicating goods for others without reference to the individual (e.g., benefitting others, bringing about peace). These dimensions track not the methods Patrul mentions (isolation and religious practice) but the outcomes to which those practices are intended to lead. We hypothesized that these three dimensions would be inter-correlated, tapping into the same general orientation toward moral goods—the orientation suggested in The Essential Jewel—and that Tibetans would score significantly higher than non-Tibetans given the normative account of the good life to which they are exposed through Tibetan Buddhist literature and teaching. We also hypothesized that age and gender would not correlate, as these questions are addressing ideas that are relatively culturally stable. Indeed we found that age and gender had no significant effect on the attitudes we scored. And we find that even this small sample demonstrates this difference powerfully. Here is a graph depicting the differences in the three dimensions summed across the three questions.

Tibetans versus Americans on Dimensions of the Good Life 12

10

8

6

4

2

0

Desire-Moral

Material-Psychology American

Egoist-Nonegoist

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Figure 6.1  Tibetans versus Americans on dimensions of the good life.

128  Jay L. Garfield The columns represent the mean sums of the scores on the three questions for each scale (maximum possible score 15). All of the differences were in the predicted direction: Tibetans’ responses were more likely to mention moral development than desire satisfaction; more likely to mention psychological states than material goods; and more likely to give non-egocentric than egocentric answers than were their non-Tibetan American counterparts. Two are highly statistically significant. The difference on the Desire Satisfaction/Moral Development scale is significant at the .002 level (that is, if the two populations were in fact identical on this measure, there is a probability of only 2/1000 that differences of these magnitudes would be observed in this sample); the egocentric–non-egocentric difference is significant at the .025 level (a probability of 25/1000 of these differences being observed by chance). The difference on the material vs. psychological goods scale reaches only the .16 level, not enough to be confident that it is not due to chance variation, but given the interrelation between these variables (Pearson correlations between .362 and .571, all significant between .01 and .02) we are pretty confident that with a larger sample, this would be found to be significant as well. When we sum over these three dimensions, we get the following graph, with error bars representing a 95 percent confidence interval (that is, there is a 95% probability that the population mean falls within the range delimited by the error brackets), showing that it is highly likely that the means of the populations we sampled are different from one another on this dimension. Each column represents the sum of the means for the three questions, giving an overall index of the underlying difference between Tibetan and American conceptions of the good life, the core values that manifest as a conception of the good that is moral, non-egocentric and psychological, the kind of quality suggested by Patrul Rinpoche’s account. 30.0

Grand Total

20.0

10.0

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Tibetan Error bars: 95% CI

Figure 6.2  Overall good life index.

The good life  129 So, even this small sample shows that Tibetan’s own conceptions of the good life, as reported in fairly spontaneous conversation, tracks the normative account represented in Tibetan Buddhist philosophy pretty closely (again, excluding the hermetic and practice-oriented prescriptions), and in a way that shows Tibetans’ views to be dramatically different from those of non-Tibetans living in the same areas of the United States. In particular, Tibetans typically take the good life to consist primarily in the cultivation of moral values, as opposed to the satisfaction of personal desires. This is consistent with Buddhist doctrine, and directly consistent with Patrul Rinpoche’s text. Responses such as these are typical: Good life to me would be when you are kind of content with what you have and then start giving back to others less fortunate. Sense of responsibility or social consciousness and contented mind makes a good life. I consider a good life should constitute a meaning, components like peace of mind, love, ethics (good behavior). My late mother, who was very generous, strong and compassionate. The day before her passing, she told us that she has no regrets and worrisome because she has never harmed or hurt anybody in her life. She died very peacefully. Of course she has experienced many hardships throughout her life, especially during the Cultural Revolution in Tibet. She remained very strong and positive all the time. Compare these with typical responses from the non-Tibetan Americans: Good experiences, good memories, being surrounded by loved ones, a salary that would sustain your lifestyle. Security. So, you know—safety, food security, shelter security, good health. I mean, if you do not have your health you’re in real trouble. And being surrounded by people that are assets, people that make you better, people that you work with and make better, and limiting the number of liabilities that you have around you. My family, my wife and kids, my work is interesting, living in this area and having lots of opportunities for outdoor activities. I’m not lacking in basic necessities in life, I don’t have to worry about money. Moreover, Tibetans at least appear to take positive psychological states as opposed to material goods to be constitutive of the good life. Here are some typical responses: Good life is when you find inner peace. For me good life is being mentally happy and healthy. When we are mentally healthy, we enjoy our life, environment and everything. Wealth is not

130  Jay L. Garfield the only answer. Even if we do not have nothing (fancy) much to eat, if you are mentally strong and healthy, you still can have a good life with basic necessities. Living a worry free life is a good life, I think. Here are some non-Tibetan American responses: When you have all the things you need to make you happy, like food and shelter—simple stuff. I think when we make things too complex for ourselves it just ends up making life a lot more difficult to be happy. Good friends, good family, to live in a nice place, and to have meaningful work. My girlfriend. She has a high-paying job and she has a partner who loves her and she has a dog and is doing what she loves and is in a good spot right now. She’s breezing through life. Finally, Tibetans’ conceptions of a good life tend not to be egocentric, regarding a good life as one that benefits others. We find a lot of responses like the following: I think, I really admire Bill Gates. He has everything but the life he leads is so simple and he is giving back in many big ways. Someone I think that achieved good life would be H. H. The Dalai Lama. Because he certainly set himself free from attachment. I am having a good life because my basic needs are met and able to help others and be kind all the time. Even the small act of trying to help others make my life good. Something that I’ve wished is leading the life of my grandma. She had a good life and always admired her life. She had an incredibly loving and generous heart. She became a nun in her later life and spent her life studying and helping others. I think my friend’s mother has a good life because she raised her son and daughter by herself (single mother). Yet, she is happy and always helping other people. Our non-Tibetan American responses, on the other hand, said things like this: I’m surrounded by people who I love and am financially supported by my parents. I do things that I love to do. I’ve traveled the world. I usually end up doing things that I want to do and I’m satisfied with my life.

The good life  131 I am having a superb life. I have two wonderful children, an amazing partnership with my wife. My wife and I are in business together, we have a very good business. We love our home here in Cambridge, we have good relationships with our family, and you know we’ve had health scares, serious health scares, but we are good. Good health. My family, my wife and kids, my work is interesting, living in this area and having lots of opportunities for outdoor activities. I’m not lacking in basic necessities in life, I don’t have to worry about money. My partner. When I think about my good life, it’s just like, I just got a haircut and I’m gonna go home, and my partner and my dog will be there and it’s like yay he’s there! Of course there is variation within each group, but the differences between the groups are dramatic. The one aspect of Patrul Rinpoche’s admonition that we do not find to be widespread among the Tibetans we surveyed is the recommendation to withdraw from the world to seek solitude. Although two respondents mentioned monastics other than the Dalai Lama XIV as exemplars of the good life, neither of these was a hermit, and withdrawal was not mentioned as a reason that their lives were good. It may well be that in the modern world, this is simply too implausible a life for most people to conceive themselves leading. Or it may be that the Dalai Lama XIV’s promulgation of a more engaged Buddhism as opposed to a hermetic Buddhism has undermined the ideal of the recluse. Nor, once again, was regular religious practice mentioned as a component of the good life. One might wonder about the idea of authenticity that plays such a prominent role in Patrul’s account. This idea did not come up directly in Tibetans’ responses to our questions. It may well be that it is simply not as salient to laypersons as it is to monastic philosophers. On the other hand, the fact that the responses we encountered were so consistent with the religious framework to which Tibetans profess allegiance (all members of the Tibetan sample identified as Buddhists) may suggest that even if they do not thematize authenticity consciously, their reflection of Buddhist values is indeed authentic in precisely the sense intended by Patrul. Once again, none of these are behavioral measures, and we have no way of knowing the degree to which Tibetans’ actual conduct in pursuit of lives they deem to be good accords with their own conceptions or diverges from those of non-Tibetans. Moreover, we do not know how much the outlook of these Tibetans settled in the United States differs from that of Tibetans living in Tibet itself, or in other sites of exile in which Tibetan communities are less culturally porous. That question merits further study. But these data do suggest that the ideology regarding what makes a life good that saturates Tibetan culture, even when transported to the great cultural solvent that is the United States, is distinctive, and in close accord with the Buddhist teachings promulgated in Tibet.

132  Jay L. Garfield

The political vision: The Charter With this understanding of the background ideology regarding the good life, we are prepared to address the Charter. Let us begin with Article 4—Principles of the Tibetan Administration. It reads as follows: It shall be the duty of the Tibetan Administration to adhere to the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as specified by the United Nations, and to also urge and encourage all other countries of the world to respect and comply with such Declarations, and shall emphasize the promotion of the moral and material well-being of the Tibetan people, the safeguarding of their social, cultural, religious and political rights, and in particular, the ultimate achievement of their common goal.3 Note just how this fundamental statement of principle reflects the values we have seen to animate individual Tibetans’ view of the good life: a conception guided by the priority of morality over desire satisfaction; abstract goods over concrete goods; and universal over egocentric goods. After all, the first values enshrined are not the achievement of material prosperity but the respect for human rights. Abstract moral values take precedence over concrete material values, and the vision is guided by a universal declaration of rights, not a specifically Tibetan set of values. We should note, however, that while this specific attention to human rights does not directly derive from canonical Buddhist ethical theory, the Dalai Lama XIV has been explicit in his endorsement of human rights. He has argued—and the CTA has been convinced—that a discourse of human rights is a means to realize values central to Tibetan Buddhist thought, including the reduction of human suffering, the extension of welfare and the establishment of impartiality in the public sphere. This discourse is hence central to contemporary Engaged Buddhism.4 These values are abundantly in evidence here in a document committed to the promotion of human rights, moral well-being and the safeguarding of cultural goods. The final phrase, “their common goal,” can only be understood in this context as encompassing moral development and a society that works for the moral and spiritual well-being of all. It is also noteworthy that the Charter cites the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a foundational document. On the one hand, that is a clear nod to a modernist account of human rights as the basis for civil society; on the other, it reaffirms what we have seen in our survey data as a Tibetan commitment to moral values and to universalism as constitutive of the good life. This idea is reinforced in Article 7, Renunciation of Violence and the Use of Force, a statement unique among the world’s constitutions, most of which explicitly reserve the use of force by the state (or even by citizens, as in the Constitution of the United States):

The good life  133 The future Tibet shall be a zone of peace and shall strive to disengage itself from the production of all destructive weapons, including Nuclear and Chemical; and, currently, the Tibetans-in-Exile shall refrain from all warfare as a means to achieve the common goal of Tibet, or for any other purpose. Once again, the core ideas we saw expressed by individual Tibetans on the street that set them apart in their conception of the good life is reflected in this collective commitment against self-interest and the unbridled pursuit of that interest. This charter affirms that no use of force is justified, even at the expense of material interests. This founding document hence reflects the values we have seen articulated poetically by Patrul Rinpoche as well as in response to our queries by ordinary Tibetans. Our survey of the Charter can conclude with a discussion of Article 15 under the chapter on the principles governing the CTA. This article spells out the “primary aim” of the CTA: The primary aim of the Tibetan Administration-in-Exile shall be to endeavor to maintain a just policy for the achievement of the common goal of Tibet, and in addition, at the present moment, to protect Tibetans in Tibet from present hardships and danger; and shall formulate a policy to secure just and equal opportunities for the economic development of Tibetans-in-Exile. Furthermore, it shall endeavour to provide reasonable opportunities to all Tibetan youth for the procurement of a modern education and the derivation of the ancient cultural heritage of Tibet; and in particular, shall also strive to provide adequate health services for sound mental and physical development. Once again, while economic development is mentioned, it is hardly prioritized. Instead, we once again see the phrase “common goal of Tibet,” which we can understand in terms of the values we saw reflected in the interviews reported above. Education, cultural preservation and justice are at center stage. The CTA itself sees these as constitutive of the society it is in place to enable, a society whose highest values are moral values, not material development. While the CTA is a government in exile, with no sovereignty and no legal authority, it is an elected body chosen by the Tibetan exile community. Its deliberations and documents, including the Charter, which was approved by an overwhelming majority of Tibetans in exile, reflect a broad consensus regarding the values Tibetans take to be normative and that they wish to see reflected in their social institutions. The consistency of this vision with Tibetan religious values and with those of ordinary Tibetans in part cements the legitimacy of the CTA and the Charter in the eyes of Tibetans. If we attend to the actions of the CTA, both prior to, and subsequent to, the adoption of the Charter, we see that these are not empty words. The first organizations established when Tibetans came into exile were, in this order, the Tibetan Institute for the Performing Arts and Tibetan Children’s Village, followed swiftly

134  Jay L. Garfield by the monastic universities and the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies. Each of these is dedicated to the preservation of culture and to the articulation of the moral and religious values Tibetans hold dear. Concern for material development has always taken a second place to these. So, whether we ask the question regarding the good life at the individual or the collective level, in the case of the Tibetan community the answer seems to be the same: that which makes life good is ethical development, not the satisfaction of desires; that which makes life good is the welfare of all, not one’s own welfare; the goods that matter are abstract moral and spiritual goods, not material goods. One cannot help but admire this vision. And one cannot help but be impressed by the consistency we observe between the values articulated by prominent religious figures such as Patrul Rinpoche, their secular normative articulation by political institutions such as the CTA, and their espousal by ordinary Tibetans in spontaneous responses to questions about values. The consistency we see is additional evidence for the saturation of Tibetan culture by this conception of the good life.

Notes 1 Thanks to Avery Masters, Tenzin Kalsang and Jill de Villiers for valuable research assistance, and to Smith College for research support. 2 Patrul Rinpoche, The Essential Jewel of Holy Practice, trans. Jay L Garfield and Emily McRae (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2017) 3 The Charter of the Central Tibetan Administration. https​:/​/ti​​bet​.n​​et​/ab​​out​-c​​ta​/co​​ns​tit​​ ution​/ 4 See Dalai Lama XIV, Ethics for the New Millennium (New York: Riverhead Books, 2001); Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, New York: Mariner Books (2012); J. Garfield, “Human Rights and Compassion, Towards a Unified Moral Framework, in J. Garfield, Empty Words (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 187– 205; J. Garfield, “The Dalai Lama XIV as an Indian Philosopher,” in P. J. Harter and William Edelglass, eds., The Bloomsbury Handbook of Indian Philosophy (London: Bloomsbury, 2021).

7

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society A Buddhist activist movement in South Korea Sujung Kim

The birth of the “national mentor monk” Imagine exiting the bustling Anguk subway station into Seoul’s forest of towering buildings. Walk a few blocks and you’ll arrive at a Chogye temple. You find that today the Buddhist monk Venerable Pomnyun (also known as “Pomnyun sŭnim” in Korean) will be giving a Dharma talk at the temple’s Culture and Art Hall, which is already full of men and women of all ages. When Pomnyun steps into the auditorium, the audience welcomes him with cheers and loud applause. After a short greeting, Pomnyun opens the floor for questions, and an eager college student, torn between her boyfriend and her career, approaches the microphone. For the next three hours, the audience is mesmerized by Pomnyun’s wit and wisdom, and the space is filled with laughter and tears. Pomnyun is known as the “national mentor monk” in South Korea. Since 1999 he has held “a casual conversation with Pomnyun” (chŭkmun chŭksŏl), an unscripted repartee delivered to Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. Anyone can attend and pose any kind of question. Some of those questions, such as how to overcome conflict with one’s mother-in-law, or how to make more people come to a Christian church, are collected from the audience as they walk into the lecture hall, whether the venue is a community center or a school auditorium. While this may appear to be little more than a Buddhist monk conducting group counseling, the informal and inviting method allows for a casual yet engaging conversation. The dialogue between the monk and the people, the format of which echoes the Zen dialogue between master and disciple, produces an “aha moment” for the listeners. More significantly, in his answers, Pomnyun does not give any direct advice or solutions. Rather, he allows his questioners to reflect on the main cause of their problem. After a conversation with the monk, the questioner realizes that the problem is caused by an attachment to the idea of the self. This self-discovery model is very much in line with the Buddhist emphasis on individual agency. Pomnyun’s Dharma talks are his quintessential public-outreach program to communicate his insights to an audience. Almost all of Pomnyun’s Dharma talks are readily available on social media such as YouTube and Facebook. As of May 2019, for instance, over 1,500 of his talks are available on YouTube and Podbbang, a popular South Korean online and mobile podcast portal. Pomnyun is

136  Sujung Kim also a best-selling author: he has authored over 50 books, 6 of which are translated into English: True Happiness (2010), True Freedom (2011), True Wisdom (2013), Prayer (2015), Awakening (2015) and A Monk’s Reply to Everyday Problems (2018). Pomnyun’s Dharma talks and books are primary contact points in which more committed people get introduced to Pomnyun’s vision and the Jungto Society, a lay Buddhist organization founded by Pomnyun that is involved in social and environmental activism. While his success is due in part to his leadership and personal charisma, the “Pomnyun boom” also stems from a litany of social ills that South Koreans are experiencing. The lives of many South Koreans are characterized by professional competition and a frenetic pace. The country has the second-longest working hours in the world, as well as the highest rate of cosmetic surgery and suicide. In Byung-Chul Han’s term, South Korea is a “burnout society” that produces many “depressives and losers.”1 How would an Engaged Buddhist monk respond to this achievement-oriented, twenty-first-century society pervaded by high levels of psychological suffering? Pomnyun’s answer is to have an open conversation with these burned-out people. Besides serving as a means of increasing interest in his vision of Buddhist activism, his particular form of public engagement serves two other healing functions: on the one hand, it provides people with an outlet for releasing their anxiety, allowing them to re-center themselves; on the other hand, it operates as a form of collective therapy in which both the immediate questioner and the broader audience participate. While the healing has to be an ongoing process, Pomnyun believes that this is the first step for people to realize that “life is suffering” and yet that it is up to them to realize their own happiness. The happiness of the individual is what Pomnyun would most like to see in his ideal society. Happiness is one of the most often discussed topics in his talks and he frequently mentions that his talks are for people’s happiness. For Pomnyun, first and foremost, happiness is something that everyone has the right to pursue. In line with the Buddhist idea of dependent-origination, Pomnyun emphasizes that we need to realize the origins of our unhappiness and that this unhappiness is caused by attachment. He believes that happiness is both individual and social. Just like the two wheels of a cart, individual happiness and society’s happiness are interconnected. More concretely, Pomnyun underlines that true happiness does not proceed from material gain. Rather, materialism is closely associated with unhappiness because it distracts people from personal growth and collective values. In Pomnyun’s ideal world, giving and sharing would be key moral values to maintain happiness both on the individual and societal levels. Pomnyun identifies the hyper-competitiveness of South Korean society as leading to an individual’s unhappiness and society’s sickness. South Koreans face excessive competition to get accepted into a prestigious university and a well-paid job. This hyper-competitiveness is reinforced by the social atmosphere that pushes people to compare themselves to other people. In this constant comparison and emphasis on material gain, people get more dissatisfied with what they have and with themselves. Thus, some “burned out” South Koreans call the country a “living hell.” To remedy this situation, Pomnyun says, “while your superior gain means somebody

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  137 else’s inferior gain, there are ways to achieve individual and collective happiness … True happiness can be found in valuing non-possession.”2 According to him, “non-possession” does not mean that we should give up material possessions. What it means is that just like our environment does not belong to anybody, we should recognize that there is nothing on Earth that one can claim for his or her ownership. The best practice of realizing “non-possession” is to understand that nothing is intrinsically mine and, therefore, one can fully participate in sharing and giving. In his ideal world, Pomnyun would see this shared economy as the most sustainable and beneficial system for all. With Pomnyun’s increasing visibility, his Jungto Society has become a wellknown institution both within and outside Korea. The Jungto Society is distinctive from the Chogye Order, which constitutes mainstream Buddhism in modern-day Korea.3 According to Pomnyun, the Jungto Society aims for “Right Buddhism, Easy Buddhism, and Everyday Buddhism.” At the risk of oversimplifying the distinction, I would say that whereas traditional Korean Buddhism tends to be a monastic-centered, mountain-based, conservative institution detached from social problems, the Jungto Society is a lay-centered, urban-based, progressive and pragmatic Buddhist community “that engages actively yet nonviolently with the social, economic, political, social and ecological problems of society.”4 The Jungto Society aims at integrating Buddhist teachings with daily life and at using central Buddhist teachings to achieve individual happiness, collective well-being and a better future for humanity. The following discussion of Pomnyun’s Jungto Society focuses on the organization’s Buddhist roots and its social activism both in South Korea and abroad. I will first outline the history of the Jungto Society. Then I will explain the Jungto Society’s major operations in order to understand Pomnyun’s vision of the ideal society— “a world where individuals are happy, societies are peaceful, and nature is preserved”—and analyze how these ideas are communicated through his talks and publications. The chapter ends with critical discussion of how Pomnyun’s Buddhism has been perceived in South Korean society.

The blending of Buddhism and social activism Pomnyun is the founder and guiding Buddhist master of the Jungto Society, a South Korean Buddhist activist organization founded in 1988.5 Despite being a Dharma heir to Ven. Tomun (1935–), a senior monk of the Chogye Order, Pomnyun is not in fact a fully ordained Buddhist monk in the Chogye Order.6 In the past he has been criticized by the Order because of this. At the same time, his ambiguous monastic status has meant that he has been able to operate outside of the official constraints of the Chogye Order, allowing him to innovate and to receive public support even as the Chogye Order’s public image (and thus public support) has suffered from a series of corruption scandals.7 His multifaceted organization calls for active engagement with the local community, as well as a greater focus on social issues and global concerns than that of mainstream Korean Buddhism.

138  Sujung Kim The name “Jungto Society (Jungto hoe)” expresses Pomnyun’s vision of an ideal society. The Jungto Society’s motto— “Pure Minds, Good Friends, and Clean Land”—conveys what Pomnyun values most. For him, “the ideal society is none other than a Pure Land.”8 In Korean, “Jungto” means “pure land,” referring to Amitabha Buddha’s blissful realm. Despite the use of this term, the Jungto Society is not a Pure Land Buddhist sect in the traditional sense. It emphasizes neither the saving power of Amitabha nor the recitation of the Buddha’s name. Rather, Pomnyun uses the term in a more figurative sense.9 And yet it still evokes Pure Land Buddhism’s vision of a utopia, for Pomnyun is striving to build a Pure Land, which is “a world where individuals are happy, societies are peaceful, and nature is preserved,” part of a vow recited by Jungto members in their daily prayer. Pomnyun, however, makes it clear that a Pure Land is not a world that will be created in the future, but rather something that has to be realized “here and in the present.”10 For Pomnyun, a paradisiacal future and an immaculate state of mind are equally valid and in fact inseparable, for what matters is not the result but the process toward the end goal. According to Pomnyun, the effort and process aimed at creating a Pure Land is the very locus where one can find true happiness here and now.11 It is noteworthy that the Society’s Korean name contains the word “hoe” (literally a “society”). This designation signifies that all members of the organization are equal, rather than being a group comprising a master and some number of disciples. As a hoe, the Jungto Society is quite different from other Buddhist NGOs in South Korea. While it is a Buddhist organization through and through, it has a strong social commitment and is marked by a democratic spirit. Thus, the two parts of the organization’s name—“Jungto” and “hoe”—point to the democratic and egalitarian principle in the setup of the Jungto Society. “Just like the Buddha’s sangha, the egalitarian system that he created in ancient India, the Jungto Society can become a role model for an egalitarian society,” Pomnyun says.12 This egalitarian value would be one of the backbones of the ideal society that Pomnyun envisions. For him, a “peaceful society” means a society in which a member’s equality is ensured, and each member helps each other achieve this goal. In his ideal world, there is neither hierarchy nor discrimination. Pomnyun himself, for instance, emphasizes that he is an equal member of the Jungto Society and casts only one vote for major decisions. While gender and age are two major social factors that create invisible hierarchical rank and discrimination in Korean society, the Jungto’s vision of a peaceful society would be a community where there is no such hierarchy and discrimination, and no interpersonal conflict or competition. Rather, the society would be dedicated to realizing the interconnectedness of all sentient beings and to fostering mutually beneficial friendship. His egalitarian view, combined with a strong emphasis on a cooperative spirit, highlights social solidarity. This social solidarity that Pomnyun envisions is quite unusual in the traditional Korean Buddhist community. Pomnyun’s Engaged Buddhism is in part a response to Korean Buddhism’s traditional emphasis on individual enlightenment to the exclusion of social concerns. Over the past century there has been a slow movement within the Korean Buddhist community toward social responsibility. One of the earliest seeds of the Socially

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  139 Engaged Buddhist movement was “Buddhism for the masses” (minjung Pulgyo), a form of Buddhism promoted in the 1920s by reformists such as Han Yong-un (1879–1944) and Paek Yongsŏng (1864–1940).13 A more full-fledged minjung Pulgyo bloomed in the 1980s, when decades of authoritarian rule in South Korea gave way to a process of democratization.14 While the short-lived minjung Pulgyo movement provided a progressive ideological base for those Buddhist monks and laity who wished to revitalize the role of the sangha within modern society, this politically charged form of Buddhism did not lead to any concrete reforms. The 1980s and 1990s witnessed the emergence of urban mega-temples led by charismatic leaders, who reoriented Korean Buddhism to lay people and employed a systematic program of propagation and diverse religious activities.15 From the 1970s onward Christianity played a leading role in addressing social ills and inequalities in South Korea. Partially as a reaction to this, beginning in the late 1980s many Buddhist or Buddhist-inspired organizations focusing on social issues appeared; Pomnyun’s organization is one of the most representative of such Buddhist activist groups. Pomnyun sees the Buddha as the paradigmatic humanitarian. Inspired by the teachings of the Buddha, Pomnyun’s vision arises from a desire to alleviate all human suffering. For Pomnyun, one needs to practice the teachings of the Buddha not only internally (i.e., in one’s own mind), but must also apply them externally. This can be achieved only through Buddhist practice, argues Pomnyun in his Peace of Mind, the Socialization of Compassion (Maŭm ŭi p’yŏnghwa, chabi ŭi sahoehwa, 2002). Crucially, for Pomnyun practice impacts not just the individual but also society. Articulating how one can transform self and society, Pomnyun states: “Practice refers to taking ownership of one’s action and making an effort to solve those [societal] issues—whether it be environmental issues or other social problems.”16 He thinks that practice is the key to both achieving individual excellence and to addressing social issues. He therefore encourages each one of his members to become a practitioner. Pomnyun believes that voluntary work is a prerequisite for a practitioner. Thus, the organization is run entirely by volunteers. Staff positions are rotated on a triannual basis, although members are free to leave whenever circumstances require them to do so. Pomnyun holds that voluntary work should not be an absolutely selfless sacrifice either. It is more socially responsible and sustainable, he says, when one takes care of oneself first. He sees that only then can one heal others’ wounds and fully engage with social problems; this approach will eventually bring about structural changes.17 At the base of this idea, there is a concern for sustainability and creating an environment for mutual support. While volunteer work implies an individual’s choice and commitment, volunteer work in the Jungto Society also aims at creating a sustainable supporting structure, which starts from an individual’s self-care. This may sound paradoxical, but in Pomnyun’s vision this is the most practical way of keeping the ideal balance between care for oneself and care for others. His emphasis on self-care in voluntarism seems to be a refreshing remedy to Koreans who have gotten used to the self-sacrificing work ethic. Pomnyun emphasizes a win–win approach (sangsaeng) to Buddhist activism, gain for both the individual and society. In a 1985 publication—Action Buddhism

140  Sujung Kim (Silch’ŏnjŏk Pulgyo sasang)—Pomnyun sharply criticizes traditional Korean Buddhist practices, calling for discarding certain elements—escapism, superstition, belief in gods—and arguing that “a true religious achievement should be actualized and returned to society.”18 Pomnyun identifies moral depravity as Korean Buddhism’s main problem, which hinders the religion’s social responsibility, and urges Korean Buddhists to go back to the original teachings of the Buddha.19 Pomnyun’s vision for a better society has taken the form of community-based organizations that combine Buddhism and social activism. The Jungto Society currently comprises three affiliated organizations: Eco Buddha, Good Friends and the Join Together Society (hereafter, JTS). Eco Buddha is charged with addressing environmental issues in South Korea. While a number of Buddhist clerics have raised concerns about the ecological crisis on the peninsula, mostly focusing on the government’s indiscriminate development, Eco Buddha encourages a grassroots activism that has launched several campaigns, such as the “Emptying Bowl Movement” (aimed at reducing food waste) and the “Vermistabilization Movement Using Earthworms” (which produces nutritive organic fertilizer). These ecology campaigns have raised public awareness and attracted support from schools, companies and social-work organizations. Good Friends is an NGO that promotes peace, human rights and aid for refugees. Since its establishment in 1996, Good Friends has focused on humanitarian aid to North Korea. Finally, the JTS is an international relief organization founded in 1993. It started as a program for supporting the education of Dalit children in India, and later expanded to other parts of the world, in particular to developing countries in Asia. The JTS now provides emergency and disaster relief support all over the world. While the international relief program is its central activity, the JTS also runs social welfare programs for the elderly and disabled, foreign workers and multicultural families in South Korea. In addition to these three arms of the Jungto Society, the Peace Foundation was established as a research institute to create policy suggestions and conflict-resolution strategies, particularly when it comes to matters related to North Korea.20 Significantly, each of the organizations works toward Pomnyun’s vision for an ideal society where “individuals are happy, societies are peaceful, and nature is preserved.” Eco Buddha, for instance, is an operation that promotes a future where “nature is preserved.” Good Friends is an organization that points to his vision of a “peaceful society,” and the JTS is an institution that advocates for the mutual benefits to society and the individual of “individual happiness.” Pomnyun is involved with these three organizations as a leader, advisor and member. For him, the ideal future is not an unrealistic utopia that people work toward. It can be actualized right now. The key is one’s willingness to practice and to participate in this collective endeavor.

Jungto members’ embodying of Buddhist ideals One might assume that Jungto Society members, as lay Buddhists, are less committed than monastic practitioners. In point of fact, Jungto Society members’ dedication to Buddhist practices is as serious as that of monastics, if not more so. The

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  141 members’ Buddhist education is conducted both offline and online, and includes viewing readymade online lectures by Pomnyun. While core Buddhist doctrines such as interdependence and no-self are the mainstays of the training, Pomnyun also emphasizes the value of practice, donation and volunteer work. Although the Jungto Society is based on Buddhist teachings, it strives to include people other than Buddhists, in order to bring about larger social changes. It therefore has a multi-strata membership structure, consisting of core members, general members and supporting members. The main difference between the types of membership is the required level of commitment; this flexibility means a greater number of people can join the organization. All the core members are called “haengja,” meaning “practitioner” in a broad sense, but more specifically referring to a postulant in the traditional Buddhist sense. What is interesting about this appellation is that it defines and differentiates them from members of traditional Korean Buddhist institutions. Traditionally, “sŭnim” is the Korean honorific title used for a Buddhist monk and nun and the title “haengja” is used for a postulant in a monastery waiting for an opportunity to be ordained as sŭnim. Even though the core members could be the equivalent of sŭnim, Pomnyun chose to use haenja, a more humble title for them. There are more added meanings to haengja. In the Jungto Society, haengja are those people who, rather than being passive believers, actively put their beliefs into action.21 They are not attached to any titles, status or social gain. They are simply a practitioner committed to the Buddhist path. The term highlights the bodhisattva spirit of an action-centered selflessness. Pomnyun further emphasizes that these haengja are not his “disciples” or “followers.” Rather, he simply guides them to become independent practitioners responsible for their own well-being and happiness. A central practice for the haengja is the 1,000-Day Vow, a religious training period of 1,000 days carried out by an individual.22 The “Vows of the Jungto Practitioners” summarizes the essence of the 1,000-Day Vow commitment, and reads as follows: Our modern civilization is facing a serious crisis. People are losing their humanity, communities are disintegrating, and the natural environment is being destroyed. We look to the teachings of the Buddha to find solutions to these problems. First, we base our perspective of the world on the Law of Interdependence. As this exists, that exists, and if this ceases to exist that will also cease to exist. This is the state of things as they are. Since everything is interdependent, your death signifies my death, and your survival means my survival. Also, your unhappiness turns into my unhappiness, and your happiness leads to my happiness. Based on this dependent origination, we pursue the path we can travel together in happiness. Just as a variety of flowers makes up a garden, the diversity of people creates harmony and balance. We wish to form a new civilization in which love overcomes jealousy and envy, cooperation triumphs over confrontation and competition, and peace prevails over conflict and war.

142  Sujung Kim Second, we take the Buddha and bodhisattvas as the models for our own lives. Following in the footsteps of the Buddha, who lived an austere life with only one set of robes and one food bowl, we assume the mindset of a practitioner by eating more mindfully and living more frugally and diligently, unhindered by anything in the world. Furthermore, we look to the Compassionate Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara who embraces the pain of all beings, and the Great Vows Bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha, who goes to hell to save all beings, as our role models. Finally, we vow to be Mahayana bodhisattvas, who save all unenlightened beings from suffering. Third, we uphold the principles of non-ego, non-possession and non-obstinacy in our practice. With the aim of creating Jungto, we vow to surrender our egos, our possessions and our obstinacy to become bodhisattvas who solely cater to the needs of unenlightened beings. By changing our mindset, we hope to become free of attachments and suffering. Furthermore, we vow to overcome the crisis impending on our civilization by creating Jungto, a world in which individuals are happy, communities are peaceful, and the natural environment is preserved.23 The “Vows of the Jungto Practitioners” not only serves as a roadmap for members but also illustrates Pomnyun’s vison of the ideal society. The very beginning of the vow presents a lucid statement of the problems that humanity faces. Just as Buddhists plainly recognize the first Noble Truth—the truth of suffering—the idea is that one can improve the situation only if she or he sees the suffering that is all around us. The vow states that: “People are losing their humanity, communities are disintegrating, and the natural environment is being destroyed.” These observations directly correspond to the three main areas—individual, social and environmental—that Pomnyun tries to change for the purpose of bringing about a better future for human society and the natural world. For Pomnyun, “a new civilization” can be realized by following the teachings of the Buddha, whose core idea is “the Law of Interdependence.” The first point in the vow reveals the doctrinal basis of Pomnyun’s activism. The second point is characterized by Pomnyun’s synthesis of the original spirit of early Buddhism and the pursuit of the Mahayana Buddhist ideal, namely the bodhisattva ideal. This second vow embraces the ideals of the bodhisattva path and provides members with an exalted role model. The last vow points to the final goal. On the basis of the first and the second vow, one continues to strive to “create a Pure Land.” In his vision of the Pure Land here and now, Pomnyun particularly highlights the preservation of the natural environment. In his critique of capitalist-driven consumerism Pomnyun’s solution is to spend less and share more.24 “Sharing more,” in particular, is another expression of his other emphasis on “non-possession.” Pomnyun says, “commodities are created by humans because of necessity. What is important, therefore, is to make the best use of those things by allowing people to access it whenever there is a need.”25 In this sharing economy, people are encouraged to share their

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  143 goods with other people and, by doing so, they can reap more satisfaction from having access to things and from the process of human interaction. In addition, Pomnyun emphasizes a rigorous recycling program, stopping plastic waste and reducing waste altogether in his organizations, and has extended these programs to the social movement. Pomnyun sees that sharing and borrowing goods from each other can be an alternative to excessive consumption and a more efficient way of using our limited resources, which in turn leads to an eco-friendly way of living. The concept of sharing is not new. However, in Pomnyun’s vision, sharing is none other than practicing the bodhisattva path, and, moreover, sharing with a large pool of people can bring a considerable impact to our environment as well.

International relief program: The Join Together Society (JTS) In order to illustrate Pomnyun’s broader vision of an ideal society, I now turn to his involvement with international programs. Pomnyun’s internationalism is based on the Buddhism-inspired principle of action-oriented compassion. When Pomnyun’s group is engaged in international relief programs, it works exclusively as an NGO without any religious implication. It is clearly a Buddhist organization: it is led by a Buddhist monk, its guiding principles are firmly rooted in Buddhist teachings, and it promotes Buddhist practice and residence in a Buddhist community. At the same time, the Jungto Society is dedicated to bringing social and economic welfare to the masses and maintains an NGO’s governing structure. Central to the Jungto Society’s identity is its hybrid nature. Without extensively employing Buddhist vocabulary in his message, Pomnyun highlights the Buddhist idea of compassion, an idea that is both attractive and familiar to most Jungto members. To Jungto practitioners, who are more NGO-minded than traditional Korean Buddhists, Pomnyun’s vision brings Buddhism into daily life, and allows them to feel fulfillment as their acts of service reinforce their spiritual training. Being both a Buddhist organization and an NGO allows Pomnyun’s activity to transcend borders. What connects the two sides is an action-based compassion. Pomnyun’s international vision and action-based compassion came to be reified with the establishment of the JTS. The JTS is an international NGO relief organization operating globally with a focus on Asia, where it works to eradicate famine, disease and illiteracy.26 The beginnings of the JTS can be traced back to 1991, when Pomnyun witnessed poverty, starvation, disease and an absence of education during a pilgrimage to India. The JTS’s motto arises from his experiences: “the hungry should be fed, the sick should be cured, children should be educated.”27 For Pomnyun, these are not only basic human needs but also the guiding principles of his activism for a better society for all. He believes that politics, ideologies and economic gains should not overpower these three principles. Each part of the motto corresponds to one of the JTS’s three areas of focus: food provision, medical services and education. Starting with Dongheswari, a Dalit village near Bodhgaya in northeast India, the JTS began providing humanitarian aid to several countries, including North Korea, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia,

144  Sujung Kim Vietnam and Indonesia. The JTS’s projects fall into three geographical categories: overseas projects, aid for North Korea and domestic projects. Under Pomnyun’s leadership, the JTS not only provides immediate humanitarian aid but also guides local people toward long-term solutions following a self-reliance model.28 The Sujata Academy in the aforementioned village of Dongheswari is a good example of this. This school offers K-12 instruction as well as classes for adults. In line with its emphasis on self-reliance, it runs a program in which senior students volunteer to teach lower-grade students, thereby giving back to the community.29 The JTS also established a free clinic in the Dongheswari area, which in 2001 turned into Jeevaka Medical Hospital. It provides general medical services and is run by volunteer practitioners from a nearby city.30 JTS has cooperated with other relief organizations, too. For example, the JTS’s community-building project in Dongheswari was conducted in collaboration with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, an Engaged Buddhist movement started by Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne (1931–) in Sri Lanka. One principle that Pomnyun emphasizes in all of his humanitarian aid programs is that people should be helped in such a way that they get back on their feet and become independent, instead of simply becoming passive recipients. In tandem with Good Friends, the JTS has also been involved with North Korean issues. In 1997 the JTS built a factory to produce nutritious food formulas that would then be sent to childcare centers in the Rajin-Sŏnbong Economic Special Zone in North Korea. Having established the factory, the JTS monitored production and distribution to make sure that the food was being used for the children. Fifty-three different orphanages, nursing homes and special schools, and some 12,000 children and elderly people, have received food and commodities from the JTS.31 Between 1998 and 2007 the JTS also provided agricultural aid, including fertilizer, pesticides, seeds and agrotechnicians. The JTS’s support is not unconditional giving but is in line with its emphasis on the self-reliance model. For example, when North Korean farmers helped by the JTS produced more crops, the JTS collected parts of the surplus, and then redistributed the surplus to be used for feeding starving children.32 In addition to agricultural aid, the JTS offered medical care to North Korean citizens from 2004 to 2006. It provided basic medical supplies and medical devices to three community clinics in 2004, and in 2006 it expanded its support to 23 hospitals. Some conservative South Koreans have denounced Pomnyun, saying that the JTS aid was not really helping people in need but was instead most likely used to support the North Korean army. Responding to his critics, Pomnyun stated in an interview: I can’t say 100% of the aid goes the needed [sic]. I can’t say that soldiers don’t benefit from the food that we send at all, either. However, I heard many stories about soldiers that got caught stealing food. That implies that soldiers are also one of innocent people starving to death. Of course, there would be embezzling while passing down the distribution chain, but isn’t it the same story in South Korea? Remember they also suffer from famine. Nonetheless, the most vulnerable groups like orphans, infants and children are mainly supported and monitored.33

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  145 Pomnyun firmly believes that North Korean issues should not be politicized, nor should they be framed in ideological terms. He urges people to see the situation in North Korea as a real humanitarian crisis, and to see aid as worthwhile, since even if some of the relief food is taken by the government, what remains will still save many lives and relieve suffering. In addition to emergency relief programs for North Koreans, the JTS has deployed its volunteer teams for emergency relief, aid and disaster recovery in other parts of Asia: in the aftermath of earthquakes (2003 in Iran, 2003 in the Philippines, 2005 in Pakistan and 2006 in Java), tsunamis (India and Sri Lanka in 2004) and floods (North Korea in 2006).34 The JTS’s domestic aid activities include programs for the elderly, disabled, low-income households, single parents and multicultural families. In these international and domestic programs what is commonly found are two principles: humanitarianism and community building. Pomnyun’s recent interest in multiculturalism is part of his broader vision for “a peaceful society” where community members find a harmonious coexistence and support each other regardless of religious identity, ethnicity or race. Lately, South Korea is experiencing a rapid increase of religious, racial and ethnic diversity due to the arrival of migrant workers, as well as foreign brides from other parts of Asia, such as China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Cambodia, who are needed to rectify an increasing gender imbalance. Even though the government has made efforts to develop a rigorous multicultural policy, South Korean society has been very slow to embrace multiculturalism, and integrating multicultural families into society has been one of the foremost social challenges. Pomnyun’s support for multicultural families is a response to this situation. In the city of Ansan in the Seoul capital area, the JTS established a support center in 2015 to improve the living conditions of families of international marriages and of foreign workers. The center provides Korean language classes, legal advice and medical support. These classes and services are offered by volunteers from the community. In this way, Pomnyun’s support for multicultural families is a community-based effort aimed at building harmony and unity through diversity. Giving is a major practice for all the members of Pomnyun’s organizations because giving is the most basic principle of the selfless bodhisattva path. All of the JTS projects discussed above are supported by donations and volunteers. Anyone over 20 years of age who can make a three-month commitment is eligible for volunteering. Donations are made online and offline throughout the year. In May and December of each year, all the Jungto organizations conduct streetfundraising campaigns, which celebrity members often join to increase publicity.

Reunification of the peninsula: Good Friends and the Peace Foundation While the JTS represents Pomnyun’s long-term involvement with overseas aid, in his response to the rapidly changing political situation on the Korean peninsula, Pomnyun has increasingly engaged in the peace movement. Good Friends and the Peace Foundation are two organizations of Pomnyun that are dedicated

146  Sujung Kim to work toward his vision for a peaceful society. More specifically, given North Korea’s complex situation and its ongoing conflict with the US and South Korea, Pomnyun thinks that the peace of the Korean peninsula is of the utmost importance not only for the region but for the entire world. Pomnyun’s initial interest in North Korean issues began in 1996 when he traveled to the Chinese side of the Yalu River border. During the trip he saw firsthand the grim realities of malnutrition and starvation caused by the Great North Korean Famine.35 While estimates vary, during and following this devastating famine (1994–1998), it is believed that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of North Koreans suffered from food shortages and died of hunger or hunger-related illness. Witnessing the flight of Koreans out of North Korea, Pomnyun, who at this point was already running a charity program in India, soon dispatched South Korean volunteers to provide aid to North Korean refugees who had made it to the Chinese side of the China–North Korea border. Pomnyun was shocked by the outside world’s ignorance of the catastrophe and sought to raise awareness of the crisis by releasing photos of, and the records of interviews with, North Korean refugees. It was from his Buddhist conviction that all beings are interconnected, and that the North Korean crisis should at the very least trouble South Koreans, that he started humanitarian aid to North Korea. To address the structural issues in a more systematic manner, Pomnyun established Good Friends in December of 1996. However, North Korea did not allow Pomnyun to conduct humanitarian activities in the country. He therefore put aside direct aid for North Korea and instead focused on programs for North Korean refugees settled in China. From 1997 to 2000, Pomnyun’s group helped around 20,000 North Korean refugees throughout a wide geographical area along the Tumen River, a major waterway forming part of the border between China, North Korea and Russia.36 Pomnyun’s relief programs were, however, abruptly halted in 2000 by the Chinese border control authority, which subsequently punished and expelled both members of Good Friends and some Chosŏn-jok, ethnic Koreans living in China, who had been involved with helping Good Friends.37 Since the withdrawal from China, Pomnyun has focused on supporting North Korean refugees in South Korea. Having interviewed hundreds of North Korean refugees in China, Good Friends launched “North Korea Today,”38 a weekly newsletter containing the latest news from North Korea and refugees’ firsthand accounts. This was published between 2004 and 2012, with English translations from 2007 to 2012. It provided some of the first reports of actual conditions inside North Korea.39 Good Friends has also been involved in reporting North Korean human rights abuses to the international community through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. However, during the conservative Lee Myungbak government (2008–2013), the relationship between North and South Korea deteriorated, and Good Friends activities were restricted and largely ignored.40 Despite several impediments, the humanitarian aid has continued, and since 2010 Good Friends has been able to send food, medical supplies and educational materials to North Korea through the JTS, an achievement made possible by the United Nations Economic and Social Council’s granting of consultative status to

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  147 the JTS in 2007.41 These programs of North Korean aid have been a central task for Pomnyun, particularly as more and more South Korean citizens have become indifferent to their northern neighbors. Pomnyun’s interest in North Korean issues is guided by his vision for human interconnection and sustainable peace. He initially took a humanitarian approach to the North Korean food crisis. However, he began to realize that the political instability and economic predicament of North Korea required a more fundamental change, which led him to shift his focus from humanitarian aid to the reunification movement. Although this progressive impetus may appear to be politically charged to some South Koreans, Pomnyun sees the reunification movement as having the best chance of bringing sustainable peace to Korea and the world, which is in line with his vision for a peaceful society for all. In the 2010s, Pomnyun focused on the issue of reunification through public campaigns and education. In 2013, for instance, as part of the Peace Foundation program, Pomnyun launched Righteous Army for Korean Unification (t’ong’il ŭibyŏng), a group made up of volunteers who agree with Pomnyun’s vision for Korean reunification. It is significant that Pomnyun chose to use the term ŭibyŏng, righteous army. While the term has a nationalistic nuance, he chose it in order to emphasize the urgency and gravity of the issue at hand. He believes that everyday individuals’ proactive engagement in nonviolence movements will be the most effective method to bring about a peaceful reunification process. In recent years, raising public awareness and educating South Koreans about the reality inside North Korea is central to Pomnyun’s endeavors. Pomnyun’s efforts on behalf of a unified Korea extend beyond the Korean peninsula. He frequently travels to Washington, DC for meetings with policymakers. He also participates in publicly visible peace movement events. In 2017, the Peace Foundation and the Righteous Army for Korean Unification, for example, organized peace rallies in Korea and major cities around the world. Pomnyun’s efforts have been widely recognized, and in 2020 he became the recipient of the thirty-seventh Niwano Peace Prize, sometimes called the alternative Nobel Prize, an award named after Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai. South Koreans have, on the whole, become more and more uninterested in reunification, often because they believe that reunification would result in a tremendous economic burden for South Korea. These attitudes are particularly prevalent among younger generations, and it is precisely these attitudes that Pomnyun is trying to change. In Venerable, Why Do We Need Reunification? (Sŭnim, wae t’oing’il ŭl haeya ha’nayo, 2018), Pomnyun argues that reunification is necessary for several practical reasons, including economic benefits, that it would improve Korea’s ability to be an international player, that it would provide a new paradigm for geopolitical stability and constructive collaboration for East Asian communities and that it would contribute to world peace.42 Similar to his use of skillful rhetoric in his public dialogues, he understands that stressing the economic benefits is an effective way to draw South Koreans’ attention to the issue. What he ultimately hopes to convey, however, is a long-term vision for an ideal future of Korean society in which peace and prosperity are assured. Pomnyun’s approach

148  Sujung Kim to reunification is pragmatic, and yet rooted in compassion. He stresses that reunification is the most important criterion for moving the Korean peninsula forwards and bringing peace to the world, and he believes that democratic, nonviolent processes are the way to achieve reunification.43

Pomnyun’s Pure Land and beyond Pomnyun challenges the traditional role that was assumed by a Buddhist master in Korean society and redefines the role of religious leaders in the country. He has, moreover, provided a new model for Buddhist activism in Korea.44 He believes that seemingly unrelated strains of social activism—e.g., environmentalism, international relief activities, the peace movement—are precisely the sorts of things with which a Buddhist practitioner should engage because, by definition, practitioners are those who have made a bodhisattva vow and have committed themselves to other people’s well-being. He insists that this individual effort for collective happiness can be achieved through compassionate action.45 Even if Pomnyun says that the Jungto Society is still in its experimental stages, and that it should be open to major changes,46 one of the main reasons why the Jungto Society has been well received in South Korea is because it is a lay-centered Buddhism that integrates the democratic, horizontal organizational elements of an NGO. Unlike the hierarchical structure commonly found in Korean Buddhist culture, the Jungto Society’s democratic tendencies and its emphasis on the laity’s power, which is a “major attitude of Engaged Buddhism,”47 allow motivated members to maintain their agency and freedom. Since members are volunteers, they are not bound by others’ commands, and they can make decisions about their daily operation in a largely independent manner, which gives them a sense of empowerment.48 In this way the Jungto Society nurtures individual autonomy and collective responsibility. By creating a model of an interdependent moral community, the Jungto Society encourages members’ civic participation and responsibility. Pomnyun hopes that his community empowers individuals and facilitates policy changes in society, helping to build a society that is more socially cohesive and mutually responsible. Pomnyun’s vision of an ideal “world in which individuals are happy, communities are peaceful, and the natural environment is preserved” has renewed interest in Buddhism in South Korea.49 Through Pomnyun’s inspirational and innovative style of communication, he and his organizations help spread a positive image of Buddhism within South Korea. As Hyun Mee Kim has pointed out, younger generations in urban areas are particularly attracted to Pomnyun’s Buddhism due to its emphasis on individual happiness and healing. The popularity of the Temple Stay Program is a good example of this. Originally the program was devised to offer lay members a taste of monastic living. However, the Temple Stay Program is now evolving into a healing-focused program for urbanites.50 As a response to the relentless social pressure and hyper-competitiveness of Korean society, a noticeable number of younger, educated city dwellers have turned away from the capitalist values of the neoliberal era and instead embrace the anti-materialist,

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  149 anti-competitive, environmentally friendly values of Pomnyun’s Buddhism.51 In particular, his form of Buddhism welcomes those who resist a consumptionoriented capitalism and seek instead a more meaningful life and a higher state of being. Furthermore, the apparent universality of Pomnyun’s message allows nonBuddhists to join the community.52 It is quite common, in fact, to hear anecdotes about, say, Christian volunteers working for the Jungto Society, or a Catholic deepening her faith after becoming a practitioner in the Society. Pomnyun’s reconciling of the traditional inward focus of Buddhism with Buddhism’s outward engagement with social issues is seamless. For Pomnyun, individual happiness is a prerequisite for effective social activism.53 Once people see the source within themselves of their suffering and transform their suffering into happiness, that energy can be used to improve society. For Jungto practitioners there is no conflict between the pursuit of individual happiness and social activism. Rather, the two are intrinsically interconnected; one simply has to find a way to balance the two pursuits in her or his life.54 This shift in perspective not only reconciles what was previously held as a dichotomy but also draws people’s attention to various social issues and encourages them to solve them together. Yet even as Pomnyun’s Engaged Buddhism seeks to resolve social problems, it has its own internal issues, which largely mirror the society of which it is a part. Like other religiously oriented civil organizations, Jungto Society membership is characterized by gender and age imbalances. In South Korea males are often busy with full-time jobs, meaning volunteers are disproportionately housewives in their forties and fifties.55 While the 100 percent volunteer-run system has its benefits, and although all volunteers have to go through three months of training, the Jungto Society lacks the professionalism one would expect of an NGO. Unpaid, non-professional volunteers can slow down or sometimes even jeopardize projects. But even if it may result in lower levels of productivity, Pomnyun believes that lay-led volunteerism should continue to be the model so as to maintain solidarity and the communal spirit of the Jungto Society.56 Another potential concern is that with Pomnyun’s increasing popularity his key points have been grossly oversimplified. Many South Koreans find Pomnyun’s therapeutic messages of “happiness” and “freedom” appealing. According to Pomnyun, everyone can and should achieve happiness and freedom by following the teachings of the Buddha, and this is the most desirable way to achieve a better society.57 While his use of the idea of happiness in his teachings is based on longstanding insights from the Buddhist tradition, South Korean media outlets tend to mispresent him simply as a “happiness preacher” who teaches how to become happy. Because of this oversimplification, some people think Pomnyun’s use of Buddhism as little more than a convenient tool for achieving this-worldly happiness in a highly-secularized, consumption-oriented society. In recent years, books on happiness have become increasingly popular in South Korea, and the number of books in Korean bookstores about happiness written by Korean and foreign Buddhist monks (e.g., Hyemin Sunim, The Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and Pema Chodron) has also increased. Pomnyun’s public image as a “happy preacher” fits this trend. One of his bestsellers, titled

150  Sujung Kim Happiness, for example, was chosen as the best book of 2016 in a public opinion poll. His Happy School is now a nationwide program in which people can attend his virtual lectures and connect with community members within their respective regions.58 In this way, Pomnyun’s message of happiness is meeting a trendy need within South Korean society for consuming “happiness.” Pomnyun’s emphasis on happiness in his talks and books have proven to be effective in his public outreach efforts, and it probably does more good than harm.59 And yet those who came to be interested in Buddhism primarily through encountering Pomnyun often remain largely unaware that although human well-being has been in some sense a Buddhist concern from the advent of the tradition, there is far more to Buddhism than happiness of the sort that many Koreans seek by clicking the YouTube videos of Pomnyun.

Notes 1 Byung-Chul Han, The Burnout Society (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 2015), 9–11. 2 Pomnyun, Silch’ŏnjŏk Pulgyo sasang (Seoul: Chongt’o ch’ulp’an, 1994), 47. 3 According to its own records, the Chogye Order has more than 3,000 branch temples and Buddhist centers, and 12,000 ordained monastics. Of the 870 traditional temples, more than 90 percent belong to the order. The order’s annual budget is 33 billion Korean wŏn (about $30 million US dollars), and it owns millions more in real estate. The Economist, “Buddhism in South Korea: Monkey Business,” October 3, 2013, https​ :/​/ww​​w​.eco​​nomis​​t​.com​​/asia​​/2013​​/10​/0​​3​/mon​​​key​-b​​usine​​ss 4 Sallie B. King, Socially Engaged Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2016), 1. 5 Pomnyun first started his activist movement with members of the university Buddhist association in 1983. In 1985 Pomnyun established the Central Buddhist Academy (renamed the Academy of Social Education in 1988), which later developed into the Jungto Society. For more about this history, see Pori Park, “New Visions for engaged Buddhism: The Jungto Society and the Indra’s Net Community movement in Contemporary Korea,” Contemporary Buddhism 11, no. 1 (2010): 32–36; Yu, Jung-gil, “Pulgyo sasang e kibanhan sahoejŏk yondae” [Social Solidarity Based on Buddhist Teachings: The Case of Jungto hoe], Hanguk Sahoe hakhoe (2009): 51–53. 6 Pomnyun entered a monastery belonging to the Chogye Order in 1969, but in fact he worked as a lay Buddhist teacher for a while. He had a chance to receive the full bhikkhu ordination in the Chogye Order in 1991 but did not do so. Pomnyun, Maŭm ŭi p’yŏnghwa, chabi ŭi sahoehwa: Pomnyun sunim ŭi hwaldong charyochip [Peace of mind, the Socialization of Compassion: Activity Report of Pomnyun Sunim] (Seoul: Chongt’o ch’ulp’an, 2002b), 53–56. 7 For more on this, see Sujung Kim, “Flesh in the Closet: The ‘Secret Wife’ in Korean Buddhism,” in New Perspectives in Modern Korean Buddhism: Nationalism, Practice, Women, and Clerical Marriage eds. Jin Y. Park and Hwansoo Kim (Albany: SUNY Press, forthcoming). 8 Pomnyun, “Dharma talk #1190,” YouTube Video, 6:18, September 10, 2019, https​:/​/ ww​​w​.you​​tube.​​com​/w​​atch?​​v​=HxR​​​QpiKe​​hFw 9 Throughout the history of Pure Land Buddhism, the idea of a Buddhist paradise has inspired Buddhist leaders and practitioners, and they have employed this idea in innovative ways. Some of them have sought to establish this imagined Buddhist paradise in the world, that is, in the here and now. In the modern period several influential

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  151 Buddhist leaders in China, Taiwan and Japan reinterpreted this Buddhist ideal in order to re-evaluate, reform and resist monastic values and external sociopolitical pressures. For more about the case in Taiwan, see Justin Ritzinger, Anarchy in the Pure Land: Reinventing the Cult of Maitreya in Modern Chinese Buddhism (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017). For a case in modern Japan, see Melissa Anne-Marie Curley, Pure Land, Real World: Modern Buddhism, Japanese Leftists, and the Utopian Imagination (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2017). 10 Craig Lewis, “News: Jungto Society Organizes Korean Study Tour for the International Network of Engaged Buddhists,” accessed June 14, 2019, https​:/​/ww​​w​.bud​​dhist​​door.​​ net​/n​​ews​/j​​ungto​​-soci​​ety​-o​​rgani​​zes​-k​​orean​​-stud​​y​-tou​​r​-for​​-the-​​inter​​natio​​nal​-n​​etw​or​​k​ -of-​​engag​​ed​-bu​​ddhis​​ts 11 Pomnyun, “Dharma talk #901,” YouTube Video, 18:20, September 10, 2019, https​:/​/ ww​​w​.you​​tube.​​com​/w​​atch?​​v​=TaJ​​​7A6Y5​​g6k 12 Pomnyuhn, “Sunim’s Journal: September 1, 2018,” accessed November 18, 2019, https://pomnyun​.tistory​.com​/1072 13 Pomnyun regards himself as the Dharma heir of Ven. Paek Yongsŏng because his master, Ven. Tomun, was a disciple of Paek. 14 The anti-government movement in the 1980s was primarily a Buddhist resistance to the authoritarian regime of Park, Chunghui (1961–1980) and Chon, Tuhwan (1981– 1987). Accused of being a socialist movement, it was forced to disperse in 1991. For more about minjung Pulgyo, see Pori Park, “Buddhism in Korea: Decolonization, Nationalism, and Modernization,” in Buddhism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives, ed. Stephen Berkwitz (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2007), 195–217. 15 For more about the growth of Buddhism and lay Buddhist activities in urban areas, see Santoshi K. Gupta, “Engaging the Urban Buddhist Laity: The ‘Buddhist Solidarity for Reform’ Organization in South Korea,” Acta Koreana 20 no. 2 (2017): 563–90; Florence Galmiche, “A Retreat in a Seoul Korean Buddhist Monastery: Becoming a Lay Devotee Through Monastic Life,” European Journal of East Asian Studies (2010): 47–66; Uri Kaplan, “Images of Monasticism: The Temple Stay Program and the Re-branding of Korean Buddhist Temples,” Korean Studies 34 (2010): 127–46. 16 Pomnyun, Maŭm ŭi p’yŏnghwa, 205. 17 Ibid., 208–10. 18 Pomnyun, Silch’ŏnjŏk, 22–27. 19 Ibid., 153. 20 In 2017 the Jungto Society’s International Department was established in Maryland, USA; it functions as a headquarters for the Society’s international affairs. As of 2019, the Jungto Society maintains 169 chapters in Korea, including the headquarters in Gangnam, Seoul. It has 38 chapters overseas, with the US having the largest share (24 chapters). I thank Ji Hyun Kim, the manager of the Jungto Society International Department, for providing these statistics. 21 This distinction between “practitioner” and “believers” should be noted, for, in their encounters with modernity and Western missionaries, Korean Buddhists have often been criticized as believers in good fortune (kibok) and having little interest in soteriology or ethics. For more on this, see Florence Galmiche, “A Space of Mountains within a Forest of Buildings?: Urban Buddhist Monasteries in Contemporary Korea,” in Sociology and Monasticism, eds. Isabelle Jonveaux, Enzo Pace and Stefania Palmisano (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 227–42. The Jungto Society regards kibok as one of those old customs that need to be eradicated and feels a need to redirect its members to the ethical dimensions of early Buddhist teachings. 22 A typical daily prayer for the 1,000-Day Prayer consists of taking refuge in the three jewels, reciting “Words for Practice,” and “Repentance,” making 108 vows, practicing meditation and reciting “The Vows of the Jungto Practitioner,” “Ten Guidelines along the Path” and Four Great Vows. After the prayer, members are encouraged to write a daily reflection about their practice. Yu, “Pulgyo,” 54.

152  Sujung Kim 23 “1,000 Day Prayer,” Jungto Society, accessed May 21, 2019, https://www.jungtosociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Jungto_1000-Day_Practice_2021_002.pdf 24 Pomnyun, “Dharma talk,” accessed September 22, 2019, https​:/​/ww​​w​.jun​​gto​.o​​rg​/bu​​ ddhis​​t​/bud​​d8​.ht​​ml​?s​m​​=v​&b​_no​=73937 25 Pomnyun, “Pomnyun sunim, what is no-possessions?” YouTube Video, 3:09, September 7, 2016, https​:/​/ww​​w​.you​​tube.​​com​/w​​atch?​​v​=5wR​​​vb1to​​Yk8 26 “India,” JTS, accessed May 26, 2019, http://www​.jtsamerica​.org​/about​-us/ 27 “JTS: America,” JTS, accessed May 26, 2019, http://www​.jtsamerica​.org​/about​-us/ 28 Pomnyun recognizes that these kinds of humanitarian aid are merely upaya. He understands the limits of this kind of humanitarian aid, but he believes that it is an ethical thing to do nevertheless, especially when considering Buddhism’s lack of involvement with social issues in the past. Interview with Pomnyun, June 14, 2019. 29 “Sujata Academy,” Join Together Society, accessed May 26, 2019, http:​/​/www​​.jtsi​​nt​.or​​ g​/nme​​ntal.​​php​/o​​ur​-wo​​rks​/i​​ndia/​​​sujat​​a​-aca​​demy 30 Park, “New Visions,” 35. See also “India,” JTS, accessed May 26, 2019, http:​/​/www​​ .jtsi​​nt​.or​​g​/ind​​ex​.ph​​p​/our​​-wo​rk​​s​/ind​​ia/ 31 “I am Sorry I Can’t Give More,” JTS, accessed May 27, 2019, http:​/​/www​​.jtsa​​meric​​a​ .org​​/i​-am​​-sorr​​y​-i​-c​​ant​​-g​​ive​-m​​ore/ 32 For a detailed list of items that the JTS provided to North Korea, see Jae-ma, “Jungt’o hoe ŭi Pukhan kuho hwaldong” [Jungto Society’s Relief Activities for North Korea] Hanguk Chonggyo 37 (2014): 267–301. 33 “Feed My Starving Children Campaign,” JTS, accessed May 27, 2019, http:​/​/www​​.jtsa​​ meric​​a​.org​​/feed​​-my​-s​​tarvi​​ng​-ch​​ildre​​​n​-cam​​paign​/ 34 “Who We Are,” JTS, accessed May 27, 2019, http:​/​/www​​.jtsi​​nt​.or​​g​/ind​​ex​.ph​​p​/abo​​ut​-us​​​ /who-​​we​-ar​​e/ 35 Sang-Hun Choe, “A Monk’s Earthly Mission: Easing North Koreans’ Pain,” New York Times, April 28, 2012, https​:/​/ww​​w​.nyt​​imes.​​com​/2​​012​/0​​4​/28/​​world​​/asia​​/vene​​rable​​ -pomn​​yuns-​​earth​​ly​-mi​​ssion​​-is​-t​​o​​-aid​​-nort​​h​-kor​​ea​.ht​​ml 36 Pomnyun, Sŭnim, wae t’ong’il ul haeya hanayo [Venerable, why do we need reunification] (Seoul: Chongt’o ch’ulp’an, 2018): 210–13. 37 China has been widely criticized by the international community for its treatment of North Korean refugees. See, “UN Report Criticizes China for Treatment of North Korean Refugees Amid Worsening Situation,” Congressional-Executive Commission on China, accessed May 21, 2019, https​:/​/ww​​w​.cec​​c​.gov​​/publ​​icati​​ons​/c​​ommis​​sion-​​ analy​​sis​/u​​n​-rep​​ort​-c​​ritic​​izes-​​china​​-for-​​treat​​ment-​​of​​-no​​rth​-k​​orean​​-refu​​gees 38 “Food Crisis, North Korea, Good Friends,” accessed May 21, 2019, http:​/​/goo​​dfrie​​nds​ .o​​r​.kr/​​foodc​​risis​​​/nkt.​​html 39 Pomnyun, “Pomnyun,” accessed May 21, 2019, https://pomnyun​.com​/about 40 See, Choe, “A Monk’s Earthly Mission.” 41 “North Korean Program,” JTS, accessed May 21, 2019, https​:/​/ww​​w​.jts​​.or​.k​​r​/wor​​ks​/no​​ rthk​o​​rea​.h​​tml 42 Pomnyun, Sŭnim, 13–14. 43 Pomnyun, “Reunification,” Jungto Society, accessed September 15, 2019, http:​/​/www​​ .jung​​to​.or​​g​/bud​​dhist​​/budd​​8​.htm​​l​?sm=​​​v​&b​_no​=79378 44 Sallie B. King suggests that there are three major forms of Engaged Buddhism: nondualistic, prophetic and humanistic. While the Jungto Society exhibits some features of the humanistic form (e.g., its international relief activities, which puts it in the same camp as the Tzu Chi foundation), these three categories do not capture the full scope of the Jungto Society, especially when it comes to its recent focus on reunification. Sallie B. King, “The Ethics of Engaged Buddhism in Asia,” in The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Ethics, eds., Daniel Cozort, James Mark Shields, 479–500 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018), esp. 481. 45 Pomnyun, “Ven. Pomnyun Sunim: Introduction,” YouTube Video, 3:38, May 26, 2016, https​:/​/ww​​w​.you​​tube.​​com​/w​​atch?​​v​=2VU​​​HNIjk​​E9g

Venerable Pomnyun’s Jungto Society  153 46 Interview with Pomnyun, June 14, 2019. 47 Stuart Chandler, Establishing a Pure Land on Earth: The Foguang Buddhist Perspective on Modernization and Globalization (Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2004), 80. 48 As of 2019, there are around 2,000 regular volunteers and around 450–500 volunteers working full time in the Jungto Society. Interview with Ji Hyun Kim and Soonyoung Min-Kim, the director of the Jungto Society International Department, June 14, 2019. 49 Hyun Mee Kim, “Becoming a City Buddhist Among the Young Generation in Seoul,” International Sociology 31, no. 4 (2016): 450–66. Interest in mainstream Buddhism in South Korea has suffered from a downward trend. Every ten years the South Korean government’s Office of Statistics releases the results of a survey addressing the religious make-up of the country. According to the survey conducted in 2015, almost half of the population described themselves as non-religious. Buddhism is the second-most common faith in the country, according to the survey, but its numbers are continuously decreasing. Buddhists were 23.2% of the population in 1995, 22.8% in 2005, and 15.5% in 2015. 50 For more about the culture of healing in Buddhism in South Korea, see Park, Chaehyon, “Pulgyo suhaeng kwa myŏngsang, chŏpchŏm ŭn ŏdi innŭga,” [What is the connecting point of Buddhist practice and meditation] Pulgyo Pyŏnnon 55 (2013): 126–47; Kwon, Kyung-im, “Son, myongsang ŭi welbing kwa hilling e kwanhan Pulgyochŏk Tamnon,” [Buddhist discourse of wellbeing and healing in Zen meditation] Sŏn munhwa yŏn’gu 17 (2014): 351–391. 51 Kim, “Becoming a City Buddhist,” 462. 52 Hyun Mee Kim and Si Hyun Choi, “Engaged Buddhism for the Curative Self Among Young Jungto Buddhist Practitioners in South Korea,” Journal of Korean Religions 17, no. 2 (2016): 11–36. 53 Ibid., 23. 54 Pomnyun, “Dharma talk #1104,” YouTube Video, 2:51, June 1, 2015, https​:/​/ww​​w​.you​​ tube.​​com​/w​​atch?​​v​=Bfy​​​5ov3B​​ryk 55 Since 2018, however, there has been a slight increase in the number of businessman members who now have more evening time due to the new government-mandated, 52-hour work-week. This is a legal maximum, down from the previous 68-hours-perweek. 56 Interview with Ji Hyun Kim, November 21, 2018. 57 Interview with Pomnyun, June 14, 2019. For Pomnyun, nirvana means happiness, that is, a state without any suffering, and moksha means freedom, that is, escape from all bonds. 58 “About us” Happy School with Ven. Pomnyun, accessed May 31, 2019, http://hihappyschool​.com​/happyschool 59 Regarding outreach, according to the staff members at Jungto, most newcomers either have no faith or are Catholic. Interview with Ji Hyun Kim and Soonyoung Min-Kim, June 14, 2019.

8

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society Sallie B. King

Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the foremost advocates of a Buddhist path to the Good Life for All. With a perspective forged in the stupendous yet personal violence of the Vietnam War, his “lotus in a sea of fire,”1 Nhat Hanh has worked all his life to turn humankind away from violence and toward the creation of a nonviolent society. It is in understanding his vision of a nonviolent society that we can see his vision of the Good Life for All. Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–) is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and Zen master.2 He is one of the founders of the socially and politically Engaged Buddhism movement, and was nominated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in the nonviolent movement to end the war in Vietnam. Having traveled to the United States to advocate for an end to the war, he was denied readmission to Vietnam and lived in exile for 39 years, based in the monastic and practice community, Plum Village, which he founded in the south of France. He spent those years teaching throughout the West, especially emphasizing mindfulness practice, the mindful observance of the Five Lay Precepts, and the practice of Engaged Buddhism, bringing Buddhism into all aspects of personal and societal life. He is a prolific writer and has authored over one hundred books, intentionally addressing a mass audience. In addition to Plum Village, he has established eight monasteries that follow his form of practice, namely, the Tiep Hien Order (Order of Interbeing) that he established as part of the Lam Te (Linji, Rinzai) Zen school within which he received the lamp transmission. He suffered a severe stroke in 2014 and in 2018 returned to his temple in Hue, Vietnam, where he intends to live the remainder of his life.

The individual Nhat Hanh’s signature concept, introduced early, but continuing throughout his life to represent the core of his thought, is the idea of “being peace.” Nhat Hanh writes, “Engaged Buddhism does not only mean to use Buddhism to solve social and political problems, protesting against the bombs, and protesting against social injustice. First of all we have to bring Buddhism into our daily lives.”3 That is, we must begin by practicing Buddhism, first in the meditation hall, then in daily life and ultimately in society. “If you know how to apply Buddhism to dinner time,

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  155 leisure time, sleeping time, I think Buddhism will become engaged in your daily life. Then it will have a tremendous effect on social concerns.”4 The idea here is that the basis of all that we do is the person, not specifically the person’s mind, as is often said in Buddhism, but the person’s entire mode of being. For Nhat Hanh, it is from the basis of the person’s state of being that all that person’s actions, both intended and impulsive, flow. Above all, the person must reach a state of calm or inner peace. This individual inner peace is brought by the individual to their interactions with others, transforming those interactions and relationships. For Nhat Hanh, a good deal of one’s practice to become peace is based on the Buddhist practices that he emphasizes, especially mindfulness in its many guises—mindfulness of the breath, walking meditation and present moment mindfulness. However, he emphasizes some additional factors as well. One of these is happiness—everyday happiness: “According to the Buddha, mindfulness is the source of happiness and joy. … The insight we gain from mindfulness meditation can liberate us from fear, anxiety, and anger, allowing us to be truly happy.”5 And in addition, our ability to bring happiness to others is dependent upon our having happiness ourselves: “If we are not happy, if we are not peaceful, we cannot share peace and happiness with others, even those we love.”6 Peacefulness and happiness are prominent elements of the Good Life for Nhat Hanh, on both the individual and societal levels. Another element, emphasized more in recent years, is slowing down the pace of our lives. Addressing an American audience, he writes: We busy ourselves doing as many things as possible, taking refuge in doing more and more, faster and faster. The more we do, the greater the suffering becomes. … If we stop our constant activity and consumption, we can … practice breathing, walking, and slowing down in order to get relief.7 The Good Life, then, entails stopping the constant activity and striving. “Living our life deeply and with happiness, having time to care for our loved ones—this is another kind of success and it is much more important.”8 The reference to living deeply reminds us that the Good Life, for Nhat Hanh, ultimately is based on living mindfully in the present moment, another theme that pervades his work. He writes: I would like to offer one short poem you can recite from time to time, while breathing and smiling. Breathing in, I calm body and mind. Breathing out, I smile. Dwelling in the present moment I know this is the only moment … “Dwelling in the present moment.” While I sit here, I don’t think of somewhere else, of the future or the past. I sit here, and I know where I am. … [T]he technique, if we have to speak of a technique, is to be in the present

156  Sallie B. King moment, to be aware that we are here and now, and the only moment to be alive is the present moment. “I know this is the only moment.” This is the only moment that is real. To be here and now, and enjoy the present moment is our most important task.9 For Nhat Hanh, to live in the present moment, to be happy, and to live with inner peace is the recipe for the individual’s Good Life. He emphasizes that becoming this kind of person comes first, for most people in a temporal sense, but more importantly in the sense that without being this kind of person, one can do nothing for others, or for society. To bring happiness to others, we must be happiness. And this is why we always train ourselves to first take care of our own bodies and minds. Only when we are solid can we be our best and take good care of our loved ones.10 The notion of what Nhat Hanh calls “interbeing” (based on pratītya-samutpāda, which he translates as “dependent co-arising”11) is decisive for his understanding of personal and social development and change. We must be happy in order to help others be happy. We must take good care of ourselves in order to take good care of others. In listening to or reading Nhat Hanh, one is never long without being reminded that finding one’s own peace or happiness is not an end in itself, that one lives in society and interacts with others, that the individual and society “inter-are.” Meditation is not to get out of society, to escape from society, but to prepare for a re-entry into society. We call this ‘engaged Buddhism.’ When we go to a meditation center, we may have the impression that we leave everything behind—family, society, and all the complications involved in them—and come as an individual in order to practice and to search for peace. This is already an illusion, because in Buddhism there is no such thing as an individual.12 Conversely, even if one cares a great deal about improving society, or the lives of others, it is necessary to tend in a foundational way to one’s own state of being: “If you cannot be compassionate to yourself, you will not be able to be compassionate to others.”13 Nhat Hanh speaks of society and the individual as dependently co-arising, that is, mutually constructive, mutually creating: [T]he individual is made of non-individual elements. … The kind of suffering that you carry in your heart, that is society itself. You bring that with you, you bring society with you. You bring all of us with you. When you meditate, it is not just for yourself, you do it for the whole society. You seek solutions to your problems not only for yourself, but for all of us. ... We are all children of society, but we are also mothers. We have to nourish society.14

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  157 Thus, what might seem to be an exercise in self-concern, a meditation retreat, is seen upon reflection as something one does both for oneself and for society. The individual and society “inter-are”; it is impossible to divorce them. Each constructs the other; to heal and nourish one is to heal and nourish the other. Of course, for Nhat Hanh, one’s contributions to society must not and do not stop with meditation. Thus, for Nhat Hanh, the individual who is living the Good Life for All will be one who “is peace” and who helps to construct a peaceful society and world. We turn next to Nhat Hanh’s rethinking of Buddhist ethics, specifically the Five Lay Precepts, to move more fully into the social realm.

The Five Lay Precepts We have seen above that for Nhat Hanh, the individual and the social “inter-are.” This strongly alters his interpretation of the precepts. The traditional Five Lay Precepts state, “I undertake” the precepts: “(1) to abstain from the taking of life; (2) not to take that which is not given; (3) to abstain from misconduct in sensual actions; (4) to abstain from false speech; (5) to abstain from liquor that causes intoxication and indolence.”15 These precepts are stated in negative and personal form—that is, they state what “I” will not do. Nhat Hanh’s versions require not only that one avoid doing certain specified things, but also that one actually do certain things. For example, to observe the traditional first precept one must only abstain from taking life. Here is Nhat Hanh’s version. (Note that this is the print 1993 version. Nhat Hanh is nothing if not creative; he has updated his interpretations of these precepts several times and now calls them the five mindfulness trainings):16 Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life.17 Here we see that one who observes the precepts not only must avoid certain actions, they also must do certain things. The entire tenor of the ethic has changed: no longer is it about keeping one’s own hands clean, avoiding accruing negative karma. Now one must not let others kill and indeed must change one’s entire way of life in order to avoid condoning killing, that is, accepting that others, including the state, kill. It is not acceptable that the state, or anyone, kills. Here we find a definite element of the Good Life on a societal level: there will be no killing. This one precept alone, in Nhat Hanh’s understanding, points us in a clear direction: a Good Life would be lived in a nonviolent society and we all play a role in creating such a society. Similarly, the second precept, in Nhat Hanh’s hands, is turned in an active and social direction and again opens up a vista into the Good Life on a societal level. The original precepts require the practitioner only not to take that which is not given. Nhat Hanh’s version states:

158  Sallie B. King Aware of the suffering caused by exploitation, social injustice, stealing and oppression, I vow to cultivate loving kindness and learn ways to work for the well-being of people, animals, plants and minerals. I vow to practice generosity by sharing my time, energy, and material resources with those who are in real need. I am determined not to steal and not to possess anything that should belong to others. I will respect the property of others, but I will prevent others from profiting from human suffering or the suffering of other species on Earth.18 Now not only must one not take what is not given, one must share what one has and work for the well-being of others. Moreover, the precept makes it clear that the Good Life on a societal level entails an absence of exploitation, social injustice, oppression and need—positively stated, that all humans and all species on Earth share in well-being and that economic justice, social justice and freedom prevail. The individual is enjoined to work for such a world. Due to space considerations, let us skip to the fifth precept. In the traditional version, one undertakes “to abstain from liquor that causes intoxication and indolence.” Nhat Hanh’s version states, in abbreviated form: Aware of the suffering caused by unmindful consumption, I vow to cultivate good health, both physical and mental, for myself, my family, and my society by practicing mindful eating, drinking, and consuming. I vow to ingest only items that preserve peace, well-being, and joy in my body, in my consciousness, and in the collective body and consciousness of my family and society. I am determined not to use alcohol or any other intoxicant or to ingest foods or other items that contain toxins, such as certain TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations. … I will work to transform violence, fear, anger, and confusion in myself and in society by practicing a diet for myself and for society.19 Here we again see the “interbeing” of the individual and society: society has great power to shape the individual, for better or worse. For Nhat Hanh, “TV programs, magazines, books, films, and conversations” can all introduce toxins into individuals’ minds. A Good Life would be lived in a society free of such toxins. One may choose to avoid them for oneself, but what about others who may go on consuming such toxins and constructing society on that basis? Here social action is needed, Nhat Hanh says in his commentary.20 He decries the power of “toxic” media and advertising to sit in our subconscious, influencing our wants and consumption patterns. “We have to be protected because the toxins are overwhelming. They are destroying our society, our families, and ourselves. We have to use everything in our power to protect ourselves.”21 Clearly, a Good Life society would be free of such toxins, physical and intellectual. We have laws to protect us from others’ cigarette smoke. “We have to make more effort in these directions,” says Nhat Hanh.22 The individual must make efforts to shape society in a wholesome direction.

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  159

Economics and business Interbeing is the key concept for an economic philosophy based on Nhat Hanh’s thought. Individuals, societies and the natural world all inter-are. On the basis of the concept of interbeing, an argument can be made against currently dominant views of economics, and for an interbeing view of economics.23 Whereas the dominant economic theory views the individual as an atomistic being who seeks to maximize personal benefit without regard to others, an interbeing view would bring to the fore the interrelatedness of individuals’ interests with those of others and with the natural world. The dominant economic model of the free agent maximizing their own benefit, and the parallel notion of corporations maximizing their benefit, of course, overlooks the negative effects on others of the individual’s, or the corporation’s, actions, which are regarded as “externalities” outside the economic system and discounted. This leads to an economic theory with no way to measure, or even recognize, the “costs” to society and the natural world of such things as pollution, lack of health insurance, climate warming, and much more. In place of such a model, Glenn Manga proposes on the basis of Nhat Hanh’s thought an “Interbeing Economy” that recognizes the fundamental importance and value of either maintaining the integrity, or better, enhancing the integrity of each system. Each economic act, is thus one that is measured/valued in terms of how it impacts upon our ecosystems integrity, environmental integrity, social justice integrity, psychological well-being integrity, physical well-being integrity and so on.24 This approach indeed points us toward the kind of economic theory that makes sense if one’s thinking is based on interbeing. This kind of thinking would guide economic decision-making in Nhat Hanh’s ideal society. This does not mean that Nhat Hanh is against business and profit-making. However, he wants to see compassionate, socially, and environmentally conscious businesses. We don’t need to get rid of profit. Compassion can bring financial … success. I believe it is simply good business to include in our definition of the bottom line a consideration of all the effects we have on one another and on the planet. Businesses that intelligently combine profit making with integrity and concern for the world have happier employees and more satisfied customers, while making more money.25 The companies he has in mind “share a commitment to health care, childcare, fair vacation time, respect for the environment, and profit sharing.”26 There is clearly ample room in a Good society, then, for capitalism, as long as it is of the socially conscious variety. What, then, of the individual who is not the owner of a corporation but just looking for a job? For an answer, we look to Nhat Hanh’s Tiep Hien precepts, composed for the new Buddhist order that he founded in Vietnam in 1964, the

160  Sallie B. King Tiep Hien Order (Order of Interbeing), made up of both monastics and laypeople.27 Order members accept 14 precepts, most of them social, and 2 of them having particular pertinence to economic issues. The eleventh Tiep Hien precept elaborates on the teaching of Right Livelihood in the Noble Eightfold Path: “Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature. Do not invest in companies that deprive others of their chance to live. Select a vocation which helps realize your ideal of compassion.”28 In an ideal society, of course, all companies would be pro-social and life-enhancing, but as it is, many people take jobs out of step with their ideals because they simply need the work. Because of interbeing and our highly interdependent society, for Nhat Hanh we cannot separate others’ vocations from ourselves. One who eats meat is not separate from the butcher’s choice of livelihood. Our society produces and exports a vast quantity of weapons. Many people work for that industry who would perhaps rather do something else. “[W]e should see our responsibility toward the livelihood of other people,” writes Nhat Hanh.29 To choose Right Livelihood for ourselves is not enough; we must help others to do so as well, for example, by changing a society that accepts the export of weapons as good business. “Right livelihood is no longer simply a choice. It has ceased to be a purely personal matter. It is our collective karma.”30 Finally, what of the great wealth and great poverty found in the world? The fifth Tiep Hien precept states, “Do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry. … Live simply and share time, energy and material resources with those who are in need.”31 Nhat Hanh, like other Buddhist social thinkers, believes on the basis of compassion that everyone’s basic economic needs should be met, and further, that it is immoral for a few to amass great wealth while others do not have enough. Thus, a Good society would have distributive justice, everyone’s needs would be met and there would not be vast economic inequality, at least as long as there was poverty anywhere. To this end, individuals in the Good society would live simply—we have seen above that for Nhat Hanh living simply and not chasing always after more is also an ingredient in the individual’s ability to be peace—and find ways to help those in need.

Society Freedom, individualism and community “Freedom is one of the most basic rights of human beings, of all humans and not just a number of them.”32 Freedom appears to be deeply important to Nhat Hanh personally—freedom of thought first, and then the freedom to act as one’s thought directs. As a young monk, he was dissatisfied with the studies he was offered in the pagoda and requested studies that would include “more emphasis on philosophy, literature, and foreign languages,”33—precisely the kind of studies that open the mind to vast, previously unimagined possibilities. When the elders rejected his request, Nhat Hanh left and studied at Saigon University. Later he and some friends established a small hermitage in a remote location where freedom seemed to have been the guiding ethos. They shed all manner of conformity, wearing

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  161 whatever outlandish clothes suited them, not shaving if they didn’t want to, running freely at will, and enjoying shouting: [E]veryone who spent time at Phuong Boi loved to shout. … The forest was so immense, we felt minuscule. I think we shouted to overcome our feeling of being utterly insignificant. It was also our way of compensating for the many social conventions forced upon us in the past. In the conventional world, we had to speak with restraint, guarding each word. Society dictates how we must eat, greet each other, walk, sit and dress. When we came to Phuong Boi. we wanted to cast off all of these rules and conventions. We ran and yelled to shatter social restraints and prove to ourselves that we were free.34 Life at Phuong Boi was a brief time outside of time for Nhat Hanh, a kind of life and society that could never be duplicated, or lived in the “real world,” but which nonetheless remained a beloved memory and ideal. It was not long before he had to return to civilization and cope with its conventions. Nonetheless, Phuong Boi and its freedom not only were a joy to Nhat Hanh, they were also important to him inasmuch as they opened the door for him to profound experiences and great creativity. Looking back, he recalled, “Ly called Phuong Boi ‘the Pure Land.’ Wherever we traveled, we would always belong to that Pure Land.”35 Phuong Boi was a kind of ideal anarchy—a deeply egalitarian place without rules or hierarchy where nevertheless order and harmony developed spontaneously and organically. Mornings at Phuong Boi were as pristine as a blank sheet of paper. … The whole day was for us. We all worked hard at many things, yet we never tired, because everything we did, we did by choice. If one person didn’t feel like weeding around the tea bushes, someone else usually did. If no one felt like clearing the forest, it would wait for another day. We did whatever we wanted. … Consensus was easy to reach. If there was more than one proposal, we divided into teams, according to individual preferences. From time to time, instead of working, we went for a hike together.36 This was all part of the ideal of Phuong Boi: complete freedom, without sacrificing camaraderie, order and joy. “Freedom is one of the most basic rights of human beings, of all humans,” writes Nhat Hanh. It is a foundational, essential element in the Good Life for both individual and society. Naturally, Nhat Hanh’s monasteries today are by no means run in the anarchic fashion of Phuong Boi. Nonetheless, they retain some anarchic qualities. At Plum Village, Nhat Hanh’s residence and practice center in the south of France for several decades, once a week is “Lazy Day.” On Lazy Day, there is no schedule, no planned activities. The plan is no plan: to just let the day unfold with nowhere to go and nothing to do.37 This practice brings Phuong Boi’s spirit of freedom into the life of a large and busy monastery. We can see in this an attempt to allow a regular day of openness (i.e., freedom) the opportunity to deliver its potential

162  Sallie B. King benefits: being peace, being in touch with one’s own mind, being in touch with nature, encountering surprises and opening the door to creativity. To be sure, freedom must be balanced against the needs of others and of society as a whole. Moreover, it was after the days of Phuong Boi that Nhat Hanh became familiar with the extreme level of individualism in the contemporary West, perhaps especially France and the United States. He began to speak out frequently against individualism, noting that it ignores the fundamental reality of interbeing: In the West, people have the impression that their body belongs to them, that they can do anything they want to their body. They feel they have the right to live their lives however they please. And the law supports them. This is individualism. But according to the teaching of interbeing, your body is not yours alone. Your body belongs to your ancestors, your parents, and future generations, and it also belongs to society and all other living beings. All of them have come together to bring about the presence of this body.38 Moreover, Nhat Hanh observed that individualism in Europe and North America causes a great deal of suffering in the forms of loneliness, anxiety, alienation, sadness and despair. One of Nhat Hanh’s responses to excessive individualism has been to emphasize the importance of Sangha, a community of practice, in his teachings: Nhat Hanh: Individualism has brought about alienation, despair, and violence. When we look deeply, we see that we are intricately connected to one another. … [Interviewer:] If you could give just one piece of advice to someone who is interested in practicing meditation, what would it be? Nhat Hanh: Find a sangha: a community of practitioners who come together to share the practice and encourage each other in the practice. The sangha is like our body and we are like the cells.39 Freedom is a precious value for Nhat Hanh and we know that he cherishes his own freedom. Harmonious community is also an ideal that he embraces and teaches extensively. How are these ideals to be balanced?40 It is probably fair to say that Nhat Hanh’s utopia would be a harmonious anarchy much like Phuong Boi; however, he still embraces more proximate social arrangements, such as at Plum Village, with comparatively greater emphasis on community and less emphasis on freedom, as both desirable and attainable. In any case, it is certain that the basic political freedoms—freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly—and the freedom of thought implicit in these—are essential to his vision of a Good society. Children and freedom of thought For Nhat Hanh, child raising plays a foundational role in developing a nonviolent society. The very first of the Tiep Hien precepts expresses his core commitment

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  163 to freedom of thought: “Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. All systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.”41 Nhat Hanh calls this precept the “lion’s roar.” Importantly, this respect for freedom of thought applies to children as well as adults. The third Tiep Hien precept states: “Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views, whether by authority, threat, money, propaganda or even education.”42 Schools, then, should embrace programs that resist imposing certain views and perspectives on children but instead, presumably, nurture their ability to understand for themselves. Such schools would particularly emphasize creating opportunities for children to experience the world directly. The second Tiep Hien precept states in part: “Truth is found in life and not merely in conceptual knowledge. Be ready to learn throughout your entire life and to observe reality in yourself and in the world at all times.”43 This kind of learning would be emphasized in children’s education in a Good society based on Nhat Hanh’s thinking. In a Good society, parental authority, as well as educational systems, should be guided by respect for the child’s freedom of thought: If we are parents, we should train ourselves to respect freedom of thought in our children, even if they are still very young. … We should attempt to be open in order to see and to understand our children, and to refrain from imposing our way on them. Although flowers belong to the tree, they differ from roots, leaves and twigs. We should allow flowers to be flowers, leaves to be leaves, and twigs to be twigs. Then each will develop to its highest point of development.44 That is, parents should let their children be different from them, let them hold different views and pursue different paths in life. Parents, in other words, must respect their children’s otherness, and not expect their children to be continuations of themselves. This may make us wonder: we saw above that Nhat Hanh teaches against individualism by insisting to those who are too individualistic, “your body is not yours alone. Your body belongs to your ancestors, your parents, and future generations.” How can it be the case that parents must respect their children’s otherness, yet children must acknowledge that their bodies belong, in part, to their parents? Here we seem again to be encountering that difficult tradeoff between individual freedom and interbeing. It must be said that both are strong affirmations for Nhat Hanh. The affirmation of interbeing in the Tiep Hien precepts is echoed in the marriage ceremony at Plum Village, where the couple recites: 1. We are aware that all generations of our ancestors and all future generations are present in us. 2. We are aware of the expectations our ancestors, our children, and their children have of us. 3. We are aware that our joy, peace, freedom, and harmony are the joy, peace, freedom, and harmony of our ancestors, our children, and their children.45

164  Sallie B. King This statement evokes a sense of responsibility to all generations past and future and, interestingly, also mentions freedom alongside the expectations of others.46 The statement that parents must “refrain from imposing” their way on their children, on the other hand, is about respecting the most important of all freedoms for Nhat Hanh—freedom of thought. He cites the Kālāma Sutta in support of this approach to child raising, summarizing it as saying: Do not believe in something because people talk much about it, or because it has come from tradition, or just because it is found in the scriptures. … You should consider whether it goes against your judgment, whether it could cause harm, whether it is condemned by wise people, and above all, whether put into practice, it will bring about destruction and pain. … Anything you judge to be beautiful, accords with your judgment, is appreciated by wise people, and, once put into practice, will bring about joy and happiness, you can accept and put into practice.47 It may help to note that on this reading, the freedom of thought espoused here cannot be considered individualistic in the sense of embracing only self-concern inasmuch as the harm and happiness to be considered is not especially one’s own, but the harm and happiness of all. One is encouraged to think for oneself but not only of oneself. Moreover, educational practices based on open-mindedness are in Nhat Hanh’s view good for both the individual and society. “[T]he attitude of openness and non-attachment to views creates respect for the freedom of others.”48 This is crucial to the development of each individual, ensuring that each individual “will develop to its highest point of development,” while it is crucial to society that it be made up of such individuals, since “dogmatism and fanaticism … are the causes of so much conflict and violence.”49 In this way, this approach in Nhat Hanh’s view fosters a radically nonviolent society, one that avoids doing violence to the integrity of the developing individual, or to society as a whole. Transforming society: Conflict resolution, deep listening and loving speech Given this kind of ideal society, the obvious question becomes: how do we move in that direction? Nhat Hanh has taught on this subject frequently. Many might find his recommendations excessively gentle, but they are at any rate quite consistent with his ideal of a nonviolent society. Nhat Hanh is one who very much believes that peace is the way, the only way, to peace. First, making peace is grounded in being peace: [P]eace always begins with yourself as an individual, and, as an individual, you might help building a community of peace. That’s what we try to do. And when the community of a few hundred people knows the practice of peace and brotherhood, and then you can become the refuge for many others who

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  165 come to you and profit from the practice of peace and brotherhood. And then they will join you, and the community gets larger and larger all the time. And the practice of peace and brotherhood will be offered to many other people. That is what is going on.50 Being peace makes a person or a community a model and a resource for others. In building his Sangha, Nhat Hanh has had this in mind—that his followers would become peace themselves and then become resources for individuals and communities around them. This is Nhat Hanh’s thinking of building from the ground up: individuals become peace and then spread that peace to their surroundings. Thus, the more individuals become peace and spread peace, the more one builds a nonviolent society, a society composed of individuals who are personally peaceful and act on that basis. When we turn the focus toward working directly with others, the terms that come up again and again in Nhat Hanh are dialogue, deep listening and compassionate speech. In the third Tiep Hien precept, as we have already seen, Nhat Hanh urged: “Do not force others, including children, by any means whatsoever, to adopt your views” What then, is one to do with others who might fairly be described as narrow-minded or fanatical? As he wrote, “Religious and ideological wars have been the fruits of fanaticism and narrowness.” This way of thinking is dangerous. How should we work with those with such ways of thinking? Nhat Hanh’s answer is a continuation of the third Tiep Hien precept: “[T]hrough compassionate dialogue, help others renounce fanaticism and narrowness.”51 He goes on: Compassionate dialogue is the meaning of nonviolent action. In the beginning, dialogue is undertaken through speech—the kind of speech that is gentle, compassionate, intelligent and can move people’s hearts. Then it can be undertaken in the form of action, which aims to create both moral and social pressure for people to change.52 Over time, Nhat Hanh spoke much less about exerting “pressure” on people to change; this kind of thing never seemed to appeal to him very much. However, he went on to put more and more emphasis on dialogue and conflict resolution. The key skills in this are deep listening and loving speech. If the other person … begins to share, be prepared to practice deep, compassionate listening. Listen with all your mindfulness and concentration. Your sole desire is to give him or her a chance to speak out. … At first, their speech may be full of condemnation, bitterness, and blame. If you can, continue to sit there calmly and listen. … If you interrupt, deny, or correct what they say, you will be unable to go in the direction of reconciliation. … While listening deeply to the other person, not only do you recognize his wrong perceptions, but you also realize that you, too, have wrong perceptions about yourself and the other person. Later, when both of you are calm … [u]sing loving

166  Sallie B. King speech, you can point out how they have misunderstood you or the situation. By using loving speech, you can also help the other person understand your difficulties.53 In an ideal society, Nhat Hanh would like to see everyone receive support to achieve their own peace, and then receive training to make peace in their immediate surroundings and relationships. That is, everyone should be trained to practice active nonviolence, including deep listening and loving speech; society should be made up of people with this capacity. Moreover, there is a place for laws to ensure that this happens: If we consider violence to be a disease, we can use the medicine of deep listening to treat it. … Why don’t we create a law that gives parents a chance to go to a workshop, a retreat, every year—seven days to learn how to take care of each other, to restore communication, mutual understanding, and love? Why don’t we allow schoolteachers to go on a paid retreat each year so they can learn how to transform their suffering and understand the suffering of their students? … It is my dream to set up a peace institute where young people can be trained before they marry in concrete methods of creating happiness and peace in the family.54 Thus, the most direct way to build a nonviolent society is to train people in active nonviolence—above all, deep listening and loving speech—beginning with those who shape children’s lives. Indeed, for Nhat Hanh, in an ideal society there would be peace training in as many domains as possible, not only parents and teachers, but police, veterans, social workers, artists, Congressmen, etc. Indeed, Nhat Hanh has led retreats for all these groups. What about the need to stop violence that is happening right now? This question opens up the topic of policing. Nhat Hanh held a non-sectarian retreat for police and corrections workers in Madison, Wisconsin.55 A police officer who attended the retreat heard him urging the audience to take the five mindfulness trainings (Five Lay Precepts), including the first precept/training with the words, “I am determined not to kill.” She reports: I just assumed, “Well, I’d listen to this, but I can’t do that. I’m a cop. I mean, I might be in a position where I have to kill somebody at some point. I can’t think about taking these.” And Sister Chan Khong [Nhat Hanh’s long-time right hand] … was at that retreat, and she pulled me aside and she had this very wonderful conversation with me, the essence of it being, “Who else would we want to carry a gun except somebody who will do it mindfully? Of course you can take these trainings.”56 Nhat Hanh and his organization, then, while urging peace and nonviolence at every turn, do not insist upon absolute nonviolence for all people in all situations.

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  167 This attitude is first of all affirming and nonviolent toward people like police officers and prison workers—they are not turned away, not rejected or regarded as somehow incapable of the practice—and second, there is straightforward recognition that in some situations, violence is necessary: Is it possible to carry a weapon and yet remain deeply a bodhisattva? This is possible. … Society needs some people to serve as guardians because there are those who will behave in harmful and destructive ways toward others if there is no one to embody discipline, security, and order. So someone who carries a gun, such as a police officer or prison guard, can also be a bodhisattva. He or she may be very firm, but deep within there is the heart of a bodhisattva. Our task is to help prison guards and police officer[s] … recognize and cultivate their bodhisattva nature.57 Even though peace and nonviolence are of paramount importance to Nhat Hanh, then, he still recognizes the need for the occasional use of violence by those whose job it is to protect people and preserve order. This acceptance of the use of violence for this purpose is circumscribed, however. First, those who carry guns ideally would have “the heart of a bodhisattva.” They would presumably receive regular training and constant support to help them maintain and develop their motivation to serve everyone and protect all lives, including those of violent criminals. Second, all would constantly be reminded that use of violence is very much a last resort and that everything else should be tried first. Nhat Hanh speaks of a story from a Mahayana Sutra that is sometimes used to justify so-called, “compassionate killing.” Nhat Hanh raises a skeptical eyebrow to this notion: In one of his past lives, it seems that the Buddha was a passenger on a boat that was overtaken by pirates, and he killed one of them while trying to protect the people on the boat. But that was in an earlier life of the Buddha, before he was an awakened being. If the true Buddha were there he may have had other means; he may have had enough wisdom to find a better way so that the life of the pirate could have been spared.58 For the most part, Nhat Hanh’s ideas about police work are no different than the ideals found in many policing bodies around the world. The main distinction for Nhat Hanh’s system is the effort to find ways to institutionalize compassion for all: compassion for the police, prison guards and others who face an extremely difficult challenge in trying to maintain their ideals in an atmosphere of violence, degradation and constant threats to their own lives; and compassion for those who break laws and commit acts of violence. In an ideal society, there would be ongoing efforts to reform policing and prison systems to continue to move in the direction of compassion and nonviolence. When a gangster is trying to beat and kill, of course you have to lock him up so he will not cause more harm. But you can lock him up angrily with a lot

168  Sallie B. King of hate, or you can lock him up with compassion and with the idea that we should do something to help him. In that case, prison becomes a place where there is love and help.59

International relations and global concerns Response to terrorism Nhat Hanh’s proposal for dealing with terrorism is much like his suggestions for dealing with other conflicts: turn to nonviolent dialogue, in this case with special emphasis on deep listening. Days after the attacks of 9/11 in 2001, Nhat Hanh was asked how he, with his nonviolent philosophy, would respond to Osama bin Laden and how he would deal with terrorism in general.60 The short answer is deep listening: If I were given the opportunity to be face to face with Osama bin Laden the first thing I would do is listen. I would try to understand why he had acted in that cruel way. I would try to understand all of the suffering that had led him to violence.61 That is, first, he would not respond to violence with violence, and second, he would try to understand the cause of the violent act: All violence is injustice. The fire of hatred and violence cannot be extinguished by adding more hatred and violence to the fire. The only antidote to violence is compassion. And what is compassion made of? It is made of understanding. When there is no understanding, how can we feel compassion, how can we begin to relieve the great suffering that is there? So understanding is the very real foundation upon which we build our compassion.62 In Nhat Hanh’s view, then, dealing with terrorism requires a response of active nonviolence. The key here is understanding, which can only be achieved by deep listening: [W]ith the practice of loving speech and compassionate listening, you can begin to understand people and help people to remove the wrong perceptions in them because these wrong perceptions are at the foundation of their anger, their fear, their violence, their hate.63 Here, misunderstanding is identified as the root cause of terrorism and removing that misunderstanding is the action needed for stopping terrorism. Elsewhere, Nhat Hanh recognizes that misunderstanding is only part of the problem: “The deep reason for our current situation [the 9/11 attacks] is our patterns of consumption. U.S. citizens consume sixty percent of the world’s energy resources yet they account for only six percent of the world’s total population.”64 Deep listening may allow one to learn how deeply the injustice of economic inequality angers a people, but their

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  169 anger will not be assuaged by being heard, only by removing that injustice. Nhat Hanh is well aware of this, and his fifth Tiep Hien precept makes clear that a Good society would be free of such inequality. A Good society in line with his views would inculcate deep listening at all levels of society, from the interpersonal to the international, and train people, and society as a whole, to use it to make changes in problematic relationships before violence occurs. It would see to it that action to right the wrongs discovered by such listening would follow as a matter of course. International retreats For several years, groups of Palestinians and Israelis came to Nhat Hanh’s practice center in Plum Village, France for a joint retreat.65 They first spent several days silently practicing mindfulness and cultivating their personal peace in order to become calm, and then entered into several days practicing deep listening and loving speech with each other. Of these retreats, Nhat Hanh writes: [O]ur practice always begins with calming and embracing the pain and sorrow. We discourage the practice of talking and discussing the situation in the Middle East. A lot of talking has been done for many years, and it has not worked. Once we are successful in calming our emotions, we can begin the practice of listening deeply to the other person to understand his or her suffering. Deep listening goes together with the practice of loving speech. We try to speak of our suffering without blaming the other side. We speak without bitterness, blame, or anger. This helps others understand our situation and our suffering. If we use deep listening and loving speech, communication will be possible. Once communication is possible, peace will be the outcome.66 This is Nhat Hanh’s method of conflict resolution in a nutshell. It is very much the same practice whether the participants are a married couple, coworkers, or two sides of an international conflict. Nhat Hanh sees these retreats as models of international conflict transformation that should be replicated for other conflicts and institutionalized on an international level: Because of our very positive experience with helping to facilitate reconciliation, it is my hope that countries can come together to organize a setting like Plum Village on a large scale. What are now called “peace talks” are meetings where people continue to fight each other with words of fear and anger. But we could organize a peace conference as a real retreat, sponsored by as many powerful countries and international organizations as possible. … If we can create a setting where we use the tools of mindfulness, where people can learn to walk with awareness, to breathe, to practice total relaxation, and to embrace their fear and strong emotions then there will be a chance for peace.67

170  Sallie B. King Nhat Hanh formally proposed to UNESCO that it create such an “institute for the practice of peace and nonviolence” and for global religious leaders to create national and regional peace institutes according to the Plum Village model, bringing together any groups in conflict, as a way of building peace.68 Use of the military Just as Nhat Hanh accepts that police officers may need to carry and sparingly use guns, he also accepts that there is a place for the military. Just as with police, the military also should use its weapons only as a last resort, and only under limited circumstances. Instead, skillful foreign policy, based on the understanding of interbeing, should remove most circumstances that lead to war: There are many other ways to defend ourselves: through diplomatic foreign policy, forming alliances with other countries, humanitarian assistance. These are all approaches motivated by the wisdom of interbeing. When we use these approaches to resolve conflicts, the army doesn’t have to do much. They can serve the people by building bridges and roads and mediating small conflicts. … With good foreign policy, the army will not have to fight. Of course, when a country is invaded, the army should resist and defend the people. It is also sometimes necessary for other countries to help a country that is being invaded. … We are not dogmatic, worshiping the idea of nonviolence, because absolute nonviolence is impossible. But it is always possible to be less violent.69 In accepting defensive war, Nhat Hanh is in line with the Buddha’s teachings in the Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta.70 Moreover, his view here is not very different from other just war views: only defensive war is acceptable; even defensive war is acceptable only as a last resort and other means must be tried first; harm, killing and destruction must be kept to a minimum. Of course, it is the rule rather than the exception for just war theories to be ignored and/or cynically distorted. On the other hand, it is possible to train and equip a military force only for defensive purposes, to emphasize its use in international peacekeeping and/or civil engineering, and for it to be the servant of a foreign policy that actively seeks to prevent war. Some countries do have militaries of this kind. A society that embraced the Good Life for All would have a military of this kind.

The natural world In a Good Life society in line with Nhat Hanh’s views, care for the natural world would be a high priority. His teachings on interbeing bring out how inseparable human beings and the world are. The world’s air, water, plants and animals are the raw materials of our bodies. “[E]ach one of us carries the Earth within every cell of our body.”71 The very notion that we may be conceived for a moment

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  171 without the world that “environs” us is profoundly mistaken. The natural world and humankind “inter-are.” For Nhat Hanh, then, “The Earth is not just the environment. The Earth is us. Everything depends on whether we have this insight or not.”72 Everything depends on this because if we realize that the Earth is us we will take care of it; if we lack this insight, we may well not. The Good Life for All must include the Good Life for the natural world, as well as the individual and society, as they are all inseparable. Indeed, much of Nhat Hanh’s teaching is designed to lead us to this insight. Mindfulness practice, as taught by Nhat Hanh, is intended to lead people in this direction. Whereas traditional walking meditation, for example, focuses internally on the physical sensations within the body when one walks, Nhat Hanh’s version has the practitioner focusing on their experiential, sensory interface with the world—feeling the coolness and tactile sensations of the breeze on one’s skin, touching the rough bark of the tree, listening to the sounds of birds and insects, etc. Similarly, he emphasizes mindfulness while eating—looking at, for example, a green bean and then slowly and mindfully eating it. Such practices are designed to put one in touch with one’s body, where we are part of the physical world (as opposed to the mind, which is often out of touch with the world, engaged in discourse with itself), and in immediate touch with the world. The food we eat comes to us from nature, from living beings, and from the cosmos. … We pick up our food with our fork, look at it for a second before putting it into our mouth, and then chew it carefully and mindfully, at least fifty times. If we practice this, we will be in touch with the entire cosmos.73 For those who know “the Earth is us,” and in an ideal society, there will be no need for admonitions to care for the Earth. We will care for the Earth as we care for ourselves. But for those for whom such understanding is dim or nonexistent, admonitions to care for the Earth are necessary. We have already seen a good deal of this in this chapter. With the first lay precept the practitioner declares, “I vow to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of people, animals, plants, and minerals.” The eleventh Tiep Hien precept urges us: “Do not live with a vocation that is harmful to humans and nature.” On a very concrete level, Nhat Hanh proposed that UNESCO sponsor monthly no-car days to “remind us to live in a way that a future will be possible for our children and their children.”74 Nhat Hanh’s monasteries already practice weekly no-car days. Nhat Hanh himself and his monasteries are vegan and he frequently advocates for veganism as well as abstention from alcohol, for many reasons, including the protection of the planet. Regarding climate change, he wrote: We need to consume in such a way that keeps our compassion alive. And yet many of us consume in a way that is very violent. Forests are cut down to raise cattle for beef, or to grow grain for liquor, while millions in the world are dying of starvation. Reducing the amount of meat we eat and alcohol we consume by 50% is a true act of love for ourselves, for the Earth and for one

172  Sallie B. King another. Eating with compassion can already help transform the situation our planet is facing, and restore balance to ourselves and the Earth.75 This quotation spells out some of the Earth-healing that is entailed in Nhat Hanh’s version of the fifth lay precept—consuming mindfully for oneself, society and the planet. Here he is inviting people to move in the direction of veganism and abstention from alcohol. To do so avoids doing violence to ourselves and the planet, and to those who starve while others have plenty. In a nonviolent society, an ideal Good Life society, people would choose to be vegan, abstain from alcohol and take many actions to heal the Earth.

Conclusion In summary, the Good Life for All in Nhat Hanh’s thought entails living in a nonviolent society with laws, institutions, norms and culture that maximize nonviolence, human rights, and social and economic justice. Such a society would especially emphasize educational systems and family practices that nurture openmindedness, kindness, awareness of interbeing and its implications, conflict resolution, and learning throughout life. It would prioritize the availability of expert conflict resolution facilitators and processes in all communities, institutions and at all levels of society from the local to the international. Freedom would be maximized within the limits of (a) harmlessness to all other living things and the planet itself, and (b) awareness of interbeing and our mutual responsibilities to each other and to all living things. Businesses would be socially conscious and required to protect the natural world. Foreign policy would emphasize good relations with others, diplomacy and generosity from those with more to those with less. The military would use violence only in a defensive capacity—to protect; beyond this, it would engage in serving the people in non-military capacities. In this vision of the Good Life for All, the “Interbeing Economy” represents a paradigm shift. The ecology view (“The Earth is not just the environment. The Earth is us”) also represents a paradigm shift. Despite this challenge to most people’s way of thinking, Nhat Hanh’s vision of the Good society would probably be appealing to most. The most controversial part of his views concerns what must be done to move society in this direction. For Nhat Hanh, peace is the way to peace. One of the major questions for progressive Engaged Buddhism has been whether, in their efforts to make the world a better place, they over-emphasize personal change to the neglect of needed institutional change. This question is certainly pertinent to Nhat Hanh’s work. Some may see him as the very model of the excessive Engaged Buddhist focus on the individual. Clearly, there is much of this in the above account, but we should bear in mind that we also see Nhat Hanh praising things like anti-smoking laws, reform of the criminal justice system and the creation of institutions for conflict resolution. In the end, however, Nhat Hanh sees the most profound and lasting change coming from individual character change that builds and spreads from the ground up.

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  173 In this writer’s view, seeking profound societal change by way of promoting personal change in individuals is an approach that reaches for a very deep, strong and lasting kind of change. However, in order for such personal change to reach a critical mass, considerable time is needed. Unfortunately, especially with respect to climate change, there is no time to wait for slow, deep change. At this time, both individual and institutional change are needed. Nhat Hanh’s strength lies in helping individuals to “become peace.” By focusing as he does on personal change, he has made a unique contribution, reaching a mass audience and contributing thereby to broad personal and societal change.

Notes 1 Thich Nhat Hanh, Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. Foreword by Thomas Merton. Afterword by Alfred Hassler (New York: Hill and Wang, 1967). 2 An authoritative short biography of Thich Nhat Hanh can be found at his organization’s website: https​:/​/pl​​umvil​​lage.​​org​/a​​bout/​​thich​​-nhat​​-hanh​​/b​iog​​raphy​/ 3 See Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, edited by Arnold Kotler (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1987), p. 53. 4 Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 54. 5 Thich Nhat Hanh, Happiness: Essential Mindfulness Practices (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2009), p. x. 6 Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 3. 7 Thich Nhat Hanh, Calming the Fearful Mind: A Zen Response to Terrorism (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2005), pp. 13–14. 8 Thich Nhat Hanh, The Art of Power (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), p. 2. 9 Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, pp. 5–7. 10 Nhat Hanh, Power, p. 3. 11 Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 36. 12 Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 45. 13 Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 40. 14 Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, p. 47. 15 Hammalawa Saddhatissa, Buddhist Ethics (London: Wisdom Publications reprint, 1987), p. 73. Pali text removed and punctuation altered. 16 The version of the five mindfulness trainings current at the time of writing can be found on the Plum Village website: https​:/​/pl​​umvil​​lage.​​org​/m​​indfu​​lness​​-prac​​tice/​​the​-5​​-mind​​ fulne​​​ss​-tr​​ainin​​gs/ 17 Thich Nhat Hanh, For A Future to Be Possible: Commentaries on the Five Wonderful Precepts (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1993), p. 3. 18 Nhat Hanh, Future to Be Possible, p. 3. 19 Nhat Hanh, Future to Be Possible, pp. 4–5. 20 Nhat Hanh, Future to Be Possible, pp. 62–79. 21 Nhat Hanh, Future to Be Possible, p. 69. 22 Nhat Hanh, Future to Be Possible, p. 68. 23 This section of the chapter draws directly upon Glenn Manga, “Interbeing autonomy and economy: Toward enduring social and ecological justice,” Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge 6 (3), Article 16 (2008): 122. Available at: http:​/​/sch​​olarw​​orks.​​umb​.e​​du​/hu​​manar​​chite​​cture​​/vo​l6​​/iss3​​/16 (accessed January 10, 2020). 24 Manga, “Interbeing autonomy and economy,” p. 124. 25 Nhat Hanh, Power, p. 4. 26 Nhat Hanh, Power, p. 4.

174  Sallie B. King 27 Thich Nhat Hanh, Interbeing: Commentaries on the Tiep Hien Precepts (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1987), p. 16. 28 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 51. 29 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 53. 30 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 51. 31 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 37. 32 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 32. 33 Marjorie Hope and James Young, The Struggle for Humanity: Agents of Nonviolent Change in a Violent World (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1977), p. 193. 34 Thich Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves: Journals 1962-1966, English translation by Mobi Warren (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1998), pp. 28–29. 35 Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves, p. 25. 36 Nhat Hanh, Fragrant Palm Leaves, pp. 26–27. 37 See Nhat Hanh, Happiness, pp. 103–4. 38 Thich Nhat Hanh, Touching Peace: Practicing the Art of Mindful Living (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1992), p. 89. 39 Lauren Tepper and Thich Nhat Hanh, “A Path to Peace” (Interview of Thich Nhat Hanh by Lauren Tepper). Originally published in August 2013 in Yogacity magazine. Republished at https​:/​/pl​​umvil​​lage.​​org​/a​​rticl​​es​/ne​​ws​/a-​​path​-to​ ​​ -pe​​ace/ (accessed January 9, 2020). 40 Laura Ward sees Nhat Hanh’s teachings as paradoxically functioning on both sides of the dichotomy of “‘mindful individualism’ and ‘communitarian engaged Buddhisms.’” See Laura Ward, “Mindful Individualism and Communitarian Engaged Buddhisms: A comparative analysis, with special reference to Thich Nhat Hanh.” (Master’s thesis). University of Chester, United Kingdom, 2017. 41 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 27. 42 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 32. 43 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 30. 44 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 33. 45 Nhat Hanh, Future to Be Possible, p. 34. 46 The language also seems at least as Confucian as Buddhist. 47 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 32. Ellipses in Nhat Hanh’s original. 48 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 32. 49 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 27. 50 Thich Nhat Hanh, transcript of radio interview on the program, “On Being with Krista Tippett”: “Thich Nhat Hanh, Cheri Maples, and Larry Ward: Being Peace in a World of Trauma.” Air date: September 25, 2003; post updated July 14, 2016. https​:/​/on​​being​​ .org/​​progr​​ams​/t​​hich-​​nhat-​​hanh-​​cheri​​-mapl​​es​-la​​rry​-w​​ard​-b​​eing-​​peace​​-in​-a​​-worl​​d​-​of-​​ traum​​a/​#tr​​anscr​​ipt (accessed January 14, 2020). 51 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 32 52 Nhat Hanh, Interbeing, p. 33. 53 Nhat Hanh, Calming, p. 17. 54 Nhat Hanh, Power, pp. 164–65. 55 See Thich Nhat Hanh, Keeping the Peace: Mindfulness and Public Service, which is based on that retreat (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2005). 56 Cheri Maples in “On Being” transcript. 57 Thich Nhat Hanh, Peaceful Action, Open Heart: Lessons from the Lotus Sutra (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2008), pp. 180–82. 58 Nhat Hanh, Calming, p. 43. This story is found in the Upāya-kauśalya Sutra. 59 Nhat Hanh, Calming, p. 44. 60 See Thich Nhat Hanh beliefnet​.c​om interview, September 2001, “What I Would Say to Osama bin Laden,” https​:/​/ww​​w​.bel​​iefne​​t​.com​​/fait​​hs​/is​​lam​/2​​001​/1​​0​/wha​​t​-i​-w​​ould-​​say​ -t​​o​-​osa​​ma​-bi​​n​-lad​​en​.as​​px (reprinted in Nhat Hanh, Calming, pp. 103–12). 61 Nhat Hanh, Calming, p. 103

Thich Nhat Hanh and the nonviolent society  175 62 Nhat Hanh, Calming, p. 106. 63 Thich Nhat Hanh in “On Being” transcript. 64 Nhat Hanh, Calming, pp. 111–12. 65 Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, Peace Begins Here: Palestinians and Israelis Listening to Each Other, discusses these events (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2004). 66 Nhat Hanh, Peace Begins Here, p. 16. 67 Nhat Hanh, Calming, p. 29. 68 Thich Nhat Hanh, “Call for a Collective Awakening: Speech to UNESCO,” transcript of speech given at UNESCO in Paris, October 7, 2006; posted to the Plum Village website on October 26, 2006. https​:/​/pl​​umvil​​lage.​​org​/a​​bout/​​thich​​-nhat​​-hanh​​/lett​​ers​/c​​all​ -f​​or​-a-​​colle​​ctive​​-awak​​ening​​​-spee​​ch​-to​​-unes​​co/ (accessed January 14, 2020). 69 Nhat Hanh, Calming, pp. 32–37. 70 See “Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta: The Lion’s Roar on the Turning of the Wheel,” in The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya, translated by Maurice Walshe, pp. 395–405. Boston, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications, 1987, 1995. 71 Thich Nhat Hanh, “Thich Nhat Hanh’s Statement on Climate Change for the United Nations,” July 2, 2015. Written for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). https​:/​/pl​​umvil​​lage.​​org​/a​​bout/​​thich​​-nhat​​-hanh​​/lett​​ers​ /t​​hich-​​nhat-​​hanhs​​-stat​​ement​​-on​-c​​limat​​e​​-cha​​nge​-f​​or​-un​​fccc/​ (accessed January 22, 2020). 72 Thich Nhat Hanh, Love Letter to the Earth (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 2013), p. 27. 73 Nhat Hanh, Future to Be Possible, p. 66. 74 Nhat Hanh, “Speech to UNESCO.” 75 Nhat Hanh, “Statement on Climate Change.”

9

Tzu Chi Buddhist compassion relief and the bodhisattva path to a good society Richard Madsen

Beginning in the 1960s, there developed in Taiwan impressive movements of “Buddhism in the Human Realm” (renjian fojiao), often referred to as “Humanistic Buddhism.” The movements had their antecedents in the work of the reformist Chinese monks in the first half of the twentieth century, the most prominent of whom was Tai Xu (Taixu, 1890–1947).1 In response to criticisms by educated progressive Chinese that the Sangha was corrupt and their doctrines were riddled with superstition and that Buddhism in general was inadequate to address the social and political crises facing China, the reformers aimed to purify Chinese Buddhist doctrine by returning to original Indian sources, and to reform the Sangha by raising its educational levels and rationalizing its organization, and by addressing China’s social disorder and political chaos. For Tai Xu it was both a religious project and a nationalist project. He made impressive strides in creating Buddhist academies and a well-ordered Sangha and in inspiring his followers not to try to escape the world but to engage in the human realm of a China in crisis. The crisis, though, was overwhelming and Tai Xu’s project overcome by war and revolution. Tai Xu died in 1947, but after the Communist victory in 1949 (when the development of Chinese Buddhism was suppressed for most of the rest of the twentieth century) many of Tai Xu’s followers fled to Taiwan. The most important of these was the monk Yin Shun (1906–2005), who, in voluminous writings, deepened the intellectual foundation of Tai Xu’s Buddhism in the Human Realm.2 In the late 1960s and 1970s, several monastics established Humanistic Buddhist institutions that built on these intellectual foundations, notably the nun Cheng Yen (Zheng Yan in pinyin romanization), who was ordained by Yin Shun himself and founded Tzu Chi (Ciji in pinyin)—the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Foundation—and the monks Hsing Yun (Xing Yun in pinyin), who in 1968 founded the Buddhist Light Mountain monastery, and Sheng Yen (Sheng Yan in pinyin), who in the late 1970s began the work that culminated in the creation of Dharma Drum Mountain. From modest beginnings, these institutions have grown spectacularly, and they now have a global reach. They are the prime examples of Taiwan-originated Humanistic Buddhism. Though they share the ideal that to escape the world of samsara people must somewhat paradoxically enter deeply into the world and strive with compassion to

Tzu Chi  177 heal its suffering, each of these has a somewhat different approach to Humanistic Buddhist organization and practice and they are to some extent rivals of one another. This chapter will focus on the globally best-known organization, Tzu Chi, but with some commentary comparing it to the others. What is Tzu Chi’s vision of a good society, how does it try to create such a society and what contributions has it made and what limitations encountered?

Charitable foundation and Dharma lineage The Buddhist Compassionate Relief Foundation, Tzu Chi, is not formally a part of the Buddhist Sangha. It is a charitable organization, most of whose members and directors are lay people. It has four principal missions: disaster relief, medical service, education and humanistic cultural development, and four other major activities of international relief, bone marrow donation, environmental protection and community volunteering—which together constitute its “eight footprints.” One does not even have to be a Buddhist to participate in these, and some Tzu Chi members are not, although the vast majority are Buddhist. It carries out its missions around the world and has NGO status with the United Nations (through its US branch, since Taiwanese organizations cannot be part of the UN). As a formal organization, it is somewhat similar to the evangelical Christian World Vision International, or to Catholic Relief Services or Jewish Family Services. But it is more fully imbued with religious spirit than these other organizations. It is an extension of the Sangha and the Still Thoughts (Jingsi) Dharma lineage founded by the Dharma Master Cheng Yen.3 In 1966, as a young nun, recently ordained by Yin Shun and living in a small temple in Hualien (Hualian in pinyin), at the time one of the most remote, underdeveloped parts of Taiwan, Cheng Yen organized some local housewives to put aside several cents a day to contribute to the needs of the poor. She taught this as a kind of Buddhist spiritual practice, a way to follow the bodhisattva path. (Regular small contributions instead of a large lump sum once a year would constitute steady steps along the path and bring a steady flow of merit.) The housewives became organized as the Buddhist Compassionate Relief Foundation, which steadily grew in size and scope and now has at least four million members and branches in every inhabited continent of the world. The headquarters of the foundation are based in Hualien, next to the Abode of Still Thoughts, a monastery of around 100 nuns led by Master Cheng Yen. Tzu Chi members consider the Abode their spiritual home and most cherish pilgrimages to the Abode and visits with Cheng Yen and the other nuns. Tzu Chi members receive spiritual guidance from Cheng Yen’s voluminous writings and her Dharma talks broadcast daily around the world by Tzu Chi’s Great Love media network. To discuss Tzu Chi’s vision of a good society we should first distinguish the Abode of Still Thoughts and the Tzu Chi Foundation before seeing how the two come together. Following the principle that a “day without work is a day without eating,” the nuns at the Abode, including Master Cheng Yen, are self-sufficient. They support themselves by producing some handicrafts, organic soap and a

178  Richard Madsen nutritional powder produced from beans cultivated by themselves on their own land. The Foundation, on the other hand, has hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue from charitable contributions and billions of dollars in assets from its networks of hospitals and clinics, a university (including a medical school and nursing school) and middle and elementary schools, a TV station, handsome meeting halls and a recycling plant for transforming plastic waste collected by volunteers to clean up the environment. The nuns of the Abode get none of the money from the Foundation. Some of them participate in activities of the Foundation, although this work is mostly done by lay people. The nun’s community is run according to strict Vinaya rules and follows the regular round of monastic prayer and ritual. Cheng Yen travels to Tzu Chi branches throughout Taiwan, usually with a small entourage of nuns, but (unlike Hsing Yun, the founder of Buddha’s Light Mountain and the late Sheng Yen, the founder of Dharma Drum) never abroad because of her fragile health. She constantly meets with leaders of the Foundation, both in person and through video, and makes the definitive decisions about the Foundation’s operation. But her most important role is of a spiritual leader. She has an enormous charismatic authority and evokes deep loyalty from Tzu Chi members, and her small monastic Sangha provides the spiritual model for Tzu Chi’s practices. In 2007, Cheng Yen officially established the Still Thoughts lineage as a distinct Dharma lineage.4 After discussing some of the tenets of this lineage we can assess how it shapes the Tzu Chi way of life.

Religious vision The Jingsi (Still Thoughts) Dharma Lineage Prayer expresses the main principles of the lineage, and it is recited or sung before every spiritual practice, not only at the Abode but throughout Tzu Chi.5 The Jingsi Dharma Lineage is a path of diligent practice We carry on the Dharma’s essence and make great vows The Tzu Chi School of Buddhism is a path through the world With compassion and wisdom, we exercise the Four Infinite Minds With sincerity, we vow to deliver all sentient beings With integrity, we vow to eliminate all afflictions With faith, we vow to learn all teachings With steadfastness, we vow to attain Buddhahood Great loving-kindness without regrets brings infinite love Great compassion without resentment brings infinite vows Great joy without worries brings infinite happiness Great equanimity without expectations brings infinite grace We work together while remaining clear and pure like a crystal sphere This forest of Bodhi trees flourishes from the same root We are all united in cultivating fields of blessings We deeply plant the roots of wisdom on the Bodhisattva path

Tzu Chi  179 The prayer, which in its third line identifies itself not only as the Still Thoughts lineage but the Tzu Chi School of Buddhism, is true to classical Buddhist teachings, but there is particular emphasis on the bodhisattva path—the path of exercising wisdom and compassion to deliver all sentient beings. The deliverance is both material—to take care of their physical suffering—and spiritual—to bring them to enlightenment. The practitioners who say this prayer are vowing to bring themselves on the path to buddhahood by helping others. To exercise great compassion and wisdom (Tzu Chi members often list compassion first) they must overcome “afflictions”—the classic afflictions of greed, anger and ignorance. They do this by vowing to practice ever more of the virtues of loving-kindness, steadfastness, joy (seen not as a feeling that happens when something good happens to you, but a positive attitude that pervades all actions) and equanimity. Members of the Still Thoughts lineage and Tzu Chi School of Buddhism should have great harmony and solidarity, “remaining clear and pure like a crystal sphere” and “united in cultivating fields of blessings.” In many traditions, such as Dharma Drum Mountain, the mindfulness that enables compassion to flourish is attained through silent meditation or through chanting. But, as stated in a Tzu Chi publication, “In the Jing Si Dharma lineage, the bodhisattva path of putting compassion in action is the practice.”6 This practice, as Cheng Yen says, is that of “entering into society with the spirit of selfless love that the Buddha teaches, the Four Immeasurable Minds of loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.”7 One of her most quoted maxims is “Just do it.” A key moral guide for following this path are the classic Five Precepts, vows to refrain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and alcohol consumption. But, unlike the other main Humanistic Buddhist schools, which do not make such official additions to the classic Buddhist precepts, Tzu Chi adds another five precepts.8 Do not smoke, use drugs, or chew betel nut Do not gamble or speculate Be filial to your parents and moderate in speech and attitude Obey traffic laws [in Taiwan, perhaps the most difficult one to keep] Do not participate in politics or demonstrations The additions suggest something of the distinctive Tzu Chi approach. It affirms the dignified social ideals of a fairly conservative, middle-aged Taiwanese upper middle class (the majority of Tzu Chi membership), for whom drugs and especially betel nut chewing are seen as vulgar, wealth through gambling and financial speculation is no substitute for honest hard work, family harmony is of major importance (especially when challenged by an unruly younger generation) and people should obey all laws and avoid contentious, “political” methods for resolving social disputes. Master Cheng Yen and the spiritual leaders of the Still Thoughts lineage and Tzu Chi Foundation are not naive about the challenges of putting their vision into action. Cheng Yen identifies our time as the “Dharma-ending, Degenerate

180  Richard Madsen Age,” when classic texts say that “moral chaos, strife, unrest, famine and natural disasters proliferate, and people are no longer capable of following the teachings.” Almost every day the Tzu Chi Great Love TV beams videos of natural disasters and social turmoil, while urging Tzu Chi followers to help the victims. Cheng Yen says: The state of the Earth reflects the state of our minds. When the Earth is not well, it means our minds are not well either. People are spiritually ill; their minds are out of harmony and filled with greed, anger, and ignorance. This is the root reason why our Earth is not peaceful. The solution to these problems is not conflictual political action but a transformation in the state of human minds, which is accomplished through compassionate, loving action. When many people have a heart of goodness and a mentality of helping others, the world can become a wonderful spring-like place, with all things thriving and growing abundantly. Every person with an altruistic heart is like a drop of dew. When many droplets of dew settle on the land, the soil draws moisture and is amply nourished. When all things growing on the land flourish, Nature flourishes.9 The proper way to live in the degenerate age is to enter the world so as to bring the Dharma into it through practices of compassion—spreading droplets of love onto dry soil. Yet “in going among people,” as Cheng Yen says in her talk on the Lotus Sutra, we “must remain undefiled.”10 As we shall see, that is the challenge Tzu Chi has to constantly wrestle with.

Practical vision of the Pure Land in the human realm A fundamental tenet of all organizations in Taiwan’s Humanistic Buddhism movement is that to “leave the world, one must enter the world.” The phrase evokes the Pure Land Buddhist tradition that runs through almost all branches of Buddhism in East Asia. The Pure Land is an other-worldly realm, full of wondrous delights. If one accumulates enough merit through good deeds, or at least receives merit by chanting Amitābha Buddha’s name at the moment of death (throughout the centuries there were debates about the relative balance for salvation of merit through good deeds and chanting the name), one will get reborn into the Pure Land, where one will dwell for billions of years, receiving guidance from bodhisattvas to attain full enlightenment.11 It is a vision of escape from this world into a kind of Heaven. But for Humanistic Buddhists, the Pure Land is found within this world and one gets to this Pure Land by shaping this world into an ideal form. Many members of Tzu Chi believe, in fact, that if they accumulate enough merit through their works of generosity they will after death be reborn into this world so that they can continue working with Tzu Chi to create a Pure Land on this Earth. The

Tzu Chi  181 philosophical writings of Master Cheng Yen are fairly vague about the actual shape of this Earthly Pure Land, but Tzu Chi is more devoted to practice than to theorizing and its practical missions give us a picture of what kind of world they would try to create. As mentioned above, Tzu Chi structures its work around “eight footprints”: the missions of charity, medicine, education and culture, and the activities of international relief, bone marrow donation, environmental protection and community volunteering. Together, these eight footprints point to the economy, society and culture of the Pure Land that they seek to create on this Earth.12 The guiding slogan for the mission of charity is: “Educating the rich to help the poor; inspiring the poor to realize their riches.” Tzu Chi is world-renowned for the hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours and millions of dollars it contributes to helping people in need, especially victims of natural disasters, but also poor people who need economic development assistance. What kind of Pure Land economy would this effort create? It would not be perfectly egalitarian. There would still be people relatively well off (beneficiaries of good karma) and those less so. But even those less well off would not suffer from material deprivation because the beneficence of the rich would provide for them. Meanwhile, the rich would be educated to generously give away a lot of their wealth so that the level of economic inequality would be relatively low. This is definitely not a vision of economic liberalism in which individuals compete in a market to maximize their self-interests, nor a Marxist vision of class struggle. It is a vision of an interdependent society whose members are driven by mutual compassion and gratitude. It is a vision in which everyone works in roles corresponding to their status, but all the work is done for the common good rather than to maximize profit. There is no alienated labor.13 At the base of this economy there are families. Tzu Chi’s charities aim to keep families together and to foster cooperation among their members. The notion of the family in Tzu Chi publications is based on the Confucian vision of hierarchical interdependence. Parents nurture their children, children exercise filial piety toward their parents, husbands and wives play separate but complementary roles, older siblings help the younger, who in turn defer to them. But unlike authoritarian versions of Confucianism, the Tzu Chi vision emphasizes the mutual respect and care among different members of a unified whole.14 The mission of medicine points toward a world that is technologically advanced. Tzu Chi has built six hospitals in Taiwan and has medical facilities around the world. The hospitals are well equipped with the most technologically advanced means of Western medical treatment, and the medical directors are committed to constant technological upgrading. The hospitals carry out advanced medical research that may even violate some Buddhist precepts: for example, they carry out scientific experiments on animals that require some animals to be sacrificed. (The Master says that this is all right as long as it is done for a good medical purpose and the animals are not caused needless suffering.)15 The slogan for the medical mission is “Patient-centered medical care that respects patients as teachers.” The Pure Land imagined by Tzu Chi is one in

182  Richard Madsen which all illnesses are cured by technically advanced medicine, carried out by caring medical professionals and supplemented with caring volunteers, so that whole persons are healed in mind as well as body. But even though people in this Pure Land remain healthy through advanced medicine, death must eventually come. The Tzu Chi medical mission fully accepts this. They have pioneered the development of palliative care for the terminally ill—on the top floor of hospitals, not separated from them. And each hospital has connected to it a morgue—not separate as in most Western hospitals.16 The full cycle of life is embraced with compassionate care. The mission of education aims for an ideal world in which everyone is educated not only in the most advanced science and technology but in the wisdom that comes with the cultivation of Buddhist moral virtues. The motto for Tzu Chi schools is “kindness, compassion, joy, and selfless giving.” The beginning of Tzu Chi’s educational mission was a nursing college established in 1989 to train nurses for Tzu Chi’s first hospital, the General Hospital in Hualien. That grew into a comprehensive university and then into a K-through-12 school. Tzu Chi members have also developed a curriculum for moral education for use in Taiwan’s public schools. Unlike many of the alternatives in Taiwan, this relies not on rote learning but on active role playing and artistic expression.17 Tzu Chi also sponsors academies in the United States to provide cultural education to children of Chinese parents. At all levels, the schools use creative methods to integrate cognitive development with emotional and moral development. In the medical school, for example, besides the standard courses on medicine, there are courses on the Chinese tea ceremony and flower arranging, ritualized disciplines that integrate social etiquette with aesthetic sensibility.18 There are indeed similar courses at all levels of Tzu Chi education. The Tzu Chi Pure Land would be a place where all can embrace the full range of human knowledge while integrating it with true moral wisdom. The mission of culture is guided by the slogan of “Recording the examples of goodness and integrity for future generations.” The ideal Tzu Chi world would be one in which the best forms of art and literature from throughout the ages would be available to everyone. Tzu Chi tries to bring this about through its very extensive media services—especially its Great Love television station—and glossy magazines about the beauties of world cultures. Through the way it adorns its buildings and the way it shapes the behavior of its followers, it cultivates images of a delicate aesthetic beauty and gracious social interaction. The worldly Pure Land of Tzu Chi would not be a realm of ascetic deprivation but a Middle Way of graciously beautiful living, a way available to all, not only the rich. The four major activities to supplement these missions actualize high medical technology and integrate humanity with its Earthly environment in a social world that is both global and local. The bone marrow donation program collects blood samples to create a registry of genetic matches for bone marrow donations to benefit patients suffering from various cancers. It also fosters stem cell research and gene therapy. Tzu Chi’s bone marrow registry is the largest in Asia, and its donors benefit people

Tzu Chi  183 throughout the world. Tzu Chi promotes the practice of bone marrow donation, which can be painful, as an act of great generosity. This points toward a world in which the most advanced medical technologies will be actualized by the generosity of donors to bring about healing for all. The environmental protection program looks toward a world of perfect harmony with nature. Tzu Chi volunteers carry out extensive projects to recycle garbage and turn discarded plastic into items like reusable utensils and blankets. To reduce greenhouse gases, Tzu Chi promotes a vegan lifestyle and encourages forms of transformation that minimize the use of fossil fuels. They promote a Middle Way lifestyle in which people can eat well with elegantly prepared vegetarian food and live in beautiful surroundings, but without being caught up in incessant consumerism. The Earthly Pure Land would therefore have a beautiful, comfortable way of life perfectly integrated with nature. Tzu Chi’s projects of international relief mobilize volunteers to serve afflicted people of every race and religion and political ideology throughout the world, even those who are potential enemies of people in Taiwan. Tzu Chi has carried out extensive missions in the People’s Republic of China as well as North Korea and in Muslim countries like Indonesia and Bangladesh and in war-torn countries like Rwanda and Kosovo. They take special pride in generously helping people who are maximally different from themselves and in educating themselves to compassionately appreciate the differences. As a matter of principle, they make no effort to convert recipients of their help to Buddhism. The worldly Pure Land would thus span the whole world, respecting its diversity but weaving all its diverse parts into peaceful harmony through webs of loving care. This globalism would, however, be complemented with a strong localism. The eighth Tzu Chi footprint is community volunteering. Its slogan is “by supporting and caring for each other, they make a beautiful neighborhood.” Tzu Chi mobilizes its members to hold “Spread seeds of love” tea parties for the purpose of recruiting their neighbors for projects to turn their neighborhoods into happy communities. The Pure Land would consist of strong local communities, with neighbors helping neighbors while cultivating a vision of a globally interdependent world. The reader will notice that one thing missing in this vision of an ideal society is politics. There is no place for the coercive apparatus of the state in the Pure Land because everyone would work in harmonious interdependence. This vision of a Pure Land on Earth is a utopian vision, but it is not a theoretical utopia, the product of a contemplative imagination. It is a practical utopia, the product of a commitment to action, which creates an organization and carries out projects to bring about some foretaste of the Pure Land in a degenerate age. It is a vision that defies standard categories of the “modern” and “traditional.” It does not fit with either of the main modern ideologies of liberalism or Marxism, rejecting liberalism’s vision of competitive individualism and Marxism’s vision of collectivist class struggle. It would also reject modern feminism’s vision of empowering women to overcome all systems of gender difference. But neither is it really traditional. It rejects versions of Buddhism wedded to an unchanging

184  Richard Madsen system of doctrines, and rejects versions of Confucianism conceived as a rigid system of hierarchical obligations. It embraces modern science and technology and the academic research needed to develop them. It empowers women by giving them agency as global aid workers, healers and educators. It emphasizes mutual respect, not authoritarian domination in the family. It is a creative contribution to a troubled world when neither modern ideologies nor traditional philosophies seem to be effective in grasping the crises of the twenty-first century. But how effective can the Tzu Chi vision be in practice? We must now examine how the practice is embodied in and limited by the Tzu Chi organization.

Practical embodiment in a foundation Tzu Chi is a foundation that gathers money and mobilizes followers to help others. It has over four million members, mostly from Taiwan and from the Taiwanese diaspora around the world, but also including other ethnicities and nationalities, although perhaps not as many as Tzu Chi’s leaders would have hoped. The most basic requirement of membership is the willingness to contribute a certain amount of money every month and to be available, when the need arises, to volunteer for works of charity. There are layers of membership, the central layer being the (female) Commissioners and (male) Faith Corps, which together now encompass over 80,000. To become a member of this elite group, one has to recruit friends and neighbors to contribute to Tzu Chi, live an exemplary life and engage in various training programs. The Commissioners and Faith Corps wear a distinctive uniform. On formal occasions, the women wear a navy blue dress, designed by Cheng Yen herself and called the “robe of gentleness and forbearance,” and wear their hair in a tidy bun, with a Tzu Chi hairpin. When carrying out charitable activities, however, they wear the same uniform as the men, a short-sleeved navy blue shirt, white pants and a baseball-style cap with a Tzu Chi logo. There are other, somewhat similar uniforms for other persons connected with Tzu Chi, like the Tzu Chi youth corps, staff members at Tzu Chi offices, and teachers at its university. The impression is that of a union of all Tzu Chi members in a common purpose. But even within the elite circles of Commissioners and Faith Corps members, there are signs of stratification. Members wear a badge that gives each a formal rank based on when they joined. And besides visual symbols, there are clear chains of command that seem to be acknowledged by all. The foundation is arranged into multiple branches, each of which has a head and other associated leaders. The branches are supposed to take local initiative, so that when, for instance, a hurricane hits a major United States city, the Tzu Chi branches nearby take the initiative to raise money and send volunteers to help. But all this is done with consultation with Tzu Chi headquarters in Taiwan, and for major disasters the headquarters will raise money from throughout the world and mobilize volunteer help. In each of its eight footprints, Tzu Chi endeavors to “combine social ministry with spiritual ministry.” This means helping others in distinctive ways. Take,

Tzu Chi  185 for example, the way Tzu Chi gives out cash cards, food, clothing and temporary housing to victims of natural disasters—international relief work that has justly made them globally famous. Though distributions are largely organized according to best practices of most global relief organizations—with primary attention to the poorest and most vulnerable and without regard to race, religion or nationality—Tzu Chi insists on giving the donations in a highly ritualized way. Volunteers line up to hand the donations to the participants with a smile and a reverent bow. There is Tzu Chi music and singing before and after the distribution. The Tzu Chi banner and picture of Cheng Yen are prominently displayed. There are ritualized expressions of gratitude from the givers for the opportunity to be able to help the recipients and then of course tears of joy, often accompanied by hugs from the participants, all carefully filmed for broadcast on Tzu Chi media.19 Besides benefiting the recipients materially, the practice is supposed to benefit the givers spiritually. It cultivates them to proceed along the bodhisattva path, which is why the givers are trained to express such gratitude for the opportunity to give. The videos of the distribution events then are transmitted throughout the Tzu Chi community, allowing far-flung donors to participate vicariously in the ritual. Management experts have noted that even though this way of giving out aid is not maximally efficient, it is in the end more effective because it reinforces donor commitment and helps build lasting bonds between donors and recipients.20 Other ways of combining material with spiritual ministry are manifest throughout the Tzu Chi missions. For medical care, they have built six major hospitals in Taiwan and have other hospitals and clinics worldwide, including mobile clinics that bring medical care directly to impoverished communities. The hospitals are run with high levels of professional competence and are intentionally made accessible to all, irrespective of ability to pay. What makes the medical care distinctive is a strong reliance on Tzu Chi volunteers, mobilized to supplement the healthcare professionals to visit the sick with offers of cheerful care and encouragement. Through its bone marrow registry, members can, if necessary, give a piece of themselves to people—of any race, religion or nationality—who need a transplant. As for education, there is an attempt to infuse its technical aspects with the warmth of human compassion, again also made possible by volunteers who follow the bodhisattva path by helping the professional teachers, but also made possible by innovative practices within the curriculum. An example is the way the gross anatomy class is presented in the Tzu Chi Medical School. The course trains medical students to dissect human cadavers, but unlike standard medical school practice, the cadaver is treated with great ritualized respect: called a “silent teacher,” it is welcomed with prayer and ritual; biographies of the deceased are displayed on the classroom wall; and at the end, the cadaver is cremated in a solemn ceremony, with the medical students acting as pall bearers. Half the ashes are returned to the deceased’s family and half placed in urns in a chapel (fotan) next to the anatomy classroom, where students and teachers can meditate and pray in gratitude to the silent teacher for contributing to their education. The intent is to

186  Richard Madsen train physicians to see their patients not simply as bodies to be fixed but persons to be respected.21 The mission of humanistic culture tries to instill an appreciation for the most beautiful forms of art and music from all cultures, while especially emphasizing those that—as in the tea ceremony taught by Tzu Chi—refine the aesthetic sensibilities of mind, heart and body. In all these cases, practices of care and compassion are carried out through ritualized etiquette. The specific specialized rituals are amplified through large general Tzu Chi rituals, sometimes bringing thousands of members together, especially at auspicious times like the lunar New Year, in exquisitely organized ceremonies of song and prayer.

The Tzu Chi world: Charitable foundation as religious movement Thus, besides being an effective NGO, the Tzu Chi Foundation is part of a religious movement, in symbiosis with the Still Thoughts lineage, which manifests a distinct social vision in practical terms. In its imperfect way it is a manifestation of the Pure Land on Earth. The vision expresses Cheng Yen’s Buddhist philosophy as outlined above but also shapes it according to practical exigencies and organizational constraints. Cheng Yen posits an ideal world of interdependent humans in loving harmony with each other and with all of nature. But she acknowledges that we live in a Dharma-degenerate world which can only be saved by millions of acts of love from those who have purified their minds by following the bodhisattva path. Tzu Chi embodies this world—the “Tzu Chi world,” as they call it—in a large, tightly organized (yet flexible) organization, where everybody dresses the same, reads the same texts and watches the same videos, practices the same rituals, utters the same slogans and generally follows the same etiquette. The organization encompasses a whole way of life, a “crystal sphere” as the Still Thoughts prayer puts it. Tzu Chi members are engaged in the world through following the bodhisattva path of helping others in need, but the Tzu Chi path makes them also stand apart from the world. They gratefully help others in order to help themselves spiritually. (And the extent of their spiritual cultivation gives them status within their organization.) In accord with the norms of the organization, they insist that they give to all who need with no expectation of any return. Yet they do this to spread the Dharma, to deepen it within themselves and to bring it to others. They do not proselytize—in places devastated by floods and fires in Latin America and Southeast Asia, they help communities rebuild Christian churches and Islamic mosques. Yet they do want their good deeds to inspire beneficiaries and the general public to follow the bodhisattva path. Thus they spend a great amount of effort in publicizing their works through many forms of media. In the Tzu Chi headquarters there is a large archive documenting all of Tzu Chi’s many projects. “These,” a Tzu Chi leader told me, “are our sutras.”22 All such activities have helped Tzu Chi grow exponentially since its humble beginnings. But

Tzu Chi  187 its compassion gets embodied in a somewhat closed organization and visualized through the tropes of modern media. To maintain its image, Tzu Chi takes care to control critical access to its inner workings. The compassion also gets structured according to the demands of a professionalized organization. The Dharma joy of a large community of volunteers has to fit into the complex division of labor and authority structures of the organization. Professional needs-assessment teams determine what aid should be given in natural disasters, and logistical managers arrange the deployment of volunteers and the rituals of giving. Volunteers in hospitals have to fit the protocols of professional medicine. Education programs need to meet accreditation requirements. The presentation of humanistic culture has to be formed in accordance with the respectable tastes of middle-class audiences: no transgressive modern art. Tzu Chi members are supposed to practice patience and forbearance and, according to the seventh Tzu Chi precept, they are to manifest this in moderate speech and attitudes. According to the tenth precept, they are to avoid political conflict. But as activists who want and need to get things done in this world, Tzu Chi members often must confront obstacles. At least while wearing the Tzu Chi uniform (and for many even when not wearing it), they do indeed speak in a soft, gentle manner and maintain upbeat attitudes even in the face of provocations. Such is the power of a strong Tzu Chi norm and of mutual scrutiny within the “crystal sphere.” But one gets the sense sometimes of repressed feelings manifested through passive aggression.23

Religious and organizational tensions There is a basic tension within the Still Thoughts vision, and it gets exacerbated when the vision becomes embodied in the Tzu Chi organization. The fundamental tension is between “tradition” and “modernity.” The Still Thoughts lineage is both very conservative and very progressive. It is firmly based in classic Buddhist teachings and its nuns “leave the family” and at least partially separate themselves from the world to live according to strict Vinaya rules. In this it is similar to Buddha’s Light Mountain and Dharma Drum Mountain. Like the other two, it calls upon lay people to fully embrace the Dharma and it mobilizes large numbers of them to spread Buddhist wisdom and compassion in the world. All of the Taiwan Humanistic Buddhist associations urge their members to follow the bodhisattva path, but Buddha’s Light Mountain combines the bodhisattva path with a wide range of ritual and intellectual activities (including Chan), and Dharma Drum Mountain combines it with a strong emphasis on Chan as well as scholarship. The emphasis in the Still Thoughts lineage is almost exclusively on the bodhisattva path of practicing love and compassion for all living things and indeed for the whole Earth. To help her disciples follow this path, Master Cheng Yen created the enormously successful Tzu Chi Foundation, which has become a multi-billion-dollar organization operated according to modern forms of professional management. The good works documented in its archives “are our sutras.” Tzu Chi undoubtedly

188  Richard Madsen retains a Buddhist spirit, but a problem persists of how to maintain that spirit. Its size overwhelms the small Abode of Still Thoughts. Its members all say that the Abode is their spiritual home and they are absolutely reverential toward the charisma of Cheng Yen, but the sheer disparity in size and scope between the two organizations causes tensions. Meanwhile, the very size and complexity of the Tzu Chi organization makes it difficult to maintain a simple and wholesale commitment to a Buddhist vision. Finally, the practical exigencies of a socially divided and politically riven world in this Dharma-degenerate age make it difficult to maintain the Buddhist virtues of patience and forbearance, not to mention joy and equanimity. These tensions became manifest in several public controversies that have afflicted Tzu Chi over the past decade.24 The first controversy was in response to Tzu Chi’s relief efforts after Typhoon Morakot devastated aboriginal villages in southern Taiwan in 2009. Tzu Chi mobilized 8,000 volunteers and contributed millions of dollars to rebuild aboriginal villages and schools. The controversies arose when spokesmen for the aborigines complained that the arrangements for the housing did not respect their culture (and their mostly Christian faith). Petitions were signed not only by aborigines themselves but by “more than 20 delegates from Catholic, Methodist, and Seventh-day Adventist churches, as well as by social organizations from across Taiwan.” The petitioners alleged that Tzu Chi had scorned traditional aborigine culture and lifestyles, for example, by forbidding aborigines from carving totems in the new homes constructed for them. The aborigines were upset that a new Christian chapel built by the Tzu Chi organization included Buddhist slogans and a copy of “New Ten Commandments”—the Tzu Chi ten precepts—posted on its walls. Some of the aborigines seemed to think that Tzu Chi treated them as recipients of charity rather than as equal stakeholders in the rebuilding of their communities. “We want terms and conditions that treat us with dignity as we rebuild our home,” said one group of aborigines.25 According to Cheng Yen and all its leaders, the Tzu Chi bodhisattva practice makes great effort to give without thought of any return and to honor the dignity of each recipient. Nonetheless, it appears that the desire to cultivate oneself through generosity can lead to a condescending attitude. Although the foundation’s spiritual leaders may sincerely warn against such attitudes, as the foundation grows in size it can be tempted to set the terms of its relationship with the outside world, and despite good intentions its members might sometimes give in to the temptation. A second, and even more intense, controversy arose in 2013 over Tzu Chi’s relationship with a major donor, Wei Ying-chung (Wei Yingchong in pinyin), whose food conglomerate had been found to be selling adulterated cooking oil. This was a major scandal not only for betraying the trust of Taiwanese consumers but for harming the reputation of a major Taiwan export brand, and Wei was sentenced to prison. But despite public outcry, Master Cheng Yen refused to denounce Wei and Tzu Chi initially continued to sell his company’s instant noodles in its book stores, although it discontinued them as the outcry increased in intensity. This loyalty to a disgraced member brought Tzu Chi a great deal of criticism. The effort to create a compassionate, harmonious society, when exercised within a

Tzu Chi  189 large, somewhat insular organization with an increasingly big public impact, can come into conflict with a public demand for equality and justice. A third controversy arose in 2015 over arrangements Tzu Chi had made to purchase a piece of land in Taipei to house a recycling plant for the plastic that its volunteers collect in their environmental protection activities. Although Tzu Chi had its defenders, the issue involved the opacity of its finances and its ability to use personal connections to get favors from social elites. Finally, there were revelations that Tzu Chi’s branches in the United States had invested their money in portfolios that included tobacco companies, chemical industries and weapons producers, all supporting activities that Buddhist ethics would oppose. Some of the criticisms directed against Tzu Chi may indeed have been based on misunderstandings and innocent mistakes, and insofar as they are valid, Tzu Chi should be given credit for trying to correct its mistakes. But the controversies illustrate the difficulties of maintaining traditional Buddhist values when those very values create a large modern organization that has great material success and social recognition. A final problem is political. Although Tzu Chi’s tenth precept forbids involvement in politics, its very size, wealth and media reach give it considerable political influence. During election campaigns, every candidate makes a pilgrimage to the Abode of Still Thoughts to ask Master Cheng Yen’s advice on the moral issues of the day. Social elites who want to acquire a good reputation may seek membership in Tzu Chi and seek favorable treatment for their enterprises when it comes to supplying materials for Tzu Chi’s medical and relief missions. Communities that have benefited from Tzu Chi’s help may feel some subtle pressure to support Tzu Chi in other issues. Finally, Tzu Chi’s international aid missions seem to be used by the government of Taiwan, which lacks international recognition, as a means of projecting “soft power.” All the while, Tzu Chi’s refusal to engage in public conflict means that its political influence gets exercised in quiet negotiations that may offend increasing public demands for transparency. For an older generation in Taiwan, this may be acceptable, even laudatory, but for a younger generation, increasingly suspicious of established elites, increasingly concerned about political transparency and increasingly fond of social movements, the Tzu Chi approach may seem out of date and irrelevant to the major challenges facing the world today.26

Perennial challenges and modern realities The Still Thoughts lineage and Tzu Chi Foundation are thus caught up in tensions between traditional values and modern organization—the perennial challenge of realizing a utopian vision in a corrupted world but now with modern characteristics. The tensions have so far been sufficiently resolved to sustain and inspire an extraordinarily dynamic Humanistic Buddhist movement—largely because of the charismatic leadership of Master Cheng Yen. Especially among Tzu Chi members, but also among the general public, she inspires not only admiration but enormous devotion. With her in charge, even among challenges, Tzu Chi’s missions

190  Richard Madsen remain coherent. With her as an unquestioned model, members clothe themselves in patience and forbearance and reach beyond themselves to exercise universal compassion throughout the world. Yet as the Buddha teaches, all things are impermanent. Cheng Yen is now over 80 years old. After her passing, the Still Thoughts Sangha will have to find new leaders and it will not be easy to maintain Cheng Yen’s level of authority. This might make it difficult for it to maintain strong spiritual authority over the Tzu Chi Foundation, the lay leaders of which come from different generations and may have somewhat different visions for how to develop it in the future. Moreover, the global context in which Tzu Chi arose is changing. Demands for structural change in systems of wealth and power are increasing and gestures of individual kindness may get overshadowed by demands for social justice. The world vision of Still Thoughts and Tzu Chi—a vision of a harmonious, interdependent global community brought together by universal love, patience and forbearance, kindness and gentleness—may indeed by overwhelmed by the moral chaos of a Dharma-degenerate age. It always has been. But in one form or another it will continue to reemerge, building on Buddhism’s history of hopefulness, of which Tzu Chi has been an exemplary model, and hoping against hope.

Notes 1 Don A. Pittman, Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu’s Reforms (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001). 2 Charles Brewer Jones, Buddhism in Taiwan: Religion and the State, 1660-1990 (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999). 3 Literally, hundreds of books and articles have been written about Tzu Chi. The information in this and following paragraphs in this section come from Richard Madsen, Democracy’s Dharma: Religious Renaissance and Political Development in Taiwan (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007), esp. pp. 16–60. See also, C. Julia Huang, Charisma and Compassion: Cheng-yen and the Buddhist Tzu-chi Movement (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009). Up-to-date information for this chapter comes from the Tzu Chi website. 4 Information from official Tzu Chi website: Tzu Chi USA: Our Philosophy: The Bodhisattva Path. https​:/​/tz​​uchi.​​us​/bl​​og​/th​​e​-bod​​hisat​​​tva​-p​​ath (dated February 15, 2019, accessed September 15, 2019). 5 Our Philosophy: Ode to the Jingsi Dharma Lineage. https​:/​/tz​​uchi.​​us​/bl​​og​/od​​e​-to-​​the​-j​​ ing​-s​​i​-dh​a​​rma​-l​​ineag​e (dated October 17, 2016, accessed September 15, 2019). 6 Our Philosophy: Samadhi: The Practice of Mental Discipline and Concentration. https​ :/​/tz​​uchi.​​us​/bl​​og​/sa​​madhi​​-the-​​pract​​ice​-o​​f​-men​​tal​-d​​iscip​​line-​​a​nd​-c​​oncen​​trati​​on (dated May 24, 2019, accessed September 15, 2019). 7 The Four Immeasurables. https​:/​/tz​​uchi.​​us​/bl​​og​/th​​e​-fou​​r​-imm​​​easur​​ables​ (dated February 1, 2019, accessed September 15, 2019). 8 Our Philosophy: Precepts for Ethical Conduct. https​:/​/tz​​uchi.​​us​/bl​​og​/pr​​ecept​​s​-for​​-ethi​​c​ al​-c​​onduc​t (dated June 7, 2019, accessed September 15, 2019). 9 Our Philosophy: Practicing Dharma in the Degenerate Age. https​:/​/tz​​uchi.​​us​/bl​​og​/pr​​ actic​​ing​-d​​harma​​-in​-t​​he​-de​​​gener​​ate​-a​​ge (dated August 30, 2019, accessed September 15, 2019). 10 “Wisdom at Dawn: Teachings on the Lotus Sutra,” Cheng Yen video talk. https://tzuchi​ .us​/teachings​/videos (accessed September 15, 2019). 11 See Charles B. Jones, Chinese Pure Land Buddhism: Understanding a Tradition of Practice (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2019).

Tzu Chi  191 12 Descriptions of these footprints are taken from the official website. See http:​/​/tw.​​tzuch​​ i​.org​​/en​/i​​ndex.​​php​?o​​ption​​=com_​​conte​​nt​&view​=article​&id​=293​​&Itemid​=283​&lang​ =en (dated December 1, 2009, accessed September 15, 2019). 13 See Richard Madsen and William M. Sullivan eds, Economic Inequality and Morality: Diverse Ethical Perspectives (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2019), chapters on liberalism, Marxism, feminism, Confucianism and Buddhism. 14 Madsen, Democracy’s Dharma, pp. 25–26. 15 Madsen, Democracy’s Dharma, p. 40. 16 Author’s fieldnotes. Hualien, August 2005. 17 Author’s fieldnotes. Hualien, August 2005. 18 Madsen, Democracy’s Dharma, p. 40. 19 “Tzu Chi Volunteers Shine.” TZU CHI USA 360 VIDEO. https​:/​/ww​​w​.tzu​​chi​.u​​s​/vid​​ eo​/vi​​deos/​​tzu​-c​​hi​-vo​​l​unte​​ers​-s​​hine/​ (dated October 19, 2016, accessed September 15, 2019). 20 Herman B. Leonard and Yi Kwan Chu, “The Tzu Chi Foundation’s China Relief Mission,” Harvard Business School Case collection, November 2010. 21 Madsen, Democracy’s Dharma, pp. 40–41. 22 Author’s fieldnotes. Hualien, August 2005. 23 Author’s fieldnotes. Hualien, August 2005. 24 Examples drawn from Richard Madsen, “Controversies about religious organizations within an evolving Taiwan civil society,” International Journal of Taiwan Studies, forthcoming. 25 Sam Lee and Lydia Ma, Taiwan Church News, March 15–21, 2010 in Worldwide Faith News Archives. www​.wfn​.org accessed June 2018. 26 Madsen, “Controversies.”

10 Japan’s Soka Gakkai Transforming the human spirit to save humanity from itself Daniel A. Métraux

The Soka Gakkai, first conceived in Japan in the 1930s as an educational reform movement, was later reorganized as a lay Buddhist group supporting the Nichiren Shoshu sect of Japanese Buddhism. Today it is an independent Buddhist organization that claims a membership in Japan of over eight million households as well as about two million individual members in nearly two hundred chapters abroad. It is a unique phenomenon among religious groups in modern Japanese history in that it has created a wide array of social and political programs aimed at advancing its goals, including the formation of its own highly successful affiliated political party, the Komeito. The Soka Gakkai is actively involved in a wide range of areas, including education, peace activism, international diplomacy, domestic politics, environmental concerns and promotion of traditional and modern arts. The Soka Gakkai founder, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi1 (1871–1944), was an educator who initially formed the group to advance his ideas for educational reform, but who later became convinced that the reformation of society itself might be better achieved through Buddhism. Josei Toda (1900–1958), Makiguchi’s disciple and successor, transformed the Soka Gakkai into a broad-based religious movement after World War II that claimed a million or more members at the time of Toda’s death. Daisaku Ikeda (born 1928) has led the Soka Gakkai since Toda’s death and has greatly expanded the movement not only in Japan but abroad as well. The Soka Gakkai bases its doctrines and worldview on the Lotus-centric teachings of the Kamakura era (1185–1333) Buddhist priest and scholar, Nichiren (1222–1282). Its eschatological mission is the realization of Nichiren’s vision of a true transformation of the world from a place of evil and violence into a realm of peace and harmony. Soka Gakkai members follow Nichiren’s practice of reciting “Nam-myōhō-renge-kyō,” the Daimoku or title of the Lotus Sutra, before a copy of a character mandala (Gohonzon) said to have been inscribed by Nichiren, who taught this as the fundamental way of overcoming suffering and leading a more fulfilling life. The Soka Gakkai follows Nichiren’s teaching that the quintessence of Buddhism rests in the Lotus Sutra and regards Nichiren to be the true Buddha in this age of the Latter Day of the Law (mappō).2 The Gakkai bases much of its social and political activism on Nichiren’s 1260 treatise Risshō Ankokuron (“On Securing the Peace of the Land Through the

Japan’s Soka Gakkai  193 Propagation of True Buddhism”) which describes Japan’s then-chaotic society and offers a way of transforming Japan and the rest of the world into a joyous and peaceful Buddhist realm. Nichiren advises that people in Japan suffered because they were following lesser faiths and doctrines and ignoring the true teachings of the Lotus Sutra. He wrote that if humankind would abandon the lesser faiths and put full faith in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, society would be transformed from a condition of rage and violence to one of peaceful and prosperous tranquility. At the end of his treatise, Nichiren gave his readers a view of what his ideal Buddhist world would look like. It would be a realm that does not suffer the aforementioned calamities and which is watched over by guardian deities. The country would be safe and peaceful, there would be no natural disasters, crops would be bountiful, government would care for the needs of the people, and all humankind would live together in peace and harmony. Critical to Nichiren and the Soka Gakkai’s thinking is the Buddhist concept of “Ten Worlds” (jikkai).3 According to this view, there are ten states of mind ranging from total evil to pure good that simultaneously dominate any person’s worldview. The evil domain drives a human to perform wicked and selfish acts such as rape and murder, while the absolute good “world” encourages loving and compassionate behavior. All these “worlds” coexist in the minds of humans, but when one world manifests itself more strongly, the other nine “worlds” are generally latent; the dominant state will overshadow the others and will serve as the basis of somebody’s personality. Thus, a person who fails to manifest buddhahood and is dominated by a “hellish nature” may be absorbed with a rage to destroy him or herself as well as anything else. Too many people like this can bring misery to an entire society or nation. A society dominated by strife may see war, destruction, and a breakdown of order. Nichiren’s point is that since all people possess these “Ten Worlds,” including the potential for buddhahood, anyone, whether he or she is in the world of “hell” or a higher realm, is capable of attaining the happy and peaceful realm of buddhahood. The concept of “Ten Worlds” and Nichiren’s Risshō Ankokuron are important aspects of the mission of the Soka Gakkai. Gakkai leaders look at the vicious wars and environmental destruction of the twentieth century with the view that hellish natures still dominate humankind. A series of Soka Gakkai–sponsored exhibitions held in 2018 in Japan and at many Soka Gakkai International chapters abroad, “Transforming the Human Spirit,” emphasized that the key to future world peace is to elevate the mindset of humankind from the “worlds of evil” to those of “buddhahood.”4

The Soka Gakkai and peace The essence of the Soka Gakkai’s worldview is a new world order dedicated to the ideal of peace among nations. The theme of world peace lies at the heart of virtually every Soka Gakkai activity and publication. It seeks a global environment where neighbors live in harmony with neighbors and nations with other nations.

194  Daniel A. Métraux When asked in early 2018 how she envisioned an idealized society dominated by Soka Gakkai values on peace, a young female student and activist at Soka University replied: Most of all, it would be a world devoid of violence. The perfect Buddhist world would be a place where all violent crime would vanish. People would live in harmony with one another. There would be a nurturing government, but, more importantly, neighbors would help each other and enjoy each other’s company. Countries would solve their problems through mutually beneficial negotiations and war would be a thing of the past. Most importantly, nuclear weapons would be abolished.5 Soka Gakkai leader Daisaku Ikeda states that “true peace” is far more than a mere ceasefire between two or more belligerents: True peace will only come when we can erase anger, greed, and racism from the hearts of humans. It will come when all people come to respect the dignity of all others and of life itself. Such a world would be a true utopia on earth. When you read Nichiren’s Risshō Ankokuron, you can see a clear path toward a more peaceful world. … We in Soka Gakkai take a proactive stance toward the realization of a peaceful world through peace education to make people truly understand the horrors of war. At the same time we must make people more aware of the dangers of destroying the environment. We only hurt ourselves if we destroy nature. That is the Buddhist way. That is the world that we want to create.6

The Soka Gakkai: Buddhism and society With respect to society, the professed goal is not to radically alter major social institutions but rather to “cleanse” them of the three great poisons, “greed, anger and folly.” Even if a significant sector of the population achieves enlightenment, they will never attain true happiness as long as they live in a “corrupt” society. Members of Soka Gakkai are urged to work diligently as individuals and in groups to better the institutions that affect their lives and the Soka Gakkai as a whole should take on projects it believes will make the world a happier and more wholesome place in which to live. Soka Gakkai stresses that the key to a new, peaceful world order is the concept of ōbutsu myōgō. Early Soka Gakkai publications defined this term as “the harmonious unity of government and Buddhism.”7 This term was employed as a slogan in the 1950s and 1960s when Soka Gakkai created its political party, the Komeito, and became active in politics. Today the concept is more broadly defined as a form of “humanism” which when adopted would undergird the thinking and actions of all people in a world dedicated to peace. This “humanism” reflects a new way of thinking about human affairs, a shift away from individual or national gain at the expense of others to a devotion and concern for the welfare

Japan’s Soka Gakkai  195 of all people and nations. The key to a better, more peaceful world lies completely in our own hands, they stress. There is no outside force that can save us from ourselves. Fortunately, humankind has the capacity within itself to change the world for the better. Ikeda states that “Our dealings with one another must be distinguished by a new commitment to humanism that will support the development of culture and broaden exchange among societies while recognizing and accepting differences among us.”8 Ikeda draws upon a Buddhist foundation for his interpretation of humanism. All humans possess “Buddha nature,” that seed of wisdom and understanding that permits us to consider the welfare of others over our own personal desires. We are all interconnected by a universal life force (seimeiryoku) that exists everywhere and is the energy that forms the basis of the lives of all sentient beings. Because of the interconnectivity of this life force, every act or word we speak has an effect on others. We must also realize that the world is constantly changing and that we must continually adapt ourselves to change and be flexible as conditions around us become altered.9 Professor Robert Kisala writes that: The concept of peace offered by Soka Gakkai is based on Toda’s theory of Life Force … [T]his Life Force theory is developed along the following lines: Life is not created, but rather it subsists in all existing things. Therefore, life has no beginning and no end, and all of existence is united in this one all-encompassing Life. As one part of this Life that permeates the whole universe, every single human being has immutable, all surpassing value. Any attempt to relativize the value of human life, any attempt to make it subordinate to any other value, will only harm human welfare and peace.10 Soka Gakkai believes that this humanism must serve as the basis of any morally just society. As they see it, the primary goals of humanism are to remove the basic causes of human discontent and to lead humankind to true happiness, harmony and prosperity in life. A humanist approach to life is essential for the philosophical, social and political betterment of society as a whole and it must be fused together with every aspect of society, including education and politics. Ikeda suggests that every society would be better served if led by principled leaders whose thinking and actions are based on the humanistic ideals of justice and respect for the dignity of life.11

The Soka Gakkai and value creation Soka Gakkai founder Tsunesaburo Makiguchi proposed a sweeping explanation for society which he hoped humankind would employ to find greater happiness in life. He suggested that the creation of “value” for both the individual and society as a whole would be the key to a better life for all. The literal translation of “Soka Gakkai” is “Value Creation Society.” Makiguchi challenged the notion in Western philosophy that the ultimate values

196  Daniel A. Métraux in life should be “truth,” “good” and “beauty.” He contended that “gain” should be substituted for “truth” and that man would find greater happiness through a continual search for “beauty,” “gain” and “good” and that “true happiness” can be attained through the creation of these values. Since human life is dominated by a desire to improve one’s lot, one seeks to acquire or create new things to meet one’s diverse demands. He argued that since personal and social happiness are the basic aims of humankind, people must find a workable balance between individual and social values. Makiguchi contended that among the three elements of value, “beauty” and “gain” pertain to an individual’s life while “good” is a social value where one works for the betterment of one’s neighborhood and, in a greater sense, for the improvement of society as a whole. The Soka Gakkai feels that Buddhist practice enhances our ability to create positive value. Humans today are too often focused on concerns of personal gain—a better job, a happy marriage and so on – without thinking of the welfare of one’s neighbors. The transformation of the human spirit that occurs when one begins moving toward the realm of buddhahood means shifting one’s focus away from one’s own welfare to a concern for the good of society.12 One begins to help oneself by helping others. One achieves happiness by making other people happy. One creates positive value for the benefit of all and to bring about the rise of a more compassionate and peaceful society.

Soka Gakkai’s “human revolution” and human security The Soka Gakkai stresses that human security can only be achieved through the transformation of the world—from a culture of violence and greed to a culture of peace, compassion and respect. Buddhism emphasizes the interconnectedness of all things and all matter. Thus, even the activities of just one person, community or nation can have a direct effect on everything else. The only real way to root out violence, greed and intolerance is decidedly not through the destruction or subjugation of any one person or community of persons but rather through the transformation of the human spirit. After all, “one cannot achieve peace through violence, but rather through understanding.”13 The essence of the Soka Gakkai’s “Human Revolution” is the change that occurs when individuals move away from an emphasis on individual gain to a focus on working for the good of society as a whole—to a more joyful and peaceful world. Religious scholar Bryan Wilson writes that the Soka Gakkai’s concept of human revolution illustrates this transition of the human spirit from a life focused on individual benefit to a richer life working with others for the betterment of humanity. This “Human Revolution,” [e]ncompasses goals of reforming institutional structures, but asserts that the way to reform social institutions – to improve education, promote tolerance, protect the environment and end war – is through individual enlightenment. Thus, reform is directed foremost to individual lives and by extension from individual lives to communities, nations and the world.14

Japan’s Soka Gakkai  197 The Soka Gakkai stresses that human security starts with the basic needs of all the people. Humankind needs shelter, clean air to breathe, clear water to drink and wholesome food to eat. People need to live in a safe environment where they can work, get care for their health and be protected from violence. People cannot live in isolation. They need community, good friends and family. They deserve respect and have respect for others. They need to love and to be loved. They need access to culture and faith. Humankind must have a sense of contribution and purpose in life. They need the chance to reach their highest potential.15 Another fundamental step is creating a dialogue with other people, often from another culture or country. One Soka University student recently noted that creating such a dialogue requires both parties to be “good listeners.” Talking to somebody rather that at somebody and listening to what they have to say is the first vital step in the peace process. Listening requires a sense of empathy and understanding.16

Soka Gakkai and the creation of a third civilization The Soka Gakkai has promoted the idea of a new concept of civilization—a “Third Civilization”—that would combine the best ideals of capitalism and socialism, East and West, while rejecting the worst elements of both sides. It advocates the creation of a “Buddhist Democracy” and a form of “Human Socialism” that combines Buddhist doctrines with the best elements of European and American philosophical traditions in order to prioritize social welfare and social harmony. Now that humankind lives in a dangerous era of nuclear proliferation, it can no longer endure a world where nations compete against other nations. Thus, they aim to encourage all of humankind to work within a unified worldview that supersedes purely national interests, a united civilization that fosters the cooperative nature of all people.17 The concepts of the “Third Civilization,” “Human Socialism” and “Buddhist Democracy” are interpreted through the three core values of Makiguchi’s “Value Creation”: “Beauty,” “Gain” and “Good.” Soka Gakkai leader Daisaku Ikeda in many of his writings praises capitalism because it permits people to seek beauty and gain for themselves, but faults it because it ignores the “good,” where the emphasis is on the welfare of society. The individual in a capitalist society may choose through one’s own initiative any endeavor to seek beauty and gain, but since capitalism places its emphasis on individual gain in competition with others, inevitably there are people who are impoverished by capitalism’s “excessively bitter competition.” Capitalism denies one the opportunity to strive for “true” freedom” and “true equality” because of its emphasis on “winners” and “losers.” Because capitalism divides society into those who succeed and those who are less successful, many people are denied the chance to gain all three of Makiguchi’s core values.18 Socialism, on the other hand, is praised for its emphasis on social good but is criticized for its lack of concern for beauty and gain. Ikeda asserts that socialists stress a structural reform of society as a whole with an emphasis on social equality

198  Daniel A. Métraux and social democracy, but overemphasize the social sphere while neglecting individuals’ desires for “beauty” and “gain.” Ikeda insists that people cannot achieve true happiness if they are denied individual freedom and initiative.19 The Soka Gakkai’s practical solution to the imbalances of socialism and capitalism is the development of “Buddhist Democracy,” a true welfare state in which humane and unselfish government leaders chosen by the people would provide all people with quality health care, a liberal form of education, a clean environment and good public housing. The state would be beneficent but not overbearing. There would be an open and free economic environment that encourages all people to create their own values and to live life as they please. Honest and compassionate capitalists would seek to improve their own lives while at the same time working to elevate the lives of other people. Individuals would prosper because there would be no barriers in the way of attaining personal values, and society would prosper with the emphasis on social good and the absence of unfair economic practices and class conflict.

Soka Gakkai: Absolute pacifism or multinationalism? Scholars who have studied the Soka Gakkai and other religious groups in Japan have frequently asked whether these groups in fact support “absolute pacifism” or “conditional pacifism.” It is evident that though many individual members of Soka Gakkai support “absolute pacifism,” many of their leaders, including Ikeda and active members of the Komeito, have shifted to a more pragmatic “realistic” or “conditional” stance. Robert Kisala, a leading scholar of Japan’s New Religions who has studied the pacifist views of several of these religions, finds that there are varying views as to what constitutes “absolute or conditional pacifism.” That is, pacifism can mean a stance that rejects violence absolutely, but it can also imply a more longterm view that sees peace as the ultimate goal but does not rule out force along the way.20 Kisala suggests that there is a distinct correlation between these two quite different interpretations of pacifism and the place in society of people who espouse them. Only those people willing to remain on the outer limits of society can retain the absolutist stance. When a movement tries to shift to the center in an effort to join and influence mainstream society, it is forced to come to terms with questions about issues such as national defense and social order.21 Buddhist scholar Richard Hughes Seager states that the Soka Gakkai peace movement is based on three points made by Nichiren: absolute pacifism, the sanctity of human life, and respect for human dignity.22 But as Kisala correctly found in the cases of two large Nichiren-based groups that he studied, Soka Gakkai and Rissho Koseikai, the absolute option has been modified by both organizations as they sought to become mass movements involving millions of followers. Yet the achievement of peace remains a strong demand and both organizations participate in international peace movements. Kisala stresses that most Japanese are very dedicated to the preservation of their cherished “peace constitution” and have strongly resisted attempts by

Japan’s Soka Gakkai  199 conservatives to revise it, but when it comes to the active carrying out of a program for peace, the notion remains a romantic ideal that clashes with feelings of national superiority, with the result that there has been little opposition to more conservative “reinterpretations” of the constitution to permit de facto rearmament. Kisala makes note of Ikeda’s and the Soka Gakkai’s many peace-related activities but comments that Ikeda’s fundamental position should be more accurately described as one of multinationalism rather than pacifism, because he does not absolutely rule out the use of force.23 Ikeda himself has stated that his dream is a new world order centered on the United Nations with a membership of individual states, all of which would be led by cosmopolitan leaders who look beyond their own borders and particular national interests to the greater good. The United Nations would become a true international parliament that would seek to resolve disputes amicably. Ikeda notes that Soka Gakkai support for the United Nations is paramount because it is truly a representative world body and it is one of the few organizations that can help the millions of refugees fleeing turmoil at home.24 Ikeda also gives conditional support for the use of force by the UN if a rogue world leader or nation threatens world peace.25 But Ikeda is not an advocate of force. He believes that “soft diplomacy” which includes increased cultural ties between nations can greatly reduce the threat of a “hot war” between nations.26 Ikeda stresses that achieving world peace is ultimately highly personal. A Soka Gakkai member, Ban Kyoko, explains how peace can be achieved on a very personal level: Everyone is equal, because we are all the same as human beings. It is an equality that goes beyond differences in color, a fundamental view of life. And until that idea has been firmly established, there will be continuous ethnic wars and wars between nations. If we continue to have this category called “human,” and decide for ourselves who fits in that category and who does not, then I think there will be no end to war. Therefore, we have to keep insisting that all human beings are equal, all human beings are the same.27 Each person who experiences a transformation of character is thereby making a contribution to world peace. The world will find true peace when a critical mass of people experience their own human revolutions and become more sensitive to the welfare of others. True peace will come when citizens of nation-states become true “global citizens” who can look beyond the borders of their own communities and nations. The driving force toward peace would be these very global citizens. Here multinationalism is perceived as a people-based universal order rather than one based purely on nationhood, but also where international organizations such as the UN would play a key role.

Buddhist Humanism The Soka Gakkai’s approach to a more peaceful world lies in its approach to Buddhist Humanism. It is essentially a hybrid concept that links traditional

200  Daniel A. Métraux Buddhist learning with modern secular ideas such as human rights, individualism, freedom and democracy, and scientific thinking. According to Soka Gakkai, From the perspective of Buddhist humanism it is human beings themselves, rather than a higher power, who possess the ultimate wisdom about their condition. This view regards the individual as the pivotal force of change within the interdependent network of phenomena that comprises life. A fundamental change in the life of an individual, in other words, will affect the entire web of life.28 Buddhist Humanism goes back to the concept that all people are inherently buddhas. We have the inherent potential for both good and evil, but through education and a higher understanding of human nature any person can transform her or himself into a kinder, smarter and more compassionate being. This “Human Revolution” is brought about through the efforts of each human without the intervention or even existence of a higher being. We live in a human-centered world. It is up to us to save ourselves from our misfortunate deeds. The Soka Gakkai has deep faith in the unique ability of humans to rectify their own problems if only they had the wisdom to understand the causes of human suffering and the will to work together to make the world a better place. One way to find this wisdom is through expanded education.

The Soka Gakkai and education The Soka Gakkai includes education as an essential ingredient of its drive for an enlightened citizenry to create a multinational peaceful world. Education plays a key role in the transformation of the individual spirit from a limited parochial worldview to one that sees beyond the self to understand the unity of humanity and the need to live in peace and tranquility together with others. Education will allow the individual to maximize one’s creative potential while simultaneously making one sensitive to one’s moral and social responsibilities to the rest of society. The Soka Gakkai believes that the twin evils of hatred and greed stem from an ignorant mind whose negative force can only be altered by the enhanced social consciousness of an educated mind. The Soka Gakkai evolved in the 1930s as an education advocacy group to promote the educational reform ideas of its founder, Tsunesaburo Makiguchi. He believed that the realization of happiness is the primary purpose of education. A prerequisite for genuine happiness is the development of a social consciousness in all members of society whereby everyone appreciates the interdependence of all people with one another. Makiguchi concluded that the tragedy of modern Japanese education was that it failed to develop a social consciousness among students and, instead, had created a “happiness-destroying preoccupation with immediate personal and material satisfaction.”29 Makiguchi argued that the responsibility of learning belonged with the student rather than with the teacher. The student must develop the skill to think

Japan’s Soka Gakkai  201 independently and to analyze material critically. The teacher can only guide the student along the path of learning. Rote learning, the simple transfer of factual knowledge from one person to another, serves little or no real purpose in preparing a person to lead a morally responsible life in human society. He thus concluded that the rote-learning and information-gathering approach to learning was the principal culprit of the poor state of Japanese education in his day. He claimed that rote learning failed to encourage students to learn how to think for themselves. Teachers should serve as mentors to encourage students to learn on their own. Excellent teachers would act to arouse the students’ natural interest and curiosity.30 The essence of Makiguchi’s theories of education is that learning should occur in a warm environment led by caring and sensitive teachers who inspire desire and curiosity. “Value Creation” is meant to be the process of discovering and empowering the self to realize one’s strengths and weaknesses, to learn where one wants to go in life, and to comprehend that because in Buddhism all elements of life are interconnected, one must work to enhance the lives of others while others do the same for you. There must be a strong academic program to prepare each individual for life in a very advanced technological world, but at the same time students must learn to think for themselves, to discover where they want to go in life, and to realize their own potentials. Soka Gakkai leaders throughout their organization’s history have fervently espoused Makiguchi’s ideas and have taken broad steps to realize his program by developing what they hope is a model educational system which takes the student from kindergarten through to a graduate degree from Soka University. Today this system in Japan consists of a number of kindergartens, two primary, middle and high schools in Tokyo and Osaka, and Soka University with its undergraduate and graduate programs near Tokyo. The Soka Gakkai has also developed a number of Soka schools and universities throughout Southeast Asia, the United States and Europe.

Education leads to self-empowerment The Soka Gakkai feels that education is the key to self-empowerment and therefore to world peace. It is through education that one becomes more aware of the world around us and acquires the skills needed to create a more compassionate and peaceful world. Maria Guarjardo, Dean of the Faculty of International Liberal Arts at Soka University, feels that empowerment through “humanistic education” is the key building block for a more peaceful world: Education can make the invisible visible in the same way that empowerment transforms powerlessness. Education that can spark that transformation, that can ignite one’s passion, is education that can transform the world. As our lives become more entwined and interconnected globally, the advancement of such humanistic education becomes ever more vital. The relationship between education and empowerment is complex. At best, one fuels the

202  Daniel A. Métraux other. At worst, narrow definitions of education, which confine us to prescriptive roles that lessen who we are, serve to disconnect the two … This perspective on empowerment and the purpose of education takes a complex relationship and lifts it up to a broader plane that is not limited by economic scarcity or environmental constraints. It encourages individuals to become aware of their power and to use it for a greater purpose, a purpose with value that can lead to a transformation of one’s environment.31 Shiota Takako, a student at Soka University in 2018, states that her education at the university is based on the theme of training to become a leader in society. A Soka leader is not somebody who seeks political power or a great fortune for one’s own aggrandizement. Instead, she or he will play a leading role to help the helpless, to improve the world for those too weak to stand up for themselves. Shiota notes that after her freshman year she and other students went to the Philippines to study poverty there. “We talked to many poor Filipinos who have no voice, no power, and no money. The point of the trip was to make us sensitive to the needs of the down-trodden. That is the point of a Soka education.”32 Soka University is unique in Japan in that it offers a course in “Moral Education,” with an emphasis on such topics as civil rights, racism, cultures with different religions and the like. One student who took the course noted that: We were taught to be more sensitive to people who might be different from us. We start from the premise that in the ideal world all people are equal and that they have similar rights. We then study how populations get torn about by questions of religion, skin color, feelings of cultural superiority. I, like others in my class, also took a two-week trip to the Philippines where we met some very poor Filipinos, some of whom really lived in and around a garbage dump. We came away with the hard struggle these people face.33

Empowerment of the individual for the good of society The Soka Gakkai stresses the importance of the self-empowerment that results from one’s own “human revolution,” the transformation from a narrow parochial view of the world to a broader, more compassionate and peaceful view. There is no concrete path or fixed definition of what this process implies because each person’s transformation is a unique experience. Soka Gakkai members often state that self-empowerment includes a better understanding of the world around them and a growing realization that there is much suffering everywhere and that they must not only help themselves but also help others. A very important aspect of self-empowerment is the Soka Gakkai’s stress that everyone is fully responsible for their own destiny, and that with deep faith, a good education and hard work one can become master of one’s own life and also realize one’s strong responsibility

Japan’s Soka Gakkai  203 to contribute to the welfare of others. An empowered person is supposed to go out into the world to make a contribution to society as a whole. The key to this transformation, according to Soka Gakkai International members interviewed in Southeast Asia, Canada and Australia, are the core concepts of karma and responsibility for one’s own actions.34 They stress that this Buddhism is not for those people who like to be told how to order their lives and who look constantly for guidance from an outside authority. Throughout the Soka Gakkai’s teaching there is the stated obligation for each person to think things out for oneself, to make up one’s own mind, and to make one’s own decisions. The doctrine of karma requires each person to be responsible for their own transformation. Soka Gakkai states that karma is the cumulative “effects” or results of all our actions, good or bad, over countless lifetimes until now. And while these effects may likewise be good or bad, many people tend to attribute suffering or losses they experience to “bad karma”—karma from bad causes they made in the past.”35 The key here, however, is the transformation of one’s karma. Through education and self-empowerment, one can change the course of one’s direction in life for the better. Just as importantly, every culture and nation has the collective karma of all their inhabitants. When large groups of citizens in any one country change their karma for the better, by means of their Human Revolutions, the nation’s karma will improve as well. Self-empowerment lies at the heart of the Soka Gakkai movement. What is important is self-directed liberation from the life of paralysis and lack of selfconfidence that resulted from the constraints that were at play in one’s life. This self-empowerment may not make one rich or help one overcome a debilitating illness, but it is supposed to give one a clearer picture of one’s position in the world and the self-confidence to overcome these adversities. The ultimate goal, of course, is the creation of a good and joyful society where people share a deep respect for the dignity of life and work to enhance the welfare of the whole community. Instead of being narrow partisans with one’s own interests in mind, one seeks the strength to become a genuine “global citizen.”

Conclusion The Soka Gakkai’s version of a “joyful world” is not an otherworldly Buddhist paradise that one can aspire to after a life of suffering on Earth. Rather, it is a human-centric view of the world. Humankind is responsible for the deplorable state of the world today. The horrendous wars of the twentieth century and the looming environmental crises of this century are brought about by human folly and ignorance. There is no overpowering deity or superhuman force that can rectify these misadventures. Only we as humans can save ourselves from ourselves. Humans all have the same potential for good or evil. Sadly, the evil side of human nature has become a predominant force in parts of the world and this has led to violent wars, terrorism, famine, a proliferation of refugees, and other forms of suffering. Fortunately, says Soka Gakkai, we have the power and potential within us to save us from ourselves. Because we possess the potential for good

204  Daniel A. Métraux within ourselves, through education and a greater realization that we can improve our lives and the lives of others, we can bring about a better world through our own efforts. Soka Gakkai leader Daisaku Ikeda envisions a multinational world where nations led by compassionate and caring leaders can and will work together to improve life for all of humanity. Soka Gakkai leaders believe that while we need to work together to solve the bitter problems that divide us today, we must also endeavor to respect and accept differences that exist in each culture. Theirs is an optimistic view of the world. They show us how we created the mess we are in and tell us that we have the wherewithal to correct it. They also remind us that we cannot ignore our problems because they will not disappear on their own; positive action, they urge, is needed and needed right now.

Notes 1 Japanese names are given in English order with the family name second since this is the form used by Soka Gakkai International itself in English-speaking countries. 2 Kiyoaki Murata, Japan’s New Buddhism (Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1969), 63. According to Soka Gakkai, mappō or the Latter Day of the Dharma is the “last of three periods following Shakyamuni Buddha’s death when Buddhism falls into confusion and Shakyamuni’s teachings lose the power to lead people to enlightenment … The Daishitsu Sutra predicts that this … will be an ‘age of conflict,’ when monks will disregard the precepts and feud constantly among themselves, heretical views will prevail, and Shakyamuni’s Buddhism will perish.” The first two eras are shobo (true law) which began immediately after the Buddha’s death and lasted a thousand years, and zobo (imitative law), which lasted during the second millennium following the Buddha’s death. During shobo it was said that the world was a contented and peaceful place. The peace was maintained during zobo, but the world became an ugly, chaotic realm during mappō. Asian Buddhist tradition holds that Shakyamuni died in 949 BCE. Calculating from this date Japanese Buddhist scholars in the Kamakura period believed that mappō had begun in 1052 CE. They attributed the chaos of the Kamakura period to this concept. Source: Nichiren Shoshu International Center, A Dictionary of Buddhist Terms and Concepts (Tokyo: NSIC, 1983), 244: http:​/​/www​​.sgi-​​usa​.o​​rg​/co​​p​-res​​ource​​ -cent​​er​/cu​​lture​​-of​-p​​eace-​​exhib​​ition​​s​/tra​​nsfor​​min​g-​​the​-h​​uman-​​spiri​​t/ (March 15, 2019). 3 The ten states are: (1) hell (jigoku); (2) craving (gaki); (3) animality (chikusho); (4) anger (shura); (5) tranquility (nin); (6) rapture (ten); (7) intellectual pleasure (shomon); (8) learning the law (engaku); (9) bodhisattva (bosatsu); (10) buddhahood (butsu). 4 “From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the Human Spirit” was organized by the Soka Gakkai International. See the exhibit at: https​:/​/ww​​w​.sgi​​ -usa.​​org​/c​​op​-re​​sourc​​e​-cen​​ter​/c​​ultur​​e​-of-​​peace​​-exhi​​bitio​​ns​/tr​​ansfo​​rming​​​-the-​​human​​ -spir​​it/. (Accessed January 31, 2021). 5 Interview with Shiota Takako, a Soka University exchange student at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia, January 18, 2018. 6 Interview with Daisaku Ikeda at Soka University, November 2, 1992. 7 Levi McLaughlin, Soka Gakkai’s Human Revolution: The Rise of a Mimetic Nation in Modern Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2019), 51. 8 Daisaku Ikeda, A New Humanism: The University Addresses of Daisaku Ikeda (London: J. B. Taurus & So., 2010), 38. 9 Ibid., Ch 6. 10 Robert Kisala, Prophets of Peace: Pacifism and Cultural Identity in Japan’s New Religions. (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999), 86.

Japan’s Soka Gakkai  205 11 Daisaku Ikeda, Seiji to Shukyô (Politics and Religion): Tokyo: Ushio, 1969), ch. 1–2. 12 According to Soka Gakkai, “Buddhism identifies Ten Worlds—ten states or conditions of life that we experience within our lives, moving from one to another at any moment according to our interactions with our environment and those around us. Each of us possesses the potential to experience all ten, from the prison-like despair and selfhatred of Hell to the expansive joy and wisdom of Buddhahood … Each of us has a tendency to gravitate toward a particular life state, and if this is one of the lower worlds, great suffering can be caused to ourselves and those around us. Through raising up our life condition which manifests in the Ten Worlds, we can bring out the positive aspects of any situation we find ourselves in.” https​:/​/ww​​w​.sgi​​.org/​​resou​​rces/​​intro​​ducto​​ry​-ma​​ teria​​ls​/te​​​n​-wor​​lds​.h​​tml (accessed April 18, 2019). 13 Interview with Terasaki Hirotsugu, executive director of the Soka Gakkai Office of Public Information, Tokyo, March 10, 2009. 14 Soka Gakkai 2003 pamphlet. “Transforming the Human Spirit from a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace.” 15 Bryan Wilson, “Introduction” in Bryan Wilson and David Machacek, eds., Global Citizens: The Soka Gakkai Buddhist Movement in the World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 3. 16 Interview with Soka University student Mineoka Hidemi, April 19, 2019. 17 Mclaughlin, 57. 18 Ikeda, Seiji to Shukyô, 220–24. 19 Ibid., 220–222. 20 Kisala, Prophets of Peace, 73–94. 21 Kisala, Prophets of Peace, 73–94. 22 Richard Hughes Seager, Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai and the Globalization of Buddhist Humanism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006), 98. 23 Kisala, Prophets of Peace, 85–86. 24 As a nongovernmental organization (NGO) with formal ties to the United Nations, Soka Gakkai in Japan has been associated with the UN Department of Public Information and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) NGO Liaison Unit since 1981. Soka Gakkai International has been in consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 1983. 25 Ikeda, A New Humanism, Ch. 5. 26 Interview with Ikeda, November 2, 1992, at Soka University. 27 Quoted in Kisala, Prophets of Peace, 87. 28 https​:/​/ww​​w​.dai​​sakui​​keda.​​org​/m​​ain​/p​​hilos​​/budd​​hist/​​b​uddh​​-05​.h​​tml (accessed March 21, 2019). 29 Dayle M. Bethel, Makiguchi: The Value Creator (Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1973), 56. 30 Ibid., ch. 2. 31 Maria Guarjardo, “Education: A Transformative Potential,” SGI Quarterly, April 2015, 14–15. 32 Interview with Shiota Takako, January 28, 2018. 33 Interview with Soka student Mineoka Hidemi, April 19, 2019. 34 See Daniel A. Métraux, The International Expansion of a Modern Buddhist Movement: The Soka Gakkai in Southeast Asia and Australia (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2001), 27–46. 35 https​:/​/ww​​w​.sgi​​-usa.​​org​/2​​017​/0​​9​/22/​​what-​​does-​​chang​​ing​-o​​​ur​-ka​​rma​-m​​ean/ (accessed April 20, 2019).

11 Gary Snyder’s vision Christopher Ives

With its commitment to human flourishing and the recent efforts of Buddhadāsa, A.T. Ariyaratne, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh and Gary Snyder, Buddhism provides a wealth of resources for formulating an optimal society that supports the good life for all. In his prolific career as a Pulitzer Prize–winning poet, Snyder has drawn from his monastic practice of Zen in Japan, extensive study of indigenous traditions, scientific knowledge and a range of other sources to offer a vision of fulfilling communal life. With an emphasis on living fully in one’s place and taking care of it in community with others, his standpoint speaks to the disconnection from nature, materialism and divisiveness that characterize much of the world today and contribute to—or undermine responsiveness to—what is arguably the gravest challenge ever faced by humanity: the climate crisis. At the outset we need to acknowledge that some people may think that the proper focus of Buddhism is on individuals, not society. Indeed, Buddhism fundamentally is a path to freeing a person from the suffering caused by such mental states as ignorance, greed and ill will (the “three poisons”); this suffering happens to all people, and anyone can attain release from it, regardless of social conditions. For these reasons, a focus on the transformation of society rather than on the elimination of those mental states may seem to diverge from “genuine” Buddhism. But even if we grant for the sake of argument that liberation from suffering is attained through ridding oneself of certain mental defilements, those defilements and the effort to rid oneself of them are not divorced from external conditions. In general, however, Buddhists have not explored that connection. “Historically,” Snyder writes, “Buddhist philosophers have failed to analyze out the degree to which ignorance and suffering are caused or encouraged by social factors, considering fear-and-desire to be given facts of the human condition.”1 Insofar as social conditions play a role in causing human suffering2 and affect our ability to remedy it, the praxis of analyzing, criticizing and offering alternatives to social conditions falls squarely within the proper purview of Buddhism and can even be seen as a necessary but historically overlooked part of the perfected functioning of a bodhisattva. And in the face of the climate crisis, striving to create an alternative society with less suffering is not simply a religious pursuit, for without a dramatic societal transformation we may find that human “civilization,” if not the human species itself, will cease to exist.

Gary Snyder’s vision  207

Connection to nature Such an optimal Buddhist society presumably would be based on core epistemological and metaphysical constructs in Buddhism, including the realization of interconnectedness. At present, however, what seems to characterize most societies is disconnection from nature, or more accurately put, ignorance of our embeddedness in the processes that constitute nature. Many of us spend our days indoors, engrossed in television, social media, YouTube, video games and other virtual realities. As Tyrone Cashman puts it, “electronic media insulate us from the environment” and cause us to become oblivious of the “web of life.”3 Helena Norberg Hodge has pointed out that many of us in “developed” countries believe we depend more on the technosphere than the biosphere.4 Staying inside in front of computer and TV screens rather than going outside to play leaves many children suffering from what Richard Louv has termed “nature deficit disorder.”5 In short, our way of living dilutes awareness of our embeddedness in nature as nature6 (as well as our sense of connection to other people). As a remedy for this condition, Snyder calls on us to get in touch with “the web of the wild world”7 and “make intimate contact with the real world, the real self.”8 Here Snyder seems to be drawing from the Zen idea that at the deepest level we do not exist apart from the world, and in the depths of practice we can realize our non-dual relationship with it. As Dōgen (1200–1253) put it, “Clearly, mind is mountains, rivers, and the great earth, the sun, moon, and stars.”9 Glossing this statement, contemporary Zen teacher Ruben Habito flags what Snyder seems to be getting at with his notion of “the real self”: “Mountains, rivers, and the great earth are experienced as manifestations of one’s own true self; they are no longer seen as ‘out there,’ entities separate from oneself.”10

Reinhabitation and bioregionalism Disconnection from nature also derives from industrialization and urbanization, which have made us, in Snyder’s view, “an unsettled and disenfranchised people.”11 For this reason, as part of reconnecting with nature, we need to “turn back to the land, back to place.”12 In this return, we have to “reinhabit” our local place and, more broadly, our bioregion.13 What Snyder is calling for is not an amorphous appreciation of our surroundings but a highly informed awareness: Bioregional awareness teaches us in specific ways. It is not enough just to ‘love nature’ or to want to ‘be in harmony with Gaia.’ Our relation to the natural world takes place in a place, and it must be grounded in information and experience.14 To reinhabit one’s place, then, one must know it well: its geology, hydrological cycle, flora and fauna. In striving to gain this knowledge, inhabitants of Snyder’s region (and beyond) can learn from indigenous peoples:

208  Christopher Ives the many thousand year experience of Native Americans, regardless of whether they are north or south of the somewhat artificial Mexican border, will be a great instructor in certain ways of tuning into what the climatic cycles, plant and animal communities, can tell us of where we are.15 This knowledge is not of nature “over there” but of nature as the place of our daily action or, more exactly, our interaction: “You should really know what the complete natural world of your region is and know what all its interactions are and how you are interacting with it yourself.”16 With this focus on interactions, Snyder’s discourse reflects the Buddhist doctrine of pratītya-samutpāda, which can be translated as “conditioned arising” and refers to how things arise and exist interrelationally, as opposed to existing separately with permanent essences or souls. But Snyder is not lifting up conditioned arising as a broad, abstract principle, as in the Buddhist metaphor of Indra’s Net at a grand, cosmic level, nor is he offering a glossy discourse on intimacy with or love of nature. Rather, he is advocating the awareness of particular things (or, better yet, events) and processes in their suchness that is a hallmark of Zen epistemology. As Charles Strain sees it, a key Buddhist element in Snyder’s ethic here is the “emphasis on the practice of mindful concentration, samādhi, refocused as the kind of attention to the detailed variations of climate and soil, to what will flourish and what will not in this place.”17 One engages these particulars less with one’s mind in a meditative state than with one’s body in action. As Snyder puts it, reinhabitation centers on “one’s body, commitment, time, labor, walking.”18 It happens in and through the senses and physical acts, in movement, in labor, as a farmer, logger, craftsman, hiker, hunter. As Snyder puts it, “if you are gathering milkweed, fishing, picking berries, raising apples, and tending a garden it shouldn’t be too difficult to realize that you have some relationship with nature.”19 In short, vigorous embodiedness is the gateway to realizing and practicing one’s embeddedness in a place. This path is not simply for those who live “out in nature.” Regardless of our place, whether a remote forest in Montana or a city block in Manhattan, we need to understand how we arise together with and are affected by natural processes. Recognizing how we are embedded in a system of interactions—“A people and a place become one”20—not only carries ecological weight but moves us toward insight into conditioned arising, and ultimately the wisdom (P. paññā, Skt. prajñā) that liberates us from ignorance and, by extension, suffering. Reinhabitation goes beyond the natural world, for to fully inhabit a place we need to know who has lived there in the past (and may continue to live there now), with their history, culture and politics. We are also called to be stewards, which from Snyder’s perspective means, for most of us, find your place on the planet, dig in, and take responsibility from there—the tiresome but tangible work of school boards, county supervisors, local foresters—local politics. Even while holding in mind the largest scale of potential change. Get a sense of workable territory, learn about it, and start acting point by point.21

Gary Snyder’s vision  209 Herein lies a cornerstone of Snyder’s view of an optimal society: knowing one’s local place, taking responsibility and getting engaged politically. This stance expands the Zen emphasis on paying attention, being fully in a place, engaging with it and caring for it through mindful action. With its emphasis on immediate, concrete and active responsibility, it also diverges from the call for vast universal responsibility issued by the Dalai Lama, and from the Buddhist discourse on responsibility we see in statements like “in being aware of interdependence we also assume responsibility for all that occurs.”22 Reinhabitation is, as indicated above, one facet of bioregionalism, which centers on “commitment to this continent place by place, in terms of biogeographical regions and watersheds. It calls us to see our country in terms of its landforms, plant life, weather patterns, and seasonal changes—its whole natural history before the net of political jurisdiction was cast over it.”23 Like reinhabitation, bioregionalism goes beyond mere attunement to proximate nature and consists of core elements in Snyder’s vision of optimal society: “[w]atershed imagining, bioregional ideas of governance, the actual existence of communities that include the nonhuman in their embrace, dreams of ecological justice, and the faint possibility of long-term sustainable land and culture.”24 At this historical moment, with many people moving around, passing through this or that place, and spending much of their time in cyberspace, people do seem dis-placed. Snyder’s call to (re)inhabit one’s place can benefit them, as well as those who are distracted and disconnected, whether from others or from nature. It also accords with what some have argued is the most effective way to wake people up to the climate crisis: help them see its local effects—the droughts, fires, floods and newly arrived bugs in their bioregion. Reinhabitation calls for a commitment to place over the long haul. Snyder once said, “First, don’t move and second, find out what that teaches you.”25 In staying put, “we must honor this land’s great antiquity—its wildness—learn it—defend it—and work to hand it on to the children (of all beings) of the future with its biodiversity and health intact.”26 We also hand it to their children: “Doing things right means living as though your grandchildren would also be alive, in this land, carrying on the work we’re doing right now, with deepening delight.”27 And even to later generations: People are challenged to become “reinhabitory”—that is, to become people who are learning to live and think ‘as if’ they were totally engaged with their place for the long future. This doesn’t mean the return to a primitive lifestyle or utopian provincialism; it simply implies an engagement with community and a search for the sustainable sophisticated mix of economic practices that would enable people to live regionally and yet learn from and contribute to a planetary society.28 In Snyder’s optimal society, then, a core value is settling down, not moving around; long-term sustainability, not short-term exploitation.

210  Christopher Ives

Community This reinhabitation of one’s bioregion is not something one does alone in a cabin off the grid. It is less the path of a hermit than the life of a community. Truly inhabiting a place is for people to live closely with others, which means that they know each other personally on a first-name basis; it means that they know a considerable amount of the personal history of the individuals concerned; it means that they know their own family history and that they keep in touch with their parents; it means that they are engaged in their community in one or another way by serving on committees, formal and informal committees.29 This ideal community is not simply a practical arrangement based on a social contract but a support for spirituality: by being in a place, we get the largest sense of community. We learn that community is of spiritual benefit and health for everyone, that ongoing working relationships and shared concerns, music, poetry, and stories all evolve into the shared practice of a set of values, visions, and quests. That’s what the spiritual path really is.30 Snyder elaborates, The community: Sharing and creating. The inherent aptness of communal life—where large tools are owned jointly and used efficiently. The power of renunciation: If enough Americans refused to buy a new car for one given year, it would permanently alter the American economy. Recycling clothes and equipment. Support handicrafts, gardening, home skills, midwifery, herbs—all the things that can make us independent, beautiful and whole.31 This community is, according to David Barnhill, “physical and mundane rather than industrial or technologically sophisticated.”32 Or as Snyder puts it, this is “a natural community,” and “A natural community is a culture.”33 This call for flourishing local communities and cultures is especially relevant today, with local communities crumbling and more and more of us “bowling alone.”34 Snyder’s model of community, with its “shared practice” and “spiritual benefit,” is informed by his decade of Zen practice in Kyoto. About Zen monasticism Snyder writes, “Its community life and discipline is rather like an apprenticeship program in a traditional craft. The arts and crafts have long admired Zen training as a model of hard, clean, worthy schooling.”35 This “hard schooling” is grounded in the physicality of Zen life: “Sleep was short, the food was meager, the rooms spare and unheated, but this (in the sixties) was as true in the worker’s or farmer’s world as it was in the monastery.”36 As Snyder flags here, a big part of this way of life is discipline, physical discipline, akin to apprenticeship: the repetitive practice of meditation or learning the tools; self-cultivation as a monk and craftsperson;

Gary Snyder’s vision  211 cultivating the ability to do things well. This is a path that joins the practical, the aesthetic and the spiritual. Snyder’s standpoint is not, however, a direct appropriation of traditional Zen monasticism. Rather, he broadens the traditional Buddhist sangha by offering, as David Barnhill describes it, “an expanded community of spiritual practice, one which would retain the universality and intellectual sophistical of Buddhism but be a broader, nonmonastic community,”37 a “family-based community.”38 Following Snyder’s lead, an optimal Buddhist society would, presumably, take the Buddhist sangha as a model for an ecological community39 in which people realize their connection to and dependence on loved ones and neighbors (as an antidote to the ignorance that fixates us as separate, independent entities), share with them (as an expression of dana, giving or generosity, the antidote to greed) and cooperate rather than compete with them (thereby undermining ill will and possible violence), all the while staying attuned to their place.40 The building of this community begins with primary intimate relationships, with loving, respecting and supporting those around us. We cultivate friendship with, as Buddhism puts it, “friends on the path” (Skt. kalyāna-mitra). If one is a Buddhist, this may be fellow monks and nuns, or laity who are members of one’s sangha. Or it may be a circle of non-Buddhist friends and neighbors. Community can be cultivated further through simple acts of generosity: we give people rides to the doctor; we offer veggies from our gardens or herbs from our window boxes; we feed pets, water plants and take in the mail when neighbors are away. We do art projects with the kids. We cook and eat as a group. We share information, in person or through social media.41 We celebrate milestones and holidays together. We mobilize to take joint action. In this way we can make our immediate community function as, among other things, a support and empowerment group, a place where people do come by for a cup of sugar (and cup of tea or coffee), share tools, look out for each other’s kids, grieve together and celebrate together. This seems to be what Snyder had in mind when he wrote, “We learn that community is of spiritual benefit and health for everyone, that ongoing working relationships and shared concerns, music, poetry, and stories all evolve into the shared practice of a set of values, visions, and quests.” Or, as Protestant theologian John Cobb tells us, “Prizing of individual autonomy could give way to [or be balanced with] prizing of communal sharing and mutual support.”42

Urban living One question that arises here is the applicability of Snyder’s bioregional vision to the billions of humans living in cities. Does Snyder ignore urban places and people? Does he argue that city-dwellers somehow need to return to the land, to rural living? He may seem to advocate this when he writes, “If man is to remain on earth he must transform the five-millennia-long urbanizing civilization tradition into a new ecologically-sensitive harmony-oriented wild-minded scientificspiritual culture.”43 But, to his credit, Snyder includes cities in his exposition, and reinhabitation can happen there, too.

212  Christopher Ives No amount of well-meaning environmental legislation will halt the biological holocaust without people who love where they are and work with their neighbors, taking responsibility for their place, and seeing to it: to be inhabitants, and not to retreat. We feel this to be starting in America: a mosaic of city neighborhoods, small towns, and rural places where people are digging in and saying ‘if not now, when? if not here, where?’44 And whether we are in a small town or a major city, we all need to “get back in touch with people, with ordinary things: with your body, with the dirt, with the dust, with anything you like, you know—the streets.”45 Moreover, “nature” is not out there apart from cities. Snyder points out that cities are located in ecosystems, too, and the “wild” and “wildness” exist in urban areas, even though wilderness is not found there. Many cities are also located in resourcerich spots on rivers where indigenous people have lived (and still live), such as the island of the Lenni Lanape that the Dutch occupied and started calling Manhattan. Moreover, people in cities are not in bubbles removed from rural communities: Some communities can establish themselves in backwater rural areas and flourish—others maintain themselves in urban centers, and the two types work together—a two-way flow of experience, people, money and homegrown vegetables. Ultimately cities may exist only as joyous tribal gatherings and fairs, to dissolve after a few weeks.46 Though it is hard to imagine how cities will turn into temporary tribal gatherings, Snyder declares at one point, “I’m learning to see cities as natural objects,”47 and in another essay he writes, “The complexity of a working metropolis with its energy, sewage treatment, transportation, public auditoriums, parks, water, and solid waste systems, is rather like a climax ecosystem,”48 an ecosystem that has the biodiversity and complexity to withstand shocks. In short, one’s place can be Manhattan or Hong Kong and everything Snyder advocates about knowing flora, fauna, hydrological cycles and indigenous inhabitants applies. At one point Snyder even lifts up a vision for true cities. “The only problem with American cities is that they’re not really cities.”49 He elaborates, I mean that they don’t have any of the good qualities of cities, with the exception of some parts of San Francisco. A city should be a convivial place in which you can get everywhere on foot, and where you can come and find your friends, good food, good music, good gambling, good poetry readings without having to own a car or travel great distances from your workplace to the downtown. … The gardens should go right up to the edge of the city as they used to in Europe. Suburban sprawl is a function of the automobile, the discovery of fossil fuel, and the development of the internal combustion engine.50 But this still leaves us with the challenge of establishing, in places like Manhattan, tight communities with “ongoing working relationships and shared concerns,

Gary Snyder’s vision  213 [where] music, poetry, and stories all evolve into the shared practice of a set of values, visions, and quests.” It is also important to note here that Snyder is not advocating that our focus should be exclusively regional, whether a bucolic rural region or a sprawling urban region. We should not get stuck in a parochial bubble, with our focus, concern and action only extending to our local surroundings. He writes, No one ever said that the old bioregional slogan ‘don’t move’ means you can’t go on trips. … Since it is a line of thought for the future it calls us to be ecologically and culturally cosmopolitan, hip to the plant and weather zones of the whole world, as well as to those of cuisine and architecture.51 He also claims, “We speak of watershed consciousness, and the great water-cycle of the planet makes it all one watershed. We are all natives to this earth.”52 Being members of this shared global watershed, we need to recover the commons and set up a “world-scale ‘Natural Contract’ with the oceans, the air, the birds in the sky.”53 This is a first step toward not only an optimal society but an optimal world: “If we are lucky we may eventually arrive at a totally integrated world culture with matrilineal descent, free-form marriage, natural-credit communist economy, less industry, far less population, and lots more national parks.”54

Non-human animals One of the many things that distinguish Snyder’s vision of community is his inclusion of non-human animals, in what he terms the “Great Earth Sangha.”55 In this framework we realize we are just “another being in the Big Watershed” and we and other animals “can accept each other as barefoot equals sleeping on the same ground.”56 We may hear “an occasional voice for the nonhuman rising within the human realm,”57 and Snyder himself offers that voice: “My political position is to be a spokesman for wild nature.”58 According to David Barnhill, “We can call this the ‘mythological, shamanistic community,’ in which plants, animals, and humans are seen as part of an interactive social community.”59 Here, too, we see the Buddhist doctrine of interconnectedness (and similar notions in indigenous traditions). In the Zen monastic life Snyder experienced in Kyoto, the sense of connection to non-human sentient beings gets reinforced by the practice of monks offering bits of food from their bowls to be left outside for gaki, “hungry ghosts.” In the Buddhist scheme of six levels or forms of rebirth, the gaki are beings who, because of greed in a previous lifetime, have been born with tiny throats, leaving them constantly hungry.60 And in this rebirth scheme, non-human animals, though situated one level below humans, do have sentience (can suffer) and, in the eyes of traditional Buddhists, may have been a loved one in a previous lifetime.61 Snyder links these Buddhist doctrines of rebirth and conditioned arising to indigenous traditions when he writes, The Australian aborigines live in a world of ongoing recurrence—comradeship with the landscape and continual exchanges of being and form and

214  Christopher Ives position; every person, animals, forces, all are related via a web of reincarnation—or rather, they are “interborn.” It may well be that rebirth (or interbirth, for we are all actually mutually creating each other and all things while living) is the objective fact of existence which we have not yet brought into conscious knowledge and practice.62

Values and virtues Snyder’s approach to community, with “attention to place; gratitude to the physical universe and to all other beings for what they exchange with you; good health, good luck, good crops,” is “basic old-style religion.”63 It is old-style values as well: As a poet I hold the most archaic values on earth. They go back to the upper Paleolithic: the fertility of the soil, the magic of animals, the power-vision in solitude, the terrifying initiation and rebirth, the love and ecstasy of the dance, the common work of the tribe64 (or the common work of the monastic community, the local community, society as a whole). About those archaic values Snyder writes, The ethics or morality of this is far more subtle than merely being nice to squirrels. … We must find our way to seeing the mineral cycles, the water cycles, air cycles, nutrient cycles as sacramental. … The expression of it is simple: feeling gratitude to it all; taking responsibility for your own acts, keeping contact with the sources of the energy that flow into your own life (namely dirt, water, flesh).65 This is “living more simply, living more responsibly,” living “in the grain of things.”66 Or, in Buddhist terms, this is living with full awareness of our embeddedness in nature, in conditioned arising at the macro level. Insofar as Snyder lifts up gratitude, simplicity and responsibility, he is offering a virtue ethic. His “etiquette of freedom” celebrates such additional virtues as generosity, humility, simplicity and mindfulness.67 Much of this is based in the core Buddhist value of restraint: “learn self-discipline and caution in the face of desire and availability.”68 Snyder even advocates a “politics of virtue”: Buddhism takes a middle path—allowing that greed, hatred, and ignorance are intrinsic to ego, but that ego itself is a reflex of ignorance and delusion that comes from not seeing who we ‘truly’ are. Organized society can inflame, pander to, or exploit these weaknesses, or it can encourage generosity, kindness, trust. There is reason, therefore, to be engaged in a politics of virtue.69 Snyder’s ethic for an optimal society also revolves around the first of the five main moral precepts in Buddhism,70 which he renders as “to live without causing unnecessary harm.”71 He writes,

Gary Snyder’s vision  215 The precept against needlessly taking life is inevitably the first and most difficult of commandments. In their practice of killing and eating with gentleness and thanks, the primary people are our teachers: the attitude toward animals, and their treatment, in twentieth-century American industrial meat production is literally sickening, unethical, and a source of boundless bad luck for this society.72 Following Snyder’s lead, Buddhists can argue that an optimal society would not stoke selfishness and desire. It would be a society that, once basic needs are met, celebrates simplicity and contentment, rather than a push for more and more, whether possessions or unsustainable economic growth. It would foster generosity, not the acquisition and hoarding of unnecessary stuff; restraint, not self-indulgence; mindful presence, not scattered freneticism; compassionate concern, not angry “othering.” Needless to say, in hyper-individualistic, materialistic, competitive societies, Buddhists have to figure out how to transform the dominant value system or transform people into the virtuous community members envisioned by Snyder. Given the power of dominant ideologies and economic structures, and given how conditioned and attached we all are, this is not, of course, an easy task.

Levels of engagement What Snyder is lifting up accords with many of the core values in Pope Francis’s encyclical, Laudato Si, and Snyder’s call to build healthy and sustainable local communities accords with a core principle in Catholic social teaching: subsidiarity.73 This principle points to the need to secure greater independence from centralized power at the top (whether ruling elites, multinational corporations or global economic institutions) by decentralizing power and keeping it as local or individual as possible while allowing for some power—or the responsibility to handle certain tasks and problems—at broader, centralized levels in certain limited situations, such as national defense, protection of rights, disaster relief and certain types of environmental regulation.74 The climate crisis appears to be a problem that cannot be fully solved at the local level. Though adaptation to climate change largely takes place locally, mitigation has to be done more broadly, at the national and international levels, with legislation, regulations, agreements and enforcement. Larry Rasmussen writes, “Consider climate change. Hoisting solar panels to rooftops here and there, starting community gardens, and reforesting floodplains, one community at a time, will not do what only bioregional, national, and international legislation and law enforcement can.”75 As we all know, however, solving problems gets increasingly difficult as we move beyond our local community to our region, our state or province, our country, and the world, or, to use John Cobb’s framework, as we move from “persons-in-community” to a “community of communities.” Without the face-to-face interactions of neighborhoods and towns that is central to Snyder’s ideal community, it becomes ever harder to cultivate the mutual understanding and trust that

216  Christopher Ives make collaborative action possible. Though our neighborhood and town might be somewhat democratic and we may feel more empowered to effect change there, at broader levels it often seems impossible to bring about significant change, much less fundamental structural change that would lead to a fulfilling society that supports the good life for all. As Buddhists move beyond the local to broader levels where certain actions, legislation and policing need to take place, they need to keep a critical eye on centralized political and economic power, on markets and governments swayed if not controlled by wealthy individuals and transnational corporations. Buddhists need to keep this in mind, lest they misconstrue and valorize the globalization of economic activity (and perhaps the internet as well) as an embodiment of the Buddhist doctrine of interconnectedness. That is to say, though Buddhists may speak of “interdependence,”76 the principle of subsidiarity points to the need for independence from certain forms of transnational or highly centralized power at the top. While exponents of “free trade” may celebrate how people around the world are becoming “interdependent,” Buddhists need to be vigilant that they do not uncritically join this celebration for, as Cobb points out (and as dependency theorists have highlighted in their analyses of dependencia), “careful analysis shows that interdependence as it develops out of free trade means the dependence of all on those who control the movement of capital and the terms of trade,”77 and an “interdependent global economy will reduce the power of everyone except a few manipulators of capital.”78

Economic systems In his analysis of economic systems, Snyder criticizes “energy-intensive high population” societies79 that are industrialized and consumerist. In their stead, he envisions societies in which economic activity is simplified: “The actualization of Buddhist insights gives us a Buddhist economics not based on greed but on need, an ethic of adequacy but simplicity, a valuation of personal insight and personal experience over possessions.”80 This would find support in a “steady-state economy”81 rather than a society based on the shibboleth of never-ending economic growth. In accord with his commitment to bioregionalism and the aforementioned principle of subsidiarity, Snyder also calls for decentralization of economic activity. “Decentralization could start with food production.”82 As an alternative to centralized energy production, Snyder argues for ending subsides for the fossil fuel industry83 and fostering “decentralized energy sources.”84 These economic changes offer a partial response to a question he poses: One can ask what might it take to have an agriculture that does not degrade the soils, a fishery that does not deplete the ocean, a forestry that keeps watersheds and ecosystems intact, population policies that respect human sexuality and personality while holding numbers down, and energy policies that do not set off fierce little wars. These are the key questions worth our lifetimes and more.85

Gary Snyder’s vision  217 In envisioning such an alternative society, other Buddhist thinkers have joined Snyder in his call for a steady-state economy with better energy policies. Bhikkhu Bodhi writes, “Policy formation must be motivated not by narrow self-interest but by a magnanimous spirit of generosity, compassion, and wisdom,” leading to a “steady-state economy governed by the principle of sufficiency, which gives priority to contentment, service to others, and inner fulfillment as the measure of the good life.”86 David Loy calls for de-carbonizing the economy and creating renewable energy sources: “Wisely used, wind power, solar power, tidal power, and geothermal power can provide all the electricity that we require without damaging the biosphere.”87 Tapping these sources, this society would have a “well-reasoned ‘steady-state’ economy that operates mindfully within the Earth’s resource and energy budget.”88 Parallel to Snyder’s vision, nonattachment, simplicity and personal sacrifice would be core values in such a society.89 Loy adds, “From a Buddhist perspective, a sane and sustainable economy would be governed by the principle of sufficiency: the key to happiness is contentment rather than an everincreasing abundance of goods.”90 Such a society would work to guarantee “a satisfactory standard of living for everyone while allowing us to develop our full (including spiritual) potential in harmony with the biosphere, which sustains and nurtures all beings, including future generations.”91 This would be measured by such indicators as the Bhutanese Gross National Happiness Index.92 As flagged here, one thing that is needed in the optimal Buddhist society envisioned by Snyder, Bhikkhu Bodhi and Loy is a new indicator. This would be an indicator that measures overall human welfare (what the Bhutanese term “happiness”) rather than just the gross amount of economic activity. Such an indicator should focus first on whether survival needs—for healthy food, potable water, appropriate clothing, adequate health care, safe housing—of the greatest number of people have been met, followed by other basic needs. Helpful in this regard is the Sarvodaya Movement’s identification of ten basic needs: water; food; housing; clothing; health care; communication; fuel; education; a clean, safe, beautiful environment; and a spiritual and cultural life.93 I once proposed an Overall Quality of Life Index, which would also bring into the calculation such elements of the Physical Quality of Life Index (used by some developmental economists) as infant mortality rates, life expectancy at age one and literacy rates, while also considering physical health, crime rates, the degree to which civil rights are protected and the frequency of military conflict.94 As indicated by the scope of such an indicator, a formulation of an optimal Buddhist society should not, as I have tended to do thus far, focus solely on environmental issues. It must also address such problems as sexism, racism, economic inequality and violence. In his criticisms of the petrochemical and energy industries, Snyder flags that Buddhists, when envisioning a society that supports the good life for all, must grapple with structural issues at the national and international levels. Without attention to structural issues, Buddhist visions of an optimal society that supports the good life for all can end up naive, idealistic, utopian. Building on Snyder’s criticisms, Buddhists need to focus on the power of corporations and the ultrawealthy; the dominance of the growth paradigm in economic policymaking; and

218  Christopher Ives the impact of current configurations of globalization, including trade agreements and such institutions as the WTO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Politics Needless to say, to focus on these structures of power is to enter the realm of politics. In addition to his “politics of virtue,” Snyder has also advocated an “ecological politics.”95 Influenced by Kropotkin, he has even called for a kind of anarchism: “By anarchism I mean a nonviolent political philosophy that finds order in the possibilities of a free society, and not in the imposed order of a state structure operating with a monopoly on violence.”96 In accord with Snyder’s bioregionalist commitment, this society would be demarcated by natural boundaries formed, typically, by watersheds. As Snyder puts it, he takes “[a] political anarchist position: that the boundaries drawn by nation states and so forth don’t represent any sort of real entity.”97 Though Snyder does not set forth a systematic political philosophy, as we shift from local communities to society writ large, we can envision participatory democracy, which embodies optimal forms of conditioned arising. As I have written elsewhere, “‘To be’ means to be in relationship, to participate in—contribute to and receive from—the whole of which one is part. The social ‘good’ is achieved to the extent people actualize optimal participation and mutually supportive interaction in society.”98 Specifically, Optimal participation requires the ability to participate—to give and receive— in a fulfilling way, which includes such things as education, rewarding work, the right to vote, the ability to run a viable campaign for political office, and basic freedoms of speech and assembly.99 Considering, in effect, how we might bring about a Buddhist society that is optimal in the areas discussed above, Snyder once posed the question, “What would it take?” He responds, We know that science and art can be allies. We need far more women in politics. We need a religious view that embraces nature and does not fear science; business leaders who know and accept ecological and spiritual limits; political leaders who have spent time working in schools, factories, or farms, and maybe a few who still write poems. We need intellectual and academic leaders who have studied both history and ecology and who like to dance and cook. We need poets and novelists who pay no attention to literary critics. But what we ultimately need most are human beings who love the world.”100 As indicated by this statement, Snyder appreciates the value of science and the need for scientific knowledge to be coupled with spiritual connection to nature. Reflecting on the “turn back to land, to place,” and echoing the Buddhist

Gary Snyder’s vision  219 awakening to conditioned arising, he writes, “This comes for some with the rational and scientific realization of inter-connectedness, and planetary limits.”101 Snyder also calls for “ecological awareness,” fostered through education: “Let no one be ignorant of the facts of biology and related disciplines; bring up our children as part of the wildlife.”102 Having studied indigenous forms of knowledge,103 he also exhorts his readers, “Master the archaic and the primitive as models of basic nature-related cultures—as well as the most imaginative extensions of science—and build a community where these two vectors cross.”104 When embedded in one’s bioregion, in community with humans and other animals, embodying the “etiquette of freedom,” and advocating for new economic approaches at the trans-local level, one embraces a new form of citizenship. It starts locally and then extends outward, but not to normal national citizenship and allegiance: The real work is becoming native in your heart, coming to understand we really live here, that this is really the continent we’re on and that our loyalties are here, to these mountains and rivers, to these plant zones, to these creatures. … The real work is accepting citizenship in the continent itself.105 This reinterpretation of citizenship prompts Snyder to rework the US Pledge of Allegiance: I pledge allegiance to the soil   of Turtle Island, and to the beings who thereon dwell   one ecosystem   in diversity   under the sun With joyful interpenetration for all.106

Questions and challenges As we step back and assess Snyder’s vision, we are left with the question of whether it is utopian, especially in light of the daunting challenges one would face in trying to actualize it. This is a political issue, and needless to say, politics concerns power and praxis. Snyder exhibits distinctive acumen in criticizing practices and powerful structures that undermine the quality of life for humans and other inhabitants of the natural world, but what does he offer as praxis? That is to say, what concrete strategies does he advocate for cultivating an optimal society, not just a bioregional community? For example, what needs to be done when democratic processes in local regions generate practices and policies that seem contrary to broader ecological sustainability? What should be done when local people in need of income allow extractive industries unfettered access to their region, even if it despoils regions downstream and downwind? Do we not need federal regulation to hold such practices in check? And how adequate is

220  Christopher Ives Snyder’s vision for challenging the militarism and global capitalism he criticizes, or for taking on the fossil fuel industry? What resources does he offer for addressing ecological injustice when, for example, climate disruption disproportionately affects people who have been only minimally responsible for greenhouse gases? While Snyder has not written extensively on these issues, he has treated them. He clearly recognizes the need to focus on arenas beyond one’s bioregion when he advocates “supporting any cultural and economic revolution that moves clearly toward a free, international, classless world.”107 In one of his oft-cited essays he advocates changes in four areas: population, pollution, consumption and transformation.108 He calls for such steps as reducing the world population by half (half of the population in 1969, when he published the essay), banning pesticides like DDT, being honest about the disposal of nuclear waste, and reducing consumption.109 Bringing about these changes is, as the slogan of the Wobblies (International Workers of the World) puts it, “Forming the new society in the shell of the old.”110 Snyder’s stance needs to be developed by considering these questions and perhaps even by advancing a political platform. In particular, Buddhists need to think (and act) in terms of eco-justice. Historically the plight of the neighbor that Buddhists have taken seriously is less the “mundane” suffering of poverty, hunger, disease, discrimination and violence than existential, “religious” suffering (albeit with some attention to unmet basic needs). As a result, Buddhism has usually not, for example, grappled with class issues. Though B. R. Ambedkar’s direct criticism of caste stands out as an important exception to this pattern, more often than not social differences and the suffering associated with poverty have been viewed as the result of karma from past lifetimes,111 and rather than attempt to ameliorate poverty, Buddhist clerics have often advocated acceptance of one’s karmic lot and the performance of good deeds (such as giving alms to monks) as the way to better one’s prospects in the future, usually one’s next lifetime. Even contemporary “Engaged Buddhists,” while making convincing arguments for reducing consumption and pollution, tend to overlook distributive justice,112 or at least give it far less attention than many Jews, Christians and Muslims do. Any attempt to articulate an optimal Buddhist society must take into account another facet of traditional Buddhism. Historically, Buddhists across Asia have succumbed to forms of Buddhist nationalism: symbiosis with ruling powers; protecting the Dharma by joining with the state in military endeavors against others who are represented as threatening the Dharma or threatening the ruler and state that protect the Dharma, and participating in the repression of non-Buddhist minorities. We see this pattern in Buddhist support for Japanese imperialism during World War II,113 in Sri Lankan Buddhist treatment of the Tamil (Hindu) minority and in Burmese Buddhists’ treatment of the Rohingya (Muslim) minority. Buddhist nationalism dovetails with another issue: violence. Since the time of the Buddha, Buddhists have offered justifications of violence that seem to contravene the First Precept and the overall Buddhist value of non-harming. We see

Gary Snyder’s vision  221 this in arguments that violence is acceptable if it serves to protect the Dharma or, in the case of Buddhist justifications of Japanese militarism during World War II, if it liberates Asians from Western imperialism.114 And as Rita Gross points out, though Buddhism is adamant in asserting non-harming as its most basic ethic, it lacks an understanding of structural violence.115 Buddhist thought has not usually noted the harm wrought by a social system that automatically favors some, such as men, over others, such as women.116 Though it seems possible to formulate a Buddhist just-war or just-violence theory that would provide critical leverage against problematical acts of violence, and though Thich Nhat Hanh moves in this direction when he makes statements like “The only really necessary and appropriate circumstance under which an army should resort to violence is to physically defend itself or an ally from a direct invasion,”117 Buddhists have not formulated such a theory in any systematic and self-critical manner. A further issue to keep in mind is Buddhism and social activism. While envisioning a utopian Buddhist society is easy, bringing it about is not. To effect necessary structural changes and, by extension, create an optimal society or at least a close approximation of it, a great many people need to take action. Bill McKibben has written, We need … increased engagement. Some of the engagement will be local: building the kind of communities and economics that can withstand what’s coming. And some of it must be global: we must step up the fight to keep climate change from getting even more powerfully out of control, and to try to protect those people most at risk, who are almost always those who have done the least to cause the problem.118 For this engagement to be successful it will need to take the form of a sustained mass movement based on some sort of perceived common interest. Perhaps a shared desire for the kind of community sketched by Snyder is a promising candidate for that common ground. In the United States, citizens across the political spectrum, in states “red” and “blue,” grieve the loss of community, as they live, in many cases, in factory and farm towns with boarded-up shops on main street or in more affluent communities where people retreat into hyper-individualistic worlds of consumerism, gadgets and distraction. Bringing this discussion squarely back to Buddhism, we are forced to recognize that despite recent forms of “Engaged Buddhism,” over the past 2,500 years Buddhists have generally not engaged in group activism directed at structures of economic and political power. Without a central leader or “Church,” Buddhism has been decentralized, making mobilization of people across the many forms and locations of Buddhism difficult. Moreover, Buddhist institutions traditionally have had a symbiotic relationship with ruling powers. Coupled with an aversion to confrontation and with deterministic reads on the doctrine of karma,119 these

222  Christopher Ives factors have led to a history of accepting the socio-economic status quo. For this reason, Buddhism offers few historical examples of prophetic critique, resistance and nonviolent protest—for the kind of rigorous, sustained activism needed for structural change. To step up and pursue this activism, however, is what we would expect a buddha or a bodhisattva to do at this historical moment, and Gary Snyder has stepped up and offered a compelling vision of a goal to which Buddhists and others can direct their activist efforts.

Notes 1 Gary Snyder, “Buddhism and the Coming Revolution,” in Earth House Hold (New York: New Directions, 1969), 90. Similarly, Reginald A. Ray writes, “as Buddhism throughout its history affirms, the health, safety, wellbeing, and sanity of one’s life situation often determines one’s ability to follow the path.” “The Buddha’s Politics,” in Mindful Politics: A Buddhist Guide to Making the World a Better Place, ed. Melvin McLeod (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2006), 66. 2 Of course, this prompts the question of the exact nature of the suffering to which Buddhism responds, and whether it includes the suffering to which social justice activists respond. The short answer is yes, for the Buddha’s typology of suffering includes not only seemingly universal existential “religious” suffering but also “mundane” forms of suffering like physical pain. 3 Tyrone Cashman, “Where Does It Come From? Where Does It Go?” in Mindfulness in the Marketplace: Compassionate Responses to Consumerism, ed. Allan Hunt Badiner (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 2002), 226. 4 Helena Norberg-Hodge, “Buddhism in the Global Economy,” in Mindfulness in the Marketplace, 15. 5 See Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder (Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books, 2008). 6 It can also reduce our awareness of our embodiedness. 7 Gary Snyder, The Practice of the Wild (Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard, 1990), 39. 8 Ibid., 101. 9 Shōbō-genzō, ed. by Ōkubo Dōshū (Tokyo: Chikuma Shobō, 1971), 44. 10 Ruben L. F. Habito, “Mountains and Rivers and the Great Earth: Zen and Ecology,” in Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnectedness of Dharma and Deeds, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker and Duncan Ryūken Williams (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997), 170 11 Gary Snyder, Nobody Home: Writing, Buddhism, and Living in Places (San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2014), 71. 12 Gary Snyder, “Reinhabitation,” in A Place in Space: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Watersheds (Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 1995), 109. 13 It is important to note that in the United States many Native peoples have never left the land that their ancestors have inhabited; and other Native peoples have been dispossessed of the land to which they belong, which makes inhabitation and reinhabitation of that land challenging if not impossible for them. All non-Native people exist here as colonial settlers, as uninvited occupiers of any land they might (re)inhabit. Settling down 50 years ago in the foothills of the Sierras, in the homeland of the Nisenan people, Snyder has flagged these issues in his writings. 14 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 42. 15 Ibid., 180–181.

Gary Snyder’s vision  223 16 Gary Snyder, The Real Work: Interviews & Talks 1964-1979 (New York: New Directions, 1980), 16. 17 Charles R. Strain, “The Pacific Buddha’s Wild Practice: Gary Snyder’s Environmental Ethic,” in American Buddhism: Methods and Findings in Recent Scholarship, ed. Duncan Ryūken Williams and Christopher S. Queen (Richmond, UK: Curzon Press, 1999), 152. 18 Snyder, The Real Work, 23. 19 Ibid., 172. 20 Snyder, A Place in Space, 95. 21 Gary Snyder, “Four Changes,” in Turtle Island (New York: New Directions, 1974), 101. 22 Carla Deicke, “Women and Ecocentricity,” in Dharma Gaia: A Harvest of Essays in Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Alan Hunt Badiner (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1990), 166. 23 Snyder, A Place in Space, 246–47. 24 Gary Snyder, Back on the Fire: Essays (Emeryville, CA: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2007), 98 25 Julia Martin, “Coyote Mind: An Interview with Gary Snyder,” TriQuarterly 79 (Fall 1990), 152; cited by Charles R. Strain, “The Pacific Buddha’s Wild Practice: Gary Snyder’s Environmental Ethic,” in American Buddhism: Methods and Findings in Recent Scholarship, ed. Dunken Ryūken Williams and Christopher S. Queen (Richmond, UK: Curzon Press, 1999), 52. 26 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 44. 27 Snyder, A Place in Space, 190. 28 Snyder, A Place in Space, 246–47. 29 Snyder, Nobody Home, 31. 30 Snyder, The Real Work, 141. 31 Snyder, Turtle Island, 98. 32 David Landis Barnhill, “Great Earth Saṅgha: Gary Snyder’s View of Nature as Community,” in Buddhism and Ecology, 210. 33 Snyder, Nobody Home, 31–32. Snyder also writes, “To restore the land one must live and work in a place. To work in a place is to work with others. People who work together in a place become a community, and a community, in time, grows a culture” (Place in Space, 250). 34 See Robert D. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001). 35 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 148; quoted by Barnhill, “Great Earth Saṅgha,” 205. 36 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 149. 37 Barnhill, “Great Earth Saṅgha,” 205. 38 Ibid., 206. 39 Focusing on Theravada monasticism, Leslie Sponsel and Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel argue that an ideal monastic community embodies such “ecologically appropriate attributes” as (1) a “small and controlled population,” (2) “egalitarian communal life based on mutual respect and cooperation,” (3) “sufficiency and sustainability by limiting resource consumption,” (4) a “cooperative rather than competitive economy based on reciprocity and redistribution,” (5) participants who “limit environmental impact and practice stewardship,” (6) a holistic worldview “based on enhancing quality of life rather than accumulating material things,” (7) values of “reverence (inherent worth), compassion or loving-kindness (mettā), and nonviolence (ahiṃsā) toward all life to promote harmony within society and between society and nature,” and (8) “deep self,” featuring “self-examination, self-realization, and self-fulfillment.” “A Theoretical Analysis of the Potential Contribution of the Monastic Community in Promoting a Green Society in Thailand,” in Buddhism and Ecology, 49.

224  Christopher Ives 40 I am currently working on a book about Buddhist responses to the climate crisis and in one section I draw on Zen monastic life as a template for a way of living that is spacious, mindful, simple, aesthetically pleasing, embedded in local nature and supportive of activism. 41 Bill McKibben has extolled the use of social media at the local level as a way to network and exchange information. 42 John B. Cobb, Jr., Sustainability: Economics, Ecology, and Justice (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2007), 33. He adds, “Food habits could change to achieve greater health and enjoyment at less expense to the world’s resources” (Ibid.). 43 Snyder, Turtle Island, 99. 44 Snyder, The Real Work, 161. 45 Ibid., 64. 46 Snyder, Turtle Island, 101. 47 Snyder, The Real Work, 37. 48 Snyder, Back on the Fire, 32. 49 Snyder, The Real Work, 143. 50 Ibid., 143. 51 Snyder, Back on the Fire, 98. 52 Ibid. 53 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 39. About those resources, Snyder comments, “There are three possible contemporary fates for common pool resources. One is privatization, one is administration by government authority, and the third is that—when possible—they become part of a true commons, of reasonable size, managed by local inhabitory people.” Ibid., 38. 54 Snyder, Earth House Hold, 93 55 For an excellent, detailed overview of this, see Barnhill, “Great Earth Saṅgha.” Similar to Snyder, Wendell Berry has urged us to expand our notion of “neighbor” and conceive of this category as including the animals around us. The pioneering environmentalist Aldo Leopold spoke of the need for humans to see themselves as “plain members of biotic community.” Thomas Berry spoke of how we live in a community of subjects, not a world of objects. 56 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 26. 57 Snyder, The Real Work, 159. 58 Ibid., 49. 59 Barnhill, “Great Earth Saṅgha,” 194. 60 It is interesting that preta, the Sanskrit term that is translated as gaki, derives from a term for ancestors. 61 Buddhism also views birth as an animal as an unfortunate birth that may be a form of punishment for actions humans have done, and the tradition has often viewed animals as more entangled in desire, ill will and violence. 62 Snyder, Earth House Hold, 129. 63 Snyder, The Real Work, 84. 64 Gary Snyder, Myths & Texts (New York: New Directions Books, 1978), viii. 65 Snyder, A Place in Space, 188. 66 Snyder, The Real Work, 112. 67 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 22–26. 68 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 99. 69 Ibid. 70 The five precepts are guidelines that are “received” or “undertaken,” usually in the form of a vow to refrain from five actions: (1) harming living beings, (2) taking what has not been given, (3) sexual misconduct, (4) false speech, (5) using intoxicants. 71 Snyder, Practice of the Wild, 4. 72 Ibid., 22.

Gary Snyder’s vision  225 73 As expressed by Pius XI, “It is an injustice, a grave evil and a disturbance of right order for a larger and higher organization to arrogate to itself functions that can be performed efficiently by smaller and lower bodies.” Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (1931); quoted by Herman E. Daly and John B. Cobb, Jr., For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy toward Community, the Environment, and a Sustainable Future, 2nd ed. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1994), 17. 74 While justifiable in terms of reducing suffering, subsidiarity does stand in tension with traditional Buddhism, where criticisms of self-interest, nervousness about power, and institutional symbiosis with central governments have generally subverted Buddhist affirmation of the allocation of power to individuals and their local groupings. 75 Larry L. Rasmussen, Earth-Honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013), 120–21. 76 As I have written elsewhere, Buddhists sometimes translate pratītya-samutpāda as “interdependence” and proceed to celebrate our “interdependence” with all things. But, while I am affected by all things, I do not exist in “interdependence” (in the ordinary sense) with all things; I am affected by but not dependent on the person out to hurt me or the melted cores of the Fukushima nuclear reactors. 77 John B. Cobb, Jr., Sustaining the Common Good: A Christian Perspective on the Global Economy (Cleveland: The Pilgrim Press, 1994), 16. 78 Ibid., 42. 79 Snyder, Nobody Home, 60. 80 Ibid., 40. 81 Snyder, Turtle Island, 91. 82 Snyder, The Real Work, 161. 83 Snyder, The Real Work, 151. 84 Ibid., 27. 85 Snyder, Back on the Fire, 69. 86 Bhikkhu Bodhi, “Climate Change is a Moral Issue: A Buddhist response to Pope Francis’s climate change encyclical” Tricycle (June 18, 2015); http:​/​/tri​​cycle​​.org/​​trike​​ daily​​/clim​​ate​-c​​hange​​-mo​ra​​l​-iss​​ue 87 David Loy and Bhikkhu Bodhi, “The Time to Act Is Now: A Buddhist Declaration on Climate Change,” in David Loy, Ecodharma: Buddhist Teachings for the Ecological Crisis (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2019), 183–84. 88 John Stanley and David Loy, “Buddhism and the End of Economic Growth.” The Huffington Post (September 19, 2011); http:​/​/www​​.huff​​ingto​​npost​​.com/​​john-​​stanl​​ey​/ bu​​ddhis​​m​-and​​-econ​​omic-​​growt​​​h​_b​_9​​54457​​.html​ 89 David Loy and John Stanley, “The Buddhadharma and the Planetary Process,” in A Buddhist Response to the Climate Emergency, ed. John Stanley, David Loy and Gyurme Dorje (Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2009), 10. 90 Loy and Bodhi, “The Time to Act Is Now,” 184. 91 Ibid. 92 Stanley and Loy, “Buddhism and the End of Economic Growth.” 93 Joanna Macy, Dharma and Development: Religion as Resource in the Sarvodaya Self-Help Movement, rev. ed. (West Hartford: Kumarian Press, 1985), 27. 94 Christopher Ives, Zen Awakening and Society (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1992), 132–33. 95 Snyder, Nobody Home, 36. 96 Woods, Bruce and Dane Schoonmaker. “Gary Snyder Talks about Bioregionalism.” Utne Reader 2:1 (Feb./March 1985), 115–17.Cited in Bron Taylor, ed., The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, vol. 2 (New York: Thoemmes Continuum, 2005), 1564. 97 Snyder, The Real Work, 24. 98 Ives, Zen Awakening and Society, 123–124.

226  Christopher Ives 99 Christopher Ives, “Liberation from Economic Dukkha: A Buddhist Critique of the Gospels of Growth and Globalization in Dialogue with John Cobb,” in The World Market and Interreligious Dialogue, ed. Catherine Cornille and Glenn Willis (Eugene OR: Cascade Books, 2011), 122. 100 Snyder, Back on the Fire, 70. 101 Gary Snyder, The Old Ways (San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1977), 65. 102 Snyder, Turtle Island, 101. 103 This includes what is referred to as “indigenous ecological knowledge” (IEK). 104 Snyder, Turtle Island, 102. 105 Joan Qionglin Tan, Han Shan, Chan Buddhism, and Gary Snyder’s Ecopoetic Way (Portland, OR: Sussex Academic Press, 2009), 222. 106 Gary Snyder, Axe Handles (San Francisco, North Point Press, 1983), 113–14. 107 Snyder, Earth House Hold, 92. 108 Snyder, Turtle Island, 91–102. 109 Snyder, Turtle Island, 97. 110 Snyder, Earth House Hold, 92. 111 And wealth has been seen in many Buddhist societies as the result of meritorious actions in a previous lifetime. 112 Just ways of distributing the goods and bads in society, such as taxing the wealthy at higher rates than others to fund social services, or making sure that toxic waste dumps are not set up disproportionately in poorer communities. 113 See my Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen’s Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2009). 114 Ives, Imperial-Way Zen, ch. 7. 115 The violence that is built into social structures and practices and usually plays out along racial, gender and class lines, as seen in greater police violence against black men than white men, in medical systems that favor men’s health, and in poor citizens being more likely to be arrested, prosecuted and incarcerated. 116 Rita M. Gross, “The Wisdom in the Anger,” in Mindful Politics, 227. 117 Thich Nhat Hanh, “Compassion is Our Best Protection,” in Mindful Politics, 274. 118 Bill McKibben, Earth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet (New York: Times Books, 2010), xv. 119 As seen in claims that the poor are poor because of something they have done in a previous lifetime.

12 Mutual morality Joanna Macy’s vision of the Great Turning Stephanie Kaza

Among environmental and social justice activists, Joanna Macy is well known for her transformative trainings and activities, often called the Work That Reconnects. In the face of overwhelming social and ecological crises, this work helps people turn despair and apathy into constructive, collaborative action. Her methods have been adapted widely in activist movements, academic programs and community organizing. Over the past four decades Macy has trained thousands of people in these powerful methods and the Work has made its way to many countries around the globe. Her ideas have been foundational for thinkers and writers in the emerging fields of ecopsychology, ecophilosophy, and religion and ecology. As an articulate and impassioned speaker, she has been a steady advocate for the Great Turning, welcoming people from all backgrounds and geographies to join the work. The dimensions of this work are explored in her many books and articles, including facilitator guides,1 her dissertation on mutual causality2 and her personal memoir.3 Macy’s work reflects the core project in Buddhist practice: of awakening and liberation from limited views. For Macy, a committed and informed activist herself, such awakening is based in the central Buddhist principle of pratītyasamutpāda, or dependent co-arising, what she has called mutual causality. Macy takes mutual causality as the foundation for the practice of mutual morality, a social ethics of concern for all beings, human and other-than-human alike. At the heart of her work is an emphasis on experiential knowing or direct investigation for oneself of Buddhist principles, as the Buddha said, ehi passiko, “Come and see.” By grounding the work in personal insight, reflection and integration, Macy has developed a practice path that adapts well to diverse settings and a broad range of environmental and social concerns. In this chapter I look at the foundations of her work in Buddhist philosophy and Western systems theory and the meaning for her of the vision of the Great Turning toward a Life-Sustaining Society, what she would call the “good life for all.” This vision is based in Earth consciousness, social collaboration and the work of global greening through moral engagement. I review the building blocks of Buddhist and systems logic that have led her to the ethical principle of mutual morality. I show how the vision of the Great Turning and the call for an ethics of mutual morality has resonated throughout her work, from the early 1980s in Europe and the UK,

228  Stephanie Kaza and on around the world in Australia, the US and Russia. Now, in a time of social unrest and climate chaos, Macy is speaking of the Great Turning as compass and map, a toolbox of skillful means, and the arising of bodhicitta mind to guide the journey.

Foundations The vision of the Great Turning has its roots in Macy’s doctoral research, an investigation of mutual causality and related parallels and overlaps between general systems theory and Buddhist philosophy. The subtitle of her dissertation is “The Dharma of Natural Systems,” an unusual juxtaposition of two philosophical frameworks. These two nonlinear bodies of thought both present a mutual or reciprocal causality view of reality. At Syracuse University, Macy had the good fortune to study systems theory under one of the great systems philosophers, Ervin Laszlo. Very quickly she saw how systems theory could provide specificity to the more general Buddhist principle of pratītya-samutpāda. Together the two views offered insight into patterns of human behavior in relation to natural systems and new options for skillful means in moving toward a Life-Sustaining Society. In systems theory, Macy was drawn to the study of systems structure and systems process or behavior. The early Austrian biologist, Ludwig von Bertalanffy, saw that living natural systems from the micro to the macro were continuously changing and being changed by internal and external conditions.4 In this dynamic view he observed that all beings were transient forms made up of flows of matter, energy and information. A tree, for example, is a complex manifestation of the flows of air and water, with energy from the sun, influenced by molecular information signals within the tree and soil. These biological flows organize in various repeating patterns such as hierarchies, nested systems and branching networks. Branching patterns are common to tree roots and lung airways, also blood vessel pathways. Hierarchies show up in the social cultures of primates, elephants and wolves. Nested systems appear in cells that form tissues that form organs that form organisms. Macy was especially interested in systems behavior for its applicability to social, political and economic systems. Understanding patterns of decision-making and power relations could steer activists to effective leverage points. These patterns are shaped by feedback signals in the culture, including laws, customs, norms and expectations. Systems stability is maintained by self-regulating feedback such as the signals that keep electricity supplies steady and vehicle traffic flowing smoothly. Systems adaptability derives from self-organizing feedback that allows organisms or organizations to learn and evolve. These two types of feedback can be observed in ecological and microbiological systems as well as human social and political systems. They include, for example, the water cycle, predator–prey cycles, seasonal growth cycles, academic and election cycles. As she taught systems theory to activists, Macy emphasized key terms that overlapped well with the Buddhist understanding of impermanence. She encouraged people to study the beginnings and endings of systems patterns, whether in

Mutual morality  229 the physical form of a human birth and death or in the form of an organization or idea. The concept of emergence indicates when some new pattern is arising and gaining systems stability, such as the new social movement Extinction Rebellion. The concept of positive disintegration indicates where systems are failing, when feedback is no longer maintaining stability, as in the modern critique of the prison incarceration system. Reciprocity, for Macy, was of particular interest, a pattern that showed mutual aid or benefit as in cooperative behaviors of social marine mammals or rural farmers. By using these systems concepts for analysis, Macy could uncover more ways to shift systems behavior toward life-sustaining choices. In Buddhist philosophy, Macy turned to the early Pali texts and the foundational teaching on the nature of all phenomena as impermanent, as having no separate autonomous self, and as dependently co-arisen. The nature of dependent co-arising, pratītya-samutpāda, was seen to be nonlinear, one thing not necessarily leading to another, but rather the result of multiple causes and conditions. This was a liberating contrast to the Western views of causality as linear and one-way, where a single action causes a single consequence. For Macy, the Buddhist view of reality suggested an infinite number of gateways, an open invitation to the human imagination to dream new stories for the world. To visualize the principle of interdependence or “interbeing,” Macy often used the Mahayana metaphor of Indra’s Net, an infinite jeweled web of existence with all beings connected by infinite threads of relationality.5 This aligned well with the modern philosophy of deep ecology and other ancient Earth-centered traditions. Fundamental to both systems theory and Buddhist philosophy are several aspects significant for an Engaged Buddhist approach. For Macy, the feature of nonlinearity is crucial to allowing for all possibilities in the wider causal net. Nothing is truly impossible in a nonlinear world of multiple causality. Furthermore, if all actions are sustained by feedback mechanisms, then one can seek out skillful means that work to change those mechanisms and shift behavior. For those discouraged by fear, rage and despair for the world, the aspect of nonlinearity opens doors to systems change invisible in other paradigms. Understanding mutual causality in both philosophies is important for accurate analysis of the causes of human and environmental suffering. Modern climate change, for example, is a result of multiple sources of carbon emissions that interact in complex ways to accelerate global warming and extreme temperature swings. By analyzing feedback patterns, one can positively reinforce choices that reduce carbon pollution, such as the use of mass transit and renewable energy. At the same time, one can disincentivize political and economic signals that reinforce the destruction of natural systems, such as the clearing and burning of Amazonian rainforests. The lens of mutual causality sharpens the mind to look beyond shorthand explanations and to engage multiple points of view for a more complete picture of cause and effect. As Macy took these principles into the teaching arena, she encountered tremendous despair and discouragement, with people often filled with hopelessness and a sense there was “nothing they could do.” She would point out that everyone is already an agent in Indra’s Net, and that there is no way they can

230  Stephanie Kaza fall out of that universe of causality, even in a state of emotional paralysis. Every action a person chooses is an expression of who they are in the web of life. And each person is already a member of many active systems participating in myriad feedback loops. Drawing on these principles, she was able to reframe difficult emotions as energy in the web to be engaged with rather than ignored. Through her skillful exercises she helped people free up this energy and shift viewpoints to understand themselves as active agents, capable of shaping systems through their own actions. Systems theory proposes complex models for how feedback changes or maintains behaviors. It also models the process by which systems become less functional or even fail altogether, when incoming signals no longer align with established behaviors. Social upheavals through anti-war and civil rights movements often reflect new signals insisting on change to a system that is failing in some way. Macy highlights this pattern of positive disintegration as vital to social evolution, and encourages people to understand its role in the evolution of social values.6 Likewise, systems theory offers infinite versions of emergence, that out of the combined properties of some set of actions, systems or timing, something brand new may emerge on the way to breakthrough. Disintegration and emergence affirm the basic nature of all beings as impermanent, with no fixed self, an example of Macy’s use of systems concepts to enhance Buddhist understanding. Essential to Macy’s work with systems theory is an emphasis on embodied practice and experiential knowing at the heart of Buddhist philosophy. Macy’s teaching stresses an integrated view of body-mind in contrast to other philosophical traditions such as, for example, Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am.” From a systems perspective the signals of mind and body are utterly connected at every level through neurons, hormones, flows of material and well-honed feedback. Social action in this model requires and depends on inner awareness gained through experiential knowing. For Macy, this grounds the practice in one’s own body-mind with experience as a source of truth and ethics. The very moment of choice-making becomes a chance to see who one is and how that moment will shape what follows. Macy’s vision of the good life for all is expressed in her concept of the Great Turning, the movement from an Industrial Growth Society to a Life-Sustaining Society. The Great Turning represents a paradigm shift from “small self” views to globally engaged views, from linear to nonlinear cause and effect, from being asleep at the wheel as the planet burns to waking up and joining the collective effort to change course. The Great Turning aligns well with the ideals of socially Engaged Buddhism, as it depends on mutual awakening toward a more kind and loving future for all beings. The expression of this vision rests on recognizing the experiential insight of mutual morality. One chooses to act morally on behalf of others because one sees that they are co-arising and co-creating the world with oneself. Moral evolution happens right in the midst of this co-arising, one powerful moment after another.

Mutual morality  231

Mutual morality The Buddhist logic and vision underpinning mutual morality are laid out in Macy’s doctoral dissertation, establishing the major principles from Buddhist philosophy that served her lifetime work. These are well-known concepts; what is unique is how Macy uses them together with systems theory to build a firm scaffold for ethical choice in a suffering world. For Macy, this is more than an intellectual exercise in logic; it is personally motivated by her deep concern for other beings and lifelong commitment to political engagement and social transformation. Self as process Macy begins by challenging the idea of an independent self, so strongly reified in most Western thinking. Early Buddhists saw delusions of a permanent self or identity as a significant fetter on the path to enlightenment, to be studied and seen through as a false conceit. The fundamental point is that there is “no experiencer separate from existence, no identity distinct from the flow of dharmas, no isolable self for whose protection or enhancement we need to strive.”7 In systems terms the “self” is made up of flows of information, energy and materials and is built of relationship. Systems thinkers focus on the nature of the flows and relationships and how individuals are manifestations of these patterns. There is the danger of assuming a nihilist position, that “nothing matters” if “I” don’t exist. But that is missing the core truth of dependent co-arising, that all things are mutually co-creating each other all the time. And therefore everything one does matters. This can be quite empowering for activists and an indisputable antidote to helplessness. Systems thinker Ervin Laszlo critiqued the subject–object distinction in Western thought, insisting it was impossible to extract organism from environment. In fact, the organism-environment is a continuous and complex set of relational patterns. For example, the evening blooming of some desert cactus flowers is timed to attract bat pollinators when they are active. The distribution of rare plant species often reflects the presence or absence of specific soil minerals. Macy describes human existence in this frame, saying, “we are but whirlpools in a river of everflowing water”8 or a burning flame that maintains a shape but has no permanent substance. These became important metaphors in Macy’s teaching. Systems philosopher Gregory Bateson’s early writings on cybernetics supplied a framework that lined up with Macy’s later interest in deep ecology philosophy. One of Bateson’s famous examples is the blind person walking with a stick, her tap-taptaps making a link between sidewalk, brain and motor neurons. He shows that there is no independent person in this loop but rather one continuous information circuit. For Macy, systems theory extended the ways one could investigate the nature of self. One can study both the nature of the delusion of self and also the nature of the systems and relationships that are reinforcing that delusion. For some, the delusion of separate self manifests as rage in the form of self-righteousness that can derail effective problem-solving. Cultural divisions and news media bias

232  Stephanie Kaza reinforce strong feelings and opinions, adding to the divisiveness of small-self factions. For those in social movements interested in political and economic systems and questions of injustice and human suffering, systems analysis contains potent insights. Macy’s Work That Reconnects focuses on these patterns and human participation in them, and is much less about personal identity as activists and concerned citizens. With a relational view of self as process, an infinite number of ethical choices is accessible. Knower and known Building on this relational view, Macy examines the epistemological questions of perception and consciousness and how these are conditioned. If ethical choices are based in relational experience, it becomes essential to understand how experience is conditioned by perception. Buddhist teaching is explicit in describing how perception depends not only on the sense organ and the object perceived but on the related sense consciousness that interprets the incoming information. Since consciousness is conditioned by perception, one’s consciousness can be transformed by changing one’s perceptions. Seeing the world “as it is” becomes a complex study of knower and known, a path of awakening to such things as implicit bias, sensory distortions and cultural misunderstanding. Macy encourages people to have the courage to face the suffering of the world directly and see one’s personal relationship to it. Knowing that perception and consciousness are fluid gives Macy a confident foundation in approaching entrenched despair and frustration. To communicate this to students, she draws on systems theory to map specific flows of information (from news media, cultural institutions, family systems) and see how they shape perception and influence ways of knowing. Through systems feedback signals, people develop ideas and projections of the world, creating stories and meaning that help make sense of things. Schools, governments, families all participate in maintaining ways of knowing that support the stability of their existences. Sometimes these patterns of knowing are limiting and cruel, such as the conditioned thinking around sexism and racism. To study these signals, as they come from authority figures or social media, is one way to expose the feedback patterns of knower and known. This opens up avenues for liberation from destructive modes of thought and the limited perceptions that hold them in place, for example, insisting that one is “color-blind” and doesn’t “see” race. Macy writes, “The knower, seeing with the ‘eye of wisdom,’ does not seek to extricate herself from the objects of her knowing, so much as to free them from the fabrications she imposes on them.”9 Likewise, awareness of self-organizing feedback provides opportunities for learning and social change that can reinforce ethical ways of behaving. Social movements supporting conscious consumerism, for example, use social media and peer pressure feedback to draw attention to a range of concerns from disposable plastics to factory farming. Climate activists versed in Macy’s methods have been successful in driving major institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies

Mutual morality  233 on ethical grounds. Macy’s work helps people not only recognize limited and outdated ways of knowing but creatively imagine new ways of knowing that can be actively cultivated to create a Life-Sustaining Society. Body and mind The early Buddhist teachings on mutual causality made a clear break with earlier dualistic views in asserting that all aspects of reality were conditioned and impermanent. The teaching on 12 links of dependent co-arising elucidates this at all levels. Sense perception generates feeling states, feeling states generate grasping, and grasping creates karmic actions. The teaching is a meditation on processes that generate systems patterns in the body and mind. One can observe how moment to moment, body (matter) and mind (consciousness) co-arise and mutually condition each other. Systems thinkers confirmed that dualistic and reductionistic descriptions of body and mind were inaccurate and misleading. Neither alone can be seen as an ultimate reality but rather as thought forms that bring some temporary order to experience. Macy drew on Laszlo’s systems’ view of consciousness to reinforce a nondualistic understanding of body and mind. “Mind is but the internal aspect of the connectivity of systems within the matrix … The mind as knower is continuous with the rest of the universe as known.”10 She affirmed his argument that such interiority is not restricted to humans but can be inferred as well for other-thanhumans. Though such subjective experience may be quite different for an elephant or apple tree than a person, Laszlo finds no reason to deny such experience. In developing an ethics of mutual morality, Macy takes on earlier Vedantic (and in fact, later Christian) visions of spirit struggling to be free from matter and flesh. If matter and flesh are seen as polluting and binding, even while one is dependent on this very flesh for existence, this promotes a “love–hate relationship” of mind with matter.11 Fear and disgust of the body can lead to fear of the material world and a sense of being trapped into bondage. Macy works with this in her groundbreaking essay “World as Lover, World as Self,” where she lays out four common alternative worldviews: world as battlefield, world as trap, world as lover and world as self. The first two options repeat the dualistic struggle of bodymind on the world stage, justifying exploitation and the conquest of nature on the one hand, and escape through detachment and transcendence, on the other. Macy argues instead for the other two views, saying that “the world itself has a role to play in our liberation. Its very pressures, pains, and risks can wake us up – release us from the bonds of ego and guide us home to our vast, true nature.”12 This places ethical decision-making clearly in the realm of the beloved world, based on the inseparable body-mind experience of the experiencer. Doer and deed Drawing on this nondualistic understanding of self, body and mind, Macy takes up karma, the consequences of human actions. It is in the realm of action choice

234  Stephanie Kaza that ethical principles become manifest; it is here where human behavior and human socio-political-economic systems may evolve toward greater kindness to all. Once again she points out how doer and deed are reciprocally conditioned: “What we do not only matters, it molds us.”13 The effects of our behavior, she says, are “inescapable, not because God watches and tallies, or an angel marks our acts in a ledger, but our acts co-determine what we become.”14 The Buddha argued against what Macy calls “karmic fatalism,” a sense of being trapped by all past actions and ever after paying whatever price they exacted. He rejected such determinism, emphasizing that actions of the past can be ameliorated by actions in the present. For an activist facing the immense weight of historical injustice, this approach holds great potential for healing actions that can plant seeds of justice for a kinder future. Likewise, in a systems view of reality people are not seen as “victims of our past, hapless pawns of forces and times beyond our reach.”15 The self-organizing aspect of systems feedback is what allows a system formed from past action to change and evolve. The very openness of systems allows for new choices and new ethical influence at any single choice point for action. “For in the flow of decisions and deeds, choices can be made that open broader vistas to perceive and know, wider opportunities to love and act.”16 Such an orientation has become central to restorationist work healing the land and to decolonizing work related to white culture. The permaculture movement and the Black Lives Matter movement are two such global efforts to reshape long-term patterns of domination of people and land. Macy’s work allows people to recognize the deep trauma to cultures and places while inviting the possibility of other choices for action that turn the system toward healing. Mutual morality With these pieces in place, Macy lays out a vision of the good life that is dynamic, mutually co-created and ethically based. Engaged Buddhism, for Macy, is an effective locus for the co-arising of individual awakening and social awakening. She writes, “the liberation of the individual and the health of her society are inseparable. Indeed, they point to a profound mutuality between personal and social transformation.”17 But how does this happen? What values and practices can galvanize such awakening, the true goal of the Buddhist spiritual path? Macy begins with concern for other beings as primary aim, expressed fully in the Brahmavihāras, the four noble dwelling places of a spiritually enlightened being. These serve as aspirational values that promote both individual and social awakening. “They open the heart to the pain and pleasure all beings experience, and, in so doing, break down the walls of ego, leading to both service and enlightenment.”18 These four virtue practices are: loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity. Each practice increases capacity for deep realization of interdependent relationality. Then, in the ethical choice to take action, the practitioner offers good will, kindness and stability to society. As good will accumulates across society, social institutions are more able to make humane choices toward a healthy and resilient quality of life for all.

Mutual morality  235 Macy insists that mutual morality includes examination of the values and conditioning that inform our ways of knowing. “We are, at all levels of our being, accomplices to the assertions we make, and accountable for them.”19 All assertions reflect specific experience; all worldviews are socially constructed, not ultimate truth. Thus mutual morality involves both a study of individual patterns of thought and the social formations that reflect these patterns. In Macy’s workshops, people engage mutual morality around a wide variety of issues, from meat consumption to fossil fuel extraction, looking at both personal and social ethics. Since all knowing depends on dependently co-arising perception, feelings and cognition, Macy considers absolutist statements to be divisive and dangerous. She argues for the value of tolerance and the practice of continuous examination of one’s assumptions. Political engagement, for Macy, is a natural outcome of a paradigm of mutual morality. Political, economic and social structures are not fixed structures but systemic patterns continuously unfolding in which we are participants. Because they are significant influences conditioning our lives (through governance, property ownership, laws, trade, etc.) we have a responsibility to help shape them to serve our concern for other beings. The health of the city or state or country depends on wide public participation in decision-making to ensure the physical, mental and social health of its citizens. This responsibility includes “the readiness to intervene with corrective measures when and where the social system becomes dysfunctional.”20 Since all systems are in constant states of self-regulating and self-organizing, they depend on feedback to sustain these processes. Mutual morality becomes the practice of that correction and evolution, taken up as a path to awakening.

The Work That Reconnects: Manifesting the vision The chronicle of Joanna Macy’s legacy and vision has been only partially compiled. Her own writing has focused more on principles and activist engagement and less on the impact of her trainings and teachings around the world. Her memoir, Widening Circles, was published in 2000, and the Work and her activities continued on into the next two decades. At the time of this writing, Macy was 91 and still giving online Zoom talks and interviews and meeting with activist thought leaders via phone and Skype. In this section I give a brief history of the phases of her teaching and lay out the primary intellectual and pedagogical models for the Work that are still in use today. A brief history The earliest version of Macy’s work was called “Despair Work,” the title of a brief paper she wrote in 1981.21 That paper came out of her experience facilitating a daily workshop at a 1978 meeting of the Society for Values in Higher Education. She had just completed her doctoral thesis and was soon to travel to Sri Lanka for field research. The year before she attended a Jacques Cousteau

236  Stephanie Kaza Symposium in Boston with her son and daughter, “an immense bazaar of apocalyptic information.”22 The horror of unfolding environmental catastrophes led her to a dark epiphany that humans could now, in fact, destroy their world. “I felt like the sole victim of a unique and nameless disease with no one to share and compare symptoms.”23 The pain of this sorrow for the world led her to invite others at the meeting to share their own concerns for the planet in what became a pivotal breakthrough, a discovery that “despair, when shared, delivers us to a new kind of humanity.”24 That small booklet on despair work made its way to Germany and the UK in the early 1980s and caught the attention of peace activists resisting the acceleration of war preparation activities by the United States. As Macy was called to lead workshops in the United States, she put together a first handbook for facilitators, Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age (1983). This carried detailed guidelines for facilitators with instructions for the galvanizing activities Macy had developed. The book was picked up in the UK and translated into German, and very quickly Macy was invited for significant teaching tours in both countries.25 She was inspired by the dedication of peace activists and during a visit to one of the camps, had a powerful vision of a nuclear guardianship project to bear witness to and protect people from the unimaginable consequences of nuclear waste. The Work quickly spread to Australia where colleagues and local activists helped to organize a teaching tour to all the major cities in the country. Macy gave workshops, lectures and interviews for four weeks straight, influencing an entire generation of activists in Australia.26 Here she further tested and developed her powerful teaching exercises, including the Council of All Beings. By the late 1980s, Macy’s work was becoming widely known in activist circles as a much-needed method and antidote in a time of high anxiety and accelerating environmental decline. She wrote guest articles for a broad scope of audiences and began teaching for innovative graduate programs in Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco.27 In 1991 her first collection of essays was published, World as Lover, World as Self, and it is still in print today. Inspired by rainforest activist John Seed in Australia, Macy adopted the term deep ecology for her work, and the phrase caught fire in the United States, Germany and Russia. The deep ecology philosophy added a dimension of deep time that resonated with people as they faced the mounting alarms of environmental catastrophe. Deep ecology called for grounding in place and personal realization through identifying with the natural world. The philosophy aligned well with both Buddhist and systems understandings of reality, calling for liberation from restrictive anthropocentric views. Macy found that when people experienced this paradigm shift, they were highly motivated to take action for social change.28 By the late 1990s the Work had spread across the United States and Europe, and Macy undertook a major revision of the facilitator manual, renaming the Work and its now codified spiral process to reach a yet broader audience. Coming Back to Life, co-edited with Molly Young Brown, identified the new frame as the Work That Reconnects. This allowed the Work to be adopted by action groups beyond peace and environment concerns, including social justice, global health

Mutual morality  237 and urban sustainability. With this guidebook, Macy fully intended to “give the work away,” encouraging collaboration and peer leadership not dependent on her as a head authority. This inspired people to adapt the Work to a wide diversity of local situations and add their own creativity in developing experiential activities. Since 2000 the Work has found its way to Japan, China, South Africa, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Brazil, and, no doubt, places not yet documented. Training programs such as the four-week intensive in Australia in 2005 drew facilitators from around the world. Many of these global stories are included in A Wild Love for the World (2020), but they are only a small glimpse of how far the Work has penetrated. A further version of the Work was published in 2012 with Chris Johnstone in the UK under the title of Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in Without Going Crazy. This book has been picked up by book groups, churches and climate justice activists, with additional online curricula to increase access to the teaching materials. Macy estimates that by now, hundreds of thousands of people have been exposed to her ideas and the Work That Reconnects, and the circles are still growing wider. Personal and social transformation For Macy, the personal work of mutual morality goes hand in hand with social transformation; the two inform and nourish each other. The awakened person with new understanding of mutual causality takes this view of life on Earth as a foundation for social engagement. Macy’s work offers both a personal process for that journey and a path for social transformation. She emphasizes resisting the elements of society that are not working and are no longer acceptable and at the same time, taking action to move toward the Life-Sustaining Society. This involves integrating inner and outer transformation on all levels—personal, relational and collective. Macy further highlights the need to attend both to one’s experience of suffering for the world and to practices that enhance awakened qualities such as mindfulness and equanimity. Engaged Buddhist teacher Donald Rothberg points out that “[b]eing able to experience and hold difficult emotions both individually and in groups is helpful in moving out of repetitive, reactive patterns (linked with some activist strategies,) rooted in often unconscious emotions.”29 Clearly, there are many paths to personal and social transformation. Two are primary in Macy’s writing and teaching: the Spiral Journey and Deep Time work. The Spiral Journey is a four-stage process introducing mutual causality and mutual morality. The stages are known as: coming from gratitude, honoring our pain for the world, seeing with new eyes, and going forth. Offering gratitude is a way of reflecting on the precious gift of human life and, as in the classic Buddhist teaching, on the certainty of death and the uncertain time of death. Macy writes in Coming Back to Life: We have received an inestimable gift. To be alive in this beautiful, self-organizing universe – to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it – is a wonder

238  Stephanie Kaza beyond words. And it is, moreover, an extraordinary privilege to be accorded a human life, with this self-reflexive consciousness that brings awareness of our own actions and the ability to take choice. It lets us choose to take part in the healing of our world.30 The practice of gratitude generates a sense of grounded presence, establishing a frame of contentment or satisfaction that can serve as a counterweight to dissatisfaction and craving, fueled in modern times by advertising and social media. Of particular significance is that gratitude is possible no matter what the circumstances are. One’s appreciation for the gift of life does not depend on whether we like or dislike our current situation (the loss of species, the rising climate pollution, the mass hunger and poverty, and much more). “On the contrary, to us is granted the great privilege of being on hand to take part, if we choose, in the Great Turning.”31 Macy points out that we could proceed “out of grim and angry desperation,” but the work comes more easily and is more joyful if we are able to rest in a place of gratitude. Honoring our pain for the world is the process of acknowledging grief, rage, fear and other emotions that are often difficult to express. From a Buddhist perspective, Macy sees that these strong feelings are just forms of energy, not permanent mind states. Her work helps people see that such emotions are natural and healthy responses to the state of the world; they are not pathological distortions. Once spoken, they can be recognized as springing from deep care and sense of connection with Earth. The path of compassion, the capacity to “suffer-with” the world becomes a source of energy for bodhisattvas to take action on behalf of others. In recent years, people are testifying to climate grief, what climate scientist Susi Moser describes as “the reactive and anticipatory mourning of all we are losing due to the disruption of our climate.”32 This is not easy to face into; the well of grief seems bottomless. But through experiencing one’s own true feelings in an intimate embodied way, one comes to trust the expressions of true care and concern for the beloved world. Grief work in a group setting strengthens the unfolding process of the Spiral Journey, affirming the feelings that underpin the obligations of mutual morality. Seeing with new eyes, the third phase of the Spiral, arises naturally from shedding emotional and perceptual barriers to realizing the true “interplay of reality.”33 This shift in perception is from self as separate and autonomous to self as relational and inseparable from the web of life. In the frame of mutual causality, “self” interest now includes all other beings and Earth itself. Awakening to this understanding of interbeing is a radical act for the Great Turning. The power to enact social change can be seen as mutual and synergistic, encouraging people to envision real opportunities for the good life for all. To reinforce this understanding, Macy has designed experiential exercises that encourage moral imagination and group support. “Widening Circles” asks people to consider a situation of concern in the world from four perspectives: their own experience and feelings; from the perspective of someone with very different, even

Mutual morality  239 opposing views; from the view of a nonhuman being affected by the situation; and from a future human whose life will be impacted by a decision on this issue today. They speak in witness to others in a small group, expanding the breadth of voices in the web of causality, seeing new openings in these viewpoints. The courage to face strong feelings is rewarded with the joys of experiencing the flow of energy through the interconnected web. From the dark night of isolation and emotional work, people emerge to a bright day of awareness and possibility. Going forth is the fourth phase of the work, where energy generated in earlier phases now ripens and becomes directed for action. Guided teachings affirm new motivation and awareness of suffering, appreciation for one’s gifts and powers, a nourishing sense of community, and an upsurge of compassion.34 The vision of the Great Turning is real enough to provide a guide for future work. Mutual morality is a natural outcome of the Spiral Journey. Systems thinking, mutual causality and bodhisattva commitment generate practical ways forward to solving seemingly intractable problems. In this phase, the learnings of the entire Spiral are energized and integrated, and people “go forth” to serve the world as bodhisattvas. Deep Time work The Spiral path is strengthened by engaging with what Macy calls Deep Time work. For Macy this aspect of the work is a crucial antidote to the short attention span of modern digital culture. Her own moral awakening to deep time came through concerns for the impacts of nuclear waste over generations, made all too real by many visits to Russia with her husband Fran Macy. “Marooned in the present, we are progressively blinded to the sheer ongoingness of time. Both the legacy of our ancestors and the claims of our descendants become less and less real.”35 Macy urges people to “learn to act like ancestors of future generations”36 by attuning to longer ecological and geological cycles and imagining those who will come after us. One of her landmark activist projects in deep time was the Nuclear Guardianship Project, an Engaged Buddhist practice of on-site nuclear waste monitoring as spiritual practice, for as long as it was radioactively hazardous.37 Reinhabiting time becomes essential work for the Great Turning and part of Macy’s vision for the good life, a kind of moral reset toward generational legacy—both what we have received and what should be passed on. Macy often begins workshops or talks by invoking the “beings of the three times”—past, present and future—inviting them into the circle as both real and imagined ancestors. Some of her most extensive guided meditations invite experiences of deep time, using movement and imagination. Macy’s poetic language and felt sense of time comes through in these unique practices, reflecting the depth of her own experience and understanding of generational legacy. (See, for example, “Harvesting the Gifts of the Ancestors” and “The Seventh Generation.”)38

The Great Turning as social vision The vision of the Great Turning is a constructive alternative to the status quo of ecological and economic decline, a directional guide for positive action. Macy

240  Stephanie Kaza speaks of “three stories” and the powerful option to “choose our story.” By story, she means the paradigm or lens through which we view and make sense of what is happening now in the modern world. “Often our story is largely unconscious and unquestioned, and we assume it to be the only reality.” Yet these three stories are all happening simultaneously in different threads of human activity and we can choose “the one that seems to hold the widest and most useful perspective.”39 The first story is “Business as Usual,” the story of the Industrial Growth Society of corporate capitalism based on human exploitation of the natural world and its bounties, all for economic profit. Material life is good, consumer spending is fine, and interruptions or slowdowns from market ups and downs or weather events are minor problems. Market mechanisms will recover, growth will return and all will prosper. The basic assumption in this story is that everything is working as is and there is no need to consider any changes in values or lifestyles. The second story is “The Great Unraveling,” delivered in reports from climate scientists, justice activists, journalists and others witnessing the state of the planet. This is a very disturbing story, chronicling the bleaching of coral reefs, the rise of sea levels, the extinction of species and the enormous inequity between wealthy and poor. Extreme energy extraction methods leave ruined landscapes and impoverished communities around the globe. Critical life resources of air, soil and water are polluted, impacting human health as well as the stability of ecosystems. War and military investments drain vital funds away from life support. More and more people are caught in The Great Unraveling through intense floods and drought, lost employment and undrinkable water. In this story, things have gone too far; it is clear that some social and ecological systems will not recover from these impacts. The outcome of the Great Unraveling is tremendous suffering and loss. The third story is “The Great Turning,” a call for creativity in transitioning from the Industrial Growth Society to a Life-Sustaining Society, the good life for all beings. Some have called this the “sustainability revolution,” or the “net zero” movement, with a goal to live in more sustainable ways that are less destructive to Earth. In Macy’s vision, the Great Turning is much broader—an epochal shift, an adventure and a commitment to “act for the sake of life on Earth … with vision, courage, and solidarity.”40 Crucial to this shift is a sense of allegiance to and gratitude for the gift of life and strong motivation to protect and support life for future generations. The Great Turning turns on a shift in consciousness, what Macy often calls “Gaian consciousness”—a new (and ancient) way of thinking about human life as based in a deeper collective identity—not only with all human life but with Earth itself. The Great Turning represents a shift from a transactional use-oriented view of the world, to a relational view based in mutual belonging on Earth, our home. Macy writes, When we find a good story and fully give ourselves to it, that story can act through us, breathing new life into everything we do. When we move in a direction that touches our heart, we add to the momentum of deeper purpose that makes us feel more alive.41

Mutual morality  241 Three dimensions For Macy, The Great Turning is an ongoing process that involves saying “no” to harmful actions of the Industrial Growth Society, and “yes” to sustainable actions for the Life-Sustaining Society. Through these acts of intention, in the very choosing and carrying out of these actions, the good life for all beings can emerge. The Great Turning lays the ground for a shift in consciousness to a new paradigm for social transformation. Macy urges actions in all three dimensions in order to bring about this radical change. Holding actions are intended to hold back, slow down or block the damage to life systems being caused by the Industrial Growth Society. They can help buy time for larger systemic changes. This includes raising awareness of the damage, gathering evidence, compiling data, bringing court challenges and calling out destructive tax and legal incentives. Consumer boycotts, strikes, rallies, street protests and civil disobedience all contribute to holding back the tide of forest destruction or police brutality. This is not easy work. While it may feel heroic at times, it is also highly stressful under tight time pressures. In many places, activists are treated as terrorists, and whistleblowers are punished. Macy observes, “As the corporate empire is exposed and threatened, the violence of its response becomes more naked and indifferent to public opinion.”42 Life-sustaining systems and practices require analysis of the destructive patterns as well as creative redesign of social structures and economic systems. Systems theory can be helpful for mapping the complex and interlocking patterns of oppression, domination and exploitation of people and land. Legal and trade agreements, cultural expectations and political power structures all contribute to what Macy calls an “insatiable economy that uses our larger body, Earth, as supply house and sewer.”43 Structural analysis of the global crisis points the way to opportunities for transformation. “In countless localities, like green shoots pushing up through the rubble, social and economic arrangements are sprouting to free us from injustice and ruin.”44 From land trusts to permaculture plots, from stream restoration to solar energy co-ops, from ecovillages to reconciliation commissions—each example inspires yet another bold initiative, an upwelling of creativity that social entrepreneur Paul Hawken has called “the largest social movement in human history.”45 The third dimension of the Great Turning for Macy is “a cognitive revolution and a spiritual awakening”—a profound shift in consciousness, values and perception. “We awaken to what we once knew: we are alive in a living Earth, source of all we are and can achieve.”46 The shift is made possible by insights and experiences that reveal the essential interconnectedness of all life, inspired by the natural world, the ancient wisdom traditions or by anguish for the state of the beloved world. They help us redefine our wealth and our worth. The reorganization of our perceptions liberates us from illusions about what we need to own and what our place is in the order of things … they bring us home to each other and our mutual belonging in the living body of Earth.47

242  Stephanie Kaza Climate actions such as those of the Sunrise movement and Extinction Rebellion are a manifestation of this awakening, as are the Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movements. Indigenous and black American voices are calling for such a shift in consciousness, a recognition of the true cost of American success— genocide and enslavement. From the very first despair work, Macy described this paradigm shift as a breakthrough from the grip of despair and grief for the world. It is like a fulcrum, which lets us shift the weight of our social despair, which lets us turn and raise it into a new way of being … Or it is like a hinge. Having opened to our pain for the world, we have found the hinge by which we can open also to our power for the world.48 This shift marks a turn that exposes the wider awareness of who and what we are. Such a change in consciousness may be experienced as an epiphany or awakening, after which one can no longer return to more limited views. With the power of this personal experience participants can believe that such awakening is truly possible at the social level. In group settings, people witness micro-moments of collective awakening to the vision of the good life and are inspired to take the process out into the world.49 Evolution of the Great Turning For many followers of Joanna Macy’s thought and teaching, the vision of the Great Turning seemed almost within grasp at the start of the twenty-first century. Real examples abounded in community gardens, bicycle culture and fossil fuel divestment campaigns. Macy’s toolkit of skillful means—the trainings, the meditations, the books, the networks—were a major contribution toward realizing this vision. Around the globe, hundreds of thousands of activists and concerned citizens had taken up the Great Turning as a calling. In recent years, however, the powerful drivers of corporate capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy culture have reasserted their dominance, and the Great Turning has begun to seem out of reach. Macy has been following closely the developing predictions of social collapse under the pressures of climate change, shrinking ecological resilience and economic exploitation of land and workers. By 2019, she felt the vision of the Great Turning needed to be expanded to serve the potentially quite dark times ahead. She knew that positive disintegration was one way that systems respond when feedback processes no longer stabilize functional systems. And now, under the combined threats to democracy, freedom of the press, public health and economic stability, she was witnessing with many others the downward slide toward social and ecological collapse. Macy saw the need to clarify the Great Turning in relation to the accelerating breakdown. It was much more than “purposeful and Earth-based solidarity” and all that promised in the transition to a Life-Sustaining Society. She wrote, “the Great Turning … essentially lives within us as a vision and commitment. In

Mutual morality  243 that sense, it reminds me of the Buddhist notion of bodhicitta, dedication to the welfare of all, often portrayed as a flame in the heart.” The vision of the Great Turning “is more important to us than ever, not only as a light at the end of the tunnel but as compass and map, as well as a supply house of skills and tools for nourishing our spirit, ingenuity, and determination.”50 In 2020, as the world was swept by a global pandemic and economic activity ground to a halt, Macy’s vision of the Great Turning seemed almost prophetic. And yet she still called for radical attention: “to not look away, to not turn aside, but to be fully present to what confronts us.”51 Mutual belonging The ultimate heart of the Great Turning vision is what Macy identifies as mutual belonging. This is grounded in being fully present and moved by gratitude for the gift of life. For Macy, the practice of mutual belonging “is the medicine for the sickness of the small self and can accompany us through … the hard times ahead.” Macy roots this belonging in the Earth, for all of us are “woven of the flows of time and relationship that form our bodies, our communities, our climate.”52 Mutual belonging is firmly embedded in the foundational understanding of mutual causality, with mutual morality the ethical obligation that derives from this. Mutual belonging is the heart-mind’s felt knowing, the source of energy and motivation, the true relationship of humans to their planet home. This bright flame illuminates all of Macy’s work and is her gift of understanding from the ancestors and to those of the present and future times who can base their work in this deep time knowing. The vision of the Great Turning is mutual belonging recognized and made manifest. For Macy, the gift of this opportunity is boundless and provides all we need to find our way through the challenges of racism, capitalism and climate change. The shared actions that manifest this vision of the Great Turning are for Macy a great delight, what she calls arbeitsfreudigkeit or work joyfulness in the practice field of mutual belonging.

Notes 1 Joanna Macy, Despair and Personal Power in the Nuclear Age (Philadelphia: New Society Press, 1983); Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown, Coming Back to Life: Practices to Reconnect Our Lives, Our World (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1998); Joanna Macy and Chris Johnstone, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess We’re in without Going Crazy (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2012); and Joanna Macy and Molly Brown, Coming Back to Life: The Updated Guide to The Work That Reconnects (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2014). 2 Joanna Macy, Mutual Causality in Buddhism and General Systems Theory: The Dharma of Natural Systems (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1991). 3 Joanna Macy, Widening Circles: A Memoir (Gabriola Is, BC: New Society Publishers, 2000). 4 Macy, Mutual Causality, 72–74. 5 Joanna Macy, World as Lover, World as Self (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1991), 33. 6 Macy, World as Lover, 22.

244  Stephanie Kaza 7 Macy, Mutual Causality, 109. 8 Macy, Mutual Causality, 111. 9 Ibid., 136. 10 Ibid., 150. 11 Ibid., 153. 12 Macy, World as Lover, 8. 13 Macy, World as Lover, 86. 14 Ibid., 88. 15 Ibid., 93. 16 Ibid., 94. 17 Macy, Mutual Causality, 212. 18 Macy, Mutual Causality, 195. 19 Ibid., 196. 20 Ibid., 201. 21 Joanna Macy, Despairwork, Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1981. 22 Joanna Macy, “Thunderclap,” in A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, ed. Stephanie Kaza (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2020), 72. 23 Macy in Kaza, Wild Love, 73. 24 Ibid., 74. 25 See Pat Fleming, “The Work Takes Root in the UK,” in A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, ed. Stephanie Kaza (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2020), 38–48; and Gunter and Barbara Hamburger, “Breaking the Silence in Germany,” in A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, ed. Stephanie Kaza (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2020), 117–26. 26 Bobbi Allen, “The Rainforest Protecting Itself: Australia Rising,” in A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, ed. Stephanie Kaza (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2020), 51–53. 27 See Kaza, Wild Love, for complete bibliography, 365–75. 28 Joanna Macy, “The Greening of the Self,” in World as Lover, World as Self (Berkeley, CA: Parallax Press, 1991), 183–92. 29 Donald Rothberg, “Developing a Socially Engaged Buddhism,” in A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, ed. Stephanie Kaza (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2020), 27–28. 30 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (1998), 81. 31 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (2014), 92. 32 Susanne Moser, “To Behold Worlds Ending,” in A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, ed. Stephanie Kaza (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2020), 84. 33 Kaza, Wild Love, 145. 34 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (1998), 168 35 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (2014), 170. 36 Ibid., 171. 37 Macy, World as Lover, 220–25 and 235–37. 38 Ibid., 175–87. 39 Ibid., 5. 40 Macy and Johnstone, Active Hope, 27. 41 Macy and Johnstone, Active Hope, 33. 42 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (2014), 9. 43 Ibid. 44 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (2014), 10. 45 Quoted in Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (2014), 10. 46 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (1998), 21. 47 Macy and Brown, Coming Back to Life (1998), 21–22. 48 Macy, Despair and Personal Power, 116.

Mutual morality  245 49 Rothberg in Kaza, Wild Love, 28. 50 Joanna Macy, “Afterword,” in A Wild Love for the World: Joanna Macy and the Work of Our Time, ed. Stephanie Kaza (Boulder, CO: Shambhala, 2020), 359. 51 Macy in Kaza, Wild Love, 360. 52 All quotes, Macy in Kaza, Wild Love, 360.

Index

Abhidharmakośa 37–38, 40 abidings, four divine see brahma-viharas Abode of Still Thoughts 177 abstinence: three types of, in Maṅgala Sutta 19 action: four defilements of, in Maṅgala Sutta 19; ten courses of wholesome, in Maṅgala Sutta 16 actions, holding 241 activism, social 46–47; in Macy 235, 239; in Snyder 221; in Thich Nhat Hanh 158 age, degenerate, in Tzu Chi 179–80, 186; see also Law, Latter Day of the (mappō) ahimsa see nonviolence alcohol: in Maṅgala Sutta 20; in Thich Nhat Hanh 171–72 altruism 36–38 Ambedkar, Dr. Bhimrao Ramji: and Buddhism 57, 62, 73; and Constitution of India 59, 60, 63, 67–68; contemporary perception of 58, 61; conversion of 75; life of 57–59; statues and images of 61, 77 anarchy: as ideal, in Thich Nhat Hanh 161; qualities of, in Thich Nhat Hanh monasteries 161–62; in Snyder 218 Anāthapiṇḍika 39 anger 42 Aṅguttara Nikāya 44–45 animals, four sacred of Bhutan 102–3 animals, non-human: in Snyder 215 Annihilation of Caste 67–68, 75 anthropocentrism, absence of: in GNH 105 arahant: in Maṅgala Sutta 27–29; see also arhat arhat 45 Ariyaratne, A. T.: awards and nickname 85, 91; life of 85 Asaṅga 39, 45, 48

association, right: in Maṅgala Sutta 11 austerity: in Maṅgala Sutta 25–26 awakening, dual see liberation, dual awakening, individual and societal: in Macy 234; spiritual, in Macy 241; see also liberation, dual Bandaranaike, S. W. R. D. 84 Bateson, Gregory 231 beauty: in SGI 196; in Tzu Chi 182, 183, 186 being peace 154–55, 164–65 belonging, mutual 240, 243 benefit, mutual 39, 41, 43–46; and four types of persons 43–44; in Jungto Society 140; in Macy 229; in SGI 196; in Tzu Chi 185, 186; see also self-benefit benefit, reciprocal see benefit, mutual benefit of self and other see benefit, mutual benevolence 3–4; see also compassion; loving-kindness Bertalanffy, Ludwig von 228 Bhagavad Gita 87 Bhave, Vinoba 85 Bhutan: development policies of 99–100; introduction to 97 bias, implicit 232 bioregionalism 207–9, 213 Bodhicaryāvatāra 39, 104 bodhicitta 44 bodhisattva 45–46, 48; and carrying a gun 167; in East Asia 47; in GNH 104; in Jungto Society 142, 148; in Sarvodaya 87; Tzu Chi as bodhisattva path 178–79; vow 43 Bodhisattvabhūmi 45 body and mind: as dualistic 233; as integrated 230

248 Index bone marrow, donation: in Tzu Chi 182–83 brahmacariya: in Maṅgala Sutta 26 brahma-viharas, four: in GNH 102; in Macy 234; in Sarvodaya 87; in Tzu Chi 178–79 Buddha and His Dhamma, The 57, 60, 64–65, 69, 70, 73 Buddha Jayanti 83 Buddhaghosa 42, 44 buddhahood: as human potential in SGI 193 Buddha nature: in GNH 105; in SGI 195 Buddhism: as “world-denying” 86 Buddhism, early 9 Buddhism, Engaged 58, 96, 111, 229, 230, 234; and Dalai Lama 131, 132; Jungto Society as 136, 138, 148; and personal vs. institutional change 172–73, 221–22; as reactive xiv; in Snyder 220–22; in Sri Lanka 83, 84, 86–87, 92–93; and Thich Nhat Hanh 154, 156 Buddhism, Humanistic 176, 187 Buddhism, lay: in Jungto Society 137, 148, 149; SGI as 192; in South Korea 138–39 Buddhism, Mainstream 49n3 Buddhism, modernist: and GNH 100; two forms of 96–97, 111–13 Buddhism, nationalist 96, 111–13; see also Buddhist nationalism Buddhism, other-worldly 1–2, 180 Buddhism, secularized 96 Buddhism, socially disengaged 48; see also Buddhism, Engaged Buddhism, Tibetan 97 Buddhism, traditional Chinese: criticism of by Tai Xu 176 Buddhism, universalist 96, 111–13 Buddhism for the masses (minjung pulgyo) 138–39 Buddhist modernism 42 Buddhist nationalism 83–84, 88, 89, 220; see also Buddhism, nationalist business: GNH and 108; Thich Nhat Hanh view of 159 Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta 170 capitalism, view of 5; in Ambedkar 76; in GNH 108; in Jungto Society 142, 148–49; in Macy 240–42; in Sarvodaya 92–93; in SGI 197; in Thich Nhat Hanh 159 caste 57; Ambedkar’s anti-caste gurus 75; Gandhi on 67; promotion of intercaste

interaction 66; in reverse 75; violence regarding 63, 66 causality: and merit in Maṅgala Sutta 13; multiple and mutual 229; see also karma celibacy: in Maṅgala Sutta 26 Center for Bhutan Studies, the (CBS) 97–98 Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) 121, 133–34 charitable works 47 charity: as mission of Tzu Chi 181 Charter of the Tibetans in Exile 121, 132–34 Cheng Yen (Zheng Yan) 176, 177, 189–90 children 37; and freedom of thought in Thich Nhat Hanh 162–64; and parents in Maṅgala Sutta 14–15 China: and Jungto Society 146 Chogye Order 137, 150n3 Christianity 215, 233; and Jungto Society 135, 149; in South Korea 138; in Sri Lanka 84; and Tzu Chi 186, 188 Circles, Widening 238–39 cities: in Snyder 211–13 citizenship: in the continent, in Snyder 219; global, in SGI 203 civil war, Sri Lankan 82, 88–91 climate change/crisis 173, 215; in Macy 229, 238, 242; in Thich Nhat Hanh 171–72 colonialism: in Sri Lanka 84, 85, 88, 89 community: of communities 215–16; concept of, in Snyder 210; as cure for individualism in Thich Nhat Hanh 162; ecological, in Snyder 211; in GNH 102; that includes the nonhuman, in Snyder 208, 213–14; in Jungto Society 145; loss of 221; and organization, in Tzu Chi 187; as peacemakers in Thich Nhat Hanh 164–65; and sharing in Snyder 210–11; and spirituality in Snyder 210–11; in Sarvodaya 92; in Tzu Chi 183; and Zen monasticism 210–11; see also society; Sangha compassion: as antidote to violence in Thich Nhat Hanh 168; based on conventional perspective 37–38; as basis for happiness in GNH 104–5; as basis of ethics 36; and business in Thich Nhat Hanh 159; combining spiritual and material, in Tzu Chi 184–86; “compassionate killing” 167; institutionalized in Thich Nhat Hanh

Index  249 167; in Jungto Society 143; in Macy 238; personal benefits of 38–40; in Sarvodaya 87; in Tzu Chi 180–84; as universal in Pali canon 44–45; see also brahma-viharas, four; loving-kindness compliance: in Maṅgala Sutta 23 conditioned origination (pratītyasamutpāda): in Snyder 208; see also dependent co-arising; interdependence conditioning, social 235 conditions, supporting: in Maṅgala Sutta 12 conflict resolution: in Thich Nhat Hanh 164–70 Confucianism 181 Constitution, of India 59, 60, 63, 67–68, 72; “peace constitution” of Japan 198–99 consumerism, view of: in GNH 103, 107– 8, 110; in Jungto Society 142; in Macy 232; in Snyder 216; in Tzu Chi 183 consumption: of alcohol in Thich Nhat Hanh 171–72; mindful, in Thich Nhat Hanh 158, 171–72; overconsumption as injustice in Thich Nhat Hanh 168–69; veganism in Thich Nhat Hanh 171–72 contentment: in GNH 97, 103; in Maṅgala Sutta 22 conversion: of Ambedkar 75; mass 57 culture: as mission of Tzu Chi 182, 186; preservation and promotion of in GNH 102, 109–10; see also multiculturalism Dalai Lama XIV 124, 130–32 dalits 57, 66; Join Together Society work with 140, 143–44; see also untouchables death, good 40 death and dying: Tzu Chi treatment of 182, 185–86 decentralization: in Bhutan 97; in Sarvodaya 89–90; in Snyder 215–16 deeds, four kinds of in Maṅgala Sutta 11 defilements: overcoming of, in Maṅgala Sutta 25, 28 democracy: and Ambedkar 62, 68, 72–77; in Bhutan 97 Democracy, Buddhist: in SGI 197–98 dependent co-arising (pratītyasamutpāda) 228 Descartes 230 despair: for Macy personally 235; Macy’s work on 229, 235–36, 242

development: in Bhutan 95–96; policies under GNH 99–100; in Sarvodaya 88, 91–93; true, in GNH 101–2 Dewey, John 62, 69–70 Dhamma (Dharma): instruction in, in Maṅgala Sutta 23–24; mundane and world-transcending, in Maṅgala Sutta 18, 28 Dhamma Diksha 57 Dhammapada 77; and Sarvodaya 89 Dharmapala, Anagarika 85–86 dialogue: in SGI 197; in Thich Nhat Hanh 165–68 discretion, moral: in Maṅgala Sutta 11 disintegration, positive 229, 230; in contemporary world 242 diversity, cultural: controversial handling by Tzu Chi 188; in GNH 110; respect of, in Tzu Chi 183; see also minorities Dōgen 207 Eco Buddha 140; see also environment; Jungto Society ecology see environment Ecology, Deep 236 economics 5–6; Ambedkar on 76–77; Buddhist 107–8; in GNH 95–96, 101–3, 107; in Macy 240–41; middle way approach of in GNH 108; in Sarvodaya 92–3; in Snyder 216; Thich Nhat Hanh view of 159–60; Tzu Chi view of 181 economy 48–49; interbeing, in Thich Nhat Hanh 159–60; sharing, in Pomnyun 137: see also sharing education 5, 23–24; as beginning of Sarvodaya 82, 84; in Charter of the Tibetans in Exile 133; for dalits 60–63; and freedom of thought in Thich Nhat Hanh 163, 164; in Jungto Society 144; as key to liberation, per Ambedkar 60–61; as mission of Tzu Chi 182, 185; as a right, per Ambedkar 63; in SGI 200–202 education, peace: in SGI 194 effort, right: in Maṅgala Sutta 25–26 embodiedness: in Snyder 208 emergence 229, 230 emergency relief: in Jungto Society 145 empowerment: in Macy 231; in SGI 201–3; see also self-empowerment Engaged Buddhism see Buddhism, Engaged

250 Index environment: in GNH 96, 98, 100, 102, 106; in Jungto Society 140, 142–43; Sarvodaya and 92–93; in Tzu Chi 183; see also nature equality, human 63–68, 75; as challenge to GNH 109; in Jungto Society 138; and ordination, per Ambedkar 65; as a right, per Ambedkar 67–68; in Thich Nhat Hanh 161 Equality Volunteer Army (Samata Sainik Dal) 66 equanimity (upekkhā) 87; see also brahma-viharas, four Essential Jewel of Holy Practice 123–26; renunciation in 123–24 ethics, personal: in Maṅgala Sutta 17–20; in Snyder 214–15 ethics, sattvālambana (based on sentient beings) 36 evil: definition of, in Maṅgala Sutta 19 faith 42; in Maṅgala Sutta 15, 16, 23 families: in Maṅgala Sutta 14, 16–17; in Thich Nhat Hanh 162–64; in Tzu Chi 181; wellbeing of, in Bhutan 100 feedback: in systems theory 228, 230, 232, 234, 235 filial piety: in Maṅgala Sutta 15; in Tzu Chi 179 food: in Thich Nhat Hanh 171–72; see also veganism, vegetarianism food aid: in Jungto Society 144–46 force: conditional support for by Ikeda 199; see also nonviolence; pacifism, not absolute force, life: in SGI (seimeiryoku) 195, 196 foundations, secure: in Maṅgala Sutta 12 freedom 4–5; in Maṅgala Sutta 12; in Thich Nhat Hanh 160–63; see also liberty freedom of religion 75 freedom of thought 4; in Amedkar 61, 62; in Thich Nhat Hanh 160, 162–63 freedom, social and political: in Ambedkar 62; in Thich Nhat Hanh 162 friends, four harmonious of Bhutan 102–3 Gandhi, M. K. (Mahatma) 57; and Ambedkar 59, 67, 75, 76; and Sarvodaya 82, 84–85, 87, 89 Gandhi Peace Prize 91 generations: in Macy 239; in Thich Nhat Hanh 163–64; see also Time, Deep

generosity: culture of 49; in GNH 105; in Snyder 211; in Tzu Chi 181–83; ritualized in Tzu Chi 185; see also giving giving 41, 46; as enriching 49; in Jungto Society 136–37, 145; in Maṅgala Sutta 15–16; see also generosity; sharing globalization 93; and GNH 110, 111 good, three kinds of: in Maṅgala Sutta 10 Good Friends 140, 145–48; see also Jungto Society Good Life 9, 39, 41, 46; in Amedkar 59; Ariyaratne view of 82, 91–93; in Essential Jewel of Holy Practice 123–26; and freedom in Thich Nhat Hanh 161; of individual in Thich Nhat Hanh 156; in Macy 227, 230, 240–41; of the natural world in Thich Nhat Hanh 170–72; ordinary Tibetans’ view of 126–31; of society in Thich Nhat Hanh 157–58, 160; in Thich Nhat Hanh 155– 58, 160, 170–73; Tibetan individual and collective view 134; see also Good Life for All; Society, Life-Sustaining Good Life for All: introduction to 1–3; origination of name xiv; see also Good Life; Society, Life-Sustaining government 41; and benevolence 49; good, in GNH 102; in harmonious unity with Buddhism (ōbutsu myōgō) in SGI 194; in Maṅgala Sutta 12; purpose of, in GNH 97; see also politics gratitude: in Macy 237–38, 240, 243; in Maṅgala Sutta 22–23; in Snyder 214; in Tzu Chi 185 Great Love see media, Great Love Gross National Happiness (GNH): assessment in 98, 105; and Bhutanese monarchy 95, 112; Buddhist dimensions of 101–7; business certificate program 108; challenges and criticisms of 108–10; development in 95, 101–2; economics of 95–96, 101–3; equality and its limits in 109; five key factors of 98–99; four pillars of 102–3; goal of 99; happiness in 103–5; inner 96; measures of religious practice in 105; as middle way 102, 108; minorities and 109–10; nationalism in 111–13; nine domains of 98; origins of 95; policy screening tool 98–99; strong and weak forms 110; support of cultural diversity in 109–10; survey and index 98, 105 guardianship, nuclear 236, 239

Index  251 haengja see practitioner Hahn, Thich Nhat see Thich Nhat Hanh happiness 4; balance with social activism in Pomnyun 149; concept of, in GNH 103–5; conditions for, in GNH 99; individual, in Pomnyun 136; interdependent with others’ in Pomnyun 141; Mahayana elements of, in GNH 104; meaning of, in GNH 113; and other-regard, in GNH 104–5; and otherregard, in SGI 196; Pomnyun’s idea of misrepresented 149–50; as purpose of government in GNH 97; as a right in Pomnyun 136; in SGI 196, 198, 200; societal and individual interconnected in Pomnyun 136, 140; synonymous with wellbeing in GNH 104; in Thich Nhat Hanh 155–56; in this life, in Maṅgala Sutta 18; true, in GNH 103–5; see also wellbeing healing: in Pomnyun’s work 136, 148–50 heedfulness: in Maṅgala Sutta 20 hells 41 Hindu Code Bill 72; see also women Hinduism 63, 72, 77, 233; and Ambedkar 57–59, 66–67, 71–72, 75; and caste 66; and women, per Ambedkar 70–71 hospitality: in Maṅgala Sutta 21–22 householder: ideals for, in Maṅgala Sutta 22; life of, in Maṅgala Sutta 14, 29–30; see also laypersons Hsing Yun (Xing Yun) 176 human being, nature of 4; in GNH 105; in SGI 193, 195, 200 Humanism, Buddhist: in SGI 194–95, 199–200 humanitarianism: in Jungto Society 139, 144–46 humility: in Maṅgala Sutta 22 husband and wife: in Maṅgala Sutta 15 Ikeda, Daisaku 192, 197–99 impermanence: in Macy 228–29 indigenous peoples: and Snyder 207–8, 213–15, 219 individual and society: in Jungto Society 139, 140; in Macy 237; in SGI 194–96; in Thich Nhat Hanh 156–57; see also interbeing, of individual and society individualism: Thich Nhat Hanh on 162 Indra’s Net 229–30 inequality, global economic: in Thich Nhat Hanh 168–69

insight: in Maṅgala Sutta 26–27 interbeing 156; and economics 159; and family 162–64; and freedom 162–63; and happiness 156; of individual and society 156–58; and livelihood 160; and marriage 163–64 interconnectedness: in Jungto Society 138; and modern life 207; by universal life force, in SGI 195; see also interdependence interdependence (pratītya-samutpāda) 3; and environment in GNH 106; and independence, in Snyder 216; in Jungto Society 141; in Macy 229; and society in GNH 106 interfaith: Sarvodaya event 90–91 Islam 186 Israelis 169 Jātakas 45–48 jewels, the three 60 Jingsi (Still Thoughts) Dharma Lineage Prayer 178–79 Join Together Society (JTS) 140, 143–45; see also Jungto Society Journey, Spiral 237–29 joy, sympathetic/altruistic (muditā) 87; see also brahma-viharas, four Jungto Society 137; and China 146; compared to Chogye Order 137; egalitarianism of 138; environmentalism in 140; individual and society in 139; interconnectedness in 138; as lay Buddhism 137; motto of 138; and North Korea 140, 144–48; peacemaking in 140, 145–48; practice in 139; and Sarvodaya 144; three affiliated organizations within 140; and United Nations 146–47; vision of ideal society 137; volunteerism in 139, 149; vows of 141–42 justice 41–43; in Ambedkar 60, 63; as challenge to Tzu Chi 188–90; in Thich Nhat Hanh 158; see also justice, distributive justice, distributive: in Thich Nhat Hanh 160, 168–69 justice, ecological (eco-justice): in Snyder 209, 220 Kabir 75 Kagyu, Drukpa school 97, 105 Kālāma Sutta 164

252 Index karma 41, 42; and fatalism 234; in GNH 105; in Macy 233–34; in Maṅgala Sutta 12, 16; and responsibility, in SGI 203; social justice and 41–43; see also karma, collective karma, collective: in GNH 106–7; in SGI 203; in Thich Nhat Hanh 160 Karmavibhaṅga 41 karuṇā see compassion killing, “compassionate” 167 King, Dr. Martin Luther, Jr. 154 knowing: experiential 230; knower and known 232; patterns of 232 Komeito 194 Kūṭadanta Sutta 48 laity see laypersons Laszlo, Ervin 228, 231, 233 Laudato Si 215 Law, Latter Day of the (mappō) 192, 204n2; see also age, degenerate laws: place of, in Buddhist social action 158, 166 Laws of Manu see Manusmriti laypersons 3, 37; Bhutanese 100; in Burmese reforms 83; ideals for in Maṅgala Sutta 22; in Sri Lanka 83; in South Korea 138–39; see also householder; lay-monastic relations Lazy Day 161–62 learning: five stages of, in Maṅgala Sutta 24; secular, in Maṅgala Sutta 13 Lhotsampas 109 liberation: for Ambedkar 62; in Maṅgala Sutta 18–19 liberation, dual: in Sarvodaya 82, 86–87, 91; see also awakening, individual and societal; society, six elements of awakening of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam 88 liberty 59; see also freedom listening, deep 165–69 livelihood, right: in Sarvodaya 92; in Tiep Hien precepts 160 lives, future: in Maṅgala Sutta 17–18; see also rebirth locality, suitable; in Maṅgala Sutta 12 Lotus Sutra 192–93 loving-kindness: personal benefits of 38–39, 46; protective power of 46–47; in Sarvodaya 87; see also brahmaviharas, four

Mahāmūdra 105 Mahāniddesa 29 Mahavamsa 83 Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkāra 45 maitrī see loving-kindness Makiguchi, Tsunesaburo 192, 195–96, 200–201 maṅgala 9–10 Maṅgala Sutta 9; transcript of 30–31; transcript of ground plan of 32–33 Manual of Peace, A 10 Manusmriti 66, 71 march, peace: in Sarvodaya 90 marriage: in Thich Nhat Hanh 163–64 Marxism, view of: in Ambedkar 59, 76–77; in Tzu Chi 181 materialism: moderate view of in GNH 108; view of in Pomnyun 136, 148–49 media, Great Love: Tzu Chi media network 177, 182, 186 medicine: in Jungto Society 144, 146; as mission of Tzu Chi 181–86 meditation: in Bhutan schools 100; as equalizing self and other benefit 44; in Thich Nhat Hanh 156–57, 171; in universalist Buddhism 111, 112; see also mindfulness meditation, mass peace 90–91 merit 12, 16, 39–42, 46; field of 44; ten bases of, in Maṅgala Sutta 13; three bases of, in Maṅgala Sutta 13 merit-making 37, 47 mettā see loving-kindness mettacitta 44 Mettā Sutta 42–43 middle way: in GNH 102; in Tzu Chi 182, 183 military: in Thich Nhat Hanh 170 mind: developed and undeveloped in Maṅgala Sutta 13; nature of: in GNH 105 mind and body see body and mind mindfulness: in GNH 100; in Maṅgala Sutta 26; in Thich Nhat Hanh 155, 158, 169–71; see also meditation minjung pulgyo (“Buddhism for the masses”) 138–39 minorities, treatment of: in Bhutan 109–10; in Sri Lanka 84, 88; in Tzu Chi 183, 188 modernism, Buddhist 42 modernity: and tradition in Tzu Chi 183–84, 187

Index  253 modernity, Buddhist see Buddhism, modernist modernization: and traditional values 97, 110 monarchy, Bhutanese 97 monasteries 37; of Thich Nhat Hanh 154, 161–62 monastics: Ambedkar’s criticism of 76; as fields of merit 44, 46; in Maṅgala Sutta 24–25, 30; see also lay-monastic relations morality, mutual: individual and societal patterns in 235; in Macy 230–31 multiculturalism: in Jungto Society 140, 145; see also minorities nation, compassionate 49; see also government nationalism, Buddhist see Buddhist nationalism nationalism, ethnic: in GNH 109–10 nature 6; and bioregion 208; and cities 211–13; in GNH 96, 102; as sacramental, in Snyder 214; Thich Nhat Hanh on 170–72; see also environment; Society, Life-Sustaining Navayana Buddhism 61 needs: basic: in SGI 197; ten basic, in Sarvodaya 92–93 Nhat Hanh, Thich see Thich Nhat Hanh nibbāna: in Maṅgala Sutta 16, 18, 19, 27–28 Nichiren 192–93, 198 Nichiren Shoshu 192; see also Soka Gakkai Niwano Peace Prize 5, 91, 147 Nobel Peace Prize 154 non-possession: in Pomnyun 137, 142 non-self: in Maṅgala Sutta 26–27; see also selflessness nonviolence: active, in Thich Nhat Hanh 166, 168; in Ambedkar 66; in Charter of the Tibetans in Exile 132–33; in Sarvodaya 88–89; not absolute in Thich Nhat Hanh 166–67, 170; and terrorism in Thich Nhat Hanh 168–69; see also force, conditional support for by Ikeda; violence North Korea 140, 144–48 nuns: of Tzu Chi 177 occupation: in Maṅgala Sutta 15; see also livelihood, right; work

1,000 Day Vow: in Jungto Society 141–42 optimism: in SGI 204 ordination: as demonstrating human equality 65 other-benefit: in ordinary Tibetans’ views 130; see also self and other other-concern: avoided in Patrul Rinpoche 124, 131; as pivotal in SGI 194–96; as source of happiness, in GNH 104; see also self and other pacifism: in SGI 198–200 pain, honoring 238 Palestinians 169 paradigm shift: in Macy 230, 242; in Sarvodaya 90; in Thich Nhat Hanh 172 parents: see children path, noble eightfold: in Maṅgala Sutta 19 patience: in Maṅgala Sutta 23 Patrul Rinpoche 122–23 peace: culture of 5; in SGI 194–96; in Thich Nhat Hanh 172 peace, inner 5; in Thich Nhat Hanh 155 peace, zone of, in Charter of the Tibetans in Exile 133 Peace Foundation 140, 145–48 peacemaking 5; in Jungto Society 140, 145–48; in Sarvodaya 82, 88–91; SGI and 193–94, 196, 199; in Thich Nhat Hanh 164–70 perception: in Macy 232 Phule, Jyotiba 75 Phuong Boi 161 Plum Village 154 policing: in Thich Nhat Hanh 166–68 Political Buddhism see Buddhist nationalism politics: avoidance of in Tzu Chi 183; influence of Tzu Chi in 189; of virtue, in Snyder 214 Pomnyun Sunim: “a casual conversation with” 135; introduction to 135–37; monastic status of 137 Pope Francis 215 population, in Snyder 220 poverty: Ambedkar’s view of 76–77; in Bhutan 99, 100; and government 48; Thich Nhat Hanh on 160 power, spiritual: in Sarvodaya 89–91 practice, religious: in Jungto Society 139; measured, in GNH 105 practitioner: in Jungto Society 140–42

254 Index precepts: in Maṅgala Sutta 20 precepts, five lay: first precept, in Snyder 214–15; Thich Nhat Hanh versions of 157–58 precepts, Tiep Hien 159–60 precepts, Tzu Chi 179 proselytizing, avoidance of: Tzu Chi 183, 186 protection of self and other 42–43 protests 65; see also untouchables, campaigns on behalf of Pure Land xiv; in Jungto Society 138, 142; in Thich Nhat Hanh 161; in Tzu Chi 180–81, 183 Ratnagotravibhāga 45 realization, stages of: in Maṅgala Sutta 27 rebirth 42; heavenly 40–42, 46–47; in Maṅgala Sutta 17–18, 27 reinhabitation 207–9 relations, lay-monastic 41–42; in Jungto Society 140; in Maṅgala Sutta 16, 19, 25 relief, international: rituals of, in Tzu Chi 185; in Tzu Chi 183 renaissance, Buddhist 83 renunciation: in Maṅgala Sutta 25; in Patrul Rinpoche 123–24; in Snyder 210 resolution, right: in Maṅgala Sutta 13 retreats, international in Thich Nhat Hanh 169–70 reunification, Korean 147–48 reverence: in Maṅgala Sutta 12, 21 revolution, cognitive 241 revolution, human: in SGI 196–97, 199, 200 revolution, nonviolent: in Sarvodaya 89, 93 right effort see effort, right right livelihood see livelihood, right right speech see speech, right rights, basic 12 rights, cultural: in GNH 110 rights, fundamental: in Ambedkar 61 rights, human: in Charter of the Tibetans in Exile 132; in GNH 110; in Jungto Society 140 rights, of untouchables 59, 65, 74 Rights, Universal Declaration of Human 59, 132 Risshō Ankoku Ron 192–93; see also Nichiren Saddhamma 64 sameness, of self and other 37–38; see also benefit, mutual; self and other

samsara: in Maṅgala Sutta 18 Sangha: Ambedkar’s criticism of 76; as jurisprudence model per Ambedkar 69–70; as model society per Ambedkar 68–69; as peacemakers in Thich Nhat Hanh 164–65; see also community Sangha, Great Earth 213 Śāntideva 39, 40, 104 Sarvodaya Shramadana 217; beginnings of 82, 85; development in 88; and Jungto Society 144; peacemaking by 88–91 Satyakaparivarta Sūtra 49 Scheduled Caste Federation 72; see also dalits; untouchables Seed, John 236 self: delusion of, in Macy 231; as process, in Macy 231; as relational, in Macy 238 self and other 3–4: distinction between 36, 38; in Jungto Society 139; protection of 42–43; sameness of 37–38 self-benefit 36, 39, 46; see also benefit, mutual; self-interest self-care: in Jungto Society 139; in Thich Nhat Hanh 156 self-empowerment 36, 43–45 self-immolation 74 self-interest 43; and other-interest as mutual 36, 38, 46, 49; positive meaning in Buddhism 37; progress towards nirvana as 44 selflessness 36; moral vs. ontological 37–38 self-sacrifice 44; with self-benefit 46 service 46–48; in Jungto Society 143; in Maṅgala Sutta 17 sharing: in Jungto Society 136–37, 142; in Snyder 210–11; see also giving Sheng Yen (Sheng Yan) 176 shramadana 82, 84, 90 Sīgalaka Sutta 14 Sinhala people 84 Snyder, Gary 206 socialism: in GNH 108; in SGI 197–98 Socialism, Human: in SGI 197 society, good: in Ambedkar 61, 63; in Thich Nhat Hanh 159, 160, 162, 163, 168–69; see also society, ideal society, ideal: in Jungto Society 137–38, 142; in Sarvodaya 92–93; in SGI 194–95; in Thich Nhat Hanh 166, 167, 171, 172; see also society, good Society, Life-Sustaining 227, 230, 237, 240–41

Index  255 society, nonviolent in Thich Nhat Hanh 157, 164 society, six elements of awakening of 92 Soka Gakkai (SGI): education and 200–202; other-concern as pivotal in 194–95; overview of 192; pacifism vs. multinationalism in 198–200; and peacemaking 193–94, 196, 199; politics and 194; three key values in 195–96; view of human nature in 193, 195, 200 South Korea: social ills in 136 speech, compassionate/loving in Thich Nhat Hanh 165–68 speech: freedom of, in Ambedkar 63, 75 speech, right: and Ambedkar 64; in Maṅgala Sutta 14 Sri Lanka: colonialism in 84, 85, 88, 89; independence of 82–83 state religion: Buddhism as, in Sri Lanka 84 Still Thoughts (Jingsi) Dharma lineage 177–78; Jingsi (Still Thoughts) Dharma Lineage Prayer 178–79 stream-enterer: in Maṅgala Sutta 27–28 Subhūti 46 subjectivity, in other-than-humans 233 subject-object, distinction between 231 subsidiarity 215 suicide 74; in South Korea 136 Sulak Sivaraksa 74 sutras: see Lotus Sutra 192–93; Satyakaparivarta Sūtra 49; Upāyakauśalya Sutra 174n58 Suttanipāta 29 suttas: see Aṅguttara Nikāya 44–45; Cakkavatti-Sīhanāda Sutta 170; Kālāma Sutta 164; Kūṭadanta Sutta 48; Maṅgala Sutta 9, 30–33; Mettā Sutta 42–43; Sīgalaka Sutta 14; Suttanipāta 29 Taiwan 176–77, 189 Tai Xu (Taixu) 2, 176 Tamil people: and Sarvodaya 88–91 Tamil Tigers see Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam tapas: in Maṅgala Sutta 25–26 Tashi, Khenpo Phuntsok 104 Temple Stay 148–49 terrorism: nonviolent response to, in Thich Nhat Hanh 168–69 Theosophical Society 85 Theravada 9 Thich Nhat Hanh 221; and “being peace” 154–55, 164–65; and economics

159–60; introduction to 154; peacemaking in 164–70; personal and institutional change in 172–73; and Tiep Hien Order 154, 159–60; versions of five lay precepts 157–58 Thinley, Prime Minister Jigme Yozer 95, 99, 101, 104–5, 109, 113 Third Civilization: in SGI 197–98 Tiep Hien Order 154, 159–60 Time, Deep 239 Tobgay, Prime Minister Tshering 108 Toda, Josei 192 tradition: and modernity in Tzu Chi 183–84, 187 transparency: as challenge to Tzu Chi 189 truth 61, 77 truths, four noble: in Maṅgala Sutta 26–28; Sarvodaya’s interpretation of 86–87 Tshering, Lotay 110 Turning, Great 230, 238, 240–43; as social vision 239–40 Tzu Chi (Ciji): Abode of Still Thoughts 177; beginnings of 177; as bodhisattva path 177, 179, 185, 187; controversies concerning 188–90; eight footprints of 177, 181–84; Foundation 177, 184–86; four missions of 177; media of 177, 182, 186; membership in 184; ministry combining spiritual and material 184– 86; modernity and tradition in 183–84, 187; organizational structure of 184; precepts of 179; uniforms of 184 UNESCO 170, 171 United Nations (UN): Bhutan’s work with 99; and Charter of the Tibetans in Exile 132; Jungto Society and 146–47; SGI and 199; Tzu Chi and 177 Unraveling, Great 240 untouchables 57, 68; Ambedkar as 58; campaigns on behalf of 65–67; Gandhi on 67; rights of 59, 65, 75; see also dalits Upāya-kauśalya Sutra 174n58 value creation: in SGI 195–96, 201 veganism 171–72 vegetarianism 183 Vemula, Rohith 74 veneration: in Maṅgala Sutta 12, 21 view, wrong 40 villages: in Sarvodaya 82, 84–90

256 Index violence 77; Buddhist justifications of 220–21; and “compassionate killing” 167; as a disease 166; as injustice 168; as sometimes needed 166–67; structural 221; see also nonviolence virtues: in Maṅgala Sutta 21; in Snyder 214 virtues, four divine see brahma-viharas Vishvodaya 93 volunteering: in GNH 105; in Jungto Society 139, 149; in Tzu Chi 183–86 Wangchuk, King Jigme Dorje 97 Wangchuk, King Jigme Singye 95, 97 war: Sri Lankan civil 82, 88–91 war, just: in Thich Nhat Hanh 170 wellbeing, in GNH: concept of 103–5; as goal 96; nine domains of 98; synonymous with happiness 104; see also happiness, Gross National Happiness (GNH)

Westernization 93 women: Ambedkar’s work on behalf of 71–72; in Buddhism, per Ambedkar 70–71; Hindu Code Bill and 72; in Hinduism, per Amedkar 71–72 work: in South Korea 136; see also occupation; livelihood, right work camp, Sarvodaya see shramadana Work That Reconnects, the 235–37 world: as battlefield/trap/lover/self, in Macy 233 World Trade Organization (WTO): and Bhutan 100 Worlds, Ten (jikkai): in SGI 193 Yin Shun (Yinshun) 176 yoga, karma 87 Zen Buddhism 207, 209; and community 210–11, 213