A challenge to Buddhists

By Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi

Each morning I check out a number of Internet news reports and commentaries on Websites ranging from the BBC . Reading about current events strongly reinforces me the acuity of the Buddha’s words: The world is grounded upon suffering.” Almost daily I am awed by the enormity of the suffering that assails human beings on every continent, and even more so by the hard truth that so much of this suffering springs not from the vicissitudes of impersonal nature, but from the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion raging in the human heart.

Seeing the immensity of the world’s anguish has raised in my mind questions about the future prospects for Buddhism in the West. I’ve been struck by how seldom the theme of global suffering - the palpable suffering of real human beings - is thematically explored in the Buddhist journals and teachings with which I am acquainted.

It seems to me that we Western Buddhists tend to dwell in a cognitive space that defines the First Noble Truth largely against the background of our middle-class lifestyles: As he gnawing of discontent; the ennui of over-satiation; the pain of unfulfilling relationships; or, with a bow to Buddhist theory, as bondage to the round of rebirths. Too often, I feel, our focus on these aspects of Dukkha has made us oblivious to the vast, catastrophic suffering that daily overwhelms three-fourths of the world’s population.

An exception to this tendency may be found with the Engaged Buddhist Movement. I believe this is a face of Buddhism that has great promise, but from my superficial readings in this area I am struck by two things. First, while some Engaged Buddhists seek fresh perspectives from the Dharma, many Buddhists simply provides spiritual practices while simultaneously espousing socio-political causes not much different from those of the mainstream Left. Second, Engaged Buddhism still remains tangential to the hard core of Western interest in Buddhism, which has fastened upon the Dharma principally as a path to inner peace and self-realisation.

If Buddhism in the West becomes solely a means to pursue personal spiritual growth, I am apprehensive it may evolve in a one-sided way and thus fulfil only half its potential. Attracting the affluent and the educated, it will provide a congenial home for the intellectual and cultural elite, but it risks turning the quest for Enlightenment into private journey that, in the face of the immense suffering which hounds countless human lives daily and can present only a resigned quietism.

It is true that Buddhist mediation practice requires seclusion and inwardly focused depth. But, I ask myself, wouldn’t the embodiment of Dharma in the world be

more complete by reaching out and addressing the grinding miseries that are ailing humanity? I know we engage in lofty meditations on kindness and compassion and espouse beautiful ideals of love and peace. But note that we pursue them largely as inward objective experiences geared toward personal transformation.

Too seldom does this type of compassion roll up its sleeves and step into the field. Too rarely does it translate into pragmatic programs of effective action realistically designed to diminish the actual sufferings of those battered by natural calamities or societal deprivation. The American Jewish World Service doesn’t aspire to convert people to Judaism, but to express Judaism’s commitment to social justice by alleviating “poverty, hunger, and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion, or nationality.”

Why doesn’t Buddhism have anything like that? Surely we can find a supporting framework for this in Buddhist doctrine, ethical ideals, archetypes, legends, and historical precedents.

I recognise that many Buddhists are actively engaged in social service and that a few Buddhist organisations work tirelessly to relieve human suffering around the globe. Their selfless dedication fully deserves our appreciation. Unfortunately, however, their appeal has been limited.

Buddhist teachers often say that the most effective way we can help protect the world is by purifying our own minds, or that before we engaged in compassionate action we must attain realisation of selflessness or emptiness. There may be some truth in such statements, but I think it is a partial truth.

In these critical times, we also have an obligation to aid those who live on the brink of destitution and despair. The Buddha’s mission, was to free beings from suffering by uprooting the evil roots of greed, hatred, and delusion. These sinister roots don’t exist only in our own minds. Today they have acquired a collective dimension and spread out over the whole continents. To help free beings from suffering today therefore requires that we counter the systemic embodiments of greed, hatred, and delusion.

In each historical period, the Dharma finds new means to unfold its potentials in ways precisely linked to that era’s distinctive historical conditions. I believe that our own era provides the appropriate historical stage for the transcendent truth of the Dharma to turn back upon the world and engage human suffering at multiple levels - even the lowest, harshest, and most degrading levels - not in mere contemplation but in effective, relief-granting action illuminated by its own world-transcending goal.

A special challenge in our age is to stand up as an advocate for justice in the world, a voice of conscience for those victims of social, economic, and political injustice who cannot stand up and speak for themselves. This, in my view, is a deeply moral challenge marking a watershed in the modern expression of Buddhism. I believe it also points in a direction that Buddhism should take, if it is to share , in the Buddha’s ongoing mission to humanity. -

Courtesy- 2007 Buddhadharma Magazine