Hi Everybody,
When I type that blog number 94 I feel that it is such a long journey we've travelled since numero uno. So many themes, so many issues, and you realise just how profoundly Buddhism comes into one's life and changes how you approach everything. And one of its greatest benefits is that because it is a daily practice it causes you to constantly review your life and how you are living it. I'm going through a tough time at the moment for various reasons and I can see so clearly how the practice stabilises you and enables you to focus your inner resources on dealing with the difficulties that arise. It's a great stabiliser.
Anyway, here we are coming to the end of chapter 12, which is essentially about Buddhismand social change.
' Over the past ten to fifteen years, perhaps a bit longer, the discussion of what we really mean when we talk about a sense of well-being in our lives, what kinds of values and behaviour make people feel good about their lives and their relationships, has passed out of the hands of philosophers and religious teachers, into mainstream psychol;ogical and sociological studies. We have tried in this book to document enough of that movement to illustrate the truth of that. But all the indications are that the circle of this debate is now widening to encompass mainstream practical, political and economic thinking.
The idea that there's much more to life than Gross domestic product or GDP is no longer just a passing political joke. It is becoming part of mainstream political discussion. That represents I suggest, a genuinely seismic shift in the way society as a whole thinks about the idea of progress and success, away from strictly limited economic and financial indicators that have been used right across the world up till now, towards a much more meaningful measure that embraces the central idea of individual well-being. That would be a revolution, and one that would make social policy infinitely more compatible with a Buddhist approach to life. So it's not a marginal issue is it?
Buddhism argues that we can have the absolute conviction that when we set out on this purely personal journey towards greater hope and optimism and resilience, even though we may at the outset be focused largely, or even entirely on our own concerns, inevitably, with the inner growth that comes from the discipline of the daily practice, it becomes a wider social impulse. Buddhism is crucially about social as well as individual change. It determinedly seeks achieve harmonious societies, and beyond that global peace. And it determinedly chooses to do so by the only route it can be achieved, individual by individual.
It argues that a movement towards a better society, based on respect for the lives and values of others, and with peace and individual well-being as its objective, cannot be created solely as a top-down process. It has to start from the bottom up, with a profound change taking place in the lives of countless individuals, gradually influencing the way the whole of society functions. Daisaku Ikeda reminds us continually that we can all be part of that crucial process.
' In an age when both society and the religious world are wrought by turmoil and confusion,' as they are so painfully today, ' only a teaching that gives each individual the power to draw forth his or her Buddha nature can lead all people to happiness and transform the tenor of the times. In other words there can be no lasting solution to the problems facingn society that does not involve our individual state of life. '
Well enough there I think, I hope, to give us pause for thought about how our individual practice fits into this wider vision of Buddhism as an engine of social change.
See you next time I hope. Thanks for reading thus far.
Best wishes,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon or for download on Kindle.
Saturday 27 June 2015
Saturday 20 June 2015
MY BUDDHIST BLOG NUMBER 93
Hi Everybody,
Saturday afternoon, blog time! We're coming to the end of Chapter 12, in which we pull together some of the many threads of the discussion in the book. I wrote this one deliberately dealing with a different issue in each chapter such as Buddhism and Belief, Buddhism and Happiness, Buddhism and Ethics etc, so that the reader could dip into chapters at random to take part in a discussion on those specific issues, and it's an approach that seems to have worked. Lots of people have written to say that they often just go back to the book from time to time, just to refresh their memories of the discussion of a particular issue. What I have found with the blog is that because each episode really flows on from the previous one, it helps to retrace my steps just a fraction to pick up the thread of the argument with each episode, so that it makes sense. I only hope that works for most people. So where are we/ We're talking about how we can make a difference as Buddhists in our own environment...
' It involves coming to understand that we are not powerless, and that we can start out by having a beneficial effect upon our own immediate environment, the sphere in which we live and work. The key thing is making a personal determination that we wish to make a difference.
Buddhism asks us to make that determination every single day.
And once again Buddhism is by no means alone in standing up for that view without compromise. Remember just how boldly John F. Kennedy galvanised the optimism of an entire nation when he put that same thought into his own words,
' First examine our attitude towards peae itself. Too many of us think it impossible, too many of us think it is unreal, but that is a dangerous defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man made, therefore they can be solved by man, and man can be as big as he wants.'
And man can be as big as he wants. Or as Buddhism might well put it, man can be as positive and optimistic and as resilient ...as he determines to be. One could argue I think that we are very much in need of that spirit, that powerful vision at the present time.
A seismic shift in how we measure progress
And unquestionably, despite the widespread tumult, and the conflict and suffering that we see in the world, the tectonic plates of understanding do seem to be shifting. Buddhism as we've seen has been teaching this radical idea for many hundreds of years, namely that we create the greatest valuein our own lives when we concern ourselves with the happiness and welfare ofm others. That is the very basis and foundation of the Buddhist approach to life; respect for and concern for the welfare of everyone with whom we come in contact. We have seen that in the past couple of decades , modern sociological and psychological research has also come to recognise and document something very similar, namely that we do indeed experience great personal benefit, a greater sense of purpose and confidence and pleasure in our lives, when we try to live in this generous and compassionate and altruistic way.
And I have to say, speaking both as a Buddhist and as a responsible citizen, we can only welcome that remarkable conjunction of views since it can only be immensely beneficial to individuals and to the communities and societies we all live in. But the change we are witnessing I suggest goes even further than that......'
And we'll pick up on that further change I'm talking about next time, the redefinition of what we mean by progress, that is taking place in society.
See you then hopefully,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is availabel on Amazon as a paperback, and as a download on Kindle.
Saturday afternoon, blog time! We're coming to the end of Chapter 12, in which we pull together some of the many threads of the discussion in the book. I wrote this one deliberately dealing with a different issue in each chapter such as Buddhism and Belief, Buddhism and Happiness, Buddhism and Ethics etc, so that the reader could dip into chapters at random to take part in a discussion on those specific issues, and it's an approach that seems to have worked. Lots of people have written to say that they often just go back to the book from time to time, just to refresh their memories of the discussion of a particular issue. What I have found with the blog is that because each episode really flows on from the previous one, it helps to retrace my steps just a fraction to pick up the thread of the argument with each episode, so that it makes sense. I only hope that works for most people. So where are we/ We're talking about how we can make a difference as Buddhists in our own environment...
' It involves coming to understand that we are not powerless, and that we can start out by having a beneficial effect upon our own immediate environment, the sphere in which we live and work. The key thing is making a personal determination that we wish to make a difference.
Buddhism asks us to make that determination every single day.
And once again Buddhism is by no means alone in standing up for that view without compromise. Remember just how boldly John F. Kennedy galvanised the optimism of an entire nation when he put that same thought into his own words,
' First examine our attitude towards peae itself. Too many of us think it impossible, too many of us think it is unreal, but that is a dangerous defeatist belief. It leads to the conclusion that war is inevitable, that mankind is doomed, that we are gripped by forces we cannot control. We need not accept that view. Our problems are man made, therefore they can be solved by man, and man can be as big as he wants.'
And man can be as big as he wants. Or as Buddhism might well put it, man can be as positive and optimistic and as resilient ...as he determines to be. One could argue I think that we are very much in need of that spirit, that powerful vision at the present time.
A seismic shift in how we measure progress
And unquestionably, despite the widespread tumult, and the conflict and suffering that we see in the world, the tectonic plates of understanding do seem to be shifting. Buddhism as we've seen has been teaching this radical idea for many hundreds of years, namely that we create the greatest valuein our own lives when we concern ourselves with the happiness and welfare ofm others. That is the very basis and foundation of the Buddhist approach to life; respect for and concern for the welfare of everyone with whom we come in contact. We have seen that in the past couple of decades , modern sociological and psychological research has also come to recognise and document something very similar, namely that we do indeed experience great personal benefit, a greater sense of purpose and confidence and pleasure in our lives, when we try to live in this generous and compassionate and altruistic way.
And I have to say, speaking both as a Buddhist and as a responsible citizen, we can only welcome that remarkable conjunction of views since it can only be immensely beneficial to individuals and to the communities and societies we all live in. But the change we are witnessing I suggest goes even further than that......'
And we'll pick up on that further change I'm talking about next time, the redefinition of what we mean by progress, that is taking place in society.
See you then hopefully,
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is availabel on Amazon as a paperback, and as a download on Kindle.
Saturday 13 June 2015
my buddhist blog number 92
Hi Everybody,
Well I'm back from the brilliant light and the blue skies and the even bluer sea and the crisp croissants from the little boulangerie on the corner and the fishing from the rocks in the evening sunlight and the windsurfing and the...we had such a great holiday in Antibes, just having loving time together really after being so busy here at home. But it's great to be back too. I love the greenness of Kew with all the roadside trees and the scruffiness of the little village that sits around the station. Could I put a book on your summer reading list that really gets you thinking about your values and how you live your life. Its The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris, philosopher and neuroscientist. Not a new book but an utterly brilliant one that argues basically that the basis for our moral choices has to be the extent to which they create well-being in society. Which is not a million miles away from the teachings of Shakyamuni and Nichiren, that the basis for our behaviour in society, and the greatest cause for our own well-being indeed, should be the extent to which we create value for others.
So where were we? We were in the middle of Chapter 12 which realy serves to pull together some of the main threads of the book, and we've reached a section which is sub-titled, the greatest challenge.
' Much of the dailyness of our Buddhist practice is inevitably focused on helping us as indviduals to understand our own lives and to develop good strong, productive relationships within a relatively close environment of family and friends and colleagues. Inevitably. Those are the relationships that have by far the biggest influence on our lives. And as we all know, maintaining harmonious and productive relationships even within this relatively narrow environment takes considerable energy and effort.
But that having been said, perhaps the greatest challenge facing all of us as individuals, is learning how to extend this understanding, this compassion that the practice helps us to develop and to keep fresh and alive, out beyond the inner circle of friends and colleagues and work mates, out beyond our own community and our own society, to embrace all of humankind. That's a very big ask isn't it? And at first glance it may well seem like...well just a bunch of words. They may express what we would like to hear, but are they little more than wishful thinking? Little more than a thin pious hope? The history of man's inhumanity to man is so devastating that it can drive out the hope that such a change can ever be achieved.
But Buddhism is by no means alone these days in presenting this challenge to us. There is a growing body of opinion that such a vision is not only immensely, morally desirable, but a profound necessity for the future well-being of all of us, more interdependent now than ever before in human history. Let's go back to the American economist Jeffrey Sachs again, with his passionate argument for looking at the world through the lens of our common humanity;
' Most importantly, ' he writes, ' for us on this crowded planet, facing the challenge of living side by side as never before, and facing a common ecological challenge that has never been upon us in human history until now, the way of solving problems requires one fundamental change. A big one. And that is learning that the challenges of our gneration are not us versus them...they are us, all of us together on this planet, against a set of shared and increasingly urgent problems.'
All of us together on this planet...learning to live peacefully and sustainably in an extraordinarily crowded world. It is a powerful vision, and most ordinary human beings would willingly subscribe to it. We desperately want the resolution that Jeffrey Sachs describes for us. People of all cultures and of all religions, Jew and Arab and Sunni and shia and catholic and Protestant and Hindu and Buddhist, living side by side... not necessarily in complete harmony, because history tells us that there are deep rifts in belief that may never be completely healed...but at least peacefully and sustainably.
But most ordinary human beings, describing themselves as realists, believe that to be an unattainable ideal, and in any case there doesn't seem to be any path along which it can be achieved. One of Buddhism's greatest services to humanity I suggest, is that it simply refuses to accept that interpretation of reality. Buddhism reminds us every single day, that however difficult the path, it starts right here for each one of us, at our own feet, and we can start to move along it whenever we choose. It involves coming to understand that we are not powerless, and that we can start out by seeking to have a beneficial influence upon our own environment, the little sphere within which we live and work. The key thing is making a personal determination that we wish to make a difference.
Buddhism asks us to make that determination every single day. '
That's it for today.
It's good to be back.
hope to see you again next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and as a download on Kindle
Well I'm back from the brilliant light and the blue skies and the even bluer sea and the crisp croissants from the little boulangerie on the corner and the fishing from the rocks in the evening sunlight and the windsurfing and the...we had such a great holiday in Antibes, just having loving time together really after being so busy here at home. But it's great to be back too. I love the greenness of Kew with all the roadside trees and the scruffiness of the little village that sits around the station. Could I put a book on your summer reading list that really gets you thinking about your values and how you live your life. Its The Moral Landscape by Sam Harris, philosopher and neuroscientist. Not a new book but an utterly brilliant one that argues basically that the basis for our moral choices has to be the extent to which they create well-being in society. Which is not a million miles away from the teachings of Shakyamuni and Nichiren, that the basis for our behaviour in society, and the greatest cause for our own well-being indeed, should be the extent to which we create value for others.
So where were we? We were in the middle of Chapter 12 which realy serves to pull together some of the main threads of the book, and we've reached a section which is sub-titled, the greatest challenge.
' Much of the dailyness of our Buddhist practice is inevitably focused on helping us as indviduals to understand our own lives and to develop good strong, productive relationships within a relatively close environment of family and friends and colleagues. Inevitably. Those are the relationships that have by far the biggest influence on our lives. And as we all know, maintaining harmonious and productive relationships even within this relatively narrow environment takes considerable energy and effort.
But that having been said, perhaps the greatest challenge facing all of us as individuals, is learning how to extend this understanding, this compassion that the practice helps us to develop and to keep fresh and alive, out beyond the inner circle of friends and colleagues and work mates, out beyond our own community and our own society, to embrace all of humankind. That's a very big ask isn't it? And at first glance it may well seem like...well just a bunch of words. They may express what we would like to hear, but are they little more than wishful thinking? Little more than a thin pious hope? The history of man's inhumanity to man is so devastating that it can drive out the hope that such a change can ever be achieved.
But Buddhism is by no means alone these days in presenting this challenge to us. There is a growing body of opinion that such a vision is not only immensely, morally desirable, but a profound necessity for the future well-being of all of us, more interdependent now than ever before in human history. Let's go back to the American economist Jeffrey Sachs again, with his passionate argument for looking at the world through the lens of our common humanity;
' Most importantly, ' he writes, ' for us on this crowded planet, facing the challenge of living side by side as never before, and facing a common ecological challenge that has never been upon us in human history until now, the way of solving problems requires one fundamental change. A big one. And that is learning that the challenges of our gneration are not us versus them...they are us, all of us together on this planet, against a set of shared and increasingly urgent problems.'
All of us together on this planet...learning to live peacefully and sustainably in an extraordinarily crowded world. It is a powerful vision, and most ordinary human beings would willingly subscribe to it. We desperately want the resolution that Jeffrey Sachs describes for us. People of all cultures and of all religions, Jew and Arab and Sunni and shia and catholic and Protestant and Hindu and Buddhist, living side by side... not necessarily in complete harmony, because history tells us that there are deep rifts in belief that may never be completely healed...but at least peacefully and sustainably.
But most ordinary human beings, describing themselves as realists, believe that to be an unattainable ideal, and in any case there doesn't seem to be any path along which it can be achieved. One of Buddhism's greatest services to humanity I suggest, is that it simply refuses to accept that interpretation of reality. Buddhism reminds us every single day, that however difficult the path, it starts right here for each one of us, at our own feet, and we can start to move along it whenever we choose. It involves coming to understand that we are not powerless, and that we can start out by seeking to have a beneficial influence upon our own environment, the little sphere within which we live and work. The key thing is making a personal determination that we wish to make a difference.
Buddhism asks us to make that determination every single day. '
That's it for today.
It's good to be back.
hope to see you again next time.
William
PS The Case for Buddhism is available from Amazon and as a download on Kindle
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