I sincerely believe that all peoples and creeds can co-exist in peace, that whatever our race or religion, we can all learn to agree on certain basic values essential for the development of human society. 1 am not an authority on either Buddhism or development, but I am strongly concerned with the problems of human existence which fall within the realm of both subjects. In a nutshell, I shall be speaking not as an expert but as a Buddhist and a concerned participant in the process of human development.

What do we mean by development? There was a time when development was measured purely in economic terms, but such is no longer the case. Now it is recognised that genuine development includes sociopolitical factors. Dare I suggest that true development should also comprise spiritual cultivation?

Sulak Sivaraksa of Thailand, known as one of Asia's leading social thinkers, describes the "spirit of Buddhist development" as one "where the inner strength must be cultivated, along with compassion and loving kindness". He sees the goals of Buddhist development as "equality, love, freedom and liberation" and goes on to say that: ... the means for achieving these lie within the grasp of any community from a village to a nation - once its members begin the process of reducing selfishness. To do so, two realisations are necessary: an inner realisation concerning greed, hatred and delusion, and an outer realisation concerning the impact these tendencies have on society and the planet.....

The qualities mentioned, both positive and negative, are not exclusive to Buddhist societies. It can be said that behind the materialism of developed countries lie greed, hatred and delusion. But there is also much of inner strength, compassion, loving kindness and strong support for equality and freedom to be found in these countries.

Buddhists speak of the four "heavenly abodes" or divine states of mind: metta (loving kindness), karuna (compassion), mudita (sympathetic joy) and upekkha (equanamity). A wise colleague once remarked to me that upekkha is well-nigh impossible for most ordinary beings; therefore we should concentrate on cultivating loving kindness and compassion, and sympathetic joy would naturally follow.

Perhaps it might be well to mention here that upekkha means much more than mere equanimity in the conventional sense. It stands for a perfectly balanced state of the mind and emotions, a balance between faith and intelligence, between energy and concentration, between wisdom and compassion. It is non-preferential without inclination towards excess in any direction. It is therefore understandable why upekkha is beyond the attainment of ordinary human beings with just ordinary capacties for controlling their minds and emotions. The other heavenly abodes, however, are well within our reach and germane to the ideal type of development, whether termed Christian or Buddhist.

The first of the heavenly abodes, metta, loving kindness, plays a crucial part in the process of human development. While Buddhists speak of metta, Christians speak of Christian love. Both refer to disinterested love, a love that seeks to give and to serve, rather than to take and demand. Inherent in the concept of this kind of love is understanding, sympathy, forgiveness and courage. A Father Damien or a Mother Teresa give tender care, for "the love of Christ", to those whom humanity in general find physically repugnant, because Jesus had shown love and kindness towards the rejects of society, the lepers and the insane, the sick and the lame.

The Lord Buddha too set examples for the practical application of loving kindness. Once when the Lord Buddha and his cousin Ananda came across a sick monk lying in his own filth they washed him and tended him. Then the Lord Buddha called the other monks together, admonished them,for neglecting their sick brethren and taught them that it was more important to care for the sick than to tend to him, the Buddha himself.

Development projects should essentially be humanitarian labour on varying scales. Whether it is distributing milk powder to malnourished children or building a mega dam, it should be done with people in mind, people who need the balm of loving kindness to withstand the rigours of human existence. Projects undertaken for the sake of upping statistics or for love of grandiosity or praise, rather than for the love of live human beings with bodies that can be hurt, minds that can be damaged and hearts that can be bruised, seldom succeed in fostering the kind of development that enhances the quality of life.

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama is surely one of the leading authorities on, and practitioners of, loving kindness in our world today. He teaches us that: ... we are not lacking in terms of the development of science and technology; still, we lack something here in the heart - real inner warm feeling. A good heart is needed ... The problems human society is facing in terms of economic development, the crisis of energy, the tension between the poor and rich nations, and many geopolitical problems can be solved if we understand each others' fundamental humanity, respect each other's rights, share each other's problems and sufferings, and then make Joint effort... Things and events depend heavily on motivation. A real sense of appreciation of humanity, compassion and love are the key points. If we develop a good heart, then whether the field is science, agriculture, or politics, since motivation is so very important, these will all improve......

Once during my years of house arrest, one of the people who were - shall we say, "taking care of me"? - said in an accusing tone that 1 was always "on the side of the people". Yes, I said, that was so, because I would always stand by those who were weaker; they were the ones who needed support. But, came the query, what if the weaker side were in the wrong? In that case, I replied, I would try to correct them with metta. The only response to this was a somewhat pained smile. But later I asked myself what one would do if metta did not succeed in correcting those who were weak but quite patently in the wrong. The conclusion at which I arrived was that one would have to work at perfecting one's metta because perfect metta cannot fail.

But then what about self-sacrifice which demands that one puts others before oneself? The work of relief and development agencies often involves a certain degree of self-sacrifice. This is where compassion, the second of the heavenly abodes, comes in. What causes men and women to leave comfortable homes and give up lucrative positions to go out to bleak, even devastated lands for the sake of bringing relief to peoples of an alien race and creed? The motivating factor is surely compassion.

But compassion must be balanced by wisdom and wisdom must be balanced by compassion. This balance is essential that there might be harmony and that one might be able to make correct decisions for the general good. There are a number of Buddhist stories that illustrate the need for a healthy balance between compassion and wisdom. Of these stories, the following is one that I find most appealing.

Once there lived a dragon at the foot of the Himalayas, a fierce dragon king that breathed fire and smoke and reduced creatures to ashes with his incendiary glare. He was not unnaturally the terror of all who dwelled in the region. One day while the dragon was in one of his less amicable moods, a bodhisattva came by. The dragon king proceeded to give a fine display of his propensity for violence, no doubt imagining that he would succeed in terrifying the holy one (not that the dragon understood anything of holiness) before reducing him to ashes. To his surprise, the bodhisattva showed no fear or apprehension but instead gave him a brief sermon on the joys of non-violence and compassion. The dragon king was instantly converted to the path of non-violence and decided that he would never again harm any being under any circumstances.

Now, in an ideal world, that should be the happy end of the story. But ours is not an ideal world; it is a world conditioned by impermanence, suffering and the unresponsiveness of objects to one's wishes. When it dawned on the children who lived within the vicinity of the dragon's lair that the fire breathing monster had ceased to bristle with pyrotechnic ferocity, they began to approach it cautiously. Their confidence grew until they felt bold enough to touch the dragon king. On finding how docile the dragon king. On finding how docile and patient the dragon had become, the children handled it more roughly. Eventually the children got into the habit of ill-treating the dragon, making life a miserable for him.

When the bodhisattva came by again, the dragon king complained of how unhappy he had been since following the path of nonviolence. The bodhisattva replied that this had come about because the dragon had not balanced compassion with wisdom: when the children became unruly, he should show his fire to stop them from proceeding to cruel acts. The dragon king's failure to balance compassion with wisdom had been harmful both to himself and to the children, who had been turned into little bullies by his excessive forbearance.

The fruit of successful development proojects should be the greater happiness of the beneficiaries and the reward for those who planned and implemented the projects should be mudita that rejoices in the good fortune of others, free from envy or ill will.

Fundamental to the kind of development that enhances the quality of 1ife is justice. If there is true loving kindness that regards all beings with equal benevolence, and there is compassion balanced by wisdom, justice wi11 surely not be lacking. And it will be the best kind of justice, that which is tempered by gentle mercy.

There are peoples in East as in the West who think the worth of a society is measured by its material wealth and by impressive figures of growth, ignoring the injustices and the pain that might lie behind them. Then there are those who believe that development must be measured in terms of human happiness, of peace within the community and of harmony with the environment. And so we come back to loving kindness and Compassion.

Paradise on earth is a concept which is outmoded and few people believe in it any more. But we can certainly seek to make our planet a better, happier home for all of us by constructing the heavenly abodes of love and compassion in our hearts. Beginning with this inner development we can go on to the development of the external world with courage and wisdom.

-END-

---

[Article on the speech of 7th November, 1997]

Heavenly Abodes and Human Development
The Tablet
November 8, 1997

Buddhist heroine gives CAFOD lecture

"Heavenly abodes and human development" was the theme chosen by the Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi for this year's Pope Paul VI Memorial Lecture in London. In it she described the Buddhist approach to charity and social justice. It is the first time that a non- Christian has given the lecture. As the leader of Burma's pro-democracy movement she is not permitted to travel abroad by the country's military regime, so the lecture, organised by the Catholic aid agency CAFOD and sponsored by The Tablet, was delivered by her husband, Dr. Michael Aris, of ST. Anthony's College, Oxford.

>From a Buddhist perspective, Aung San Suu Kyi said, compassion and common sense should underlie the struggle for social justice. She sincerely believed that "all peoples and creeds can coexist in peace, that whatever our race or religion we can all learn to agree on certain basic values essential for the development of human society". She spoke, she said, as an "ordinary, imperfect human being with an ordinary, average knowledge of the religion into which she was born". But though not an expert, she was "a concerned participant in the process of human development".

Besides its economic, social and political aspects, true development should include spiritual cultivation, she argued. She described the "heavenly abodes" or divine states of mind which Buddhists recognize. The first, metta, or loving kindness, she linked to Christian love. It was, she said, "a love that seeks to give and to serve, rather than to take and demand".

Those with responsibility for development projects should bear in mind that people need "the balm of loving-kindness to withstand the rigours of human existence". "Projects undertaken for the sake of upping statistics", she said, "or for love of grandiosity or praise, rather than for the love of live human beings with bodies that can be hurt, minds that can be damaged and hearts that can be bruised, seldom succeed in fostering the kind of development that enhances the quality of life."

"Charity" meant "love" she pointed out, and nothing could make up for the lack of it ? "no amount of money or technical expertise or scientific knowledge or industry or vision." Perfect metta could not fail, for it implied a balance, "a state of mind that embraces all beings with loving kindness, favouring neither oneself nor others."

The second "heavenly abode" was compassion, karuna. It had been defined as "the quivering of the heart in response to others' suffering, the wish to remove painful circumstances from the lives of other beings". It was one aspect of Enlightenment; the other was wisdom. "Compassion must be balanced by wisdom and wisdom must be balanced by compassion." She told the Buddhist story of a dragon-king who lived at the foot of the Himalayas. One day, a holy man, or Bodhisattva came by who showed no fear of the dragon-king's penchant for turning people to ashes, and gave him "a brief sermon on the joys of non-violence and compassion". The dragon- king was converted.

When the children who lived nearby learned how peaceful the dragon-king had become, they grew in confidence and began to ill-treat him. When the Bodhisattva came again, the dragon- king complained how unhappy he had become as a result of his new-found non-violence. The Bodhisattva replied that "this had come about because the dragon had not balanced compassion with wisdom: when the children became unruly he should show his fire to stop them from proceeding to cruel acts." Aung San Suu Kyi noted that in the world of charities and development work, compassionate people who lack wisdom can be taken advantage of.

The third "heavenly abode" was sympathetic joy or mudita. Aung San Suu Kyi said that development projects should lead to greater happiness, and that those who planned them should feel mudita about the good fortune of the beneficiaries.

Fundamental to the sort of development which enhances the quality of life is justice, she said; hence the importance of the struggle for human rights in which she had been so deeply engaged.

Democratic development meant "development of the people, for the people, by the people". It was "the antithesis of the idea that development should be defined and directed by governments". There were people in East and West, she said "who think the worth of a society is measured by its material wealth and by impressive figures of growth, ignoring the injustices and pain that might lie behind them". But development "must be measured in terms of human happiness, of peace within the community and of harmony with the environment".

She declared: "All barriers of race and religion can be overcome when people work together on common endeavours based on love and compassion. Together we can help to develop a happier, better world where greed and ill will and selfishness are minimised. This is not impractical idealism: it is a down-to-earth recognition of our greatest needs."

It might be necessary to defy despotic governments, to stand up to oppression. The planet could be made a better place "by constructing the heavenly abodes of love and compassion in our hearts". Beginning with that inner development, people could go on "to the development of the external world with courage and wisdom."

The annual Paul VI Memorial Lecture was started by CAFOD to commemorate Pope Paul VI's encyclical letter Populorum Progressio ("On the development of peoples") Previous lectures have included the then President of Ireland, Mary Robinson; Cardinal Paulo Evaristo Arns of Brazil; ;the then president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors; the liberation theologian Jon Sobrino SK; and the late Archbishop Derek Worlock of Liverpool.