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.