Civil Society & Sangha Reform

In the early part of 2001, Think Sangha is going to hold a small, five day international meeting in Hawaii. The purpose is intensively engage in the groups’ next collaborative project, a Buddhist analysis of globalization. Pre-conference groundwork has already begun on building this analysis. The meeting will subsequently be used as a spring board for the publication of this group analysis and the development of concrete strategies and practices for facing the challenges of globalization. The meeting will also serve to to renew and strengthen ties within the group which has not met since 1997 in Japan. A central focus of this reconvening of the group is to evaluate the past four years’ activities and to develop new methodologies for group interaction and collective work.

Agenda 1 (the outer work)

A Buddhist Vision of Civil Society in Response to Globalization

What does globalization mean for religion? On a superficial level, we can see on one hand the fundamentalist response of clinging to the old certainties and pushing away the new; while on the other hand inter-religious dialogue has used the opportunity to learn from each other. Neither of these, however, captures the deeper spiritual meaning of globalization. To get at this deeper meaning, we have begin to look at a popular concept being used today, civil society.

There appear to be at least three or four conflicting conceptions of what “civil society” is:

ECONOMIC

* the Capitalist, “Liberal Democratic” model, which emphasizes property, capital, & free exchange as in some sense constitutive of what it means to be a free human being.

* the Marxist model which lives on in many “progressive” and “alternative” groups (many NGOs) that may not be as alternative as they believe.

Both of the above take for granted the same materialistic notions about what it means to be a human being and therefore, tend towards an economic reductionism.

POLITICAL

* Nationalism as a collective lack project based around the ideology of the state. This tends towards an ethnic and political reductionism of what it means to be a human being.

* the New Civil Society movement which rejects modernization and wants to retain what already exists, without being disturbed, e.g., “primitive peoples have the answer”. On the more fundamentalist wing is a “leave us alone” approach that constitutes a regressive reductionism. More progressive interpretations see the need for accommodation with modernity and technology. The issue is what these accommodations will be, who is empowered to make those decisions, and what standards will be used.

RELIGIOUS

* “Original” Civil Society developed out of the Reformation in Europe as the creation of a conscious community based around a shared understanding of Christian teachings and what it means to be a human being. The collapse of this experiment led to attempts to create civil society through the nation state (political) and the market (economic)

All of these conceptions can be considered from a spiritual point of view, since they include and are based upon an idea of the nature, meaning, and purpose of human life. From this point of view,globalization is a complex transformation that is not only economic, political, and technological, but just as much spiritual in the sense that these conceptions are based on very different views of “the meaning of life.” These conceptions are struggling for supremacy as we enter the new millennium, and perhaps the most critical issue of all for our future is which of them will prevail. Thus, there is a need for a Buddhist vision of Civil Society. (For more see David Loy’s The Spiritual Roots of Civil Society : A Buddhist Perspective)

Perhaps the best way to understand how all these conceptions relate together, and what Buddhism offers instead, is to ask the key question: how does each of these understand our existential dilemma (dukkha or lack) and how do they respond to it? From a Buddhist point of view, the response of the others is inadequate because they do not really go to the heart of the problem. There is partial truth in all these other conceptions, but as a model of what it means to be a human being they are dangerously flawed.

In modern secular systems, the religious-spiritual component has been so repressed that we need to become more conscious of this fundamental aspect of human nature. However, we must be on guard against a religious reductionism. For someone mired in poverty, one cannot say that religion is more important than economics; or for someone suffering under fascism, one cannot say that religion is more important than politics. There is a need to put religion, politics, and economics on equal footing. With its attention to communal economics and confederal relations, the Buddha Sangha formed by Shakyamuni represents one model for bringing these essential realms of human interaction into balance.

Defined along these lines, “Fundamentalism” is a reductionism – the tendency to make any way of thinking or organizing people into a closed system, the One Truth & Way, or the final word.Modern Systems Theory expresses this as a holon which refuses to integrate and participate in the formation of a higher order, while stubbornly holding on to its place at the top of its own order. It is the tendency to engage in the first phase of cybernetics which is molding reality to fit one’s own operating system (maintenance) but not to engage in the second phase of adapting one’s operating system to changing conditions (learning). In the above examples of civil society, we can see where economic, political and religious conceptions have turned into fundamentalisms as the unbridled push for economic development, militaristic nationalism, and millennial cultism.

A Buddhist vision of civil society will explore the following:

* Reform of the Buddhist Sangha

* Building of Grassroots Community

* Integration with other elements of the New Civil Society movement

-critical & nuanced “Localism”

* Strategic Cooperation with some elements of Globalization

-working with existing structures to transform closed systems into open ones

A key component to this process is both “inner” and “outer” work. A mature socially engaged Buddhism demands that practitioners devote concerted effort to their religious discipline (the inner work) while also becoming active in society (outer work). As a single religious institution, Buddhism must not only seek to offer its practical solutions to society for what it means to be human. It must also do its inner work of reforming and updating its own organizational structures, so that it can continue to offer authentic pathways for those searching for the meaning of their humanity. Thus far, socially engaged Buddhism has focused primarily on the outer work of solving society’s ills. Socially engaged Buddhists in a number of countries have gotten involved in the New Civil Society movement. However, Buddhism has not properly confronted its inner work. It is interesting to note as well that many of the partners outside of Buddhism have taken little interest in this pressing issue. There is now, however, a process of meetings called “Ariya Vinaya” which has been initiated by Sulak Sivaraksa His Holiness the Dalai Lama to confront this inner work. A number of Think Sangha members are also actively involved in this initiative.

Agenda II (inner work)

Developing Socially Engaged Buddhist Analysis and Think Sangha

The process of inner work focuses on two areas:

1. To further socially engaged Buddhist analysis through interaction, discussion, shared writings, and collaborative thinking. (macro)

Think Sangha is part of a larger process of redefining and recreating Buddhism for the 21st century. A mature and nuanced analysis of social issues by Buddhists is an essential step towards this recreation. A socially engaged Buddhist methodology can use various methods for relating Buddhist tradition and practice with social theory:

* to search through and locate Buddhist texts which have direct relevance for social conditions (e.g. Cakkavatti Sutta)

* to locate and apply Buddhist principles and themes to larger social contexts (e.g. Thich Nhat Hanh’s Tiep Hien Precepts)

* to locate and apply which Buddhist teachings and practices are relevant for today and to leave behind ones which have become outdated (e.g. the outdated restrictions on female ordination)

* to apply the inner experiences of Buddhist practice to dealing with social problems (e.g. dissolving the inner-outer duality of personal and social transformation inherent in much Western social theory)

Put together, these methods can constitute the basis of a system of socially engaged Buddhism from analysis to articulating positions to developing forms of engagement. Such a systemization is not an attempt to create an orthodoxy in which socially engaged Buddhists must fit. Rather, it is in order to focus and unify the disparate movement of socially engaged Buddhism. Such focus will enable society as a whole to better understand the spiritual activist and to locate their respective niche.

 

2. To deepen ties among existing Think Sangha members, incorporate new members into the group, and develop methodologies for collaborative work

From the beginning, Think Sangha has been an experiment in uniting Buddhist perspectives on social suffering (wisdom) and practical efforts by Buddhists to address social suffering (compassion). This vision is encapsulated in the name Think (contemplation and analysis) and Sangha (working together to address suffering). The group itself has been an experiment in building a network of spiritually based thinkers and activists who can play unique roles for positive social change in their communities. The group has been a means for members to enrich their understanding of Buddhist practice and social issues through interaction and camaraderie. As grassroots activists, teachers or ordained clergy, most Think Sangha members play conscientizing roles in their communities. This interaction has helped to empower the members to bring different perspectives to problems in their communities.

In three years time, the achievements of Think Sangha are modest and participation in the actual group is still small. Yet it has been the intention of the group from the beginning to slowly and patiently build its base. This involves spending more time focusing on the present interaction and camaraderie of members rather than building an independent organization and accumulating as many new members as possible. New members are brought into the group slowly and attempts to nurture communication and participation from them given priority. Many of the members are original members of INEB who over the past ten years have experienced the difficulties of creating meaningful international networks. The initial tendency is always towards a fast buildup of membership and public exposure. Yet we have found that sustained activism which engenders long term social change is created through deep personal bonds among people with shared concerns.From such a foundation, progressive roots are planted firmly in living communities and future leaders are nurtured.

Therefore, we would like to create a meeting which is grounded in community-building (personal sharing) and contemplative practice (meditating in all of its forms together), that has a three part component:

* looking at the problems, clarification of issues (educative)

* new information, moving beyond stuck points, collaborative inquiry and illumination

* translation into action, how does it apply practically—> praxis

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