Buddhism And Polity In the Digital Society: Monarchy, Democracy, Republican, Communism

Buddhism And Polity In the Digital Society: Monarchy, Democracy, Republican, Communism 

Author:  Nano-organic Elixir 

Date: 1st March 2020 

Keywords: #monarchy, #democracy, #republican, #communism, #politics, #Buddhism, #innovation, #socialmedia, #IT 

Length: 1529 words

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          The issue: whether or not Buddhism and political ideologies can work well together in the digital society is a time-honored debate having assumed a new urgency in the internet era, particularly when mainland China’s government announced the religion revival and the ruling Pateth Laohas considered to be more open for Buddhist institutions.
 

           First, religion in communist countries is a complicated issue.  Tracking historically back to the beginning when communists took power in these countries, the leaders of the political parties had naturally a strong faith in their Marxist/Leninist theory.  For them, religion was the opium of their people, consequently, it was something to be suppressed.  However, these leaders were realistic and clever enough to produce and promote thinkers who theorized that, ‘capitalists’ had exploited Buddhism but it could be interpreted in ways favorable to the exploited class.  At the same time they totally questioned the potential of Buddhism to heal social problems at the grassroots, unlike the communism in their dreams which naturally would solve everything.
 

          After the 50 years following their takeover, they realized that their communist experiment was an economic failure, as a result, they had to open their economy to be free trading market while skillfully keeping the governing system politically locked so that now these countries for example China and Laos including Vietnam are in a kind of state capitalist economy.
 

          Another thing they discovered is that, after the end of the imperial dynasty –in China and the monarchy –in Laos and Vietnam, there was nothing to unify the people because communism was too new and superficial a tool to restructure minds.  Therefore, they realized, ironically, that Buddhism could be a tool to reunify and motivate minds: it sounds like a kind of opium to cure another opium perhaps per se.
 

          With the open chance from the Chinese Communist Party, recently, there has been a project called ‘Returning the Treasure’ to China from Buddhists outside China to work with Chinese Buddhists to bring Buddhism back alive after so much was lost during the Cultural Revolution.
 

          It will take time for the project to fully succeed but it is the new dawn of Buddhism to be revived to benefit the Chinese in this digital era under the Communist regime, let’s think about when Buddhism first entered China from India in the imperial time, it took centuries for it to really be planted and integrated, to be translated by the Chinese Buddhists, to find metaphors, and to find teaching modalities that really fit the Chinese people.  The same thing is happening now in this social media era but it is happening much more quickly.

          This anticipation springs from the fact that people in the contemporary IT society regardless in Asia or western countries are in dire need of spiritual refuge as they are overwhelmingly ambitious to out-perform others and being successful in their career so they are experiencing high stress.  The past decade record has shown a percentage of the tech elites in many countries both in the West and the East filtered out every year to get in touch with Buddhist practice, have fun, and remember what it is to go wild and free.  It implies that it has become fashionable for younger generation and the millennial, especially of the tech variety, to tout mindfulness and secular tenets of Buddhism.

          Delving into the present business world, we can see technology happens to be the most experimental field and positioned at the tip of the spear and tech people are most obsessed with being cutting edge.  So it is not surprising why corporations like Google and Facebook now have meditation rooms in their offices, made palatable by the encouraging business, tech and science around meditation to enhance the limit of visionary capacity through mental unconditioned because they believe that in the unconditioned mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s mind there are ‘few’, and this is useful in a technology business context because as mentioned above the ambition of business is to out-innovate and out-compete; every business person wants possibilities.  Fresh possibilities are essential to innovation. Freshness that bring from moment to moment in people’s awareness and experience of life whether it is about a new feature to a smartphone or doing something delightful for the customer means innovation and it translates into profit.
 

          Therefore, such a visionary capacity gained from meditation practice would find appeal among young spiritual seekers in the digital time, who have become disillusioned with what society and traditional forms of religious practice offered at the same time being captivated by simple and profound concepts in Buddhism through Buddhist meditation.  And the online offerings enable these spiritual seekers to try those platforms to experience this ancient innovation which creates a mystic quality that feels both innovative and deep.  The system of study and meditative practice in Buddhism intended as a direct path to the mental purity and liberation.  And with revived Buddhism in those communist countries, people there will be able to experience the Buddha’s Dhamma not as an artifact of a past time and place, but always as ‘fresh-baked bread’ through their own effort.
 

          If we look back into the history of Buddhism, we will see this recent uptake of Buddhist practice in business, tech and science circles is not anything new.  Buddhism has been co-opted before and it will be co-opted again.  With online resources and apps reaching millions of people, we can see this latest uptake in modern business and IT industries as free marketing for Buddhism when the Marxist ideology governments open up for religions to revive.

          Even though, the re-emergence of Buddhism in Marxist/Leninist governing countries will produce a new outlook of Buddhist culture which is part and parcel to a religion or philosophy’s maturation process. Indeed, it should be welcomed because whatsoever the Buddhist principles when implanted will be used as a tool by the ruling authority for legitimation of themselves as being moral and justice, on the other hand, it will also be used by Buddhists as the basis for challenging the legitimacy of those regimes that were deemed no longer at the service of the people’s welfare.

          In the political context, Buddhism has a history of cutting through and doing well with different political ideologies by rendering appropriate teaching for each.  For the monarchies, the Lord Buddha taught the duties of a Wheel-Turning Emperor, exhorting rulers to use their absolute power as a tool for generating benefit in the community rather than a tool for seeking personal happiness.  For the republican states, He taught the Aparihaniyadhamma [principles and methods for encouraging social harmony and preventing decline].  Both of these teachings show how a person can live happily under different political philosophies.
         

          Even on Dictatorship, in Buddhism, there is no evidence saying that ‘dictatorship’ is bad in itself.  Even the Buddha Himself, in a sense, is a dictator.  The good part of dictatorship is its restraining and forcing people to be in line.  However, dictatorship can render most benefits to the world when it becomes Dhammic dictator.  Venerable Buddhadasa said he prefers monarchy to democracy.  He explains that it is easier to find a righteous king than a group of righteous people.  He adds that a righteous king who is a dictator is better than a liberal democrat.  According to him, the best political system in the world is the system which allows people to work for the best for their society under the dictatorship of the Dhamma.
 

          In Thailand where constitutional monarchy and democracy have been promoted after the 1932-political revolution followed by various social and political reforms in the history, Buddhism still co-exists with the monarchy and continues to fulfill its historical legitimating function by giving meaning, significance, and authority to political institutions in the secular domain, at the same time, has experienced the high degree of centralized control by the Thai state over the teaching and administration.  The state imposed organizational structure on the Sangha and its legal guidelines and administrative procedures in the three Sangha Acts.
 

          In the politic landscape, Buddhism regardless thrives under any system of political ideology witnessed a common classic scenery when a state first became Buddhist with the conversion of the rulers to the teachings of the Buddha but often these rulers did not follow the Buddha’s own example in renouncing the thrones or the political positions.  As the result, Buddhism came to be under state protection.  This situation entails the price of such an accommodation which then places the political at best on par if not superior to the religion.
 

          Buddhism under ongoing political philosophies is organizational; it is natural of religious ideals to become organizationized when it is growing bigger and bigger; as it is essential to have an effective management system for the religious institution to survive and thrive; at the same time, organizationalized Buddhism will subsequently fossilized and face erosion and crumbling because, sooner or later, people tend to work more for the sake of the organizations than for their ideals.  This is a common fate of all human projects, and we cannot do anything about it. It merely demonstrates the nature of Three Characteristic of all mortal things.

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