On Why Genuine Asian Buddhism Has No Relationship with Any Form of Capitalism!
By Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD
Throughout the 5000 Buddhist Suttas (Sutras) – and all the numerous ancient Buddhist Schools that interpret these philosophical texts – NONE allow for the Dhamma (Dharma) to be ‘sold’ to the highest bidder for any form of monetary (or material) gain. At no point in these meticulous texts of psycho-physical analysis does the historical Buddha ever generate a ‘pay wall’ between his enlightened wisdom and relieving the obvious pain manifesting in the minds and bodies of ALL genuine enquirers! On the contrary, as the Buddha demanded a radical behaviour modification in all his committed disciples – there was no point in demanding a ‘fee’ – as such an agency would have been counter-productive to the required uprooting of greed, hatred, and delusion. In other words, as ‘desire’ and ‘greed’ serve as the pivotal foundation of all human conditioning within the body, mind and corresponding (material) environment – it would have been highly illogical for the Buddha to encourage the very element of deluded ‘grasping’ that his teachings continuously seeks to overthrow.
A major modern problem involves Buddhism in the West being integrated with the Judeo-Christian – often by the established churches – which pursues the not so hidden agenda of ‘eradicating’ the Buddha’s genuine teachings from the Western mind. Outside of the Asian populations that live in the West – the Buddhism of the civic space is entirely fake and misrepresented – as it simply becomes another selling-point to satisfy the fleeting superficiality of the (Bourgeois) Western mind. Such a mirage of Dhamma (Dharma) is also highly politicised – aligning itself with all forms of Western neo-imperialism and even creating the absurdity of maniacal and insane (White) US soldiers and Marines having access to a so-called ‘Buddhist Chaplain’ or ‘Padre’ – who sets their minds at rest when their government demands the killing of all non-White people who pursue a different path to that of the US! Ironically, on occasion this also includes the killing of ethnic Buddhists – such as in Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Kampuchea, etc. This includes the hundreds of thousands of Chinese ‘Volunteers’ who defended Korea from US aggression. Yes – fake Western Buddhism has done much to kill real Buddhists in the World.
Whereas Western Buddhism seeks to invert the Buddha’s message toward normalising deluded ‘greed’ – genuine (Asian) Buddhism naturally responds to enforced Western imperialism with ‘Socialism’. Socialism not only exists quite prominently within the Buddha’s teachings – but the presence of predatory capitalism in the world actually adds momentum to all practicing Buddhists to purify their internal minds and bodies by uprooting all vestiges of greed, hatred, and delusions, and in so doing - build an external world free of such divisions, disasters, and denominators, etc. The purifying process of behaviour modification (as moulded through adhering to the guidance of the Vinaya Discipline), can only result in a Socialist State. This is an ‘internal’ State and an ‘external’ State of combined Socialism that dovetails remarkably well with the ideology of Marxist-Leninism. Perhaps Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were motivated to a greater degree than has been admitted or realised – by their Buddhist expert friend – Karl Koppen. Even Joseph Stalin was moved to establish a Buddhist Institute in 1928 dedicated to analysing Buddhist culture. This was probably due to the USSR possessing at least ‘three’ Buddhist Republics.
Of course, Mao Zedong’s mother was a devout Buddhist and took her son to Buddhist Temples on a number of occasions. Indeed, during the Chinese Civil War and Anti-Japanese War, it was quite often the case that the Head Monks of various Buddhist Temples often (quietly) allowed the People’s Militias of the Communist Party of China to hide away behind huge Buddhist statues – often when their enemies swarmed all over the locales. Furthermore, many of the prominent members of the early Communist Party of China had direct links with Buddhism – many as lay-disciples of Master Xu Yun (1840-1959) – as was the case with Zhou Enlai. Even in the Western-dominated country of Thailand – many important Buddhist Masters often advocate the development of Socialism – as an inner State of equality achieved through freedom from greed, hatred, and delusion – and an outer society premised upon a reflective equality that is also completely free from greed, hatred, and delusion. Uprooting greed, hatred, and delusion is the result of a profound act of will - and cannot be reduced to a simple act of commercial exchange or financial interaction. This is why genuine (Asian) Buddhism has absolutely NO connection with any form of predatory capitalism.
©opyright: Adrian Chan-Wyles (ShiDaDao) 2023.