Buddhist Meditation: Expelling the Inner Pollution of Capitalism!
By Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD
Author’s Note: It is important to reject all Western notions of spirituality. Why is this the case? It is because ‘White’ members of the Western Bourgeoisie (which culminated in the hedonism of the 1960s) took advantage of the material leisure time earned by the working-class (and stolen from them) - and mistook this physical freedom on the material frame for the false ‘spirituality’ perpetuated by the Judeo-Christian tradition and its Indian (Brahmanical) equivalent. As part of the post-WWII US crusade against Socialism – Japanese War Criminals such as DT Suzuki (and Nazi sympathizers such as the 14th Dalai Lama) - were presented to unsuspecting Westerners as bastions of Eastern spirituality, when they should have been tried for their crimes and imprisoned! Buddhism is NOT a religion and Lenin and Mao were absolutely correct in protecting the workers from becoming trapped in the reactionary dead-end of religiosity. The workers generate tremendous wealth (through their labour) which is stolen by the Bourgeoisie. Part of this stolen wealth involves ‘leisure time’ - or the freedom for the Bourgeoisie to exist ‘unshackled’ from the labour process - and to move around freely in the physical world. As the religious mind is ‘inverted’ - this ability for the Bourgeoisie to move about freely on the physical plane is misunderstood (and misinterpreted) so as to represent the mythological (inner) freedom ‘imagined’ to spiritually exist by the theistic religions within realms ‘unseen’. These realms are ‘unseen’ because they do not exist outside of the minds that imagine their presence (as they are merely an inward ‘reflection’ of outward physical space) - but this explanation gives the reader something of the depth of the religious problem Marx and Engels had to contend with. Buddhism, regardless of its ancient origins, is an advanced science of perception which the progressive Marxist-Leninist movement should make a better use of – a reality that is already well-known and understood in the East. Wherever the genuine Buddha-Dhamma exists – the agency of ‘Socialism’ is not far behind! This is why the US has seen fit to blanket-bomb the East over the years – and non-White Japan has been the only country the US has used nuclear weapons upon! Undoubtedly, a great part of the 20-30 million men, women and children murdered by the US military between 1945 to present in the upholding of its preferred socio-economic system – have been Asians motivated to follow Marxist-Leninism simply because they were brought-up and influenced by Buddhism!
ACW (28.1.2023)
Buddhism is NOT a religion and should not be subject to the criticism of religion that quite rightly runs through the centre of the work of Marx and Engels. Buddhism is non-theistic, non-Western and non-Abrahamic. This aligns perfectly with Marx-Engels critique of capitalism and does not contradict the crucially helpful observations of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Che, Sankara or any other genuine Marxism. Fundamentally, Buddhist methodology is ‘non-White’ and automatically saves Europeans from their own ‘Bourgeoise-ness’. None of this is anything ‘special’ - but all of it is important from a (permanent) perspective of Revolution! Even though the Buddha lived two to three thousand years ago (the jury is still out on his precise dating – despite the Europeans attempting to convince the world they ‘know better’ than the Indians about their own culture), he identified the (destructive) inner elements of modern capitalism as comprising of greed, hatred and delusion. Just ‘how’ and ‘why’ he did this is not yet understood but do it he did. Many contemporary academics consider the Buddha the world’s first ‘modern’ thinker.
Which came first, the Buddha or the logical-thinking ancient and classical Greeks? Which way did the agency of logical thought run? Was it West to East – or was it East to West? In all probability, the agency of logical thought – that bastion of European civilisation – may well have formulated in the mind of an Asian man living in the feudal civilisation of ancient India. Although illiterate he was not stupid. The Buddha could not read or write simply because he did not have to. His high caste society had produced a verbal-hearing and very practical education that was the equivalent anything the Greeks (or Chinese for that matter) ever produced. He had been exposed to all the available religious teachings (which he had been taught to remember perfectly by rote), he had been taught how to debate and how to decisively present his arguments effectively (rhetoric) and logically (philosophy). Illiterate – yes – stupid – no. His practical education included Yoga, armed and unarmed martial arts and charioteering, as well as rudimentary medical studies.
We know all this because the Buddha told us this was the case, and certain archaeological evidence supports the ideas passed on in the five thousand or so ‘Suttas’ he left behind. Within the midst of feudal (caste-ridden) India, the Buddha saw clearly that the human mind is motivated by the perennial (and ingrained) attributes of greed, hatred and delusion. The interesting point about this insight is that it undercuts ALL human systems of thought and modes of behavioural modification (regardless of the latter's orientation). In a very real sense, the Buddha’s recorded insight was a stroke of psychological genius that seems to have predicted the chemically based developments of Psychiatry. The ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of it does not get any closer the greater the understanding of it becomes. In this case, ‘clarification’ of the Buddha’s teaching does not grant any particular insight into the origins of his system of thought. The Buddha seems to have thought outside of the material epoch within which he physically existed. In other words, the Buddha seems to think as if he were a ‘modern’ person living post-19th century and in the midst of predatory capitalism!
It is obvious that Marx and Engels knew about the extraordinary nature of the Buddha’s teaching from the numerous hints they left scattered throughout their work, but never had the time to introduce, justify and develop during their respective lifetimes. The average lifetime was not long enough to a) establish Scientific Socialism, and b) introduce the unique position Buddhism should inhabit within it. The proletariat (or modern worker) physically and psychologically inhabits a material world defined by the socio-economic forces that define (and perpetuate) predatory capitalism. The greed, hatred and delusion that sustains and empowers the capitalist system in the external world – bombards the physical body and penetrates it through the senses. This is how the attributes of greed, hatred and delusion penetrates the outside of the physical body – and takes root within the (inner) psychic fabric of the mind (or that conscious function which defines the physical organ of the material brain). For Marx, the outside functionality of the material world must be changed through Revolution – so that the external pressures upon the senses of the body become transformed into ‘Socialist’ attributes – replacing the previous oppressive ‘capitalist’ elements.
As the outer (material) environment is reflected within as the psychological interior of the worker, it follows that if external society evolves into a Socialist orientation – then the inner mind of the worker is transformed into an entirely new and progressive orientation. All this takes time, of course, and is dependent upon a continuous and sustained exposure to a progressive education system (as clearly explained by MI Kalinin). Here is the predicament – what happens when the worker still (materially) exists within a predatory capitalist society? Then, regardless of how much ‘progressive’ education the average worker exposes him or herself to, the sheer power of the predatory capitalist system will always supersede any attempts to temporarily transcend it. The greed, hatred and delusion of capitalism will always prevail because the (supportive) external environment is just far too powerful. In other words, context is one thing, a permanent transformation is a completely different proposition. What can Buddhism offer in this situation?
A worker can make use of Buddhist meditation to uproot and expunge all vestiges of greed, hatred and delusion from the interior of his or her mind whilst still physically living within a (material) capitalist world! This means that the destructive power of capitalist-generated greed, hatred and delusion STOP at the external level of the exterior physical body and no longer penetrate through into its interior. Through an act of inner and external discipline, the worker can re-order and re-organise the functionality of his or her mind and body – and permanently alter the way in which both interact and regulate the experience of physical existence. Buddhist meditation, when practiced correctly, generates an inner experience of ‘Socialism’ (relative enlightenment) and ‘Communism’ (full enlightenment) regardless of the material environment (and historical epoch) the physical body happens to inhabit! Not only this, but this process sharpens the intellect and maximises the cognitive processes of the mind so that each worker develops a greater learning capacity to read and understand the work of Marx, Engels and Lenin, etc.
This is termed in Buddhist Pali as being the development of ‘Panna’ (Sanskrit: ‘Prajna’) or the full unleashing of the ‘wisdom’ capacity of the human mind which transcends all conditioned limitations of existence. This process empowers the worker not to sit quietly in a self-absorbed ‘haze’ under a tree somewhere (a capitalist stereotype and Eurocentric misconception), but rather to inhabit the material world in a much more progressive manner, fully comprehending each and every condition as it arises, and fully understanding each and every opportunity for Revolution that arises within the Bourgeois manifestation (and domination) of society. Mental health is enhanced as all the rubbish imported into the interior of the individual mind is uprooted and fully cleared-out through the process of Buddhist meditation. What is to be achieved externally through the agency of physical Revolution in the outer world (possibly over many generations of human existence) can be achieved within the individual human mind in a blink of an eye. Relative enlightenment (Socialism) is the human mind permanently ‘stilled’ through the expulsion of greed, hatred and delusion – whilst ‘Communism’ relates to the full enlightenment where the conscious awareness of the inner mind ‘expands’ throughout the body (and through the six senses) into (and ‘through’) the material environment.
Through the dialectical development of historical materialism, these states will undoubtedly unfold in the outer environment – but through the Buddhist method – what is to become expressed throughout (external) human society can be personally achieved interiorly through the practice of meditation. A worker, whilst studying Marx and Engels, working hard in the external world and joining Unions and political parties, etc, can enhance and strengthen this development process by uprooting and expelling from inside the mind the very greed, hatred and delusion that capitalism imports into the interior of the human mind – and through which capitalism relies upon for its sustenance and perpetuation. This is the secret power that Buddhist meditation (free of all religiosities) contains within its inner essence and which Marx and Engels understood but talked of it rarely due to the potential of the Western worker confusing Eastern Buddhism with Western religiosity. Although Buddhism was well-known to Marx and Engels during the 19th century, at the time the ‘Theosophists’ were busy re-inventing Buddhism in the West and turning it into another version of Bourgeois Christianity – in other words – the distorted Buddhism as it exists in the West today (in its many capitalist-supporting guises). As matters stand, the authentic Buddhist experience not only explains the inner experience of ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ - but offers a precise method for its realisation whilst inhabiting the material world of Bourgeois capitalism.
©opyright: Adrian Chan-Wyles (ShiDaDao) 2023.
Which came first, the Buddha or the logical-thinking ancient and classical Greeks? Which way did the agency of logical thought run? Was it West to East – or was it East to West? In all probability, the agency of logical thought – that bastion of European civilisation – may well have formulated in the mind of an Asian man living in the feudal civilisation of ancient India. Although illiterate he was not stupid. The Buddha could not read or write simply because he did not have to. His high caste society had produced a verbal-hearing and very practical education that was the equivalent anything the Greeks (or Chinese for that matter) ever produced. He had been exposed to all the available religious teachings (which he had been taught to remember perfectly by rote), he had been taught how to debate and how to decisively present his arguments effectively (rhetoric) and logically (philosophy). Illiterate – yes – stupid – no. His practical education included Yoga, armed and unarmed martial arts and charioteering, as well as rudimentary medical studies.
We know all this because the Buddha told us this was the case, and certain archaeological evidence supports the ideas passed on in the five thousand or so ‘Suttas’ he left behind. Within the midst of feudal (caste-ridden) India, the Buddha saw clearly that the human mind is motivated by the perennial (and ingrained) attributes of greed, hatred and delusion. The interesting point about this insight is that it undercuts ALL human systems of thought and modes of behavioural modification (regardless of the latter's orientation). In a very real sense, the Buddha’s recorded insight was a stroke of psychological genius that seems to have predicted the chemically based developments of Psychiatry. The ‘why’ and the ‘how’ of it does not get any closer the greater the understanding of it becomes. In this case, ‘clarification’ of the Buddha’s teaching does not grant any particular insight into the origins of his system of thought. The Buddha seems to have thought outside of the material epoch within which he physically existed. In other words, the Buddha seems to think as if he were a ‘modern’ person living post-19th century and in the midst of predatory capitalism!
It is obvious that Marx and Engels knew about the extraordinary nature of the Buddha’s teaching from the numerous hints they left scattered throughout their work, but never had the time to introduce, justify and develop during their respective lifetimes. The average lifetime was not long enough to a) establish Scientific Socialism, and b) introduce the unique position Buddhism should inhabit within it. The proletariat (or modern worker) physically and psychologically inhabits a material world defined by the socio-economic forces that define (and perpetuate) predatory capitalism. The greed, hatred and delusion that sustains and empowers the capitalist system in the external world – bombards the physical body and penetrates it through the senses. This is how the attributes of greed, hatred and delusion penetrates the outside of the physical body – and takes root within the (inner) psychic fabric of the mind (or that conscious function which defines the physical organ of the material brain). For Marx, the outside functionality of the material world must be changed through Revolution – so that the external pressures upon the senses of the body become transformed into ‘Socialist’ attributes – replacing the previous oppressive ‘capitalist’ elements.
As the outer (material) environment is reflected within as the psychological interior of the worker, it follows that if external society evolves into a Socialist orientation – then the inner mind of the worker is transformed into an entirely new and progressive orientation. All this takes time, of course, and is dependent upon a continuous and sustained exposure to a progressive education system (as clearly explained by MI Kalinin). Here is the predicament – what happens when the worker still (materially) exists within a predatory capitalist society? Then, regardless of how much ‘progressive’ education the average worker exposes him or herself to, the sheer power of the predatory capitalist system will always supersede any attempts to temporarily transcend it. The greed, hatred and delusion of capitalism will always prevail because the (supportive) external environment is just far too powerful. In other words, context is one thing, a permanent transformation is a completely different proposition. What can Buddhism offer in this situation?
A worker can make use of Buddhist meditation to uproot and expunge all vestiges of greed, hatred and delusion from the interior of his or her mind whilst still physically living within a (material) capitalist world! This means that the destructive power of capitalist-generated greed, hatred and delusion STOP at the external level of the exterior physical body and no longer penetrate through into its interior. Through an act of inner and external discipline, the worker can re-order and re-organise the functionality of his or her mind and body – and permanently alter the way in which both interact and regulate the experience of physical existence. Buddhist meditation, when practiced correctly, generates an inner experience of ‘Socialism’ (relative enlightenment) and ‘Communism’ (full enlightenment) regardless of the material environment (and historical epoch) the physical body happens to inhabit! Not only this, but this process sharpens the intellect and maximises the cognitive processes of the mind so that each worker develops a greater learning capacity to read and understand the work of Marx, Engels and Lenin, etc.
This is termed in Buddhist Pali as being the development of ‘Panna’ (Sanskrit: ‘Prajna’) or the full unleashing of the ‘wisdom’ capacity of the human mind which transcends all conditioned limitations of existence. This process empowers the worker not to sit quietly in a self-absorbed ‘haze’ under a tree somewhere (a capitalist stereotype and Eurocentric misconception), but rather to inhabit the material world in a much more progressive manner, fully comprehending each and every condition as it arises, and fully understanding each and every opportunity for Revolution that arises within the Bourgeois manifestation (and domination) of society. Mental health is enhanced as all the rubbish imported into the interior of the individual mind is uprooted and fully cleared-out through the process of Buddhist meditation. What is to be achieved externally through the agency of physical Revolution in the outer world (possibly over many generations of human existence) can be achieved within the individual human mind in a blink of an eye. Relative enlightenment (Socialism) is the human mind permanently ‘stilled’ through the expulsion of greed, hatred and delusion – whilst ‘Communism’ relates to the full enlightenment where the conscious awareness of the inner mind ‘expands’ throughout the body (and through the six senses) into (and ‘through’) the material environment.
Through the dialectical development of historical materialism, these states will undoubtedly unfold in the outer environment – but through the Buddhist method – what is to become expressed throughout (external) human society can be personally achieved interiorly through the practice of meditation. A worker, whilst studying Marx and Engels, working hard in the external world and joining Unions and political parties, etc, can enhance and strengthen this development process by uprooting and expelling from inside the mind the very greed, hatred and delusion that capitalism imports into the interior of the human mind – and through which capitalism relies upon for its sustenance and perpetuation. This is the secret power that Buddhist meditation (free of all religiosities) contains within its inner essence and which Marx and Engels understood but talked of it rarely due to the potential of the Western worker confusing Eastern Buddhism with Western religiosity. Although Buddhism was well-known to Marx and Engels during the 19th century, at the time the ‘Theosophists’ were busy re-inventing Buddhism in the West and turning it into another version of Bourgeois Christianity – in other words – the distorted Buddhism as it exists in the West today (in its many capitalist-supporting guises). As matters stand, the authentic Buddhist experience not only explains the inner experience of ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ - but offers a precise method for its realisation whilst inhabiting the material world of Bourgeois capitalism.
©opyright: Adrian Chan-Wyles (ShiDaDao) 2023.