Many impoverished Asian countries possess ancient cultures and profound Buddhist traditions. The “impoverished” attribute stems from the modern Western system which has spread across the world from Great Britain. This system reduces every citizen to a competing individual whose self-worth is measured solely by the size of a bank account. Similarly, countries that follow this system act like inidividuals in the international arena – making strategic alliances with other State actors designed to protect this status. Just as an individual “purchases” every service and attribute required for a comfortable life – a modern Nation State develops and purchases weaponry, dominates locations and projects its will around the globe. The accumulation of money is the prime-mover of this system which causes various degrees of misery for everyone living within its confines – whilst a few live very well and possess the greatest measure of choice due to the monetary wealth they control. The acquisition and control of money is the entire purpose of predatory capitalism. As this is the only recognisable method for living – every citizen is broughtup to habitally cultivate “greed” as the highest virtue for modern living. Of course, as the Buddha states that greed, hatred, and delusion are the basis of all human suffering – the answer to this human suffering is to uproot these taints through the practice of meditation and physical discipline. Therefore, Buddhists diverge from the demands of predatory capitalism through the requirement to cultivate non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion. The practice of genuine Buddhism, therefore, is a contradiction to the reality of predatory capitalism. This explains why places such as Thailand – which is currently dominated by US Neo-Imperialism – possesses both a vibrant Theravada Buddhist tradition as well as large areas of abject (material) poverty. As Thailand is NOT a Socialist country (and is still a victim of Western colonial and imperial conquest) – its society offers an interesting dichotomy between two systems of self-worth, one ancient and Buddhist, whilst the other modern and entirely foreign. An individual might not possess any monetary wealth – but could be well-educated in Buddhist Studies. This aligns with the Buddha’s statement that the gift of Dharma excels all other gifts! A Buddhist monastic (or a devout lay-Buddhist) might well live a life of non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion – and therefore possess NO position within the predatory capitalist system. This is true regardless of whether an individual lives within an impoverished Asian country or an affluent Western country. Conversely, an Asian country that has successfully taken the path of monetary wealth accumulation must accommodate citizens who which to practice the Dharma to a greater degree within their everyday lives. Although it is doubtful that a capitalist country would ever allow any type of non-profit based existence – the superior morality of Socialism must ensure that individuals who which to practice the Dharma must be given the right to do this with the State facilitating this lifestyle as a matter of right.
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Stupid White People – And How They Betrayed the Revolutionary Nature of Buddhism! (12.9.2022)9/12/2022 Buddhism is stronger than any bullet, bomb or army! Buddhism possesses the greatest form of power and that is the ability to alter thought patterns and change the way individuals and groups perceive the material world and decide how to act in it! When White people set off for Asia in the last few centuries – what did they do? They took along (tucked safely inside them) the Bible they had so fervently had rejected on the outside! When they studied Buddhism here and there – they all managed to miss the point – and they studied the Dhamma as superior ‘White’ people pontificating upon the inferior machinations of the great unwashed (and slightly ‘smelly’) non-Europeans – those odd people who all seemed to claim an ancient culture but which no one seemed to know anything definite about! Oh – how they failed those tests! Still, they did manage to acquire the words of the Buddha and they did bring those words of the Buddha back to Europe – and what did they do with these most powerful of Revolutionary words? Well, they immediately set about mimicking the establishments of the Christian religion they had abandoned and as if this was not enough of a betrayal – they immediately began to turn Buddhism into a commodity that could be bought and sold on the free market! They then wrote copious amounts of books about how clever they thought they were and how their understanding was greater than any other Western convert! Entire publishing empires developed committed to peddling the spiritual imaginations of ‘White’ people who had been to Asia and ‘stolen’ (after-all, they never paid for) the Dhamma for nefarious reasons. The very Christian religion Buddhism should have washed away with an unstoppable wave of anti-theistic wisdom was bolstered and reinforced! The capitalism that the non-greed of Buddhism should have uprooted and laid to rest was thrown ‘Buddhism’ to devour like a bone casually tossed to a hungry dog! The Revolution that Buddhism should have caused amongst the Working-Class of the West was hijacked by the Middle-Classes who could afford to travel to exotic lands and lounge under trees for long periods of time! Trotsky in a Saffron robe – that is what these shaven headed Order of Contemplatives have brought to the West! The Buddha saw that ‘religion’ is the enemy – the ‘stupefier’ of humanity! These stupid White people with their fake sincerity and impure hearts defied the Buddha whilst pretending to follow him – and they still do! The Working-Class can wake-up in an instant! There is no need for mimicking or appropriating the culture of others! Buddhist dialectics applied properly is the end of the bourgeois inverted mind-set – the end of the false consciousness of the Working-Class! God does not exist because he NEVER existed - so away with your old Churches, graveyards and pretend royalty! Buddhism is stronger than bullets even though words can be used with the force of bullets! Buddhism is communicated with words and with silence! Revolution is greeted with turmoil and then an unfolding stability! Stupid White people rob Peter to pay Paul! The Buddhism they follow is Christ in drag! The Queen is dead – long live the Dharma Raja!
The suffering this man unleashed upon humanity has been intense, ongoing and ever-increasing! Like Khrushchev before him, he was an arch 'Trotskyite' who manoeuvred his way into the position of 'General Secretary' of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union - and was even 'President' of the Soviet Union between 1990-1991 - whilst he oversaw the final destruction of the then 74-year-old Workers' State! The US, UK and EU flooded the post-Soviet space with perpetuators of religious extremism, fascism and free market economics - a process which has saw ‘minority’ Neo-Nazi (and Neo-Fascist) fringe groups brought to mainstream power in the Ukraine, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, etc! Although modern Russia is now a poverty-stricken, capitalist country suffering from the fascistic-leanings associated with Pan-Slavism, the Russian State has at least seen fit to unleash its military (the successor to the Soviet Red Army) upon its Ukrainian neighbours to combat the Neo-Nazi ‘Euro-Maidan’ regime which was illegally brought to power in 2014 by the US Obama Administration! The Americans have chosen Neo-Nazism as its primary foreign policy tool as it remains staunchly ‘anti-Russian’ in both its early anti-Bolshevik ‘Mein Kampf’ phase – and in its later post-1945 ‘Soviet crushing’ of Nazi Germany phase! This despicable fascist regime has subsequently been further armed, financed and politically supported by the US, UK and EU – with its military being primed for a major push into the territory of West Russia (advancing the cause of ‘NATO’ in the process)! In reaction, the people of the Crimea voted to leave the Ukraine and join Russia – whilst a number of left-leaning ‘Republics’ were declared throughout East Ukraine – all stating their secession from the Ukraine, their self-determination and their eventual intention of merging with Russia! Although the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi ‘Nationalist’ Battalions were used to ruthlessly destroy a number of these ‘Republics’ - two managed to hold-out for the full eight-years – namely Lugansk and Donetsk in the Donbass region. A UN Report states that between 2014-2022 the Ukrainian Neo-Nazi ‘Nationalist’ Battalions killed between 10,000-15,000 men, women and children in the breakaway region, maiming a further 50,000 people! As a consequence, the military actions of Russia are entirely legal - as Russia is coming to the aid of a population that has declared its ‘independence’ and which has ‘requested’ such assistance! Of course, it is ironic that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are also the successors of the Soviet Red Army, and that the Ukraine is the area that suffered the most during Nazi Germany’s invasion of the USSR between 1941-1945 (killing around 41 million Soviet citizens). Indeed, the USSR took care to build as many defensive areas as possible throughout the Ukraine without openly effecting the quality of life for the local population, in an effort to ‘protect’ the population of the USSR from the threat posed by a NATO ground and air assault! Today, whilst the Neo-Nazi Ukrainians flaunt their Swastikas and their unbridled Western support – Russia abounds with working-class dereliction, racism, religious extremism and religious stupidity, homophobia and an intellectual and cultural poverty that has taken just 31-years to instil into their minds and bodies! Russian people in general are as ‘nationalistic’ as the Ukrainians they are fighting, and the Donbass inhabitants they are liberating! This fact underlies the power of the betrayal that the man pictured at the top of this article unleashed on the people of the USSR! A people that just 31-years ago viewed themselves as being ‘united’ and part of the ‘International Working Class’ - now view themselves as a ‘separate’ and ‘distinct’ (superior ‘Slavic’) race which hates all non-Russians and views the political left-wing of Europe and America (a political left-wing the USSR helped to nurture and grow throughout the 20th century) as being some type of ‘liberal’ conspiracy designed to import homosexuality (which modern Russians incorrectly associate with paedophilia) into Russia as a means to deprive Russia of its natural manliness! All this bourgeoise greed, hatred and delusion had been educated out of the minds and bodies of the citizens of the USSR through their Soviet (Marxist-Leninist) education – but in just 31-years of the bourgeoisie throughout the post-Soviet space taking back control of the means of production – nationalism, racism, hatred and discrimination are the new norms! The capitalist West may criticise the war between Russia and the Ukraine – but behind the scenes the Western leaders will be happy! The capitalist division of labour is nothing less than the division of the working class! When groups of limited self-interest form that possess no underlying and unifying base – then conflict and competitiveness are the inevitable result! When the working class is divided and fighting itself for the petty control of land – then it is too busy to ‘unite’ and form ‘Socialist’ groups that could effectively challenge the status quo! Surely, this is the greatest achievement of the man pictured at the top of this article – who lived just long enough after the collapse of the Soviet Union he engineered to see its constituent people start the processes of killing one another!
If the Roman Catholic Church can spend the last one-hundred years openly supporting fascism - Buddhists csn sit quietly and uproot the greed, hatred and delusion (through Meditation that inhabits the mind! Indeed, 'Nazism' is the development of greed, hatred and delusion into a certain and specific 'frequency' of hatred which is then projected upon hr world! This 'delusion in the ethereal mind' becomes 'destruction in the material world!' Whereas the Roman Catholic Church has Priests and Monks on the ground dashing to and froe between Neo-Nazi Poland and Neo-Nazi Ukraine ('blessing' Neo-Nazi White 'Volunteers' from the West as they head towards a certain death) - Buddhists the world-over start by sitting quietly in a disciplined manner and through regulating the breath and focusing the mind upon whatever Buddhist technique that is preferred - the surface activity of the mind is 'calmed', greed, hatred and delusion 'settle' and are slowly 'disentangled' from how the mind 'interacts' with the physical, and by extension, with the material world! Eventually, as 'essence' of the mind is understood to be 'empty' of 'self' and 'other' - the habit energy that genertes greed, hatred and delusion diminishes and finally is 'extinguished' at source - never to be engaged again! All this a Buddhist can do 'here and now' and does not hae to travel to the Ukraine to assist the Russian Offensive! It should be common-knowledge that at least three Soviet Republics were 'Buddhist' during the days of the USS (1917-1991), although technically speaking, the USSR was not declared until late 1922 - after the Soviet Red Army had defeated The UK and thirteen of her allies, and Germany and six of her allies - in an aggressive war waged by the bourgeois West (with the shadow of the ogre Churchill lurking in the background), which became known as the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), even though it was a massive military incursion that eventually killed around ten million Russian men, women and children! The capitalist West inflicted this war upon Russia and there was nothing 'Civil' about any of it! There has been no recognition, no acknowledgement and no apology issued by the West! The bourgeois West tried to eradicate the USSR again in 1941 - although this time the US and UK decided to keep out of this direct and far more bloody attempt at 'geocoding' the Russian people so that Hitler's Germany could have more 'living space to move into! Germany was assisted by Italy, Spain, the Roman Catholic Church, Hungary, Finland, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria. Raw materials to keep Hitler's armies going in the field were also provided by Sweden, Portugal and Turkey amongst others! This time, the death toll was much higher. Declassified Soviet documents unearthed in 2017 form the Planning Department of 1946 (a department responsible for assessment of needs and policies required to fulfil these needs), state that between 1941-1945 the population of the USSR decreased by a massive 52 million! It was decided that 11 million were due to 'natural' causes whilst '41 million' were due directly to Nazi German (and Axis) war activity in the Western USSR (primarily in the Ukraine)! The numbers were broken down as the Soviet Red Army lost 19.5 million men and women, whilst 21.5 million men, women and children civilians were murdered or otherwise perished!
Even a cursory glance of the media today, will expose the latest fad for ‘mindfulness’ - invariably followed by numerous lists of ‘top ten facts about Buddhism you didn’t know’ - which are mostly wrong, misinformed or otherwise blatantly ‘racist’! If the bourgeoise really practiced Buddhist mindfulness – then the predatory capitalism they so admire would be permanently ‘uprooted’ from their minds and they would fall-in behind the working-class adding their voices to the mass call for a Socialist Revolution! As the ‘mindfulness’ the bourgeois practice actually ‘strengthens’ their commitment to predatory capitalism it can be logically assumed that ‘Buddhism’ has nothing to do with this narcissistic process. The Buddha’s teaching is inherently ‘anti-capitalist’ and it is interesting to observe how modern Thailand – under its decadent monarch – possesses a society that has been swamped by US capitalism, politics and militarism, and which sees the bodies of Thai women and girls used for the sexual gratification of ‘foreign’ men, etc. The Western capitalism that the ruling elite allow into that country misuses the Buddhist culture and keeps the populace in a state of perpetual poverty and exploitation. Even within the previously hallowed arenas where Muay Thai matches take-place between warrior-monks practicing an ancient martial art – fearuring ‘Coca Cola’ signs hanging proudly at the back of the seated arena so the film footage always features two-fighters, a ring and a virulent symbol of American capitalism infiltrating and colonising an Asian country! Just as US predatory capitalism is slowly destroying the ancient Thai culture in Asia, US anti-intellectualism is performing the same effect for all practical purposes in the West with regards to the understanding and practice of genuine Buddhism. The Buddha identified that the untrained mind of ordinary humans is riddled by greed, hatred and delusion, and that it is these three traits that cause perpetual suffering for humanity (and all forms of life)! Buddhist ‘mindfulness’ is NOT a vehicle that facilitates a Westerner feeling of ‘niceness’ for a moment or two (like puffing on a joint) - far from it – Buddhist ‘mindfulness’, when performed properly, is the beginning of a path toward self-purification that seldom runs smoothly and invariably involves an increase in the experience of human suffering! It is not a path of ‘joviality’ and ‘mirth’ as suggested by the misled followers of the corrupt 14th Dalai Lama! NO! Uprooting greed, hatred and delusion is a very serious business that has nothing to do with modern, bourgeois concepts of ‘feeling temporarily good’ - usually for a ‘price’, of course. Even modern Thailand – a place thoroughly over-run by US predatory capitalism, corruption and human degradation – the average Thai would never dare to ‘charge’ money for Dharma instruction! This is through the fear of receiving a hellish karmic recompense in return for associating such blatant ‘greed’ with the ‘non-greed’ implicit within the Buddha’s teachings! The Western mind seeks to retain its ignorance and ‘feel good’ about doing it. This is NOT Buddhism and certainly NOT Buddhist ‘mindfulness’. If a Westerner practiced genuine ‘mindfulness’, then the first casualty in this spiritual war would be his or her support for predatory capitalism – and as we never ‘read’ this as ever happening in the Western press we can safely assume that a) genuine Buddhism is not being practiced and b) Buddhist ‘mindfulness’ is NOT present and has NEVER been present! This bourgeois misuse of ‘mindfulness’ matches that decadent class’s equally odious misuse of Buddhism – which sees the already wealthy pay hundreds of pounds to spend a weekend on a country estate breathing the fresh-air and being momentarily ‘removed’ from the stresses of modern life!
In and of itself, Marxist ideology is very difficult to understand without committed study, experience and dialectical debate. This is absolutely fine if an individual is lucky enough to be born into a Socialist State which possesses a progressive education system. If an individual lives in a Socialist State – then all the components exist within their educational environment that are required to facilitate this process. As no bourgeois ‘inversion’ exists, and given that there is no longer any capitalist corruption or exploitation, a young person is educated within an a priori ‘Marxist’ milieu where there is no contradiction or deliberate policy of ‘undermining’ this reality! So far, so good. However, if a person is born into a predatory capitalist society, then any attempt at securing a sound Marxist education is very much an experience of swimming against the current. As persecution is rife, it is very difficult to establish and secure a Marxist educational foothold within a capitalist society outside of relatively small and isolated ‘special interest’ groups (such as in the ‘free’ education classes offered by the various branches of the now disparate Communist Party). As we live in a predatory capitalist society, and given that we cannot readily access a Communist Party branch, what can be done to assist a Marxist education? Obviously, in this sense all Marxist education is ‘self-education’ due to the fact that mainstream education is dominated by the ideology of the ruling bourgeois class. Everything is pre-set to present Marxism in a thoroughly disjointed and despised ideology that is opposed to the well-being and aspirations of the working-class. The bourgeoisie is of the opinion that the only reality that benefits the working-class is that of continued oppression and subjugation to the bourgeoisie. Anyone honest worker who lives in this nightmare knows full well that this is a ‘lie’ from top to bottom – and that when they read the work of Marx and Engels – their minds and bodies feel ‘empowered’ and ‘strengthened’ regardless of personal circumstance – and this is just the effect of the written word presented within a non-inverted format. Therefore, a worker must read and study all things ‘Marxist’ (excluding Trotsky whose work represents the ‘inverted’ mind-set of the bourgeoisie). This process will probably ‘empower’ and ‘confuse’ in equal measure at the beginning of the process. Das Kapital, for instance, is often described as being so clever that it is difficult to grasp its full scope and impact – even after two or three readings! Of course, not all of the work of Marx is this specialist in presentation – and he wrote ‘The Manifesto of the Communist Party’ as a substantial and excellent foundation to his anti-capitalist thinking. My experience of Buddhis meditation has assisted me in preparing my mind for the work of Marx and Engels to ‘make sense’. As a child I had a terrible first-part to my education in the UK – barely being able to read and write until I was ten-years-old. The second part of my education was much better and I had to rush to catch-up once my ability to read and write was on a par with the other children. As I experienced a terrible start to my education, this made me realise just how important the ability to read and write actually is for the working-class! Without being ‘literate’ Marxism will remain an opaque subject. I have found that if I read a section of a Marxist text and then meditated for 30 minutes – any confusion or misunderstanding I originally had quite literally ‘falls away’ and the original meaning of what Marx intended shines through! I repeated this training policy for many years, particularly during my late teens and early twenties. Focusing my mind upon my breath, and putting into practice the various methods of the Chinese Ch’an School. By focusing the mind in upon itself – the obscuring ‘ignorance’ (which is like a bourgeois-derived self-limiting mechanism – a form of inner oppression) is ‘dissolved’ through precise and exact concentration. This allows the non-inverted basis of my true-mind to ‘unite’ with the non-inverted true-mind that Marx is writing from. Where I needed to break the inner obscuration within my mind through Buddhist meditation (imported from my capitalist environment) - whereas Marx and Engels already possessed this frequency of mind through natural evolution. As for myself, I had to use Buddhist meditation to reach the same frequency of reality. Once my surface mind was cleared of its habitual obscuration, my understanding capacity increased dramatically, as did my intellectual ability to engage with new texts and comprehend the meaning correctly and exactly on the first reading. My view is that Buddhist meditation, as it uproots greed, hatred and delusion, is quite naturally ‘anti-capitalist’ in nature, is nothing other than an early version of ‘Marxism’ suitable for the historical epoch within which it manifested.
Dear M
The problem is a lack of genuine Buddhist material in the West. However, the book 'What the Buddha Taught' by Walpola Rahula is a sound Theravada text that explains that the Buddha rejected the notion of a spirit as opposed to matter. Indeed, the Buddha even described 'thought' as a material phenomenon. The Buddha, like Marx, stated that human suffering is premised upon an inverted mindset that perceives things the wrong way around. The answer to eradicate this inversation and develop a true consciousness. The Buddha defines reality through the Four Noble Truths. This contains the Five Aggregates explanation of reality. The Buddha places the world of matter as being primary, from which emerges sensation, perception, thought formation and consciousness. Consciousness only exists as long as the human sense organs are in regular contact with the physical world. No contact (such as in death) no consciousness. The Buddha also says that when greed, hated and delusion are fully uprooted, then a practitioner realises that there is no rebirth and no divine realms, etc. Trevor Ling has written a number of books about the similarity of Buddhist ideas and Marxist thinking. Marx learned his Buddhism from his friend Karl Koppen (a renowned Early European expert upon the subject) - but his excellent books have yet to be translated from their native German into English. Marx even writes to a friend saying that he had tried Buddhist meditation to help relax his mind: https://buddhistsocialism.weebly.com/when-karl-marx-practised-buddhism.html The Soviets appear to have known about this association as Joseph Stalin opened a Buddhist Academic Centre in 1928 as a means to gather and focus good quality work about Buddhist thought. You might be interested in this: https://thesanghakommune.org/2017/02/21/ussr-fi-shcherbatskoy-1866-1942-expert-in-buddhism/ Best Wishes Adrian Once the mind is emptied of all its reflective junk and habitual patterning of responses – there is nothing left but the reality of ‘matter’ and the ‘space’ within which it manifests. Within the universe, ‘space’ is by far the most prevalent aspect of reality – with ‘matter’ forming a relatively small amount of data. In the mind, this outer reality appears reflected in the reality that ‘thoughts’ appear to ‘arise’ (and pass away) within a boundless and ‘empty’ space. Although probably ‘imagined’ - this inner manifestation of the outer universe certainly seems to be a valid reflection. This explains why Buddhist ideology traditionally equates thought-constructs with material objects – and the psychic-space they appear within - with the outer space that sets things apart and serves to define exactly where physical things are in relation to one another. It just so happens that the philosophical conclusions of Quantum Theory – which explains the outer and inner world – does appear to coincide with Buddhist thinking, in as much that sub-atomic particles (like ‘thoughts’) seems to arise out of nothing in the void, and return to the void once their function is complete. Of course, just ‘why’ this seems to be the case is a matter of conjecture if it is acknowledged that the mind exists within the brain and has no real way of ‘knowing’ exactly what is going on outside of its bony entombment. The fact that the brain constructs the mind and uses the senses of the body to the extent that it does is truly remarkable! This is correct even if it is acknowledged that all the knowledge the brain possesses is ‘imagined’ and is something like a very well-constructed, educated guess. If a practitioner, however, sits and ‘empties’ the mind of all its conditioned junk, he or she will arrive at an innate appreciation of the pristine matter that comprises the universe! We are nothing but ‘matter’ that has become aware of its own presence – with everything else merely being a matter of construction! There is no other reality beyond this material reality. This remains true no matter how much the human mind would like to imagine otherwise. Indeed, the human capacity to ‘imagine’ has been one of the driving forces behind human evolution, to the extent where humanity is now prepared to admit this reality and transition beyond it! Marx quite clearly saw through the ‘fog’ of religion – which is a type of pseudo-science developed around human frailty and longing. Religion is not real no matter how sincere our wish in its constructs might be. Belief does make that which purely ‘imaginary’ manifest as if it were materially ‘real’. Buddhist meditation ‘empties-out’ the garbage so-to-speak, and conveys humanity into a purely ‘modern’ state of mind that is able to directly perceive the material reality of existence, and fully comprehend the ideology of Marxist-Leninism!
If a fall into the abyss of mysticism is to be avoid, then logic and reason must be applied to any and all Buddhist explanations of mind development. This process not only replicates the manner in which the ancient Greeks assessed reality, but also the method appears to make use of as recorded in the Pali Suttas. As an interesting aside, this would mean that any apparent talk of ‘rebirth’ or ‘polytheistic’ gods must be later additions to the texts, or inheritances from the past that contemporary readers (including Buddhists) do not know how to correctly ‘interpret’. Why should this be the case? If ‘rebirth’ in numerous other realms, together with the belief in ‘gods’ and a semi-spiritualised version of ‘karma’ are upheld as being a genuine part of Early Buddhism, then logic demands an answer to the question of ‘What is the point of Buddhism if it is just another version of Brahmanical teaching?’ In this regard, there is a ‘pull’ between the Buddha’s use of a pristine ‘logic’ and ‘reason’ - and the parts of the text that subtly try to undermine this reason and replace it with mythology and theology! In this regard, ‘gods’, ‘dimensions and ‘karma’ all fall under the categories of greed, hatred and delusion – or those psycho-physical traits which are thought to bind humanity to ‘Samsara’ - the ‘cycle of suffering’, etc. A living human body is created through two adult humans engaging in sexual intercourse. Nine to ten months later the woman gives birth to a child. As the child develops in the womb, he or she is receiving stimulus from the outside world through the mother’s body. This process continues at an increased pace after the baby is born and leaves the inside of the mother’s body. At this time, the mother’s body no longer gives direct protection from the physical environment. The human brain is a physical organ that sits inside the head of a physical body. From the brain emerges what is called the human mind. The mind can sense the thoughts it creates, is aware of the past, present and future, and is able to sort-through and make sense of the sense data received through the other five senses – the nose (smell), the ear (hearing), the tongue (taste), the eye (vision) and the body (touch). Each human mind is conditioned to think in patterns that reflect the outer conditions of the individual concerned. This process is believed to adjust the individual to ‘survive’ in whatever environment is present, (pleasant, unpleasant or neutral). An individual builds an inner image of the outer world through all kinds of experiences. Cultural considerations define what particular circumstances are ‘preferred’ as to what conditions should be ‘ignored’, etc. The ‘self-awareness’ that is an implicit part of the mind is taken in the modern world as comprising the foundation of the individual. This ‘individuality’ sits ‘juxtaposed’ to the five other sense-organs of the body and generates a ‘dualism’ of perception. A foundational and all-enveloping mind-awareness sits atop the five bodily-senses that continuously ‘receive’ information about the outside world. Human culture dictates how this ‘duality’ is to be perceived, managed and expressed. An individual traverses through life building-up a reservoir of knowledge and experience, ad seeking the best ways in which life can be lived, and other people interacted with. Yes, life is not always ‘good’ or ‘pleasant’ - but the good times are often understood as emerging from the bad times – and a compromise of experience is usually a key to a balanced life. However, throughout human history, some individuals have ‘rejected’ this cycle of human existence, and actively sort-out a different way of living – the historical Buddha was one such being. The point is that much of human life is defined by terrible poverty, illness and calamity. The daily psychological, emotional and physical pain is often unbearable, and reduces an individual into a shivering mass of suffering and stupidity! Much of this suffering pre-exists in areas of poor economic, social and cultural development. In the Greek model, for instance, ancient Greece was an affluent State within which most of the work was carried-out by male and female slaves. The philosophers had plenty to eat, did not have to work, and inhabited a warm climate! This is similar to the Buddha’s upbringing of luxury and opulence in a world of utter poverty and death! What the Buddha sought was a profound ‘indifference’ to physical circumstance premised upon a permanent inner calm. In other words, such a person would remain exactly the same both inwardly and outwardly regardless of whether their circumstances were considered ‘good’ or ‘bad’! To test this idea, the Buddha shifted his everyday experience to that of abject poverty – away from the opulence he had once routinely enjoyed. Continuous sexual indulgence was replaced with an absolute celibacy, etc. Enlightenment is the experience of an all-embracing and all-expansive conscious awareness that is permanent and ever-lasting. The five bodily-senses – ‘receive' data from the environment in an indifferent manner, and this data is processed by a mind that does not waiver and which is free of greed, hatred and delusion. Painful experiences are no longer viewed as something to be ‘avoided’ just as ‘pleasant’ experiences are not something to be sort-after. Bare attention free of greed, hatred and delusion generates wisdom, compassion and loving kindness. All this is verifiable and correct. However, what interests me here is the perception of ‘three-dimensional emptiness’ by the mind, which appears to permeate the inside of the human-body, and which expands outward into the environment (in an infinite ‘roundel’ shape or ‘circle’, etc). This perception of ‘all-embracing emptiness’ unites the inner body and the outer world in a totality of integrative interaction. An interesting question from a scientific perspective is ‘is this experience ‘real’ or an illusion created by the mind?’ Why could this perception of ‘all-embracing’ emptiness be an ‘illusion’? The mind possesses the ability to ‘generate’ and ‘sense’ thought. Thought is a concept or ripple in the psychic life of the individual. Although the mind can inwardly replicate any external image found in the environment – it can also amalgamate its many experienced impressions and generate entirely ‘new’ inner images (imaginations) that have no bearing on the existing outside world. Through a difficult and disciplined path of self-cultivation, an experience that is ‘real’ in the physical sense, it could well be that the objective of all this effort is that the human mind is ‘forced’ or ‘conditioned’ into generating a single but permanent ‘thought’ that it is experiencing as ‘three-dimensional’ empty space! This type of thought is different to everyday thoughts which traverse the surface mind – as it is singular, consolidating and apparently ‘underlying’ all other sensory activity generated in the mind. This ‘thought’ of ‘unified space’ is all-encompassing and seems to include the inner body and outer environment, and is ‘limitless’ in scope. It is as large as the universe is infinite – but suppose it exists nowhere else than in the individual human-mind that experiences it? If this is the case, then it is not the underlying reality of the universe and does not truly exist either within or outside of the body. It is, in reality, just another form of hard-earned delusion very different from the norm. As a state of mind this sense of ‘unified oneness’ brings inner and outer peace, and changes the human character and behaviour for good. Such a state rejects the more brutal aspects of human instinct and instead emphasises peace, love and tranquillity. The inner and outer life is ‘transformed’ because of this realisation (which is not easy to achieve). Although probably a by-product of the evolutionary process, the Buddha suggests that true enlightenment is beyond both ‘perception’ and ‘non-perception’, in other words, reality is beyond both ‘thought’ and ‘non-thought’. Perception and non-perception is stage four in the Caodong School of Ch’an’s Five Ranks of Prince and Minister – with stage five representing ‘that’ which is beyond ‘perception’ and ‘non-perception’. Although all-embracing emptiness is a difficult stage of reality to perceive – even so it must be ‘seen through’ and understood to be ‘empty’ even of ‘emptiness’! When the human-body ‘dies’ - then all perception and non-perception will quite naturally fall away. Given that this is the case, it seems that all-embracing unity is a difficult to acquire state of being which is rarefied and ultimately ‘empty’ of any permanent reality. It is a door-way through which a spiritual aspirant must pass, but which is an illusion just like any other. It heals and it cures but is not unexplainable or truly ‘mystical’ in the divine sense. Through achieving ‘enlightenment’ - a ‘new’ perceptual base is laid - through which the individual experiences the world. This achievement raises the individual from primordial instinct to a higher level of reasoning and interacting. All perception, regardless of its shallowness and depth is ultimately a delusion because it all falls away at the point of physical death. In reality, the organ of the brain exists in a dark and lonely place, but its capacity to generate ‘mind’ and then fill that mind with all kinds of interesting data serves to transform human existence. In-short, the ‘religious’ and ‘spiritual’ experience has nothing to do with the assumed presence of divine beings – and everything to do with a brain that has met the challenges of evolution in a most spectacular and meaningful way! Building an inner reflection of the outer world is an illusionary event – but which has been crucial for the evolution of humanity!
Marx and Engels correctly observed that external conditions influence the type of inner psychological and emotional terrain an individual experiences, whilst the functioning mind-set – through thought and action – can influence (and change) how the external environment manifests and operates! These observations can be read in the ‘Theses on Feuerbach’. The type of society a child is born into – conditions the ‘type’ of mind-set the child develops – whilst how an individual ‘thinks’ (following education and other experiences of life) can influence the type of behaviour (and interaction) the individual exerts upon the physical environment. Obviously, the logical suggestion is that a fully functioning physical environment pre-exists the ‘birth’ of each individual – and serves as a ‘rich’ depository of influences that channel the human-mind into a particular frequency of functionality. However, as the human-mind can be further influenced by all kinds of stimulus which direct its thinking-process into multitudinous directions, it is possible that given the right kind of influence, the ‘true’ reality of the external world can be clearly grasped, and a Revolutionary direction of behaviour embarked upon! The thinking is that once a Socialist Revolution is successfully achieved in the outer world – then an entirely ‘new’ inner terrain for humanity is experienced! Where meditation is useful is that it can ‘clear’ the inner mind of the ‘delusion’ and ‘confusion’ caused by the external environment of a capitalist society! Meditation can achieve this as an ‘act of will’ which allows an individual to ‘detach’ themselves from the strictures of predatory capitalism, and whilst still living in a capitalist society, and mould their behaviour in such a way so as to live in a progressive manner that helps assist the development of physical conditions that bring a successful Socialist Revolution ever-closer! This can happen because Buddhist meditation ‘uproots’ the essence of the capitalist system from deep within the habits of the mind. What is this ‘essence’ of the capitalist system? Is is greed, hatred and delusion. Being outwardly ‘non-attached’ to physical stimulus and inwardly ‘calm’ and ‘still’ can only result in the reality of Socialism! This means that by realising ‘empty’ space in the mind is directly linked to perceiving the ‘empty’ space of the physical environment – with the two experiences ‘integrating’ into one reality. This is how Buddhist meditation can bring a further layer of developmental structure to Marxist and Marxist-Leninist ideology. Buddhist meditation allows for the idea that individuals can ‘free’ their minds and bodies from being ‘directly’ influenced by capitalist ideology whilst still physically existing within a capitalist society! Of course, the external reality is still ‘capitalist’, but individuals can ‘detach’ their psychological processes and sensory reactions from the habitual ‘predatory’ nature of the capitalist system. Such an achievement propels the individual into a permanent state of ‘transition’ which has the tendency of moving all thought and behaviour into the direction of Socialism. This is a ‘new’ state of achieving ‘Socialism’ that acts in accordance with the thinking of Marx and Engels – but which was not developed in their writings during their lifetimes. This is despite the fact that Marx and Engels knew about Buddhism (via their friend ‘Karl Koppen’), but never had to time (or experience) to develop a ‘theory’ in this direction. Buddhist meditation, as a method of ‘uncoupling’ the inner-being from the outer capitalist system could well be developed into an objective science free of all religiosity no different to studying the written works of Marx and Engels!
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AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles PhD - Political Commissar and BMA (UK) Historian & Researcher. Archives
April 2024
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