The Buddha’s explanation as to ‘why’ suffering and dissatisfaction exist within the human mind and the material environment is as good an explanation as any other theory found in Social Science, Psychology or Psychiatry. Past and present lives, when viewed genetically and collectively then take on a new scientific meaning when detached from the dogma of religiously motivated individualism – a mistaken mind-set which perfectly mirrors the Bourgeois ideal state of unbridled ‘individualism’ defined as being the ‘perfect’ (and preferred) mode of predatory capitalism! Of course, from a dialectical position, what we experience today will inevitably dictate how material life will unfold in the future. This intprets the past, present and future existences as taught by the Buddha as coinciding with the past from which the present as emerged – and the ‘future’ into which the present will ‘develop’. Indeed, outside of the superstitious meaning often encouraged amongst the Buddhist laity – it is an established fact that the Theravada Sangha of ordained monks and nuns discuss past, present and future lives in exactly this manner (Abhidhamma) – clarify this issue further by specify the ‘past’ life equals the past moment, the ‘present’ life equals the present moment, and the ‘future’ life equals the life yet to come. Around two to three-thousand years ago, when very few people could read and write, the ordained Buddhist monastic seemed a world apart from the average lay-person. There was good reason for this separation which probably does apply to contemporary life in all but the materially poorest of places. Whatever the situation, the agency of theistic ‘faith’ should NOT replace materially-derived ‘wisdom’. Of course, where literacy is unknown, then faith tends to be the strongest. Ancient India was both poor and illiterate and so the Buddha’s Enlightenment offered a strand of awareness which required the open rejection of ordinary existence. This was, in effect, the rejection of religious-based ‘faith’ – and yet amongst the ignorant masses – ‘faith’ continued to function as a very powerful force and still does. This misinterpretation is encouraged in the West as the theistic religions that have historically dominated these countries have been ‘faith’ based. This is why Buddhism in the West is falsely presented as just another version of the Judeo-Christian religion – when it is clearly (dialectically) far superior to these theistic paths. The philosophy of ancient India, particularly that found within Buddhist ideology, intersects perfectly with the thinking that undermines modern science. India, even before ancient Greece, is well-known to have developed a system of material interpretation of reality. The Buddha seems to have developed his system of interpreting reality from within this system of understanding and explaining existence. The Buddha, whilst experiencing material reality, purified his perceptual understanding so that he realised the ‘essence’ of the human conscious ability – which is used to ‘sense’ the world through the six-senses that comprise the inner and outer body and the physical environment within which it exists. Worshipping the Buddha as a ‘God’ – or continuing to worship the ‘polytheism’ of India – was to miss the dialectical point that the Buddha was making. Perceiving the ‘essence’ of perception is an interesting challenge.
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Author’s Note: The book entitled ‘The German Ideology’ was written by Marx and Engels around 1846 – but could not be published at that time (despite attempting to do so) for various reasons (indeed, it is remarkable to consider that this text was not eventually published until 1930). As history unfolded - and world events took shape - this manuscript became forgotten and was even gnawed by mice! Forty years later in 1886 (and three-years after the death of Marx in 1883) - Engels rediscovered this very important manuscript and penned a mature overview of it entitled ‘Feuerbach and End of Classic German Philosophy’ (from which two quotes are extracted in this essay). As ‘Buddhism’ and ‘Ancient India’ are mentioned – this material can be added to the ever-growing body of research data related to Marx and Engels regarding this subject. Although during the 1800s the ‘Theosophy’ movement was busy reinventing Eastern religious thinking and practice in its own (Eurocentric) image, it is important to remember that Buddhist Enlightenment is not ‘god’, the Buddha was not ‘Jesus’ and the ‘mind’ does not (and cannot) generate the material world through the power of its thought! Within the Buddhist teachings the mind is impermanent and only (temporarily) exists whilst a living (human) body is in-touch with the material environment it inhabits – via the six sense-organs perceiving the corresponding six sense-objects. When this interaction is broken, the mind ceases to exist and therefore does not (and cannot) pre-exist the physical conception of the individual body - or post-exist the death of that body, etc. Probably through the correct influence of Karl Koppen, Marx and Engels appear never to have fallen into the ‘Theosophy’ trap which has done so much to re-shape Asian Buddhism into its Western (Bourgeois) equivalent! The historical (Indian) Buddha placed the physical universe as the basis from which all existence evolves. It is only in the Bourgeois appropriation of Buddhism that the ‘mind’ becomes an all-knowing and all-conquering ‘god’ that creates the material world upon a whim! This is nothing but an ‘inverted’ myth which millions of people in the West dedicate themselves to following generation after generation – as it has become a very lucrative aspect of consumer capitalism! Marx and Engels, whilst recognising the existence and importance of Buddhism, nevertheless, never quite manage to include it in the same subject as theological religion. Of course, although NOT a religion in the conventional sense, Buddhism does sometimes serve that function for individuals and communities, and so whilst being distinctive and useful to the ideology of Marx and Engels, its religious associations can never quite be fully ignored either! ACW (20.1.2023) ‘If Feuerbach wishes to establish a true religion upon the basis of an essentially materialist conception of nature, that is the same as regarding modern chemistry as true alchemy. If religion can exist without its god, alchemy can exist without its philosopher’s stone. By the way, there exists a very close connection between alchemy and religion. The philosopher’s stone has many godlike properties and the Egyptian-Greek alchemists of the first two centuries of our era had a hand in the development of Christian doctrines, as the data given by Kopp and Berthelot have proved. Feuerbach’s assertion that “the periods of humanity are distinguished only by religious changes” is decidedly false. Great historical turning-points have been accomplished by religious changes only so far as the three world religions which have existed up to the present – Buddhism, Christianity and Islam – are concerned. The old tribal and national religions which arose spontaneously, did not proselytise and lost all their power of resistance as soon as the independence of the tribe or people was lost.’ Friedrich Engels: Feuerbach and End of Classical German Philosophy (1886), Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Selected Works (In One Volume), Lawrence and Wishart, Third Edition, (1973), Page 602 - (Entire Article Pages 584-622) - First Edition (Progress Publishers) 1968 – USSR ‘We will now in addition deal only briefly with religion, since the latter stands furthest away from material life and seems to be most alien to it. Religion arose in very primitive times from erroneous, primitive conceptions of men about their own nature and external nature surrounding them. Every ideology, however, once it has arisen, develops in connection with the given concept-material, and develops this material further; otherwise, it would not be an ideology, that is, occupation with thoughts as with independent entities, developing independently and subject only to their own laws. That the material life conditions of the persons inside whose heads this thought process goes on in the last resort determine the course of this process remains of necessity unknown to these persons, for otherwise there would be an end to all ideology. These original religious nations, therefore, which in the main are common to each group of kindred peoples, develop, after the group separates, in a manner peculiar to each people, according to conditions of life falling to their lot. For a number of groups of peoples, and particularly for the Aryans (so-called Indo-Europeans), this process has been shown in detail by comparative mythology. The gods thus fashioned within each people were national gods, whose domain extended no farther than the national territory which they were to protect; on the other side of its boundaries other gods held undisputed sway. They could continue to exist, in imagination, only as long as the nation existed; they fell with its fall. The Roman world empire, the economic conditions of whose origin we do not need to examine here, brought about this downfall of the old nationalities. The old national gods decayed, even those of the Romans, which also were patterned to suit only narrow confines of the city of Rome. The need to complement the world empire by means of a world religion was clearly revealed in the attempts made to provide in Rome recognition and altars for all the foreign gods to the slightest degree respectable alongside of the indigenous ones. But a new world religion is not to be made in this fashion, by imperial decree. The new world religion, Christianity, had already quietly come into being, out of a mixture of generalised Oriental, particularly Jewish, theology, and vulgarised Greek, particularly Stoic philosophy.’
Friedrich Engels: Feuerbach and End of Classical German Philosophy (1886), Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Selected Works (In One Volume), Lawrence and Wishart, Third Edition, (1973), Page 618 - (Entire Article Pages 584-622) - First Edition (Progress Publishers) 1968 – USSR The Western philosophical and religious tradition has often assumed that 'thought' is separate and distinct from 'matter' - as if arising within (and representing) a 'non-material' and 'unseen' realm. However, the above-linked neuroscience research offers proof that 'thought' is a physical phenomenon that possesses physical characteristics and can be both 'observed' and 'measured'. Moreover, all trends in bourgeois science confirm the observations of Karl Marx - but 'stop' only at the measurement of matter - adopting an ideological position of ignoring the socio-economic conditions that humanity has created throughout its long evolution, and which a) influence and b) manipulate how matter manifests and c) conditions 'how' this matter is 'interpreted' in the best interests of the ruling class. Bourgeois science exercises a brutal control of material resources so that its class dominance can be perpetuated and defended (often through naked aggression and warfare). What is interesting is that bourgeois science perpetuates the myth of 'neutrality' as its public face - whilst behind the scenes it cooperates fully with the bourgeois system it serves, supports and endorses. Although bourgeois science is continuously 'proving' the attitudes and opinions of Marx (and Engels) correct - this fact remains suppressed as the bourgeois system itself does not want the masses 'knowing' or 'understanding' this, and thereby being 'influenced' into 'changing' the dynamics of the 'class' that runs and administers Western society. It is probably correct to say that the world prior to the rise of capitalism (and the bourgeoisie control of society) possessed a much more uninhibited and fertile ground for 'free thought' (outside of religion) than it does today - but that without Marx (and Engels) to focus this thought, it lacked the potential for meaningful Revolution!
Religionists ‘imagine’ that their belief system is comprised of a higher knowledge which ‘survives’ the ‘dying’ process and even pre-exists the ‘conception’ and ‘birthing’ mechanisms! Of course, there is no evidence for either of these conjectures with ALL evidence being to the contrary. Therefore, the truth claims are not correct. However, as a regulatory device within society, and given the deep habit religion still maintains throughout much of human society, religion can be useful. The problem is that those who existentially adhere to the teachings of religion, also literally believe in the extraordinary claims of those religions. In other words, religion is not merely a vehicle for existential regulation, but is also a guarantor for what is believed to be what comes after physical death. If an individual or group dedicate their lives to following the religion here and now, then the promises made by the theology are believed to come into play (regardless of the outrageous nature of those claims). As these pre-birth and post-death claims have no basis in observable fact, there is no reason for existential society to be premised upon these claims as it is a pointless exercise and a lack of resources. There is no point constructing a physical society in a manner which reflects the unscientific claims of theology and religious philosophy. Although an interesting experiment in the combination of the human imagination and the ability to physically organise and construct buildings whilst directing all human endeavour, science is neither recognised or even known! In such a society, progression is stultified with the present always defined as conforming to a regressive ideal that that has emerged arbitrarily from the human imagination. As each such religious ideal is intolerant toward difference and totalitarian in both essence and deployment, each human grouping that has developed such am ‘inverted’ organisation of society is a priori antagonistic to all other competing modes of human social and cultural organisation. Marx identifies that a thought in the head is mistaken as a concrete object in the material universe. In other words, a set of thoughts appearing in the mind are mistaken for a set of processes in the physical universe. As there is no corresponding physical presence or mechanical process in the material universe, it becomes obvious that such religious constructs are ‘inverted’ in nature. Religion them, is a thought in the head mistaken for an object in the physical universe – an object that does exist. Religion is comprised of the shadows of the human imagination which generates phantasms as manifestations of human fear of the unknown. Buddhism, of course, is an interesting exception to this analysis which has the potential of clearing the human-mind of all regressive and inverted mind patterns and can reveal the raw dialectical reality that Marx and Engels appear to have been born knowing quite naturally. In this regard, when Buddhism is freed of its accrued religiosity, it can be used productively for Revolutionary organisation, that is to change society from its regressive and exploitative stage to that of progressive Socialism in preparation for Communism.
Given that the inner content of the mind is a reflection of the external world, then all religiosity is false in that it is a misreading of that external stimuli. For any spiritual path to be effective, it must ‘see through’ the fog of religion and the confusion of the inner mind. None of the images constructed in the inner fabric of the mind represents anything other than what they are – namely ‘disconnected’ and ‘disparate’ phantoms of light and shade. Religion is constructed from this jumble of nonsense when the capacity for logical thought is applied to it. The logic capacity of the mind chops and resizes all this mad kaleidoscopic light show and generates a type of ‘plausibility’ that fills in the huge gaps of credibility through mindless ‘faith’. None of it is real, but due to a cultural and historical lack of clarity of thought, even the most intelligent of individuals still consider it a possibility that the irrationality this religiosity represents might well be ‘true’ when viewed in the right light, or given the right conditions, etc. The fact that none of it ever makes any independent sense, is lost even on the greatest of minds! Meditation, when uncoupled from its associated religiosity becomes a vehicle through which the empty nature of the inner mind can be perceived. This is achieved by the ‘attention’ capacity ‘detaching’ itself from the ‘thought content’ so that it is no longer experienced through the illusion of some kind of substantiality. When detached, these thoughts no longer present anything than what they are – phantoms and light shows within the inner mind. Instead of the ‘awareness’ capacity being limited to the thought constructs themselves, it ‘spreads’ to encompass the entire physicality of the inner mind itself, generating an ‘expansion’ of awareness. This is a very real experience. Furthermore, as the awareness is now fully extended throughout the terrain of the inner mind, it is emphasised and extended through the six senses so that the awareness also permeates the inner body. This appears to extend into the physical environment through the sense-organ – sense data dichotomy. This is how the ‘awareness’ capacity when freed from attachment to thought constructs and the misreading of inner (irrational) phantasms as cogent religion – appears to ‘expand’ into and ‘through’ the physical environment. This is not a mysterious event but rather an evolutionary necessity that has become lost through the complexities of modern living. The point is that it is possible to free the awareness from the tyranny of constructed and conditioned thought forms and thought patterns, etc. When this happens, the thought capacity appears to manifest as if in a deep pool of silver-like water, which ‘reflects’ inwardly all it encounters in the external environment. Despite the accuracy of this reflection, religiosity derives from the natural distortion of this capacity (which appears to be a by-product of human evolutionary adaptation). Whether accurate or inaccurate, however, none of these reflections are ‘real’ in the material sense. Thought forms are the creations of bio-chemical interactions that ‘cease’ at the point of physical death. It is possible to understand all these processes prior to death, and to free the awareness of attachment to form following a relatively straightforward course in meditative self-development. Not only is the awareness capacity ‘freed’, but so is the logic capacity which evolved to ‘order’ thoughts. When freed from the rigid thought constructs conditioned throughout history, this type of enhanced logic can be used to strengthen and develop Socialist science to an ever-greater degree! Physical death then becomes an exercise in the logical closing-down of the bio-chemical processes of the body which sees the perception capacity quite literally ‘folding-in’ upon itself. There is nothing to fear and everything to gain!
The German Ideology - Part I: Feuerbach.Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlook9/22/2021 [7. Summary of the Materialist Conception of History]
This conception of history depends on our ability to expound the real process of production, starting out from the material production of life itself, and to comprehend the form of intercourse connected with this and created by this mode of production (i.e. civil society in its various stages), as the basis of all history; and to show it in its action as State, to explain all the different theoretical products and forms of consciousness, religion, philosophy, ethics, etc. etc. and trace their origins and growth from that basis; by which means, of course, the whole thing can be depicted in its totality (and therefore, too, the reciprocal action of these various sides on one another). It has not, like the idealistic view of history, in every period to look for a category, but remains constantly on the real ground of history; it does not explain practice from the idea but explains the formation of ideas from material practice; and accordingly it comes to the conclusion that all forms and products of consciousness cannot be dissolved by mental criticism, by resolution into “self-consciousness” or transformation into “apparitions,” “spectres,” “fancies,” etc. but only by the practical overthrow of the actual social relations which gave rise to this idealistic humbug; that not criticism but revolution is the driving force of history, also of religion, of philosophy and all other types of theory. It shows that history does not end by being resolved into “self-consciousness as spirit of the spirit,” but that in it at each stage there is found a material result: a sum of productive forces, an historically created relation of individuals to nature and to one another, which is handed down to each generation from its predecessor; a mass of productive forces, capital funds and conditions, which, on the one hand, is indeed modified by the new generation, but also on the other prescribes for it its conditions of life and gives it a definite development, a special character. It shows that circumstances make men just as much as men make circumstances. This sum of productive forces, capital funds and social forms of intercourse, which every individual and generation finds in existence as something given, is the real basis of what the philosophers have conceived as “substance” and “essence of man,” and what they have deified and attacked; a real basis which is not in the least disturbed, in its effect and influence on the development of men, by the fact that these philosophers revolt against it as “self-consciousness” and the “Unique.” These conditions of life, which different generations find in existence, decide also whether or not the periodically recurring revolutionary convulsion will be strong enough to overthrow the basis of the entire existing system. And if these material elements of a complete revolution are not present (namely, on the one hand the existing productive forces, on the other the formation of a revolutionary mass, which revolts not only against separate conditions of society up till then, but against the very “production of life” till then, the “total activity” on which it was based), then, as far as practical development is concerned, it is absolutely immaterial whether the idea of this revolution has been expressed a hundred times already, as the history of communism proves. I fully recognise that the human species is communal and has evolved from an extended family base that became tribal. Indeed, human collectivity has been the strength underlying human (biological) evolution in general, and cultural development specifically. What, then, is the purpose, value and meaning for humanity (as a whole), for an individual pursuing a solitary path? What does it mean to be 'solitary'? Can a human being be truly isolatory? Is it possible to leave human society completely or even partially? What is it that is being left? From what is the individual removing him or herself from? To where are they relocating? What changes when an individual supposedly 'leaves' society? From a philosophical position it would seem that 'leaving society' might be a 'tautology' - more of a convention than a practical reality, and yet something tangible does appear to 'change'. Firstly, there is an inner change in orientation usually coupled with a concerted change in behavioural patterns. Indeed, 'leaving society' seems to be primarily a decision about abandoning one set of behaviours whilst embracing another. What is abandoned is the ordinary or expected patterns usually associated with the conventions of everyday life. Although there are grades of disengagement from everyday life - the more stringent examples include the rejecting of commercial labour (that is labour for profit), but not usually labour in principle. Personal (amorous) relations are purged from the expectations of the mind and body - as are any associations and interactions with family members and family structures. These are remarkable realignment of outward behaviour, but their purpose is to create an external (sensory) environment that generates the conditions for a profound change to occur in the functionality of the inner psychological and biological processes of the body. An outer physical transformation is required because without this impetus it is doubtful that will power alone could furnish the requisite strength of purpose required to permanently 'change' the frequency through which the mind and body operates. This being the case, is living in isolation in reality simply another definition of collective existence, albeit existing 'outside' of the convention that usually defines what many believe communal living actually is? If course, as the individual living in isolation still inhabits exactly the same physical world after supposedly 'leaving' it - and given that no one disappears or that anything changes to any great extent - it must be the case that 'leaving society' is really a redefinition of the physical phenomena of the world and of the manner in which these processes interact. Nothing changes except how the physical world is interpreted. However, although this may appear to be a superficial definition, throughout human history, it is clear that great historical and dialectical forces have been unleashed and harnessed that have brought down (and established) dynasties, empires, religious movements and social orders, all premises on markers of outer differences and distinctive modes of inner thought. Gods have come and gone, spirits have emerged and been exorcised and many different types of nature worship have come and gone. Yet the ability for a man and woman to live peacefully in the metaphorical (and actual) hills has often provided the inner (and outer) stimulus for great spiritual, artistic and engineering achievements to be conceived in the mind, built through the control of the body and put to use for the benefit of humanity. In this model, the direction of travel is easy to discern - from isolatory inspiration to purposeful application to collective human society in general. How did this happen? What is the pattern that grants this kind of inspiration? It seems that by consciously ‘withdrawing’ an individual is entering a ‘different’ type of collectivity – one that is not necessarily common or obvious to the rest of humanity. There appears to be a ‘gathering’ of inner and outer energy – a combination of psychological creativity and physical strength and healthy robustness! This intensification of the over-all energy available to the participating individual is ‘focused’, ‘directed’ and ‘intensified’ through the act (and experience) of ‘isolation’. It is as the ‘herd’ is seen better from a distance and understood to a greater degree. As an individual is part of the herd – it is the same as stating that the ‘herd is looking at itself in a particular manner’ - and none of this at this juncture has to have anything to do with ‘religion’ as such or even specifically. Taking a step back allows for the human mind to adopt a wider scale of observation and thereby ‘select’ a more effective mode of interactive behaviour that is designed to alleviate the greatest amount of collective suffering with the least (or most ‘efficient’) amount of individual effort. Although perhaps associated with the monkish disciplines – even those undergoing specialist education in the secular world still have to ‘withdraw’ from regular society to attend a school and become a ‘student’. A certain ‘isolation’ from mainstream reality is acquired to define what is a ‘different’ approach to understanding and interpreting reality! It could be that by adopting the meditative style of the monastic – a style of being considered the most ‘efficient’ for self-isolating – the secular student could achieve a much more profound appreciation of their subject matter! The forces of historical materialism, for instance, together with the waves of dialectical transformation could be easily perceived as unfolding through the inner and outer world! Surely, this is the Revolutionary power of isolating for self-education.
Although the Buddha’s assessment of physical reality seems very ‘modern’ in its use of logic and reason, is his notion of enlightenment relevant to a modern world that is dominated by science? What relevance does a Buddhist viewpoint have in a world that no longer accepts religious dogma in a blind and one-sided manner? Even if the Buddhist philosophy is placed to one-side and Buddhist enlightenment is reduced to perceiving the empty essence of the thinking mind, so what? How does this ability assist humanity in a world of measuring matter, observing processes and continuously striving to understand more about material existence? How does the Buddha’s idea of leaving the world help a person living in the modern world understand that world better? Of course, the honest answer is that it does not. Seeing into the empty fabric of the mind does not build houses, feed people or cure diseases. As an ability, it does not generate an income and cannot pay the bills. Leaving the world does not offer any contribution to making the world a better place. For the Buddha, an individual removes themselves from the most obvious causes of physical and psychological suffering. This suffering he associates with the conventional life of a lay-person participating in marriage, child-rearing and working for a living. This includes the activities of commerce, politics and warfare, etc. Interestingly, the Buddha advocates a moving further into abject poverty as all work is abandoned as a manifestation of desire. Once a regular income is denied, then it becomes a matter of sustaining the life of the individual through the indifferent eating of waste-food acquired by the monastic through the act of begging. Even so, as begging does not guarantee a daily meal, a semi-state of starvation becomes the norm. What is the point of this lifestyle? The Buddha states that all of humanity’s suffering stems from the traits of greed, hatred and delusion continuously operating in the mind, which manifest without end through a corresponding set of physical behaviours in the outside world. Cutting-off and uproot these three traits in the mind and the corresponding behavioural patterns will cease to function in the outside world. When the root of humanity’s suffering is permanently uprooted in the mind and purged from the body, then there exist no more suffering-inducing conditions to plague the individual. However, as life in a capitalist society relies entirely upon ‘greed’ and ‘selfishness’, the Buddhist path is obviously ‘anti-capitalist’ and renders the individual impotent and unable to effectively participate in a greed-orientated society. Of course, things are different within a Socialist society, as a ‘selfless’ individual who profoundly cares for the ‘welfare’ of others is exactly this type of ‘altruistic’ society requires for each of its citizens. An enlightenment achieved within a capitalist society proves to the experiencer that all greed is thoroughly incorrect and counter-productive toward the achieving of human happiness. In other words, a genuine Buddhistic experience grants the insight that the world of predatory capitalism is immoral, backward and the source of all human suffering! Capitalism is clearly perceived as existing entirely due to an unquestioning of human ignorance! Once the mind is cleared of its capitalist corruption, then the individual acquires the ability to comprehend not only the higher teachings of the Buddha but also the dialectical meaning contained within the work of Marx, Engels and Lenin! This would suggest that the Buddhist ideology, if pursued within its proper Asian context, leads the practitioner to an innate understanding and comprehension of the ideology of Scientific Socialism as formulated by Marx and Engels, and developed by thousands of other Revolutionary leaders ever since! Of course, bourgeois Buddhism – or that teaching which is mixed with the Judeo-Christian tradition to exclusively serve the socio-economic system of predatory capitalism – is nothing but a ‘bogus’ Buddhism used by privileged ‘White’ people as a leisure activity and simple play-thing. As this is the most common Buddhism functioning in the West, Buddhism in this guise has no relevance for freeing humanity or in the appreciation of Communist ideology. This is the fake Buddhism of ‘feeling good’ and of temporarily ‘escaping’ from the woes of everyday life for short periods of time. No one practicing this ogre of misrepresentation can ever clear their minds of greed, hatred and delusion, as all this ‘playing’ does is strengthen the functioning of greed, hatred and delusion! This shadow of Buddhism ‘strengthens’ capitalism and gives it’s a greater stability in the minds of the practitioners. This is why bourgeois Buddhism is nothing other than a collaboration with capitalism and the exploitation of the working-class! Anyone can read the Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist teachings, and apply the teachings themselves as part of their study of Marxist-Leninist ideology. Indeed, meditating and calming the mind allows for a preparation of the intellect so that it can more readily ‘absorb’ the profound lessons inherent within the teachings of Scientific Socialism and the work of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara and Thomas Sankara, etc. Ethnic Buddhist communities in China, Laos and Vietnam use this method to integrate their communities into the Socialist System! It is exactly the same method used by the three or four Buddhist Republics that were part of the Soviet Union! Although Buddhism is certainly not required for the successful learning of Marxist-Leninism, nevertheless, if it already exists it can be useful as a method of working-class empowerment!
Within Early Buddhist thinking – premised upon the content of the Pali Suttas – the Buddha explains that material reality is the basis of all existence, and that the physical body is the basis of ALL aspects of what is collectively referred to as the ‘mind’. Although the Buddha never knew of the physical organ of the ‘brain’ encased as it is in the skull-bone – he nevertheless described the ‘mind’ as emerging from conditions that involve the physical body. Not only this, but the Buddha on occasion referred to certain thoughts as being entirely ‘physical’ in nature! Within his teachings of the Four Noble Truths, the Buddha explained human existence as comprising of a physical body from which emerges sensation, conception, thought formation and consciousness. Within the Pali Suttas he describes why he thinks this with a crystal-clear clarity! For the Buddha, the capacity to ‘think’ is not a matter of a ‘spirit’ being divinely placed the body in opposition to ‘physical’ reality. Although like Marx the Buddha acknowledges the existences and usefulness of the ‘mind’, he is of the opinion that regardless of how apparently ‘ethereal’ the thought-processes might be – they are not in origin a product of a ‘divine-being’ placing his or her spiritual ‘essence’ inside the heart of human-beings! This observation of the Buddha broke the assumed connection of each individual to an assumed but unseen spirit-world that supposedly controlled human affairs from afar and justified the ‘racist’ caste system! This is why the Buddha’s alarmingly ‘modern’ method of defining and assessing physical existence immediately placed him at odds with the Brahmanical religion of ancient India which still holds so much sway over the imagination of modern India! Neuroscientists have recently released research that demonstrates that the brain’s capacity to ‘think’ is a physical act. This confirms the Soviet assertion that ‘consciousness’ is a ‘special arrangement of matter’ and has nothing to do with the existence of an assumed ‘hidden’ realm involving all-seeing spiritual entities with the power to affect each life entirely through a whim! The human brain has evolved the ability to generate the ‘mind’ - which is an ‘internalisation’ of the experienced external conditions that exist ‘outside’ of the body. Originally, human life has three-bodies. First there is the conceived foetus, secondly there is the womb of the mother’s body, which (thirdly) exists within a physical world. These are the multiple worlds available to the ‘new’ human. The ‘external’ world of other human, animals and varying conditions is mediated through the body of the mother for the first ten months of gestation prior to birth. The developing individual ‘learns’ about the external world through the body of his or her mother and as the brain slowly grows and becomes more capable of ‘sensing’. When the baby is born, he or she loses the body of the mother as a mediating device and it must experience the outside world entirely upon its own. Yes, adults may well provide auxiliary care, but reality from now on is strictly a matter of ‘direct’ sensation which is processed in a brain which is forever developing and learning to build an ever more efficient ‘internal’ (holographic) representation of the external world in its interior, or so it seems. There are now only two bodies that a human individual inhabits – the individual (organic) body and the physical (material) body that is the external environment! The biological body – although comprised of a certain biological blue-print – is nevertheless considered ‘unique’ to its owner, whilst the physical environment will be generally the same, albeit comprised of differing conditions, circumstances and survival characteristics. A life of opulence Is generally easier to live than a life of grinding poverty, etc. science, etc. The human mind can predict the past, contemplate the present and speculate about the future. However, other than being ‘aware’ of existential reality that is happening ‘now’ through the senses, the ability to ‘remember’ the past and to ‘speculate’ about the future are skills of pure ‘imagination’ regardless of the accuracy of such capabilities. In other words, these are ‘illusionary’ abilities developed during the course of human evolution, designed to assist humanity with its ability to ‘survive’! These abilities are ‘illusionary’ because they do not pre-exist the birth of the individual, and do not post-exist the death of the individual, as each ability is the product of a fully developed and functioning brain within a living body! Thoughts are hollow constructs within which humanity can ‘imagine’ or ‘import’ any content he or she wishes! This is a remarkable human ability as each thought construct can be ‘imagined’ as containing the entirety of material existence, or ‘speculate’ as to the nature of the infinitesimally small quantum universe! A thought construct in the mind is essentially ‘empty’ in nature so that its interior can be filled-up with whatever content the individual requires – although, of course, the Buddha suggested ‘emptying’ the thought constructs so that their empty nature can be fully comprehended and understood ‘here and now’. Furthermore, the reality of the interior of the thought construct is mostly empty space. This mirrors the construction of material reality in the external world – which is mostly ‘empty space’ with the occasional passing piece of matter. Before the advent of modern science, the Buddha found a way of explaining the nature of the physical universe by having each aspirant ‘look’ directly into their owns minds! Again, the Buddha’s ancient wisdom often dove-tails with the findings of modern science to a remarkable degree! This is why I believe that Karl Marx may well have been influenced by the philosophy of Early Buddhism when formulating his theory of historical materialism! Reference:
Neuroscientists Track Thought’s Trip through Brain http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/neuroscience/thoughts-trip-brain-05648.html Although I do not believe in the literal reality of any religious teaching – my academic speciality is that of ‘religious thought’ and ‘religious practice’. This follows on in the Soviet tradition and the current situation in Mainland China. As various ethnic groups are required to be ‘integrated’ into the Socialist System, an expert knowledge of religious knowledge at the political level is required to implement this transition. A Socialist or Communist academic living in a Marxist-Leninist State, must be free of any religious ideology in the primitive sense, and be able to objectively study, understand and predict the behaviour of those who ‘literally’ believe in religious mythology. Such an academic is an advanced dialectical human-being who understands Marxist-Leninism (and its variants) exactly, and is no longer inhabiting the ‘inverted’ mind-sets that propagated religious ideology in the first place! The rational human mind must be brought into play to clear the ‘fog of religion’ as Lenin called it – whilst still understanding why religious groupings think and act as they do. This understanding is crucial to predict problems before they start, and to guide the religious communities into thoughts and behaviours more complicit with life in a progressive, Socialist society! Religion is transitioned into a ‘private’ affair for the masses, and is removed’ from the ‘public’ space. Religion is moved from all positions of political power and business interference! As religion was originally a vehicle for personal salvation in an indifferent world – these changes must be explained to the religious groupings in a manner that they understand without conflict or resistance! This is not always an easy task, but it is an essential task. Religion, like philosophy, can be fully understood by the secular and atheistic mind. Once it is understood, it can be guided and moulded so that it benefits from being within a Socialist States, and yet does not interfere in the political process. Furthermore, as the ‘classroom’ is separated from the ‘Church’ - religious leaders must be taught to understand the ‘new’ rights that his community now possess. Conservativism is now no longer required or allowed, and so a religious leader must take responsibility in guaranteeing that his community is able to register for welfare, housing, medical employment and education opportunities – offered either free of charge or highly subsidised by the Socialist State! All religions must now support the Socialist System and have no relationship with the bourgeois community or reactionaries of any kind. Should a religious leader enquire ‘how’ he or she is supposed to present these requirements to his or her community – a Political Commissar tasked with integrating religious groupings into the Socialist System must be ready with a profound and relevant answer that can be clearly explained and put into action!
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AuthorAdrian Chan-Wyles PhD - Political Commissar and BMA (UK) Historian & Researcher. Archives
April 2024
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