Precepts of Engaged Buddhism, pt. 2

Following the teaching of Thich Nhat Han in his book 'Interbeing', we can find the list of the fourteen precepts of Engaged Buddhism. It is important to stress that this are not only guidelines for Buddhists but for all religious and non-religious followers who are looking for a guidance in their relationship with themselves and others.

Precept 2. Do not think the knowledge you presently possess is changeless, absolute truth. In order to be free of all attachments, one must also be capable of having an open mind to hear perceptions and explanations of reality which are not in accordance with the ones we have. The reason behind this precept is that, due that we live in an ever changing reality with multiple causes and conditions, to have a never changing truth is doubtful. This does not mean to be un-compromised with our own ideas and ideals, but rather be open to change them or even abandon them if one finds a new path and set of beliefs that are more in accordance with the present reality.

One might ask, can this also be applied to religious truths? Yes. For example, the Buddha stressed the importance of reasoning what he preaches before one follow the teachings givin by him. He was convinced that faith is not in conflict with reason, but are complementary elements in the construction of our own set of ideas and ultimately in the construction of our mind. Thus this process can provide you with a deeply-rooted conviction that what you do and believe is taken because you find it appropirate to your own development, and not becuase someone else manipulate you. After doing this process, the precept mentions that one should avoid bein narrow minded and bound to present views; so, the process of believing in your reasoning and reasoning your beliefs is a constant stage in this relative reality. By doing so, the religious or secular ideas are not longer dogmas but convictions; ones that may be changed due to new findings about them or that, to the contrary, are even stronger after the process of internalization and questioning is develop over and over again. This non-attachment to one truth, opens the mind and consciousness to learn everyday from everyone and everything! Then, the life has a new meaning, it becomes expressions of an interdependent and ever changing existence that challenges our capacity to understand the mysteries behind this realive reality. If one is able to see beyond this relative reality even for just a moment, one can achieve a glimpse of what being Awake ('Enlightened), really means.

'The Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism': part 1

In his book 'Interbeing', Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist Monk who had been working in building a better society in his country and the world, stated fourteen precepts to follow in order to construct a more just and kind society. This 'engaged Buddhism', or the use of Buddhist's basic ideas in everyday actions is a key element to every buddhist practitioner; even more, if christians, muslims, hindus and any person could apply the values of love and compassion present within their own religious traditions or ethics in all interpersonal relations, we can surely construct a better world. Therefore, these fourteen precepts are useful for every person who is asking how can I (a simple human being) can make a difference in this world?
The first precept is: Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth. One of the major causes of conflicts between religious practitioners is the attachment to dogmatic ideas and values. This doesn't mean that is wrong to have strong convictions or well-rooted values, but to the danger of thinking that one have the absolute truth, the definite god or divinity, the ultimate understanding of the world and beyond. This precepts invites us to question our own ideas and doctrines and always keep in mind that other people can find other paths of spiritual development. Even more, the diversity of religious philosophies should be seen as manifestations of the great diversity human's thoughts and expressions, without forgetting that we all share a basic common denominator: we are sentient beings and we are looking for happiness (to end our suffering). Therefore, we all have the right to follow a path that leads to our liberation of suffering but we also have the obligation to respect other's path. Ultimately, if we hate others we can never find liberation from suffering, becuase the one who loves others loves himself/herself and viceversa. It is an interdepent relation between sentieng beings.
In addition, following the process of questioning our own beliefs, for our own good we have to be honest with ourselves and feel free to change our previous conceptions and ideas. This does not only refers to religious ideas but every perception, idea and understanding about us and the world. We are free to choose what we believe and how to express it. If we do not give us the chance to change then we are carrying our own burden of attachment, a heavy weight that will stop us to reach a higher level of spiritual development.
Therefore, religious or secular doctrines are only means to achieve an end; and we should question them thinking: do this lead me to achieve happiness with myself and others? If the answer is positive, then we should follow that path with renewed faith; if the answer is negative, then we should ask ourselves why and, more importantly, be brave enough to look for answers even in those places (religions or philosophies) that we previously reject due to a blind attachment to dogmatic thoughts.
This first precept is then to be free of attachment to any idea or doctrine, even to those who will help you to attain Enlightement. Why? because in order to attain that state of conciousness, of great bliss, of heavenly peace, of voidness, one should be able to be empty of all attachments. So as the eagle cannot fly beyond the earthly mountains and sail the heavenly skies with a big rock attached to its wings; we cannot sail to the land of liberation with the heavy burden of attachments to ideas, places, people and even to our own idea of existence.

A Shared Communion with the Sacred (extract from my paper 'Common Humanity from a religous-philosophical perspective', presented at Oxford, 19/09/09)

All major religions, namely Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam share the need to experience the sacredness as the only way to find peace and happiness, and they are adaptations of a same ultimate truth in order to fulfil the needs of complex human beings with different levels of understanding and spiritual development. Thus, the there is a shared commitment to the sacred which needs to be stressed so the differences in how to accomplish the ultimate goal cannot continue to diminish that compassionate idea of experience the sacredness through religious life and converts a transcendental goal, the nectar of religion, in a short-termed ideal of uniqueness of the truth that only leads to exclusion, violence and war.
The nectar of religion is that element of sacredness that leads to our understanding of our own nature, is the boat that takes us to the shore of the ultimate state of realization, an eternal communion with the sacred, an all-encompassing hierophany where the distinction between the sacred and the profane disappears in order to let us become one with the Ultimate Reality represented in every religion, each with different form but of the same nature. In light of this, “the sacred” is that part of our existence that reminds us that we are connected with a power beyond our physical body, senses and thoughts; is the representation of our true nature that we have forgotten: a formless, immortal and transcendent non-self. Thus, religions can be seen as the guardians and teachers of this ultimate truth.
But then, what went wrong? Why religion instead of dispel the suffering from the world, have contributed to perpetrate it? What happened to the shared-nectar of compassion? Have it disappeared in plurality? John Hick argues that the differences in the key or revelatory experiences that unify a stream of religious life are what constitute the largest difficulty in the way of religious agreement.[1] The claims of truth about the revelation of the truth have made a big gap between religious traditions. This gap of intolerance have led to the exclusivist approach where only the ones who share the same revelatory claims can be regarded as brothers and sisters while the ‘others’ are some kind of lost souls in the sea of sin. The gap had still gone wider due to the intent of some semi-inclusivist groups who try to interpret the ‘alien religion’ using ‘home religion’ categories and beliefs. This gap between religious communities is due to the absolute claims of one god, one truth, one religion. When the shared need for the sacred, a transcendent spiritual one, is covered and obstructed by greed, hatred and anger, the result is a momentary amnesia of our common nature. Even more, when these emotions are socially shared in an intersubjective consensus of fear and selfishness some institutions, even the religious ones, perpetrate violence towards others who does not share their views of reality. Thus, plurality of religious philosophies and doctrines became violent and problematic.
With this, we can see that the plurality of religions and religious communities is not a consequence of religion itself (even less of the share sacredness) but the qualities of the user, the believer who is a human being. So, there is a chance to make a compassionate use of religion in plurality and stop making the plurality of religion a justification for separateness, violence and suffering. There is a chance to build bridges of dialogue and understanding between the different religious communities’ islands by recognizing that they share the same foundations, soil, elements and, ultimately, nature that makes them possible to exist. The plurality is just an expression of different manifestations of human complexities, which is based in a common ground of human nature and, even more, a common transcendent union in the sacred.

[1] John Hick, of Religion (4th ed.; New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1990), 115.

About responsibility and karma towards liberation

One most the most important concepts in Buddhism, and a highly mis-interpreted one, is karma (in sanskrit or kamma in pali). This word means 'action' en refers to a relationship of cause and effect of everything we do. This implies that the true intention behind all volitional acts will return to us eventually; therefore, the consequence of our actions are not a reward nor a punishment from an 'outer' power, but a natural response for our original intentions behind any action. In the Dhammapada we find: "By oneself is wrong done, by oneself is one defiled. by oneself wrong is not done, by oneself, surely is one cleansed. one cannot purify another, purity and impurity are in oneself [alone]" (Dhammapada XII: 165). This means than we should take responsibility of our actions being aware of the true intentions behind them, so we can be ready to face the consequences. Even if we know we have done something wrong, we can regret it and then be ready to face what comes next, now with a compassionate intention in order the ones we hurt and, consequently, cleaning our own karma in the process. Thus, this means that we are responsible of our own spiritual and material development which, combined with certain causes and conditions in this interdependent world, can help or hurt others. Furthermore, this means that we should be aware of our actions and not focusing in what others do or not, making judgements without even knowing the true intentions behind their actions.
"Let one regard, neither the discrepancies of others, nor what is done or left undone by others, but only the things one has done oneself or left undone." (Dham. IV: 50) We must realize that sometimes we spend to much energy, time, words and thoughts judging others' actions when, in reality, one cannot know exactly the intentions behind them. So, what use of it? One may say, 'it is for my own sake because I will know how to behave next time I see this person'; other can also argue 'this is what should be done in order to respond better to a certain situation when needed', 'it is good to know who is truthful or not', 'it is worth the time applied to it in order to avoid being hurt by other's actions'. All this comments are valid and completely in accordance to the conventional way of seeing things. However, what the Buddhist teachings stress is to focus in our own development because, by doing so, we will be spiritually strong and ready to face any kind of situation, whether a treason from a loved one, a 'stab in the back' from a friend or a negative comments about us from different people. This does not mean not to do anything about it! to the contrary, through meditation and true awareness we will be able to answer in the best way, in a compassionate manner to all this and more 'problems'. Suddenly, this 'problems' transformed from being something negative and a continuous reason to suffer, into a new test in our course on 'how to liberate myself from suffering and how to help others to do so'. The problems and disappointments are only steps (some of them higher than others) we can take in our way up to the ultimate liberation of the self.
We can read the same lesson about not judge others in the Gospels when Jesus said "Do not judge, or you too will be judged (...) How can you say to your brother, 'let me take the speck out of your eye', when all the time there is a plank in your own eye'? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7: 1,2-4,5)
And if someone is thinking, 'well, this is impossible in our society! even more this are teachings of the two greatest human beings ever on Earth! I am not good enough!' Well, this will be just a justification for failure in the spiritual level that covers a lack of responsibility and commitment towards our own well being and others. These two Great Human Beings set the example which we must follow gradually. Just as a 50km marathon, the path is already set by them, may be with two different routes but getting to the same end. There are all kinds of signals and even lots of beings cheering us up (in this spiritual path we have devas, angels, gandharvas or other highest beings), also refreshing acts of love that encourages us to continue believing in goodness, and a huge range of participants. Some will finish earlier than others; some will think that they are not capable to end but there will also be people who will help others to believe and help them to run (not running for them or carrying them in the back!); some other people who will sit back without being interested in making any effort thinking that is better and more entertaining to talk about the outfit of other runners, their physical appearance and their lack of interest in enjoying the moment. The good news is that we have the chance to choose how do we want to live and in any case we will achieve what we want and it will be filled whether by hatred, anger and jealousy or by love, compassion and sympathetic joy. So ask yourself, how is my life going? what can I expect in relation with my actions? if I deserve everything I am dealing with, what did I do to have it this way and, more importantly, how am I going to shape my future present in order to enjoy more myself and others? think and meditate about it...you worth it!

Time, free will and liberation

The three conceptions of time: chronos, kairos and eschaton, play a vital role in religious thought. The 'conventional' time, chronos, by which all humans organized their lives, can be regarded as a provisional order of arbitrary periods in a continuous present, a tool for further social organization and harmonious living. However, chronos can be transformed into kairos, a definite moment in this continuous present when the beings can really change their near and far future. in a eschatological view of christian theology, the kairos is determined by the eschaton, the third conception of time which relates to the time of the return of Jesus Christ, when God will come to install His Kingdom with those who deserve it. Therefore, the idea of the return of the Son of God and His Father to judge those who can live in His Kingdom emphasizes a commitment to be ready (without sin) to accept and be accepted to this Heavleny realm whenever it happens to come: "Now concerning that day and hour no one knows-neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son-except the Father only" (Matthew 24: 36). Furthermore, Jesus said "Then the sign of the son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other" (Matthew 24: 30-31). This is when everyday life is important to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God, living in accordance with Jesus' teachings and guidelines for a compassionate behaviour towards ourselves and others.
From a Buddhist perspective, Shakyamuni Buddha taught the importance of living an ethical life, guided by the precepts of the 'Eightfold Path' of the Fourth Noble Truth, namely: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right effort, right livelihood, right concentration and right mindfulness. Following this path, the end of suffering is secured and, as a result, the ultimate liberation of this cycle of rebirths in Samsara. This cleansing of karma, which is defined simply as a cause-and-effect relaton, one is able to control your own path towards liberation. If you think, speak and behave compassionately, your positive karma derived from these intentional actions will be a compassionate one. Therefore, the main element in all karmatic relationships are intentions, it is not a matter of 'what' but rather a matter of 'why'. One must be really honest while acknowledging the intentions of our thoughts and actions and be ready to face the consequences. So, wholesome actions (guided by compassion) will lead us towards liberation while unwholesome actions (guided by selfishness, hatred and anger) imprisoned us in samsara with further rebirths in lower realms, having more difficulties to reach liberation. In sum, in Buddhism there is no separation between chronos, kairos and eschaton, because there is a continuous present that gave us always the opportunity to work towards liberation or not, depending in our intentions behind every actions. the 'eschatological promise' is not posited in a near or far future, but as part of a continuum of causes and conditions that all beings face throughout their rebirths. These two ways of using the three times have th ecommon idea of everyday work towards our spiritual development through compassionate thoughts and actions. Whether by cleaning our karma or by eliminating sinful actions, one can understand the urge of realizing that we all have the free-will to work towards liberation or the perpetuation of suffering.
Therefore, the spiritual paths taught by Shakyamuni Buddha and Jesus Christ, encompass the life as a sentient being in this Earth, along with the recognition and true awareness of our divine nature; one that binds us with that sacred which is invoked in different names, rituals and creeds. By doing so, everything can become what Mircea Eliade called a hierophany, a manifestation of the sacred in this world, our lieves are part fo a divine enterprise and the sooner we recognize it, the better we can act for our benefit and others.

Commitment to social welfare

'All human endeavor is potentially great and noble. So long as we carry out our work with good motivation, thinking, "My work is for others", it will be of benefit to the wider community.' (His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, Ethics for the New Millenium (New York: Riverhead Books, 1999), 174.

The idea of working for others is exemplified in the ideal of the Bodhisattva, a being who has committed himself/herself to remain in Samsara in order to help others to reach ultimate liberation from suffering. His/Her work is guided by wisdom and compassion, for the sake of himself/herself and others. The Buddha said that here are four kinds of people: the ones who don't help others nor themselves; the ones who help others but not themselves; the ones that help themselves but not others; and the ones who help others and themselves.
The Bodhisattvas are part of the last category, an extraordinary beings who work commitedly and firmly for the well being of everyone, including themselves. Therefore, by thinking "my work is for others" one takes an important step into the Bodhisattva's path which recognizes our common nature as human beings who wants to get rid of suffering and achieve happiness.
By doing so, human beings can truly follow what Jesus said to His disciplines: "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven, that person is My brother and sister and mother". (Matthew 12: 49-50)
Shakyamuni Buddha and Jesus Christ stresssed on the need to work for others and, consequently, we will achieve peace of mind, spirit and heart. The Karmatic relationship with others and with the world will be one of compassion, consecrating the 'divine will' of love for all beings.