The Psychology of in Conflict Studies Padmasiri de Silva The Psychology of Buddhism in Conflict Studies Padmasiri de Silva Faculty of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies Monash University Springvale, VIC, Australia

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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Venerable U. Panditha Venerable Nyanaponika Mahathero Venerable Ananda Maitriya Mahathero Preface

A Random Harvest I am not presenting anything like a ‘dialectical psychology’ as found in the West. The focus is on conflict studies and people entrapped in conflicts, dilemmas, paradoxes and ambivalence and through them develop a meth- odology to unravel situations where one has to deal with dialectical oppo- sitions by integration, balance and new vistas of integration. A simple definition of the term ‘dialectical’ would be ‘mediating between conflict- ing positions’. The term ‘polarisation’ may be defined as forces in opposite directions, the positive pole having the power to attract and the negative pole the power to repel. There are many studies in the West focused on communication and management issues where the concept of the dialectic emerges, but my focus is more on the psychology of desire and life styles, while integrating these insights, as well as interpersonal conflicts and issues of human emotions and therapy—to present a review of the dialectical rhythms of life drawing resources from . The middle path that the Buddha introduced through the opposition of extreme sensuality and extreme asceticism is an intervention on oppos- ing life styles. Pleasure is varied and delightful (kāmā citrā madhurā) but generates suffering (dukkha). Not getting what you wish for is suffering (yam p’icchaṃ na labhati tam pi dukkhaṃ)1 but getting what you do not need is also suffering. The search for happiness is driven by powerful sys- tems of desire, which become attached to material possessions and social status.2 The gap between these desires and what the world offers is a con- stant source of suffering. At one end of this sequence is frustration and at

vii viii PREFACE the other extreme is the boredom of the pure sensualist. The latter is entrapped by the fascination with sensuality and the former is unhappy due to the inability to satisfy desires. A point beyond these two dialectical edges is beautifully presented by William James:

To give up pretensions is as blessed a relief as to get them ratified. There is a strange lightness in the heart when one’s nothingness in a particular area is accepted in good faith. How pleasant is the day when we give up striving to be young or slender… ‘Thank god’ we say these illusions are gone.3

This is one of the dialectical edges of life for which the Buddha offered a way out. In more recent and reflective management studies such as that of Bernard Mayer,4 it is emphasised that as the Buddha also said, conflicts emerge from the very nature of life, and rather than considering them as threats, we must perceive them as opportunities to grow and in the most humane way recognise the gift of conflict in our lives. Thus Buddhism explores the dialectical patterns in human conflicts at a different level as in some current management studies, and an interesting dialogue with management studies is the subject of Chap. 7. Dilemmas and paradoxes have been an interesting theme in some man- agement studies, where they have integrated the study of as found in Buddhism.5 There has also been a fascinating study of conflict reso- lution independent of any dialectical frame by Bernard Mayer, Staying With Conflict (2009),6 but a more interesting study with a dialectical frame is his later book, Conflict Paradox (2015), where he presents seven paradoxes, as well as the notion that they are not ‘contradictions’ but ‘co-­ dependent realities’, which rings a close note with Buddhist realism. Mayer in his second book considers it necessary to confront conflict narratives that encourage an effective approach to conflict avoidance and thus work positively with disputes. Though I had originally planned to present a sort of dialogue between Buddhism and different facets of management studies in a separate chap- ter, I discovered that there was already an emerging dialogue between Buddhism and management studies in some of the chapters and decided to merely summarise a few management studies principles in Chap. 7. It should be emphasised that the Theravāda (early Buddhist) dialectical phi- losophy is philosophical as well as psychological, with a deep analysis of the PREFACE ix dialectical patterns in human desires. Recent developments in conflict studies have close and deep affinities to Buddhism as seen in this quote:

Conflict flows from life…. Rather than seeing conflicts as a threat, we can understand it as providing opportunities to grow and increase our under- standing of ourselves, of others, of social structures. Conflicts in relation- ships at all levels are the ways of life which make us to stop, assess, and take notice. One way to truly know our humanness is to recognize the gift of conflict in our lives. Without it life would be monotonously flat topography of sameness and our relationships would be woefully superficial.7

Chapter 1 presents the Buddhist analysis of the dialectical rhythms of craving and desire. Chapter 2 presents the uses and limits of dialectical techniques as a philosophical/epistemological tool and presents Buddha’s pragmatism and experientialism. The ‘Random Harvest’, Chaps. 1 and 2, thus offer a broad introduction to the Buddhist psychological and philo- sophical dimensions of this study. The term ‘dialectic’ has been used with reference to the Buddha. Like Socrates, the Buddha used a system of cross-examining people regarding certain concepts which were faulty and he made them bring out inner contradictions. But I am not concerned with this context. The Buddha also used dialectical arguments to examine the beliefs of certain philoso- phers like materialists, sceptics and determinists and through them exposed their vacuity. He emphasised the point that he used the dialectical method of argument within the framework of debates but that it was not an instru- ment of liberation. Secondly, he was critical of a group of philosophers like the Mādhyamika philosophers who used this strategy as an ultimate instru- ment of liberation, and Chap. 2 is completely devoted to the use of dialec- tical methods in this context and their place in a scheme of ultimate liberation.

Traps, Dilemmas and Dialectical Contradictions There are many dialectical traps that can bind us, illustrated by the exam- ple of a monkey and a banana. There is a banana inside an empty coconut shell with a very small opening—just sufficient space for the monkey to put his hand in but not enough room to take it out with the banana. The monkey suffers and eventually discovers that if he ‘lets go’ and takes his x PREFACE hand out, the suffering is gone. Pathways of human greed almost and often follow the same route. There is Sand Castle Theory, in which addicts, gamblers and even peo- ple in business cling to things, even on the strong possibility of the verge of imminent collapse. It is like a child’s sand castle—the beauty increases with one more layer… one more layer … and then the imminent collapse. Another theory is expressed as two horns of a dilemma, evident in the story of the Golden Goose from the Palāsa Jātaka. A bird that has eaten the fruit of a tree voids its excrement on the trunk of a Judas tree. A golden goose tells the tree deity, do not allow the Banyan tree to grow, as every tree on which a Banyan tree springs is destroyed by its growth. The Banyan tree wrapping round the Judas tree consumed its share of soil, water and nutrition. ‘As time went by, all happened as the golden goose had foretold. The Banyan tree sent down the roots which wrapped around the trunk of its host and consumed its share of soil, water and nutrients. The Banyan tree grew bigger and stronger, until it split the Judas tree, which toppled to its death, bringing the deity’s home down with it.’ This story, very eloquently portrayed by venerable Bodhi,8 according to him, is a parable for the present-day crisis of global warming and typifies the dialectic in the conflicting zones of economics, ecology and human well-­ being. The Banyan tree represents the use of carbon-based fuels, whose emission of carbon dioxide is invisible … small quantities apparently harm- less, but such unrestricted use of fossils menaces civilization that depends on them. There is a dilemma here: placing restrictions on carbon dioxide means limiting productivity, and limiting productivity would usher in lay- offs and possible recession. If nothing is done, the environment suffers. If people decide on mining, whether of coal or gold, in spite of its impact on the environment, there is an impending impact on health, like the dilemma, possibility of lung diseases with gold mining in Thailand or coal mining in Australia. These dilemmas have social, political and human impacts on well-being.

Punishment Theories The conflicting alternative theories of punishment of retribution, deter- rence, restoration and effective mediation need to be implemented by a more sophisticated dialectical methodology. PREFACE xi

We argued in this essay that an interdisciplinary account of self-identity is necessary to scholars of punishment, as those who punish and those who are punished need to be understood as situated, embodied and relational…..To do this, we suggested that scholars of punishment observe how it is experi- enced, need to develop a dialectical methodology that engages and moves beyond problematic dichotomies and disciplinary limitations.9

To transform the criminal is as important as caring for the victim and social consciousness. How to mediate these conflicts calls for creative thinking, without upsetting the balance. Retribution is associated with a sense of revenge, deterrence neglects the subject of punishment on behalf of those who are to be saved and how can restoration save both the subject of punishment and the victim at the same time. A pair of scales used for weighing things is emblematic of the notion of balance in justice, but to generate balance involves a dialectical process going through avenues of justice. These conflicts emerge with a strong political flavour and when the impact heightens various forms of compromise are sought. The disciplines of environmental ethics and bioethics also examine such conflicts and dilemmas and offer exercises to train the minds of students and those who wish to take to environmental counselling. A recent Q and A seminar organised by the ABC television programme spent a whole session on the conflicting issues pertaining to framing a humane policy for the intake of refugees to Australia and the surrounding region, and this was a graphic demonstration of the unending dialectical conflicts, where every solution created fresh conflicts. The chapter on multiculturalism in the present work is also relevant to the issue of refugees. Scholars working in the social sciences need to generate a new methodology integrating what I call ‘the dialectical imagination’ which is the corrective to ‘one track’ minds. This is what the politicians lack. I have not mentioned the controversies over euthanasia and abortion where different ethical compromises are offered, which are somewhat different from the dialectical conflicts discussed in this study. Dialectical conflicts often emerge as the Buddha clarified, due to the different paths that human desires and craving manifest, where some ambivalence and ignorance of the roots of the problem dominate. The new features that did not exist in the past are the far-reaching and complex socio-economic changes which are taking place in the contempo- rary world. xii PREFACE

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) While MBSR (-based stress reduction therapy), MBCT (mindfulness-­based cognitive therapy) and DBT are inspired by mindful- ness , DBT like ACT (action-commitment therapy) has a sub- stantial component of mindfulness practice as well, more on the person involved than the programme. But what is interesting about DBT in con- trast to other therapies is that it is fed by paradoxes. What is a dialectic? On the most practical level, it’s what happens when opposites combine to create something new. Bringing change and accep- tance techniques together would be an example of this technique. On a deeper level, dialectic is a viewpoint that recognizes reality and human behaviour as fundamentally relational. According to Dr. Linehan it has three main characteristics: Firstly ‘dialectic stresses the fundamental inter- relatedness or wholeness of reality.’ Secondly ‘reality is not seen as static but is composed of internally opposing forces (thesis and antithesis) out of whose synthesis emerges evolves a new set of opposing forces’. And thirdly, the dialectical assumption following the two above, is that the fundamen- tal nature of reality is change and process rather than content or structure.10 Kiera Van Gelder, who presents the above summary of DBT in her bril- liant narrative, The Buddha and Borderline, mentions that in her early struggle with drugs, she was trapped in polarised extremes and did not grasp Dr. Linehan’s analysis.11 But in this book she narrates her final road to recovery in the most poignant and captivating way. She says that cogni- tive behavioural therapy, mindfulness and along with the detailed skills to practice given by Dr. Linehan paved a way to the emergence of new horizons in her life. It is the story of a person who transforms the symptoms of borderline personality disorder, of self-­ destruction, self-hatred and self-aggression, into a compassionate kinship with all human beings. The magnanimous human emotions of kindness and compassion generated a new world for Kiera. This story reminds me of the remarkable transformation of Kisa ̄ Gotamı,̄ Patạ cā rā ̄ and Angulimȧ lā presented by Mark Epstein in his recent work, Traumas of Everyday Life12: Kisa ̄ Gotamı ̄ wandering through the streets car- rying a dead child and the series of tragedies faced by Patạ cā rā ̄ but finally receiving a message of insight and compassion at the feet of the Buddha. As in Dialectic Behaviour Therapy, in Traumas of Everyday Life, there is the experience of ‘dissociation’, a person withdraws what it cannot bear. I shall conclude this Random Harvest with the following words: PREFACE xiii

The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.13

In the area of DBT, it would be holding the two concepts of acceptance and change together. What the Random Harvest presents are different pat- terns of dialectical relations illuminating a Buddhist perspective of conflict studies. Different chapters will take these facets for detailed analysis and discussion.

Springvale, VIC, Australia Padmasiri de Silva

Notes 1. D II 305. 2. Daniel Nettle, 2005, Happiness: Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 158. 3. William James, quoted in Nettle, 2005, p. 159. 4. Bernard Mayer, 2015, The Conflict Paradox: Seven Dilemmas at the Core of Disputes, San Francisco: John Wiley and Sons, p. 9. 5. Mayer, 2015; Albert Low and Ronald Pursur, 2012, ‘Zen and the Creative Management of Dilemmas’, Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion, 9, 4, 335–55. 6. Bernard Mayer, 2009, Staying with Conflict, p. xi. 7. John Paul Lederach, quoted in Mayer, 2009, p. 19. 8. , 2009, ‘The Voice of the Golden Goose’, in John Stanley, David Loy, Gyurme Dorge, (eds.), A Buddhist Response to Climate Emergency, Somerville, MA: Publishers, pp. 155–173. 9. Henrique Carvalho and Anastasia Chamberlen, 2016, Punishment, Justice and Emotions, Oxford Handbooks. 10. Marcia Linehan, 1993, Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorders, New York: Guildford, pp. 1–2. 11. Kiera Van Gelder, 2010, The Buddha and the Borderline, Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications. 12. Mark Epstein, 2014, Traumas of Everyday Life, New York, Penguin. 13. F. S. Fitzgerald, quoted in Mayer (2015, p. 1).

References Bodhi, Bhikkhu. 2009. The Voice of the Golden Goose. In A Buddhist Response to Climate Emergency, ed. Stanley, John, Loy, David, Dorge, Gyurme. Somerville: Wisdom Publishers. xiv Preface

Carvalho, Henrique, and Chamberlen Anastasia. 2016. Punishment, Justice and Emotions. Oxford Handbooks. Online, doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfor dhb/9780199935383.013.138. Epstein, Mark. 2014. Traumas of Everyday Life. New York: Penguin. Linehan, M.M. 1993. Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorders. New York: Guildford. Low, Albert, and Ronald Purser. 2012. Zen and the Creative Management of Dilemmas. Journal of Management, Spirituality and Religion 9 (4): 335–355. Mayer, Bernard. 2009. Staying with Conflict. San Francisco: Wiley. Mayer, Bernard. 2015. The Conflict Paradox: Seven Dilemmas at the Core of Disputes. San Francisco: Wiley. Nettle, Daniel. 2005. Happiness: The Science Behind Your Smile. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Van Gelder, Kiera. 2010. The Buddha and the Borderline. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications. Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Joanna O’Neil and Grace Jackson at Palgrave Macmillan editorial staff for encouraging me to work on this project and helping me all the way towards this publication. Professor Constant Mews at Monash University went through the whole text with meticulous care and suggested useful changes, and I am greatly indebted to him. I also thank profusely the two scholars who reviewed the publication proposal and gave me the confidence, courage and inspiration to work on this project. I also thank Anne Murphy for helping me to refine my footnotes. I am thankful to Professor G. Somaratne, the eminent scholar, for helping me by refining the Pali diacritical marks. Lexington Gardens, the retirement village where I have lived for nearly twenty years, has given me an ideal home to pursue my research and writ- ing. Links with Monash University for twenty years provided me an ideal place to work where I have had four book launches and have one more to come. Our sons Maneesh, Adeesh and Chandeesh and their families have always had a rejuvenating impact on my life and work. It is also with grati- tude that I recall the cherished memories of my wife Kalyani and my parents.

xv Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 The Buddhist Critique of Metaphysical Entanglements 15

3 The Many-faceted Nature of a Crisis 21

4 Psychological Dimensions of Conflict and Harmony 31

5 Criminal Justice Through a Buddhist Contemplative Path 39

6 Exploring Multiculturalism 47

7 Management Studies 51

8 Erosion of Moral Values in an Era of Market Triumphalism 55

9 Conflict Studies and Peace Studies 59

xvii xviii Contents

10 The ‘Self’ and Identity Illusions 65

11 Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: A Path Beyond Polarities and Towards Acceptance 71

12 Moving Through Paradoxes in Tibetan Buddhism and Zen Aesthetics 77

13 Emotions, Logic and Rationality 81

Index 87 Abbreviations for the Sutta Literature

A: Anguttara Nikaya (Gradual Sayings) D: Digha Nikaya (Further Dialogues) M: Majjhima Nikaya (Middle Length Sayings) S: Samyutta Nikaya (Kindred Sayings) Sn: Sutta Nipata

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