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Phuong-Van-Ph-D-Thesis-A.Pdf CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 4 2. TODAY SOCIETY AND ITS PROBLEMS 6 2.1 Consumerism 7 2.2 Slaves on the Money 9 2.3 Drug Addiction 10 2.4 Violence and Media 12 2.5 Increased Terrorism 14 3. A VISION OF HUMAN EXISTENCE FROM BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE 19 3.1 Samsaric Cycle - Human existence 19 3.2 Karma and the ‗Wheel of Life‘ 28 3.3 Nirvana as Liberation 37 3.4 Anattā (selflessness) - Elements of Skandhas and Dharmas 41 4. BUDDHIST VIEW ON CAUSES OF VIOLENCE, CONFLICT AND WAR, AND THE WAY OF BYPASS 52 4.1 Conflict and Violence as the Roots of Greed and Hatred 52 4.2 Violence of Negative Emotions 64 4.3 The Conflicts over Natural Resource 79 4.4 The Relationship between Living Beings and Their Environment 82 4.5 Potential War from Modern Weapons 93 5. THE BUDDHA'S FIVE MORAL PRECEPTS AS RULES OF PREVENTION FOR A NEW SOCIETY 97 5.1 The Precept to Refrain from Destroying Living Creatures (Panatipata veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami) 102 Phuong Van/Applying Buddha’s teachings in Modern society 2 5.2 The Precept to Refrain from Taking That Which Is Not Given (Adinnadana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami) 107 5.3 The Precept to Refrain from Sexual Misconduct (Kamesu micchacara veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami) 110 5.4 The Precept to Refrain from Incorrect Speech (Musavada veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami) 117 5.5 The Precept to Refrain from Intoxicating Drinks and Drugs Which Lead to Carelessness (Suramerayamajja pamadatthana veramani sikkhapadam samadiyami) 124 6. THE EIGHTFOLD PATH AS A WAY OF DEVELOPMENT OF WISDOM AND ETHICS IN THE SOCIETY 132 6.1 Right View (samyak-dṛṣṭi / sammā-diṭṭhi) 134 6.2 Right Intention (samyak-saṃkalpa / sammā sankappa) 141 6.3 Right Speech (samyag-vāc / sammā-vācā) 149 6.4 Right Action (samyak-karmānta / sammā-kammanta) 154 6.5 Right Livelihood (samyag-ājīva / sammā-ājīva) 160 6.6. Right Effort (samyag-vyāyāma / sammā-vāyāma) 167 6.7. Right Mindfulness (samyak-smṛti / sammā-sati) 173 6.8. Right Concentration (samyak-samādhi / sammā-samādhi) 182 7. PRACTICING BUDDHISM IN ALL SPHERES OF LIFE AS A WAY TO ACHIEVE COMPASSIONATE WISDOM IN A NEW WORLD 189 7.1 In Everyday Life 189 7.2 The Problems in Social Life 197 7.3 The Application of Buddhist Economics in Life 204 7.4 Political Morality 215 8. CONCLUSIONS 224 Phuong Van/Applying Buddha’s teachings in Modern society 3 1. INTRODUCTION "Ethics is the immune system of a humane society." (Frederic Reamer) Today society is facing with its ethical problems. Religious function of Religion play more have more roles than at any time for contributing to build a society of order, stability and peace on the earth. This time, the actually Buddha‘s teachings are not the application of the Buddhist community only, but to existence of human kind in general. Those are ecological risks, such as pollution, finiteness of natural resources, progressing diseases, risk of the mass murder using nuclear weapon, all kinds of dependencies, from drugs to Internet, consumerism, terrorism, the problem of the Third World, and so on. Due to the acceleration of the technological progress, the risk is growing every year in a geometrical progression, and because of that, now it is extremely important to look for solutions in the ancient wisdom that proved to be immortal and true. The Buddha‘s teaching is one of those heritages of humankind that can serve as a cure of a new society. In Buddhist worldview, human beings live in the illusion of separateness while their true nature is single with the whole universe. We are all a single living organism with interrelated and integrated physically, spiritually and locally. But majority of mankind is still ignorant of that fact, and acts egoistically so as we all were separated. Most people act egoistically, following their delusional vain passions from suffering, in which they live, and deepening their suffering even more in their fussy races for the desires. The problem is their actions (along with our words and thoughts) not only do harm to themselves but to every part Phuong Van/Applying Buddha’s teachings in Modern society 4 of the being at the same time. For that reason, many people in the world are suffering, animals and plants are suffering, and the planet Earth itself is suffering. The Buddha was the one who intended to stop all that suffering and suggested a teaching where he instructed how to do it. In this research, I will examine the Buddha‘s teaching and teachings of his followers concerning in which way those teachings can be a cure for a new world‘s society, and how could it solve our global problems and ease the suffering of people who live in the digital world of the twenty-first century. The topics I will consider in this paper are following. I will briefly consider the major problems of nowadays society and the basic principles of Buddhist philosophy concerning the existence of human beings. Then we will research the Buddhist perspective on the problem of violence and the methods of preventing it suggested by the Buddha himself and his followers. After that, I will discuss the five moral precepts of the Buddha and the Buddhist moral principles in general. The next stage of the research will be the analysis of the Eightfold Path suggested by Buddhists and how this path may lead to a salvation of every living being. The final part of the paper will be dedicated to the application of Buddhist philosophy and ethics to the global world issues specifically for every sphere of life. In the end, I will sum up gathered information and make a conclusion on my topic. The methodology I will use is analyzing the original texts, academic critique, and the words of Buddhist key figures on the topics that I included in my research. After that on every stage of the working process I will apply the information I gathered to the problems of modern society and define the ways in which this application is possible and useful. For that part, I will use both our critical thinking and external literature. Phuong Van/Applying Buddha’s teachings in Modern society 5 2. TODAY SOCIETY AND ITS PROBLEMS Today the vast majority of options which speak of this of another freedom, and freedom is being understood in some kind of defective way. It is assumed, for example, that you are free if you are able to make business, and your state does not interfere with your work, or another example: you are free when there are no proprietors standing above you. All these notions of freedom suggest the presence of some criterion, the feasibility of which one determines the difference between freedom and unfreedom, assumed human desire to have a certain ability or right or advance his well-known and supposedly coveted, and after founding this opportunity, he becomes completely free. In fact, the concept of freedom is formulated by analogy with a completely different concept, and having nothing similar to freedom; however, the concept underlying the system of values of modern civilization - term needs. There is a certain need, as long as you deny it, you are not free, but if you will satisfy it - you are free! In modern civilization there is no notion of freedom as a universal concept, as a concept; the meaning of which is determined by the human inner being and state of freedom is fixed not by external criteria, but by the personality itself. Human is a dualistic creation; materialism and spirituality coexist inside of every person. Fighting between two sides of human nature is fully reflected in the teachings of all the great spiritual leaders, not only the Buddha‘s, but also in other ones. In particular, Buddhists, Christians and Judaism, etc., have developed rules governing the economic activities in such a way that each sought to satisfy not only personal own needs, but also the needs of the community. These are the idea of the ‗compassion‘ in Buddhism, the idea of the love of neighbor in Christianity and in Judaism Mitzvah. All the mankind history can be Phuong Van/Applying Buddha’s teachings in Modern society 6 considered as the struggle between the forces of selfish materialism and the voice of justice and compassion. 2.1 CONSUMERISM One of the facts, which characterize current stage of humanity development, is the creation of different new devices and progressive technologies aimed to improve the comfort of human existence. But while for some people new social benefits are becoming more and more widely available, for the other part of human race the inability to take all of the advantages of new goods has already became a sign of their social backwardness. Thus, inequality in consumption standards has already become one of the most important criteria of social differentiation nowadays. Poor people are trying to reach the consumption level of the rich ones, for whom such aspiration is obviously; that is why they became rich. In such way, achieving unlimited consumption is the one thing everybody wants and tries to reach this goal, and using his own capabilities. High consumption standards like this are strongly propagated by media, as the desired pattern of ordinary lifestyle. This universal desire nourishes and supports some kind of pyramid that forming a vicious circle of desire to increase consumption all over the world. Following this path humankind has been splatted into several billions of individuals, and each of whom is fighting only for their own ‗well-being‘ often forgetting that it may not coincide with general interests.
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