[Buddha-l] Buddhism and Politics

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Tue, 2005-07-26 at 10:45 +1200, Sally McAra wrote:

> I'd be interested to know what evidence you have for the idea that
> Buddhists or Buddhist organisations tend to be politically
> conservative in countries where they are well established.

None whatsoever. It was a deduction from an a priori conviction that
organized religion is always much worse than the problems that religion
was presumably designed to solve. Like all pronouncements of this kind,
there are bound to be exceptions. What I have seen in my own experience
of living in Japan, and reading about contemporary Japanese Buddhism,
seems to confirm my a priori conviction. The situation in Myanmar also
tends to confirm it. Most of what I have read about Chinese Buddhism
also confirms it. Anecdotal evidence from friends of mine who who lived
as monks in Thailand, Sri Lanka and in Tibetan monasteries in India also
confirms it. So far, I have found nothing that tempts me to modify my a
priori rule, but if I do, I will unhesitatingly (and even joyously)
change my views on what a sorry goddamn thing religion as a rule is.

> Surely various "engaged Buddhists" would be an exception?

Where are there any engaged Buddhists outside the West? I think engaged
Buddhism corroborates rather than proves the rule I stated. (I still
cling to the quaint belief that "proving the rule" still means, as it
used to mean, testing the rule and finding an exception to it.)

> I expect that western concepts of politically conservative vs
> progressive don't necessarily equate with political orientations in
> Thailand, Sri Lanka, Taiwan or wherever, anyway, so it would be very
> difficult to make such a comparison.

I don't think it's difficult at all. When I say that Asian Buddhists are
conservative, I mean conservative by Western standards. It really makes
no difference at all to me what their own standards are. Let them
evaluate themselves in their own way for their own reasons. I am a
Western person, and I will evaluate everything by the only standards
with which I am familiar.

> For example, take Sri Lanka, where there is a politicised movement
> among Buddhists that might seem xenophobic, e.g. outlawing christian
> proselytisation - but they are trying to fend off some quite
> aggressive christian missionisation. Does that make them nationalists?

Yes. There is no doubt about that. Their fear of an outside religion
makes them xenophobic. Their fear of making changes that might very well
be quite good for them makes them conservative. There is nothing less
conservative and xenophobic about a Buddhist resisting Christianity than
there is about a Christian resisting yoga or a Jew resisting Sufism or
any religious person resisting science or humanism.

>  I don't know enough about it to hazard a guess.

That's fine. I'll do your guessing for you. All you have to do is
believe me.

> Interestingly, I read in a biography of Lama Yeshe, that he took an
> interest in american politics, and supported the bombing of some
> middleeastern country back in the early 1980s i think it was (I didn't
> note down where I read this or any of the details, but I recall being
> surprised to read this!)

Yes. I recall being astonished to discover that a number of Asian
Buddhists in Canada were in favour of reinstating the death penalty. And
that some American Vietnamese Buddhists supported the Gulf War. And that
a lama whom I deeply respected refused to teach meditation to
homosexuals. And that an Asian Buddhist leader led a movement to have
women removed from the local Buddhist Council on the grounds that they
could not understand dharma. These all surprised me and disgusted me.
And reinforced my prejudices against organized religions.

-- 
Richard Hayes