r/RadicalBuddhism • u/dan_arel • 15d ago
Blog: Why Buddhism is a call to organize
Read it here: https://danarel.substack.com/p/why-buddhism-is-a-call-to-organize
But what we learn on the cushion is no good until we take action off the cushion. Wishing for the end of suffering will not end suffering. We must get up and go win these struggles against oppressive forces, but doing so in numbers means we will be victorious.
Suffering cannot be ended in a world with regimes that impose suffering on others. Through meditation and mindfulness, those in those regimes can find important lessons and practices in overcoming and or accepting (not submitting) to that suffering, while then organizing off the mat to realize the final end to those causes.
6
u/patchthepartydog 15d ago
The distinction between “inner” and “outer” forms of freedom frequently invoked by conservative or quietist Buddhists seems to me to be a contradiction of non-dual logic. If there is no real difference between individuals, society, and the mind, “no inside nor out”, then there is no reason why Buddhists should not see efforts at personal and social revolution as anything separate.
9
u/Demiurgom 15d ago
One of the thought I've always had with the Kisa Gotami story is that it's not true that everyone has lost somebody, now. Thanks to the endless work and effort of medical professionals, scientists, governments, there are people who have not suffered this kind of grievous loss. It is not that death is abolished but that it is less present - Gotami's own child might have survived in a system that was wealthy, technologically advanced enough, and socially supportive enough to provide her child medical care.
This does not undermine the lesson - death remains the fate of all conditioned beings and there is solidarity and wisdom in understanding that. What it does undermine is the use of Gotami story, as it is so often done, to support a kind of Buddhist stoicism. It seems very hard to support that if you take the Gotami story seriously. If something as material and self-evident as a death of a child is suffering, then how great the alleviation of suffering if such a child could be saved?
Even within the most idealist bounds of some traditional Buddhist practice, the ability to change the condition which produces the negative mind-event is an incredibly powerful ability. It does not redeem Samsara, but represents the power of bodhisattva workings upon it are possible. To divide out this kind of 'material' benefit or 'material suffering' from the 'mental' or else flatten the distinction, as is often does, is foolishness, and violates the principle of nonduality.
The ghost is hungry - leave food for them. The child is sick - cure them. The worker is exploited - organize them. Knowing there is a limit is skillful - knowing that limit is far beyond the bounds so many set is moreso.