The theology group that I go to each week has been reading Paul Knitter’s ‘Without Buddha I couldn’t be a Christian’. Overall, we’ve found the Buddhist insights helpful until this last week when the chapter was on social justice. Here the difference between a Buddhist approach and a Christian one is quite stark. For Buddhists any sense of polarisation between good and evil or taking sides one against the other is not helpful and maybe even harmful as it simply encourages division and breaks the sense of interconnectedness that is at the heart of its view of the human condition. It’s not that Buddhists are against social justice or do not desire peace, but they see wisdom and insight as the way to achieving it rather than actively working to change unjust structures. For Buddhists it is important to accept the way things are rather than having a discomfort with them so that we long for and actively work for a better world, trying to change unjust structures and establish a society which is just and peaceful.
This is the approach of Christianity and Judaism. In his book ‘To Heal a Fractured World’ Jonathan Sacks sees a religion that keeps people satisfied with life and preserves the status quo as dangerous. For him Judaism is not a religion that reconciles us to the world. Rather it is a religion of protest. God, he suggests, “does not want the people of the covenant to be one that accepts the evils and injustices of the world as the will of God. He wants the people of the covenant to hear the cry of the oppressed, the pain of the afflicted and the plaint of the lonely. He wants them not to accept the world that is because it is not the world that ought to be.” Christianity coming as it does from Judaism echoes these thoughts. In the Lord’s prayer Christians pray ‘may your Kingdom come on earth ….as it is in heaven’, suggesting an ideal situation which is not dominated by power, wealth or glory but by the values of justice, peace, service, love, compassion, integrity, reconciliation, wisdom etc - a world in which we will all have a concern for the common good and indeed the good of all sentient beings. For many Christians this means engaging in protest, challenging unjust structures, engaging in social action and politics. Not to do so would be seen as somehow failing in our commitment to build the Kingdom of God – or at least contribute to it.
Buddhists too of course recognise the social injustices of our time and the need to transform the oppressive and exploitative social structures that underlie issues such as poverty, climate change, racism, war etc. It was Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, suggested for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, who coined the phrase ‘engaged Buddhism’. And Buddhist Joanna Macey works ceaselessly to bring about and encourage others to engage in what she calls the Great Transformation of society. At the heart of Buddhism is the desire to alleviate human suffering and to promote the flourishing of all sentient beings which is what the Kingdom of God is about. The difference between Buddhism and Christianity is not in their recognition of injustice or their desire to alleviate it but in their approach for doing this.
For Buddhists the approach is not to tackle the injustice head on, the way Christians might do. Rather it is to recognise and accept that life is one of suffering and dissatisfaction and so there should be an element of acceptance and detachment from it. It is also to recognise that injustice, violence and war, are caused by greed, hatred and the delusion of forgetting our interconnectedness with the oppressor and the oppressed. As Tich Nhat Hanh’s poem Call Me by my True Names says, “I am the 12-year-old girl refugee on a small boat who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving”. In doing this a Buddhist is feeling the pain of the situation and seeking to feel compassion for everyone involved. The Christian maxim when it comes to peace is ‘if you want peace, work for justice’ and the Buddhist one is ‘if you want peace, be peace’. For a Buddhist therefore the work for social justice is not so much to actively engage but rather to change oneself and try to free oneself from greed, hatred and delusion through meditation practices, recognising that this can be a contribution to a broader social transformation that involves all sentient beings.
While these two approaches seem to be in stark contrast to one another and our theology group favoured one rather than the other, I have my doubts. Nicholas of Cusa talked of the coincidence of opposites and my experience of interfaith shows that sometimes apparent contradictions are complementary ways of looking at life and both contain wisdom and truth. It’s obvious, I think, that many of the ills of our society such as poverty and inequality, consumerism and fear of the stranger flow from greed; that power is involved in many of the conflicts around the globe; that we are incapable of seeing others as our brothers and sisters and contributing to the flourishing of our planet rather than exploiting its resources. A change of heart is necessary. Even Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within and that what is needed is repentance, a change of heart and perspective. It is this that will make our work for justice effective while realising that we can only do our small bit. For Christians this is one of the messages of Advent which starts this Sunday. Perhaps one of the advantages or even wisdoms of getting older is to realise with Rumi that “ yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
This is the approach of Christianity and Judaism. In his book ‘To Heal a Fractured World’ Jonathan Sacks sees a religion that keeps people satisfied with life and preserves the status quo as dangerous. For him Judaism is not a religion that reconciles us to the world. Rather it is a religion of protest. God, he suggests, “does not want the people of the covenant to be one that accepts the evils and injustices of the world as the will of God. He wants the people of the covenant to hear the cry of the oppressed, the pain of the afflicted and the plaint of the lonely. He wants them not to accept the world that is because it is not the world that ought to be.” Christianity coming as it does from Judaism echoes these thoughts. In the Lord’s prayer Christians pray ‘may your Kingdom come on earth ….as it is in heaven’, suggesting an ideal situation which is not dominated by power, wealth or glory but by the values of justice, peace, service, love, compassion, integrity, reconciliation, wisdom etc - a world in which we will all have a concern for the common good and indeed the good of all sentient beings. For many Christians this means engaging in protest, challenging unjust structures, engaging in social action and politics. Not to do so would be seen as somehow failing in our commitment to build the Kingdom of God – or at least contribute to it.
Buddhists too of course recognise the social injustices of our time and the need to transform the oppressive and exploitative social structures that underlie issues such as poverty, climate change, racism, war etc. It was Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, suggested for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King, who coined the phrase ‘engaged Buddhism’. And Buddhist Joanna Macey works ceaselessly to bring about and encourage others to engage in what she calls the Great Transformation of society. At the heart of Buddhism is the desire to alleviate human suffering and to promote the flourishing of all sentient beings which is what the Kingdom of God is about. The difference between Buddhism and Christianity is not in their recognition of injustice or their desire to alleviate it but in their approach for doing this.
For Buddhists the approach is not to tackle the injustice head on, the way Christians might do. Rather it is to recognise and accept that life is one of suffering and dissatisfaction and so there should be an element of acceptance and detachment from it. It is also to recognise that injustice, violence and war, are caused by greed, hatred and the delusion of forgetting our interconnectedness with the oppressor and the oppressed. As Tich Nhat Hanh’s poem Call Me by my True Names says, “I am the 12-year-old girl refugee on a small boat who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving”. In doing this a Buddhist is feeling the pain of the situation and seeking to feel compassion for everyone involved. The Christian maxim when it comes to peace is ‘if you want peace, work for justice’ and the Buddhist one is ‘if you want peace, be peace’. For a Buddhist therefore the work for social justice is not so much to actively engage but rather to change oneself and try to free oneself from greed, hatred and delusion through meditation practices, recognising that this can be a contribution to a broader social transformation that involves all sentient beings.
While these two approaches seem to be in stark contrast to one another and our theology group favoured one rather than the other, I have my doubts. Nicholas of Cusa talked of the coincidence of opposites and my experience of interfaith shows that sometimes apparent contradictions are complementary ways of looking at life and both contain wisdom and truth. It’s obvious, I think, that many of the ills of our society such as poverty and inequality, consumerism and fear of the stranger flow from greed; that power is involved in many of the conflicts around the globe; that we are incapable of seeing others as our brothers and sisters and contributing to the flourishing of our planet rather than exploiting its resources. A change of heart is necessary. Even Jesus said that the kingdom of God is within and that what is needed is repentance, a change of heart and perspective. It is this that will make our work for justice effective while realising that we can only do our small bit. For Christians this is one of the messages of Advent which starts this Sunday. Perhaps one of the advantages or even wisdoms of getting older is to realise with Rumi that “ yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
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