Buddhist ethics searches out the nature of suffering, its arising, and the paths to resolution of that suffering. This is radical, not remedial, ethics. Christopher Ives argues that the experience that is śūnyatā ("emptiness") has a profound effect on the resources ethical imagination utilizes in confronting the chaotic disorder of modern human life. Śūnyatā negates "the entanglement with dualistic subjectivity" that assumes an existent subject who is wholly independent of the process of exterior impermanent reality. In our lived experience, this negation is the activity of progressively emptying "the narrowly selfish concern and the deceit, manipulation, domination and violence that may accompany such entanglements."¹

The experience that is Śūnyatā, requiring the radical dissolution of ego-self, emancipates the person, freeing one to compassionate activity on behalf of whole-being. It is the experience of liberation from the constant pursuit of selfish desire that is the basis for the illusion of ego-self. Self-emptying is the activity that opens one to the world and "is a key facet of compassion."²

Because śūnyatā is "a formulation of relational being" that is the negation of ego-self, society is experienced "most fundamentally as a network of interdependent events, not as a collection of independent selves. This promotes the recognition that ultimately one's own well-being is inseparable from that of others."³ This is the basis for the path of the bodhisattva, an "enlightenment being" in Mahayana, who rejects personal enlightenment now, vowing to lead all beings into Nirvana. Each moment, the salvation of whole-being must be worked out in the world in which we live-and-die.

Prajñā is an active intuitive insight formed by experiences within the relational tension that is śūnyatā, which has been called "not-two and not-one."

The insight realized in prajñā is embodied in karuna (compassionate action). Karuna (compassion) has two aspects: it is the empathetic identification with the suffering of another being, with all beings; and it is action with the other being that lessens her or his suffering. Karuna is not understood as a form of altruistic sacrifice. Rather, it arises from the realization that there are no essential obstructions, nor any distance between all beings. This identity is authentically realized in one who has let go of "fixated subjectivity."⁵ In other words, the ethic of śūnyatā is founded on the identity between practice and its realization (i.e., śūnyatā) and the activity of realization (i.e., karuna) that is practiced with all beings. In this way, Ives links religious suffering and social suffering: Action leading to awakening "is praxis directed toward a solution of social suffering in all of its forms - economic, political and ecological. This action aims at social transformation, with the ultimate goal of the group’s emancipation in the secular and religious senses."⁶

A Buddhist social ethic begins with the relationship between the individual and the community. Human persons work out their happiness in relation to one another. There is no essential distance or obstruction between us, only the desperate attempts to maintain the illusion of an autonomous, unchanging self that manifest as attachments, aversions, and confusions in my life. The truth of our existence is compassionate participation within the field of tensional existence that is śūnyatā, by which we break through the illusion of separateness of me-and-mine. In a moment, characterized by Dōgen as “molting of mind-and-body” (shinjindatsuraku)⁷, I come to see that I and the other are "not-two." In the same experience, I come to see that I is "not one" as well, as the rich particularity of all beings is open to authenticate me and I am open to experience each in its concrete circumstance.⁸ Community is before and after the particular person and the person is the community coming into activity in each uniquely creative moment and relationship in this very present.

It is within this context of community and the dynamic relationships of interdependence that a Buddhist social ethic will challenge each of us to fuller participation in the compassionate caring of all who make up whole-being, in and through the variety of political, social, and economic institutions that are also called to compassionately serve the society. For example, human rights are derived from responsible relationships that manifest compassion for one another.⁹ From a Buddhist perspective, rights are not absolutes, but "negotiated social contracts based on fairness and respect since everyone wants freedom from arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, health, food, self-esteem and education."¹⁰ Chappell remarks at the affinity between the thirty articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Mahayana injunctions to "do no evil, cultivate good, and save all beings."¹¹

A Buddhist social ethic will nurture work in its personal and social dimensions. Work is that discipline by which we realize our humanity in service to the community that is whole-being. The person is the first recipient of the fruits of work which in its deepest sense is (or can be) an expression of enlightenment and our freedom toward the society, which is the ultimate recipient of our work. E.F. Schumacher comments that "life is some sort of school, and in this school nothing counts but good work, work that ennobles the product as it ennobles the producer. In the process of doing good work the ego of the worker disappears. He frees himself from his ego, so that the divine element in him can become active."¹²

Finally, a Buddhist social ethic will challenge individuals and society to embody ahimsā (non-injury). Ethics within Noble Eightfold Path (Right Speech, Action, and Livelihood) is an expression of the Buddha’s insight into ahimsā as the means to realization of wisdom and compassion. Drawn from the experience of the interdependence of life apprehended in meditation, ahimsā is both an ethical judgment and a descriptive symbol of the dynamic interdependence of life.

The sources of Buddhist peace teaching cohere about the experience of wisdom and compassion as I have used the terms in this paper. One traditional structure for teaching the insights into the wisdom and compassion of the Buddha is the Four Noble Truths. The fourth truth is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is the response to the arising of suffering and the Buddha’s means for the attainment of nirvana. Each step in the path is interdependent with the other steps. Each step has a wisdom and compassion dimension and the path itself is fashioned within the tension formed by between them which transcends both extreme asceticism and self-gratification. This is symbolized in the story of the Buddha’s life, which is structured around the contrast between his princely life of sensual pleasure and protection from suffering in any form and his life of supreme asceticism before the resolution of the tension in the enlightenment experience of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. This traditional structure can be used to organize our previous reflections into a coherent and compelling statement on peace.

The path itself has three subdivisions: Ethics, Wisdom, and Concentration. Ethics is an application of wisdom and compassion that is centered on the implementation of the ethic of non-injury (ahimsā) and is composed of Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood. Right Speech, by which the individual avoids using speech to harm other beings and uses speech for communicating the truth, nurtures in others the truth of our condition.

Peace, in light of Right Speech, is a structure of truth which must be nurtured through dialogue, based on constructive and compassionate use of speech, both individually and as a society. The truth, which requires a compassionate action dimension, cannot be forced on someone. Authentic speech is always persuasive toward the truth of tensional existence. Speaking the truth is part of the obligation and virtue of ahimsā. Institutions must be communities that legitimate discourse in terms of the truth. They must seek to serve the society and individuals by creating the conditions within which truth in speech is valued, representing the dynamic tension that is śūnyatā, realized in the mutual interdependence of all beings.

Second, Right Action forbids actions that harm self or others and which encourage actions that are honorable, peaceful, and serve persons and the community. Peace, in light of Right Action, is a structure of truth that nurtures compassionate and loving action for the community that is whole-being. Peaceful actions begin with the individual injunctions not to steal, kill, or engage in illicit sexual activity. They continue with efforts to avoid harming other beings and compromising one’s own mindfulness through illicit use of alcohol and drugs. Peace is not simply the absence of violence represented by these injunctions, but more importantly the positive determination to engage the marginalized and poor as persons, not abstractions. It is the treatment of my and your body with respect and caring attention, with careful attention to the implications of sexual relationships for the future of those involved, the relative ability of the parties to consent to such a relationship, and "the responsibilities of bringing new lives into the world."¹³

At the social level peace entails organized, community-based efforts to nurture such actions among individuals, and create and implement bureaucratic and social structures that make-up an environment that enables individuals to resist consumerism through public discourse challenging materialist reductions of human meaning. It is active engagement against killing by legislation, executive act, or judicial decision within the society. It is sharing the goods of the society in more equitable ways so that everyone is assured enough. Peace is nurtured through acceptance and implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Peace, in light of Right Livelihood, is a structure of truth which must be fostered through compassionate and loving professions and lifestyles that nurture the community that is whole-being. Thich Nhat Hahn’s poem, Recommendations, mentioned above, speaks to the peace which results from a life of non-violent resistance to evil that is part of our compassionate response to the suffering in the world. We need to choose professions which serve peace. This means making one’s living in a way that serves others, bringing them together in forgiveness, tolerance, and reconciliation, in whatever tasks one performs. At the social level, the society discourages lifestyles that are steeped in violence, consumption, and disregard for the welfare of the whole community. The structures of society should support peaceful livelihoods if they are to be peaceful themselves. Therefore, Sivaraksa suggests that they should be democratic and more egalitarian. At the international level this suggests new structures for the UN which are representative of people, not just nation-states.

The second subdivision is "Wisdom," and it has two parts, Right Thought and Right Understanding. Right Thought, which discourages negative thinking in the form of attachments, anger, ill-will, lust, torpor, and doubt, encourages thoughts of selflessness, loving kindness, compassion, detachment, and equanimity.

Peace, in light of Right Thought, is a structure of truth which fosters compassionate and loving wisdom that penetrates appearances, desires and fears of individuals and institutions. It is insight into the web of being that nurtures all life and is the grounding for the ethical life considered throughout this paper. Right Thought depends on the commitment of individuals to pursue intellectual and moral education and the commitment of the society to provide the educational environment that will serve these needs of individuals. Education is a community undertaking in which the individual serves the community best through coming to know oneself better.

Right Understanding is essentially that step in the path by which one cultivates insight into the truth of reality, which is already found in the Four Noble Truths. The disciple accepts the truth of the Four Noble Truths even though she or he has not fully realized it. Thus, when suffering in any form arises, the disciple does not look around to blame someone else. Instead she or he investigates the cause of its arising conditioned in ignorance. The disciple then assesses the possibility of cessation of the suffering in question and then applies the methodology of the Noble Eightfold Path to bring about the cessation of suffering. Of course, when this step is fully realized, one has reached nirvana.

Peace, in light of Right Understanding, is a structure of truth by which we recognize reality for what it is and commit ourselves to live within that truth that reveals the origin of suffering in ignorance and the capacity each of us has to overcome that ignorance in letting go of ego-selfishness. At the social level, it means abandoning dependence on coercive dogmatisms that are not persuasive, but oppressive. Peace is structured in such a way that it accommodates change, and is open to new truths. Peace nurtures "compassion by seeing the diversity within ourselves and our interdependence with others which defuses the ego and finds common ground."¹⁶

Finally, the third subdivision of Concentration, which is made up of Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration is founded in a specific cultivation of mind applied to the attainment of enlightenment. Right Effort is concerned with matching your efforts to the existing reality within which we participate. If you find good mental states (meaning those which are conducive to liberation), then pay attention to them, and increase their presence and capacity. If you find negative mental states (meaning those conditions that are not conducive to liberation), then don’t contribute to them. Rather, lessen them and decrease their capacity for harm. If you find neutral states of mind, prevent the negative states of mind from arising and nurture good states of mind.¹⁷ Patricia Ryan-Madson argues that Right Effort begins with paying attention to reality and determining what "supports me" in the situation (a focus on interdependence) and to know my purpose in this situation (a focus of service to the world). It continues with acceptance of my feelings in this situation, and then doing what needs to be done.¹⁸

Peace is a result of compassion. Confronted with anger or hatred, Thich Nhat Hahn recommends that one respond with meditation on compassion, by which one can see the person who is the source of the anger and deal with the occasion of anger while forgiving and loving the person. He quotes the Lotus Sutra, "Learn to look at other beings with the eyes of compassion."¹⁹ The social dimension of the meditation on compassion is outlined in the Nāgārjuna’s reflection on the duties of the compassionate king.

Right Mindfulness is the center of the path in the sense that mindfulness is the mental discipline by which one accomplishes this path. It is attention to one’s physical environment, body, sensations, thoughts, emotions and the patterns of arising and cessation of suffering that make up human existence. Mindfulness begins with attention to the breath, the first exercise one learns in meditation practice. Mindfulness is actually a form of mental culture, by which one pays attention, and comes to realization.²¹ The Dalai Lama writes that though our hearts beat with fear at the approach of our external enemies, they are powerless to send us to hell. But "disturbing emotions" can and they are pure illusions. Mindfulness is the key to paying attention to these emotions, which in the light of wisdom are discharged into emptiness, never to return.²²

The source and cause of peace and happiness is the mind. Happiness arises from virtuous practice, sufferings arise from negative practice. So happiness and suffering depend upon whether your mind is transformed or not. ²³

The final step is Right Concentration that teaches the mental disciplines allowing one to cultivate concentration and a mind that is capable of achieving enlightenment. Concentration is a means for attaining the focus necessary for deep journeying within that is basis for realization. Technically, one develops the strength of mind by which you can see the arising and passing of beings (dibbacakkhu), unfold one’s past lives and experiences (retrocognition), and realize the knowledge of the destruction of all defilements.²⁴ Peace is a structure of the mind of compassion. Even as I prepare my mind for the arduous disciplines of letting go of desires and fears, concentration on the suffering of other beings focuses not just this mental state within, transforming my mind and heart, but they are transformed as well.

Peace in our world is a structure of compassion, linked together in the network of interdependence that is śūnyatā. Commenting on the universal nature of this interdependence, the Dalai Lama reminds us that "evil spirits" are like us in wanting happiness and not wanting suffering. "If you can see all sentient beings as of the same nature, you will not have to invite lamas to perform rituals to subdue evil spirits. You will not have to waste your money and resources."²⁵ Of interest to us is the ritual he used when asked to deal with such a spirit:

In this reflection on peace in light of the Buddhist tradition, we see that dynamics of peace arising from the interior transformation of self, freeing oneself for others, moving toward the social dimensions of compassionate action. This is the path of the bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism. The embodiment of the tension between prajñā (wisdom) and karuna (compassion) is the bodhisattva (enlightenment-being) who vows to forego enlightenment until every last being is brought into nirvana. She reenters the world of suffering, life after life practicing perfect giving of all merit for the welfare of every being.

It is this encounter with transcendence at the center of Buddhist activity that defines its universal appeal to a humanity that suffers in loneliness. This experience that is śūnyatā propels one into the truth of the community of whole-being, and the action that draws one into compassionate union with the suffering of the world, authenticating our loving kindliness (mettā), compassion (karuna), sympathetic joy (muditā), and boundless equanimity (upekkhā).²⁷ These "Four Noble Abodes" (Brahma-vihāra) are the characteristic virtues of Buddhist living and a fitting conclusion to this reflection on peace in both its personal and social aspects in Buddhism.

The virtue of each is interdependent with the others. "Someone filled with loving kindness is also moved by deepest pity, delighted by the attainment of others, and completely settled in mind."²⁸ That they are understood from three different perspectives – "paradigms of virtuous conduct, as objects of focused meditation, and as topics of realization"²⁹ – is a method for reflection on peace as well. For Buddhists, they lay out ideals of conduct, they are means to focus meditations on peace and transformation of suffering, and they symbolize states of realization that arise from our identification with the experience of interdependence that is śūnyatā.

"Loving kindness" is the quality of "extending unlimited, universal love and good-will to all living beings without any kind of discrimination."³⁰ We have discussed compassion throughout this paper, but would add here only that compassion is focused on the empathetic identification with the suffering of all beings based in the realization of the interdependence of whole-being. "Sympathetic joy" is focused on the happiness realized by other beings. It is the joy one feels for and with the other because of their happiness. Aitken Roshi reminds us that such happiness for others is a challenge to the ego, which often takes pleasure in the downfall of others and is severely challenged when their joy comes seemingly at our expense.³¹ Finally, there is equanimity, which refers to the experience of being present to whole-being without discrimination or separation. The virtue that is cultivated is the capacity to enter into the world of suffering without "disturbing emotions" which act to move our focus from others back to our ego-self. Aitken comments on the movement from the mind and its experience to action in the world:

As with Christians, Buddhists and Buddhism do in fact contribute to the cultural justifications for peace within a wide spectrum of societies in Asia and now the West. We have shown the considerable resources within the Buddhist experience for articulating a committed stance toward peace, non-violence, compassionate actions toward alleviating the suffering of not only human beings, but all of nature.

The analysis of the potential contributions of Buddhism to social transformation for a more humane and compassionate world that is more just and peaceful shows strengths arising from the efforts to transcend the ego-self into community that is inclusive of the total diversity of whole being. The weakness of the Buddhist stance is its historical lack of social and political resistance to host regimes that had little regard for the core values Buddhism carried and nurtured. Rulers could gain some little consolation in the concern Buddhists had for them and the kingdoms (or countries) in general, but they could not justify their wars of desire and fear using authentic Buddhist teaching. Nonetheless, Sivaraksa charges that "Buddhism, as practiced in most Asian countries today, serves mainly to legitimize dictatorial regimes and multinational corporations."³³

As Buddhists have developed the social analytical tools necessary for critiquing modern political and economic systems, many Buddhists have become compassionate activists challenging political and economic oppression and exploitation in the name of mutual interdependence, non-violence, universal loving concern, compassion, Buddha, and the environment and its myriad dharmas. Sivaraksa insists that Buddhism must spend less time on ritual and tradition, and more time on living what the Buddha taught. He declares:

ENDNOTES

[1] Christopher Ives, Zen Awakening and Society, with a Foreword by Masao Abe and John Hick (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1992), 39.

[2] Ibid., 40.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid., 46.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid., 106.

[7] See Kasulis, Thomas P., Zen Action, Zen Person (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1981), 66-67.

[8] Ives, Zen Awakening and Society, 46.

[9] See Sulak Sivaraksa, “Buddhism and Human Rights in Siam,” in Socially Engaged Buddhism for the New Millennium: Essays in Honor of The Ven. Phra Dhammapitaka (Bhikkhu P.A.Payutto) On His 60th Birthday Anniversary, ed. Sulak Sivaraksa (Bangkok: Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation & Foundation for Children, 1999). Ven. U Rewata Dhamma comments: “The depiction of rights as simply a Western invention fails to understand the relationship of rights to responsibilities and ethical norms. . . . [T]he central values of all societies are very much the same. All ethical systems encourage people to love each other, and discourage killing, violence, and so on. The universality and inseparability of human rights may therefore be understood as reflecting the universality and inseparability of inter-responsibility emerging from  Dhamma.” Ibid., 196.

[10] Chappell, “Buddhist Peace Principles,” 212.

[11] Ibid., 212-213.

[12] E.F. Schumacher, “Good Work,” in Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood, ed. Claude Whitmyer (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1994), 134.

[13] Eppsteiner, “In the Crucible”, 152.

[14] See Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, rev. ed., with a Foreword by Paul Demiéville (New York: Grove Press, 1974), 47.

[15] See Michael Phillips, “The Social Dimensions of ‘Rightlivelihood,’” in Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood, ed. Claude Whitmyer, with a Foreword by Ernest Callenbach (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1994), 111-114.

[16] Chappell, Buddhist Peacework, 226.

[17] Ibid., 48.

[18] See Patricia Ryan-Madson, “Reality’s Work,” in Mindfulness and Meaningful Work: Explorations in Right Livelihood, ed. Claude Whitmyer, with a Foreword by Ernest Callenbach (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1994), 204-207.

[19] Thick Nhat Hanh, Being Peace, ed. Arnold Kotler with illustrations by Mayumi Oda (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1996), 93.

[20] Robert A.F. Thurman, “Nāgārjuna’s Guidelines for Buddhist Social Action,” in The Path of Compassion, rev. 2d ed., ed. Fred Eppsteiner (Berkeley: Parallax Press and Buddhist Peace Fellowship, 1988), 89.

[21] Ibid. See also Walpola Rahula, “‘Meditation’ or Mental Culture: Bhāvanā,” in What the Buddha Taught, rev. ed. (New York: Grove Press, 1974), 67-75.

[22] See Dalai Lama, XIV,  “The Mindful Life,” in The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace, ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr., The Path to Enlightenment Series, ed. John F. Avedon (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, HarperCollins Publishers, 1997), 70-91.

[23] Ibid., 79.

[24] See David J. Kalupahana, Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism (Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1975), 104.

[25] Dalai Lama, XIV, The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace, ed. Donald S. Lopez, Jr. (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, HarperCollins Publishers, 1997), 149-150.

[26] Ibid., 150. Italics are mine.

[27] Robert Aitken, “Sorting the Wisdom of Words: Milan Kundera and the Four Noble Abodes,” in Socially Engaged Buddhism for the New Millennium: Essays in Honor of The Ven. Phra Dhammapitaka (Bhikkhu P.A.Payutto) On His 60th Birthday Anniversary, ed. Sulak Sivaraksa (Bangkok: Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation & Foundation for Children, 1999), 445.

[28] Ibid.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Rahula, What the Buddha Taught, 75.

[31] See Aitken, “Sorting the Wisdom of Words,” 447. The story of Head Monk, Hua-lin is a classic example. He is passed over for another by his master to found a new monastery. The question we are left with is whether, if in his place, we could stand up and “clap our hands and call out ‘Congratulations! Congratulations!’” Ibid.

[32] Ibid., 448.

[33] Sulak Sivaraksa, Seeds of Peace: A Buddhist Vision for Renewing Society, ed. Tom Ginsburg, with a Foreword by H.H. The Dalai Lama (Berkeley: Parallax Press, 1992), 68.

[34] Ibid., 69.

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