NEO-BUDDHISM
A PHILOSOPHY OF HAPPINESS
Ian Ching
Buddhism is known as a religion, but it is also a philosophy. It is
the art of finding happiness. It is a misunderstanding that Buddha would be a
God, who should be honored. Buddhism does not believe in Gods, but it believes
in Karma and in the wisdom to practice Dharma, which is the
system of ethical rules and duties. Neo-Buddhism is a modern, pragmatic form of Buddhism, in
which suffering is not anymore the central theme. Next to compassion,
there is also place for enjoyment and job-satisfaction as sources of happiness.
Neo-Buddhism has strong leanings with Hinduism and Taoism.
Neo-Buddhism was founded by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. Dr. Ambedkar was originally a
Hindu, born in a poor untouchable community, but as he was opposed to the caste
system he converted to Buddhism. He argued that Buddhism was the only way for
the untouchables to gain equality. Dr. Ambedkar, who wrote a great part of the
Indian constitution, wanted to combine Buddhism with science and modern reasoning.
Therefore he introduced the term Neo-Buddhism.
To begin with an
introduction to Neo-Buddhism, let me begin with the most important question in
philosophy:
What is the meaning of life ?
Suppose that the purpose of my life would be that I play a role in a
bigger whole, that my life has a higher purpose, which is of greater
importance than my own life. Let’s say for instance, that the higher purpose of
my life would be to play a role in the balance of Mother Nature. This would
inevitably lead to the question: what then is the higher purpose of the balance
of Mother Nature ? The higher purpose of the balance of Mother Nature could be
that when Mother Nature is in balance, that then this balance is of importance
for the very existence of Mother Nature in the near future. But then, what is
the higher purpose of the existence of Mother Nature? To answer this question,
we need to define another higher purpose, of which we can again wonder what its
higher purpose is, etc. etc. A philosophy that searches for the meaning of
life, as a higher purpose that is outside of ourselves, can only either lead to
one of the following:
1. At some point, the final purpose is found, a final goal which gives
meaning to all the persons, things and elements that have this final purpose as
their meaning of life.
2. The search for a final goal is circular, and the final goal is never
found.
3. The search for the final goal is not circular, but nevertheless we
are never satisfied with a proposed goal, and keep on searching endlessly
without finding a satisfying goal ever.
A circular search for the higher purpose of life actually doesn't answer
the question what the meaning of life would be. It merely keeps on pointing to
other goals as higher purposes, and this is endlessly repeated. If I, for
instance, would say in the example above, that the purpose of nature is that we
would all life, then I'm in such a circular search for the meaning of life. The
lives of humans have a purpose in the higher goal of the balance of nature; the
balance of nature has as its higher purpose in the existence of nature; and the
higher purpose of the existence of nature is that we will all life. This
clearly doesn't find a meaning of life. It doesn't find the final goal of this
whole circle. Therefore the whole circle and its contents would be pointless.
The same is true for an endless search for the meaning of life, where we
will never find the real goal, and therefore keep on looking for it without
finding it ever. This is also a strategy that will never help us find the
meaning of life.
So there are high demands for the real goal, that would be the real meaning
of life. The demands are that it is a satisfying goal, of which there is no
higher purpose. This final goal is an end in it self. The question what would
be the higher purpose of this particular goal, is an invalid question, because
this goal has no higher purpose. Every goal in live points directly or
indirectly, to an end-goal, as its final meaning.
In fact there could also be two or more of these end-goals. But
for all of these end-goals the demands are that for each of them, there is no
higher goal. Every end-goal then, is an end in itself. For every end-goal, it
goes that the question what the higher purpose is, is an invalid question. For
there is none!
Suppose that there would be one final goal in life, and it would be God.
The higher purpose of everything would be God. Then what is the higher purpose
of God? This then, would be an invalid question, for God would be an end in
himself. There would be no higher purpose. There doesn't have to be searched
for a higher purpose of God, outside of God, for the higher purpose could be
found IN God.
But to accept God as this final goal in life, there should be reasons to
be convinced that God indeed would be the meaning of life. Neo-Buddhism does
not believe in the distinction between spirit and body. Spirit and body are
one, they are two sides of the same coin. The concept of a God, in the sense of
a superior being who only consists of spirit - without having a body, does not
fit within the Neo-Buddhist school of thought. Another article
on this site goes deeper into the holistic idea of spirit and matter being one.
So it can be concluded that Neo-Buddhism does not believe in the idea of God as
a person, a man with a long beard that would be waiting for us in heaven.
Therefore God can not be seen as the final meaning of life.
Neo-Buddhism, instead, holds that no such a final goal, as the meaning
of life, can be found in the outside world. The final goal should be an end in
itself, it could have no higher purpose, and it should give a higher purpose to
our lives. But no goal in the outer world meets these demands. Such a final
goal, that would be an end in itself, must have a consciousness. Without
a consciousness, it is impossible to have a goal,
leave alone a higher goal. If the final goal wouldn't have any goal for itself,
then it could not be an end in itself. Therefore the final goal
not only must have a consciousness, but this
consciousness must be a high and complex consciousness, a self-consciousness that
has the capability to have a goal for itself and to formulate that goal. Such a
consciousness can be found in men. The consciousness we are looking for, the final meaning of
life, is not found in a superior being, but it can be found in the individual
human. The final goal, which is an end in itself, can be found inside
ourselves.
The whole of everything, the universe, has also a kind of consciousness,
but it is not comparable to the human consciousness
- because it has no brains. Only individuals have brains. The whole of
everything has a very broad, but simple consciousness. Only a consciousness
with brains can have a complex mind. Therefore every human has a high consciousness. The human individual is very conscious, or
at least has the possibility to be very conscious. Therefore every individual
is an end in himself.
Every man is his own meaning of life, there is no higher purpose.
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"Live is an end in itself". |
Therefore our life and our happiness are our own
responsibility. We have this task to take care of our own. That is our prime
target. Of course helping others
is one way to take care of our own happiness as well.
The Dalai Lama
Buddhism holds that every man had the right to find happiness, and that
happiness is the meaning of life. It is interesting that Buddhism makes a difference
between happiness and pleasure. It would be possible for instance to experience
pleasure from drugs, while it doesn't lead to more happiness. I could have
pleasure all day with all kind of worldly things, like eating and drinking. But
would that make me happy? Maybe I derive more happiness from the labor
satisfaction that I get from my work, although I do not always enjoy my work.
Buddhism holds that pleasure often leads to wanting more and more, and that
this greed leads to an unsatisfied feeling: Being not satisfied with still more
material and other worldly things than you possess already. Or not being
satisfied because someone else even has more than yourself, which makes you
jealous. This unsatisfied feeling is a source of suffering, of unhappiness. The
most radical forms of Buddhism therefore see pleasure as something to avoid.
They try to find enlightenment by choosing purely for happiness, without
pleasure. It then is also of high importance to avoid other sources of
suffering, like fear and pain. The source of happiness is found in the
compassion with others. This is meanly expressed by helping other people by
freeing them of sources of suffering, so that these people can also come closer
to happiness (suffering, being a source of unhappiness, will decrease).
The main difference between these radical forms of Buddhism and Neo-Buddhism is that the radical forms of Buddhism have a
negative viewpoint on the concept of happiness. The highest goal in life is
happiness, and to achieve it we are going to help each other to stop suffering.
Helping each other to stop suffering is actually the only source of happiness,
so it should be the main content of our lives to do so. Everyone that we help
to stop suffering can achieve happiness by helping still others, etc. etc.
Suppose for instance that John helps Dagny to stop suffering. And suppose that
Dagny, then helps Hank
to stop suffering. Now suppose that Hank helps again John, to stop suffering.
So we are all helping each other! Everyone is happy, because he is helping
someone else. Now suppose that we succeed in our mission, and everyone stops
suffering.
Now the real problem begins, because we have suddenly
lost our only source of experiencing happiness (which is helping others to stop
suffering). We are not unhappy, because we have stopped suffering, but we are
not happy either, because there is no one to help. So if we would all reach
Nirvana, and we will all be enlightened, will we then not be able to experience
happiness? Is it so, that in Nirvana, there is no goal anymore, and everything
has become pointless?
In Neo-Buddhism there are more sources of happiness
than only compassion, for instance labor satisfaction. By contributing to
society when working, and being rewarded for my work with material and
immaterial components, I experience happiness. Suppose that I was an architect,
and I would make a beautiful skyscraper for people to live in, then I would be proud on my achievement. But suppose that no one
would ever look at my building, and nobody would ever be going to life in it, then I wouldn't experience it as a
source of happiness. I would have the feeling that I would have made an
pointless creation. The process of creation contributes to my happiness, but
part of this happiness consist of the idea that my creation contributes to the
happiness of other people. So labor satisfaction has a strong social component
in it, and in abstraction this social component is a form of helping others.
The fact that it is possible to contribute to the
happiness of other people, implies that these other people can experience
happiness from my contribution. In this example, these people experience the
enjoyment of living in this place. Only if the enjoyment of living in a certain
place, is a noble cause, then
it would make a point to help someone with living in a certain place. Only when
the enjoyment of living at a certain place would be a noble cause, I would make a contribution by building a house
or a building. If this were not the case, building houses and buildings would
be pointless. So the question is whether enjoyment, pleasure, can be a source
of happiness.
Classical Buddhism
Classical Buddhism especially concentrates on
compassion, which is helping other people not to suffer, and partly or totally
denies that pleasure is a source of happiness - for it is seen as a source of
suffering. Neo-Buddhism on the other hand holds that pleasure is a positive
impulse which is directly an end in itself, or is indirectly by means of labor
satisfaction, a source of happiness. I have to add to that that labor
satisfaction not only derives from reaching the end goal of this particular
work (for instance a building), but also the process of creation itself, the
use of your talents, is an important source of happiness.
From this perspective it is possible to have a goal in
nirvana. We can still help each other with other things than stopping the suffering.
We can also help each other with experiencing enjoyment, pleasure. And we can
help ourselves with experiencing pleasure. Pleasure is the positive source of
happiness, while stopping the suffering is a negative source of happiness (for
you can derive happiness by helping some else to stop suffering).
It is the art of life to take care that experiencing
pleasure, does not lead you to feelings of dissatisfaction because you are too
obsessed with greed. You will need to find balance in your life, between the
things that you want, and the things that you can reach. If you want more than
you can reach, that will be a source of suffering. If you are in balance you
want what you can reach, you can achieve these goals and enjoy the pleasure,
and this is a source of happiness. I you are denying pleasure as a source of
happiness, then you will miss
this happiness. Balance is the key. A good tip is to enjoy what you
already have, instead of focusing only on what you don't have. I you have a
realistic goal to reach for something that you don't have yet, and you really
want to achieve it, then
you have a good impulse to use your creativity to reach this goal. And this
will contribute to your final goal, which is happiness.
The basis of classical Buddhism consists of four noble
truths:
1. Life is suffering. Suffering and dissatisfaction,
Dukkha, is the essence of human existence.
2. Suffering is caused by desire. Men has desire for
and gets attached to things which are transitory. This is because everything
that exists is applicable to transitoriness. This is the principle of Annica.
3. Suffering can be ended by overcoming desire.
4. Desire and ignorance can be overcome by following
the noble eight folded path.
THE NOBLE EIGHT FOLDED PATH
The doctrine of Dharma is symbolized by a wheel with
eight spokes. The eight spokes of this wheel symbolize the noble eight folded
path. By going along this path, the Buddhist develops understanding of the
nature of existence, of which transitoriness is an important aspect. This
understanding leads to the wisdom to find ways to be able to let go of desire
and greed and thus leads to redemption. The Buddhist walks along the eight
folded path by:
- The right vision: a vision that holds the four noble truths.
- The right intension: thinking without greed and anger.
- The right way of speaking: telling the truth, not to gossip or to use
abusive language.
- The right behavior: Not killing or hurting humans or animals,
and not stealing.
- The right living: having an honest job.
- The right effort: the effort to do the beneficial
- The right attention: attention to what happens now and here.
- The right concentration: concentration on a beneficial cause or on
that what is going on here and now.
The final goal is Nirvana.
The Buddhist's aim is redemption. This redemption is
found in the form of the enlightened consciousness that is called Nirvana.
Nirvana is the only escape from the eternal wheel of
re-birthing, Samsãra, in which a being roles from the one dissatisfying live to
the other. To reach Nirvana, man has to leave desire and greed behind. The word
"Nirvana" comes from the Pãli-language and is a junction of a denial,
nir, and desire, wãna.
According to Buddhism it is possible to become enlightened, and it is
worthwhile for everyone to develop himself. Reaching Nirvana can take several lives.
Neo-Buddhism versus Classical Buddhism
The four noble truths of Neo-Buddhism:
1. Happiness, pleasure and unfortunately suffering, are part of life.
2. There are many possible sources of happiness, of pleasure and of
suffering. Despite the transitoriness we can live a happy
life here and now. The greed for pleasure, possession or power can be a source
of suffering, for yourself and for others. This is especially the case when
greed becomes an obsession to want to possess more then you have regardless of
what you possess already, without being able to enjoy your possessions because
you are obsessed with the dissatisfaction that you don't possess enough.
3. You don't have to live as a monk to be a
Neo-Buddhist. You don't have to give up desire or pleasure. It is wise to find
inner peace by means of finding balance.
4. The art in life is to find balance between the
desire for your goals, your sources of happiness, at one side, and a rational,
realistic view on reality to see whether these goals are realistic and whether
they are of real importance for your happiness, at the other side.
Because happiness can be found now and here, escape
from this life is neither necessary nor desirable. Transhumanism offers a
scientific possibility to experience re-birthing: by freezing the body after
clinical death, you could be unfrozen and awakened later on. Because life can
be good and happy, it is beautiful if you have a chance on another life.
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10 wisdoms: |
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2. Suppose you could choose between
goal A and goal B. And suppose that you cannot find a reason why A would be
better than B or vise versa. Maybe you could check your feelings. But suppose
that your feelings haven't got anything to say. Then you could also make a
decision on basis of spontaneity, on the spur of the moment, and by whim you
choose A. Without any explanation. It is then the art to go fully for A. B is nothing, it is not your
choice, it is really A. You will find that your feelings and even enthusiasm
will develop for A. When A disappoints you later on, for whatever reason, you
can always simply change directions 180 degrees, and go for B. If you don't
have any agreements with people about this, then you owe no-one an explanation for your behavior. You don't
have to feel guilty because you change your life. Eventually, in this way you
will build up feelings about which goals in life have your preference. This
is because the human brain adapts to decisions once made. If your feelings or
your mind have an opinion however, this will help you more than cheer whim. Whim is the road along trial and error, which
could be the only way, but when you have a choice it is not the best way
however. |
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3. If you have a goal, don't let
yourself be influenced by your environment. You have goal A. Let others
choose B if they want so. A is your target, and you have nothing to do with
all the others with their goal B. Being the ambassador for your own goals and
your own happiness, is your prime task and responsibility. This is the
healthy form of egoism. |
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4. Helping others with their goals, is
a way to contribute to your own happiness as well as to the happiness of the
person helped. You can help someone to achieve B, and then go on with your
own goal A. If you are never helping someone else, that could be a source of
unhappiness for yourself, an unhealthy form of egoism. |
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5. The goals that you pick should be within reach, or otherwise these
goals would be irrational. Don't underestimate your possibilities, but don't
overestimate them either. Goals that do not contribute to your inner happiness,
will probably only serve your short term interests, while on the long term
they could be harmful to your feelings of happiness. Do not let go of your
passions, by saying they are out of reach, and summing up all sorts of
practical problems for yourself. Within the context of reality, the practical
problems are there to overcome. Don't say to yourself that something is not
for you, when it is your passion and could be for you. |
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6. Working towards a goal is most of
the time of more importance for your happiness, than the goal itself. |
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7. Not realizing one of your goals
does not have to be a reason to be unhappy. Life exists of multiple goals.
You can also enjoy that what you already have, and the goals you have already
realized. |
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8. With complex targets, like a job
or a romantic relationship, it is best if your mind and your feelings are in
harmony about it. If you have no clue what you want in life, it would be wise
to start with developing simple goals as described in wisdom 2. Doing so, you
can build up a basis of feelings that will lead you to the pathway of knowing
what you want in life, and deciding which jobs and relationships fit your
personality. |
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9. In your life, relationships and
jobs, stay authentic. The best strategy is to be different from the rest. The
strategy to give people what they want, and to copy the success of others, is
doomed to fail. |
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10. The human being has only
self-consciousness as an individual, while the collective, by lack of
collective brains, hasn't. Nevertheless it is not a good idea to look
at people only as an individual. Man, being a social being, has the tendency
to identify with the group, and to be lead by leadership and other group
processes. Because you are, as an individual, in the possibility to make
individual choices, it is possible to choose to which group you want to
belong or identify, which leaders in which social context you will accept,
which groups you could lead yourself if you have that in you, and which
people, groups or opinions you don't want to have anything to do with. |
Art and inspiration as a source of happiness