Featured artist Luke Robson
Immutability: We can understand that science is science, in buddhist psychology, science is called Dharma.
Dharma is Dharma. What's true is true. We have absolute truths and relative truths, in Buddhism these are called the Two Truths. Any science, whether Tibetan Psychology, Astrophysics, or Economics aims to difine the absolute unchanging immutable truth. Albert Einstein wrote that in,"astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields attempt to discover laws of general acceptability..." So in economics there are some things that are absolutely true, irrefutable and immutable like the Vajra. Buddha spoke of the city of gold as a metaphor, we're not sure if he was being prophetic. The only thing he wrote about socioeconomic theory was Vinaya Pitaka, But he wrote that for a society that existed at Hinayana 'level of aptitude'. There are today many people in our society that are developed beyond that, So we need to "turn the wheel of Dharma" so to speak. EF Schumacher had some great ideas, But his Buddhist economics was more about principle and less about immutable economic laws (although he did co-create the CLT which can be a key factor in a truly Buddhist Economy). Henry George pointed out economic truths as immutable as the Vajra. In my opinion Progress and Poverty lays out the fundamentals of a Buddhist economy. Can be explained in detail from the perspective of the Dharma teachings of Tibetan Buddhism even in relation to the Lamaism handed down through Padmasambava, And it might help to learn the spiral dynamic system as a linguistic tool , But we can also use the Buddhist languaging of the Yanas too if we are familiar with those. Lastly we can incorporate the immutable blockchain to serve as a technological Vajra.
Basically, simply, succinctly:
Dharma teachings + Georgism + CLT + Blockchain = Buddhist economics
It is important to understand that in the time of Buddha, land ownership was more or less 'commons' based. Feudal lordship led to collection of taxes in general society that we now call rent, and today we see tariffs on labor and products that we now call taxes. Padmasambhava near 700 AD created a network of communities that we call monasteries that all functioned in this time of early feaudalism under the instruction of Buddha Sakyamuni called Vinaya Pitaka, There was no tax/rent collected from the tenants/monks, but the monks were giving blessings to lay people in return for donations. In Tibet this socio-economic system is called Lamaism. The Abbot's are basically like landlords within this network of communities. If we understand that we wish to create a Whole Systems Buddhist Economics for all levels of aptitude, from Bön shamanism and Hinayana all the way up the developmental ladder to Dzogchen, we would have to meet the needs of all people at their level of development. It might be challenging to have a conversation about this unless we understand various aspects of Tibetan Buddhist philosophy; the evolutionary psychology expressed by The Three Vehicles/Yanas, the Three Afflictions and how emotions are created, and the concept of Dharma as 'immutable' and unchanging, and dharma's relationship to culture which is always changing. It would also be very helpful if everyone in the conversation was familiar with the fundamentals of economics and their relationships to each other: The Three Factors of Production (Land, Labor, and Capital).
Padmasambhava dispeling fear with his mudra while holding the immutable Vajra
By meeting economic needs for all levels of development we can establish a healthy society.
We understand that there are different levels of aptitude which means different perspectives or different levels of understanding. In hindu we have the religious Bhakti yogis and the intelectual Jnana yogis. in Buddhism we say Hinayana and Mahayana. A Hinayana (bhakti) level of understanding is one that is religious wherein someone conforms to a cultural sort of protocol and gives their power away to a higher source generally God or Buddha or something like this. The next level of aptitude is Mahayana wherein people realize that there is a science to psychology and through understanding this can learn to operate their own mind through understanding the relationship between thoughts and emotion. And then the next level of aptitude we call Vajrayana which is a trans-rational realization that all things are interconnected and there are multiple perspectives existing simultaneously. In integral psychology we call this pluralism. These three are what we call the Yanas (vehicles) in Buddhism, or Triyana; Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. In a true Buddhist economy we must meet the needs and values of all levels of aptitude.
We can reduce conflict by understanding the nature of mind and how mental judgment creates afflictive emotions.
On a personal level we have to understand that all conflict arises from personal judgment. There is something in Buddhism called the three poisons or the three afflictive emotions. These are stemming from mental attachment, mental aversion, and subconscious unknowing. More commonly we say attachment aversion and ignorance. Ignorance in the sense of 'to ignore' or to not be aware of. Something that is unconscious or subconscious. Specific emotions correlate to these. Mental attachment creates sadness and mental aversion creates anger. So if we are noticing that we are angry or that anger is arising we can notice the thoughts that preluded that emotion. For example, if someone is stepping on your foot you might have an aversion to that pain and therefore anger arises. If a child has ice cream and someone takes it away, they might get sad because they had an attachment to the ice cream. Sadness results from attachment. If anger or sadness arise and there is seemingly no thought that has created it, then we must be unaware or ignorant of what subconscious programming has created that emotion. So we can be mindful of our thoughts and notice that mental aversion creates anger, and mental attachment creates sadness, and we can also understand that our subconscious thoughts may still create anger or sadness, but we would not know what it was that was arising in our subconscious to create that emotion. These are the three poisons or the three afflictive emotions.
Dharma teaches codes of social conduct at the Hinayana level of development through the Buddhist text called Vinaya Pitaka. The ancient Essenes did the same with the Community Rule, and later Christian monasticism did the same through the Rule of Saint Benedict. Although there was clearly a very well-developed culture around the ancient Buddhist university, Nalanda, there was no clearly outlined protocol for socio-economic conduct in relation to the Mahayana level of development / aptitude. Furthermore there was not any well-defined protocol for socio-economic behavior at the Vajrayana level of aptitude outside of tantric or atiyoga texts like Ghuyasamaja, Hevajra, or Kalachakra, which are all more or less meditative practices for an individual, and not intended as a socioeconomic superstructure.
By understanding the fundamentals of basic economic theory we can visualize the whole system and better understand the problems we wish to solve.
Lastly it's important that we understand how economics has come to be understood in the West as a complex system with three fundamental factors. The three factors of production. These factors are land, labor, and capital. Ultimately land is the source of all . Labor and capital are secondary to that. Without the land there would be no laborer, from dust we come, to dust we shall return. Without the land there would be no capital. If I build a canoe from a tree, that canoe is capital. The tree came from the land, and in some sense is the land. So the labor upon the land creates the capital. (Note: If I make five canoes and I loan you three of them, and we write on a piece of paper that you owe me three canoes, that piece of paper is essentially a rudimentary form of money which is not actually capital, but represents the capital, so we can call it capital just to simplify things... i.e., money can be thought of as capital). Now that we understand the three factors of production ( land, labor, and capital) we can move forward into the next levels of complexity by exploring the terms wages, interest, rent, and profit. (which we will not do here today)
Land, Labor, and Capital. In this modern era people often suggest a fourth factor of entrepreneur or enterprise. Here we suggest that enterprise is a secondary layer and that it will serve the purpose of governance. in this image "business" equates to capital assuming that the laborers (people) "own the means to production" and thereby the capital and business are the essentially the same. (we are not marxist although this example appears that way)
The fundamental aspect of Buddhism that makes it unique from other religions is what is called Bodhichitta. Some People are religious because they think if they are good people they go to heaven. In Buddhism the motivation is not to do good things so that something good will happen to us, but rather to wish to realize the nature of mind so that we can share with others how they can realize the nature of mind. Not for our benefit alone, but for our benefit so that we can benefit others. Bodhichitta is altruistic motivation, sometimes expressed as "for the benefit of all beings."
Once again, Basically, simply, succinctly:
Dharma teachings + Georgism + CLT + Blockchain = Buddhist economics
It will be easier for all of us to realize the nature of mind through the teachings of Dharma, as the Wheel of Dharma turns , by raising life conditions through driving progress by George's single taxation system on communally-owned land, best expressed perhaps through the community land trust of Robert Swann and EF Schumacher, and by technologically enforcing and governing through blockchain technology for the benefit of all beings.
Comments