Buddhist Anarchism

Discuss the application of the Dharma to situations of social, political, environmental and economic suffering and injustice.
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AlexanderS
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by AlexanderS »

Sherab Dorje wrote:
AlexanderS wrote:"
Deadly Maoist attack on Indian police
At least 20 reportedly killed in Chhattisgarh state after attack on CRPF and state police."


http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014 ... 82115.html
OM MANI PEME HUNG

Just a reminder though: this thread is about Anarchism and not Maoism.
It's not about capitalism either.

For me the real anarchists in history were and are people like Milarepa.
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Grigoris
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by Grigoris »

Zhen Li wrote:Maybe it's political, maybe it isn't.
You could just admit to being a hypocrite, I mean, we all are, so why wouldn't you be one? ;)
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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Zhen Li
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by Zhen Li »

Well, if it's clearly a fact, it's not a discussion. That's why I said maybe it is, maybe it isn't. This has already gone on long enough to be unskillful enough to be hypocritical, and we're not even talking about politics anymore, but about talking. :P
qedstar
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by qedstar »

ground wrote:Anarchism and religious tradition are contradictory. "Buddhist anarchism" is a contradiction in terms.
If buddhism is belief in eventual justice and anarchism in non-initiation-of-aggression principle, then these two are mutually compatible. Anarchism says that we shall not hurt each other and buddhism says that if we do, justice will be enacted upon us eventually. Buddhist anarchism is the most complete (wise & powerful) philosophy I ever heard of.
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by qedstar »

Rickpa wrote:We need the right amount of government. I am merely stating the ideal of liberty to exchange resources voluntarily, and to mutual benefit.
What if people wouldn't voluntarily fund "right amount of government"?
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by qedstar »

reddust wrote:From what I've seen all the isms are supposed to help the common man get taken over by the ruling class. It sucks but that's the reality I've experienced and read about. :shrug:
Taking it simple, "do not hurt humans" is the one -ism that is not meant to enslave man. But to understand, what's its name, one has to have wisdom of his own, which only few people share. Without this wisdom, you will be best off with "do not hurt others to get your way".
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by qedstar »

treehuggingoctopus wrote:I promised I'm not going to post in this thread, and it seems I'm breaking my promise; Greg's last post proved irresistible. Anyway, a piece of David Graeber's writing for those of you who happen to share my conviction that libertarian (read: laissez-faire capitalist, anarcho-capitalist, Objectivist and so on) drivel is, well, just drivel (attached). It's well worth reading, IMO.
Could you simply stance which side of barricade you are on, please?
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by qedstar »

theanarchist wrote:
tellyontellyon wrote:" It's the tiny elite we should worry about,:
No, the problem is not a tiny elite. It's not a few greedy people up there. The problem is that the majority of people given an opportunity to that sort of position will just act like the old elite that was removed.
First psychological sentence here I have to agree with completely.
theanarchist wrote:That's the reason why there has not been a single revolution that hasn't ended in a blood bath and a totalitarian regime.
Absolutely agree second time.
theanarchist wrote:The French got rid of the king and 10 years and many massacres later had Bonaparte who wrecked Europe with his megalomania. The Russians got rid of the Czar and not so much later had Stalin and tens of millions died. The Chinese got rid of... well, we know how it goes...
Exactly.
theanarchist wrote:Capitalism is a problem that lives in everyone of us. There will never be a society where a majority of the citizens is so emotionally grown up that a truely communist system would work.
Wat? Wat? I read this lines in disbelief. I thought you must be a 100% libertarian buddhist if you said this. Communistic ideology absolutely does not match your previous statements. Removed from friends, I'll take you as undecided yet.
Last edited by qedstar on Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by qedstar »

Kim O'Hara wrote:Zhen Li,
Thanks for your last few posts. Now at last I know what kind of government you believe in, instead of only suspecting it.
IIRC, Plato proposed the benevolent dictatorship as the ideal form of government about 2000 years ago. You've got a new twist on it but the crucial faults of the model remain: how to create such a state without enormous bloodshed, and how to ensure that the dictatorship remains benevolent. Can you solve them?
Yes. Agree. Another true opinion. Because wise knows that it is impossible to peacefully create a government.

Summary: If you have any questions, ask. I've found some good minds in this thread.
To admin: I'm not a political pusher. I was searching here for something about asuras and to see all posts of rob h I had to register. But now, I mangled all this thread, because of my experience with anarchistic ideas.
Last edited by qedstar on Fri Apr 18, 2014 2:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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reddust
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by reddust »

qedstar wrote:
reddust wrote:From what I've seen all the isms are supposed to help the common man get taken over by the ruling class. It sucks but that's the reality I've experienced and read about. :shrug:
Taking it simple, "do not hurt humans" is the one -ism that is not meant to enslave man. But to understand, what's its name, one has to have wisdom of his own, which only few people share. Without this wisdom, you will be best off with "do not hurt others to get your way".
Well if you are in my way while I am cooking dinner for you, I'm gonna hurt you, the water is boiling hot :tongue: But seriously, that's pretty simple advice, easy to understand and act on. The isms that read so good on paper don't seem to work so good in daily life for common people. Putting the Dharma philosophy to work has produced positive results for me and I am as common as you get. However the ism part of Buddhism is a pain in the neck! So my thoughts on anarchy and Buddhism are....
Real Anarchy.jpg
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Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living
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Zhen Li
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by Zhen Li »

qedstar wrote:Yes. Agree. Another true opinion. Because wise knows that it is impossible to peacefully create a government.
Well, a new parliament comes along about twice a decade, without any shots fired.

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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by treehuggingoctopus »

qedstar wrote:
treehuggingoctopus wrote:I promised I'm not going to post in this thread, and it seems I'm breaking my promise; Greg's last post proved irresistible. Anyway, a piece of David Graeber's writing for those of you who happen to share my conviction that libertarian (read: laissez-faire capitalist, anarcho-capitalist, Objectivist and so on) drivel is, well, just drivel (attached). It's well worth reading, IMO.
Could you simply stance which side of barricade you are on, please?
I'm not really a barricade man, not anymore, in any case. But I am an almost lifelong Wobblie, though, and I admit I still find libertarian socialism the most persuasive recipe for alleviating our human socio-economic ills. (And no, I don't think it could bring samsara to an end. Or repair it.) Accordingly, I have very little respect for, and no faith in, capitalism, especially of the laissez-faire variety.

Btw, I'm answering only because you asked, and don't want to be involved in the debate any further than that.
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madhusudan
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by madhusudan »

I read the first 14 or so pages of this thread and found very little on the subject of anarchism - living free from coercive rulers. Maybe I missed that discussion amid the words on socialism and economic 'justice'.

I came upon the collected writings of an individual that are quite relevant to a discussion of anarchism:

Site Index: http://www.thespiritof76.com/NEX_NEWS/M ... GOVERNMENT

Book (Hijacking Civilization) : http://www.thespiritof76.com/NEX_NEWS/Storage/

Freedom and the Indians: http://lreichardwhite.blogspot.com/2013 ... dians.html

Very good stuff.

To me, a thoughtful application of Buddhist principles necessitates anarchy. All should be done voluntarily without aggressive force or threat. There is no grand social plan - other than the one enforced at gunpoint by megalomaniac sociopath control freaks. Actually, society itself is an illusion - a thought construct which may prove useful in certain circumstances, but which ultimately exists only in people's minds. Same thing with a 'country'.

I hope the links generate some discussion. For me, Hijacking Civilization was exactly what I needed to read right now. Things always work out that way somehow.
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by qedstar »

madhusudan wrote:I read the first 14 or so pages of this thread and found very little on the subject of anarchism...
Read all my posts.
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kirtu
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

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Malcolm wrote: America is not anti-intellectual.
From psychologytoday.com, Ray Williams, 7 Jun, 2014
I'm not sure if this was actually an article published in their magazine.

The cult of ignorance in the United States Anti-intellectualism and the dumbing down of America

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by Vasana »

I havn't read this thread but i'm about halfway through this book which i think many of you in here might be interested in. Anyone else read it ?

In my eyes it's a very clear overview of how we got to where we are and what possible challenges and solutions like ahead.

An excerpt from Daniel Pinchbeck's new book, How Soon is Now? From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation


"Never-ending revolution remains our ideal in art, fashion and tech. Commercial society today requires continuous disruption, rebellion, the shock of the new. Capitalism is brilliant at absorbing anything that might threaten it. Che Guevara becomes a face on a T-shirt. The anguish of young black men is packaged as Gangsta Rap. Social outrage is turned into cultural product, more distractions to assimilate. The energy of dissidence and rebellion feeds the system and keeps it running.

The incessant onslaught of pop culture kitsch confuses and entrances people. Made to believe we are powerless, we forfeit our power. It is easy to forget – until some problem leads to a crisis, and the crisis reveals a design flaw in the operating system that cannot be addressed by any reform.

Our society has revealed a number of severe design flaws that cannot be fixed within its current operating system. One is the grotesque, ever- growing increase in wealth inequality. Economists like Thomas Piketty have shown that the accelerated accumulation of capital by a few is built into the system. As the middle class collapses, we are experiencing something like the return of the ancien régime, a regression to a two-tier society of serfs and overlords.

..."Crisis Is Opportunity

It is possible that the next revolution will never come. Although we are in a massive, out-of-control civilization barrelling towards ecological breakdown, the current system is also intricately interdependent and hyper-defended. While the underlying mechanism of the global financial system is broken, while shadowy webs of conspiracy and corruption extend everywhere, while billionaire financiers toast their own cleverness as millions lose their homes, while the planet’s eco- systems buckle and collapse, it may be the case that our global oligarchy will manage to hold it all together for a while yet – like Major Kong in Doctor Strangelove, with a final ‘Yee haw!’, riding the bomb all the way down.

On the other hand, some series of unforeseeable events may create an opportunity for a massive, sudden change. Social experiments currently proliferate all over the world. They are happening in many countries, often as a result of the extractive practices and domination of empire. In southern Europe, where countries like Greece, Spain and Italy have undergone financial collapse, new political parties are emerging, based on grassroots activism. Finland is testing out a basic income. Many movements around the world, from La Via Campesina (the landless peasant movement in Brazil) to the Zapatistas in Chiapas, are starting innumerable local actions, from time-banking systems and worker-owned cooperatives to community farms. The hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of small-scale actions, occupations and resistance movements around the world could weave themselves together, causing the spontaneous emergence of a new social being.

We therefore need to understand what is at stake, and what is possible – even at the furthest edges of possibilities. If we don’t have a plan or a new model ready, a social breakdown or series of disasters may only lead to new forms of despotic control and intensified repression, which will ensure further ecological breakdown.

Milton Friedman, the leading neoliberal economist, understood this. ‘Only a crisis – actual or perceived – produces real change,’ he wrote. ‘When that crisis occurs, the actions that are taken depend on the ideas that are lying around. That, I believe, is our basic function: to develop alternatives to existing policies, to keep them alive and available until the politically impossible becomes the politically inevitable.’ In the 1970s and 80s, Friedman and his fellow economists developed their model of intensive privatization, arguing that ‘free markets’ created the greatest benefit for all.

Radicals can learn from the Pyrrhic victory of Friedman and the neoliberals. Rather than stumbling blindly forward, we must define, in advance, the outcomes we desire – much as the Wright Brothers worked towards an aeroplane, or Steve Jobs organized Apple to produce the iPhone. Then we must define a strategic plan to attain our goal.

What we want, I believe, is to launch a social infrastructure that supports participatory democracy to grow and take root organically, without getting snuffed out by ideologues of the right or left. We also want to devise a system where resources are shared far more equitably. The goal should be a post-capitalist society where distributed manufacturing, renewable energy, participatory democracy, efficient cooperation and conservation combine with a universal subsidy or basic income to guarantee everyone on Earth – our human family as a whole – the opportunity for a good life, free of unnecessary insecurity and pointless suffering."
Full article here;

http://realitysandwich.com/321407/the-s ... evolution/
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'When alone, examine your mind, when among others, examine your speech'.— Atisha
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kirtu
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by kirtu »

Vasana wrote: An excerpt from Daniel Pinchbeck's new book, How Soon is Now? From Personal Initiation to Global Transformation
....
What qualifies Pinchbeck as a philosopher? How does he differe from the average drug worshipper? How do we distinguish him from a New Ageish Millennial huckster?

Kirt
“Where do atomic bombs come from?”
Zen Master Seung Sahn said, “That’s simple. Atomic bombs come from the mind that likes this and doesn’t like that.”

"Even if you practice only for an hour a day with faith and inspiration, good qualities will steadily increase. Regular practice makes it easy to transform your mind. From seeing only relative truth, you will eventually reach a profound certainty in the meaning of absolute truth."
Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

"Only you can make your mind beautiful."
HH Chetsang Rinpoche
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Grigoris
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by Grigoris »

Vasana wrote:Economists like Thomas Piketty have shown that the accelerated accumulation of capital by a few is built into the system.
I think Marx may have come up with idea... not Piketty. :roll:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
Malcolm
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by Malcolm »

Grigoris wrote:
Vasana wrote:Economists like Thomas Piketty have shown that the accelerated accumulation of capital by a few is built into the system.
I think Marx may have come up with idea... not Piketty. :roll:
Piketty proved it. Marx merely suggested it.
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Grigoris
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Re: Buddhist Anarchism

Post by Grigoris »

Malcolm wrote:Piketty proved it. Marx merely suggested it.
I think you'll find that capitalism proved it, not Piketty. Marx did a little more than suggest it, unless you consider three volumes of economic analysis a "suggestion".

Have you even read Capital bro? :smile:
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
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