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Vishvapani |
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The Magna Carta, Britain's 'Great Charter of Freedoms', promised, 'To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or delay right or justice.' As politicians debate extending the time police can hold terror suspects, some, like David Davis, whose dramatic resignation dominates today's headlines, claim that such ancient freedoms are threatened. Meanwhile the government declares that national security is at stake. Whatever political calculations lie behind the events, and whatever your views on the underlying issue, it's surely invigorating to hear politicians discussing fundamental principles and how to interpret them. And as a Buddhist, hearing both their passion and their struggles, I wonder what Buddhism might contribute.
Born in northern India 2,500 years ago, ancient religious traditions dominated the Buddha's society and its rulers claimed that the gods had sanctioned their commands. He considered neither scripture nor power a sound basis for believing that something was right or true. The only guide he trusted was his experience, but even that was distorted by his deep-seated assumptions and biases. In that very difficulty lay the solution to his problem. He saw that while states of mind like craving and hatred prioritized his own selfish needs and led him deeper into confusion, others like contentment, kindness or wisdom brought clarity and happiness because they connected him with other people and with reality. The difference between the two kinds of experience wasn't that an external authority, like God or scripture, said they were 'good' or bad', but that one took him in the direction he wanted to travel and the other opposed it. The key was learning to understand his motivations and to choose between them. Morality for him meant learning to act from 'skillful' motivations and let go of 'unskillful' ones, and that required self-knowledge, integrity and careful reflection.
The Buddha refused to lay down rules for how people should act. Instead he advised them to understand and transform their motives, as he had done. For guidance he offered 'principles of training' or precepts, starting with not harming others and acting kindly. Those teachings won't tell MPs how to vote on terror legislation. But they do suggest that making good decisions is an art that means understanding oneself and one's motivations, however deeply buried or inconvenient they may be.
Copyright 2008 BBC