Buddhism And Social Justice
One of the most popular and controversial debates in recent times has
been over the issues that comprise what is called Social Justice. These issues include topics such as war, crime and punishment, and drug policy.
As with any controversy, the range of opinions is extreme. Many opinions fall along lines defined popularly as conservative or liberal. Buddhism, while leaning strongly towards a liberal stance, holds a fresh view of social justice that maintains a basis of love and benevolence towards all creatures in deciding solutions to our social problems. In this essay I will describe how Buddhists approach topics in social justice and what philosophical means they use to justify their beliefs.
In Buddhism, benevolence can be described as love, kindness, friendship, sympathy, mercy, and pity, all rolled into one general feeling and policy for oneself. Its purpose is to limit pain and suffering for all beings, human and non-human, and to further their happiness and pleasure. This ultimately will bring them closer to enlightenment, while also helping the purveyor of the benevolence to come closer to this absolute realization of reality. Benevolence is the opposite of dosa, or hatred. When faced with hatred, acts of benevolence will neutralize it and produce peace, which is of course the desired, favorable outcome. Many sayings of the Buddha, such as, "Let a man overcome anger by love," (Dh. 223), and, "For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time; hatred ceases by love; this is an eternal law." (Dh. 5) This sets up a pretense for the Buddhist stance of rehabilitation and understanding of criminals, enemies, and other social deviants.
War is an activity that is strongly opposed by Buddhism. Ironically, this policy has been both a great strength and a huge weakness for Buddhism. While making Buddhism a morally strong, well-respected religion, it has made it a poor basis for a nation or a government given the current...
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