Buddhist socialism

As a 14 year old idealist, the concept of social equality greatly appealed to me. I became quite interested in communism for a while, trotting out all the party lines to whoever would lend an ear. As the years progressed I would find myself at the complete opposite end of the spectrum, espousing Laissez-faire conservatism as a means for bettering the whole. Again I stood on my little soap box rabbiting on to Mum and Grandma about how we could all benefit if we just increased the size of the pie. Ultimately though, whether I was grumbling about how "the world has never seen true communism in action" or rambling on about "the evils of big government" I was not aware of the big picture, of the underlying principles guiding the human machine forward.

What I have come to understand, over the years is that greed, hatred and delusion underlie nearly every human activity on this fine Planet Earth. The mode of these three roots is craving, and it's because of that very craving that we have all of this capitalist excess. It's worth noting that capitalism has improved the standard of living of many millions of people throughout the world. We must also bear in mind that capitalism has ruined the environment of our planet and caused no small degree of consternation for Mr & Mrs. J Smith of Main street over the years, to speak nothing of Africa, South America, Asia and Eastern Europe. Indeed, everywhere Capitalism spreads, it polarizes the economic, social and environmental spectrum.

The real issue though are these three roots of greed, hatred and delusion, for without them capitalism couldn't exist. Furthermore, while these three roots are allowed free reign over the human mind, there can be no social equality.

Historically, socialism could never have achieved it's aim because the untrained human mind habituates towards craving for sense objects. Socialism, in it's social-structure format of communism, could never have worked because it asked the untrained human mind to do the impossible - Give up greed and give up hatred - Give up material gain, and give up aversion for hardship. The problem of course is that socialism has no map to achieve these aims, it simply assumes the altruism of the majority will prevail, and that is one of it's key faults. It's all very well and good to talk of giving up greed and hatred, but as long as delusion casts it shadow over our eyes, how can we see what needs to be done? This is where Buddhism comes to the rescue. Meditation offers us the means to suppress and eventually eradicate our greed hatred and delusion. It offers us true satisfaction and a sense of ease and well being that no sensual pleasure can offer.

So it is my opinion that if we were to combine Socialism (as an economic organisation) with Buddhism (as a philosophy, religion and practice) we would arrive at an equilibrium which would benefit the many, not the few. These are my thoughts, they are unorganised, uncited and unproven and shall likely remain so.

metta
Jack