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BUDDHISM AND MARKET ECONOMY - PART 2
Wednesday, 28 February 2007 - 8:27 AM SL Time | | |
This is the part 2 of the article MARKET ECONOMY SYSTEM, DISCOURSE ON HEART WISDOM AND THE VISION BEYOND THE EYE-SIGHT by Mr.W.A.Wijewardena, Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Sri Lanka.
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The knowledge that we gain by observing what is beyond eye-sight has been upheld in Buddhism. A story relating to Prince Siddharta has amplified this knowledge as follows:
King Suddhodhana is reported to have once questioned Shakya princes whether they knew how rice was made available to them. One Prince had replied that when one sits at the gold-plated table, rice would come to the gold plate. Then another prince had disputed him and said that rice had to be served to the gold plate by using a gold spoon. A third prince had disputed both of them. He had said that for rice to be served with the gold spoon, it had to be brought to the table in a silver platter. A fourth prince had further wisdom: rice should be served to the silver platter out of a copper cauldron in the kitchen. While each one had his own observation, none of them could give the full story. It was Prince Siddharta who had the full knowledge on the story of rice. He had explained in minute detail how farmers till the land, how they feed the bulls which plough the field, how blacksmiths make mamoties, ploughs, sickles etc., how farmers protect their paddy fields day and night, how it is harvested, threshed, and transported to stores in carts, how carts are made, how the draught bulls are fed, how paddy is milled etc. Of all the Shakya princes, only Prince Siddharta had the vision beyond the eye-sight. In Buddhist Discourses, this vision is referred to as parigngnaanaya. For instance, in the Discourse on the Origin (Muulapariyaaya Sutta) in the Maggima Nikaaya, the Buddha preaches that those who are without this vision cannot properly understand the real nature of phenomena. As a result, they get themselves attached to such illusive phenomena thinking that they are all real. On the contrary, those who are with the vision do not suffer from this deficiency.
The Discourse on Heart Wisdom, an important discourse in Mahayana Buddhism and deemed to have been preached by Bodhisattva Avalokitheshwara, demonstrates the vision beyond the eye-sight. A commentary written on this Discourse by Ven. Thev Gnaathaan, a Buddhist Bhikku resident in France has been translated in to Sinhala by another Buddhist Bhikku living in France, Ven Mandaawala Pragnaawansa, under the title `Theory of Emptiness or Theory of Relativity`. Both the Discourse and the Commentary reminds us of the operational mechanism of the free market economy system.
Ven Thev Gnaathan commences his Commentary by mentioning that `if you are a poet, you could very clearly see a cloud that is floating in the sky through the paper on which this poem is written`. The learned monk builds his argument as follows:
? No rains are possible without clouds.
? Trees and other plants cannot grow without rains.
? Paper is made by converting the fibre of trees into a pulp.
? Hence, it is difficult to obtain papers without clouds.
The argument is further built by the monk as follows:
? Sun light is necessary for trees to grow.
? Hence, without the sun, papers cannot be obtained.
? As a result, papers and the sun are inter-dependent on each other.
Is it only the above that we see in a paper? Of course not. According to Ven Thev Gnaathan,
`When we further observe, we see the logger who transports the lumber to the paper factory. Hence, in the paper, we see rice as well. That is because this logger cannot survive without his daily partakes of rice meal. As such, this paper contains the rice that feeds the logger. At the same time, we could see the parents of this logger in this paper. What is clear from all this is that this paper cannot exist without every thing that is there in this world` (p 13)
Bodhisattva Avalokitheshwara has preached the following in the Discourse under reference;
`Oh, Shariputra, all the phenomena in the world are based on emptiness. They cannot be created anew. Nor can they be destroyed` (p 29)
The above statement confirms the Thermodynamic Law that `energy is neither created nor destroyed; all that happens is the transformation of the appearance`. This particular law has been adapted for many economic processes that are used in the free market economy system. For instance, by milling into rice, paddy does not get eliminated. All that happens is the conversion into a new product called rice. Similarly, when rice is grounded, it does not get eliminated, but gets converted into flour. When rice flour is steamed, it does not get eliminated and is converted to a string hopper. When we eat the string hopper, one might think that it ends there. But, it would nourish us and the waste matter is discharged from the body by way of excreta. When we die, our body and while we live, our excreta would fertilize the earth and contribute to produce a new grain of paddy. Hence, what is accepted by the free market economy system is that nothing is newly created, nor is destroyed. It simply makes it into new form. This also gives us a new lesson. There is no need for people to be alarmed by the new things that are being built by changing the old things. At the same time, it is not proper to get oneself attached to many new things that are occurring in the world. By the same token, one should not be repulsive to new forms of appearance either.
The holistic vision that we gain in this manner would free us from making discriminations about phenomena as proper or improper; good or bad and desirable or undesirable etc. For instance, are excreta undesirable? It may be undesirable for us. But for many millions of micro-organisms, it would be nourishment. Those micro-organisms would maintain the fertility of the earth and contribute to production of foods that are needed by us. Hence, there is nothing in this world which can be thrown out as unnecessary. What the free market economy system teaches us is that we should re-use every thing for the benefit of both the natural environment and the human society. In other words, we should cultivate indifference between waste-matter (bads) and desirable products (goods) and make the maximum use out of them.
In the Discourse on Heart Wisdom, Bodhisattva Avalokitheshwara teaches us of the phenomena that would become empty in this manner.
`It is neither waste-matter nor non-waste-matter` (p 41)
What this means is that our classification of phenomena into waste or purities is simply a supposition inside our mind. Real nature does not lend itself to this imaginary supposition. Ven. Thev Gnaathaan, in his commentary, enlightens this fact as follows:
`All the concepts that are used to discriminate between two natural states such as pure-impure or dirty-clean are simple suppositions that are nurtured in our minds. Consider a fresh rose that has been placed in a flower vase. It immediately creates a sense of extreme purity in our minds. At the same time, its opposite is implied by a heap of dirt that smells a foul odor. However, we could make such discrimination only when we look at it from its external appearance. If you look at a heap of dirt by penetrating into its origin, you will observe that such dirt, after a few months, would become a delicious vegetable or a beautiful rose` (p 42)
What this tells us is that both good and bad are inter-dependent on each other. If we do not have a rose, we would not get dirt. Similarly, if we do not have dirt, we would not get a rose. Hence, the rose needs dirt and dirt needs the rose. Consequently, a person who has cultivated the wisdom beyond the eye-sight would not descend to the position of upholding the rose, while at the same time, condemning the dirt. But we often find many people behaving in that manner. That is because such people have, knowingly or unknowingly, got into the habit of assessing different states from a discriminatory point of view. The mental state alluded to that habit is known as `dualism`. Both free market economy system and the Discourse on Heart Wisdom teach us that we should free ourselves of this dualistic approach. When we shed this approach, we attain equanimity so that our mind is in perfect balance. When we are equanimous, we gain a rare wisdom. That is the wisdom of knowing that every state in this world is dependent on every other state. Hence, when one state is eliminated, it would cause its opposite state too to get automatically eliminated. In other words, do not try to eliminate `bad`, because it would automatically eliminate the `good` as well. Many mistakes are made by us when we live in a society due to the absence of this particular wisdom. For instance, we jump to condemn loggers or timber merchants. But if we eliminate them, we would also lose our furniture or the roof of our house.
A vision beyond the eye-sight is therefore, an important attribute which all of us should cultivate in us. It would allow us to see things in their correct perspective. It also frees us from being misguided by mere external appearances which are deceptive and often lead us to misleading conclusions. Such a vision is necessary for individual development and self- perfection which are the ultimate goals of a person.
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Source(s)
Article from Dailymirror Pics by Shakthi |
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