Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

American Buddhist Perspectives

Home
About

Home
Buddhist
Religion News
Buddhists in a Democracy: Be Political, But Not Partisan

Buddhists in a Democracy: Be Political, But Not Partisan

Last updated on: June 9, 2017 at 1:16 pm by Justin Whitaker

Buddhists in a Democracy: Be Political, But Not Partisan 2017-06-09T13:16:30-06:00 Justin Whitaker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This year’s election and the impending inauguration of Donald Trump have drawn out some heated discussions about the role Buddhism ought to be playing in our political system. Two articles that come to the forefront, in part for espousing different views on the topic, are Jiryu Mark Rutschman-Byler’s article Buddhism is Apolitical? (Or, Stop Trying to Wiggle Out of the Damn Koan!), updated at Lion’s Roar as Isn’t Buddhism Supposed to Be Apolitical? and Brad Warner’s Should Plumbing Be Political?

Jiryu’s piece explores four points around which the apolitical Buddhism argument might be found. The first of these is the leap some would like to make to emptiness, commonly and well described today as ‘spiritual bypassing‘. In my experience, this is a particularly Western and Convert problem. Some people come to Buddhism to escape ‘the world’ and as such believe that Buddhism offers nothing but a path out of it. This fits well with Western individualism, and the idea that “we as Buddhists are above politics” fits well with some converts’ quests for spiritual materialism.

Buddhism and Community

The Buddha’s teachings were filled with admonitions to work together and care for one another in this world. Regarding healthcare, a topic of importance in our day, the Buddha told his monks to work together: “Whoever would tend to me, should tend to the sick.” If, in a community of monastics, a sick monk or nun is not taken care of, the whole community incurs an offense of wrong-doing. When asked how the monastics will take the Dharma as refuge after the passing of the Buddha, Ven. Ananda explicitly notes the coming together of the Sangha twice monthly to renew and strengthen their commitments. Refuge, a central aspect of Buddhism and one often used to determine whether one is, in fact, a ‘Buddhist’, is to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha (community). As such, it is a welcome sight to see the Buddhist Peace Fellowship reaffirming Refuge in 2017.

For laypeople, the Buddha offered the Sigalovada Sutta, wherein he instructs Sigala on particular ways to care and attend to parents, teachers, spouse, friends and associates, workers, and ascetics. Thus the Buddha’s advice to laypeople – which extends to practicing the five precepts – is not to attend merely to one’s individual path, but rather to strengthen relationships with others.

Partisanship and Alienation

Next, Jiryu addresses the worry of alienation. This is a fair concern, but it is worth looking to history again and seeing that Buddhists have always alienated people – on moral grounds. The training rules for monastics gives guidelines for those who are to be expelled from the sangha, all on bases of wrong conduct.

I don’t see a vote for Trump, or support for Trump, or belief in Trump as qualifying for such expulsion or alienation.

This is where cautionary articles, such as the one by Brad Warner, are helpful. Some Buddhists – some being my friends and community members – have equated Trump voters with murderers, molesters, racists, misogynists, etc., etc., etc. These kinds of harsh blanket-statements of the ‘other’ side are not political, but partisan (harsh statements by Trump and his colleagues about Mexicans, Muslims, women, the LGBTI community and others are likewise partisan).

Here, some Buddhists do go astray, abandoning the moral guidelines of the tradition and abandoning their refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, and instead taking refuge in a political party or individual. If you’re unable to see the good in Donald Trump, this is you. If you’re unable to acknowledge the bad in Obama, Sanders, or Clinton, this is you.

Of course, partisanship, and the ‘bubbles’ we create around it are like white privilege – invisible when you’re in it (it’s not lost on me that I’m a white male commenting on thoughts of two other white males – so do please read this piece by Elena Zhang and visit, read, and support the work of the Buddhst Peace Fellowship). The world becomes a perhaps dark, confusing place, where it is unfathomable that an African American woman, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, could vote for Donald Trump.

We can be quite political without alienating. Show up, listen, speak your truth. In real communities this is abundantly obvious, but it is lost in many virtual communities. In real communities we have to sit through people speaking their own truth, knowing that not every statement will demand response. We don’t have to agree, but we can appreciate one another speaking our truth. I say this in part in realizing that my communities on the ground are mostly led by wonderful, powerful women – while the communities I see online and in US culture in general are still mostly white and male.

Buddhism as traditionally apolitical

The idea that Buddhism has ever been apolitical is just patently false. One must understand that how one is political will differ in different political systems. In an empire where the average person has absolutely no say in the running of government, how could Buddhists be political? Perhaps by directly advising kings? In a country such as Tibet, where kings were thought to have divine connections, Buddhists quickly moved to convert them to Buddhism – thus turning the tide of the entire nation. And later of course, with the 5th Dalai Lama, Buddhists simply took over the government.

We could think, too, of the more recent (2007) Saffron Revolution, so named because it was led in part by Buddhist monastics.

2007_Myanmar_protests_11

Burmese monks protesting in 2007, Myanmar (Image Source: Wikimedia commons)

This simplifies things and only looks at a couple cases. But anyone who knows Buddhism’s history knows that eminent monks and nuns, laymen and laywomen, have almost always been found in or near positions of political power.

Political Power in a Democracy

This leads to the somewhat troubling need to clarify that in a democracy, even a representative democracy, political power lies in the hands of citizens. We are the government. It’s troubling to need to say that because it was in my youth a very basic aspect of public education. The first three words of the US Constitution: We the People…

That might begin and end with you in elections, which greatly diminishes your power. Or it might extend to letter-writing, phone calls, showing up at City Commission Meetings, joining civic organizations, and so on. It’s up to you. Your responsibility is to play a role in the government of the country. It is your responsibility even as a Buddhist.

As Jiryu notes, we do have a separation of church and state, which prevents religious groups from becoming active lobbyists or campaigning for candidates. However, the rule applies to ‘churches’, not ministers or monks speaking on their own behalf, and certainly not to laypeople.

So we can hold up the banner of “Resist Trump” – or “Refuge and Resistance” as the BPF puts it. But remember the particular things being resisted; and perhaps maintain a willingness to praise things like Trump’s vow to lower expenses for those holding student debt, and to save medicare and social security (be skeptical, as with any political promise, but there’s no need to ‘resist’ these ideas just because they come from Trump). And we should not be lulled into complacency when other political leaders expand drone strikes that kill civilians or waffles on opportunities to protect civilians in war zones or colludes with party officials to take down a political opponent.

Harm is harm, lies are lies.

The precepts of Buddhism urge us to meet these always with non-harm and with truth.

If politics becomes its own isolating, anger-stoking preoccupation, we’ve lost the way of Buddhism.

But if we appeal to our Buddhist practice as a way of avoiding politics altogether – especially as white and/or cis and/or male Americans- we are at the least acting poorly as citizens, and at worst engaging in spiritual bypassing.

Previous Post

January 7, 2017

Buddhist Ethics Today - or can we all be a little more enlightened?

Next Post

January 20, 2017 The Arc of the Moral Universe, January 20, 2017

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Academia Activism American Buddhism Art Book review Buddhism Buddhism Today Buddhist Ethics Burma/Myanmar China Christianity Commodification Environment Gender Happiness Health Humor India Interfaith Islam Japanese Buddhism Kant Media / News Meditation mindfulness Photography Poetry Politics quicktakes Running Teaching Technology Thailand Theism/Atheism Theravada Tibet Tibetan Buddhism Travels Uncategorized Unitarian Universalism video Western Philosophy Zen

Select a Month June 2021 January 2021 November 2020 August 2020 July 2020 March 2020 January 2020 October 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 November 2004 September 2004 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz