Buddhist Defence of Human Rights

Buddhist Defence of Human Rights

By Buddhist Master Maitreya

The Buddhist Spirituality is the metapolitical movement which most has worked for Ethics and Human Rights in world history, being precisely the utopian quest for a Global Republic ruled by the Law or Purpose (Dharma). The full ascent of the dharmic socialist civilization is a challenge to the imperialistic superpowers, by visualizing a better world governed by ethical norms which prevent war, injustice, illiteracy and pollution. These norms that promote peace, justice, education and ecology are based on mutual support rather than the use of violent force. Thus, the compassionate wisdom (karuna-prajna) of the spiritual master is a foretaste of the future world.

But for advancing the implementation of a global juridical system they should be vanished the asymmetries and inequalities of capitalist civilization, by questioning the very foundations of economics, politics and mainstream culture. In order to undertake this difficult task it is necessary that the Buddhist Spirituality becomes detached from multiculturalism of globalization, simultaneously transmitting perennial and universalist ideas of Justice which pose a human rights socialism capable of coping with the powerful countries from both wild capitalism and authoritarian communism. This scenario positions the Buddhist Spirituality as the antidote to the hegemonic movements which have always bring conflict, violence and oppression to society. Furthermore, the Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) provides the only frame of international ordering that respects the intrinsic condition of Awakening (Bodhi) of humanity, criticizing the major terrorist acts and imperialist invasions as phenomena produced by the poisons of State, religion and family.

These questions towards the capitalist civilization arise from the Buddhist Spirituality, which is a stream of thought and practice which has a critical orientation towards the traditional world politics, while holding that the universal legal values must arise from the perennial impulse of compassionate wisdom (karuna-prajna) and never from the force of imperialist domination of the dominant countries. In this way, the spiritual master puts the capitalist civilization into question but without incurring the huge mistake of considering that the Asian culture has better values than the Western culture, claiming for an understanding of Human Rights adapted to the values that are intrinsic to the spiritual nature of human being, as Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Therefore, the Analytical-Existential-Libertarian Discourse (Buddha-Dharma-Sangha) of the Buddhist Spirituality teaches a model of economic, political and cultural development based on the primacy of transcendental values that do not belong to East or West but they are the legacy of the great Awakened Ones (Buddhas) of history.

Consequently, the Buddhist Spirituality considers Liberty of expression as a core value of social life, although this may be controversial in the face of feudal and authoritarian regimes which systematically violate the Universal Human Rights. Those who resort to repression and murder to silence Liberty of expression are actually living in the past of the world, because the vindication of fundamental Rights of human beings will still be standing for building a better world. The transition towards a more integrated and less Eurocentric or Asiacentric world is a fact that notably favours the possibility of a True Global Justice, allowing the emergence of universal values which do not serve the most powerful countries of the international capitalist system. In this sense, a genuine Global Justice must not only include the support of the majority of the world peoples, but it must also be an international legal framework that incorporates the spiritual traditions. Buddhist Spirituality is a Middle Way, so that its universal struggle for the Human Rights and the Earth Rights transcends the opposite poles of religious fundamentalism and the colonialist capitalism, because while the former seeks to murder and destroy the spiritual values of Human Rights, by perpetrating terrorist acts and massacres of innocent people, the second one kills and destroy in the name of Human Rights by bombarding or invading poor nations, like the Empires of North America and Europe have done.

Therefore, it is essential the contribution of Buddhist Spirituality in the construction of a global legal system for the contemporary world, by being at the forefront of the vindication of the ideals of non-violence, social non-segregation, interreligious dialogue, popular self-determination, global direct democracy and respect for ecosystems. The heyday of the geopolitical perspective of Buddhist Spirituality erodes contemporary legal negativism, showing the possibility of building an advanced jurisprudence regarding Human Rights that undertakes a revolution throughout the world.