The Justice of Future: Dharmic Law
The Maitriyana
opens a window to the future of humanity, revealing that the revolution goes
beyond the economy and politics to also penetrate in the culture. Thus the
Buddhist Socialism also reflects and theorises on issues such as Law,
initiating a revolutionary vision of Justice. This libertarian meditation of
the spiritual master is coated with a practical, theoretical and historical
interest in the hardly cultivated and unexplored field which is the Buddhist
conception of Law. The historical interest of this revolutionary contemplation
(kakumei-zen) is derived from a work which has the Purpose (Dharma) of
gestation and definitive elaboration of the libertarian socialist civilization
of the future, at which time the peoples emerged from the post-capitalist
insurrection will try to conform the social life on the new bases of peace,
justice, education and ecology. In this way the Maitriyana forges a practical
and theoretical New Way (Navayana) of Law.
The revolutionary
function of the Buddhist Socialism redefines the Law as an Intelligent and
Organic Order of social relations which should never respond to the interests
of the dominant classes, but rather it should protect through the power of
kindness and the compassionate wisdom (karuna-prajña) to those who suffer. In
accordance with Marx, the Maitriyana considers that the current traditional Law
is nothing more than the legal expression of the relations of capitalist
production.[1] From
the approach of the Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) it is
claimed the need for a Dharmic or
Spiritual Law that responds to the libertarian socialist revolution. This
is due that the creation of a new Law
is a skilful means of the social
reorganization of every revolution which works for the interests of a
better world.[2] In the
wide-open eyes of the spiritual master, the future of humanity along with its
very survival and Salvation cannot escape the revolution of this Dharmic Law. Although in the future
society it is probable that the State ceases to exist and the capitalist
juridical institutions disappear, inevitably it will continue to exist as an intuitive Law, being a set of kind and
compassionate ideas that exists as nature of the human mind. This psychic
nature which is the Dharmic Law of
the compassionate wisdom (karuna-prajña) is repressed by the principle of
justice of the dominant classes, which transmit an ideological and dualistic
form of Law that is fundamentally unjust and unequal. Just like Reisner,[3]
this distinction between the false justice of the legal ideology and the True
Justice of the Dharmic Law makes the
Buddhist Socialism holds that in the future civilization, the illusory Law will cease to exist as an ideological thinking, although the Justice will continue to exist as a real Law
of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
The fundamental
work of the Maitriyana produces harsh criticism of the juridical institutions,
showing the need for a new practice and theory of Law so that the world can
achieve the Cure (Nirvana) from suffering. Thus the Awakening (Bodhi) is like a
ray of light that opens a revolutionary sense for the existence of the
individual, beyond the oppression of the State and religion. However, this
radical critique that performs the Free and Enlightened Being
(Arhat-Bodhisattva) makes he may be blacked out as an enemy of the Power, leading inexorably to that the spiritual master
may suffer government repression. The ideas of Buddhist Socialism sabotage the
status quo, denouncing and condemning the oppressive methods of capitalism,
which turns it into a movement that is friend
of the people. By showing the erroneous nature of the ideas of traditional
Law, the fundamental theses of Maitriyana are separated from the juridical
ideology to get close to the experiences and relationships experienced by human
beings, studying the reality of the inner and outer world without falling into
a static and non-objective ideology. Consistent with Pashukanis, the Buddhist
Socialism raises the question of Law as an objective problem of social
(economic, political and cultural) relations, but requiring investigate the
Spirituality of that social objectivity. This research is absent in traditional
Law, which means that the ordinary justice is a juridical ideology that is not
anchored in Good and in reality. By departing radically from the State
institutions, the Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) conceives that
Law can be changed and transformed like any other social relationship, redirecting it towards defending the interests
of the people. The Maitriyana is then the fundamental task of transforming
social relations, whether economic, political, cultural, religious or juridical.
Obviously, by
anchoring the Law in the spiritual life and by the emphasis on the
revolutionary way of its true applicability, the Buddhist Socialism is situated
in opposition to the capitalist point of view that usually explains Law as a
set of norms independent from the social relations and domination of the ruling
class. Thus, the spiritual master denounces that the norm has become the
logical and factual basis of the juridical institution, when it should actually
be the spiritual values of the Justice and Truth. Thus, the Maitriyana proclaims
that the capitalist theory of Law does not solve anything, but rather it returns its back to the real facts of
society,[4] dedicating itself
to norms without worrying about those who suffer or worrying about the social
relations that attempt against Liberty, Equality and Fraternity of the people.
This is because the capitalist civilization does not address the Law as a
social and spiritual phenomenon. The juridical thought of the Buddhist
Socialism is then about the fundamental principles of Marxism, criticizing the bourgeois Law of capitalist society for
not being more than the set of social
relations of a society that is producer and accumulator of goods.[5] In contrast, for
the Maitriyana the true nature of Law is the spiritual values of Justice and
Righteousness, so that it may only be expressed by the libertarian communist
society of the future of the world. Thus, to get the most pure and true
expression of Law one must initiate a process of purification and detachment
from normativism for being a system
based on illusions. Indeed, there is a perverse relationship between the state
legal field and the capitalist economic Power, product from which it emerges a
conception that degrades the human life to a mere exchange of goods: the juridical-capitalist fetishism. This
economism clearly overrides the intrinsic Liberty of the apprentice, which is
the mystical value of the human being. For the Buddhist Socialism the
relationship with Justice is really a spiritual relationship between human
beings, as it is a link between society and the perennial values of Kindness
and Compassion. In this sense, the libertarian meditation leaves the abstract
level of the norm to fall within the pragmatic level of Justice, trying to
convert the subject into a Fair Being
or a Being of the Universal Law.
Thus, the object of study of Maitriyana is Justice as an indispensable social
and spiritual value for the Cure (Nirvana) from the evils of the world.
Although this
detachment from the capitalist field is an attempt
to approximate the way of Law to the way of Spirituality, it is certainly
indisputable the close relation between the value of Justice and the ethical
Being. Moreover, the Buddhist Socialism establishes the controversial thesis
that public Law - as relationship between the individual and the State - is a
false Law, while the communal Law is
the true one. In fact, Penal Law and Civil Law - with normative codes unknown
by most of the people - are presented as illusory when the Free and Enlightened
Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) shows the libertarian socialist conception of Law
that is practiced in Buddhist communes (Sanghas). Since the bourgeois Law corresponds in form and
content to the capitalist society, the Maitriyana coincides with Pashukanis and
comes to the logical conclusion that this kind of Law will not exist in the
communist society of the future. This means that the normative juridical regulation, which is based on personal
interests, should be replaced by the spiritual
ethical regulation that has as its foundation the Unity of Purpose (Dharma) of the members of the Commune (Sangha).[6] Thus, in the
libertarian socialist civilization there will be no juridical norms but ethical
rules to bring peace, justice, wisdom and compassion in the relationships
between the apprentice and the Commune (Sangha). Therefore, just like
Pashukanis, the Buddhist Socialism shows that in a developed communist society
there will be an Evanescence (Nirvana) of the State and of the bourgeois Law
(which is a Law of inequality),
pointing to a new social organization with a communist Law (which is a Metalaw or Dharmic Law), provided it has been definitely overtaken the poisons
of greed, hatred and delusion. Thus, only transcending the oppression and
injustice of the State and the bourgeois Law the subject will be able to live
in Liberty, Equality and Fraternity with the fellow beings. Even great Marxist
authors agree with the thesis of the disappearance of the State and Law raised
by the Maitriyana, characterizing the new libertarian communist society as the
very fate of Justice. However, the spiritual master considers that popular
dictatorship and the period of transition to this future model should be very
short, because its duration would represent a theoretical, practical and
historical problem. This is due to the human nature, that is Liberation and
Awakening (Bodhi), with which every social condition that is contrary to that must
last the shortest time possible. The Cultural Revolution of the Buddhist
Socialism is facing this problem of how to build a society of True Justice,
evidencing that the Maitriyana goes beyond being a new economic policy aimed at
build a system of wealth redistribution. The Buddhist Socialism is not against
industrialization, but it proposes measures aimed at carry out the necessary
transformation so that humanity is raised to a Superior Age. Precisely, in the
concrete historical situation the Maitriyana poses itself the vital question of
Salvation, which is related to the fate of Evanescence (Nirvana) of the
bourgeois Law to give way to the stage of the Dharmic Law. Actually, in the libertarian socialist civilization or
evolved communism there will be no
State nor Law, as Pashukanis has noted, because the Law is essentially
bourgeois and its replacement by the new categories of the libertarian socialist Law implies a genuine Metalaw. Indeed, in the Dharmic Law or Metalaw the limited horizon of the bourgeois Law has been overcome, but it
has also gone beyond all Law as a
norm, because this is the Cure (Nirvana) or Evanescence
of the juridical moment in social relations.[7] Certainly in the
Buddhist Socialism it is about a gradual disappearance,
while in Anarchism is an abrupt
disappearance. In accordance with Marx, the Way towards the libertarian
socialist civilization or evolved communism does not technically presents a new
legal form but the very extinction of any
juridical form, being a Awakening (Bodhi) or Liberation in relation to that bourgeois heritage that seeks to
survive beyond capitalism.[8] According to the
Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva), Law is not something perennial
as the Dharmic Law certainly is, and
therefore assuming a new libertarian socialist content does nothing more than
being destined to be extinguished
gradually and definitely. The field of the norm only catches the human
being in a limited time, until its horizon is overcome or exhausted by the apprentice in the experience of the Cure (Nirvana).
In this way,
consistent with Pashukanis the theses of Maitriyana about the Law can be
summarized as follows: 1) All Law is capitalist Law until it is completely
transcended or faded into a Meta-Law;
2) A socialist Law does not admit traditional juridical forms, so that it is
not technically a normative Law; 3) During the process of gradual or sudden
extinction of the normative Law, this latter must be used to benefit the people.[9]
Like Marx and Engels,
the Buddhist Socialism takes care of the Law to show how it must be passed from
the savage capitalist society to the evolved communist society, by banishing
economic, political and cultural vestiges belonging
to the old society from whose entrails comes the revolution.[10] In this regard,
all that the Maitriyana teaches about the Law thus relates to the Future Justice or Dharmic Law as a means of banishing consumerism, dualism and
egoism, because this is the most
important thing to build a superior society with a supra-economic, trans-academic
and meta-juridical structure. According
to the spiritual master, the Law is fundamentally an inequality Law because it assumes there is a social elite with
Power while it accepts to maintain the oppression and suffering endured by the
rest of society, reason why Marx himself has recognized that even in the
authoritarian communism or dictatorship
of the proletariat the Law still remains bourgeois.[11] Therefore, the definitive future of Law will be its own
extinction or Evanescence (Nirvana), disappearing together with the State so
that a higher phase of society emerges with a pacifist politics, economics of
social justice, progressive culture and engaged ecology. Therefore, the Buddhist
Socialism proposes a Meta-Law or Dharmic Law which avoids the disadvantages
of applying supposedly egalitarian measures but which in reality do nothing but
nullify the different abilities and needs between each individual. Thus, this Dharmic Law – which would imply the overcoming of itself as Law - should go
beyond the dualism between equality and inequality, by exceeding the narrow horizon of the bourgeois Law for
undertaking the existential uniqueness of every Being. In a higher phase of the
evolved communism or libertarian socialist civilization the enslaving subordination of the
individual from the machine of oppression of State disappears, and with this
one the illusion of normative juridical form of bourgeois Law also disappears,
making the apprentice considers Love and Work (intellectual or manual) as the primary necessity of life and not as
mere worldly practices. Thus, with the integral development of the subject in
his psychological, philosophical and political aspects the productive forces
which materially and spiritually nourish the people also grow, completely exceeding the limits of the
bourgeois Law so that the society is capable of distributing according to
the ability and necessity of each human being.[12]
In accordance with
Marx, the Maitriyana clarifies that the bourgeois Law which totally prevails in
capitalist society – both with private property, with the representative
democracy as well as with religious moral - still persists in the first stage
or degree of the authoritarian communism because it still has no full economic maturity,[13] nor a political
and cultural maturity. In fact, the
survival of the narrow horizon of the bourgeois Law during the phase of
authoritarian communism or Dictatorship
of the proletariat does nothing more than demonstrating factually that the
form of bourgeois State Power is still in force at this stage, since the bourgeois Law does not exist
without the presence of a system of Power capable of forcing the subject to
respect the norms.[14]
In contrast to the
authoritarian communism and its self-contradiction in believing that there may
be a bourgeois State without bourgeoisie,[15] the Buddhist
Socialism believes that the State and Law should be banished for being both an
apparatus of coercion, in order thus to give way for the observance of the ethical guidelines of coexistence without any
coercion, which implies that the Law ceases to exist as a system of coercively
imposed norms.[16] However, only in
the conditions of the spiritual commune (Sangha) the apprentices have been able
to build this ideal of organization without the State and without Law, gradually getting used to observing and
following the elementary rules of coexistence that were repeated over thousands
of years as ethical precepts without coercion, violence and domination of the
State.[17] Although the redistributionist and postcapitalist
principle is usually accused of utopianism, it is undoubtedly possible to build
a libertarian communist society where
individuals learn to directly work for the social good without relying on any
norm of Law, because this has already happened with the spiritual communes
(Sanghas ) in which the narrow horizon of
bourgeois Law was totally overcome.
In accordance with
Marx, for the Maitriyana there is a big immaturity
in the economic, political and cultural structure of the transition period
of authoritarian communism or Dictatorship
of the proletariat, reason why in this introductory phase there still
remains both the bourgeois Law and the apparatus of State coercion to ensure
the observation of the norms. However, the Buddhist Socialism demonstrates, in
theory and practice, that when spirituality is deployed in the commune (Sangha)
a new trans-state and trans-juridical structure is created.
This is the Future of Justice or the Dharmic Law, following ethical rules not
imposed by any Power, but consciously chosen as the most correct way of living.
Consequently, the proletariat Law
still remains bourgeois Law, whilst
the libertarian socialist Law, which
Maitriyana proposes, is undoubtedly a Metalaw,
by being the incarnation of Justice in the here and now without the presence of
the illusory and oppressive juridical norm.
[1] K.
Marx, Contribución a la crítica de la economía política.
[6] Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, Pashukanis: teórico marxista del derecho. Prólogo al libro de E. B. Pashukanis, La
teoría general del derecho y el marxismo.
[9] Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, Pashukanis: teórico marxista del derecho. Prólogo al libro de E. B. Pashukanis, La
teoría general del derecho y el marxismo.
[10] K.
Marx, Critica del Programa de Gotha.
[11] K.
Marx, Critica del Programa de Gotha.
[12] K.
Marx, Critica del Programa de Gotha.
[13] V.
I. Lenin, El Estado y la revolución.
[14] V.
I. Lenin, El Estado y la revolución.
[15] V.
I. Lenin, El Estado y la revolución.
[16] Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, Pashukanis: teórico marxista del derecho. Prólogo al libro de E. B. Pashukanis, La
teoría general del derecho y el marxismo.
[17] V.
I. Lenin, El Estado y la revolución.
[18] Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, Pashukanis: teórico marxista del derecho. Prólogo al libro de E. B. Pashukanis, La
teoría general del derecho y el marxismo.
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