Buddhist Defense on the Hope of Change

Buddhist Defense on the Hope of Change

The best promise or prophecy made by Gautama is the fact that the Universe is constantly changing. However, peoples often lose hope in change and transformation of the world assuming a metaphysical faith or a materialistic reason that do not know spiritual values. Thus, hope is part of the field of Spirituality, because the promise of a better world is the main feature of the great spiritual masters who have ethically led humanity by driving it to the Pure Earth or the Kingdom of Righteousness. In spirituality, this hope is embodied in two perfect metaphors for contemporary society: Awakening (Bodhi) or Resurrection. These hopes are nothing less than the Evolution and Salvation of the world, both internal and external, which has been marked by suffering for thousands of years. Although this original Desire is difficult to satisfy, certainly the hope to achieve Cure (Nirvana) is a consolation and a passion, by being a perception of the future of humanity that encourages the individual to self-realize the Purpose (Dharma) of his True Self. However, hope must always go hand in hand with the perception of reality as unsatisfactory, impermanent and insubstantial, since otherwise hope would be a delusional thinking or unfounded delusion in which those who are ignorant of this often fall. Hope for change in the world is therefore a challenge of the utopian reason, because without hope there is no Sense of history. The Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) works continuously to develop the spiritual capabilities of the peoples, teaching that if humanity is united is unstoppable. But this hope is not part of a false optimism but of a perception of the basic potentialities of human being, that are Liberty, Equality and Fraternity against Oppression, Poverty and Conflict. For Buddhist Spirituality, hope for change in the world is an ethical imperative of the political, economic, cultural and environmental development, because it is the autopoiesis of the expected world. Thus, the only belief of the spiritual master is that it is possiblea better world, as long as society risks its comfort to meet the challenge of the Path to Pure Earth or Kingdom of Righteousness. Although hope of change shares with resentment the fact of feeling dissatisfaction (dukkha) facing the present society, certainly resentment acts destructively, while hope acts constructively. While resentment is attachment to the past, instead, hope is Openness (Sunyata) to the future. Although fear is the fundamental instrument of traditional politics to get obedience and appeasement, the Buddhist Spirituality teaches hope in a better world as the way to get consensus and Liberation. The materialistic civilization uses fear as Power of Coercion, but the Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) uses the compassionate wisdom (prajna-karuna) as a Counterpower that creates a direct pathway to meet the postmodern hope in a better world.

The kind of change of which the spiritual master talks has a significance of transformation and revolution, so it is opposed to the vision of status quo, being rather the spiritual conversion of the peoples so that they can actively adapt to an appropriate lifestyle. This is the proposal for change which the Analytical-Existential-Libertarian Discourse (Buddha-Dharma-Sangha) and its direct democratic vision embody to solve the world problems. The Maitriyana denounces that traditional politics of all countries and epochs is essentially a breach of the hope for change residing within humanity, which deeply desires that the various peoples converge on global policies where pacifism, social justice, education and ecology are knotted. From this perspective, the hope for change is inherent in human life and its upward progress of survival and spiritual evolution, while attachment and what is static are synonymous with illusion and self-destruction. This vision of true development is the fundamental inspiration of the Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) who is an individual with essentially reformist and revolutionary premises, by using the nature of change in pursuit of Good. In metapolitics of Buddhist Spirituality, the real change in the world is the one that radically transforms the structures of power, establishing a virtuous system of direct democracy that liberates the peoples from dictatorships of authoritarian and populist governments. This means that the hope for change that is encouraged by the spiritual master has a historical sense, because when banishing the custom of social submission it is produced a rupture of epoch which favors the indispensable Cure (Nirvana) of the world's problems. Indeed, the ethics of the Middle Way is the great jewel of humanity because it is an adequate means to carry out the goals that the great movements for social change have sought. If social movements of the past had used appropriate means, then all the major problems of the contemporary world would be already solved. Although conflicts are renewed with the pass of epochs, the higher and amplified state of consciousness (H-ASC) to which a Free and Enlightened Being (Arhat-Bodhisattva) has reached constitutes the most perfect resource of the Universe in order to solve the challenges that life has every day. The Maitriyana's advantage is that it forms spiritual masters specially prepared to righteously solve problems threatening the Earth (Gaia), by developing the hidden potentialities of the peoples. This spiritual potentiality is the Desire and the hope for change that involves realistic optimism which emerges from the experience of the Real as unsatisfactory, impermanent and insubstantial. The Buddhist Spirituality defines the human being as a being that is able to make his spiritual existence indefinitely grows through the contemplative work, so that the hope of change requires entering an adventure of ongoing growth and overcoming. Given that the appropriate means are spiritual by definition, those peoples that are warlike, unjust, ignorant and polluting will never be able to build a better world precisely because they lack adequate means to go to the future. This turns the social progress into a work that no one can consummate through technology, it is instead required the mutual support, empathy and solidarity of others. Therefore, the hope for change requires a passion for the pursuit of happiness and general welfare, aspiring to a Pure Earth or Kingdom of Righteousness which grows up until reaching the confines of the Cosmos. The hope of change and the Maitriyana always go on the same path, by introducing spiritual values in society so that there is true progress.