Sulak Sivaraksa at the Parliament of the World's Religions

from what I understand of your work you've been uh very uh active in trying to bring Buddhism forward and trying to really respond to what you see as the way Buddhism needs to come forward in the 21st century could you say what if you if you could sum that up what what you feel if you look at the the Buddhist tradition you say well what what what what what this tradition needs to really meet the challenge of the 21st century what what would you say how would you describe that Buddhism as you know has been found that over 2,500 years ago and traditionally it has been a wonderful religion helping people to be mindful to be aware of suffering to transform greed into generosity to transform hatred into compassion to transform ignorance into wisdom right but to be honest with you yeah traditionally it wouldn't work anymore right because the society has now become much more complex right urbanizations globalizations and the idea of structural violence unless the Buddhist know how to tackle this Buddhism will be only good for those those who want to have personal happiness and they don't realize that their personal well-being they have SE of Peace within but their lifestyle in fact contribute to the suffering in the world wow right I think the Buddhist have to be aware of that right and to be aware of that perhaps I would call it is small B Buddhism not capital B Buddhism less institutional less Yana with the Mahayana and so on you know I think uh and Buddhism could perhap contribute because Buddhism does not stress that we have the only truth we are seeking of Truth in this sense we could perhap collaborate with our friends Christian Muslim Hindu in seeking truth that is we are willing M to listen list to those who suffers and those who suffer they suffer because of the structural violence uh the rich the powerful part the law and so on to make those poor and remain poor and if the Buddhist are not aware we will help them you know giving them something social welfare so that they will ever remain poor right I think uh uh the Buddhist if the Buddhist understand essential teaching right Buddhism it mean to awake Buddha awake if we awake ourself it mean that we must challenge our lifestyle challenge our way of thinking and perhaps stop thinking M with in the presence in the presence uhhuh not thinking because thinking contribute black and white me and thou you and I I think this go back to the teaching of the Buddha how to interrelate it you know because of you it's me because of the trees that I I survive because of the poor that I can be what myself and then in in that get out of the usual Paradigm get out of the usual habit you then perhaps buddh going contribute something right because Buddhism does not depend on faith right so I think if exclusionary tradition that's right we can traditionally so much but of course don't claim to be superior to those with faith right Faith could be helpful could be harmful right so I think in that sense you often hear Buddhism say well these God oriented religions they're kind of not not no no no no no I think if you take God oriented religion something positive is wonderful mhm otherwi you feel Superior there's no superiority you know is you learn to respect of other faith and collaborate to overcome suffering by being less selfish less entric and this is where if you use the Christian term you can have God guiding you Holy Spirit guiding you and we would call the BH guiding you I think in the 21st century the Ecentric man must become more humble the egocentric man must become more humble and we must also admit that we have been exploiting women all long and by exploiting women we exploit nature I think we have to go back to learn the way of Nature and the nature in fact is dhama and to concentrate on dhama that mean that we do something the way the D or the Chinese which call the way of T is the way you know and I think with that we can do things sublimely we can do things holistically we can do things less ecocentric and I think I think that would be the right approach but this approach understand nature but in this day age we have been elate so much from nature and build up Society with hierarchical structural violence you must understand that and to overcome that non-violently okay that's that's interesting one aspect of what you're saying it seems like that in traditionally Buddhism is often taught or at least in the May on view and the way you know is designed to to lift people out of suffering and often that lifting out of suffering is to lift them beyond beyond the samsaric world into a into a nervonic realm either Beyond this world or aonic realm within this context and in that I think Buddhism has not often had been very politically oriented or politically motivated or very we're very involved in the social conditions of the society and it sounds like you're really you're really arguing that it must kind of sort of reject that old model and embrace the entirely kind of new well the old model has its usefulness you know we have the poor so that they will ever remain poor and hope for the better rebirth I think that is kind of escapism right I think you must not have the poor learn from the poor share their suffering MH and the poor will Empower you and you will Empower them Empower them non-violently mhm I think this is where for me my interpretation of the way okay but but and you're saying even to really to get involved with the the structures of why they're suffering to why socially not just to say okay we must heal that suffering or or to hope for a better life in the future but really how can we change this world here yes I think that the essence okay and that's really Beyond in Escapist no like you're saying it's beyond the which is often traditional so do you get criticized for saying that I would get criticized I got put in jail and so on but I think it's worth it worth it well good very good um if you uh if you look at maybe not just the Buddhist tradition itself but the religion in general what would you see as the as what most needs to change about just the religious Traditions how can the religious Traditions themselves together what most needs to change or what most needs to come out of the religious Traditions to address the issues of the of the of the world number one don't think that your religion is the best your religion could be the best could be the worst MH when Mark said leg op the people he's very mild he's very what very mild could be much worse than opium you can Insite people to kill each other right I think we have to be aware of that every religious tradition has its negative Elements which we try to ignore acknowledge our negative elements but the positive element in every Rel TR is some tremendous because it deal with the mystery of life it deal with transcendental I think this has been ignored I think we need that transcendental element and this transcendental element it Beyond any religion you see you can call it mindfulness you can call pray whatever it is I think you become less and less selfish you become more Mindful and you want to serve others but to serve other don't have delusion get hold of you to serve other it doesn't mean that to make people become a goody goody or I'm all right jack to serve other mean that we must confront suffering yes and suffering now linked with transational Corporation with free markets capitalism and so so we have to attack that but not attack the capitalist not attack the the those in on top the Empire but we must destructure the Empire we must destruct capitalism I think this is where you need really wisdom and this where the Buddhist must learn from the Jewish tradition must learn from the Christian tradition Islamic tradition I think this is where we should come together to be transcendental to be spiritual otherwise you know this day and age is too Mand is too too materialistic uhhuh right to Tech no critic right it has it positive element but it has much more negative element people are not aware of so I think we have to go beyond that I think this is for me that is the best in religion okay okay so great that's great um would you say then because one of the questions we're also exploring is is can the religions save us to put it in the dramatic terms but can the religions meet the future or do we need a new tradition entirely so it sounds like you're saying that they can but they must change yeah because the new religion is very powerful now the what consumerism is the new religionism is the new religion right right see I think that demonic religion but to attack it it's not possible unless we offer something alternative because people deep down don't want to be blindly following greed ha and illusion but to preach to them they won't listen but to offer something skillfully that is they can Empower themselves they can really see something beyond the Mandate right I think people really if they have deeply if they have opportunity they would like to have something transcendental they want to see the mystery of life and I think this is where not only Buddhism every religion but don't tell try to tell people that only my way the main thing is that since the Western World become Superior we want everything to be controlled by intellect no we should be guided by God M although the buddist don't use that term you use the bodh satra the Holy Spirit I think we become much more humble and then in that sense you know the path would be more nonviolent deep and listening to the people suffering and when you listen to people suffering you don't want any more violence and with that then I think we can change things