In the Guardian, an article titled “Buddhism is the new opium of people” by Mark Vernon is published a few years ago. It talks about how Buddhism is making people “decouple” from the real issues as Zizek has argued against Buddhist practices of making human beings aloof from the social issues. Vernon also cites Buddhists scholars like Batchelor to make such a point. This article is written with western societies in mind and as such, it is important to understand what is happening in the Buddhist world around.

It can be argued that Buddhism and the Buddha have become a fashion in the rich and middle-class homes world around. The Buddha adorns the walls and his statues are ubiquitous in rich houses. He came to represent much needed “peace” that every human being seeks, but not ready to renounce the objects that make human minds restless and reckless. This is the reason why it is important to take a look at Buddhism and its certain aspects which can make human minds get away from the realities happening around them.

Meditation is one such practice that often raises discussion around its role in making human mind insensitive to the world around and also as a very inward looking method that potentially locks human mind in the subjective world. As it is pointed out in the article and many articulations by the authorities elsewhere that meditation is not an abstract flight into the realm of forms and formlessness, but it is “cultivation” of certain qualities that are so essential for the transformation of the self and society. The most important cultivation that the Buddha taught was the cultivation of mind. Cultivation of human mind is vitally important and it is a raw and hard practice and the Buddha often used the metaphors drawn from agriculture to teach the methods to cultivate the mind. This is the Buddhist parlance known as “Citta Bhavana”.

Another cultivation that the Buddha taught was the cultivation of the constructive emotions so that we can relate with other human beings as we relate to our own kith and kin. This practice is known as “metta Bhavana”. This means that the Buddha offers a practical way to engage with one’s mind and also work on the society with the patient cultivation of qualities that builds and binds the communities into a positive system that enables human beings to be free from the suffering.

Opium is also a metaphor and it is argued that Marx perhaps used it as a “pain killer” and may not be as an “addictive mind-numbing” stuff. But there is a thin line between the “painkiller” and “addiction” and that is what the author might be concerned about. Buddhism is not, however, a painkiller, it is a transformative force that can potentially make the world a much better place if it is practised with the goal of transformation of the society. If to use the metaphors, we can say that Buddhism offers much-needed tools to cultivate human minds and human societies so that they can become free, but if the tools are used wrongly or just worshipped or applied in the wrong field might cause problems.

In this situation, what Babasaheb Ambedkar did is remarkable. He made Buddhism accessible to the people in such a way that they can really use it in their given context of social and personal transformation.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale, Human Rights Activist

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