Buddha and the Bonfire

so it's probably come to your attention that tonight is bonfire night. the night we burn an effigy of the last man to enter parliament with honest intentions / a domestic terrorist (delete as applicable). i've always felt a twinge of sympathy for poor Guy, seeing him burnt year after year. and i'm lead to wonder, despite the instruction taught to us from an early age to "remember, remember...", for how many this night has become purely an excuse for celebration, shorn of the weight its historical meaning in much the same way as thanksgiving is for many folk across the pond. don't mistake me - i enjoy the spectacle of fireworks exploding across the night sky as much as anyone and see nothing wrong in doing so. but i can't help think that the lesson we're implicitly passing on to each generation is that those who speak up against injustices felt and suffered will be punished and in the most severe cases...well, throw another few logs onto that fire will you?

let's be clear about this, Guy had the intention to destroy parliament taking a sizeable portion of lives with its destruction. and much as he has become an icon for the anarchistic spirit (in no small part due to Alan Moore's excellent V for Vendetta) it was not for the intention of a free and stateless society but for the establishment of a catholic government in place of a protestant one. similarly, while i can sympathise with the urge to question, resist and rebel governmental authority, i do not and can not believe that anything lasting and of worth can be born from bloodshed; in the words of Bart de Ligt - "the greater the violence, the weaker the revolution".

all of which ponderings lead to the matter of where or how a spirit of questioning and resisting authority may fit with Buddhadharma. much has been written already covering this ground. admittedly, it's not an easy issue and certainly one i wouldn't hope to adequately cover or do justice to in one blog posting. none the less, i'd like to share from two figures whose words serve as particular guiding lights whenever i consider these matters.

Takagi Kenmyo was born into a time of social upheaval within Japan, as the Meiji Restoration drew to a close and an emperor-centered government system was adopted. perhaps most appropriate to focus on for the discussion at hand was his persecution under this government due to his strong vocal opposition against both the Sino and Russo- Japanese wars. in 1911, he was imprisoned and sentenced to death for acts of High Treason (opposing the war) but this sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment. three years later he lay dead in his cell, having taken the matter of his life into his own hands.

Kenmyo constantly spoke out against not only the inequalities apparent within society but also within the Buddhist communities of the time. he saw the words of masters such as Shinran twisted and manipulated into rallying cries for war and the compassion fundamental to the teachings of Buddhadharma ignored and shrouded over with the hawks of patriotism and nationalism (though, is there really a difference between these two?). those interested in his writings (most, if not all of which were only published decades after his death and subsequent re-evalution within the history of Shin Buddhism) can follow the link at the end of this posting for more detailed excerpts of the essay "My Socialism" from which the quote i have selected is taken* -

"We live in a country where the common people in general are sacrificed for the fame, peerage and medals of one small group of people. It is a society in which the common people in general must suffer for the sake of a small number of speculators. Are not the poor treated like animals at the hands of the wealthy? There are people who cry out in hunger; there are women who sell their honour out of poverty; there are children who are soaked by the rain. Rich people and governmental officials find pleasure in treating them like toys, oppressing them and engaging them in hard labour, don't they? 

      

The external stimuli being like this, our subjective faculties are replete with ambition. This is truly the world of defilement, a world of suffering, a dark night. Human nature is being slaughtered by the devil.

                                                                                                             

However, the Buddha continually calls to us: "I shall protect you, I shall save you, I shall help you." People who have discovered this light have in truth gained peace and happiness. I believe that they have been released from the anguish that makes them turn away from the world and have gained hope.

                                                                                                             

Our thoughts can not but change completely: "I will do what the Buddha wishes me to do, practice what he wishes me to practice and make the Buddha's will my own will. I will become what the Tathagata tells me to become." This is the time of great determination!

perhaps this quote would seem upon reading to echo or reinforce the suppressive submission that is precisely what the anti-authoritarian spirit would hope to overcome? but so long as we follow the Buddhadharma then we must recognise that just as those who threw Kenmyo in jail and sentenced him to death perverted the teachings to their own ends of nationalism and war-mongering, so too we must be careful that we do not allow the Dharma to become manipulated to our own ideals of what questioning and rebelling against authority means. we must have the Dharma as the fundamental bedrock in our lives and let the compassion that flows freely from such, a compassion that speaks out againgst injustice, repression, inequality, a compassion that belongs as much to the oppressors as the oppressed, guide our actions.

the second figure i would like to touch upon briefly, Venerable Daigyoin Takehara, i feel speaks of a matter of utmost importance when viewing those whose ideals and practices we may wish to challenge. Venerable Daigyoin was an active opponent of the Religious Organisations Bill of 1929, which sought to pass control of all religious groups inside Japan to the state. together with the help of his close Dharma brother Venerable Jokan Chikazumi, grounded in the strength of tariki, the opposition movement was a success, the effort to pass such a bill abandoned.

throughout his life Venerable Daigyoin, supported by Amida's Vow, established the message of peace that is fundamental to Buddhadharma as a guiding light in his life. this deciation to peace is further demonstrated  in his efforts to save Shogyoji Temple's bell from seizure by the armed forces during war-time in order for it to be melted down and used for scrap (for a detailed account, i refer the reader to the essay 'How Faith Inspired the Save the Bell Movement' in Buddhist Roles in Peacemaking, ed. Venerable Chanju Mun). but it is in Venerable Daigyoin's words addressing the horrors suffered by his fellow countrymen at the hands of the atomic bomb that we find a most remarkable confession -

"Alas, that holocaust is what has been caused by my own state of ignorance"

i can not do justice to such a deep spiritual awareness as expressed by his realisation and again would urge those interested to follow the link to a very moving talk about his life given by a good Dharma friend at the end of my posting.** all i will say is that it serves as a constant humbling reminder whenever i lose sight of the compassion that must dictate how we face the world's problems and the thorns of anger threaten to ensnare me. how aware am i of my own deeply rooted blind passions and the burden of grave karma amounted through countless kalpas? i find myself asking, could i make such an admission? do i have the strength to see my own thoughts and actions in this light?

enjoy the fireworks :-)

namu amida butsu

* My Socialism - Takagi Kenmyo

**To build an Everlasting Temple - Andrew Webb