Toward A Buddhist Liberation Theology
The mind is not an independent entity; human beings also have bodies.
Where the body is, the mind is. They are mutually dependent. Without
the mind, the body is no different from other nonliving things; without
the body, the mind cannot exist. Physical activities affect the development
and quality of the mind. At the same time, the quality of the mind
also affects the well-being of the physical body.
We are not born in a vacuum but in a society and a culture. We
grow up and live not in an abstraction but in a particular social and
cultural environment. Our life is affected by the quality of food, health
care, and our physical and emotional environment, as well as the
social, cultural, economic, and political environment. We do not live
alone but in a network of complex social relationships. These truisms
bear repeating because many Buddhists believe that they can automatically
overcome sociopolitical problems through inner liberation
from psychological suffering. Such a conception of Buddhism lacks
a structural perspective from which to address social, economic, and
political problems of the modern world.
Such an individualistic attitude might work for a hermit who
renounces the world, but most Buddhists are not hermits. Most Buddhists
live in a complex, interconnected world. Indeed, today even a
hermit cannot avoid this complex nexus. The Thai Buddhist sangha
has been controlled by the government since the nineteenth century.
Buddhist monks all over Thailand eat their daily food given to them by
Thai people, the majority of whom are poor and oppressed. Their sons
become poorly paid laborers in construction and factories, and their
daughters are exploited laborers, or even become prostitutes. Under
such circumstances, how can Buddhists avoid their social responsibility?
In the light of these sociopolitical issues and the underlying
structures of contemporary life, Buddhist liberation theology needs to
be integrated so as to include social as well as personal liberation.
From the perspective of Buddhist liberation theory, the solution
of Thailand’s structural problems is threefold. First, Buddhist-based
communities all over Thailand need to be linked, forming a grassroots
movement to combat social injustice and environmental destruction.
Their more self-sustaining economies and decentralized polity can
serve as models for a better society. Second, Buddhist intellectuals and
social workers at all levels should learn more from the oppressed. The
former Thaksin government’s popular policies, such as “village loans”