and “socialized health care,” should be worked out together with the
poor to obtain a genuine structural solution to meet their needs. Thailand’s
broad-based reforms can occur by: listening to the poor, helping
raise people’s consciousness in regards to structural problems, organizing
all those conscious of existing structural injustices—the underprivileged,
the middle class, the intellectuals, and the affluent—to
work together for meaningful change.
Third, a more just society could be obtained on the national level
by pushing for political reforms advocated by the Buddhist thinkers
such as Praves Wasi.22 A new constitution, which includes a reformed
democratic process with structural check-and-balance of power—
including elections, government administration, parliament, and a
judicial system—takes the first step toward positive sociopolitical
change. The 1997 Reformed Constitution (which ended with the 2006
coup) should be used as a basis, with modifications to prevent abuse
of power, for the drafting of the nation’s new constitution to be promulgated
in 2007. The Thai bureaucracy, one of the biggest obstacles
to social and political reforms, needs restructuring in order to become
more efficient and decentralized. All those who advocate Buddhist liberation
theology must continue to work for political, economic, and
social reforms, and structural changes at the national level, as well as
changes in the laws to cope with transnational capitalist invasion. By
supporting the grassroots movements of Buddhist-based communities,
Buddhist women’s empowerment movements, and a broad-based
consciousness-raising process, we can help build a healthier and more
just society which can keep transnational capitalist invasion at the
minimum.
As a major world religion, Buddhism deals with the issues of
human suffering and liberation from it. There are three main types
of human suffering: physical suffering, psychological suffering, and
sociopolitical suffering. Buddhism provides a unique treatment for
the problem of inner human suffering through meditation. So, liberation
(nibbaµna or nirvaµna) in Buddhism is basically liberation from
psychological suffering. As Leonard Swidler puts it, Buddhism uses
the language “from below” or “from within,” whereas religions with
God-centered orientations like Christianity use the language “from
above” or “from without.”23 From this perspective, Buddhist language
and concepts are closer to those of modern critical thinkers, which
emphasize an internal locus of control rather than an external locus
of control. Or as Antony Fernando puts it, the way the Buddha dealt