Building a community

Posted By Mahabodhi on Apr 9, 2024 | 0 comments

Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book…

© Mahabodhi Burton

4 minute read

This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Moving Forward‘ and follows on from Re-enchantment.

The four ‘means of unification’ (samgrahavastus: pronounced ‘san-graha-vastu’)

The Precious Garland of Advice for a King is composed by the great Indian pandit Nagarjuna. The text is famous for its descriptions of the bodhisattva’s path of compassion and for its clear, concise analysis of the Buddha’s teachings on emptiness.[1] In verse 133, Nagarjuna says:

You should cause the assembling

Of the religious and the worldly

Through giving, speaking pleasantly,

Purposeful behaviour, and concordant behaviour.[2]

In other words, the way that a spiritual community or Sangha is built, is through the dedicated Buddhist (bodhisattva) practicing what are called the four ‘means of unification’ (samgrahavastus.) Of course, the principle can and should apply to building any harmonious community, including a more functional world community.

Generosity

Firstly, a Buddhist community—or any community–is built through mutual acts of generosity (dana,) whether through gifts of time, attention, financial help, fearlessness, honesty, giving the benefit of the doubt, or through the sharing of the Buddha’s or another’s wise perspective. We build community when we transcend narrow self-interest.

‘As a basis for spiritual life giving engenders and requires faith. Often our reasons for not giving amount to a lack of faith. We don’t want to give because we are worried about depleting our resources whether emotional or financial. The idea of giving can cause insecurity and anxiety. Or we may be so lacking in confidence that we feel we have nothing to give. And of course, our worries and anxieties may prompt us to think that they (whoever they may be) don’t deserve it anyway. We can hold back from giving or only giving in a stinting, miserly, way out of fear, insecurity, or a lack of confidence.

 

‘But taking up generosity as a definite practise like meditation, not an occasional practice, but an ongoing, regular practise, we can begin to develop a sense of abundance. As the tradition has it, we experience being wealthy and we can come to experience how giving generates abundance. In this way our faith grows too; the faith or confidence that we will receive what we need.’[3]

All sorts of unpleasant, shocking, depressing, harrowing things may be going on for us politically, sparking in us righteous indignation or deflation.[4] I have found that focusing on generosity and the person in front of me—probably because that is productive—takes away the pain to some degree. It is not that I am denying real problems; just putting them in ‘a bigger container.’ Maybe this is a small act of wisdom.

Kindly Speech

The second samgrahavastu is kindly speech (priyavadita), paying attention to the tone of our communication, ‘which often reflects our true feelings much more accurately than what we are actually saying. At the same time it is more difficult to monitor, because it is much closer to a true communication of ourselves. By the same token, however, if we consciously cultivate affectionate speech, this can change us at quite a deep level.’[5]

Politically, we need to not only speak kindly to those within our own echo chamber, but equally with those ‘across the divide.’ To do so we would do well to see beyond the inconvenience the other causes us, to their common humanity. It can be exasperating when our interlocutor disputes our trusted media source: we can easily imagine that like we are being thought a liar or gullible and flare up at the imagined ‘ad hominem.’ For a constructive conversation to take place, both parties need to calmly establish the veracity of the facts, otherwise there is little basis to continue. So perhaps it is wise to not attempt a dialogue until the facts are mutually established.

Beneficial Activity

Arthacarya is often rendered ‘beneficial activity;’ we might say ‘meaningful activity,’ or as above, ‘purposeful behaviour.’

‘This is not just a matter of helping others; it is also a matter of knowing what would be of most benefit to them, as well as understanding how best to employ one’s energy. After all, there is a lot to be done, and one’s energy is limited. What would benefit people most of all, at the deepest level, is helping them to access their own energy, by sparking them off, getting them going, inspiring them in some way.’[6]

Buddhists often understand this samgrahavastu as concerned with working side-by-side on projects that are of benefit to their group (and ultimately to the wider community.) Close proximity collaboration allows for values and inspirations to be transferred over to the less experienced party. One bonds more strongly, the more one works with others on a project, as we saw in Britain with the war-time spirit which developed during the blitz, which many used to look back on fondly as a happy time. We no doubt saw a corrupted version of this phenomenon during the pandemic when mass formation took hold; it happens when any group bonds around a common purpose, the key thing is to make sure the group’s purpose is elevated enough. Ideally, it would—like Buddhism—be transcendent: the political health of the world depends on working together to transcend political differences, not just collaborating within one’s own bubble.

Exemplification

Finally, exemplification (samanartha); ‘be the change that you wish to see / practise what one preaches.’

‘The Dharma is a teaching that has to be realized in daily life, and it is in this way that it is truly communicated. Do we exemplify the qualities that we are asking others to develop? If not, if there is a discrepancy between the way we are and the way we aspire to be, clearly something is lacking. What is lacking is not so much the ability to be other than we are at present but the courage to be honest about where we really stand. If we can do this, even though it is quite difficult or humiliating to admit our deficiencies–to ourselves, let alone to others–then then we are already making great progress. After all, reality is not a comfortable experience for the ego.’[7]

I think we all intuitively sense when someone is really practising what they preach; when we see someone embodying qualities, this is the most compelling thing, more so than rational arguments and ideologies. People want to see experiential proof that a value system works in practice: we only really see this when its values are represented in a person.

In fact, the thing that most convincingly breaks the spell of an evil narrative is when one person of integrity refuses to go along with it: Churchill’s cabinet were in favour of negotiating with Hitler, but Churchill was firm in his commitment. Steeped in a knowledge of history, he said: ‘You don’t negotiate with tyrants.’ He broke Hitler’s spell; and cast a spell of his own, on the British people; but he could only do this because he was genuine.

When it feels like everyone is being hypnotized by a particular narrative, it won’t work to lecture others on just how hypnotized they are, to break the spell one just needs to follow one’s own convictions and embody one’s own truths; Elon Musk comes to mind.

The chapter goes on to explore The Wheel of Life.

[1] ‘The Precious Garland of Advice for a King.‘ Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. https://www.lamayeshe.com/article/precious-garland-advice-king

[2] Translation by Anthony Hopkins. https://www.lamayeshe.com/sites/default/files/preciousgarland_eng2.pdf

[3] Ratnaghosha. The Ten Precepts. https://ratnaghosha.blogspot.com

[4] For instance, see: ‘It’s bad. And it’s only going to get worse.’ Sydney Watson. YouTube. 31 August 2021. https://youtu.be/sFnxUPC37kk?si=r1jnZW-ReD6IkWR1

[5] See Sangharakshita. (2012) Living Ethically (Buddhist Wisdom for Today.) Windhorse. p28.

[6] Ibid. p28-9.

[7] Ibid. p29.