The Four Noble Truths in Our World: Truth #3: The Cessation of the Suffering of Caste
Positively, my social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty, equality and fraternity. Let no one however say that I have borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has its roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha.
— Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, BBC Radio address, 1942
The first two pieces in this series consider the Four Noble Truths through the lens of social or systemic suffering. We are using the Four Noble Truths as a tool for social analysis. Based on my experience among India’s Buddhists, followers of the brilliant untouchable leader B.R. Ambedkar, I’ve come to an initial examination of India’s enduring caste system — a source of suffering for more than two thousand years — through this lens.
Shakyamuni Buddha’s First Noble Truth outlines various forms of human suffering. The Second Noble Truth speaks to the origin or cause of suffering, which is characterized by craving or clinging. Taking in the breadth of social suffering, we ask: whose craving? Suffering arises within the entire system, but it does not settle equally on all at any given moment. If we look at some “traditional” interpretations of karma, cause and effect might play out over several lifetimes. If we consider principles of social justice, we look for resolution within our lives and society. Which leads to the Third Noble Truth: the Cessation of Suffering. The Dhammacakkapavattana Sutta, the Buddha’s First Discourse, describes the Third Noble Truth in this way:
It is the compete cessation of suffering;
giving up, renouncing, relinquishing, detaching from craving.
This cessation of suffering, nirodha, is synonymous with nibbana or nirvana, which means “freedom from craving.” In personal terms nibbana is what Buddhists call awakening, liberation, or enlightenment.
In his commentary on the First Discourse, Ven. Rewata Dhamma writes:
The Buddhas defined nibbana in positive and negative terms...In positive terms, nibbana means peace, sublimity, purity, release, security, excellent happiness, and so forth; while in negative terms it is defined as deathless, unconditioned, extinction of craving, extinction of hated, extinction of delusion, cessation of dukkha, extinction of thirst, and so on.
Nirodha or nibbana likewise have positive and negative aspects with reference to liberation from the sufferings of caste and race. In positive terms, a social expression of nibbana might be the realization of a society in which each member can find fulfillment and be completely him or herself. It is contained in the Bodhisattva’s vow: “Sentient beings are numberless; I vow to awaken with them.” This is the vision of society articulated in the second paragraph of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.
The negative dimension of nibbana is cessation of pervasive social conditions like oppression, exploitation, poverty, and inequality. These aspects are enumerated in documents like the U.S. Bill of Rights, the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Indian Constitution (as drafted by B.R. Ambedkar), which includes (or at least promised) freedom from caste discrimination, rights of equality, freedom, religion, due process of law, and more.
An enlightened society manifests both sides: the enhancement of life — what we might think of as life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness — and the protection of rights for all. As Dr. Ambedkar was studying the world’s religions, seeking a home for India’s untouchable communities, he was simultaneously agitating for Dalit rights in the political sphere. In his article on the Ambedkarite movement in Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia, Chris Queen says:
As for Nirvana, the Buddhist goal of liberation, Ambedkar writes of a “kingdom of righteousness on earth” and describes the Buddha’s enlightenment not as the ripening of an individual’s cosmic potential, but as a simple realization of the plight of others.
As early as 1942 Dr. Ambedkar had come to a synthesizing vision of Dhamma and society, his version of the Buddha’s Third Noble Truth, which could be expressed by three words: liberty, equality, and fraternity. He explained:
Let no one however say that I have borrowed my philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has its roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my master, the Buddha.
An awakened society implies the ability to have control over one’s actions. As Dr. Ambedkar writes: “...liberty means the destruction of the dominion which one man holds over another...” In the north Indian society of Shakyamuni Buddha’s, time the shape of an individual’s life was bound by walls of power and privilege, defined and controlled according to caste, gender, occupation, tribe, and so on. When the Buddha created his Sangha, freedom from the power of one over another was a radical expression of his social vision. But liberty is not a static thing. In the realization of enlightened life, liberty is a practice, something that must be aspired to and worked at. It is the entwining of individual freedom and social responsibility.
Equality is something like universal law (or dharma). In its light we can see all beings as equal. The 18th century Zen Master Hakuin’s “Song of Meditation” says: “From the beginning all beings are Buddha.” Each and every sentient being is precious and equal. All people are chosen — not just those of a particular religion, caste, gender, or nation. In The Annihilation of Caste Dr. Ambedkar writes:
Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as the governing principle...the question is, shall we treat them as unequal because they are unequal ?... it can be urged that if it is good for the social body to get the most out of its members, it can get most out of them only by making them equal as far as possible at the very start of the race.
Ambedkar understood that each person has strengths and weaknesses. In this respect we are unique beings, unequal and individual. But taken together, liberty and equality encourage us to be completely ourselves, as large and open as possible, respecting and valuing each other as precious.
Fraternity is the cutting edge of Ambedkar’s Buddhism and India’s new Buddhist movement. Fraternity is sangha, the community of practitioners, and the wider community of all beings (therefore, linked to equality). Fraternity is a challenge for the Dalit community. The social realities of India draw clear lines between all the religions — Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, and Buddhist; between caste and non-caste peoples, even among the various groups who see themselves as Buddhist. The many Dalit groups themselves are often caught within a system of “graded inequality,” where each group competes with another for the tiniest privileges of social position, economic opportunity, and political power. Fraternity, in Ambedkar’s terms, must be a kind of binding energy, allowing us to set aside difference and privilege, and to connect.
For those who have been caught in the degrading web of caste over many generations, the realization of Dr. Ambedkar’s vision and the wholehearted practice of Buddhism is already the embodiment of liberation, the fulfillment of the Buddha’s Third Noble Truth.
In the next section we will look at the Fourth Noble Truth, the path to liberation. That is where the challenges arise and where true practice abides.
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If you wish to read more about India’s “ex-untouchable Buddhists,” Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, and young people making change in India, please see my recent book: Heirs To Ambedkar—The Rebirth of Engaged Buddhism in India (Clear View Press, 2014), available from Amazon.com or from <clearviewproduct.com>.
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Hozan Alan Senauke, a world-renowned voice in socially engaged Buddhism, is a Soto Zen priest, folk musician, author, poet, and leader of Clear View Project.
Currently leading Clear View in offering Buddhist-based resources for relief and social change, Alan is a former Executive Director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, a founder of Think Sangha, and member and leader within the International Network of Engaged Buddhists.Along with his Dharma sister Maylie Scott, Senauke received Dharma transmission from his teacher Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1998 during a ceremony at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.[divide style="3"]
About BPF's The System Stinks
Buddhist social justice curriculumTo help promote collective liberation and subvert the highly individualistic bent of much mainstream dharma these days, Buddhist Peace Fellowship presents our second year of The System Stinks — a collection of Buddhist social justice media named for the favorite protest sign of one of our founders, Robert Aitken, Roshi.This year, we've asked some of our favorite dharma teachers, practitioners, and activists to reflect on the Four Noble Truths — suffering; the causes of suffering; cessation of suffering; and a path to cessation — from a systemic, social justice perspective.Other Buddhist groups from around the world have also used the Four Noble Truths as a lens for social movements: for good examples, the International Network of Engaged Buddhists, and the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. In a U.S.-based context (not predominantly Buddhist), where mindfulness is increasingly separated from ethics, we are eager to uphold this social justice tradition.If you like what you see, spread the word to show the world another side of Buddhism!We are deeply grateful to the teachers and practitioners who lend their voices to this cause. In alignment with our media justice values, all contributors to the 2014 series have been offered humble compensation for their work.