Adaptation and Developments in Western Buddhism

Socially Engaged Buddhism in the UK

Phil Henry

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781474223782
• eBook ISBN: 9781472511140
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Buddhism

In recent years, there has been a growing academic acknowledgment around the world of a contemporary Buddhist phenomenon described as Engaged, or Socially Engaged Buddhism (SEB). It is a contested phenomenon variously associated with finding Buddhist solutions for social, political and ecological problems. The debate about its origins, practice and legitimacy has stirred academics and practitioners alike. Firstly, does such an approach to Buddhist practice constitute a departure with the past, in which case a new expression of an ancient practice is being experienced all around us? Or is this really a continuity of practice, adapted to inform current understanding given that some would describe Buddhism as always having been engaged? Adaptation and Developments in Western Buddhism examines the UK Socially Engaged Buddhist experience captured through a series of five case studies of Buddhist groups and a survey undertaken over two years in the field. The volume is a ground-breaking and benchmark analysis of Socially Engaged Buddhism in the UK, drawing for the first time on evidence from practitioner's experiences with which to characterise the previously dichotomous academic debate. Ultimately, the volume locates Socially Engaged Buddhism in the UK and places it within the broader and global context of an emerging "Western Buddhism", characterising the phenomenon and its relationships to the wider Buddhist world.

1

Introduction

Buddhism in Britain has moved beyond the initial period of transmission and institutionalization. Engagement with social and political realities reflects a new confidence and maturity. There is a determined will to integrate Buddhism into the mainstream of British Society, and to establish its presence as a moral force in the nation.

Bell (2000: 418)

Engaged Buddhism the UK context

Sandra Bell’s remarks above were part of her closing statement in a chapter entitled A Survey of Engaged Buddhism in Britain, in which she considers for the first time in British academic discourse, the implications for the United Kingdom, of a form of Buddhism described variously as, ‘engaged’ or ‘socially engaged’. She concludes by implying that in addition to an expression of Buddhism, which provides ‘Buddhists with important channels of access to the wider society’, engaged Buddhism is likely to have ‘a significant impact on the domestication of Buddhism in Britain’ (Bell, 2000: 418). By this she seems to be saying that Socially Engaged Buddhism (SEB), is likely to become more familiar to British Buddhists (indigenous and migrant), and perhaps, even more optimistically, to non-Buddhists as well? SEB would, according to Bell’s forecast, form part of the emerging British Buddhist landscape, explored in detail by Bluck (2006) in his comprehensive work, British Buddhism: Teachings, Practice and Development.

SEB¹ in the United Kingdom forms part of a diverse and complex global Buddhist picture with its provenance in parts of Buddhist Asia. In almost 40 years since the mid-1970s it has enjoyed a fairly rapid expansion, albeit the language associated with the term has only been recognized more recently within scholarly discourse. This wider scholarly recognition came about as a consequence of an appraisal of engaged Buddhism as a worldwide phenomenon, with expansive works in the United States by Christopher Queen and Sallie King (1996) Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia, and in 2000, when Queen challenged the Buddhist world in his edited volume, Engaged Buddhism in the West. In it he describes a ‘new Buddhism’, as another turning of the Buddhist wheel of Dharma – positing the idea of a ‘new’ Buddhist vehicle – a Navayāna or fourth yāna to add to traditional forms – Hinayāna (contested – narrow vehicle), Mahāyāna (reformed Buddhist vehicle), and Vajrayāna (syncretistic Buddhist vehicle) (Queen, 2000: 1–2). Practitioners however, in the United Kingdom, United States, South East and East Asia have been writing about an engaged Buddhist spirituality in a variety of forms since the Vietnamese war of the 1970s (Nhat Hahn, 1987, 1988, 1991; Sivaraksa, 1988, 1992, 1998; Kraft, 1992, 1999; Glassman, 1998). It has also been argued by some (Queen, 2000; Brazier, 2001; Jones, 2003) that, Buddhist reformers brought socially engaged activism to Buddhism long before the twentieth century, citing as exemplars, Japanese Buddhist Masters Hōnen (1133–1212), Shinran (1173–1263) and Dōgen (1200–53), as well as twentieth-century Buddhist activists such as India’s constitutional author Dr B. R. Ambedkar (1891–1956).²

Despite a range of themes that cut across the diverse aspects of Buddhist social engagement there seems to be at least one commonality, in that engaged Buddhists give weight to the notion that both ‘personal’ and ‘social transformation’ are synonymous with their contemporary Buddhist world views.

What do the numbers suggest?

In order to attempt to locate this expanding phenomenon this book takes as its starting point research into UK expressions of SEB conducted in ten years from 2002 to 2012. During that time authenticating Buddhist numbers in the United Kingdom has been difficult. However, by combining UK census information and other published sources the data begins to provide the reader with a composite picture, which gives a sense of the UK Buddhist landscape.

Comparing the census data from 2001 with the recently released 2011 census data for England and Wales (released 11 December 2012) reveals a significant uplift in Buddhist numbers since 2001. These sources, however, only reflect the numbers of those who voluntarily answered the religions question as ‘Buddhist’. There is an obvious choice involved, and more importantly an evaluative and interpretive process to be considered in the way the ‘religion question’ is both asked and answered. The question asks individuals to self-identify under a particular label, which may be associated with some form of ‘affiliation’ but not necessarily ‘belonging’. This affects the response rate and does little to establish much beyond the numbers. There should therefore be some caution in accepting these answers alone as wholly accurate of all Buddhist numbers generally in the United Kingdom. While they provide some important baseline data, the census question on religion does not specifically identify ‘Socially Engaged Buddhists’.

The cartography of UK Buddhism requires some consideration of organizational association/affiliation where possible, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the individual (numbers) and the collective (groups). In consideration of the numbers of British Buddhists in the United Kingdom and their organizations, the sources available have real limitations. Baumann (1997: 198) talks of 180,000 Buddhists in Britain (prior to 2001), which was revised against the National Census data of 2001,³ from which Bluck (2006: 15–16) estimates approximately 150,000 Buddhists, accounting for the way questions in the census were phrased differently in Scotland and Northern Ireland, from England and Wales, and acknowledging that 7.7 per cent (4,000,000) of the population didn’t answer it.⁴ The 2011 census similarly reflects a figure of approximately 7 per cent of the population who did not answer the religion question. The 2011 event, however, seems to have given greater clarity to the religion question, in two respects: first, Scotland and Northern Ireland only asked one question in 2011 and not two as in 2001; and second, evidence of a concerted advertising campaign by the Network of Buddhist Organisations (NBO) encouraging individuals to self-identify as a Buddhist in the 2011 decennial return was not a feature of the 2001 census. The recently released figures (11 December 2012) present a significant rise in Buddhist numbers in England and Wales, with a dramatic increase of 70 per cent in the decade from 2001. This rise is reflected in a figure of 248,000 Buddhists in England and Wales alone.⁵

The diversity of the UK Buddhist environment can also be seen in a range of organizational sources, for example, the number of entries in the Buddhist Directory (10th edn) 2008–10, which contains 649 organizations (not counting those in ‘related organizations’ and ‘resources’ sections), compared with 437 organizations in the previous edition from 2006 (an increase of over 200). The latest edition of Religions in the UK: Directory 2007–10 (RelUK) identifies 550 Buddhist groups and organizations. Allowing for overlaps, these two sources update Bluck’s earlier estimation of almost a thousand Buddhist groups to nearer 1200 in 2010, based on their offer of two seemingly distinct data sets. This, however, does not account for discrete engaged Buddhist groups and subgroups in the United Kingdom, directly or indirectly associated with a range of organizations with various characteristics of Buddhist social engagement (defined in the following section). These include: the Community of Interbeing (91 groups), house groups connected to Sōko-Gakkai International UK (SGI-UK) (more than 300), subgroups within Rokpa UK and Rigpa UK, (an additional 20), the Amida Trust and Tariki (5) and Triratna (former FWBO) Right Livelihood organizations (34), giving an additional figure of 450 associated engaged Buddhist groups. In 2010–11 an estimate of the total number of Buddhist organizations in the United Kingdom number over 1,600.

Taking account of the recorded increase in Buddhist numbers in England and Wales and taking the organizational data together (outlined above), the significant increase in Buddhist organizations seems to correlate with the increase in Buddhist numbers. This does not, however, reflect a definitive figure for individuals, either overall (as the census is based on choice) or through group affiliation, as numbers reported by organizations are difficult to verify.

Even though there has been a significant rise in Buddhist numbers and associated groups/organizations since 1997 (Baumann), the numbers of Buddhists who either self-identify or are seen as part of an engaged Buddhist group and/or associated organization are relatively small proportionately, compared with the wider Buddhist populace. There is, however, in some organizations, significant growth in numbers and geographic spread of affiliated groups (and individuals involved), while in others, the last ten years presents a static picture, or for some, a decline.

Herein lies the difficulty of accurately identifying who might be acknowledged as an engaged Buddhist, what being a ‘Socially Engaged Buddhist’ means to those individuals and how they are to be accounted for?

From estimates carried out in 2009–10 in connection with this research (based on five case studies that will be examined later), there were a little over a thousand individuals directly associated with groups or organizations that could be identified with the variable characteristics of Socially Engaged Buddhists (that is those directly related to the case studies in the research). Although numbers from the 2011 census have yet to be released in data sets capable of breaking numbers down into traditional/group affiliations, the 2009–10 estimate suggests approximately 1.67 per cent of the total estimated 60,000 Western Buddhist converts in the United Kingdom (2009) might be characterized as engaged Buddhists. What can be identified in terms of demographic profile, however, is that in excess of 90 per cent of engaged Buddhists in the United Kingdom are also likely to be Western converts. However, this does not take account of those less formally associated with the groups concerned in the research or to what extent they support SEB ideas?

The case-study evidence to be presented herein is by no means a definitive assessment of the total number of people or groups who incline towards SEB in the United Kingdom, as many within organizations like the SGI-UK do not form part of the case studies examined here. Even those within the Triratna Order (formally Friends of the Western Buddhist Order – FWBO) who are outside of Right Livelihood businesses, and who may form a significant body of support for SEB cannot be accurately counted, without a much wider and more far reaching attempt to ascertain specific individual interests. It may be that the numbers who are personally practising with a social conscience that use Buddhist practices of meditation and ethics in relation to matters of peace, social justice, and the environment are considerably greater. Taking SGI-UK and the Triratna Buddhist Community (TBC) together could add as many as 3,000 to known estimates. However, in trying to constitute what may or may not count as an engaged Buddhist (and the numbers of groups involved), any such claims should be reserved for an appraisal of the evidence contained within and will form something of the reflections in the conclusions to the study. What should become apparent, however, is the numbers involved in the case-study work (approximately 1,000 individuals) supported by the research, which is probably between 20 per cent and 25 per cent of the engaged Buddhist population in the United Kingdom (estimated at between 4,000 and 5,000 taking account of SGI-UK and Triratna organizations).

What is SEB?

Keown describes SEB as ‘a contemporary movement, formally, but now less commonly referred to as “Socially Engaged Buddhism” concerned with developing Buddhist solutions to social, political and ecological problems’ (Keown, 2003: 86). Engaged Buddhism in the United Kingdom as a formal (personal not impersonal) physical presence, had its genesis in the movements against nuclear weapons and the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s (Jones, 2003: 173) and holds with the notion of non-violent protest and service, with non-violent solutions to social and international conflict as fundamental to its rationale. Areas of concern also include human rights, disarmament and defence policy, persecution in all its forms, social and environmental degradation, women’s rights, and more recently asylum, global terrorism and the response by governments in the West and the international community to a growing militarism in the world. Taken together the commitment to a form of Buddhist personal transformation is born out of a practice directly connected to a wider social transformation of systems, structures and ideologies, some inherently political and others associated with caring and service for people and the environment.

The ‘engaged Buddhist movement’ is conceptually a contested idea, and one which will be explored later, but Keown suggests it ‘cuts across the lay-monastic divide and includes Buddhists from traditional Buddhist countries as well as Western converts’ (Keown, 2003: 86). Ken Jones, sociologist, and former long-time secretary and now president to the UK Network of Engaged Buddhists (NEB) defines SEB thus:

Engaged Buddhism extends across public engagement in caring and service, social and environmental protest and analysis, non-violence as a creative way of overcoming conflict, and ‘right livelihood’ and similar initiatives, towards a socially just and ecologically sustainable society. It also brings a liberal Buddhist perspective to a variety of contemporary issues, from gender equality to euthanasia. It aims to combine the cultivation of inner peace with active social compassion, in a practice and lifestyle that support and enrich both. (2003: 173)

The combined substantive and functionalist nature of the definition above expresses a form of Buddhist practice, which addresses social and environmental protest issues, including political and social conflict. It seeks a socially just and economically sustainable society, using creative, non-violent means and ‘Right Livelihood’ (among other initiatives) as a means to change individuals and societies for the future. Significantly, it talks first of ‘caring and service’, before ‘protest and the environment’. The former being an area many engaged Buddhists are active in, and one where engaged Buddhists seek to reduce suffering and oppression ‘through the reform of unjust and repressive social and political structures, while not losing sight of the traditional Buddhist emphasis on inward spiritual growth’ (Keown, 2003: 86).

SEB as a topic of scholarly discourse assumes a significant Western interpretation, even though there are a number of Asian Buddhist scholars/practitioners who have, and continue to comment and influence the subject. It also assumes that Buddhists will cultivate inner peace and compassion both introspectively and socially. It is radical in Buddhist terms because it insists on a ‘social dimension’ in a way that asks Buddhist scholars and practitioners alike to interpret a kind of Buddhism across cultures that has not previously been explored in such terms in the West before the mid-1970s. In the case of much of Buddhist Asia, where fewer textual arguments or definitions are offered in direct response to this area of analysis, a great deal of what is described as ‘Buddhist social engagement’ is in fact taken for granted, in everyday life. This creates a dichotomy of thought East–West and only adds to the ambiguity in relation to the question ‘what is engaged Buddhism?’ In addition, engaged Buddhism seeks to negate a stereotypical Western perception (still extant outside of the practitioner world) that Buddhism is ‘a world forsaking, passive religion bent on personal enlightenment and nirvāṇa’ (Batchelor, 1994: 359). This stereotype has its roots in early sociological interpretations of Buddhism, not least in Max Weber’s (1864–1920) writing on Buddhism, in which he describes Buddhists as ‘other-worldly’, characterized by ‘flight from the world’ (Weber, 1922, trans. Fischoff, 1965: 169). Deitrick makes reference to a similar theme when he refers to, ‘Melford Spiro’s insistence that Buddhism is normatively concerned...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Literature Review: Characterizing SEB
• 3 The Amida Trust
• 4 The Network of Engaged Buddhists (UK)
• 5 The Community of Interbeing (UK)
• 6 Triratna (FWBO) and Right Livelihood Businesses
• 7 The Rokpa Trust
• 8 Cross-Case Analysis and Conclusions
• Bibliography
• Index