The New Social Face of Buddhism: A Call to Action

Jones's treatise of the sometimes contentious subject of socially engaged buddhism is well-researched and constructed. This is a great book for experienced practitioners as well as beginners. I highly recommend this book any buddhist or socially concerned individual.

As Jones notes, traditional Buddhist teachings tend to lack much in the way of social teachings other than basic injunctions to kings on how to rule justly. This has much to do with the social and historical context in which Buddhism originated, where there wasn't really any traditional of social theory (though Buddhism did develop highly complex psychological theories). In this day and age of major social crises, Jones argues we can no longer afford to pay attention to the ethical implications of our actions only for that group of people we meet face-to-face--we must consider the ethical implications of our actions for the whole world. He discusses some of the history of socially engaged Buddhism in Asia and the West, then sets out to develop his own Buddhist social theory. He notes that engaged Buddhism comes in many varieties, from emphasizing bringing meditation practice into daily life, to social service work, to political activism. It tends to be this last that gets the least emphasis among socially engaged Buddhists, especially in the West, and it is an activist Buddhism that Jones focuses on. He does not try to argue for it from traditional texts, as some have done, but to take the basic Buddhist existential teachings--the four noble truths, the noble eightfold path, no-self, etc.--and use them to understand our current social situation in what he calls a socioexistential approach. He is critical of thos Buddhist social theories that simply try to take Buddhist psychological theories and somehow turn them into social theories, such as calling capitalism institutionalized greed. Social structure can not be understood using just psychological theories. Instead, Jones synthesizes traditional Buddhist psychology with phenomonological sociology. (If this sounds intimidating, don't worry--Jones presents it in a way that is quite clear.) He describes how we have inherited past social forms, which we recreate every generation as we continue to accept them. These social forms take on a life of their own and shape the psychology of their members--which means some societies, such as capitalist and totalitarian ones, tend to cultivate more mental defilements in their members than others. Because society is ultimately something we create and recreate though, we can change it. I agree with Jones up to here. It's after this that I start to disagree with some of his points. He is critical of what he calls the social fallacy that you can find in much modern social theory, such as some forms of Marxism, which sets up society over the individual and argues that individual consciousness is entirely shaped by social structures. While I agree with this critique, Jones falls into the opposite trap of asserting the primacy of the psychological over the social, instead of seeing them as equally important and interacting dialectically. From here, this leads him to argue that, while political activism (in the Gandhian tradition of militant but loving nonviolence

This text calls us to contemplate deeply on the nature of Right Action as the Buddha taught it, and thus offers a truly remarkable look at the Buddhist way of life, both early and modern, in company with several of it's most demanding perspectives. Author Ken Jones instructs us how important it is to develop altruistic intentions and carry them out in this modern society, extending our scope of compassionate reaction to the world community at large. Buddhist morality is a morality of intention, after all, and the consequences of what we do in this world can be very far reaching. You have heard the old saying, "It only takes a spark to light up a forest." While the phrase has become somewhat of a cliché, it quite obviously rings home as true when we are willing to reflect on it. Unless you understand the intricacy of Buddhism, it's a real challenge to apply Buddhist teachings to your life meaningfully.Ken Jones covers the precepts and our calling to action as Buddhist's in a socially engaged society quite skillfully, like a carpenter chipping away at a block of wood. The breadth of knowledge and insight offered to us in this work is breathtaking, and I now invite you to come along on this journey of discovery with Ken Jones. It's a very eye opening experience. Enjoy the book.