Introduction
You are an activist! Congratulations. In a sense, the Buddha was an activist, as well. His life story indicates that he, too, was fed up with the state of the world at the time. He had been cloistered safely in his father’s palace for most of his youth, and it was only when he ventured out for the first time that he became aware of the immense suffering beyond the palace walls, much like you do today when you see the news.
Although encountering suffering shattered the Buddha’s comfortable worldview, it didn’t make him turn away in fear or indifference. In fact, the Buddha’s response became that of an activist, setting out to end the suffering of all living beings, no less. So, the Buddha and his teachings speak directly to the sense of urgency that many young people feel today, living in a world with political instability and what appears to be a growing erosion of the human values we so cherish.
How to Change the World
So, how do we change the world then, according to Buddhism?
Exploring Buddhist philosophy, we find that different aspects of the answer start to emerge. Firstly, to be fed up with the state of the world isn’t in itself a bad thing. Quite the contrary. In Buddhism, we call this turning point of feeling fed up “renunciation” – when we have seen it all and recognize that all the usual ways that we try to ease our discomfort no longer work. So, we start actively looking for a different perspective.
The solution the Buddha found was quite radical. He took the question and made a revolutionary statement: If you want to change the world, start by changing yourself. The first step is to change the narrow idea we have of “me” into something much grander.
As this grander version of ourselves, we want to change the world not for this little “me,” but rather for everyone. That’s an enormous stretch, right? But with it, the ultimate goal becomes no less than the end of the suffering of everyone: the suffering of hunger, war, illness, all mental discomfort and pain. The whole lot. This wider perspective avoids the issue of going about changing the world self-centeredly, just for our own good. The Buddhist scriptures describe someone who sets out to free the world from suffering and to lead all beings to enlightenment as a bodhisattva, someone with a mind of immeasurable compassion. Since we are all equal in wanting to be happy, and no one wants to be unhappy, it becomes imperative that we strive to change the world not for the benefit of just ourselves but for the benefit of everyone.
Voidness and Interdependence
So, how does a bodhisattva go about changing the world, exactly?
There’s a lot to say about how a bodhisattva works to improve the world in the graduated Buddhist teachings on the path to enlightenment. But, to give you a taste, we shift the question of “How can I change the world” into who or what is this “I?” And what exactly is “the world?” Buddhism offers the perspective that “the world” and “I” are not as fixed as we might think. The Buddha encouraged us to question our assumptions. He found that when we analyze what we call “me,” we cannot find any single, solid part in our body or mind that really is the self. And just as the “I” isn’t fixed and independent, how could there be an unchanging, monolithic “world” that “we” are trying to fix? The more we analyze these things the more we become accustomed with the central Buddhist teachings of voidness (emptiness), that things lack self-established existence, and dependent origination, that everything arises in dependence upon a huge number of causes and conditions, not just on a few things we might do. Understanding that, we just do whatever we can that will contribute some causes to the equation, but without making a big deal out of ourselves, the world and what we are doing.
Did the Buddha Fail?
There is a very challenging point here, though. The Buddha, on the basis of his great compassion and wisdom, attained unsurpassable enlightenment in order to benefit all beings. And yet, look around. Wars rage on, injustice continues, and we see suffering everywhere. So, what happened to the great Buddha-activist? If the Buddha’s goal was to free everyone from suffering, how can we say he succeeded?
This is a very important question, and the depth of the answer will depend on the depth of one’s understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha didn’t – and couldn’t, actually – transform the world overnight, like waving a magic wand. But, like other great activists — think of Gandhi or Martin Luther King — his impact came not from instant results, but by offering a completely new way of dealing with the challenges of the world. In the vast web of interdependence, we can say that the world has already been changed by the Buddha’s insights. Of course, it still requires each one of us to take up and practice the Buddhist teachings. But it’s all there for us – the Buddha added a powerful toolbox for change in our suffering world, for everyone to use at any time.
If we look a bit deeper, the Buddha would also say that what we call “the world” is not a singularity. There have been many worlds before this one, and there’ll be many worlds to come. Some teachings hold that there are even multiverses, parallel worlds, existing right now. The state of our world – or any of the possible worlds, in fact – isn’t fixed, and nor is its future. But one thing is for sure; since it is an ever-changing world, any positive impact we make in it is valuable. And it’s not just our physical actions that are important, because change doesn’t come about only through external events. Mental activity – our thoughts, aspirations, and intentions – are as powerful as our deeds as far as the Buddhist teachings are concerned.
Enlightenment Changes Everything
Lastly, when someone reaches full enlightenment, the equation changes completely. A fully enlightened Buddha’s activity is not tied down by conventions of space, time, or even visibility. The help they offer may not always be obvious to the human eye, but it continues on regardless.
So, perhaps the answer to our original question is not so complicated after all. Real change begins when we expand our perspective of the issues at hand, and when we see that “I” and “the world” are interrelated and continually in flux, with a multitude of possibilities. The Buddha showed that change really does start from within, but that it doesn’t end there. If we, too, develop the amazing qualities of compassion and wisdom, we really can bring about lasting change. And if the path feels daunting? Then you’re in exactly the place where the Buddha once was, which is the perfect place to start.