In Buddhism there is a concept called Pure Land. There is a specific branch of Buddhism called Pure Land Buddhism and this is one of the primary branches of Buddhism in Japan. My Buddhist order is called Jungto Society, which in Korean means “pure land society” but I think in order to avoid confusion with the Japanese Pure Land Buddhism we say call ourselves Jungto Society in English.
This concept of a pure land is basically the Buddhist form of heaven There are different schools of thought around the afterlife in Buddhism, which means there are different takes on what this Pure land is. The three forms of Pure Land are:
- Geuk-Rak Jungto, which is basically “heaven” pure land; you arrive there by dying
- Ta-Bang Jungto, or “away” pure land; it is this place that is on this earth, but it’s not where we are right now
- Yu-Shim Jungto, the heart-based pure land; if your heart is pure, wherever you are is the pure land
Our Buddhist order focuses on the third Jungto, the heart-based pure land. The Japanese pure land is the first one, which you can go to if you call upon the Buddha (Amitabha Buddha) and the bodhisattvas of that realm. This is why so much of the Japanese Buddhist mantras are focused on calling out his name (“namo amita butsu”).
I think it’s safe to say that practically everyone would enjoy being in a pure land during their lifetime instead of getting there after death. So what is the requirement for getting there? Well, it’s having a pure heart. For our practical purposes that means we are free from our individual suffering.
Not SOME suffering, complete liberation from suffering. Is this possible? The entire premise is, yes. That is what the monks and teachers are all trying to teach to the laypeople. But that point aside, let’s talk about a specific portion of liberation from suffering. More specifically the liberty part, since this is the fourth of July and all.
The one we call Buddha, Gautama Siddhartha, was a prince of a small kingdom. He had everything a human could want in terms of desires. But still he suffered and he wished to become a monk. Of all things, why did he want to become a monk?
Being a monk (śramaṇa) in the Indian subcontinent at the time meant that you are renouncing the entire caste system. This means you are freeing yourself from the negatives of participating in societal systems, which sounds pretty nice! But it also means that you are freeing yourself from the positives of participating in societal systems as well.
This was prior to the birth of Buddhism so many of the monks were participating in early forms of Jainism or Ajivika. As a sign that they were not participating in the world, they cut off their hair and given the overall culture of respecting spirituality the people were generally respectful of these people.
Empowered with the fact that rapidly changing society was making people doubtful of the dominant Hindu culture, these monks were seen as leaders in a new way of life and many of them had followings. Siddhartha wanted to become a monk after seeing one outside of his castle. The monk he saw was full of grace and peace and Siddhartha yearned to be at that state.
Such is the story of the individual Gautama Siddhartha. Now, being a monk doesn’t mean that you will never ever talk to anybody ever again (although some monks choose to take their practice that way). You are still a member of society, but you just don’t play by its rules. This is why many countries have a different tax rule for money in religion.
You still talk to people, but you don’t seek to be loved and celebrated. People can follow you, but you don’t give them incentives to follow you or chase them down when they leave you. You just walk your path as a practitioner of your spiritual path and whatever ripples that make in the world you take as a side effect.
Many of the conflicts in the world today are based on clashing values. Dominance with nuclear power is so attractive to the powerless, it almost encourages them to try and get nuclear power as well. Dominance through abduction and deportations is so attractive to the people who are safe in their homes, they don’t realize they’re setting themselves up for a society that will dramatically topple for the foundations of it are being taken away.
True liberty doesn’t come with equal powers participating in the same system. Is the world really a better place when every country has a nuclear program? When there weren’t refugee issues in Europe or racial issues weren’t at its peak in America, were there zero problems with society? As long as we participate in a system, there can be no true liberation.
It’s like playing in a soccer league and wanting everybody to be winners. It just doesn’t work that way as long as there is a leaderboard. One team cannot be first without another team losing. The Buddha called this phenomenon “accumulating your happiness on top of others’ suffering”.
This taken the extreme way is being an anarchist. I am not calling for everyone to be anarchists. We have to be able to observe societal systems as a tool to make our collective lives as a society more facilitated.
If we were a household of five, there is no need for a government. If we were a village of twenty, there may need to be a bit of a code of conduct. If we were a city of two hundred, it’s way more likely that we will have conflicts than a household of five so a bit of a stricter ruleset is required for order.
Societal systems are something that we collectively come up with based on our current situation and context. But too many of us see ourselves as participants of the system instead of the owner of the system. In this worldview we are subject to the system instead of operating from a liberated state of mind.
Korea just had a presidential election because the previous president attempted martial order to solidify control of the country in his own hands. Even with that the voter turnout was under 80%. A constitutional crisis was not enough to get everyone to vote. We don’t see ourselves as the owner of our systems.
As we consider different directions for our societal growth, we must start with this ownership mindset. In order to be owners we have to see our peers in society as co-owners. As long as we see others as enemies we need to win over, we cannot be truly liberated from the system.
Liberty from all systems that govern your life. Seeing systems as they are, tools to introduce order and reduce entropy in society. Understanding humans as they are, without judgment or contempt. With these, we don’t have to wait until we die or travel far away to reach the pure land.
The pure land of liberty is within reach. It’s in your heart.