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By Ben Dench (about the author) Page 1 of 2 page(s)
For OpEdNews: Ben Dench - Writer
Upaya (expedient means) is, among other things, Buddhism's way of
explaining other religions. This story from the Lotus Sutra is often
used to describe the concept of upaya: A rich man comes home to find
that his house is burning down. His children are inside the house, and
he calls out to them telling them to get out. For some reason the
children don't understand the concept of fire or that they are in
danger. They reply that they are busy playing their games and don't
want to leave. So their father lies: He tells them that a festival has
come to town with better games and that they should leave the games
they are playing and come out. And so they do, and they are saved. The
gods and holy men of other religions, according to Buddhism, are
Bodhisattvas in disguise. They appeared to those people at those times
in the only way they could understand and spoke to them in the language
of their understanding. While some may consider this somewhat
condescending, it's at least more fair minded than the Christian method
of dealing with other religions: telling their constituents that their
gods either don't exist or are devils and that their holy men are
either liars or fools.
Some Western Buddhist teachers, however,
have used the concept of upaya for suspect purposes. One had AIDS and
had sex with his students without telling them he was
infected-afterwards saying that this was to teach them about
impermanence. On a much lesser scale, there was a teacher of a
different sort, an academic professor, who was teaching a course on
Buddhism and decided to fail all his students as a lesson in
nonattachment. Needless to say, they were not pleased.1
An
answer that has been given to defend the concept of upaya against these
types of actions has been to say that these individuals, not being
Bodhisattvas, were not in a position to use upaya. But I think it would
be inconsistent to argue for upaya as an ethical position when
performed by a Bodhisattva but not by anyone else. Who does something is not relevant. The only thing relevant is the structure of the act itself.2
If children are burning up in a house and you need to lie to save them,
it doesn't matter if you are their father, a passerby, or one of the
children. Individuals may not always be able to determine perfectly
when something is appropriate and when it isn't-but that's life. We
have to make judgment calls to the best of our ability. The farmer who
passes by the burning house and doesn't lie to save the children's
lives because he doesn't know if he's allowed doesn't escape causal
responsibility for the results of his actions or lack thereof.
When
it comes to the issues of giving everyone Fs or putting individuals at
risk of being infected with AIDS without their consent, I think both of
these are consistent with Buddhist principles and, under the Buddhist
model, count as legitimate upaya.
Now, one may say, isn't the
one teacher really just taking advantage of his pupils to fulfill his
own sexual desires in the first case? I think he probably is. I don't
see this as being relevant, however. What is relevant is whether or not
the actions support the goal.
Does receiving the grade of an F
force you to face the fact that you are attached to your grades? Does
getting AIDS force you to face your attachment to life?
Well, do they?
I think everyone that answers honestly and objectively would have to answer in the affirmative, that they do.
And should you be attached to these things, according to the Buddhist worldview?
I think anyone answering honestly and objectively would have to answer in the negative, that you shouldn't.
So
these teachers acted rightly in accordance with Buddhist principles. I
cannot see another option. I think people don't want to accept this
because they don't like the conclusion, but that, too, seems
irrelevant. Either renounce Buddhism or renounce your attachment to
life and self. Right? What other option is there?
To say, "I am a Buddhist, but that teacher acted wrongly in infecting me with AIDS" is to be inconsistent. You don't really believe that life and self should be renounced.
Not
being a Buddhist, I can say that these actions are "wrong" in the sense
that they are contrary to my will. That is not the kind of behavior I
want to allow, because those are not the kind of goals I want to
achieve. But that's not to say that upaya as a concept is wrong. It
seems to me that it can be very useful. Many times I find myself
talking to people within the context of their own beliefs and
worldviews in order to discuss one point or another, for the purpose of
increasing understanding. As Nietzsche observed, a refusal to lie and a
love of the truth are not at all the same thing. While, ceteris
paribus, I prefer to be straight and obvious in my perspectives (I see
it as largely a waste of my energy to deceive and I generally want to
commune in common understanding with others and be accurately known),
there are situations in which direct confrontation would seem
counterproductive. And since all statements are metaphors anyway, we
might as well speak in metaphors that our audience can understand and
appreciate.
More to the point, for us to describe the truth of a
situation to the best of our ability requires that we describe it from
as many different angles as possible. When we do this, however, we come
up with different descriptions that may sometimes seem to contradict
each other but which are nonetheless true, taken in context-what is
known as a paradox. As always, language is a problem. Different words
are used in different senses, and it can be confusing.
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