DooDoot wrote: ↑Wed Jan 13, 2021 1:30 am
Actually, it is the above that is both superficial & false. If we read books by real Buddhists (rather than Neo-Cons), such as Buddhadasa or P.A. Payutto, they all says capitalism (which devalues labour) and communism (which overvalues labour) are extremes.
Capitalism is not an extreme which "devalues labour". Capitalism is simply trade for profit, with investment back into the business to grow it. It can take an exploitative form, but it doesn't have to. Fascist Italy still had capitalism but they claimed their corporatist system would balance capital and labour, uniting both under the banner of Nationalism. In reality Capital and the State got into bed with each other and both dominated labour completely. I mean, even Mussolini acknowledged this when he founded Italian Fascism Take 2, i.e. Italian Social Republic. This wasn't unique to the Italians though of course. Everywhere Fascism has been tried it worked out the same. The merger of business with the state to dominate labour and society at large, despite the rhetoric. I agree with you about Communism.
Let's look at DN 31 (I'm not a fan of Sujato's translation):
"A master should serve their bondservants and workers as the lower quarter in five ways: by organizing work according to ability, by paying food and wages, by nursing them when sick, by sharing special treats, and by giving time off work. Bondservants and workers served by a master in these five ways show compassion to them in five ways. They get up first, and go to bed last. They don’t steal. They do their work well. And they promote a good reputation. Bondservants and workers served by a master in these five ways show compassion to them in these five ways. And that’s how the lower quarter is covered, kept safe and free of peril."
Nothing in this requires Fascism. You can find this in many other systems. Many of the modern western welfare states, of regulated capitalism, have this. Monarchy can also provide this, which is distinct from Fascism. In short, your claim that "the Western political doctrine closest to political Buddhism appears to be fascism" turns out to be a rather hollow one.
If you wish to make an argument, the please provide a substantive argument rather than a trite unsubstantiated black kettle argument. I even recall Ven. Dhammanando posting once that the Buddhist Welfare of A Nation could come from a fascist or Nazi manifesto. As for your obsession with the Wheel Turning Monarch, this is not the only political system found in the suttas. As I have posted, the Welfare of The Nation was taught to the Vajjis, who appeared to not engage in monarchy but were a Republic.
Whilst the Buddha praised the Vajjis the ideal system, the best system conceived of in the suttas, is that of Monarchy. Specifically, a monarch who knows and also rules in accordance with Dhamma. This is understandable of course since, as I have said, monarchs are essentially high priests or intermediaries between the divine cosmic order and the human worldly order, between the metaphysical and the physical. When a monarch reigns as he should, in line with this cosmic truth, then balance and harmony is maintained in the world. When the monarch departs from this metaphysical truth, or is disposed of, then the universal order is disturbed. Disharmony sets in and society begins to decay. Its really just an extension of the thinking found in the Vedas, where the Brahmins and their sacrifices help to maintain the universal order. Its also almost universal to all pre-modern societies. The ideal political system then in Buddhism is Monarchy and so Monarchism is the political doctrine closest to the ideals of the suttas. Much, much closer than your Sorelian Marxism, i.e Fascism.
Only in Monarchy could we find a ruler who is an intermediary between the universal law of Dhamma and the world, not in Fascism. It is in Monarchy that all people can be united together, not in the "National Myth" of Fascism. It is in Monarchy where just rule can be found, and so all directions respected, not in the corporatism of Fascism.
Finally, as a final thought, Fascism glorifies war. War to Fascism is good. Imperialist expansion is good. Violent domination of others is good. This is a world away from the enlightened rule of the Wheel Turning Monarch.
"War alone keys up all human energies to their maximum tension and sets the seal of nobility on those peoples who have the courage to face it. All other tests are substitutes which never place a man face to face with himself before the alternative of life or death...Life as he understands it means duty, elevation, conquest; life must be lofty and full, it must be lived for oneself but above all for others, both near bye and far off, present and future." The Doctrine of Fascism - Benito Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile