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| Sunday, 24 July 2005 |
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Book reviews Linking Buddhist Philosophy with real life Reviewed by Tamara Sivagurunathan Deepal Sooriyaarachchi's "Switching Off" is an interesting and thought provoking collection of articles, written based on the writer's own experiences and those that are woven from day to day life, while being encompassed within the framework of his religious beliefs. The whole book, though deeply imbued by Buddhist philosophy has much universal relevance. The writer also attempts to link this philosophy to real life and provides guidance as to how to face various obstacles in leading a better life. Non Buddhists too, will find it an easy to absorb discourse on Buddhist teachings. The book sets a foundation for some serious soul searching. Starting from the article on a "holy holiday", which relates how a casual meeting with a friend, leads the writer on a spiritual journey to a meditation centre. He manages to instill the atmosphere of solitude and serenity of the retreat centre and sets the backdrop to what is to follow... the impermanence of life, and the freedom that one gains when this deep principle is understood. A lover of animals, I was also greatly moved by the writer's discourse on the protection and care of animals. He quotes.. "All animals fear the rod, Life is dear to all." Danda Wagga of the Dhammapada to elaborate his point, and ends with some practical hints on how one can appreciate other living beings. This link to the practising of loving kindness is threaded throughout some of his other articles as well, such as those dealing with caring for the sick, comforting and helping those who are underprivileged. To elaborate this he quotes a beautiful Zen saying "Listen to the sound of the pine trees, when no wind blows, look for those who are silent around you, for they may be crying loudest in their hearts." He pins the difficulty humans face in practising loving kindness, to their earthly struggle between spiritualism and materialism, while stressing the important role that giving plays in various aspects of a Buddhist devotees life. Some of the references to Buddhist teachings in the articles, I found could draw close reference to Christian teachings as well, particularly the concept of 'giving' spiritually and materially, in such a way that the right hand does not know what the left hand does. Another article which was quite thought provoking was the concept of jealousy and es waha which springs, the writer says, from following the concept of 'I' verses 'others'. Humans constantly attempt to compare themselves with others particularly kith and kin, or peers. The perceived gaps result in self pity and discomfort which lead to negative reactions such as dislike and jealousy. The writer however assures that knowledge is the key to overcoming such shortcomings. The writer also explores another universal human frailty-getting hurt, which he says is what we feel when the image we build of others differs from reality, when there is non-conformity to our perception. The greater the bonds, the greater the pain, and this leads to anger and getting hurt. All in all, the book revolves around knowledge of oneself, and also places a greater emphasis on consideration of others... be it the sick, the needy, the mentally downhearted, animals or even the environment. It is easier if we realise that everything is impermanent and live a life which at our death does not embarrass the person giving the eulogy! The true test the writer says is to re-consider our priorities, if we had but a week or a day to live. Though written in a very light manner the insights given are deep and I am sure, will be enduring. Exploration of responsibility and irresponsibility by Jeanne Mercek, Ph.D In this slender volume, Diyanath Samarasinghe offers readers a rich meditation on responsibility, freedom, obligation and personal well-being. Responsibility Matters is a wide-ranging exploration of responsibility and irresponsibility, moving from our own personal practices to those of people in our immediate social world to actions taken by public servants, corporations and governments. Samarasinghe's account of responsibility quickly reveals that responsibility and irresponsibility are not so easily distinguished from each other as one might think. Both are complex, ambiguous, and layered concepts. If we ask a chronically irresponsible person to carry out an important task, don't we share some of the blame when it is not done? If we allow ourselves to be deceived time and again by promises of reform proffered by an inveterate drunk, wife-beater, or gambler, should we not assume some responsibility for our gullibility? Changing irresponsible behaviour may be less a matter of reforming individuals than of interrupting cyclical patterns of action and response. As many readers know, Diyanath Samarasinghe is a psychiatrist who is a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Colombo and an authority on alcohol and tobacco addiction. However, this book is not a scientific treatise about mental disorder or addictive substances. Indeed, Dr. Samarasinghe wants us against idolising scientific expertise. Neither scientific nor mental health professionals can define what a good life is. Scientific research cannot decide questions of ethics and morality, which are ultimately questions of responsibility. We must decide those questions for ourselves. Dr. Samarasinghe urges us to use our own powers of observation and self-reflection to develop a moral stance and set our own standards of behaviour. Consistent with this point of view, Responsibility Matters does not offer facile advice of the kind usually found in popular psychology books. Its pages are sprinkled, with questions designed to spur introspection and inspire moral reflection. Responsibility Matters provides few if any answers. The early chapters of the book examine responsibility at the individual level. Particularly intriguing is Dr. Samarasinghe's assertion that excessive responsibility is harmful. In the ensuing discussion, we see that excessive responsibility includes too many responsibilities as well as a misconceived sense of responsibility. Shouldering too many responsibilities is debilitating; in social relations, there must be a balance between giving and taking. In intimate relations, emotional blackmail may be used to impose unfair responsibilities. Moreover, some practices that we construe as matters of responsibilities are little more than hollow routines. Other responsibilities give little value in relation to the effort we expend on them. Further, we may cling to certain responsibilities because we have become attached to them even though they no longer serve their original purpose. Yet other responsibilities, are "soul-destroying," to use Samarasinghe's evocative phrase; that is, they are boring and monotonous. Some responsibilities - such as jobs that require the infliction of great harm - are "evil," Samarasinghe says, because they undermine our conceptions of right and wrong. Dr. Samarasinghe sketches connections between responsibility and personal well-being (that is, mental health). He suggests that the optimal state for personal well-being is a middle ground between too many responsibilities and too few. To have no responsibilities is to be a parasite on society and ultimately not to belong to society. Freedom is not the absence of responsibility. Rather, freedom involves experiencing ourselves as part of a community. A sense of belonging to society brings joy and exhilaration. In the latter chapters of the book, Samarasinghe paints on a large canvas, taking up our roles and responsibilities as citizens, clients, consumers, and stewards of the natural world. How, he asks, do we hold accountable the people who provide services in the public domain - police, lawyers, doctors, and mass media? As their clients, how can we effectively articulate their responsibilities to us? Is it possible for consumers and citizens to hold corporations to standards of ethical behaviour? In this regard, multinational corporations, with their shifting rosters of shareholders and operating officers, pose a challenge that seems virtually insurmountable. How can citizens demand accountability from the politicians they have voted into office? What if the array of candidates contesting an election 'flagrantly lacks quality'. In such instances, democracy is demeaned and de-legitimised. Perhaps, Samarasinghe suggests, voters should be permitted to register 'No' votes well as 'Yes' votes. Responsibility Matters, devotes two chapters to describing strategies for change, though it does not propose detailed solutions. Dr. Samarasinghe astutely argues for the importance of concerted action rather than individual effort. In terms of fostering societal change, he suggests that actions taken to influence collectives (e.g. the medical profession or the police force) are more likely to succeed than those aimed at reforming a single individual. He also describes mental obstacles, notably cynicism, fear of displeasing others, and complacency, that keep us from coming forward to demand responsible behaviour from others. At its heart, Responsibility Matters is an optimistic book. Diyanath Samarasinghe believes that we can and do rise above brute self-interest. In his view, the capacity to be responsible is unique to humans and it is the key to being fully human. Samarasinghe honours the individual and human freedom. However, the individualism he espouses is not the acquisitive individualism of consumer capitalism. Instead, Responsibility Matters embeds the individual in a web of social relations and mutual care. Moreover, the freedom that Responsibility Matters espouses is not the pursuit of self-interest unfitted by social restraint. Instead, freedom rests upon our capacities for self-knowledge and self-determination. These are the capacities that enable us to engage in honest self-assessment and to choose a course of personal change, if we do not like what we see in ourselves. Diyanath Samarasinghe writes with quiet authority and deceptive simplicity. He illustrates his points by describing dilemmas of everyday life that will resonate with the experiences of readers from many walks of life: Who will care for frail or ailing elders? Should we stop covering over a family member's drinking habit? How do we decide whether a partner's emotional demands are reasonable or not? His prose is unassuming, jargon-free, and laced with gentle wit. Responsibility Matters speaks to us all. It is a book to savour, to ponder, and to be inspired by. 'Life, was, is and will always be a battlefield' by Aditha Dissanayake Netaji Subhas Confronted the Indian Ethos 1900-1921 It is not only the Gandhi/Nehru faction of the Congress of India who should be given credit for India's fight for freedom. India's freedom movement was in fact a movement of the masses and there were a number of great leaders with fierce passions and great visionary ideas who sacrificed their entire lives for the nation's cause. One such was Subhas Chandra Bose. An extraordinary individual who contributed immensely to shaping the destiny of India (rightly or wrongly?) in how 'Netaji Subhas Confronted the Indian Ethos (1900-1921)', Adwaita P. Ganguly claims to reveal to what extent Subhas' philosophy of life was influenced by the Indian ethos determined by Yogi Sri Aurobindo's 'terrorism', poet Tagore's 'Universalism' and Mahatma Gandhi's 'experimental non-violence'. The book is a bridge between the earlier work on Subhas and the final work, which is based on Krishna's dialogue with Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra as codified in the Bhagavadgita, because "life was, is and will always be a battlefield between two opposite forces through which the Absolute Brahman expresses itself". The opening pages (the book curiously has no chapters) dwell into how Subhas, with single minded devotion prepared himself to be a leader like Cromwell or Lenin, to make India a free country. He maintained strict discipline by avoiding the theatre, opera, music friendly gossip and above all the company of women. This last was mainly because he could not get over his reserve in any give-and-take with the fair sex. He was unaccountably stiff with them, except with a lady called Mrs. N. R. Dharamvir. After staying with Dr and Mrs. Dharamvir in their house in Manchester, when he leaves, she gives him a farewell gift of fried nuts and condiments. "Women" he tells his friend Dilip, in a thick voice brimming with emotion, "will always be women". This interesting glimpse into Subhas' life in England however, ends abruptly and the narrative proceeds to quote extracts from letters written by Sri Aurobindo to his wife Mrinalini, which the author justifies as a revelation of Aurobindo's philosophy that influenced the young revolutionaries, both in Bengal and outside Bengal. The pages that follow reveal a detailed description of Aurobindo's life in England from 1879 to 1893 and how he imported "terrorism" from Cambridge to India. Using the rhetorical language of the sages the author compares his own writing on Sri Aurobindo's involvement in the Second War of Independence to the "petals of a lotus which gradually unfold at the touch of the morning ray of the sun". Twenty three pages later, he begins on Tagore's "Universalism". Primarily a poet and not a revolutionary, the author believes "Tagore by temperament was too soft to lead a political battle". He was bereft of Mahatma Gandhi's tireless patience and persistence, his calm judgement and unruffled will, his genius for strategy, and his unrivalled gift for leadership. But a great poet Tagore undoubtedly was. Reviewing the poems after the publication of Gitanjali, Ezra Pound wrote here is the "advent of a great poet, someone greater than any of us". Following the eclectic tradition of the philosophy of the Rig Veda, Tagore through his work presented the perennial Vedantic philosophy of India to the West. On to Mahatma Gandhi and to his journey towards becoming a great leader. "Gandhi identified himself with the humblest villager by adopting a life of complete simplicity and poverty, renouncing all wealth, and dressing in a dhoti. Because of this life of austerity and self sacrifice, a great emotional bond grew up between him and Indian people, and he came to be revered as a great spiritual leader." Thus ends the biographies of the three "rebels", who the author claims influenced the thought and activities of Netaji Subhas Bose. Though the descriptions on the life and times of Aurobindo, Tagore and Gandhi provide interesting reading and would be indispensable for those interested in knowing the ideological basis of India's struggle for freedom, the book fails to give equal emphasis to how Subhas worked out his action-plan which ultimately forced the British to quit India. The questions, "what were the loopholes Subhas saw in the strategy of the Mahatma and how was he influenced by Aurobindo and Tagore?, remain unanswered. |
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