How our Buddha Dhamma studies will be modified by recent changes in global politics
By John D. Hughes Dip.App.Chem.,T.T.T.C. GDAIE
Vice-President World Fellowship of Buddhists
Research Assistants: Evelin Halls, Dip. Foreign Language
Correspondence
and Pennie White B.A. Dip.Ed.
The question that now confronts the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Limited is not simply whether processes of globalisation are fast making all previous political maps of the world obsolete, but how we should be responding to this prospect'.
Globalisation processes bring change faster than ever before in history.
Since the telephone was invented and commercialised in the United States of America, telephone systems have colonised the world.
From this old technology, the Internet was born.
For cost reasons, we cannot afford to link to the newer connections that permit very fast data flows. The average time to load data to one of our websites is from 40 seconds per photo to thirty minutes for an information packet.
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We are not a very wealthy organisation. In total funds and dollar equivalents, goods and services received annually, we would be lucky if we reached Australian $1,000,000 dollars per year. Our asset register listed about AUD$400,000 in assets last year.
Our return of assets investments and cash flow received is between 25% to 48% per year. This means we look like we are sustainable over the medium term.
The Internet as a powerful communications tool for global accessibility of information and building online communities is well documented. The Buddhanet website at Sydney, Australia, receives 100,000 visits per day. The Buddhist Monk, Founder and Webmaster of Buddhanet, Venerable Pannyavaro (2001) wrote: “The Internet should not be seen as just a new way to disseminate or repackage the Buddha’s teachings but potentially as a base for an innovative – a Cyber Sangha, that offers alternative social and spiritual values.”
In the Venerable’s article E-learning Buddhism on the Internet he wrote: “It has never been considered that the Buddha’s teachings were only found in the text, actually in the past the Dharma was transmitted as much through oral teachings. There is a temptation to merely dump data (facts) online rather than exploit the new ways of presenting information that the technology provides. Data and information do not necessarily translate into knowledge. Because a teaching is ancient that doesn’t mean that it cannot sit comfortably with the new technology. If the Buddha were alive today, he would surely be at ease in the Digital World. There is a new generation growing up with the Internet’s technology, who regard it as the natural place to find information, for online learning and for spiritual and emotional support.”
Our next project is to set up our own Internet server at our Centre to build PHOTOLAN. It will contain hundreds of Buddhist images that will be searchable offline as well as online on the Internet thus enabling Buddha Dhamma practitioners around the globe to benefit from this information. An image can say more than a million words, and they contain many blessings. The PHOTOLAN website will contain rare Buddhist artefacts stored at our Centre as well as photographs from specific Buddhist events including visits from Venerable Monks and Nuns and Conferences such as this one today.
This project will also help to keep a record of the history of Buddha Dhamma and will help to preserve this history for future generations. PHOTOLAN will also help many persons that cannot come physically to our Centre or to another Buddha field to study and learn the Dhamma. Via the Internet persons can transcend time and space. We are making use of the new technologies as an additional way to ensure that the way out of suffering be taught.
Buddhism is one of the fastest growing religions in Australia. Buddhism is becoming popular with Western cultures because of its non-dogmatic and non-ritualistic doctrine.
In 1983, the High Court of Australia defined religion as “a complex of beliefs and practices which point to a set of values and an understanding of the meaning of existence (ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2001).
From 1991 to 1996 Buddhism increased by 42.9% (ABS No.1. 2001). The fastest growing group in percentage terms (in the 10 years to 1991) was Buddhism (at) 298.6% (ABS No.2. 2001)
At our Centre, we set up a mission to develop our scholars' style over the last three years so that they can write in styles that are definitively neither eternalist nor nihilist. We prefer to write in the active tense rather than passive.
Among the two and a half million words in the English language, many are eternalist due to the historical use of English to write about creator gods.
The nihilist words were formed from atheist use and pessimism about things arising from two World Wars and the cold war.
The practical incubator we use to train our persons is to get them to write in our Buddha Dhamma style by getting them involved in the production team which produces one Buddhist radio broadcast every week. We have provided weekly broadcasts for over 200 weeks.
Our scholars fund, write, produce and deliver these radio programs live every Sunday at 11am on a local FM radio station.
The text of the radio broadcast is loaded onto our Internet site at www.bdcublessings.net.au.
Our Centre has built up the nucleus of a good Buddhist research and reference library and our databases are searchable by our modern search engines over the last two decades.
To stay culturally adaptable, we maintain regular contact with about a 1000 Buddhist and religious Centres in many countries.
In spite of the geographical isolation of Australia, our direct and indirect knowledge of the global politics driving the subject matter of many overseas conferences give us enough thoughts to find the type of topics we might choose to write about at our Centre.
Australia is the most multi-cultural society in history so, as you would expect, all forms of Buddha Dharma are practised.
Our lemma is that we can add more light than heat to the current debates.
In the most recent Lotus Lantern Journal, Dharma Friend Venerable Yang, JangWoon wrote about the activities of the Internet Buddhist Association which is based in Korea. Formerly named The Unitel Buddhist Association it was established in July of 1996 with 14 Members. The group now numbers 2438 Members, of which 560 people, about 25% of whom live as true Buddhists. The formal name of the group is The Land of Buddha.
The Land of Buddha considers three ideas, study, practice, and intimacy, more than anything. They observe four ways of practice. They are meditation, chanting, studying sutras, and serving the public.
The writer noted that: ‘Some warn that computers are going to be the most powerful tool to bring a loss of humanity, but at least in the Land of Buddha they become important and effective means to spread Buddha’s teaching at the time of Dharma of the last days.
What makes it possible is the Internet is very efficient in letting people know the last teaching of Buddha, which was make yourself a light, make my teachings your light’, and it is the nest of seeds which make new connections among people.
The writer noted that maybe people can get answers from Internet Buddhist groups like The Land of Buddha which takes the lead of young, active, and positive actions and practices online.
We produce about two well-researched papers per week. We plan that our Buddhist scholarship output must be encourage to double or triple within the next decade.
Publication costs and postage costs have been rising in Australia and it now costs over AUD$16,000 per year if we are to continue the free delivery of our flagship journal in paper form.
Requests to join our free mailing list increase at 20% each year. The former issues were 80 pages. As a compromise, we tried one issue of 16 pages, with the articles reduced to abstract form. Many recipients were disappointed who had no Internet access because they were unable to obtain the full text of 200 pages plus photographs for each issue.
We see difficulty in such a runaway cost situation, so we regret to announce we have decided to cease paper publication for the present.
You can view an enhanced version of our latest Buddha Dhyana Dana Review on Internet at www.bddronline.net.au.
We assume those poor institutions without Internet at present will obtain access within three or so years.
To be cost efficient, we network our graduate students into existing Australian University structures that direct their efforts towards promoting globalisation of learning effort.
There are enormous benefits in globalisation of education and it is here to stay in the Australia education system. World ratings are fuzzy, but we believe we can say Australia is third in the world in the deployment of Internet education.
We rejoice in this aspect of globalisation but there are also concerns.
Fundamentally, globalisation is a capitalist process that rapidly developed after the fall of the Communist Soviet Union.
Previous political maps have not become obsolete because geography still is significant for many reasons such as the physical location of resources, for example.
But through new technologies time and space have become compressed and this added a new dimension to the political world maps because borders can be transcended almost instantaneously.
The danger is the new educational paradigms may discount smaller countries cultural past.
States can no longer operate in the way they used to because of the interdependent economies around the world and communication available within a flash.
We now have open international markets as well as a technological, social and cultural exchange on a global scale. In what follows some of the globalisation processes will be discussed in order to show aspects that give reason to rejoice as well as some problems involved.
Globalisation is a very complex phenomenon that has created much controversy and there are many ongoing debates about this most interesting process. One main question is what will happen to the nation-state. States cannot resist the outside world, but they still rule in the domestic sphere. States can also determine tax, regulations, allow or deny access and license; they can set rules to which transnational forces must adhere to (Webber 1997: 43). Thus it is possible for states to govern internally and take part in global processes at the same time; the nation-state will still be needed, only the role of the state is changing in some areas. Although the Westphalian states-system that is based on sovereignty of the state is compromised, the state is not likely to vanish. It is possible for nation-states and globalisation to co-exist, and history has shown that states are very adaptable.
We look for the present world leaders in Buddha Dhamma know how, Thailand – the land of the free – to guard this heritage and transform the world.
The transformationalist view is that new systems and governments will develop; the state power will be unbundled and just change but not be lost. Scholte claims that "the growth of supra-territorial social spaces is altering the activities and role of the state in contemporary history" (Scholte 2001: 23). Political maps of the world look more complicated today because their globalisation has added the supraterritorial space to the maps. Even though the state is changing its role and losing some power this does not necessarily mean that it is a disadvantage; rather it opens new possibilities for communication and trade, for example; therefore we have reason to rejoice in globalisation that is driven by the initiatives such as the World Buddhist University and the World Fellowship of Buddhists.
Deterritorialisation and the global market are driving forces of globalisation, and the processes are so involved that there is no simple answer whether we can rejoice or not. But the world order has undeniably changed, and there is both resistance and welcome to change.
The transformationalist view is less extreme than the hyperglobalist and the skeptic position; it might be the one coming closest to the truth because evidence suggests that the nation-state has lost some power but at the same time the state will still be needed. Also, globalisation is not experienced to the same extent everywhere, and in some cases state autonomy might decrease while other countries might increase autonomy.
Globalisation is controversial but one thing is for sure: globalisation progresses fast and that in itself can be a reason for people to reject it because there is so little time to adjust. Those who do not adjust might soon feel disunited in a united world.
The very human activity of running a Buddha Dhamma Centre must be more transparent.
We intend to continue to place a human face on the Buddha Dhamma by our special publication The Brooking Street Bugle on our website at www.bsbonline.com.au
There are concerns that governments will not be able to protect national interests and that Australia, for example, is becoming dependent on corporations located elsewhere. Malcolm Fraser, a former Prime Minister of Australia, wrote in the Age newspaper that:
"There are people who believe governments have and are losing power, that that power is being transferred to the market and, through the market, to corporations" (Fraser 28 December 2001: 8).
Some people worry that we will become de-skilled and lose infrastructure to the degree that we may be unable to produce our own basic needs such as shoes, clothing and household items, and also the hi-tech items required for transport, medicine, communications and defence, for example. This view does represent worries that do exist, but the reality of what globalisation might lead to is much more complex.
For example, before the Second World War Australia had already stopped manufacturing clothes and imported most clothes from Britain. It is a myth to believe that Australia was ever able to be completely self contained. McGrew claims that no state "... has ever been free to act completely independently from external pressures." (McGrew 1992A: 321). Globalisation has just rapidly intensified the interconnections between countries. States still have autonomy only they might now be more constrained to exercise powers in some areas. The truth is that countries are becoming more and more interdependent rather than just dependent. "Interdependence means that economies, societies and governments are affected by events beyond national borders..." (Russell 1997: 47). The influences are a matter of cause and effect and they travel both ways. Interdependence is not necessarily a bad thing; business opportunities exist that have never existed before in history and millions of people rejoice in those. Australia, too, does not want to miss out on the opportunities offered by the global market.
We look to the team assembled by the World Buddhist University in Thailand to guard the heritage of Buddha Dhamma with their centuries of experience in education on a system that was not colonised by a foreign power.
Fischer sees it as good news that developing countries do not want to close themselves down but rather want the advanced countries to open up even more. Unequal power situations are not new in history and globalisation processes cannot create complete equality either.
Michael Moore, secretary of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said in a speech that "Some people say the problem with globalisation is that it lacks a "human face"." (Moore 2000: 1).
But the human face in globalisation can be seen in the fact that the processes help people to make more of their resources, it does benefit ordinary people and not only top managers, traders and the like. It is true that there exists extreme poverty in the world today. Moore stated that a quarter of the world's population survives on less than a dollar a day, that is 1.2 billion people, and another 1.6 billion people earn only one to two dollars per day (Moore 2000: 2). Globalisation has often been blamed for making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
The fact is, however, that those countries that have escaped poverty are the ones that have been open to trade.
One example of this is China: over the past decade 100 million people have overcome extreme poverty.
South Korea was as poor as Ghana 30 years ago and is now as wealthy as Portugal.
Looking at these facts there is much reason to embrace globalisation rather than to protest.
Another aspect of globalisation is that we now have fast new communication technologies and global media. Ordinary people are empowered to use borderless communication tools such as email and the World Wide Web, for example. Nobody owns the Internet and no state or company can control its use. New digital technology has dramatically raised our awareness of what happens in other parts of the world; everybody is effected by globalisation in some way. People have more individual control than ever over information flow and this is certainly a reason to rejoice. Previous political maps have surely become obsolete for digital technology users who make use of the supraterritorial dimension, and e-business is flourishing around the world. "Since the turn of the century, the revolution in communications and transport technologies has shrunk the globe.... Technological innovation and its diffusion is therefore considered one of the most powerful engines of globalisation in the twentieth century" (McGrew 1992B: 25).
Francis Fukuyama, professor of international political economy at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, is well known for his hypothesis that we have reached the end of history. Here the word history is used to describe the evolution over the centuries toward modernity. After the collapse of communism and fascism we now have democracy and capitalism hence there is nothing else to evolve to. In his article 'The west has won' Fukuyama predicts that "democracy and free markets will continue to expand as the dominant organising principles for much of the world" (Fukuyama 2001: 1). One proof for his theory is that millions of immigrants from developing countries are trying to live in the west but hardly anybody wants to immigrate in the other direction. Fukuyama predicts that the liberal-democratic west will continue to dominate world politics because the western market orientated societies meet people's needs better. Therefore, if Fukuyama is right, globalisation is good, and deterritorialisation will continue even more.
There is also the question whether globalisation challenges democracy. If we go back to the concerns discussed earlier in this essay, that we will lose control of the world we live in, what really lies underneath these concerns is the fear that democracy is threatened. "The struggle between Jihad and McWorld, for the ordinary women and men caught between them is a struggle to preserve democracy and to extend civil society" (Barber 1996: 299-300). Today the majority of the world's people want democracy to work so that they are not only consumers but also citizens. Powerful inter-state organisations like the United Nations (UN) consist of a few representatives from different countries who make decisions on a global scale yet the citizens of those countries represented do not get a chance to vote. The same is the case for most of the powerful global institutions such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. Needless to say, this is not a democratic process. It seems that the world has always been changed and controlled by a handful of people such as the kings of the past, those in power in parliaments, or today, global organisations and some states. The question is: whose democracy? From this viewpoint, globalisation simply shifts the power but does not undermine what we call democracy.
People may or may not be happy with the decisions made by the dominating organisations. Those who rejoice in globalisation are those who benefit, for example, businesses that make profits in open international markets or governments including those of some developing countries that see advantages. Nevertheless, environmentalists express many concerns, numerous businesses feel threatened and some developing countries are also unhappy about the processes, and these are just some examples. The global market produces winners and losers because it is a product of capitalism. Some people lose their job because of globalisation, such as unskilled workers. But in the long run people are likely to end up with better living standards. At times the interests of poor countries might get overlooked and they do not benefit from globalisation as well as they could.
Globalisation provides much more material for further study as it has an effect on politics, economics and culture.
It would go beyond the task of this paper to look at all issues in detail. However, significant aspects of globalisation such as the role of the nation-state, globalisation as a capitalist process and democracy were discussed. Evidence was found that the world today is more interdependent than ever, it is more united and also more disunited than ever. Inequality has always existed throughout world history and globalisation is also not going to lead to an equal world.
Be that as it may, globalisation has changed the world at a fast pace and there are reasons to rejoice: open markets have the potential to increase wealth, even in poor countries. We have always been one, global world. But we have moved well beyond the limits of geographical borders. Political world maps have changed because of the electronic communication revolution that has lead to supraterritorial space.
Our awareness of what happens in the world has increased considerably. Therefore we are more aware of the effects of our own actions and our responsibilities have increased. There is much potential in globalisation to benefit people. International institutions such as the UN govern global responsibilities to some extent but there exists no global government. Much is still unclear in the globalisation debate. The future has not come yet so it cannot be said for sure what globalisation will bring to humankind. As with most things, there is always a downside as well. It is now up to humanity more than ever what future we might be heading for, because of the possibilities that globalisation offers. Hopefully morality will be stronger than hate and greed and hopefully globalisation will improve our world so that we can rejoice. It surely has the potential to do so.
We want to deliver mass education about the best insights that Buddha Dhamma can deliver.
One of our students is interested in the use of technology at the World Buddhist University.
She is enrolled for a Masters Degree from Monash University in Melbourne and relies on getting information from between 30 and 50 persons who are ‘faculty’ or ‘students’ of the World Buddhist University. The term ‘faculty’ refers to the international network of scholars, while ‘students’ are researchers, professionals, trainees and all other participants (Tongprasert, 2000. p1)
This research design uses a combination of descriptive narrative, ethnographic study and phenomenological research techniques. Ethnographic research tends to have more general problem statements and hypotheses may be generated throughout the study.
A descriptive study was chosen to explore the question of the use of technology by the World Buddhist University because it is most suited to the purpose of looking at the phenomenon as it is, rather than testing any hypotheses.
Will you help?
Bibliography
Books:
B.R. Barber, 'Afterword', in Jihad vs. McWorld, Random House Inc., New York, 1996, pp. 300-301.
A.G. McGrew, 'Global Politics in a Transitional Era', in A.G. McGrew and P.G. Lewis et al., Global Politics: globalization and the nation-state, Polity Press, Oxford (England), and Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1992, A chapter 16, p. 321.
A.G. McGrew, in A.G. McGrew and P.G. Lewis et al., Global Politics: globalization and the nation-state, Polity Press, Oxford (England), and Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA, USA, 1992, B p. 25.
A. Russell, 'Trade, Money and Markets', in B. White, R. Little and M. Smith (eds.), in Issues in World Politics, Macmillan Press Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and London, 1997, p. 47.
J.A. Scholte, 'The Globalisation of World Politics', in J. Baylis and S. Smith, The Globalisation or World Politics, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001, pp. 23.
A.D. Smith, ‘Towards a Global Culture?’, in M. Featherstone, Global Culture: Nationalism, Globalisation and Modernity, Sage Publications, London, 1990. pp. 171-193.
M. Webber, 'States and Statehood', in B. White, R. Little and M. Smith (eds.), Issues in World Politics, Macmillan Press Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire and London, 1997, p. 43.
Journals:
G. Therborn, 'Into the 21st Century' in the New Left Review, Second Series, July-August 2001, pp. 87-98.
Yang, JangWoon, ‘Internet Buddhist Association’ Lotus Lantern Vol.3 No.12 Winter 2545 B.E. (2001). Journal of the Korean Buddhist Chogye Order Ed. Ven. Yang San. Korea. p.20-22
Articles:
M. Fraser, 'The global march is slowly suffocating Melbourne', The Age, 23 December 2001, p. 11.
Websites:
S. Fischer, 'Globalization: Valid Concerns?", Speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium, 26 August 2000, p. 1-5, the International Monetary Fund website, accessed 02/01/02, http://www.imf.org/external/np/speeches/2000/082600.htm.
F. Fukuyama, 'The west has won', Guardian Unlimited, Special Reports, Thursday 11 October 2001, p.1-3, accessed 02/01/02, http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,567333,00.html.
M. Moore, 'Trade, Poverty and The Human Face of Globalization', World Trade Organization website, WTO News: Speeches – DG Mike Moore, London, June 16th 2000, pp. 1-4, accessed 02/01/02, http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/spmm_e/spmm32_e.htm.
Websites from the Buddhist Discussion Centre (Upwey) Ltd.:
http://www.bdcu.org.au
http://www.bdcublessings.net.au
http://www.bddronline.net.au
http://www.bsbonline.com.au
http://www.companyontheweb.com/buddhatext
http://www.companyontheweb.com/buddhamap
http://www.skybusiness.com/j.d.hughes
Unpublished Papers:
E. Halls, Essay for Bachelor of Arts Degree, 'Issues In Global Politics', course PLT 2980/3980, summer semester 2001/2002, Lecturer Dr. P. Muldoon, Monash University, Faculty of Arts, Clayton Campus, Victoria, Australia.
P. White, Research Proposal for Masters Degree, 'Use of Information and Communication Technology by World Buddhist University (WBU)', course DRU003, 2001, Research Supervisor: Senior Lecturer Mr B. Holkner, Monash University, Faculty of Education, Clayton Campus, Victoria, Australia.