Democracy, Freedom and Human Rights: Relationship Lubricants in a spiritual desert
Wong Weng Hon
Introduction
Healthy democracy, appropriate freedom and benevolent respect for the fundamental human rights lubricate and harmonize human relationships in the spiritual desert of a secular state. The United Nation Organization’s (UN) Universal declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) does not conflict with the laws, commandments or precepts practised in the major world’s religions, such as Hindusim, Taoism, Buddhism Christianity, Judaism and Islam. UDHR and Religion are parallel in terms of the first principle of Monotheistic commandment of loving the neighbour and Buddhist Precepts of moral restraints and the practice of the Buddhist ethics of lovingkindness (mettā) and compassion (karuṇā). Love, lovingkindness and compassion are ethically synonymous.
Love Your Neighbour
Loving the neighbour encompasses comprehensively the love and protection of healthy democracy, appropriate freedom and benevolent respect for the fundamental human rights. Buddhistly put, loving the neighbour is consistent with the Buddhist Ethics of Five Precepts (Paññcasīlas), the Ten Wholesome Course of Actions (Dasasīlas) and the four foundations of Buddhist Benevolence (Saṅgaha Vatthus) and the Four Non-discriminative Virtues (Brahmavihāras).
UDHR is Divine
Monotheistically put, UDHR or Loving the neighbour embodies the ten divine commandments. The transgression of UDHR or the breach of the divine commandment of loving one’s neighbour constitutes a disobedience to one’s Lord. That Lord can be either Brahman, Tao, Buddha, God or Allah which esoterically represents the communal Truth of cosmic Unity. Though they are diversely designated, they are one and the same. The divine message is esoterically identical. We belong to one single human family in this earth community. We are brothers and sisters in the human family of a same global village.
As far as the U.N and the western polity are concerned, UDHR is so sacred and dear to the westerners. In fact, the ordinary citizentry of the eastern nations find the UDHR equally sacred and dear. UDHR is divine because if we protect the fundamental human rights, we are friendly towards others. We avoid abusing the fundamental rights of others. We treat all people equally without the distinction of colour, creed and belief. In fact, UDHR supplements the ethical dimension of religion to harmonize human relationships.
The conscience and sincerity of our inner Heart yearn for the communal ideal, that is every person desires happiness and does not like suffering. Everyone loves to be treated well by others. Succinctly put, UDHR promotes and fosters the golden rule : Do not do onto others as you do not want others to do onto you. It reminds us to put ourselves onto the shoes of others and empathize the thoughts and emotions of others before we act towards others. It concurs with the popular Confucius ethics which affirms thus:
What you do not desire ought not to be imposed on others.
This is synonymous with Gotama Buddha’s admonition in the Aṃbalațțhika-rāhulovāda-sutta (SN) expounded by the Exalted One thus:
Before you act, you must consider thus: If the action is harmful to oneself, the action should be abandoned. If the action is harmful to others, it should also be abandoned . If the action is not harmful to oneself and other(s), the action can be committed .
The Buddhist doctrine of empathy is expounded by Gotama Buddha in the Aṃbalațțhikā Rāhulovāda Sutta (MN). UDHR is essentially the radiation of love to others to promote global peace, harmony and security. The beauty of UDHR is that it fulfills the vacuum of the spiritual desert of a secular state which has indirectly or directly alienated Man from the absolute Truth – our common Lord.
Applied on the basis of Truth of righteousness, UDHR or Loving the neighbour promotes and fosters spiritual growth and consummation of human character. UDHR or Loving the neighbour, in truth , enlarges the unity and concrescence of mankind. The optimum association of UDHR promotes and fosters economic growth of a nation when all human beings are treated as being born free and equal in dignity and rights. The western nations perceive UDHR as the ethical preservation of democracy and freedom based on righteousness. Western superpowers like U.S and EU’s burning desire to help the political and religious dissents in some tyrant or autocratic countries have been misconstrued as interference of the international affairs of other independent countries. They should be positively construed as extending a helping help to those politically distressed dissents who have been unjustly persecuted or bullied by their own governments.
When two neighobours are in a grave trouble or conflict , it is our responsibility to help and appease the situation. This is not to be conceived as interference of a neighbour’s internal affair. It should conceived positively as the compassionate responsibility to render aid to the distressed or abused victim. Obviously, the helpless persecuted or bullied victims yearn for external rescue in order to redress the injustice committed. There is obviously a distinction between the responsibility to help a distressed neighbour and the interference of the privacy of the distressed neighbour. The former is great compassion which is heroic. The latter is obviously unethical and is not encouraged. The world will be more peaceful and harmonious if the distinction is properly discerned .
Equality for All
All major world’s religions, such as Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam advocate the innate divine supremacy of every human being. Every human being is potentially a Buddha or Brahman or God. Every human being is the religious house of the Absolute or one’s divine Lord . The visionary document of UDHR was drafted and ratified by the United Nations General Assembly in December 10, 1948. The protection of equality and dignity of human beings are obviously consistent with religious ethics, wisdom and innate divinity and sacredness of Man. Divine sacredness is the original Self of Buddha-nature or cosmic Self (Dhamadhātu) . Generally , it is described as the immanence of God in Man. In fact, Man is the most perfect image of God , Buddha or Brahman as the human mind is the microcosm - micro-reality of human personality. Whoever knows microcosm knows the Truth of macrocosm of universe. Microcosm is the hidden or unmanifest dimension of God, Buddha or Brahman ; macrocosm is the manifest dimension of God , Buddha or Brahman.
UDHR
Generally, the exoteric aspect of dissimilar religions are diverge and only their esoteric dimension is universally identical and communal . UDHR is an amazing document by which the ethical dimension of religion is standardized and uniformed and is accepted by 192 members of the United Nations Organization (U.N). Of course, the global ordinary citizentry consider UDHR as their mundane or secular saviour because their fundamental human rights of all global citizens are politically protected by U.N.
Beautifully, UDHR is actually an universally exoteric religion of the world for all as its universal nature appeals to all. UDHR is marvelous because it is the TQM (Total quality management) of human ethical behaviours. It is an oversight ethical mechanism imposed by U.N. Currently, the morally imperiled world is swamped with grave financial crisis, ecocrisis of global warming and climate change, fierce wars in Iraq , Afghanistan, Middle East, international terrorism and extremism. The worsening internal turmoils in a multitude of the developing and underdeveloped nations destabilize the world further. Because the global inhabitants have stayed aloof from Religion and have also alienated from UDHR, the security and peace of the world is currently menaced . Even many believers have become disobedient to their Lord . Disobedience to God or transgression of divine commandments damage parts of unity of God . Deficient or toxic parts cause the collapse of the mould of God. The failure , defeat, crisis, disaster or catastrophe either disfigures the face of God or causes the collapse of the mould of God .
There is only one and the same divine Lord for all in this terrestrial world. The communal Lord is the absolute Truth (San. Satya; Ara.: Haqq). The Truth is God, Brahman, Buddha or Allah . The Truth is dependently co-arisen Unity or Non-duality. Unity or Non-duality is non-discriminative interdependence and integration. Interdependence and integration are the dual attribute of God , Brahman, Buddha or Allah. Universally put, the Truth is the Way, Principle, Spirit and Life of righteousness. Buddhistly put, it is the right view (sammā dițțțhi) and right thought (sammā saṅkappa) of the perfection of wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) generating right actions .
This again has corroborated my perception that UN, as the champion of UDHR, is the chief backyard ‘bodhisattva’ directed and empowered by the governments of the member nations to reduce conflicts, tensions, vexation and anguish in diverge fields. The diverse fields include politics, economics, education, health, disease, science, technology, energy, telecommunications, culture, and so forth. Working behind the chief backyard ‘bodhisattva’ are the large team of elite UN’s officials. These elite U.N officials have been receiving relatively poor supports from member nations because of individual political interests. For instance, the U.N ‘s scientists’ findings and recommendations on mitigation and fixing the eco-crisis are not strictly implemented by them.
Fortunately, many of the U.N’s supporting officials are the renowned experts, scholars, savants , intelligentsia or elites have silently mitigated or fixed many of the global problems or crises besides eco-crises. These U.N backyard ‘bodhisattvas’ are the silent heroes who silently render their humantarian aids and services to the poor nations in terms of food, health, diseases, education, human rights,infrastructure, agriculture, protection of natural environment , sustainable development, natural disasters, catastrophes and others .
Western Ideals
The separation between religion and a secular state is only the separation of powers between the state and the church, temple or monastery. It is not the sepration of polity from religious ethics and wisdom. The alienation from religious institutions by the political DNA of a secular state has created spiritual desert in a modern secular society. Democracy, freedom and human rights embodied in the UDHR thus have helped fill the spiritual or ethical vacuum of global spiritual desert.
Westerners worship the spirit of democracy, freedom and human rights derived from and protected by the UDHR. Not only westerners perceive them as sacred and dear, but also the eastern ordinary citizentry take refuge in them too. However, the racists , the fanatics, autocratics and dictators dislike them because they interfere with their oppressive powers, nepotism and self-interests.
Protection
In a God consciousless society, ethics are diluted or even dissolved in the sea of individual interests, pride, and conceit rooted in spiritual delusion or blindness. Fundamental human rights are violated. Therefore, the demand for democracy, freedom and human rights prevent the potentialities or possibilities of oppressive misrule of dictatorship, unrighteous capitalistic exploitation of labour, transgressions of human economic rights, social rights, cultural rights, educational rights , work rights and so forth.
Violations the fundamental human rights of others are tantamount to disobedience of the divine commandment of God or Buddhist Precepts. In other words, the demand for democracy, freedom and human rights protected by UDHR by the ordinary citizentry deters power abuse, capitalistic exploitation of labour, unjust autocratic bureaucracy or tyrant governance and ill-treatment of dissents.
In a spiritual desert of a secular state, the modern iconic culture of UDHR constitutes a neccesary insurance or oversight mechanism to insulate the basic wellbeing and welfare of the ordinary citizentry who are unjustly depressed. For instance, ISA (Internal Security Act) is originally intended to deal severely with terrorists, sabotagers or betrayers of national interests. Unfortunately, ISA has been abused in some nations to obliterate political foes, and dissents just because they think dissimilarly. The evil effect of the al-mighty power of ISA is that it has indirectly produced a heartless, autocratic and God-consciousless nation. National development is meaningless when a nation becomes God-consciousless. God-consciousless nation is one in which Truth or Wisdom and righteousness do not prevail. The self-centric ego sits in the throne of power. It is a dark nation in which God or Truth is obscured or concealed.
It is necessitated especially when a God-consciousless nation is governed by a tyrant bureaucracy, an oppressive polity or a self-centred ruling political party. In actual fact, we are all fortunate in the sense that we are protected by modern advanced judicature, UDHR and Religion. Judicature and UDHR are the precious legacies of modern civilization. They should be esteemed and venerated . Religion is the supreme wisdom and legacy of religious saints, such as Gotama Buddha, Lao-tzu, Jesus Christ and Mohammad, other Tathāgatas and Prophets. The saints are the perfect images of the communal absolute Truth.
The innate bipolarization between the phenomenal world and the Absolute Truth (world-God relationship; interpenetration between phenomena and principle) will automatically swamp us for disobedience to the Lord or transgression of law, commadments or precepts. Most encouragingly, Man is uniquely the unity of bipolar mind-matter (nāmarūpa) to understand this bipolar Reality of the link between conventional truth and the ultimate Truth or the link between the World and God. The former is exoteric whilst the latter is esoteric. Man is most blessed among all sentient beings. Man is endowed innately with the perfection of wisdom and conscience or sincerity of the inner Heart.
Right actions arisen from conscience and sincerity of inner Heart are dependently co-arisen from right thought. Right thought is dependently co-arisen from right view. Infallable right view is constructed upon right worldview of bipolar Reality. Bipolar Reality is the knowledge of the relationship between the relative and the Absolute. In a secular society, the right view of UDHR is ethically useful. It contributes to human moral restraint of the secularists who are not regulated by divine commandments or law or religious precepts.
UDHR is the exoteric dimension of Religion. It should be appropriately esteemed and venerated. It replaces the ethical deficiency of a secular state which is separate from religious houses of worship A secular state actually advocates only the separation of the political power from the power of the religious houses of worship, such as churches and temples. It does not mean that the secular polity must be separated from religious ethics or wisdom. Likewise, political power is separated from the judiciary power. However, the separation of powers does not denote that the governance is free from the punishment or penalty of the judiciary system if offences or crimes are committed by the government .
Conclusion
Gotama Buddha’s promulgates in the Satipațțhāna Saṃyutta thus : “Protecting others, one protects others; protecting others , one protects oneself.” Such admonition is universally applicable to faith adherents irrespective of any religious denomination. When one is nice to others , one is nice to oneself.
All living beings are parts of a human body. When a part of the organic body is injured , the human body is injured. The whole world is organic. When a nail is pulled off from a finger, the whole body trembles. When the root, representing metaphorically the Absolute, is removed totally, every part of the tree, representing metaphorically all living beings, becomes extinct. When God, Brahman or Buddha is removed from our lives, we are rootless. The failure of the modern world is that religion has never been properly emphasized. There is an excessive focus on science , technology, economics and politics marginizing religion. Crises, turmoils, conflicts, wars, terrorism, disasters and catastrophes reflect this unforntunate reality of imbalanced human mental culture .
Some United Nation Organization officers once acknowledge that Confucius Ethics promote and foster respect of fundamental human rights. Gandhi accepted that Human Rights resonate with Hindu religious philosophy. Buddhist scholars recognize that the Buddhist Five Precepts are equally useful in protecting fundamental human rights of others. Muslim scholars recognize human rights as being consistent with Quranic social and political standards or values. We see that UDHR and religion are not in conflict.
The first precept of the Buddhist Five precept is to refrain from destruction of lives. This first precept is compatible with the observing or respect for the fundamental human right of others to lead lives without being threatened by violence or danger. The second Buddhist precept is to refrain from committing thefts. This is parallel to the observation of or the respect for the fundamental human right of others to possess wealth without being robbed. The third Buddhist precept is to refrain from sexual misconduct . This precept is consonant with the observing or respect for the fundamental human right of others to protect their happy married family lives. The fourth precept is to restrain from dishonest or false speeches. This precept is consistent with the observing or respect for the human rights of others not to be deceived. The fifth precept is to refrain from self-intoxication with liquors or drugs. The transgression of the fifth precepts usually conditions the violation of the first four precepts. An intoxicated person usually loses his mindfulness, awareness and conscience. Consequently , he would commit offences or crimes that violate the fundamental human rights of others. |
