Buddhism, Culture and Transformation

By Prahlad Singh Shekhawat

The book Buddhism for Transformation Today is thematically divided into Buddhism, mind and science, and on culture and social transformation. It has a cross-cultural perspective. The last section is focused on Dalai Lama’s ideas and contains an interview with him.

The book crosses disciplinary boundaries and bridges ideas in subjects like philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience. Some of the key ideas explored are happiness and business management.

The interface between the individual and society can be significant and is expected to aid personal transformation and desirable social change.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing India
• Release date: Sep 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781482838008

Prahlad Singh Shekhawat

Prahlad Singh Shekhawat www.prahladsingh.net Director Alternative Development and Research Centre Jaipur.   Research Associate, International Network for Personal Meaning in Toronto Canada, but living in India. Researching on happiness and wellbeing that is meaningful. M A in Development Studies,International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. Certificate in Creative Writing, University of Oxford. Certificate in Ecovillage Design Education from Wongsanit Ashram in Thailand.  Course in the Power of Communities (ecological), from the Schumacher College in the UK.   Author of nine books including four poetry books Published Books: Aspects of Human Development and Culture, launched by the then Vice President of India, Sri Bhairon Singh. Literature and Ideas, Independent Media Foundation, Delhi.  West Rajasthan: Ecology, Culture & Development. Cooperative Dairy Development in India: Replication in Rajasthan. University Book House, Jaipur. 2008. Human Development, Well-being and Globalisation, Rawat Publishers, Jaipur, 2012. Poetry Books include: Being, Belonging &Wonder Becoming, Writer’s Workshop, Kolkata, 2000. My poem was included in Dance of the Peacock: An Anthology of Indian Poems in English, Silent Brooks Press, Canada, 2010. Wandering & Wondering, Partridge for Penguins, 2016. Travelling Here and There, Authors Press, Delhi, 2018. Safar (Poems in Urdu), Authors Press, Delhi, 2018. Forthcoming Books: Alternative Development and Social Progress, and New Pathways for Human Progress, both have been accepted by Cambridge Publishing, UK. Wrote a column for the Hindustan Times Jaipur edition and contributed articles to The Hindu,  Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Times of India etc, and to a few foreign publications like the Resurgence Magazine, UK, Policy Innovations, USA, Seeds of Peace in Thailand. Delivered lectures at:  The Green Academy in Graz, Austria Kansai Gadai University, Osaka, Japan  Ithaca Ecological Community in Upstate New York,USA O.U.R. Ecovillage community, Victoria Islands near Vancouver, Canada The Advanced Center of Philosophy, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur  Sadhana Forest Project in Auroville, Tamil Nadu  Speaker at the Jaipur Literature Festival in 2014 and recently in January, 2019 when my new book on the life of a Rajasthani artist was launched at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Received the Star of Asia Award for my written and social work, presented by the International Business Council in Delhi.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Prahlad Singh Shekhawat.

ISBN:                    Softcover                        978-1-4828-3801-5

                             eBook                              978-1-4828-3800-8

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Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1 Happiness, Compassion and Altruistic Action

1 Beyond Happiness: Compassion and Altruistic Action

2 H H the Dalai Lama in India

3 H H Dalai Lama and Aristotle as Happiness Gurus

Chapter 2 Culture, Society and Transformation

1 Integrating Personal with Social Development

2 Navyana Buddhism and its Relevance Today

3 Zen Buddhism and the Power of the Koan Poetry

4 Dharma Index for Ethical Business

5 Buddha and the Chakravarti

6 Gross National Happiness in Bhutan and Redefining Progress

Chapter 3 Interviews

1 Interview with the H Dalai Lama

2 Interview with Professor Tara

References

Foreword

My book on Buddhism, Culture and Transformation is concerned with various approaches that lead one to a multidimensional and holistic understanding of how one’s life is best lived by combining the social and the cultural with the individual process of desirable change. Such a change may be worth emulating while formulating various approaches to development and progress in a holistic manner.

The book examines why we are able to make the transition from lower levels of awareness to higher ones in the process of the evolutionary process. Mere awareness is transmuted through various stages of awareness building as well as social and cultural change into higher levels of consciousness. Such a transmutation results in a kind of evolutionary breakthrough leading to the formation of societies which are based on altruism and values of compassion as well as empathy rather than on selfish and egocentric ways of living and being as can be found in conventional methods of living.

What makes us move towards higher levels of consciousness in order to achieve this transmutation maybe related to other forms of evolutionary approaches like that of Buddhism where one need not be hemmed in by the specific nature of what constitutes the various forms of development goals and modes of progress. Such an approach may by itself not result in much of what constitutes development and progress in the economic sphere and even in the social and cultural fields. Therefore the need arises for combining in an integrated manner the social and cultural goals with particularly the spiritual and psychological ones. Such spiritual and psychological goals which are personal and individual in nature will be the main focus of another book under consideration.

What leads us further in the direction of this evolutionary process is the ability to combine various forms of approaches that may impinge on our notions of development and progress in the empirical world as well as the ability to promote spiritual and psychological wellbeing in this and any other worlds that we know of. Wellbeing and happiness is now being measured in contemporary discussion that deals with the debate related to the ideas of development or rethinking the idea of development, in many ways. When such a process finds its culmination in a unique way then it may lead to transmutation or a special kind of development or evolutionary change which perhaps can be described as a breakthrough. We then have an elevated form of awareness which can coexist in harmony with other forms of social and cultural modes that can move in mysterious ways in an ever growing process of mutual goodwill, trust along with the spirit of altruism.

The book sheds light on some of the above aspects and tries to strive towards various unchartered areas in order to explore what has remained lesser known. Buddhism has now emerged as a major force in our times so that we can make a substantial difference by aligning our thoughts and minds to a higher version of Buddhist thought with implication for us in various ways. The reality first in the social and cultural sphere and later or hopefully simultaneously in the spiritual and psychological sphere needs to be better considered. This may allow us to find the right mix of many strands of human experience that could be mutually reinforced in a consistent manner. For this purpose we ought to find a balance among the various dimensions that could perhaps propel us towards a different trajectory of human growth and evolution of human mind or consciousness. The beginning and the basis has to be in the social and cultural sphere after having overcome the material and non economic sphere by providing for the basic needs of all.

We hope such an evolutionary ladder could be made into a stepping stone for future patterns of change and transmutation which may prove to be a kind of a model for generations to come. Therefore the ‘Sangha’ or the community becomes significant. For the ‘Sangha’ to prosper we all need to make ways to curb personal dispositions or biases even of a spiritual and psychological nature, as they may prove an obstacle for us all in the attainment of a ‘model’ of change and spiritual development. Individual and social development as also upliftment need to be combined in various forms in order to find the right balance for attaining future growth, including the sustainable development of the future generations.

Chapter 1