I have just completed David Loy’s book, A New Buddhist Path: Enlightenment, Evolution and Ethics in the Modern World. Written in a clear and compelling style, this book presents a cogent interpretation of Buddhist teachings. With acuity and logic, Loy reveals a current pressing need for intertwining the paths of personal enlightenment and social awareness / activism. Better still, he reveals the pitfalls of focusing on only one path to the exclusion of the other.
I really enjoyed following the logic and possibilities uncovered in this book. It was both inspiring and grounding. See David’s summary in the HUFF POST.
Highly recommended for social activists and seekers of liberation.
A few quotes to give you a taste:
“The prevalent Western worldview promotes individualism and narcissism, its economic system encourages greed, and society as a whole seems to be entranced in consumerist addictions and fantasies. We need to revitalize this ancient wisdom that can point us back in the right direction.”
“In early Buddhism the move from Samsara to Nirvana is not a journey to a “separate reality”, but away from attachment to non-attachment, from greed and anxiety to calm and equanimity, or from “self” to “non-self”.”
“Unless social reconstruction is accompanied by personal reconstruction, democracy merely empowers the ego-self. Insofar as I am still motivated by greed, ill will, and delusion, my freedom is likely to make things worse. So long as the illusion of a discrete self, separate from others, prevails, democracy simply provides different types of opportunities for individuals to take advantage of other individuals.”