Preface to
A Causa do Sofrimento na perspectiva buddhista

According to the Christian calendar, we have just entered a new millennium. (It is merely the year 2544 in Buddhist countries.) Calendar changes may occur overnight, but more significant cultural changes develop over generations. Cultural historians remind us of the radical changes that took place in Europe when the previous millennium began with the Papal Revolution of Gregory VII (roughly 1050-1150). Within a few generations all the social institutions of modern Europe were born. Subsequent revolutions — the Protestant Reformation, England’s Glorious Revolution, the American and French Revolutions, the Industrial Revolution, and the Soviet Revolution — carried the process of modernity forward. Then, as that millennium drew to a close, we heard claims of the "end of history."

The second millennium is ending not so much with a revolution but a petering out. This is called "post-modernity." Defined more by what it is not — not modernity — it nonetheless has certain elements that make this book in your hands possible. We no longer believe that there is one universal truth to be defined for the whole world by Western intellectuals and pushed onto everyone else by Western military might. We increasingly respect diversity. The isolated rational subject of Descartes living in a mechanistic Newtonian world has been debunked and is increasingly understood to be embedded in communities and ecosystems. Among other possibilities, these trends allow openings for non-Western wisdom into the lives of modern people.

At the same time, we are increasingly aware of our dukkha, the "suffering" of this book’s title. Ecological destruction mounts and catastrophe looms. Communities and families loose cohesion and disperse. Fast-paced, highly competitive work creates great stress. Fundamentalist tribalism class with globalizing capitalism. Old answers no longer inspire faith and we are unsure whether things can or will get better. As the title of one book has it, Reality Isn’t What It Used To Be.

This book will introduce you to perspectives that arose in pre-modernity, transcend modernity, and will be important survival skills midst the uncertainty of post-modernity. Foremost, it will help you to see yourself as you dance the life of our times, not just intellectually understand theories about yourself. It will help you to look into your own experience and find out what is happening there. Is there pain, woundedness, suffering? When and how is there joy or freedom? What are we doing here? What can we do about it now that we are here, that is, how are we to live?

Reality may be understood differently these days, but it still falls within the confines of suffering and the end of suffering, which is what the Buddha was about. As long as there is suffering, and post-modernity has plenty of it, the Buddha is relevant. In this book, Ajarn Buddhadasa helps us to see this crucial relevance by bringing us back to the core issues of Buddha-Dhamma, that is, of life and how we corrupt it by clinging to it as "me" or "my life," and then trying to buy, own, and control it. We end up struggling selfishly without end. Buddha-Dhamma offers the radical solution of giving up the selfishness and struggle for peaceful, joyful living in the here and now.

Ajarn Buddhadasa was in many ways the most modern of Thai Buddhist teachers. However, being a profound Buddhist student, thinker, and practitioner, he also embodied things (dhammas) that Western scholars have labeled "post-modern." He was scientific, but not in the linear, mechanistic way that still dominates in the West. He presented clear, forthright principles but did not think he alone was right. He moved away from the centers of power and relinquished positions of power given to him. He understood original Buddha-Dhamma, as well as later TheravŒda and MahŒyŒna versions of it, according to their contexts. He proposed perspectives and practices both deeply rooted in the original Buddha-Dhamma and appropriate to our times. It is fitting that his work is becoming know in Brazil.

It is too soon to say how good the fit will be between Buddha-Dhamma and post-modernity. It will take generations to see what becomes of the latter. Buddha-Dhamma, however, has been around a long time and points to that which is timeless and beyond birth-death. This book is part of the upheaval called post-modernity and signifies the counter-influence of Asia on the West. You will find wisdom here that has been largely missing in the West’s discourse with itself. Post-modernity will be troubling for many, note the rise of fundamentalism and other tribalisms. It is also a great opportunity. Buddha-Dhamma is a wonderful companion to have with us as we navigate these confusing currents.

May the effort of the translators and publishers of this book bear fruit in your hearts and in the social world inseparable from us. May we all collaborate in the great human search for lasting peace, wisdom, and compassion.

Santikaro Bhikkhu
January 2000