Now available: Buddhism and Computing

(Subtitle: A milestone is but a beginning)

I’m pleased to announce that Buddhism and Computing: How to Flourish in the Age of Algorithms has been released and is now available.

The book marks the culmination of investigations spanning more than a decade, focused on the design of technology that benefits humanity in the long-term.  The enquiries have been primarily from the perspective of Buddhist ethics, but are substantially interdisciplinary, brought together in a way that I hope will foster much-needed dialogue involving everyone.

In that spirit, I'm pleased that the Daily Alternative have published an introductory piece. 

I very much welcome feedback – comments, reviews, emails, etc.  Please spread the word!

Thank you.

- Paul

Press release: Buddhism and Computing

I am pleased to share the press release for Buddhism and Computing: How to Flourish in the Age of Algorithms (Mud Pie Books), which will be published on 1 May.  

Download the PDF file (or click on the image below).

A few notes are available in a previous blog post.  More to follow.

Commitment to Research for Human Flourishing

In March 2011 Japan suffered a catastrophe with a massive earthquake off its East coast. A chain of events led to the Fukushima nuclear power plan disaster with the release of massive amounts of toxic radiation. I visited Tokyo a few months later, in July, when the city's population seemed subdued and fearful in a similar way to how many people have been with the Covid-19 pandemic.

I was hosted by Professor Yukari Shirota at Gakushuin University. In response to what happened, Professor Shirota made an emphatic statement, which I paraphrase: “Japan does not have much in the way of natural resources, only human resources. I therefore commit my life to research.”

Research is fundamental to human resourcefulness and is an activity that I would like to develop more effectively. Whilst research is a natural aptitude and I’ve long nurtured an interdisciplinary approach, I have only a very limited publication record despite having spent decades in academia; to earn a living I have served mainly in a technical support capacity.  I originate ideas quite easily, some expressed on this blog, but I have found it exceedingly difficult to gain traction for them.

Reasoning that I needed to devote more time to my endeavours, in July 2020 I decided not to accept an offer a 12-month contract extension to my post as Digital Projects Officer at the History of Science Museum (HSM).  Instead, I would work full-time on my research activities. However, I shall retain a connection following the award by Museum of the (unpaid) position of Honorary Research Fellow, which was approved by the Board of Visitors at their meeting last November.

There are several strands to my research that might benefit HSM. The most immediate concerns any digital aspects, particularly online communications, an area I have explored for a while and about which I will touch on below. There are other, broader aspects. In 2024 the Museum will be celebrating the centenary of its founding and I’ve already outlined some visionary ideas. I may take the opportunity to expand on them.

A number of my research strands have concerned aspect of science and religion, a broad theme whose historical development took a major turn in the 17th century, the century in which the original Ashmolean Museum was founded. The building now houses HSM, but it is still formally referred to as the ‘Old Ashmolean’. This was a period that saw the rapid rise of rationality; indeed, we denote this period as the Age of Reason. The consequences have been far-reaching, most especially in the increasing emphasis on materiality, which has pervaded notions of science and research in general.

I talk briefly about that development in Buddhism and Computing, the first tangible fruit of my research. A contribution to the ‘Mud Pie Slices’ series, it offers more than a slice of my thoughts from the past decade on critical issues around computer-based technology, particularly as manifest on the Internet. It has been a considerable challenge to squeeze in a wide range of topics without undermining the overall flow, but the issues are urgent and I wish to facilitate better access to them.

Buddhism and Computing summarises and ties together some of the main strands of my ideas in response to challenges facing humanity, concerning the freedom to think and act autonomously, the quality of awareness and so on. I conceived the Sigala project in sustainable online social networking as the primary deliverable in response to these challenges, but until recently I kept my research notes in local documents. I have now set up a website for the main body of research, research.siga.la.

Thus far the part-time efforts of one person, it has large gaps, is rough around the edges, out of date in details, lacks marketing (Why so few images? Where’s the explainer video? Etc.), yet it seeks to offer a coherent and humane vision. I’m hoping that once word gets around, the thesis will gain acceptance and the presentation strengthen, and so on.

For me the process started in November 2007 when I started to reflect on what friendship truly means and how best to support it online. Initially, I conceived this in educational terms, but very quickly saw that its scope was universal.

Having been introduced to the Internet in the early ‘90s in the context of research, I have been strongly averse to the way the Internet, particularly the Web, has been commercialised.  Browsing the Web today with its numerous interruptions, whether for legal consents or advertising, do not make for an aesthetic experience.  Furthermore, changes in search indices and results generation, favours organisations, particularly corporates, and has diminished the voice of individuals; all told, it has generally become harder to find high quality and truly diverse materials.  

Nevertheless, we need viable economic models and I see great potential in applying the work of Avner Offer, who recognised a spectrum from the gift to the market in his theory of the 'economy of regard'.  I’d like to incorporate this in Sigala.

I will elaborate on the substance of the project in future blog posts. For now, I just mention in passing that the website is a kind of knowledge base, whose process is ongoing. As explained, I author and manage the content on my laptop at home using a locally installed WordPress, a web content management system whose popularity is due in no small part to the fact that it is open source software.

Using this setup has yielded the first technical fruit. Running to a few dozen pages, the site is not large or complex, but there is a lot of text, so it may take some while to browse to find something specific. So, as with most websites, a search facility is provided. However, I’ve taken an existing search plugin, WP Static Search, and modified it to work offline, i.e. without an Internet connection or web server. I’m only an occasional coder, but have uploaded my changes to Github and submitted a pull request. This means you can download the entire site onto a memory stick and browse and search it there. (Just one tip: when downloading the zip file from Github, the plugin folder should be renamed back to ‘wp-static-search’ before deployment.)

However the research proceeds, I shall always be looking for opportunities to innovate!

A Review of Four Reigns (Part Six): Religion

Having worked through the text one reign at a time, I'd like to consider a few particular aspects for the text as a whole. Hence in the sixth of a series of posts reviewing Four Reigns, a translation of Si Phaendin, a Thai classic of historical fiction by M.R. Kukrit Pramoj, I shall consider the treatment of religion.


Traditionally, Thailand’s identity has been established on three pillars: nation, religion and king (and when Thailand became a constitutional monarchy, ‘constitution’ was inserted as a fourth element). Nationhood and kingship are described overtly, but what about religion? The official and generally accepted religion of Thailand has for many centuries been Buddhism, but running alongside have been other ancient religious traditions imported from Asia and the Middle East. In royal circles official ceremonies are strongly influenced by Indian culture and especially Brahmanism, which tended to become prevalent in formal administrative functions more than a thousand years ago. The language in use was Sanskrit, which explains why many Thai Buddhist terms have come to use the Sanskrit version and not the Pali, which is a written form approximating to the vernacular of the Magadha region.

Accordingly, the ritual observances that are described in detail tend to be Brahminical — the top-knot cutting ceremony, oath of allegiance, coronation and so on. Further, in the family context, there are some Chinese rituals as evidenced in connection with Prem’s Chinese ancestry. (For a fuller list of rituals from Brahmanism see Krit Witthawassamranku’s paper). So there are only occasional references to Buddhist acts of devotion, such as flowers for the Buddha image.

This also partly explains why the temples (wats) are not mentioned so much, but probably this would largely be taken for granted since there are tens of thousands of wats and hundreds of thousands of monks — they are ever present in daily life. Yet there are some direct references and suggestions as to the respect shown to the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha). For example, early on, within the Grand Palace, Sadet joins another princess for an afternoon of offerings to monks chanting in the Throne Hall; and on their way by boat to Bang Pa-In, we see monks on canoes, accepting food at piers and landings. The Sangha features at most ceremonies concerning major transitions in life (and death); at her marriage ceremony, Phloi is listening very intently to monks chanting Mangala Sutta, Ratana Sutta and Bojjhanga Paritta [7 factors of Enlightenment recited as a protection] and implicitly understands at least some (“though not all”) of the meaning. In brief nods to the monastic life, Phloi expresses the common wish to see her son, Od, in robes before getting married, which eventually comes true when he requests ordination.

In fact there are Buddhist concepts woven into the narrative; returning from Bang Pa-In, we read Phloi “contemplating … the inescapable facts of getting born, falling ill, growing old and dying.” and she then strives to cultivate awareness of these facts. Impermanence (Pali: anicca), is a recurring theme, helping to articulate the reality of change — in these pages it drastically affects people, possessions, health and home. However, the starkness of the underlying Dhamma is softened by the the author’s imaginative prose, which depicts the characters lingering on past memories, painting evocative scenes in a kind of dreamy sepia effect. Furthermore, some of the language also draws on Buddhist analogies, as when Khun Un, Phloi’s eldest half-sister, refers to Prem as “a bo tree spreading happiness over her head”. (The Buddha was Enlightened at the foot of a bo tree.) If it were a theatre production, because of Buddhism’s universality I can imagine the entire cast joining in a chorus, no matter what their character.

And as the disconcerting reality of change bites deeper, some of the religious beliefs emerge more strongly and the value of the monastic life and involvement of the Sangha seems to emerge closer to hand: we see Phloi praying fervently for the release of a son, Choi spending time repairing monk's robes, monks choosing names for babies or young children, and the belief in good deeds (as urged by Phloi to An). The importance of puñña (merit) is made clear when Choei, reflecting on increased poverty during war, asks: “What will happen to them if they become too poor to do merit-making?” to which Phloi responds, “But that’s unthinkable ... merit-making is our way of life”. There’s also Phloi’s urgent questioning of the law of Karma following the passing of Ot, the observance of Vesak (the day in which the Buddha was born, became Enlightened and entered final nirvana) together with more superstitious beliefs, including the possession of amulets (Phoem frequented many wats).

There’s no explicit reference to the Five Precepts per se, but Phloi’s character evidently values them: for example, whilst the consumption of alcohol appears to be common in aristocratic circles, she quietly disapproves of Pherm taking to whisky and other farang drinks on the pretext of ‘social drink’ — “to Phloi, liquor still meant liquor”, and she’s hurt by his periods of excess, particularly smoking, drinking and gambling, which render him insensitive to what she’s saying. In fact, her behaviour is closely aligned to teachings of the Sigalovada Sutta, in which the Buddha gives guidance on cultivating wholesome relationships as a lay person, on the importance of associating with the wise and so on.

What is absent, though, is meditation practice among the lay; the perceived incompatibility is alluded to when Choei remarks that she feels drawn to renounce the world and take up meditation practice if she did not have family commitments. In the first half of the 20th century it was left to monastics to practice meditation whilst lay people mainly concentrated on doing good deeds, cultivating merit; this was the case in my mother’s family until my mother made the breakthrough in her teens and then some of her siblings, nephews and nieces followed her example (as described in her biography).

There is also a fair sprinkling of astrological and superstitious beliefs; Halley’s comet, sighted towards the end of the rainy season in 1910, is taken as a bad omen and inevitably connected to King Chulalongkorn’s passing that year (even after King Edward VII passes away in England). There’s a charming and magnanimous Thai slant: Muang England has many colonies, so it seemed fitting that an international ‘sign’ be viewed from all its colonies to indicate that its ruler was going to heaven! Also there’s the use of a heavily accented blind Chinese fortune-teller to predict the future of the children. It turns out he is accurate. This practice has long been common among Thais — my mother certainly had consulted them occasionally (or perhaps they approached her). There’s also the belief that an unexpected action brings unexpected consequences — as with Ot getting a job bringing rain during winter — and the need to take care with one’s intentions, i.e. be careful what you wish for, advice that Ot disregards as he prays that he will die before his mother and it turns out that way.

Overall, the influence of Buddhism is subtle and not much made explicit with respect to its role in society; references to the functions of Sangha members are made almost in passing. This is because to the Thai people it was an ever-present reality, as natural as one’s skin. It’s the occasional reference to other non-Buddhist religious practices that appear more obviously because they would have been less common, even strange. However, there is certainly a Buddhist ethos permeating Phloi’s outlook and behaviour — in body, speech and mind. She carries an air of serenity and displays a great deal the qualities of universal love expressed in the Brahmaviharas (the divine abidings or sublime states).

One final remark concerning the author’s own background. M.R. Kukrit belongs to the very influential House of Bunnag, who trace their ancestry through the centuries to Iranian traders and merchants, who were Shia Muslim. A notable figure among them was Sheikh Ahmad Qomi, who arrived in Siam around 1600 and settled there until his passing. They became very successful, winning the confidence of the kings of that period until they assumed high office, in particular responsible for foreign affairs (except for dealings with the Chinese). They even had mosques built in the grounds of the royal palace (at that time in Ayutthaya), but later generations converted to Buddhism.


Still further comment to follow in the final post...

Recurrent Lessons in Interfaith

Organised interfaith activity has become an established feature of British society for decades, but the challenges keep coming and so we needed sustained impetus and even basic reminders of what it’s all for.

I recently visited Colin and Friederike Rice, long-time friends in interfaith. Friederike was Coordinator for the Certificate Course in World Religions at the Multi-Faith Centre in Birmingham, throughout the time when my mother, Fuengsin Trafford, was responsible for the Buddhism module. Even though I already had gathered quite a collection of materials for Thursday’s Lotus, Friederike surprised me when she suddenly pulled out a promotional film for the Centre produced in 1993 only a year or two before it closed due to insufficient funds. The 30-minute production was called Daring to Live Together and follows participants in a week-long course, with numerous interviews and featured speakers, including Prof. John Hick and Fuengsin too:



The film shows how the Multi-Faith Centre, directed by Dr Mary Hall, promoted education through encounter, devising and deploying methods that became widely adopted around the world. This was rooted in her experiences of living for several years in Pakistan, where she became headmistress of the Senior Cambridge high school in Lahore, with Benazir Bhutto among her many pupils.

Only a few years into the 21st Century interfaith had become mainstream, particularly following ‘September 11th’, but the injection of resources that followed arguably led to more ‘managerial’ approaches that changed the nature of the more formal interfaith activities. From my own observations in Oxford, organisations that had focused on creating uniquely supportive spaces ironically lost resources and the personal elements of dialogue diminished.

However, much of this follows cycles and there are always opportunities! A few weeks ago I attended as observer a meeting of the Oxford Council of Faiths - I was invited along because they were celebrating their 10th anniversary and I had been on the working group that led to its formation. At the meeting it was recognised that there needs to be more young people involved. Having read about the importance of faith in her life, I suggested that Malala Yousafzai as someone who would be interested and who could make a valuable contribution. I’m sure, for example, that she would wish to join along with her friends the next Friendship Walk on Thursday 28 June.

Actually, faith has been central to Oxford’s development for its religious foundations that led eventually to the present day University owe much to the memory of its patron, Saint Frideswide. Frideswide (or Frithuswith), derived from Old English, means (I think) “peace made strong”. It’s a quality that surely may inspire future leaders.

Malala is studying at Lady Margaret Hall (LMH). Whilst in Oxford between 1998 and 2002, Ebrahim (“Eboo”) Patel, a determined young Muslim from Chicago and Rhodes Scholar at LMH also, grew his interest in interfaith by participating in various activities in Oxford and abroad. I recall that during his doctoral studies he was seeking to enhance interfaith and was already planning what became the Interfaith Youth Core shortly after he obtained his DPhil. He continued to develop his pluralist activism, with a growing record of activities. If Malala continues to move into widening social spheres, then it’s inevitable that she will have to engage in interfaith, so I hope she will be provided the space and support to do so, similar to Eboo.

Peace Vigil in Oxford for the People of Thailand

On a blustery afternoon on Thursday 23 March, about 25 friends and supporters of Wat Phra Dhammakaya, including three bhikkhus, gathered in Radcliffe Square, Oxford. We’d rather be sitting on cushions indoors, especially those of us more use to the tropics, but given the circumstances we took our meditation and flags into the streets.

So, huddled together and holding on to our banners, we reflected internally, cultivating metta (loving kindness) to spread especially to Thailand.

The ‘land of smiles’ is a country grimacing in the midst of a crisis that is little known and generally poorly reported in mainstream media. It’s a complex situation, whose recent events have seen the Thai military government apply excessive force in a siege involving thousands of police and military, with the backing of the Prime Minister, who is using the all-powerful Article 44. In the UK, we say, in typical understatement, that this action is “disproportionate” and hence the plea for help, and my puzzlement over why success in cultivating Buddhist values is being attacked.

Curiously, those thousands of security people were under the direction of the Ministry of Justice, which normally carries out investigative research into special cases (as its name implies). I think it is an indication of how Thai law is not being properly applied, so for a fair legal assessment the temple has to turn to authorities outside of the country and, as already mentioned, the International Commission of Jurists has already condemned Article 44.

Unfortunately, the United Nations appears slow to respond. I’ve not yet read reports from the recent two day meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, but I was told at the gathering that Article 44 was not discussed. So it means we have to continue spreading the word until it is brought to light. We need to remind the UN that the Dhammakaya Foundation, which is the extension of the original Dhammakaya temple, became a United Nations-accredited non–governmental organization in 1986 and has been an active participant ever since with many education programmes. I hope to share in a forthcoming blog post a few of my own experiences of a special ceremony that took place at Wat Phra Dhammakaya for the UN Day of Peace that welcomed the present Millennium.

Aftewards, we took refreshments at Vaults & Gardens, the cafe of the University Church and then moved on to reflect broadly about events at the Quaker Meeting House, a wonderful venue for spiritual activities. As part of the process I gave a presentation on Dhammakaya Pioneers in the UK, naturally focusing on my mother, Fuengsin Trafford (née Sarayutpitag).




If we can persuade the Thai military government and others through peaceful action to stop their aggression, then we have a chance to restore peace in Thailand and enable spiritual practitioners like my mother to flourish.

Interacting Processes at the 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science

The deep yearning for knowledge, particularly solutions to the problem of suffering, are stimulating many kinds of dialogue, particularly between and among Buddhism and Science. Thus the 3rd World Conference on Buddhism and Science that took place 1-2 December 2010 at the College of Religious Studies at Mahidol University (Salaya), provided a good opportunity to facilitate such activity. A prime mover behind this kind of meeting space is Dr. Alan Wallace, who is actively promoting the scientific analysis of meditation and its benefits.

I was able to join this conference series for the first time and find out about some of the recent developments in this field and present ideas of my own. The 2 day event was compact, with about 20 speakers in all, allowing for closer discussions. In fact, quite a few of them can be seen on the following brightly-decorated open air shuttle bus (or 'rail car' as it's known locally)!

That was taken shortly before 7am on the first day.

The conference was formerly opened by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, who arrived right on schedule at 9am to give a supportive speech, highlighting the qualities of compassion and the importance of ethics for human well-being, an underlying goal for this conference. Her Royal Highness subsequently stayed on to listen to 4 keynote speakers (and meet them afterwards), taking notes at a desk placed close to the speakers. One of my cousins informed me that at the end of the year the Princess compiles a book from the notes taken, indicating considerable conscientiousness.

The presentations were very diverse, covering various aspects across the three themes of Buddhism and Natural Science, Buddhism and Cognitive Science, and Buddhism and Social Science. I'll only touch on a few here, but very conveniently a complete set of papers is available for download. Despite the diversity, there appeared to be some common patterns in much of the research articulated. The scene was very well set by a fluent presentation from Professor Denis Noble who gave a few notes, as it were, from his book, the Music of Life. I attempt to paraphrase what he said (I have studied very little biology!) As a systems biologist he emphasized interaction of processes as the characteristics of life, rather than any genetic code or other building blocks. For him, the human being needs to be treated as a whole, with no control centre; changes are effected in multiple directions, so you can't predict human behaviour by unravelling the human genome - such DNA provides only templates for proteins. This has led to reflections on the Buddhist concept of anatta, though I think it can only be properly understood through meditation at an advanced level.

Process-oriented views were repeatedly echoed by speakers in neurological reports, particularly neuroplasticity arising from meditation practice. Although it was observed that many presentations about science came from a particular Western epistemological perspective, at least the encounters with Buddhist teachings were generally encouraging more 'plasticity' in the research approaches. It is only early days. One speaker applauded the fact that in Thailand the integration of scientific methods with traditional Thai medicine is formally recognised at the national level, contrasting it with the rather constricted approaches in Britain and the United States - often treating symptoms, not causes. Some of what was presented I had heard before, particularly the work by Prof. Ian Stevenson at Virginia's Division of Perceptual Studies, relating to recollections by children of previous lives. Whilst the evidence continues to accumulate and I've long been persuaded myself, I wonder how much traction they are getting in general amongst the skeptical elements in the scientific community?

I don't have much formal training in the sciences (apart from computer science), but I have been practising meditation for quite a while and keen to see it adopted universally. So I was very keen to hear Rasmus Hougaard of the Potential Project, which provides mind training (meditation) for corporations. This looks like a recipe for success that has the right ingrediences: a programme that draws multiple meditation traditions (including the Thai Forest Tradition of Ven. Ajahn Chah), teachers experienced in meditation and the corporate world, training that applies throughout the day in whatever activities are engaged, a language that business people can relate to and the development of local facilitators to ensure continuity of practice. One limitation still to be addressed, and an important one in view of increasing movements between jobs, is that of supporting someone when they leave the company. At present it seems they're on their own...

It was fitting then that we could join in two meditation sessions - both courtesy of the jovial Malcolm Huxter, who had previously been a bhikkhu. Coupled with monks chanting the metta sutta (and excellent food), the conference had a very pleasant feel, though some of the organisation was a bit 'just in time', which is not unusual for Thailand!

There was another personally significant aspect. In 1993, Fuengsin Trafford, my mother, had helped organise a joint conference on 'Death and Dying' between Mahidol University and Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. With her language skills (Thai and English), she was responsible for many of the communications; she also presented on Thai death rituals. So I was very pleased to be able to visit the College of Religious Studies at Mahidol, particularly to meet Dr. Pinit Ratanakul, who had been a member of the group visiting the UK.

For a cosmologist's perspective, you can read the thoughts of keynote speaker, Adam Frank, who writes on Buddhism And Science: Promise And Perils.

Parliament Session notes: Silicon Valley and the Partner City Process

[Saturday Programme reference]

Interfaith activity has been considerable in the UK for quite some while, so could it host a future Parliament? I hope so, but what would it take? At the very least more visibility to the Parliament's Council; this session ('Developing an interreligious community: how Silicon Valley used the Partner City Process') presented an opportunity to learn how in particular to foster constructive engagement in metropolitan areas. If the volume of notes is anything to go by, I certainly found this session edifying. I'll try to indicate salient points.

Imagine you feel inspired with the Parliament concept and the mission of its Council, which is inter alia to foster engagement with world and guiding institutions; to achieve a more just, peaceful and sustainable world, through learning, cooperation, dialogue, engaged action on issues of mutual concern across … cultural and natural boundaries with a particularly focus on Metropolitan areas.

So how do you sell this to the city (or metropolitan area) in question? The presenters from Silicon Valley phrased it like this: what partner city process engagement can make possible.

The general theme (which seems worth repeating constantly) is that of cooperation: to work with other guiding institutions, i.e. especially, as it turned out, secular civic institutions. The Council was evidently impressed with these initiatives as they highlight their approach as exemplary, giving impetus to further initiatives. Here in Melbourne, the Parliament launched a broad-based initiative to stay connected to engage in initiatives when we return home, inviting direct participation with the Council's work – both individuals and communities – particularly through a new social networking site, PeaceNext (more about this, I hope, later).

There are some prerequisites before the Parliament will look favourably upon a city's proposition. First, dialogue must already be in place. The Partner Cities attribution is to a large extent recognizing what should already be vibrant inter-religious movements who have put together structures to work with guiding institutions..

In this respect, the Parliament will look at the diversity of organisations and the way they are functioning within this dialogue. Wider awareness appears essential (and, I think, the UK is very aware of this factor), as captured by the term glocalisation, a term that I first heard in the late 90's (with the refrain, “think global, act local!), but I suspect it's been around for a lot longer than that; indeed, one of the first online initiatives that showed promise for developing countries was glocal.org (on archive.org) , which connected church communities around the world, addressing c ommon issues. But I digress. Here Roman Robertson stressed that globalisation is not monolithic and does not necessarily lead to homogenisation since it is realized in local settings.

One fact that sprung out at meet was [in San Jose, I think] that there's no majority ethnic group, with recent statistics showing 40% White, 30% Asian, 30% Hispanic. At present there is no UK city in this position (all have white majorities), but there are two or three, including Leicester, that on current trends will be in this position within 10 or 20 years. Civic leaders from these UK cities may do well to learn some lessons (if they're not doing so already), but given the current economic climate they probably should do this mainly via online conference facilities etc.

For religious communities, there's evident a need to tell their story as a means to help establish their identity in a foreign land; local paper profiles local stories and many congregations have histories, all helping to weave the rich tapestry of the area. Local government analyses often support these and I expect there's a lot tucked away in libraries and municipal offices. But how to capture this diversity in the public square; how to create a unified identity made up of local voices? Some illustrations were provided through visual statements in the form of art and sculpture. More academic initiatives included a “Carry the vision” conference promoting the principle of non-violent actions “one person at a time..”

Strategically, it seems sensible to observe and understand how the Parliament operates. Members of Silicon Valley attended the Barcelona Parliament and on returned organised an event modelled on the Parliament with representatives from different traditions, reducing large number into small groups, all leading back to one common purpose. Goals were clearly articulated in terms of local benefits, sense of community, increased social cohesion bringing business, civic authorities and others together. The role of the organising committee was to act as facilitators.

So what does the process make possible what wasn't before...? (The presenters referred to guidelines from Parliament; on how to do case study; the parameters for presentation, stressing the need for a representative group.) There was a very positive attitude to newcomers: rather than taking away a piece of the pie, each group brings new inspiration, resources, c.reativity etc – so the pie expands (this image was also conveyed at the Coalition meeting I attended before the Parliament).

It appears to galvanise efforts to train ourselves, on leadership, organisation and facilitation; to develop networks, and work within the civil structures to whom we show worthiness to be involved for the common good. Whilst it may already exist within many and between some interfaith groups (and this I know is the case in many UK cities) the communication outside these networks is often poor and lacking coordination. These have to be made more effective to be treated seriously.

Partnership is seen as the hook. Some examples were given, including “The Beautiful Day” - practical work to fix people's homes … Such initiatives raise visibility and a point is reached where faith groups understand the importance of interfaith. [If this can be properly realized, I sense the initiatives will become self-sustaining]. Gitish Shah recounted how this was put into effect with a Jain centre which came to realize the importance of wider participation, hosting interfaith forums at temple. (In the UK, it's much more unusual for SE Asian communities to get involved in this way, though some such gatherings do take place – e.g. a gather at a Thai temple in Kings Bromley. Furthermore, faith communities need to cooperate since if it's just one community working unilaterally, there may be a questionmark [whether it's a request for particular help or whatever] whereas coming together gives combined strength, amplified voice and eliminates competition.

Moreover, for the civic leaders, talking to a broader base gives leverage and enhances profile, particularly with global links to other metropolitan areas, who are doing similar work [thereby creating a para-network].

In conclusion, there was a threefold recommendation:

• catch the vision
• commit to enter the process - take back to community,region and share
• reach out to Council of Parliament

In the UK, interfaith has featured very prominently in civil society during the past decade, with excellent coordination through the Interfaith Network for the UK, but when I asked one member of the Council perceived there to be actually too many interfaith groups! So the coordination needs to really well demonstrated.

A brief retrospective on the 2009 Parliament of the World Religions

I was hoping to be able to blog during the Parliament itself, but found there was too much going on to settle down to do much in the way of reflection and typing, so I'm submitting some retrospective posts. This first one is just to give an overall impression.

I attended the Cape Town Parliament in 1999 and it left an indelible impression – both the event itself and the spaces all around with many kinds of encounter. With thousands of participants, it's a major undertaking for the organisers (the Council) – on this occasion the printed A4 programme provides descriptions of many hundreds of presentations, workshops and performances and is 390 pages long!

It's perhaps an even greater undertaking for the hosts: Melbourne had the honour for 2009 and it demonstrated a major commitment – a very professional venue (Melbourne Conference and Exhibition Centre); backing from civic authorities; a harmonious multi-cultural society with sensitivity to historical contexts; and excellent hospitality exemplified (I think) in the homestay programme.

However, there wasn't much time for self-congratulation. Whereas 1999 had been an occasion for grand visions at the turn of a millennium, ten years later there was no escaping practical calls to action and entering the Exhibition Centre one would encounter every day an ecological message:

Here, though, many 'environments' were being tended, especially the inner environment, the heart. It's just the kind of issue – it was felt – where religions can offer more complete perspectives, which are rooted in whole mind or the heart-mind (a Buddhist term is citta). I also encountered quite a lot of synchronicity. Within minutes of stepping into the Convention Centre for the first time on the evening of the 3rd, I had seen two of the participants of the Coalition meeting, a group of from the Australia branch of Wat Phra Dhammkaya, who were running a couple of meditation sessions, and interfaith friends from Oxford, including Mary Braybrooke, who ran inter alia a session on attitudes to the elderly and dying (hope to write about it in another post). Here they are at their respective Parliament booths:

Participation takes many forms. the programmed sessions were opportunities to listen, hear; the other periods (sessions usually had 30 minute intervals) were opportunities for dialogue in small groups; I felt something akin to a wafting sensation as I wandered into art spaces, conversations etc. Conversations could be free-floating in undefined spaces, over lunch, in public gatherings off site, or a bit more structured, as at an official Parliament booth or open sessions. Whilst this 'collective effervescence' was quite energising, we were acutely aware that the real challenges remain in terms of application. In the closing plenary, His Holiness the Dalai Lama referred to Swami Vivekenanda in communicating the spirit beyond this event and over several days the Council advertised quite heavily a new social networking site, PeaceNext to facilitate this cooperation. It's a nice gesture, though is it sustainable given the plethora of more established sites ...?

I hope to share from the very small proportion of sessions I attended, but it may take me a while. So please wander over to the official Parliament site, where there's a lot of coverage, including audio-visual recordings, especially from the plenaries, though sessions were not generally recorded (this is partly reflecting the sensitivity of some of the topics under discussion).

Avoiding 'Invisible Idiots' in the translation of Vatican documents

The dust is just settling as this course comes to a conclusion. I have some time now to cast my mind back on some particular episodes as a student on this M.St. course.

One of the challenges I faced was finding tantalising references in footnotes, especially those which promised to provide some special insights or even definitive analysis by which to anchor an argument. To what lengths should one go to follow such references...?

Such was the case when I worked on my essay, The Catholic Church and Inter-religious Marriages: Reflections on Pastoral Theology and Practice after Vatican II. I was focusing mainly on those marriages where the non-Catholic party was not a Christian, for which there is a rather unfriendly formal term in Latin, disparitas cultus, though it is rendered more softly in English translation as "disparity of worship." The analysis depends on canon law and Bishop John McAreavey gives a good overview of the this and what it can mean in the parishes where there is an ecumenical union (i.e. marriage with another [baptised] Christian: Mixed Marriages: Conversations in Theology, Ecumenism, Canon Law and Pastoral Practice. In one of the footnotes he refers the reader for a comparative analysis of this case with that of disparity of worship: a paper by Urbano Navarrete, an expert in canon law, who, we are informed, has described this as "a symbiotic relationship."

That sounded intriguing! But the reference in question was an official Vatican publication: L'impedimento di "disparitas cultus" (Can 1086), a chapter in I Matrimonii Misti, a volume in juridicial studies from the Vatican Library. Dated 1998, it seemed fairly recent, but it was also in Italian. I've never learnt Italian...

Libraries at your service

Undaunted, I opened up a Web browser tab and pointed Firefox at Oxford's online library catalogue system. However, no trace of this chapter or volume in the Bodleian. I did find it on sale from a couple of Italian online book sellers, but it seemed an expensive route. So I trundled over to the Enquiries Desk at the Bod and asked about inter-library loans. According to COPAC, there was no copy available in the UK, so it would require an international inter-library loan. I was encouraged to get in touch directly with the Vatican. So I duly wandered over to the Vatican Web site, found its library, which is currently closed to members of the public. In any case, I filled in an online registration and found a way to submit a query. I received a prompt reply indicating that actually the the Vatican Library generally holds works of antiquity, at least the volume I requested was considered too recent.

Back I went to the Bod and steeled myself to request an international interlibrary loan. According to Worldcat, which can list libraries in order of proximity, there were several European libraries that had the title in stock. I cast my eye down the list and singled out a German library, the Bavarian State Library (positive discrimination - Germans are efficient!) And a few weeks later it arrived.

The Bodleian is a reference-only library, so any items acquired through inter-library loans are subject to these constraints. Furthermore, although I could take notes, I wasn't allowed to photocopy anything myself - that had to be done by the library staff and according to copyright law they could only do this for one chapter. Accordingly I requested the copying of Cardinal Navarrete's chapter, but I became interested in another chapter on pastoral issues - Matrimoni misti e problemi pastorali by Agostino Montan. This meant I had to take notes - in Italian - from a chapter of 30 pages! This is where I was confronted with not having learnt Italian. What to do? Fortunately, my situation wasn't desperate (timewise or linguistically). I had studied French, Spanish and Latin at secondary school and could gain the gist of a paragraph. From this I could see several sections that seemed particularly useful, including some stats about the religious make-up of marriages carried out in Rome, and some interesting pastoral initiatives in some Northern Italian towns and cities involving groups of couples getting together in marriage preparation. It was these that I copied - sloowly, word for word, like a boy in primary school!

In possession of one nicely produced scan of one chapter plus some notes from another, I now needed more accurate translation of the most relevant bits. I pinned up notices in College - Sai leggere l'italiano? and received a resounding zero responses. :-( I started asking any friends who had even dabbled in the language and was offered translations of selected passages at the rate of 1 word a minute! More promising was a kind offer of assistance from one of my father's polyglot friends from church, Tim O'Sullivan, who is competent in most European languages, who knowing my technological leanings offered a particular word of caution...

We may have the technology, but watch out for 'invisible idiots'!

Whilst trying to find a person who could help I was also exploring an automated technological solution. I first had to generate an electronic version of the texts that had been copied and transcribed and I was given a boost as the library-generated photo-copies were nicely done, clear and uniform, enabling very accurate optical character recognition (OCR) translations - even the footnotes were generally accurate, when all I needed really was the body text. Once in possession of an electronic copy I then proceeded to try machine translation, initially through Babelfish. Although I had used Babelfish quite often before for words or short phrases, I had not really tried far more substantial passages of text. Alas, in this case I found it seriously deficient and discounted this tool as an aid.

However, no online search is complete without Google ... and Google's offering impressed me immediately in being so accommodating, happy to consume large chunks of text and produce translations for the whole lot. More importantly, it was a world apart in quality. Why? I think there's a combination of reasons that make it a good match. It uses statistical methods, trained on large corpora of texts. The core texts in question (see e.g. Wikipedia for discussion) were UN documents - they are formal, rambling, extensive and translated into many languages. And Vatican documents are ... likewise! There are few colloquial idioms used. Even so, word combinations can be parsed and interpreted in so many different ways that it's easy to get the wrong end of the stick, as we might say.

Mr. O'Sullivan was keen to relate to me a story that he had heard in the 1960s concerning English-to-Russian translation (when we met it was topical coming shortly after Hillary Clinton 'pushed the wrong button' on a state visit, but at least both sides saw the funny side!). The story, which was probably very popular at the time of the Cold War, ran along the following lines: boffins produced a computer program into which you could input one or more words. Enter a single word and out popped the correct Russian equivalent and vice versa. However, they next tried "out of sight out of mind" and after a slight pause there emerged the Russian equivalent of "invisible idiot"! I gather that it is actually apocryphal, traceable to an earlier period in which scientists were speculating about possible issues - anyway John Hutchins debunks the myth and offers to explain what was actually going on. Even so, you can still catch out many tools by entering a phrase and translating it back again. This is where, I guess, statistical methods are very useful. In any case, where a translation looked odd in a particular context, I would break it up into smaller chunks and translate those separately, repeating the process until it became clearer or made sense.

At the end of the day I read closely perhaps a dozen pages and quoted from just a few paragraphs. That must seem a very poor rate of return on such efforts, but in this instance I'm going to claim it was how I got there that was more informative and entertaining!

Weber's Sociology of Religion: Problems in the Methodology of Difference

I have only initial impressions from reading a small fragment of Weber's work and a scholar's overview, but there are some issues which have emerged to do with his methodology and I think they are significant.

To paraphrase from my readings - Weber observed that in Protestantism, especially in Calvinism, there were beliefs and practices that had an important bearing on economic affairs; key was thrift, which was pleasing to God in that it reflected values that rejected this world and sought the divine. This led to the amassing of capital and the development of capital was a reflection of this process; it subsequently became something that was regarded as being of positive worth. This was a spark for Weber's main thesis that Protestant asceticism was a major factor that led to economic growth in Western Europe based on the 'spirit of capitalism.' Having written the early work 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism' Weber sought to investigate more deeply religious phenomena with respect to the social context and thus he spends quite some time developing his notions and analysis, especially - as reported in my previous post - of the 'ascetic' and 'mystic.' He establishes that this ethic in relation to its creating conditions for the spirit of capitalism contributes to Western Europe having a pre-eminent position in terms of capitalist development.

However, from reading the literature the analyses vary about what is unique, the extent to which the religious practises caused the spirit of capitalism - some muffle it and just refer to it as a 'factor', in which case what were the causes, were there any?! I guess also that the views have shifted over time! I wonder with so much ambiguity, how far can this work be fairly called scientific? In terms of being systematic, what do academics agree upon? I'll try to indicate some of this variability below

In trying to develop such a broad systematic treatment, Weber inevitably had to make quite a number of efficiency gains (to use economic parlance!) He had to make deliberate choices ranging from particularities in definitions (as in his treatment of 'asceticism' and 'mysticism') through to methods designed to extract distinctive features and marked results. (The particularity of the choices becomes obvious as I start reading a rather different book - 'The Idea of the Holy' by Rudolf Otto...)

One of Weber's fundamental tools was to isolate on the basis of difference and attempted to do this in a way that accounted for subjective individuality, whilst avoiding complexity. For this he formulated the notion of 'ideal type.' For analysis at a particular moment in time I think this seems reasonable, but problems crop up when you start moving forward along the timeline because becomes completeness becomes critical ... and I wonder whether this notion is really adequate when analysing collective social situations?

In discussions on Weber's treatment of difference there's quite a diversity of views! Some claim or assume that Weber chose to base this on John Stuart Mill's Method of Difference, which he defined in his book A System of Logic (1843)], see e.g. Benjamin Nelson (1973): "tells us plainly that he applying Mills 'Method of Difference' and, therefore, looking for the factor or chain of circumstances which helped to explain some unique outcome of a given experiment" [sorry, I only have a second hand reference (further commented on below)].

Certainly, Nelson makes reference to it a year later: "Weber does not deal here in detail with the problem in the logic of the method of differences which he knew from the discussion of John Stuart Mill." p.274 [Max Weber’s “Author’s Introduction’’ (1920): A Master Clue to his Main Aims in Sociological Inquiry 44(4): 269-278]. I think that sentence is ambiguous - ir could read as "... deal with the problem in the logic..." though I don't think that's what was meant!

In notes on Max Weber: On Capitalism, John Kilcullen, appears to consider that Weber was indeed trying to apply Mill's method of difference to show that religion can be isolated as the factor that distinguishes the development of modern capitalist Europe from its Asian counterparts. However, he goes on to say:

"But Mill would have been horrified at such a crude application of his method of difference. It overlooks his warning that 'consensus' means, in social inquiry, that major institutions in one social context cannot really be compared directly with, and pronounced to be similar to, the 'corresponding' institutions embedded in another social context. This is drawing lessons from history in just the way Mill warns against (e.g. Logic, Book 6, ch.10, para.4). ['On the Inverse Deductive, or Historical Method']"

I better just note the definition!

Definition: Method of difference

If an instance in which the phenomenon under investigation occurs, and an instance in which it does not occur, have every circumstance in common save one, that one occurring only in the former; the circumstance in which alone the two instances differ, is the effect, or the cause, or an indispensable part of the cause, of the phenomenon.

A B C D occur together with w x y z
B C D occur together with y w z

Therefore A is the cause, or the effect, or a part of the cause of x.

Again the problem is in knowing all the variables as well as the problem of abstraction indicated above.

However, it's argued against by others, including Stephen P. Turner [See The Search for a Methodology of Social Science: Durkheim, Weber, and the Nineteenth-Century Problem of Cause, Probability, and Action, Chapter 11, page 211 that Weber actually adopted an anti-Millian doctrine of cause. [I wonder why this book is so expensive - it doesn't help to promote a universal methodology!]

Returning to the comparison with Asian countries, what of the economic boom that developed there, especially in the second half of the 20th century in the 'Pacific tigers' such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia? It might be described as conspicuously capitalist. What gave rise to this? If we take the basic assumption about the Protestant ethic was unique in fostering the 'spirit of capitalism' that lead to capitalist economies and that ethic was uniquely Western European, then applying crudely Mills 'method of difference' implies that Asian capitalist growth must have its roots in Western Europe and to be consistent with that view capitalism was 'exported' to such countries (e.g. through invasion) and only then could it lead to similar kinds of economic development. Weber apparently considered this view.

This thesis, particularly the 'spirit of capitalism' being uniquely Western European in origin has (not surprisingly) been challenged from the East! See e.g. 'Max Weber revisited: Some lessons from East Asian capitalistic development' [Volume 6, Number 2 / April, 1989, Asia Pacific Journal of Management], which specifically contests Weber's Weber's thesis of the incompatibility of the Confucian ethos and rational entrepreneurial capitalism. Randall Collins, 'An Asian Route to Capitalism: Religious Economy and the Origins of Self-Transforming Growth in Japan' [American Sociological Review, Vol. 62, No. 6 (Dec., 1997), pp. 843-865, Published by: American Sociological Association] proposes a model "in which the initial breakout from agrarian-coercive obstacles took place within the enclave of religious organizations, with monasteries acting as the first entrepreneurs. This model is illustrated by the case of Buddhism in late medieval Japan." I haven't read these to check the validity of their particular claims, but papers like this at the very least point to the need for a weaker hypothesis - that doesn't claim the uniqueness of Western European Protestant ethic as providing the conditions of economic capitalism - but rather expressed in terms of looser religious orientations or dispositions of mind that are perhaps culturally-independent.

I think I shall now move on from Weber to get some other perspectives.

Weber's Sociology of Religion: Asceticism and Mysticism

I've plunged right into the main text and swum towards content focuses on asceticism and mysticism, as these two concepts appears to lie at the heart of Weber's distinguishing analysis of religious communities. The main chapter in my particular edition of the Sociology of Religion (translated by Ephraim Fischoff and part of the series of 'Social Science Paperbacks') is Chapter XI: Asceticism, Mysticism and Salvation Religion. You should be able to find quotes conveniently via the book search in the Google Books rendering of 'Economy and Society' By Max Weber, so I'm dropping most of the page numbers.

Asceticism

Weber makes extensive use of "asceticism" - it's defined with very significant purpose for his works and probably because of this, as he concedes, the meaning doesn't have not the broadest usage.

He grounds many of his definitions in a salvific goal, detailed in chapter X: 'The Different Roads to Salvation,' which I find a reassuring basis for presenting religious practices at deeper levels. Thus, he then defines asceticism (in the penultimate paragraph): “Salvation may be viewed as the distinctive gift of active ethical behavior performed in the awareness that god directs this behavior, i.e., that the actor is an instrument of god. We shall designate this type of attitude toward salvation, which is characterized by a methodical procedure for achieving religious salvation, as "ascetic."” Weber indicates that for someone who leads a life without a keen focus on salvation: "The world is full of temptations ... more because it fosters in the religiously average person complacent self-sufficiency and self-righteousness in the fulfilment of common obligations."

Accordingly, the first words in chapter XI that introduce the general discussion on asceticism and mysticism are framed around the development of the path to salvation: “Concentration from the actual pursuit of salvation may entail a formal withdrawal from the "world"”. Weber contrasts between two constrasting modes or views concerning interaction in the world:

a) weltablehnende Askese ("world-rejecting asceticism"): One whose attitude is that participation in the wordly activities may be regarded as an acceptance of these affairs, "leading to an alienation from God."

b) inner-weltliche Askese ("inner-worldly asceticism"): a path of salvation that requires "participation within the institutions of the world but in opposition to them" according to the individual's own sacred religious dispositions and his qualifications "as the elect instrument of god." (Note that here "inner" qualifies worldly in the general sense of "world" - it's not referring to an individual's personal internal world. )

Wordly Asceticism

So Weber has defined "asceticism" using the world as a reference point and has defined two points of view. In the following pages he gives quite a number of examples, but they all seem related to inner-weltliche Askese, so I find it difficult to ascertain what is meant by weltablehnende Askese. It's meaning only becomes clearer when he contrasts it later with mysticism.

Characteristic of the inner-worldy ascetic type is the reformer/revolutionary: "he may have the obligation to transform the world in accordance with his ascetic ideals." Weber establishes the context in examples, including the 'Parliament of Saints' under Oliver Cromwell, who ruled with a strong puritan conviction (see e.g. Sir Charles Firth, Oliver Cromwell and the Rule of the Puritans in England); and the Quaker State of Pennysylvania "and in other types of radically pietistic conventile communism." I'm mot sure what to make of the latter (probably because my knowledge of the relevant history is not extensive).

Weber highlights inequalities: "such a congery of ascetics always tends to become an aristocratic, exclusive organisation within or definitely outside the world of the average people who surround these ascetics." Yet isn't that inappropriate regarding the organisation of the Quakers? Quakers are egalitarian - there is no church hierarchy as such. (see e.g. Facts About Friends by Ted Hoare on the Religious Society of Friends Website); and their meeting houses welcome people from outside for many kinds of activities. Pennsylvania is known for its religious tolerance, following William Penn's 'FRAME OF GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA' (1682) allowing freedom of conscience:

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil: wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same." "He is the minister of God to thee for good." "Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake."

Weber's interest is directly on the institutions - the collective involvement reflecting religious beliefs and having started with two basic views of asceticism, focuses further on the second option of world involvement; following on from forced religiosity (as may be considered under the Parliament of the Saints) he considers the case of not demanding religious conformance.... and the tension between the world being both a divine creation and full of sinfulness(pp. 167-168) and hence argues for the necessity of careful involvement according to a strict legal code. Hence, it is argued, for Protestantism the importance of loyalty to obligations. Weber claims "it is the sole method of proving religious merit" and it's easy to see that where the legal has something to say about work and financial management, that can lead to the storing of capital...

In summary, Weber writes: "the person who lives as a worldly ascetic is a rationalist, not only in the sense that he rationally systematizes his own personal patterning of life, but also in his rejection of everything that is ethically irrational, esthetic, or dependent upon his own emotional reactions to the world and its institutions."

Mysticism

Mysticism? There may be a problem with this word - as a detractor first quipped long ago: "myst-i-cism begins with mist, puts the I in the centre, and ends in schism." I once read a meditation manual that had a forthright statement as if in protest at its sense of vagueness and impenetrability, saying that this was not a book where one would find mysticism, but rather it was about developing keen insight! Yet, in practice it's a term that reflects the deeper contemplative life that is not immediately accessible to the everyday mind and so the way of a 'msytic' may appear at first glance a complete mystery.

To try and get a handle on Weber's view of mystics I turned to the index and worked forwards from the first entry. Overall, I find it difficult to pin down definitions, because it seems that Weber tries to develop in parallel multiple strands interwoven around a few themes. There's a lot of movement across cultures and traditions, a lot is implicit and perhaps biased to a culture that is no longer so evident, so definitions don't stand out very clearly, but rather seem to emerge gradually along the way, tied to the themes that themselves are emerging.

First reference appears to be on page 119, which is in a chapter entitled 'Intellectuals, Intellectualism and the history of religion.' However, it only describes an influence through the various writings of those with monastic orientation (Buddhist, Islamic and medieval Christianity] - particularly poets, about which Weber remarks: "This circumstance also accounts for the psychological proximity of mystical and spiritual emotion to poetic afflatus, and for the role of the mystic in the poetry of both the Orient and the Occident."

Subsequent references are concerned with involvement of intellectual classes, how intellectuals turned against the papacy, a period during which "Humanists displayed ... an individualistic mysticism, as in Germany during the first period." [I couldn't find a name, but from a quick search online I come across Johann Reuchlin, who was interested in Jewish Mysticism]. Throughout Weber displays considerable knowledge of classical history and literature.

It's really only in the chapter 'The Different Roads to Salvation' that I gain some idea. He builds up to it by a consideration of ritual, noting that "salvation may be the accomplishment of the individual himself without any assistance on the part of supernatural powers, e.g. in ancient Buddhism." (Buddhism certainly has been described as salvation without a saviour). For Weber the purpose of ritual is to bring about a "religious mood" as "an instrument of the divine", whence the rituals themselves become superfluous. Weber describes how the deepening of this practice can lead to pietistic devotion so that it becomes continuous and readily takes on a mystical character, but remarks that it often lapses into pure ritualism. There's a lot of discussion of rituals, religious moods, systematisation with particular attention to educational aspects and how that can lend itself to greater involvement in society (e.g. training in casuistry in Judaism).

Weber then starts to draw out some features "out of the unlimited variety of subjective conditions" where certain methodological procedures of sanctification are of central importance "not only because they represent psycho-physical states of extraordinary quality, but because they also appear to provide a secure and continuous possession of the distinctive religious acquirement. This is the assurance of grace (certitudo salutis, perseverantia gratia)." And these "May be characterised by more mystical or actively ethical coloration" He goes on to list a number of practices to be adopted (over transient sense-based practices): "principally by planned reductions of bodily functioning, such as can be achieved by continuous malnutrition, sexual abstinence, regulation of respiration and the like." (These prompts me to think especially of the group of the world-rejecting lifestyle followed by the 5 ascetics that accompanied the Bodhisattva Gotama until he went off to finally attain nibbana by himself: apart from sexual abstinence, these are not aspects of the Buddhist path, a middle way that would not seek malnutrition or to regulate the breath.)

Then Weber gives some examples of mind training, through concentration methods. He observes that these practices may be further streamlined (p.162):

"Similarly the monastic procedural plan for attaining sanctification developed increasingly in the direction of rationalization, culminating in India in the salvation methodology of ancient Buddhism and in the Occident in the Jesuit monastic order which exerted the greatest historical influence."

Thus a combined physical /psychological regimen with regulation of manners and scope of thought and action. [An interesting link between Buddhist practice and Jesuit practice].

Weber approaches a definition really only towards the end of the chapter by once again using salvation as the anchor: "But the distinctive content of salvation may not be an active quality of conduct, that is, an awareness of having executed the divine will; it may instead be a subjective condition of a distinctive kind, the most notable form of which is mystic illumination."

So the salvific content is without reference to the world. It seems quite fitting in terms of Buddhist goal of nibbana - where the grounding is not in the conditioned, but the unconditioned. Yet, even Englightened beings before they attain to parinibbana have to walk on the Earth, breathe its air etc, i.e. there is conduct w.r.t. to the world and the quality of conduct is important - so for someone on the path, activity tends to good kamma and ideally to kiriya - and to describe this conduct for non-theistic religions or at least those religions where divinity is not central, one might be able to substitute simply: "having acted in a holy way."

And what is the quality of the conduct of these practitioners? "... and among them only as the end product of the systematic execution of a distinctive type of activity, namely contemplation." I initially had difficulty scanning the first few words of this sentence and thus making sense of it, but found a clearer translation by Stephen Kalberg (which can be gleaned from a Google search, so you don't need to actually read the article) : "... only to be achieved as the end product ...". So even mystic illumination is to be achieved and not in a random way, but systematically.

Who can undertake this practice? Weber claims it is restricted to a minority with religious qualifications. Yet the contemplative path is fulfilled today by the practice of meditation according to the Buddha's teachings and that is arguably open very widely. In fact I've been taught that there are only three kinds of peope who can't meditate: dead people, people who are severely mentally deranged and people who just won't try!

What more does Weber say about mysticism? Weber makes clear then need for cessation of mental involvement in worldly concerns: "For the activity of contemplation to succeed in achieving its goal of mystic illumination, the extrusion of all everyday mundane interests is always required." and "According to the experience of the Quakers, God can speak within one's soul only when the creaturely element in man is altogether silent." He asserts further, "In agreement with this notion, if not with these very words, it all contemplative mysticism from Lao Tzu and the Buddha up to Tauler." Yes, I think quietude is universal for the contemplative, though I think it important to emphasize that there's inevitably some conduct in the world and that conduct can (always) be used as part of the holy life, else the impression can be given that the mystical life is exclusively about cultivating jhanic absorptions, say.

Mysticism vs asceticism

So having depicted the mystic contemplative, Weber then draws a distinction with world-rejecting asceticism: “Such a contemplative flight from the world, characteristic of ancient Buddhism and to some degree characteristic of all Asiatic and Near Eastern forms of salvation, sems to resemble the ascetic world view - but it is necessary to make a very clear distinction between the two. In the sense employed here, "world-rejecting asceticism" is primarily oriented to activity within the world.” I'm still not sure about the meaning - but (looking at some articles elsewhere) I think for Weber it means that one moves in the world, particularly earns a living there, without trying to change the world. On the other hand, the mystic contemplative leaves behind such society. (However, it seems more logical to me to say that any interaction in the 'world experiment' is going to have some effects, possibly negligible).

Hence "in contrast to asceticsm, contemplation is the primarily the quest to achieve rest in god and in him alone." Weber adds some fair descriptions of some mental states characteristic of this path: "It entails inactivity, and in its most consistent form it entails cessation of thought, the nemesis of everything that in any way reminds one of the world."

Although the Buddhist path is to minimise distractions, the issue of the rejection of the world needs care, I think. It is most commonly a personal statement of an individual who resolves with great determination to go from being a householder into homeless life - an example, roughly contemporary to Weber is Ven. Sunlun Sayadaw. However, a general application of an 'anti-' tone is questionable, and may not be consistent with the Buddhist practise of the Middle Way and accumulating perfections (paramis), which necessarily has to take place in the world. From a Buddhist perspective, there are many inaccuracies or problems with language in the descriptions: "By these paths the mystic achieves that subjective condition which may be enjoyed as the possession of, or mystical union with, the divine." The nearest to "the divine" would be considered to be Brahma and hence it's more accurately a description of Brahmanism, not Buddhism which teaches this as anatta (not-self).

Generally, Weber writes in a way that seeks to be fair and representative, but "This is a distinctive organisation of the emotions which seems to promise a certain type of knowledge." appears a weak description! What kind of knowledge? Evidently mystical! "...although it becomes more incommunicable the more strongly it is characterized by idiosyncratic content, it is nevertheless recognised as knowledge." Weber uses the term "gnosis" giving rise to a new orientation to the world. [The 'idiosyncratic' is a term relative to the mundane, of course; conversely, using the transcendent as a frame of reference, the worldly life may be considered idiosyncratic too.]

Weber's view of Buddhist formulations: "In Buddhism, no one becomes one of the illuminated by explicitly affirming the obviously highly trivial formulations of the central Buddhist dogma, or even by achieving a penetrating understanding of the central dogma." Highly trivial?! Weber goes on to indicate the requirements of following "procedures for winning salvation.", i.e. Magga (path). Fair enough.

For Weber, "we are not interested here in the details of the general problem [of communication of this knowledge], but only in the negative effect upon behavior which is distinctive of all contemplation." Weber often associates the word "negative" with the contemplative because of their stance of fleeing from the world, it is a is relative perspective w.r.t. to social and economic involvement. Weber carries on piling up a lot of negative language, depicting a sharply divided contrast between 'the ascetic' and 'the contemplative,' a dichotomy with opposing views about the path to salvation and, e.g. "the contemplation of the mystic appears to the ascetic as indolent, religiously sterile, and ascetically reprehensible self-indulgence ...". I wonder, though, if this rather heavy and forced view of negativity might prove erroneous. Surely these differences don't have to have such negative associations - a SammaSamBuddha teaches for the benefit of others, whereas a Pacceka Buddha doesn't teach - yet in the Buddhist view both are worthy of praise as having attained to nibbana and never self-indulgent.

In relation to sustenance, Weber speaks through his perceived ascetic view that "the mystic lives in everlasting inconsistency, since by reason of the very fact that he is alive he must inevitably provide for the maintenance of his own life." And goes on to argue that to be consistent a mystic must maintain his life only by voluntary donation "it accounts for the very strict prohibition (... found among the Buddhists) against receiving anything that has not been given freely." Weber asserts on the next page: "It will be recalled that the central and almost sole lay virtue among the Buddhists was originally the veneration of the monks..." (echoing what he says in Chapter XI: The Social Psychology of World Religions in Max Weber: Essays in Sociology' by By Max Weber, H. H. Gerth, C. Wright Mills: "Buddhism was propagated by strictly contemplative, mendicant monks, who rejected the world and, having no homes, migrated. Only these were full members of the religious community; all others remained religious laymen of inferior value: objects, not subjects, of religiosity.")

I really think there's a lot that can be contested in what Weber says here, not least whether his understanding of the ascetic view is truly reflective. Regarding the assertion that the Buddhist monastic "lives in everlasting inconsistency": if considering the Thai Sangha, for example, the negative associations with lay people is not a very accurate depiction except perhaps for a very small minority of dhutanga bhikkhus roaming forests. In practice the relationship between lay and ordained is not one of antipathy, but rather there is a veritable positive eco-system between Sangha and lay supporters - a relationship in which the lay community provides conditions amenable to progress for all, especially monks, yes, but also for each other; and traditionally this includes education and medical help administered by the Sangha to the lay people and encouragement along the Buddhist path.

Furthermore, the lay supporters themselves can share in the practice - they too are expected to cultivate dana, sila and samadhi, albeit less intensively; in the Buddha's time, these were formally upasikas and upasakas, two of the four groups commonly addressed by the Buddha as being his disciples. In Thailand, although most teachers are members of the Sangha, there are some very highly respected lay teachers (and not just the anagarika nuns) - indeed my mother's main meditation teacher, Ajahn Gaew, as a lay person instructed a group of bhikkhus because he was an advanced practitioner. And, I'm quite sure this is not just contemporary, but was true at the time of the Buddha - as argued amply by Jeffrey Samuels, especially concerning attainments along the path to enlightenment, in 'Views of Householders and Lay Disciples in the Sutta Pitaka: A Reconsideration of the Lay/Monastic Opposition', Religion, Volume 29, Issue 3, July 1999, Pages 231-241.

Weber goes on to express more curious views about Buddhism (p.171): "in any case Buddhism enjoined the avoidance of every type of rational, purposive activity, which it regarded as the most dangerous form of secularisation." This needs unpacking as I'm not sure what Weber means, but it sounds mistaken. A monk repairs his kuti in order to help with his practice during the rains retreat. That sounds rational and purposive activity to me!

Conclusion

Overall, I find it encouraging that Weber has tried to understand individual motivations at a deep spiritual level and his work has many interesting ideas flowing from this. However, from what I've read so far, I sense that whilst he has a good command of European history and thought, his analysis of at least Oriental religion contains contains too many misconceptions, which I suspect are based on preconceptions arising out of his own European conditioning. Perhaps further study, under an appropriate guide, will clarify what Weber is trying to say, the main points to be understood, but at the moment it reduces my confidence in the validity of his arguments (and subsequent conclusions).

Weber's Sociology of Religion: An evolutionary approach?

I haven't finished the introduction by Talcott Parsons, but I decide it's time to look at the actual book itself! Once again I'm going to make reference to my knowledge of Buddhism to sharpen the focus.

The preface and introduction are valuable, but it's still a pity there's no foreword from Weber explaining the approaches in chapter 1 onwards - I wonder if there might be a way of including relevant fragments from elsewhere (more possible for online editions). In the translation there's even some difficulty about the chapter title, given here as 'The Rise of Religions,' which according to the review by Reinhard Bendix may be fine as a rendering of 'Die Entstehung der Religionen' but may not be the right one!

Weber's opening remarks in the first chapter state that one can't define or say what religion is until the conclusion of study, "our task ... to study the conditions and effects of a particular type of social behavior." Presumably, one can know what conditions and effects are religious and can identify their characteristics, attributes, etc... , after the event. But is this a bit 'chicken and egg'? What kind of language do we need for the definitions? It makes sense to informally survey the scene to gain some clues as to the kind of theory needed, but how far do you take that? When do you stop? How do sociologists determine when they've reached appropriate milestones and can start codifying?

Parsons hinted at Weber's problem of being "understood" - and from reading his introduction and literature on the Web, it seems he wasn't always successful. That probably reflects the use of natural language. In contrast, a mathematical approach would use a formal notation, have definitions up front and use these in working forward, to derive initially some lemmas and work up to major theorems. Imagine if mathematical theories were subject to such vagaries of uncertainty in translation and interpretation!

The second paragraph indicates the scale of the challenge: "the external courses of religious behavior are so diverse that an understanding of this behavior can only be achieved from the viewpoint of the subject experiences, ideas, and purposes of the individuals concerned - in short, from the viewpoint of the religious behavior's 'meaning' (Sinn)." (Sinn is a German word translated as 'sense' or 'connotation' - for the same reference objects, there may be different connotations.)

The third paragraph talks about "elementary forms of behavior." So the initial perspective appears to concern the origins of religious activity in terms of primitive elements. I guess this is meant to be analogous to the way we can talk in science about atomicity/irreducible elements, simple forms and so on. And of course some branches of science try to make sense of this through theories of evolution, but it's a major/critical step to apply this evolutionary approach to society ...

Accordingly Weber asserts that [in primitive religion] the primary orientation is this world - and the quote from Deuteronomy is intended to illustrate such a "primitive" viewpoint: "That it may go well with thee ... and thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth." But it is just one quote and even a hundred such quotes can't be proof [by example]! What about other viewpoints, e.g. the pursuit of Heaven? Consider e.g. Job 14:14 - "If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." (King James Version of the Bible, [see KJV online])

The historical viewpoint is further hinted at with the analogy with making fire, traditionally associated with signs of emerging civilisation in early homo sapiens - it's tempting to map religious development to such evolutionary theories. Compare (and contrast) this with, say, a Buddhist view of humanity's evolution. It's described as a cycle (of Samsara), in which there is both human evolution and devolution with lifespans ranging over many thousands of years (DN. 26 Cakkavatti Sutta - The Wheel-turning Emperor: partly translated into English, with an introduction and also a full translation). However, it's a moral evolution and devolution that the Buddha describes... it is the nobility and virtue of mind that is regarded by the Buddha as a measure of the evolved nature of a human.

Weber states that the "ends are predominantly economic." Is this just reflecting the fact that the approach observes only what is observable...? I wonder to what extent this viewpoint affects the [sociological] analysis of different religious groups today? Is there the assumption that the primary orientation is this world, implying it must be material? What methodologies are used? An appropriate tool might be to carry out surveys of literature and questionnaires of adherents.

Whilst I readily accept that "religious or magical behavior or thinking must not be set apart from the range of everyday purposive conduct," I would query the paragraph's concluding clause: "since even the ends of the religious and magical actions are predominantly economic." If talking about evolution, how about evolution of views within an individual during their life, an evolution that could go from material to transcendental, i.e. [internal, subjective] lower and higher orientations? Given Parson's indication of support for describing changes within spheres, I guess the theoretical framework could support this.

It's tempting to think that current society represents somehow an advance over earlier (and hence primitive) societies. Weber tries to identify early forms of spiritual activity in groups, again leaning on what is observable, and states (p.3): "orgy is the primordial form of religious communication." and goes on to describe how intoxicants induce ecstasy and the aids to reach that transient state: "he may employ any type of alcoholic beverage, tobacco or similar narcotics - and especially music ..." This is a description that could easily apply to many people today who go out for the night, roving pubs and clubs! In fact the run-up fits also: "Because of the routine demands of living, the layman may experience ecstasy only occasionally, as intoxication." This matches the habits of people unfulfilled in their daytime jobs, living only for the weekends and its night-time attractions. But would we call this 'religious behaviour'? I think not - just 'hedonistic behaviour' would be more likely and what can we deduce about evolved humanity then ...?

What about silence as promordial communication? Before the noise there was the silence. Yes? But silence may not be easily registered - it can be only momentary, yet deeply communicative.

Taking things further, what about observations of a monastery where most inhabitants spent most of their time in silent meditation? Most of the 'action' - in terms of experiences of rapture, altered states, jhanic absorptions and so on might be vivid and deeply meaningful, yet have little or no outward manifestation. One might argue that this is not characteristic of primitive religion, yet it is commonly said that children, unencumbered by too much thinking (rationality) can access deep states very quickly and perhaps the same applies to 'simple cultures' in general.

I think this is evidence of the problem of the external descriptive approach.

In theory, sophisticated religion evolves so that magic is left behind. According to Parsons, "In the end, the study of Protestant ethic, according to Weber, merely explored one phase of the emancipation from magic, that disenchantment of the world that he regarded as the distinguishing peculiarity of Western culture." To what extent does that really hold today? Many of the top sports people still exhibit what might be regarded as superstitious behaviour: consider Rafael Nadal's pre-match routine just before play commenced at the classic Wimbledon 2008 final - the cameras showed him sipping out of one water bottle and then the next. More generally, what is/are the attraction(s) of the Harry Potter novels?

Weber then comes to the concept of the soul (which is acknowledged as not being universally accepted) and states: "...what is primarily distinctive in this whole development is not the personality, impersonality or superpersonality of these supernatural powers, but the fact that the new experiences now play a role in life." i.e. A raison d'etre (internalised) in themselves; and the example given is ecstasy. The example of burials is given, useful in showing particularly how the development of belief in the soul changes the associated customs and rituals, which have to accommodate more their needs after death of the physical body, resulting in extra parameters (positioning of body, items placed with the body etc). Of course, a further refinement in belief may remove some of these and not necessarily put anything in their place. There are also other implications we can read into these practices, including some belief in rebirth or reincarnation (or at least some contiguous existence).

Parson's introduction hints at considerable debate around the extent to which Weber's approach was evolutionary and remarks intriguingly that anthropologists were strongly anti-evolutionary. Was that some or most of them? I wonder what their views are today?

That's the last post for today and I still haven't got far into the text - I think before I post again, I need to read a fair bit more.