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    The Karma of Mao: The Incompatibility of Socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles
    The Karma of Mao: The Incompatibility of Socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles
    The Karma of Mao: The Incompatibility of Socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles
    Ebook95 pages3 hours

    The Karma of Mao: The Incompatibility of Socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles

    By Susanna Godoy Lohse

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    The Karma of Mao is a devastating critique of socialism and Marxism, through the eyes of a longtime Buddhist, whether the Glorious Progressive World of Next Tuesday is achieved through peaceful or violent means. Karl Marx and the Buddha set out to remedy the ills of the world, but each came up with very different solutions. On the surface, Marxism, and/or socialism seem to be equitable systems of government, but in the end, karma runs all over the Marxist dogma.

    What Buddhist truth was exhibited clearly in the failed U.S. housing projects of the late 1960’s and 1970’s? What was the Buddha’s answer to remedying the world’s suffering verses that of Karl Marx? What was the magnificent obsession of the Buddha verses the undying obsession of Marxists? What precept of Karl Marx's own invention did he, himself, violate? These and numerous other questions are answered, including why it is that evil tyrants like Mao Zedong never seem to suffer immediate karmic consequences.

    This well researched, thoughtful book is based on the teachings of Guatama Buddha and the writings of a Thirteenth Century Japanese Buddhist monk, Nichiren. Followers of Nichiren’s teaching include the founders of the Honda and Sony corporations.

    The author has studied Nichiren Buddhism extensively, traveled to Japan, has maintained a devout daily Buddhist practice for over thirty-nine years.

    Chapter titles: 1)History, Principles and Myths, 2) It’s Not Your Fault Verses Looking Within, 3) Dependency Delays Enlightenment, 4) The Fuels of Socialism - Hunger, Anger and Animality, 5) The Enlightened Individual Verses the Unenlightened Collective, 6) The True Bodhisattva Way Verses the Pretense of Charity by the State, 7) The Oneness of Person and Environment, 8) Respect for Natural Hierarchies Verses the False Pretense of Equality, 9) The Principle of Tenju Kyoju - Changing Heavy Karma into Light Karma, 10) The Sutra that Fulfills all Wishes Verses Sacrificing for the Collective, 11) The Undying Obsession of Socialists vs. The Magnificent Obsession of the Buddha, 12) The Three Proofs, 13) The Fallacy of the Marxist Precept Verses the Superiority of an Enlightened Belief, 14) A False Prophet and a Faulty Dogma, 15) Eddie Haskell and Devadatta, 16) Repaying Debts of Gratitude Verses a Sense of Entitlement and the Offense of Complicity, 17) The Goal of the Buddha Verses The Goal of Karl Marx, 18) Immeasurable Benefits and an Infinite Life Span, 19) The Karma of Mao

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSusanna Godoy Lohse
    Release dateJul 11, 2013
    ISBN9780977815708
    The Karma of Mao: The Incompatibility of Socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles
    Author

    Susanna Godoy Lohse

    Susanna Godoy Lohse, the daughter of an American schoolteacher and a Latin American businessman is not only a novelist and non-fiction writer, she is also an award-winning screenwriter. Her novel, "The Peerless Dulcinea," a Cuban Gone With the Wind, set against the backdrop of a communist revolution, is also an award winning screenplay, winning a Gold award at the WorldFest International Film Festival.

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      Book preview

      The Karma of Mao - Susanna Godoy Lohse

      The Karma of Mao

      The Incompatibility of Socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles

      Susanna Godoy Lohse

      Copyright ©2013

      Published on Smashwords by LibertyBelle Publishing, Inc.

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Copyright

      LibertyBelle Publishing, Inc., 332 Westway Drive #4, Kerrville, Texas 78028, www.libertybellepublishing.com, sglohse@libertybellepublishing.com

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do no participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

      Text copyright ©2012, ©2013 by Susanna Godoy Lohse, Cover Design copyright © 2012, by Susanna Godoy Lohse

      The Karma of Mao: The Incompatibility of Socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles

      ISBN No. 978-0-9778157-0-8

      LCCN: 2013902989

      Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Lohse, Susanna Godoy.

      The karma of Mao : the incompatibility of socialism and Marxism with Buddhist Principles/ Susanna Godoy Lohse.

      p. cm.

      ISBN: 978-0-9778157-1-5 (pbk.)

      ISBN: 978-0-9778157-0-8 (e-book)

      1. Buddhism. 2. Communism. 3. Socialism. 4. Marx, Karl, 1818-1883. 5. Social values. I. Title.

      HM681 .L65 2013

      294.3—dc23

      2013902989

      Published in the United States of America

      Chapter One - History, Principles and Myths

      This book is based on the teachings of the Buddha, as well as the prolific writings of a 13th Century Japanese Buddhist monk named Nichiren (1222-1282).

      Buddhism is the name given to a collection of teachings first introduced by Gautama Buddha approximately 2500 years ago, although the exact year of the Buddha’s birth is not known. Buddhist scholars in the 13th Century had the Buddha’s birth much earlier, at 949 B.C. Through the centuries, Buddhism branched in an easterly direction from India into China and surrounding Asian nations, arriving from Korea to Japan in the 6th Century.

      It is also a religion that is based on the Buddha's enlightenment to the truth of all phenomena. In other words Buddhism is about seeking the truth, whatever it may be. Even non-Buddhist scriptures can be considered Buddhism.

      The Buddha left the life of being a wealthy and sheltered young man to seek an explanation for what he witnessed when he looked over the wall of his family compound. As the story goes, he saw one person dying, another being born, another sick, and another old. These came to be known as the four sufferings.

      At the age of 30, he became enlightened to the ultimate reality of all things while sitting under a Bodhi (fig) tree. Although there is disagreement among scholars as to what he awakened to in his final stage of enlightenment, whether it was The Four Noble Truths, or The Twelvefold Chain of Causation, the law of causation (cause and effect), or ‘Mystic Law’ is at the core of all the Buddha’s teachings. Nothing can exist independently of this law.

      To attain enlightenment is also to become aware of one’s own Buddha nature and the Buddha nature inherent within all sentient beings, as well as a deep understanding of karma within one’s own life and the lives of others.

      Karma is the result of our past causes. The causes we make will eventually redound to us, if not immediately, then at some point in the future. The lotus flower is a metaphorical representation of this law because it is a kind of plant that flowers and seeds simultaneously.

      Within every cause lies a dormant effect. It may lie dormant for seconds, minutes, days or years, or even until a future lifetime. That our causes redound to us is explained by the storage of all that we do in what is known the Alaya conscious, the eighth level, or the second to the deepest level of the sub-conscious mind. This karma storehouse is akin to a permanent non-erasable computer hard drive. Wherever you go, your Alaya conscious goes with you, storing every one of your actions, your thoughts, and your words, including everything you observe with all of your five senses. It is thus what you carry in your subconscious mind that affects your future behavior and circumstances. You are the sum total of whatever you have loaded onto your mental hard drive, and that includes all the television shows and films you have watched, everything you have ever said, or thought.

      As to why some of the most evil among us, like Mao Zedong seem to escape their karma (I get more specific about Mao’s karma in Chapter Nineteen), according to Nichiren, "if a person is inevitably destined to fall into hell in his next existence, then even if he commits a grave offense in this life, then he will suffer no immediate punishment. The icchantika, men of incorrigible disbelief are examples of this." Nichiren further elaborates on the definition of icchantika as scorched seeds, dead trees or stony mountains that can never bring forth life, and Icchantika of the most evil type will invariably fall into the hell of incessant suffering at the time of their successive rebirths. [On the Opening of the Eyes (II), The Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 2, p. 199).

      With regard to people who are not as evil as the icchantika, karmic retribution comes quickly to a good person; this is what the Buddha taught—although a person might slander the True Law, if he is not an unspeakably evil person, he will be warned at once in a dream and will have a change of heart. [On the Opening of the Eyes (II), Major Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol. 2, p. 199).

      Buddhism is divided into two major schools, Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle) and Mahayana (Greater Vehicle). Hinayana Buddhist beliefs come from the Buddha’s earlier teachings, or pre-Lotus Sutra sutras. Both provisional and essential Mahayana Buddhism is derived from the Lotus Sutra and subsequent sutras, such as the Nirvana Sutra. It is not so much about following the precepts (rules of conduct) of the Hinayana teachings, as it is about faith, practice and study in the Buddha’s most essential teaching, the Lotus Sutra.

      In the early years after the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bodhi (fig) tree, he taught his disciples to follow two hundred and fifty precepts. Following the precepts is at the core of the Hinayana path. Some precepts are still sound and reasonable to this day, regarding acts such as not killing, not lying, not stealing, inappropriate sexual conduct, refraining from greed, anger and wrongful thinking. However, after following the Buddha’s advice for forty years, his disciples were stunned, when at the age of seventy, he told them to discard his earlier teachings, that he was about to reveal the essential truth of his enlightenment. Many of his disciples protested, refused to listen to him and walked out on him. but he was not disturbed, remarking that those who left had deep and grave roots of sin and overweening pride [The Beautiful Sutra of the Lotus Blossom, Leon Hurvitz, Chapter 2, Expedient Devices, p. 29].

      The Lotus Sutra was revolutionary in that the Buddha taught that it was possible to attain enlightenment in one’s present form, that it was

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