RECONSTRUCTING NIBBANA AS A SOCIAL IDEAL
Abstract
Introduction: The Social Context of Buddhist Ideals
Many years ago I was struck by the following passage written by the late Venerable Walpola Rahula:
Those who think that Buddhism is interested only in lofty ideals, high moral and philosophical thought, and that it ignores the social and economic welfare of people, arc wrong. The Buddha was interested in the happiness of men,...The Buddha did not take life out of the context of its social and economic background; he looked at it as a whole, in all its social, economic and political aspects.
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