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The report is for Development Studies- Developing Systematic model to community development through Buddhist philosophy

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Developing a Systematic model to community development through Buddhist philosophy and the Law of Attraction 

1. Problematique 

Research Problem:

“Unsuccessfulness of existing social projects in the modern society to community development”

There are investing millions of dollars in the world for developing the community through many social projects. Especially United nation has established “Millennium Development Goals” and they have extended that as “Sustainability goals” that is valid until 2030.Many poor countries, especially those in Africa, has missed the MDGs by a large margin. But neither African inaction nor a lack of aid will necessarily be the reason .Instead responsibility for near – certain ‘failure’ lies with the lovely-ambition goals themselves and unrealistic expectations placed on aid. While the MDGs may have galvanized activists and encouraged bigger aid budget, over –reaching brings risks as well. Promising too much leads to disillusionment and can erode the constituency for long-term engagement with the developing world. Therefore it is better to consider new ways of recognizing real success at the country level rather than in global target. 

On the other hand suicides, sex traffics, rape cases are the biggest millennium injuries. All said injuries are created by mental disorders .When we focus on current condition in Sri lanka, we can see a very different social, cultural condition rather than few decades ago. For an example, according to recent World Health Organization reports, Sri Lanka is world rank 3 from suicides. It is 28.8 per 100,000.Further it is needed to mention other ancient Buddhist countries like South Korea, India, Japan and Buthan are in Rank 1st, 11th, 17th and 20th from suicides respectively. Over one million people die by suicide worldwide each year. 

The global suicide rate is 16 per 100,000 population. On average, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds somewhere in the world. 1.8% of worldwide deaths are suicides. The exceptions are China, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador and Sri Lanka, where the female suicide rate was higher than the male. In the 90 countries (areas) studied, suicide was the fourth leading cause of death among young males and the third for young females. Of the 132,423 deaths of young people in the 90 countries, suicide accounted for 9.1%.

On the other hand Sri Lanka is at 9th position in the world from rape cases. USA, South Africa, Sweden, India, UK are reported most rape cases in the world. In USA there are 89,000 rape cases per annum. If we focus on sex traffic in the world, there are about 2 million children are exploited every year in the global commercial sex trade. 20.9 million Adults and children are bought and sold worldwide into commercial sexual servitude, forced labor and bonded labor.

We should have a proper sense to minimize above mentioned issues with effective implementation. But most of organization or researches says there are physical barriers to the community development. According to UK essay and other materials they says that following barriers are combating the implementation of community development. First, Economic and financial barriers, Second, innovational barriers in the educational sector there is a lack of innovation-oriented research. Third, Social barriers like population growth, unsustainable consumption and production patterns among the wealthy. Fourth, Political barriers, poor monitoring. Fifth, institutional barriers and trade barriers.

But political and economic systems are designed to see just what is very close to our eyes in the modern society. There is no interest ,from part of the establishment ,in spending energy in thinking about the future of the human being .Economic development is oriented to create more consumes ,more debtors ,more individual pushing the economy to grow. Therefore there is a huge hole for creating a possible solution to overcome above mentioned issues through effective community development projects. It is more effective if we can start the community development through youth personal development. Because youth has now come in to spotlight they are the future of the world. Next let's look at where. Nearly 55% of world population lives in urban areas according to UN report. When look at Sri Lanka 25% of population is youth and nearly 80% of population live in urban areas according to UN Report.

If we really need to overcome those issues, we can laser focus towards different approaches. Buddhist philosophy and the law of attraction are main resources that we can get used for establishing a systematic model to develop the community. The main barrier to achieve community development is the lack of human vision of thee future. Everything has its roots in Human consciousness. Therefore the human being is the key. The rest is secondary. Whatever changes we make in the external world become irrelevant, if there is no change in human consciousness.

In the Buddhist philosophy, Lord Buddha said that,

 

We are what we think.

All that we are arises with our thoughts.

With our thoughts we make the world 

 

Mind always comes first 

Mind is of all states the primer

By mentality are all things initiated 

By thought of mind are all phenomena formed

So-if with good intention one thinks, speakers or acts

Joy surely follows one like the never –leaving shadow however!!!

If with evil intention one thinks, speaks or acts pain certainly follows one like the wheel follows the car

Yamakavagga ,

Dhammapada (The Right way) –Buddha

The Buddha expands on this, saying, "Intention (chetana), monks, is karma. Having willed, one acts through body, speech and mind." The Buddha makes clear that our thoughts and intention, not just our actions, shape our karma and determine our current state, including the general situation of our life. 

 

Next we have to investigate that the new thought is called the law of attraction can be utilized for developing human vision. The law of attraction is the name given to the maxim "like attracts like" which in New Thought philosophy is used to sum up the idea that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts a person brings positive or negative experiences into their life. This belief is based upon the idea that people and ‘The laws of attraction’ is a phrase used to describe the perceived nature of bodies that have a tendency to attract or repel each other and the name given to the maxim "like attracts like" which in New Thought philosophy is used to sum up the idea that by focusing on positive or negative thoughts a person brings positive or negative experiences into their life. This belief is based upon the idea that people and their thoughts are both made from "pure energy", and the belief that like energy attracts like energy. The phrase "like attracts like" sums up the law of attraction. Our minds are like magnets that attract whatever we give our continued attention to. There are several ways to charge our mind and thoughts with magnetic power. Strong desire, concentration and faith are a few of the important ingredients for infusing power into thoughts.

 

The New Thought concept of the law of attraction is rooted in ideas that come from various philosophical and religious traditions. In particular it has been inspired by Hermeticism, New England transcendentalism, specific verses from the Bible, and Hinduism. In 1877, the term 'law of attraction' appeared in print for the first time in a book written by Helena Blavatsky. By the end of the 19th century the term was being used by New Thought authors such as Prentice Mulford and Ralph Trine, but for them the law of attraction not only affected health but every other aspect of our lives. 

The 20th century saw a surge in interest in the subject with many books being written about it, amongst which are two of the best-selling books of all time; Think and Grow Rich(1937) by Napoleon Hill and You Can Heal Your Life (1984) by Louise Hay.

Even if the New Age movement adopted many New Thought ideas, including that of the law of attraction, the law of attraction remains a new thought philosophical concept. 

In 2006, the concept of the law of attraction gained a lot of renewed exposure with the release of the film The Secret which was then developed into a book of the same title in 2007. The movie and book gained widespread attention in the media.

However, there are similarities and differences arise between Buddhism and Law of Attraction teachings when it comes to the application of this knowledge. Although there are variations in Law of Attraction teachings, in general, the message is 'change our thoughts and we can change our life.' Whereas the Buddha's message might be summarized as 'free yourself of identifying with your thoughts and you will free yourself from suffering. Law of Attraction teachings emphasize getting what you want in life by directing or aligning your thoughts with those things, while the Buddha emphasizes observing and analyzing your thoughts, in order to free our self from the desires and aversions implicit in them.

 

In this regard, Buddhism is about getting beyond desire, while Law of Attraction teachings seem to reinforce our desires. In terms of daily 'practice', Law of Attraction teaching emphasize positive thinking, and creating systems around us (visualization boards, etc.) that will help us to manifest the lives we want. By contrast, Buddhist teachings emphasize mindfulness and acceptance of what is, instead of a constant focus on outcome, so that we can be free of suffering right now, not at some future point when we have the life we want.

 

In fact, the Buddha's life story as it has come down to us demonstrates the futility of ever attaining lasting happiness through the fulfillment of desire. Growing up, the Buddha's every desire was fulfilled by his father, in the hopes that his spiritual nature would never awaken. But this didn't lead to happiness for Buddha - only when he left home, engaged in extreme renunciation, and then gave that up too and found 'the middle way', did he attain enlightenment.

 

Of course, both Buddhism and Law of Attraction teachings have many variations, and there are Law of Attraction teachers that profess it is more of a spiritual law, best applied to helping us manifest greater peace, not material abundance or the perfect mate. And Buddhism also has many variations, including Vajrayana Buddhism, which emphasizes connecting with representations of enlightenment through meditation on mandalas, deities, and Buddha’s. Connecting to these representations is believed to speed a practitioner's progress by shifting his or her own awareness into these states. In a way, this is similar to Law of Attraction teachings - that by connecting with enlightenment, you will shift your own awareness to a level better able to 'attract' that itself.

So overall, there are a lot of similarities and differences between Law of Attraction teachings and Buddhist teachings. The common first step in both sets of teachings is noticing our thoughts, and becoming mindful of their origins, and how they impact us. In this sense, mindfulness and self-awareness are important first steps in almost any personal growth or spiritual process.

 

As a practicing Buddhist in Recovery, researcher thinks of addiction in terms of Dharma (any spiritual teaching but for our purposes, Buddhist teachings). Buddha said that attachment is our main problem. We all have attachments. Addiction is what researcher consider attachment gone wild. When we're merely attached, Buddha would say that we're sowing seeds that will lead to further suffering for ourselves. When we're attached at a level that causes the people around us to suffer, we've got a problem. We might drink too much, which looks socially acceptable on some levels. More so than porn addiction, gambling, eating disorders.

 But they're all manifestations of the same types of causes. Mainly, we don't feel satisfied, so we try to take something or do something that satiates us. But addiction is a brain disease, and when we're addicted, our brains don't produce the happy chemicals that we need to maintain a balanced, healthy life. Satiation doesn't ever really satisfy us. The hallmark of addiction is that unquenchable thirst. Thirst of course can mean a desire for any object, person, situation or event.

From the perspective of the Law of Attraction, it would be better to turn our thirst to abundance, love and joy. From a Buddhist perspective, we'd take that thirst to focus on the happiness of other beings. From a recovery view, we might say, "We have to give it away to keep It." we can see that all of these systems complement each other.

Therefore researcher urge to getting an outcome by exploring Buddhist philosophy and the law of attraction towards human personal development and then it can be extended to develop community an effective way. It will be big challenge to researcher, developing systematic model to the community development by understanding those philosophy and new thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Objectives and central research question

Research question:

“Can be developed a systematic model to community development through Buddhist philosophy and the Law of attraction?”

 Objectives:

I. Suggesting a systematic model to develop the community through Buddhist philosophy and the Law of attraction 

ii. Revealing the relationship with Buddhist philosophy and the law of attraction.

iii. Impact of using Buddhist philosophy and the law of attraction to human day today life.

3. Methodology

Type of Data:

-Primary data – Surveys, interviews and direct observations

-Secondary data – Buddhist Tripitakaya, Journals, Published books, previous research articles 

 

Data collection:

- Buddhist monks, educators, university students, professionals, youth leaders, social leaders,     politicians, Famous artists, businessmen are entitled to perform this research.

-Data is collected in European community and Asian community 

Ex; Sri Lanka or India and Holland 


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