The compassionate revolution: radical politics and Buddhism

An enlightening examination of the ways our capitalist system depends on three corrupt principles: greed, hatred and ignorance.

After exploring in Free to be Human the ways the mass media distorts our understanding of many personal, ethical and spiritual issues to make us willing to accept the irrational values of corporate consumerism, political writer David Edwards is back with another powerful read.

In The Compassionate Revolution, David builds on his argument, showing how our capitalist system is dependent on the promotion of the three Buddhist Poisons of Greed, Hatred and Ignorance: greed for profit at any cost in terms of human suffering; hatred of foreign obstacles to profit; ignorance of the cosy link between Western corporations and Third World dictators, helping to protect Western profits.

Western activists need to recognise the truly revolutionary potential of the Buddhist conviction that compassion is the basis of all happiness. The antidote to exploitative social systems is rational awareness rooted in unconditional kindness and compassion for all. By marrying the political arguments of activists like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn with the compassionate awareness of Buddhist writers such as Aryasura, Geshe Gyeltsen and Stephen Batchelor, David shows how we can instigate a compassionate revolution in which the only enemies and casualties are greed, hatred and ignorance.