I hope to synthesize my own religious interests with Marxist theory in a way that is respectful of both.

Right now this is just head canon but I have a very extensive idea regarding the compatibility of Marxism and Pure Land Buddhism, which is the largest sect in the world, with most adherents in China.

Chanting gives people a collective voice and power during times of both victory and protest, and its the primary practice in Pure Land. However, most Pure Landers chant in the hopes to “orient their mind to the pure land”, meaning that’s where their mindstream goes when they die. Then they get to hear the Buddha’s teachings emanating from the very environment and live in a lotus flower, etc. They essentially go to a pocket dimension more conducive to Buddhist practice without the strife of daily life, but it’s also temporary and they have to put the work in.

There’s a relatively niche idea that we’re already in Shakyamuni’s Pure Land. Or a less niche idea that there exists a Pure Land not as a physical place, but as something thst touches all of existence. I think chanting can be seen as orienting one’s mind toward a better (socialist) society and restoration/maintenance/establishment of that Pure Land on Earth. A place that allows people more freedom to, in a Buddhist sense, practice the dharma wholeheartedly. In many ways by doing things one ought to do in a just society already, by providing for the needs of others without a perverse profit motive.

It’s a constant affirmation of one’s dedication to improving the lives of others and viewing even ones enemies with compassion (which isn’t synonymous with tolerating them, but recognizing the root causes of their actions).

Buddhists have been revolutionaries in many cases, and several AES countries have some of the highest traditional concentratrations of Buddhism, yet Buddhists and socialists have also not always been friends. I want to acknowledge and bridge that gap, deal with contradictions (non-violence vs. revolutionary thought), and explore a Marxist-Buddhist synthesis I don’t feel has been strongly attempted at the theoretical level. Only in a historical sense, and often by orientalist European thinkers who had no firsthand experience with Buddhism or access to the variety of texts we have today.

First [we must transform] society, then [we must transform] ourselves. Socialists are the bodhisattvas of our time seeking the betterment of humanity through wisdom (theory), collective perseverence, and self-sacrifice. Once the people are free, only then can we attain nirvana.