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System Dynamics Approach to Applications of the Buddha’s Dialogues
Orasa Suksawang
Faculty of Social Sciences, Kasetsart University
Paholyothin Rd., Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Tel. (662)-5613480 ext.405, Mobile Phone: (662)-01-6436556
Email : fsocoss@ .ku.ac.th
ABSTRACT
This paper presents how to formulate the structure of the Buddha's teachings in the
form of feedback loop and to investigate the use of this system as a solution to narcotic
problems in a community. The Singalovada case study, one of the Buddha’s dialogues
from the Suttanta, is a teaching for every layperson on how to improve quality of life by
peaceful methodology and resulting in sustainable development. The interactions between
the key components of this dialogue such as bias, the defilement of action, the six roads to
ruin, and the neglect of the six directions indicate the decay of the societies at present and
the potential to get worse in the future, if the loops continue to imbalance. The Noble
Eightfold Path components, the heart of Buddhist’s practice to eliminate suffering, are
included in this model to provide system balance. The use of system analysis to look at the
teachings of the Buddha helps people gain more understanding into the mechanism of the
system and the concept of the dialogues. This paper helps the reader better to appreciate
how to apply the Buddhist teachings systematically to solve social problems.
Introduction
The complete Buddhist Scripture is called the Tripitaka meaning the “three baskets of
discourses”: Vinaya, Suttanta and Abhidhamma. The Vinaya includes all rules and
regulations for being a pure monk. The Suttanta is a collection of dialogues given to
particular persons on particular occasions while the Abhidhamma is pure _ technical
summary of the Buddhist teachings.
Thus the case studies in the Suttanta are
io™ a“ of deley in effect (4 quite accessible dialogues for laypeople
action effect type of the action (4) to follow and remember. The most
\ ea Aaa a aca interesting is that Buddhist teachings
[ always indicate causes and effects
\ based on the Law of Karma or the
defilemen feedback system of actions. As shown
in fig.1, the defilements, comprising
Fig.1 Karma/action system greed, hatred and delusion [2:1092],
cause the present action and the present
action causes retribution or effect. This
would result in a worsening of the defilements and which will exacerbate the future actions
while the effect itself also adds to the intensity of future actions. Good deeds always result
in good effects and again together with a tendency to do more good deeds next time round
while bad deeds always cause bad effects together with a tendency to do more bad deeds
next time round.
The main issues creating closed loop of actions is when the retribution comes full circle and
combination of various karmic retributions and heaviness of the karma to retributional
feedback from the corresponding previous action. The good and the bad tendencies always
compete with each other for dominance in the system process. If the good deeds remain
dominant in activating the system over time, the good effects will continue to dominate the
system and the good behavior will be shown. However, bad retribution from the past has
not altogether disappeared but still remains in the system, waiting to manifest itself as soon
as the queue of good deeds becomes discontinous. The magnitude of the effect will be
based on the type and the function of past action, as well as the type of delay in effect. This
is the basic concept of the Law of Karma system in Buddhism.
It is noted that the concepts in the Buddha’s teachings are a dynamic feedback system. It
provides changes, feedback patterns, concepts of dominance and delay. However all the
doctrines were scripturally documented in the form of descriptive listings between which it
is difficult to understand the relationships. This has led some Buddhists to take their
religion more as a philosophy than something applicable to life. In order to implement the
teachings in practice with a clear understanding of the causes and the effects of the system
and to have awareness of its value, system analysis is needed. This paper aims to present
how to formulate the structure of the Buddha's teachings - in particular the Singalovada
Sutta, in the form of feedback loops; and to investigate the use of this system as a solution
to narcotic problems in a community.
A background to the Singalovada Sutta [1:44-45]
The Lord Buddha gave a lecture to Singala, a young man born in a rich family. Singala
promised his father before he passed away, to respect the six directions every day. One
day while the Buddha was on almsround in Rajagaha, he saw Singala paying respect to the
six compass points: North, South, East West, above and below, and realized that he did so
with no idea of the meaning. Instead of criticizing him, the Buddha explained with
kindness, a more fruitful way of paying respect to the six directions based on the social
environment.
Discussion of key variables in the Singalovada Sutta
The key variables included in the dialogue are bias, defilement of action, the six directions
and the six roads to ruin. The definition and the relevance are as follows:
Defilements :
Definition: polluted elements, that exist within our minds since our birth, classified into
three categories- greed, hatred and delusion. Normally the defilements have three levels in
effect- 1) latent level, 2) as yet untriggered expressed defilements; and 3) already active
defilements. The latent level is that the defilement is embedded in the mind and ready to
express themselves at anytime if it is stirred up by the external six sense-fields (images,
sounds, smells, tastes, tangible objects and mind-images) in the absence of sense-restraint.
The root of these defilements is ignorance. Thus the defilements in the system counted as a
stock is taken for working purposes as ignorance.
Relevance: The more penetrating a defilement is, the more bias is developed.
The bias
Definition : prejudice of the mind towards somebody or something because of love or
hatred or delusion or fear. In this paper, each form of the bias has been considered as equal
effect on the actions. Then only the bias will be counted as a stock in the system.
Relevance : The bias is developed by the defilement. It has an effect on actions both verbal
and bodily ones.
The defilements of action (DoA)
Definition : the impure verbal and bodily actions, influenced by bias, can be classified into
four form of behavior namely 1) killing and hurting people or animals, 2) stealing or taking
what is not given, 3) adultery or sexual intercourse outside marriage, and 4) telling lies and
false speech. The defiled actions will be considered as the bad actions, ignoring behavior
type, counted as a stock.
Relevance: The defiled actions interact with the bias as positive closed loop system. The
more bias, the more defiled actions. The more defiled actions will result in the worse bias.
The six directions
Definition : the six social groups : 1) our parents 2) our teachers 3) our spouse 4) our
friends 5) our employees and servants and 6) our spiritual mentors or monks.
Relevance: Our six social groups may react to us in harm or good depending on the treat
from us. The treat with bias will result in the harm of six directions and has tendency to
increase the defiled actions.
The six roads to ruin
Definition : defined as the six forms of behavior which destroy a person’s wealth -
1)consumption addictive intoxicants, 2) the roaming the street at unseemly hours,
3)frequenting shows, 4) gambling, 5) association with bad company and 6) laziness to work
for a living.
Relevance: The access to the six roads to ruin depends on friend associations and the treat
from six directions. If we associate with bad friends, there is a tendency to access to the six
roads to ruin. In contrast, with true friends or good friends, they will protect us from the six
roads to ruin.
True friends
Definition: The true friends based on Buddha's teachings can be classified into four
groups. Each group has significant characteristics as shown in the Table 1.
Relevance: The more we associate with the true friends, the less we have a chance to fall in
the six roads to ruin; and the more we are involved in the six roads to ruin, the less we can
have true friends.
Table 1. Type of true friends and their characteristics [1:88-89]
1. The helpful friend 2. The constant friend | 2. The friend of | 4. The sympathetic
wise counsel friend
-He protects you even -He confides in you.
when you are of your -He keeps your secrets | -He wams you from -He sympathies with
guard. -He does not abandon doing bad your misfortunes.
-He help protect your when you face hard -He encourages you -He congratulates on
property even when you time for doing good. your good fortune.
neglect it. -He would even die for | -He tells the new good | -He speaks out against
-He is your refuge in times | you. things anyone who maligns
of dhatred. -He points the you
-He always provides you direction to heaven -He thanks for those
with twice as much as you who speak well of you.
asked.
The core of Buddha’ s teachings in the Singalovada Sutta
The Singalovada Sutta is the discourse on management of daily life for every layperson.
The core of the teachings includes three responsibilities that individual should be aware of
and actions which need to be taken for the sustainable development of quality in life. The
teachings highlight two essential responsibilities/duties, for oneself and one’s social
environment. These responsibilities are as indicators for measuring the peacefulness within
oneself and the society. It is one’s responsibilities/duties to regulate oneself the defilement
and to perform noble association to each of the six directions. Normally everyone
regardless nationality, religion, race, creed or language, is bom with defilement and
surrounded by six directions. Thus, if these responsibilities have been carried out
individually after birth, a peaceful environment certainly will be brought about within an
individual, a family, a society, a country and the world. Another aspect dealt with in this
teaching is economic one, for sustaining natural resources or earned individually. He
pointed out that the wealth can only remain for individuals and society, if everyone takes
part in this responsibility- to keep a way from the six roads to ruin- six forms of behavior
which destroy a person’s wealth.
The first essential responsibility/duty is to reduce or eliminate from oneself defilement
causing bias and defiled actions namely the actions under the control of greed, hatred or
delusion in the mind. The second essential responsibility/duty is to pay respect to one’s six
directions or to associate, in a noble way, with the six social groups. The third
responsibility that is to keep oneself from the six roads to ruin, should be encouraged and
facilitated by the society. This third responsibility can impossibly be implemented unless
the individual and family responsibilities have already been fulfilled. For example if the
leaders of the families, communities and countries care for their own individual
responsibilities, they will be unlikely to create policies, plans and projects to provide the
access to the six roads to ruin.
However, the responsibilities generally focused on in our society concern merely Law and
Orders for civil citizens in a certain political boundary, profession, position elected and
position appointed in the workplace while the two individual duties mentioned earlier have
been ignored. The benefits and the losses from creating the activities in a society are
generally evaluated in isolation. The present way to manage the society financially, is to
derive revenue from enterprises/projects in society (even bad ones) and this revenue is used
for improving the quality of life. For example, a case in Thailand, some of benefits
resulting from legally gambling (lotteries) have been allocated to the poor students for
supporting higher education (without encouraging the society to perform their essential
responsibilities). It is noted that the diffusion of material culture without paying attention to
the responsibilities that used to go with them, the social, economic and environmental
problems in any countries, continue to get worse at present and in the future. Thus the
Singalovada Sutta is quite appropriate discourse to be reviewed as a model for training
children in every household to achieve the target responsibilities.
The structure of Singalovada Sutta in feedback loops
As mentioned, the two main
harm of six directions components of the Singalovada
Sutta, as social indicators, are
defiled actions x
C bias :)
the defiled actions and the six
defilement, A
directions. Here in the loop, the
six directions by means of the
six groups of people to deal
with in society, are applied to
the harm of six directions.
Another component involved in
the dynamic of defiled actions is
the bias affected by defilement.
As shown in fig.2, there are
Fig.2 Dynamic of defiled actions system three positive feedback loops:
the rise of the defiled actions
will cause an increase in bias and the harm of the six directions. The growth of bias also
increases the defiled actions for oneself, and others indulging in the harm of the six
directions. A rise in the harm of the six directions also increases in the defiled actions. This
system provides the growth of defiled actions.
Figure 3 shows the enlargement
of an association between the
a SS harm of six directions and the
defiled actions. An increase in
ete sen : the harm of six directions or six
groups of people will result in a
friendship/relative awareness decrease in relative/ friendship
oe \ fiend uBsomaNBE awareness and this will reduce
the degree of sharing towards
those friends and relatives until
vat, 1 - finally there will be an increase
\ hei directions in the defiled actions. While the
rise of the defiled actions will
Fig.3 Extending dynamic of defiled actions system 1 reduce true friend association
and this will feedback to the
further increase of the defiled actions and also result in the rise of the harm being carried in
the six directions. It can be observed that the system at this level would provide the growth
of the defiled actions resulting in social decay.
Figure 4 extends the system
ao performance to include the six roads to ruin
access.
genie aa
“The six roads to ruin means
specifically the six forms of behavior
friendship/relative awareness which lead to the inadvertent
~ friend association erosion of our wealth. Literally,
a
these six forms of behaviour were
referred to as ‘portals to
2 ) destruction’ .....destroy a person's
sta Si hat farmofsidreatoms | wealth the whole economic
infrastructure of a country or a
society too........
[1:56-59]
Fig.4 Extending dynamic of defilement action system 2 As shown in fig.4, a rise in the
harm of six directions results
in an increase in the six roads to ruin access while the growth of true friend association
tends to reduce the access to the six roads to ruin. Then the rise of six roads to min access
also tends to decrease the true friend association. The system at this level indicates a
vicious cycle showing the continuous rise in the defiled actions, bias, six roads to ruin
access, and the harm of six directions.
From the loop structure, it can be observed that the true friend association is very important
to system that can reduce the defiled actions, the harm of six direction and the six roads to
tuin. If every family has the children trained how to select friends or be true friend to the
others, this will reduce the defiled actions, the harm of the six directions and the access to
the six roads to ruin. However, considering the root to achieve this, the children must be
trained and keep in mind that it is their duties to abstain from their owns defilement and to
behave correctly towards the six groups of people. This will result in an increase of good
people and environment in a society. This will ensure the society help encourage the
members to refuse the accessibility to the six roads to ruin.
The Noble Eightfold Path as a strategic management for balancing the system
In order to keep the system balanced, negative feedback loops are included as shown in fig.
5, and should dominate the system behavior that can provide a decrease pattern in the
defiled actions. A rise of the defiled actions will increase suffering resulting in an increase
in the need of the Noble Eightfold Path knowledge that is the knowledge for the cessation
of suffering. The Noble Eightfold Path, one of the Four Noble Truth enlightened by the
Buddha, consists of 1) right view, 2) right intention, 3) right speech, 4) right action, 5)
right livelihood 6) right effort, 7) right mindfulness, and 8) right concentration [2:1093].
The more knowledge of the cessation of suffering leamed, the more practices of Noble
Eightfold Path be encouraged. This will reduce one’s defilement causing a decrease in
defiled actions, and the bias. However, the ones who can teach how to practice the Noble
Eightfold Path normally are the monks. Then, it should be aware that an increase in the
harm of six directions (the monks), can decrease the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path.
need of Noble Eightfold Path knowledge
+
() suffering
+ +
practice of Noble Eightfold Path
OO giving performance
+
pase actions (+)
(+)
friendship/relative awareness
Lak true friend association
ae nat of six directions
six roads to ruin access
Fig. 5 Balancing feedback loops of defiled action system
An application of the Singalovada Sutta as a model for fighting back against narcotic
problems in a community.
As presented earlier, the most important and well-known value of the Buddha’ s teachings is
the clear identifications of the causes and the effects of responsibility for an event/ action
with implications of feedback relationships over time from the past to the future without
time frame. When studying the structure of the Singalovada Sutta case study in the form of
dynamic feedback loops instead of content listings in verbal form, critical dynamic system
thinking can be rapidly developed. It can persuade people to follow and participate in
decision-taking as well as practice. The balanced feedback loops integrating the
Singalovada Sutta components and the Noble Eightfold Path, have been applied as a model
for preventing the children and the youth from narcotic addiction entitled “The project for
freedom from narcotic addiction.” This learning model is included in the decision
supporting system for local and provincial development planning; and used as a tool for
training the heads of local administrative organizations and the community leaders, in
designing the strategic development project in order to fight in the war against narcotic as
shown in fig 6. The details of simulation model will not be discussed here but are available
on request. This helps the trainees participate in exchanging their experiences with
cooperative learning in how to design the activities, the databases including the relevant
data for analysis, the significant data for monitoring and the indicators for evaluation [3].
In addition, this loop structures also help design the curriculums: “How to sow the seeds of
responsibilities’; and the computer game : “Look for kalyanamittata (good friends) ” as
shown in fig.7 for teaching the responsibilities in schools and communities.
m lasamsd
flussuumsiudemuastasnssatiad iad
Jrsthnwas asian 6 Was Wagan 1 295 th
passinnisuninaasan nssuAvaa fad srdiog
maltinssaifiiadaaas adaatn lias dunn
“nla eafuassaddu udiintontia Gotu
ing ltaanfigfthlaiia léiiadu nfaliaaan
Fi§fi Aotiunds asquivdu mdaulatlanwams
lad Lfadlailamama(msaaiasonlaauen
ent) Aaanhig fitelah Aatu doa Aatiy was
Aang fi Astuuds daw atu"
Buqaasime taniiiha
tfussasunn ussneudaanssafiiad fesuti Ag
QQ had Arfinuvranaifuand wacmslh Ar
ALacannfiesutifiuw liamans Aeswtis
nam liAsaanfias aliases faa fies fann
Jartnlvarfinuvrenae: naasas arfinuia
| lemanfiuandifiatu acti tii ams li aati
KEKKERKK magia nvuwiaa unin
Gnihogn foyfiantin [lsigufimwen ver funilndintuua..
lusilagiovas ny |-dalshandita
Inia Séima) fia |-vfatatoudo
kr inp Ubrndoansfnndeugn..
um fsiwahan - Salsirnia
stg - virtawt
pea
eer nears flaw
SENG
fia THdaad tuannd
jn aim aaninen
je wigerasfanerlh
2 souTewdanTO lA hae oUaNATS ait!
Fig. 6 An example of self learning model in narcotic addiction
protection (an application of Singalovada Sutta )
How to sow the seeds of Responsibilities :
Self-reliance training program
The self-reliance training program was designed for training the children and the youth to
realize the important of good friend association. Good friend association has two points,
one is how to be good friend to the others and another is how to select the good friend.
Self-reliance here means an achievement of a person to control his defilement by himself,
The training program comprises the three main activities: 1) Playing computer game-
“Look for kalyanamittata (good friends) ” 2) Meditation practice and 3) Analyzing how
the Buddha won the defilement.
VN
Children's Creative
Heveloprnent Training Project
Dhannakays Foundation
Dhannakaya International Meditation Center
Conceptual Design : Gress Sukssueng
Progran ? Hateharop Rienarunarote
The Five Hindrance
Obstacles to
mental progress
towards virtue—
unskilfulness that
clouds the mind
and gets in the
way of wisdon
VN
There are four types ef people,
Sloth and Torpor
+ Cone with the light, gone with the Light. Sleepiness or
+ Cone vith the light, gone with the darkness. laziness
+ Cone vith the darkness, gone with the light.
+ Cone with the darkness, gone with the darkness.
For you :
[Cone with the darkness, gone with the darkness:
Fig. 7 Screens of Computer Game
The computer game : “Look for kalyanamittata (good friends) ”
The computer game includes the concepts of the true friend association learned from the
loop structure of Singalovada Sutta; the five hindrances - the obstacles of doing goodness,
and the four groups of people, based on goodness accumulation from birth to death, as
follows:
1)Come with the light, gone with the light (born with the goodness, died with the goodness)
2) Come with the light, gone with the darkness (born with the goodness, died with the evil)
3) Come with the darkness, gone with the light (born with the evil, died with the goodness)
4) Come with the darkness, gone with the darkness (bom with the evil, died with the evil)
The computer game was designed to be the central activity of the training program
attracting the two activities- meditation practices and an analysis of the Buddha's success
on doing the goodness. The game simulates the interplay between the effect of the true
friend association and the five hindrances on the success of doing the goodness. Both the
true friend association and the hindrances are present in the play at random. The success of
doing goodness is represented as the wisdom light in the circle form shining on the route
map. The larger the area of the light, the more the routes seen for selecting the right path.
The appearance of the hindrance will result in a reduction of the light area while the present
of the true friend will result in an increase of the light area. If the light area covers the
whole screen, the target destination and the whole routes can be seen clearly. The game
starts with the light area at random in size; and finishes when the light has gone or the age
is finished. Then the group of people, that the player belongs to, will be shown on the
screen (Fig. 7).
References :
[1] Phrabhavanaviriyakhun (Phra Phadet Dattajeevo), 2003. Reforming Society means
Reforming Human Nature. Bangkok : Dhammakaya Foundation.
[2] Suksawang, Orasa, 1990. Children’s Creative Development Training Program in
Proceedings of 1990 International System Dynamics Conference at Chestnut
Hill, Massachusetts, July 10 - 13, pp.1090-1101.
[3] Suksawang, Orasa et al., 2001. Decision Support Systems for Provincial
Development Planning, a Case Study : Pathumthani Province. Bangkok:
Kasetsart university.
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