Dhamma as Healing: Ambedkarite Ethics for a Psychologically Just and Inclusive Society

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar reinterpreted the Buddha's Dhamma as a tool for social change and as a means of achieving justice and respect for the oppressed classes outside of the framework of Hinduism. However, in doing so, he presented a transformative model of ethics and society that are more relevant than ever today to address the structural and systemic roots of human suffering. As psychologists who are trained in the models, ethics, and values designed by the West, we often try to fit our clients, and even our society within an individualistic and depoliticised framework. However, as Babasaheb noted throughout his writings, a just and progressive Indian society could only be achieved through the annihilation of caste, and the construction of a society based on the values of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity. In his interpretation of the Dhamma, i.e. Navayana Buddhism, he offered such a scientific, logical, democratic and community-based approach to healing. This paper aims to extrapolate how the Ambedkarite ideas of Dhamma with their foundations of reason, compassion, and the annihilation of hierarchy, provide a radical blueprint for social and psychological healing. As a mental health professional who has studied Dr. Ambedkar's life and thought, the author attempts to offer an interdisciplinary commentary on the same with inputs from decolonial psychology, feminist mental health, and mindfulness-based self-compassion. This paper is an attempt at integrating Ambedkarite thought into contemporary mental health praxis and research.