Meritocracy sounds fair at first – the idea that may the ones who work the hardest shine, but the truth is, everyone starts on unequal grounds – the more well-to-do ones tend to shine more easily as they have better living conditions, education and connections, while the poorer ones have to struggle extra hard against the force of their negative karma.
Did I hear some say they are just reaping their just deserts? Well, what if the tables are turned? Would you not appreciate a compassionate helping hand, especially if you are willing to work extra hard to change your destiny? Or would you prefer a totally each-for-his-own society, where the better off ones leave you far behind when they are perfectly capable of giving you a good boost?
Seeing this as a problem spiritually, the Buddhas create Pure Lands with their own merits – where everyone is truly given equal opportunity to learn and practise the Dharma, to attain enlightenment. Amituofo doesn’t ‘use’ meritocracy – he uses his merits to share with all instead, to top up the differences substantially enough to enable all in his Pure Land to be able to create even more merits on their own. Yet, at the same time, there is a natural form of meritocracy in action there – those with more merits and wisdom are naturally able to be progress even faster there.
The opposite of meritocracy might sound like communism, but the latter can’t work in our world as long as humans have lots of greed, hatred and delusion – that leads to corruption when sharing resources. Forced material fairness will never ensue due to individual beings’ different karma too. This is no Pure Land after all, not that it is communist, as communism is generally materialistic and anti-spirituality too.
Here is another great comic on the ‘merits’ of meritocracy: http://boingboing.net/2011/11/