Dang Zang

Coincidentally this article is from the ABC and refers to people in Sydney!

http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2010/s2915471.htm

Not astounding, but interesting all the same.

Yes, things have been very slow here. I’ve been preparing to move across the world again, and the move is now due to happen in the next few days. I should resurface in the “land of the moon”, Lunigiana, the northern tip of Tuscany, in one or two weeks time, and I hope that things will liven up then.

Recently I was asked:

Do you think that Tibetan Buddhism (and Buddhism) have been corrupted by Western influences? It seems like most Westerners interpret, or want to interpret, Buddhism as a religion with a much more social-activist and political bent. This is probably partly because most Westerners are pretty ignorant of Buddhism. However, as Westerner who has studied Buddhism in an academic setting but it bothers me more when even those within the tradition (like the Dalai Llama) also espouse such views, which seems to contradict the Buddhist understanding of the causal world as essentially meaningless and arbitrary. One could argue that such social action is justified by the emphasis on compassionate action in Buddhism, but that would be misinterpretation because compassion within Buddhism has meant not improving a personal economic or social position, but leading others to enlightenment.

My answer, for what it is worth, was:

I have to disagree with you, largely at least. Bringing greater social and political awareness into our lives as Buddhists seems to me a good thing. Yes, some lamas are moving in the same direction too, but I would add “I’m pleased to say”. The lama who was first important to me mocks the tulkus sitting on their high thrones (he was and is one of those, by the way) chanting about compassion but not doing anything about the disabled beggar at the gate. And as you may well realize, the “disabled beggar at the gate” is no mere metaphor in this context.
I think I know what you mean when you say “causal world as essentially meaningless and arbitrary”, but I don’t think you can use this to say that the suffering of others is not important. According to the Bodhisattva teachings, it is precisely *because* we take the suffering of others seriously that we take the long path to enlightenment seriously.
And to be blunt, I don’t think it’s true at all to say that “compassion within Buddhism has meant not improving a personal economic or social position”. That would not be *enough* for Buddhist compassion, but it would be the first step.
The first of the six liberating virtues is generosity. The first aspects of generosity is the giving of material aid – food, shelter, medicine, clothing and so on. It goes on through giving freedom from fear, which in the modern world has a strongly political aspect, and means that the Bodhisattva must do what she can to oppose, for instance, oppressive or warmongering regimes. And thirdly it includes the giving of dharma, for which the provision of education is a prerequisite.
The liberating virtues are said to have a definite order, even though they are mutually involved with one another, so it is very easy to argue that without a commitment to social and political ideals we have not properly taken the first steps on the Bodhisattva path.
Buddhism is a part of human culture, and is not static – of course, it cannot be. Some things deteriorate over time, some things improve, and my view is that the increased visibility of social and political activism in Buddhism is a positive development.
Compassion in Buddhism means wanting to do whatever we can to alleviate the suffering of others. It is that simple.

What do you think?

Tony Blair gives us a vivid example of the wheel of fortune. He had such huge support when he gave us in the UK a believable Labour (if only weakly) government. I was a big fan, and I was hardly alone.

Now he has turned into one of the most reviled figures of recent British political history: arrogant, lying and almost certainly a war criminal.

He is also proving to us how out-of-balance the British system is – the political executive is slipping out of control.

We should perhaps all take a moment to consider the value of the Arrest Blair Campaign as described in the Guardian.

So was it hubris? Did he start to believe his own publicity? Did he start to believe that God was on his side? He has fallen – but he should fall further yet.

It’s hardly surprising: Apple is purging anything to do with the Dalai Lama from its apps in China.

They should do an app (someone probably already has) to sell to the PRC government that purges the Dalai Lama’s name (or anything else subversive like “Tibetan independence” or “Tiananmen Square”) from any text flowing through the iPhone!

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is in Sydney. It is important that I begin by saying that I have huge respect for HHDL (as we know him on the net). I have seen him a few times, such as in Coventry Cathedral or in Hamburg, where he gave a number of teachings and empowerments that I attended. Now it is not, I think, that I have seen him so much that I have become jaded, but the enormous circus that surrounds him, at least in Australia, leaves me simply cold and uninterested.

A few months ago, for instance, I received e-mails containing a special offer: for a price of less than $150 I could attend a “Peace Through Justice Nobel Peace Prize Breakfast” with HHDL, billed as “this visit’s most intimate public audience”, with no more than 1440 guests.

Oh yes, now I remember why I’m not excited.

Whatever your prayer, now is a good time to say it.

Nepal – I would almost say my favourite country – has not stopped this primitive, superstious slaughter. The estimate is that 500,000 animals are being sacrificed. The description is that the process, even as animal slaughter goes, is slow and cruel.

Oh, what bad karma this will bring on that poor place! Pray for the animals, pray for the country that allows it, pray for the fools who participate!

You can learn more at Tibetan Volunteers for Animals, or you can search for Gadhimai.