Make America Zen Again! (and Treeleaf's Take on Things) ...

[Rich]

That was great! They speak the truth. No worries. ☺

SAT today

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[Jundo]

Hello,

today I didn't sleep well, I even had a nightmare regarding a destruction of the world we know. This might explain my somehow negative emotional level. In the morning, I read someone mentioning "Trump building a dictatorship" and some very negative news. Some internet users I know always have a negative view about the future and get extremely emotional, some of them are buddhists, too. First, I didn't think Trump would be that bad, but I slowly begin to believe them. In the end, that's what it is: a belief. The last few weeks I felt great, but today I got a little bit overwhelmed by all this negativity. I don't know what I want to ask you or what my text should express, I just wanted to write this down. Today I feel pretty hopeless. Maybe I just need something uplifting like Kyonin's text.

This, too, shall pass.

Gassho, Max

Don't confuse the world outside with the "might be/could be/what if" world we create in our head. They are not the same. The first will turn out as it turns out. The first may be good bad or somewhere between. But is not helped very much by adding on the second in your mind. In fact, we can never quite separate our experience of the two, but we should be aware that the latter colors how we experience the former.

Maybe it is a good time for the broken leg story?

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years.
One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "May be," the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "May be," replied the old man.
The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "May be," answered the farmer.
The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "May be," said the farmer.

I will also bump a talk with a philosophy that keeps me going sometimes ... The perspective is a little different from just "look on the bright side" ...

SIT-A-LONG with Jundo: gratitude & Great Gratitude

http://www.treeleaf.org/forums/showthread.php?11275-SIT-A-LONG-with-Jundo-gratitude-Great-Gratitude

Gassho, J

SatToday

[lorax]

May be, May be not. Perhaps the recent daily events we agenize over that are so apposed to our altruistic nature are actually in the long run the energy that will pull us together. May be, may be not.

SAT TODAY

[Byrne]

I don't like Trump except for one thing.

To his credit, through winning the election he managed to reveal a good deal of deception and bias in the media and government. Now he seems to be introducing his own brand of deception and bias, but I suppose we can only accuse others of things we recognize within ourselves. Right now the future is uncertain in ways it never seemed uncertain. And yet the future has been uncertain the whole time.

This new social and political climate is testing the complacency of people of both right and left wing persuasions. New ideas are being brought into the White House that are hiding in plain sight masked by the insane antics of both the Trump administration and the media across the board.

Behind Trump's incoherent, offensive, and careless ramblings about Black History Month or how big his inauguration audience was or the blitz of poorly thought out executive orders are new concepts about what an American is. Namely in the form of Steve Bannon and the right wing propaganda he and Andrew Breitbart dedicated their lives to. Those ideas define what an American is in very specific terms.

But if they get to try out and promoted new ideas that means the WE ALL DO TO. For the next four years America will not be a battleground of bipartisan politics, but a battleground of ideas. We all have a responsibility to meditate on our values and learn how to communicate those concepts to anyone. When we encounter an idea we find toxic we must find ways to dismantle it within the hearts and minds of our communities regardless of the outcome.

If we are diligent as a people, including all y'all who aren't from the US, and relentlessly strive to promote our ideas within our communities, refining over and over along the way, we may have a golden opportunity. As Buddhists who don't proselytize our beliefs, I feel now is a good time for us to promote that sentiment. Not to convert others to Buddhism, but to promote the wisdom and goodwill that comes from religious tolerance. Americans have a very narrow view in what a religion is and isn't. We can help broaden the definition far beyond just Buddhism. We have to challenge others but if we don't savagely challenge ourselves we can only expect regret.

And of course there are many facets of life that will need our attention. Eleanor Rooselvt wisely pointed out that small minds talk about people. Medium minds talk about events. Great minds talk about ideas. Trump is a person. His election is an event. We have to pick the ball up with ideas or get run over by other people and events beyond our control.

I've lived my whole life with my back against a cliff. The ups and downs have been intense. America now seems to be getting a taste of the disappointment and uncertainty I've known since I was a kid. It's not so bad. And yet it really sucks and is terrible.

Even if the government does attack us with killer robots. And they do have killer robots.... Might as well stand up for ourselves. What other choice is there?

If a violent upheaval happens will Americans be able to trade in their prescription meds for bullets?

Gassho

Sat Today

[Kaisho]

Yes these days we could all use a good dose of Koi pond and a break from the news once in awhile [emoji225][emoji226]! Right there with ya.

Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday and am on a reduced-Facebook diet



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I am with you there. Over saturation of the media is a real thing. Also the political climate seems to be a fear of loss on either side where one acts and the other reacts like the law of physics.
Gassho
Chelsea
Sat2day

[Sekishi]

Thank you Sekishi! It actually felt pretty good to read these responses, if nothing else just to feel a human connection with those that wrote them, but I did (unexpectedly) understand some of their views. Please post updates if you can.

Lion's Roar has released their second instalment of "Conservative Buddhists Speak":

https://www.lionsroar.com/conservative-buddhists-speak-part-two/

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

[Myosha]

Lion's Roar has released their second instalment of "Conservative Buddhists Speak":

https://www.lionsroar.com/conservative-buddhists-speak-part-two/

Gassho,
Sekishi #sat

Hello,

Thank you for the link.


Gassho
Myosha
sat today

[Hoseki]

This was difficult for me to read. I just wanted to argue with these people .



Gassho
Hoseki
Sattoday


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[Jiken]

This was difficult for me to read. I just wanted to argue with these people .



Gassho
Hoseki
Sattoday


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lol I agreed with a lot of them.

Gassho,

Jiken

[Jakuden]

Thanks for the link Sekishi! It really is good to hear their rational explanations and viewpoints... I so wish we could come together on a much larger scale in this country to recognize the valid points of each perspective. But it's a start.
Gassho
Jakuden
SatToday


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[Hoseki]

Hi guys,

So I was thinking about this thread over the weekend and I think its time for the airing of grievances :O Actually I did want to talk about some of the thoughts I had while I was thinking about the thread. Politics can be derisive and this isn't a left or right issue. When groups form there are usually boundaries. When someone crosses one or is perceived to be outside the reaction can be unpleasant.

I think if we look at some of the policies that are advocated on the left will see that they resonate with our practice (at least as it is here.) If we are to save all sentient beings wouldn't universal health care be something we would push for? Or access to clean water (Flint, Michigan)? I don't see how fostering compassion for others wouldn't lead to include measures to promote their physical well being. We vow not to kill but we would allow someone to die because they couldn't afford their medication? We would chalk that up to being their own responsibility to look after themselves? (that's the vibe I got from the last correspondent.)

I have other thoughts on the issue but trying to sit down to write them is like trying to catch a fart in a butter tub. I know the fart is there but I can't seem to contain it

Anywho just some thoughts. What do you guys think?

Gassho
Hoseki
Sattoday

[Risho]

I think universal health care would be awesome. I don't think anyone disagrees with that. But we can't make any intelligent votes in the US because the numbers are never laid down.

Exactly how do you define universal health care?

How much does it specifically cost in our taxes? All the specifics, any increase in tax cost, how much of an increase, what % of tax money goes to it? This is for everything. We never get the details; that's why I can't vote yes or no. A 2000 page bill is insane; lawyers don't even get it.

If Universal Health care has a fixed cost, does this mean that all doctors get fixed salaries, and if that is so will that impact the quality of the physicians? No one works for free, and the elite in any field deserve to get paid more than their underperforming counterparts.

Just some questions; I think it's a great idea to take care of people, but we all need to know what that means specifically. The devil is in the details, and expecting a populace to vote on emotion rather than facts doesn't lend itself to a well-informed vote.

Gassho,

Risho
-sattoday

[Jundo]

I think if we look at some of the policies that are advocated on the left will see that they resonate with our practice (at least as it is here.) If we are to save all sentient beings wouldn't universal health care be something we would push for? Or access to clean water (Flint, Michigan)? I don't see how fostering compassion for others wouldn't lead to include measures to promote their physical well being. We vow not to kill but we would allow someone to die because they couldn't afford their medication? We would chalk that up to being their own responsibility to look after themselves? (that's the vibe I got from the last correspondent.)

I have other thoughts on the issue but trying to sit down to write them is like trying to catch a fart in a butter tub. I know the fart is there but I can't seem to contain it

Hi Hoseki,

I might personally feel so (and I would add gun control to the list) as my personal belief.

However, it is unclear to me how much the Buddha, Dogen or most Buddhists of the past were interested in such issues. This world of samsara was an ugly place, and the point was not to fix it (that seemed even more impossible back then) ... but rather, to transcend the ugly or not be reborn in it again. Engaged perspectives (meaning calls for progressive social reform) are a development in Buddhism largely of the last century. Sorry to burst anyone's bubble on that, but the response of most monastics of the past from Thailand to Tokyo to Tibet (there are some noted exceptions) was to build a wall and close the door on the outside world. "Compassion" did not mean necessarily involvement in big social charity, but rather understanding of the suffering of life in general and the need to transcend/escape this life.

Furthermore, I do not know any Buddhist who would support polluted water or denials of health care per se. However, I do know conservative Buddhists who might advocate, for example, small government, reduced government regulations of the free market, right to life, gun rights (for sports and defense), military action as necessary to ultimately protect life, who might oppose the specific structure of Obama care or government involvement in insurance, and many other conservative causes. In Asia, most Buddhists I know tend to be rather politically conservative (not unlike conservative Christian church people in the West). The Lionsroar links above give voice to such people, and I am not prepared to say that they are acting outside the Precepts.

So, I personally feel that being a Buddhist means that, for example, someone should support stricter gun control. However, I also see that not all Buddhists agree, and if a weapon is held for sport or defense of self and family, I am not prepared to tell them "you are not a good Buddhist." Nonetheless, I may personally support gun control as one voice. Likewise for various other issues.

Gassho, J

SatToday

[Jundo]

PS - Tibetan Buddhism teacher Ken McLeod has an interesting piece on this for Tricycle advocating Buddhists' non-involvement in social issues. He writes:

I was never taught that the practice of Buddhism was about making the world a better place. It has always been about coming to and giving expression to a different relationship with life—essentially a mystical path. My teacher was a mystic who followed the examples of Milarepa and Khyungpo Naljor.

One way to articulate the essence of mystical knowledge in Tibetan Buddhism is that we forget the self, the felt sense of “I” that permeates our perception of life and confines us to a life of reactivity and confusion.

... On the basis of that insight, some people are inspired to devote their lives to freeing themselves from the tyranny of emotional reactions associated with the sense of self. It is no easy task, unless one is endowed with a special talent for such pursuits. For most of us, it requires years of effort, and a complete retraining of the mind-body system and how it functions.

Given the serious problems in the world today, some people regard such an approach as self-centered, if not selfish. I’m not sure about the selfish part, if only because most people who engage in this pursuit are not selfish people. Self-centered or self-involved? Possibly, but no more so than an artist, a musician, or a dancer. Artists devote themselves to years of arduous training for the sake of their art. Why are those who devote themselves full-time to practice considered differently?

There have always been problems in the world. Granted, the problems now facing humanity are different in scale and in kind, but the idea that one has to be engaged with the problems of the world to be a real Buddhist is a very recent notion. It negates the lives of many of the great masters that inspire us and whose teachings we study and practice.

Obviously there are personal choices to be made here. But I think it is reckless and presumptuous to tell others how they should live their lives. Chuang Tzu describes a crooked, twisted tree that grows near a road. It is so crooked that no woodworker would ever think of cutting it down. It is just there. It may be that one day, a traveler stops beneath it to find shelter from the rain or shade from the sun. Or maybe it just stands there, because that’s what trees do.

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/dont-practice-engaged-buddhism/

I don't happen to agree with him (or with my Dharma Bro. Brad Warner, who sometimes expresses like opinions). I feel that one can work on the world as one works on oneself, and make this world a bit better even as we try to know its True Nature.

[Kyonin]

Hi Jundo,

This is a very important topic for me. I understand that as long as there are humans we are bound to create problems out of solutions thanks to our self deluded minds.

However I also believe that there is a way to transcend the ugliness but at the same time we can work for the benefit of all sentient beings. It only takes a little of your time to change someone's life! An act of kindness here, another there change the world in many ways.

Maybe the ugliness will never go away, but we keep on trying because seeing others smile, happy and peaceful is a great motivation to just keep on going in this practice.

My belief is that we can work educating the young in compassion and unity. And maybe in the future we could end up with ethic minded politicians that actually care for the people. Gun control laws could spring out of that.

There is away as long as there is one crazy mutant willing to set the ego aside and work for the benefit of others.

Gassho,

Kyonin