Friday, May 20, 2005

.... but maybe humor does have something something to do with Buddhism. Having a sense of humor about yourself seems a mighty powerful antidote to anger. Anger is a terrible obstacle to those trying to tread the narrow path of Buddhist practice. A great passage in the currently fashionable book, "The Heart of the World," by Ian Baker recounts this episode deep in the trackless jungle of Pemako:

"Today was particularly bad for me as the rain would not let up and the leeches were relentless. ... Sloshing along the muddy trail in the pounding rain I came across a large, slimy log that had fallen chest high across our brush-choked path. In my agitated state I viewed the log as a menacing obstacle that was clearly separate, in my way and against me. With no way under or around I jumped, stomach first, and slid over the top. Regaining my balance on the other side, I was infuriated at the mud and decaying mush that seemd to have covered the entire front of my body. Rubbing off the crud I cursed the log and the goddamned rain. It was my brother Todd who suggested that we wait and see how the Lama could handle this formidable impediment. Surely this test would break him.

"Hiding off the trail we peeked through the underbrush just in time to see him trudge up to the log. Ever smiling he took a couple of steps back and tried to jump with a running start. With not enough momentum - coupled with a portly belly - he slid back down on the same side of the log and landed on his back in a large puddle. Shaking his rain-drenched head he burst into spasms of uproarious laughter. Staggering to his feet he repeated the same manuever - with the same results - no less than 3 times. With each collapse back into the puddle his laugher gre stronger and louder. On his fourth attempt he made it over the top and slid headlong into the muddy puddle on the other side. Again, the laughter was knee-slapping. Continuing to chuckle, he wiped himself off as best he could - lovingly patted the log as though it were a dear friend - and proceeded up the trail - smiling. Todd and I just stared at each other."

Perhaps Buddhism for me doesn't involve trying to attain some higher meditative state, but just being able to handle life's hurdles with the same tranquility.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Dear Crankarians,

This doesn't have much to do with Buddhism, but it is pretty darn funny. It takes alot to make the Crank laugh, but this did:
http://www.powells.com/review/2005_05_19

Monday, May 09, 2005

Interesting article in current issue of First Things, a somewhat learned journal that claims to be "interreligous," but seems to me to be just a pulpit for Catholic Orthodoxy. Anywho, the article is "When East is West," by Peter J. Leithart, and the basic premise is this: the Buddhism now embraced by many in the West, is really just a fairly new creation stemming from the work of Henry Olcott. Even more provacatively, Leithart portrays Olcott's work as basically just "a reshaping of traditional Buddhism according to a liberal Protestant model."

Olcott (an easy target for critics of the western Buddhism, given his eccentricities) was undeniably a key figure in bringing Buddhism to the attention of Western audiences. Leithart doesn't really criticize Olcott, but wants to make this argument, I guess in an attempt to poke some gentle fun:

"Westerners who convert to Buddhism are frequently attracted to a form of Buddhism that is the creation of the modern world. Western converts are often attracted to precisely those features of Buddhism that owe most to liberal Protestantism: tolerance, elevation of reason, compatibility with science, hostility to elitism and hierarchy in religion and so on."

I suppose Leithart is trying to argue that the Buddhism now embraced by Americans is really just a religion drawn from the values of more progressive branches of Christianity. There is some truth in that, I suppose, but it hardly goes far enough in explaining the deep appeal of Buddhism among educated folks in the west.

An irritating subtext in the article is the author's obvious prejudice against the attempt by people in the U.S. to take what they see as the good features of Buddhist thought and create something new out of it for a U.S. audience. This is portrayed as a shallow corruption of traditional Buddhism, but plainly ignores I believe the well-documented history of Buddhism's being adapted to local cultures and needs as it spread throughout Asia. Why should it not do so when it moves into Western societies?

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Reasons I like Buddhism, #2:

You can be a good Buddhist and not even know it. Not being bound by worshiping a deity, not having to accept the words of some ancient text, not having to seek salvation through any intermediary, the Buddhist is a Buddhist simply by living in harmony, not harming others and letting reason and experience be the guide.
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