Spiritual care for the hurting or seeking atheist

Atheist stickers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Please.

Just please.

I am not going to advocate proselyting to atheists. Nor am I going to  attack, insult, belittle, or cast blanket aspersions against people who identify as atheist. I have a great deal in common with and much sympathy for those who do not profess a belief in God. I have commented before on the decline of manners and increased intellectual lassitude or ineptitude among some minority of people identifying as atheists on message forums and blogs. The ones who at times turn to the same over-generalizing, trivializing of others, lazy or dishonest quote mining, and other tactics often employed by hard-core proselytizing  religious fundamentalists.

What is the point of behaving like the very religious people who love to mock and ridicule the philosophy, ideas, and lives of atheists?, I wondered. I asked if this was a real trend and if so what might be behind it.

Some people like to use terms such as "atheist fundamentalist" or "new atheist" to loosely refer to such people. For reasons that should become clear, I think a more apt term is shallow atheist.

Now I've lectured on deviance and one of those lectures was on atheism, and we came to a sympathetic understanding of why those who feel stigmatized and persecuted might try to neutralize this feeling by reversing it. By over-generalizing about, demeaning, and belittling religion and religious people. By questioning their morals, their certainty, and even their sanity in order to establish the atheists' own. No, WE are the decent people. The ones who have logic and knowledge and facts on our side. We are the ones who are free of delusion.

Now, sometimes this is because someone is still shaking from having left a form of fundamentalist religion or is constantly being harassed because they live in a community that doesn't trust or tolerate those of a different or of no religion. That doesn't justify bad behavior, but it can explain a good bit of it.

But what about those who never continue to heal and get stuck in the mentality that all religion is the same and its all one very narrow thing? Who never move on and instead continue to need to feel better about themselves through crude and offensive slights and put-downs of anything remotely associated in their minds with religion?

Or those who may or may not have never really felt persecuted (even if they may have felt slightly awkward on occasion) over their atheism and who see it as a hip, misunderstood social identity for smart people and iconoclasts? The ones who are too cool in their own minds to ever have anything to do with those backward and outdated fools who are remotely connected to whatever might be associated with religion or spirituality?

Happy 76th Birthday to Tenzin Guyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

He is reported to have remarked today, "The best gift to me is to practice compassion." Let's all give him that wonderful present. My thanks to him for being one of my more conspicuous if unofficial spiritual teachers.

Benediction for 3/21/11

"At the moment the world's spiritual traditions have greatly degenerated. It is very important in such times that the practitioners themselves make especially strong efforts to gain realization. To permit the lineages of transmission to disappear is to allow the world to plunge into darkness." - His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Thich Nhat Hahn, Tenzin Guyatso, Deepak Chopra and the like are all full of it

Image by Luiza via Flickr

Lest you think by the title, "Thich Nhat Hahn, Tenzin Gyatso*, Deepak Chopra and the like are all full of it", that it is a cleverly misleading expression based on the ambiguity of the term "it", let me spell out what I meant -- BS. That is, they are full of BS. You know it and I know it, but no one will admit to knowing it. Chew that over for a moment. Let the knee-jerk reaction fade. Be really introspective, beyond the expectation you have set up for yourself about how you are supposed to feel or what you are supposed to think. Tap into the raw feed. Find that place you've buried and smoothed over with politeness, a sense of what other Eastern-oriented spiritual people expect you to think, the power of (spiritual/religious) authority, and even whatever respect you have for these gentlemen. Go on, open up that hidden box of repressed cynicism and drop those drawn out mental gymnastics where you try to rationalize how some of their teaching could make sense if they are properly framed for a particular interpretation.

Just let it out. Those judgments and reactions that scream things such as "It may be pleasant but it's pie-in-the-sky optimism and totally unrealistic. That kind of wishful thinking is hopelessly naive and cannot really work in the real world. It's a kind of sheltered delusion for those who can't cope. It's nice for those in comfort and who have the luxury of Utopian fantasies, but come on! A lot of what he says makes sense but that, that is just ludicrous." Wait until you have uncovered and released something along these lines, then read on below.

It can be hard to do. To admit that part of us thinks that some great leader or teacher that we admire or respect may be a little daft or naive about some things. We may suppress it or find it endearing. Ahh, this part of what she or he believes or advocates is not realistic but we need a good dose of such unfiltered optimism now and then to boost our batteries in a difficult and challenging world. It's an impossible standard, an unachievable ideal, but this individual really deserved to be the standard-bearer for such values. We could all used something or someone to believe in, a bright star to guide our way.

How egotistical and patronizing can you get? These individuals dedicate their lives to living and promoting particular ideals and you poo-poo them as if they were little children. You try to find some way to not take them too seriously on some of their teachings because honestly, only an idiot would really believe them or live by them. By re-framing the teachings. By making them guidelines for aspirations. By suggesting they may have worked for certain cultures and periods of history but not our own. Yikes! I have hit on this before, quoting a letter to President Bush by Hanh. I wrote:

He chose to see Bush as his brother and to appeal to his humanity and his divine/Buddha nature rather than simply mocking him or using angry accusations listing his personal failures and their consequences. So what do we make of this and similar letters, speeches, and other forms of communication? It is certainly something that we can appreciate coming from Thay as he is a world renowned peace activist and Buddhist teacher, but do we really believe that letter, assuming it was received and read, made a difference? And is effectiveness the primary yardstick in cases like this? Do we read things like this and "forgive" Thich Naht Hanh for his simplicity and directness (but also see it as a little naive) because of his status and image? Or is he on the right track, and if so, in what way should we follow his example?


In particular for those who are opposed to the occupation of Iraq and those who capitalized on it politically or financially...


Can you see yourself writing a letter like that to George W. Bush? To Dick Cheney? To the David Lesar, President and CEO of Halliburton? To Erik Prince, founder and owner of Blackwater Worldwide? For the Pro-Iraq war visitors, same question but fill in the names with Nancy Pelosi, or Hillary Clinton, etc.


Or to be really blunt - does such wording make the author sound like a spacey, out-of-touch, overly naive optimist who needs a reality check and to get involved in really making a difference rather than expressing futile sentimentality? Again, I know many or probably most of you might not think that about Thich Nhat Hahn, or if the letter had come from the Dalai Lama, but what if had come from a New Age guru running a crystal therapy center? Or from a Wiccan college freshman taking a course on globalization? Or from your own desk (assuming you are not a New Age guru running a crystal therapy center or a Wiccan college freshman taking a course on globalization)? That is, if you respect Thay's letter and approach, is it because you respect him or because you respect his letter and approach?

I recently suggested something similar along these same lines:

What do you think of when you hear things like "Everything is sacred" or "Each moment is only one moment expressed in infinite ways" or "Every day, every experience, is a gift, even if we don't always appreciate it or know what to make of it." (Yes, I came up with them myself, so smirk if you wish.)

A common reaction in Western (-influenced) societies is to be cynical. It sounds like nice pop psychology for the naive and the desperate or soft spiritualism for the well-healed. But for the savvy individual who lives in "the real world" of work, pain, and disappointment, it can come across as just so much nonsensical overly optimistic fluff.

Yes, perhaps we want to believe, and we may even think we believe it, but do we? Really? Our daily lives betray our underlying assumptions and the beliefs that drive them. How many of us live the life of the cynic, underneath the wrist malas or the shaved head or the polite and thoughtful exterior? These things are just another layer of the false self trying to be holy. There is a universe of difference between trying to be holy and just being holy. Or sacred. Or Christ-like, Buddha-esque, etc.

So to really believe, to really take the teachings seriously, we have to first be brutally honest about our cynicism, our hesitation, our lack of faith. It is a crucial step. And it isn't just a one time catharsis. We have to live with the doubt even as we live as if we possess certainty. Otherwise we are just building more layers of wannabe holiness on a doomed foundation. It is the only way to REALLY come to terms with and accept these counter-intuitive teachings. Until then, no matter how much we might want to protest, our gurus and wise men will, in our heart of hearts, still be full of it and we will by extension remain patronizing hypocrites.

(Addendum: There is nothing that says that these people can't occasionally BE full of it for real; either way, the best way to deal with such suspicions and hesitations is honestly.)

_________________________________________________
*Tenzin Gyatso is the name of the 14th Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama, shown here inciting riots against the Chinese government

(Thanks to Danny Fisher for sharing this)

Picnics for peace and other idiotic pacifist ideas

In the documentary film 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama, His Holiness suggests that one way we might see more peace in troubled areas such as Jerusalem is to have more gatherings like picnics and festivals. No doubt this strikes many people as foolish. After all, it is a religiously political struggle? (Or is a politically religious struggle?) Inequity and injustice require some kind of top down solution, right? Economic, military, etc. You've got to have high level meetings, and political road maps, and a week at Camp David between the leaders of the parties in conflict, right? Having people meet and greet is just idiotic. Isn't it? Do we really buy all of the teachings of such renowned spiritual leaders?

But let us ask ourselves why the Clinton initiative failed to bring a peace settlement in Israel. There is no single reason, but a huge one includes speculation that Yasser Arafat knew his people wouldn't accept the terms he was negotiating, and his counterpart, Ehud Barak, claimed he couldn't offer any more concessions. Both leaders realized they couldn't get any closer without alienating key segments of their populations, particularly powerful political supporters. This kind of impasse is rooted in the attitudes of certain groups of Palestinians and Israelis toward each other and fed by past and present conflict. These attitudes, which perpetuate and support the political and economic structures producing inequality and conflict, include distrust, fear, and hatred.

Daryl Davis and the Klan

Now let's turn to another historic example of distrust, fear, and hatred - the Ku Klux Klan and African-Americans. You may not be familiar with Daryl Davis. I first heard about him when his story was included in the film Understanding Race (part of the Films for the Humanities series). I later learned that he had published a book about his experiences going to Klan meeting called Klan-destine Relationships. None of this may strike you as peculiar until you hear the subtitle of the book: A Black Man's Odyssey in the Ku Klux Klan. His story is also told in a brief article that appeared in the Washington Post.

In brief, Davis met people who were in the Klan and was eventually invited to a Klan meeting. He was curious and friendly and non-judgmental, and became a familiar face at Klan events. In fact, an Imperial Wizard made Davis the godfather of his child. But what is really interesting is that his presence has been a catalyst which has led many members, including that Imperial Wizard, to quit the Klan. Some have even given Davis their robes, which he keeps in his closet. Imagine that - self-identified white supremacists quitting the Klan not because Davis laid on a guilt trip, not because he debated them into submission, but because of his persistent friendly presence.

The mechanics of changing perspective

One theory of how we form expectations about the world is that we organize our experiences into meaningful clusters we then name. This is called a schema. When we select a schema or a composite of schemas to be the standard for evaluating similar schemas. This standard is called a prototype. Similar schemas orbit loosely around the prototype, creating a category with fuzzy boundaries. For example, if we use our experiences to form a schema of holiday, we might include "having family over" and "preparing a large meal". When we experience a holiday without a big meal, we might remark that is just didn't seem like a holiday, because we were using that schema as a prototype to evaluate new experiences.

We can also use the example of the category automobile, in which we use our experiences with cars to form the basis of a schema which is then promoted to the prototype of the automobile category. Hence we may call a truck or jeep a "car", even though there are differences between trucks, jeeps, and cars. Trucks and jeeps are orbiting the idea of car-ness, which may include elements like "large rubber tires", "carries multiple passengers", "runs on an engine", "has pedals and a steering wheel".

This theory can help make sense of the relationship between Daryl Davis, the Klan, and the members who quit. I am not suggesting this theory must be true in every case, but a theory isn't much good if it has no explanatory power, so we can at least see if it produces a workable explanation. People in the Klan tend to have a particular kind of schema they use as the prototype for black people, which we might expect to be very negative. They had a new experience - a black man who wasn't angry or judgmental towards them and who seemed like a really friendly and sincere guy. This didn't match the expectations of the prototype of a black man. In some cases, the continued exposure formed that basis of a new schema of black people that either challenged or replaced the previous prototype (which in this case would correlate to the term stereotype). This sparked a re-evaluation of membership in an organization premised on a particular view of minorities.

This can be condensed into "they changed their minds when they actually got to know a black man", but the process involved - how and why they were prejudiced and the components of changing one's mind - are important. If Davis had been angry or judgmental, this might have reinforced a schema which includes an image of black people as angry and judgmental towards whites. It also highlights how important external influences can be in shaping our attitudes about anything and everything we encounter in our lives.

The relevance to conflict prevention and resolution

Turning back to the Dalai Lama and Jerusalem, I don't presume the Dalai Lama made his suggestion based on the mechanics of a theory from the social and behavioral sciences of the West. Instead, his Buddhist training and the wisdom of a lifetime of exposure to conflict and prejudice showed him the basic pattern, however we might wish to frame it. It would be unfair to say that he thinks that a few picnics will end all of the violence, but I do think he is pointing towards generating shared positive experiences between opposing or distrustful groups in order to offer a basis for new and more positive appreciation of each other. With such a grassroots change in attitude, the existing political and economic structures generating inequality and conflict between the sides would lose much of their support. If enough of the people want peace, they will have it.

People don't live in the abstract - in the "national" or the "global" scene. They live in the every day of their individual lives. Whether attempted solutions to the largest problems in society will either succeed or fail turns on what individuals experience and do in the everyday.

Is a Buddhism-informed science the same as a science-informed Buddhism?

You may have heard about the current Daila Lama giving the keynote address at a professional meeting of neuroscientists. He even wrote a book, The Universe in an Atom, about the potentially fruitful collaboration between Buddhism and science. Scientists are studying meditation, Buddhist and otherwise. And some are writing that certain scientific developments, such as the odd developments coming out of theoretical physics, are in accordance with the teachings and principles the Buddha gave us thousands of years ago. It can be a very exciting time for those who enjoy learning about or working with both topics. But what is the nature of the relationship between these topics?

Science is rooted in the conviction that the universe is intelligible and that is is ordered according to certain patterns and underlying regular processes. This conviction originally came from belief in a Creator who thus organized existence. This conviction is also at the core of what science is and is not, what it can and cannot do and where it can and cannot be applied. In particular, science deals with describing and explaining regularly occurring, empirically observable phenomena and the predictions and retrodictions based on such evidence. Things which are occur irregularly (there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason and there aren't enough observances to even guess at a pattern or process), or which are not reliably (or ever) empirically observable are beyond the scope of science. This does not mean other things do not exist or are of no consequence (contra the fundamental premise of scientism), but that they don't fit in sciences wheelhouse. Ontological naturalism and scientism are metaphysical assumption that are made at level that cannot be verified or falsified by science.

Nor can we assume that science can always give us complete and satisfactory answers even to those areas it is qualified to address. Science is a highly effective tool for investigation that includes a number of intentional assumptions and perspectives which divide reality into an artifical model so that we can better understand the aspect of the universe on which were focusing our attention. This is what makes science so powerful - yes, it does introduce some degree of distortion (bias) as it magnifies what we want to understand, but so long as we acknowledge and accept a degree of artificiality with a correct understanding, this need not be a major concern. But it does mean that the scientific lens does not a perfectly complete and faithful perspective. The scientific lens is one of many possible lenses, and while neglecting a scientific perspective when one is available is inadvisible, simply trusting it is always being superior to every other lens is the same kind of myopic danger that leads some to rely soley on the lens of faith.

Buddhism comes rooted in a different set of cultural assumptions and a different concern - identifying the nature of suffering, the cause of suffering and how to be liberated from suffering (through transformation or transcendence). Because it investigates these things through observation and testing, some of even referred to Buddhism as the science of happiness. The similarity between science and Buddhism for those who tend to generically associate observation and testing with science is obvious. And since some fields of science investigate topics like emotion, mood, consciousness, etc, it is also unsurprising to find that these two lenses have come up to similar conclusions. Nor is the suggestion of a fruitful collaboration far fetched. But that doesn't mean that Buddhism is science or that science is Buddhism, nor that either should be considered a subcategory or simply a spcialized extension of the other.

When it comes to string theory and quantum physics a word of caution is in order as well. Reffering to His Holiness again, the Dalai Lama noted in The Good Heart that really smart people can find or generate similarities and dissimilarities between nearly anything, and can hence make them seem much more different or alike than they may actually be. His caution was about trying to read too much too quickly into superficial similarities between religions like Christianity and Buddhism, but we can adopt the same tone for physics and Buddhism as well. There are some really profound and important aspects that many of not all major sacred traditions share, and there are some important insights that Buddhism may have which sound remarkably similar to what people think may be happening at really large and really small scales of matter and time and energy.

Even if we presume the Buddha could "see" into the various levels of reality, his cultural background would have shaped and informed the impressions he received in his perceptions, including how many levels, how they there organized, how they interacted. Science builds on previous models and schema, but it is possible to have named and organized things a little differently than we have. There are alternative roots science could have taken in describing and explaining things, and it may yet do so in the future. Another way to say it is that the shape of our scientific understanding has a component of cultural and historical context that would not have been available to someone living thousands of years ago. The Buddha would no have known what a cosmic string or a quark was. Instead, even without the lens and context of modern science he was still able to recognize and describe what he felt were universal qualities or properties.

There is a temptation then to focus on what we think the Buddha got right according to the similarties of contemporary ideas from science and de-emphsize what we suspect he may have gotten wrong, and only attribute the importance of historical and cultural context to the latter. But the Buddha was not operating as a scientist. The lens offered by science is not equivalent to the lens of the Buddhist path. A Buddhism-informed science is not the same as a science-informed Buddhism. Which brings us to a question - should we strive either for a Buddhism-informed science or for a science-informed Buddhism? Or should we seek neither? Should we strive to allow them to operate independently and supply inspiration to areas of common concern and interest as well as each other?

The Dalai Lama has said that if Buddhism and science conflict, Buddhism should defer to science. This makes sense for the areas where Buddhism might be used to make predictons about the physical nature of reality, but what about the mental or spiritual nature of reality, which scientists must reduce to the material in order to make it amenable for scientific investigation? Does the fact that there can be a scientific model proposed which performs such a reduction mean that Buddhism should defer to science and go along with a reductionist perspective just because it is available? Or does Buddhism (or do other traditions) offer something more that cannot be fully captured by a strictly reductionist lens? By focusing on one dimension of our existence does such a perpective overlook another? Is there something about the value of Buddhist teachings and practices which remains independent of the worldview or cosmology that happens to be in vogue?

If science were to say tomorrow that physics no longer superficially resembled the ideas of dependent origination and emptiness, they are still useful teachings. Even though ancient cosmologies from the time of the Buddha, which his students would have accepted as a given, may not be accepted today, his teachings are relevant because humans are still humans, still sentient beings. Because phenomena are themselves limited and biased mental constructions intended to break the continuity and flow of existence into manageable chunks. This is an issue of perception and cognition and semantics - and it will always be a challenge for humans inhabiting our limited bodies. Hence the observation of Huineng, the sixth patriarch or ancestor of the early Ch'an ("Zen") lineage, in the following kung-an ("koan") from Robert Aiken's translation of the Wu-Men Kuan (or Mumonkan)...

Two monks were arguing about the temple flag waving in the wind. One said, "The flag moves." The other said, "The wind moves." They argued back and forth but could not agree.

The Sixth Ancestor said, "Gentlemen! It is not the wind that moves; it is not the flag that moves; it is your mind that moves." The two monks were struck with awe.

Three general kinds of aptitude for spirituality

I don't have it in front of me, but I was reading part of The Good Heart, a book describing the events of an annual retreat on Christian meditation from 1994, the year that the Dalai Lama was asked to lead the seminar. His Holiness said that from his training and experience in Buddhism, there are basically three types of disposition for those on a spiritual journey. The best is one who is very intelligent AND who has a laser-like focus of faith. The next best is someone with a rock solid foundation for faith but who isn't as bright. The worst are those who are intelligent but who are so skeptical and cynical that they are always second-guessing everything and have trouble choosing a path and staying focused on a practice. Guess which of these best describes me...

How about you?

The world starts to wake up to Tibet

After forty nine years, at least some momentum may be building in political and religious circles (although economic circles are still silent) regarding the situation in Tibet after decades of peaceful protests over perceived and genuine injustice and repression from Chinese rule have for many Tibetans spilled over to animated demonstrations and violent protest in the capital of their nation, a nation which the People's Republic of China claims as one of its provinces. Despite his emphasis on compassion and respect for the Chinese and the need for a peaceful resolution to the occupation of Tibet the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people, has had to watch from a distance the recent and ongoing retaliation by Chinese forces and the suppression of ethnic Tibetans in Lhasa and other areas, some of whom have taken part in violence towards the Han Chinese immigrants and their property (the Tibetans are ethnically, culturally, and linguistically a second-class minority in their own homeland). Tibetans and supporters of Tibetan political and religious liberty have also been engaging in protests around the world. In many cases they have been extremely peaceful, and in a few cases they have been given to angry displays despite the Dalai Lama's rejection of anger and violence in the name of Tibet. Here is an overview of what has been happening over the past few weeks if you aren't up to speed...

How many nobel prize winners, leading Chinese intellectuals, religious leaders, political leaders, and other prominent figures and writers are reacting to the situation in Tibet...

U.S. should speak out for Tibet, Obama says


FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., March 19 (Reuters) - The United States should speak out for human rights in Tibet, U.S. presidential contender Barack Obama said on Wednesday amid a Chinese crackdown on protests by Tibetans in China.
In a foreign policy speech, the Democratic senator from Illinois said the United States should work with countries such as Russia and China but it should also stand up for rights.
"We can start now by speaking out for the human rights and religious freedom of the people of Tibet," Obama told an audience of military families and veterans.


March 19th, via Reuters/The Guardian

Germany Suspends Aid Talks with China Over Tibet Violence

In a fresh blow to Berlin-Beijing relations, Germany has said it is freezing aid talks with the Chinese government as a result of China's crackdown on demonstrations in Tibet.

Germany said it was suspending intergovernmental aid talks with China if the country did not end a bloody clampdown on Tibetan protestors, raising the stakes in a highly charged international conundrum over how to deal with Beijing's rights violations months before the city hosts the Olympic Games.

German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said on Wednesday, March 19, that her ministry would suspend negotiations with the Chinese government which mainly involve grants to reduce air pollution by Chinese power plants.

"Violence can never be a solution," Wieczorek-Zeul said. "The two sides can only arrive at a solution through dialogue. Under such conditions, it is hardly conceivable to be conducting intergovernmental negotiations," she said.

-March 20th, via Deutche-Welle

CHINA: Under Pressure to Rethink Tibet Policy
By Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, (IPS) - As continuing Tibetan protests testify to the failure of China’s policy of accelerated economic development with harsh political controls in the Himalayan region, pressure on Beijing to begin dialogue with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader, is growing.

Large swaths of sparsely populated Tibetan areas have been swarmed with a huge number of Chinese troops while embers of unrest continue to smoulder in the wake of the biggest protests by the Tibetan minority in twenty years.

Beijing has denounced the "splittist" Dalai Lama for masterminding the violent riots in hopes of sabotaging this summer’s Beijing Olympics and promoting Tibetan independence. But even as rhetoric against the Tibetan spiritual leader heats up, there are calls from all sides for China to recognise his undying significance to the Tibetan population and make breakthrough on a problem that does not seem to go away.

A group of 26 Nobel laureates has appealed to Beijing to resume dialogue with the Tibetan leader who has lived in exile in Dharamsala, northern India since 1959.

"We protest the unwarranted campaign waged by the Chinese government against our fellow Nobel laureate, His Holiness the Dalai Lama," the group said in a statement released by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel on Thursday.

-March 21st, via IPS

John McCain condemns Tibet crisis during France visit

US Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said today that China is harming its world image with its crackdown in Tibet and expressed hope Beijing would seek a peaceful solution to the crisis.

McCain did not discuss the issue during a 45-minute meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but told reporters later the subject was "one of the first things I would talk about if I were president of the United States today."

China's crackdown "is not correct," McCain said in the courtyard of the French presidential Elysee Palace.

"The people there are being subjected to mistreatment that is not acceptable with the conduct of a world power, which China is," McCain said in response to a question by a Chinese television journalist.

"There must be respect for human rights, and I would hope that the Chinese are actively seeking a peaceful resolution to this situation that exists which harms not only the human rights of the people there but also the image of China in the world."

-March 21st, via The Guardian

Pelosi Denounces China's Tibet Crackdown

DHARMSALA, India (AP) — House speaker Nancy Pelosi called on the world Friday to denounce China's crackdown of anti-government protests in Tibet, calling the crisis "a challenge to the conscience of the world."

Pelosi, one of the fiercest Congressional critics of China, was greeted by cheering Tibetans as she arrived to meet the Dalai Lama. She is the first major official to visit the leader of Tibet's exile community since peaceful protests turned violent last week in the Chinese-ruled region.

"If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in China and Tibet, we have lost all moral authority to speak on behalf of human rights anywhere in the world," Pelosi said before a crowd of thousands of Tibetans, including monks and schoolchildren.

"The situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world," she said.

-March 21st, via the Associated Press

Leading Chinese Intellectuals Ask China to Rethink Tibet Policy

Leading Chinese intellectuals and writers released a petition today that appeared on several websites in Chinese, entitled 'Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation'. It is a significant indication that Chinese voices are being raised in China in response to the way Beijing has handled the protests that began on March 10. An English translation is published below.

-March 22nd, via the ICFT website

Pope celebrates Mass in thunderstorm, calls for peace

In a speech at the end of the Mass in St. Peter's Square, Benedict said that on the joyous day of Easter, "in particular, how can we fail to remember certain African regions, such as Darfur and Somalia, the tormented Middle East, especially the Holy Land, Iraq, Lebanon and finally Tibet, all of which I encourage to seek solutions that will safeguard peace and the common good."

Benedict denounced "selfishness, injustice, hatred and violence" between individuals and peoples.


"These are the scourges of humanity, open and festering in every corner of the planet, although they are often ignored and sometimes deliberately concealed, wounds that torture the souls and bodies of countless of our brothers and sisters," he said, speaking over the sound of heavy rain in the square.

-March 23rd, via CNN.com

STATEMENT issued by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu

I wish to express my solidarity with the people of Tibet during this critical time in their history. To my dear friend His Holiness the Dalai Lama, let me say: I stand with you. You define non violence and compassion and goodness. I was in an Easter retreat when the recent tragic events unfolded in Tibet. I learned that China has stated you caused violence. Clearly China does not know you, but they should. I call on China's government to know His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as so many have come to know, during these long decades years in exile. Listen to His Holiness' pleas for restraint and calm and no further violence against this civilian population of monastics and lay people.

I urge China to enter into a substantive and meaningful dialogue with this man of peace, the Dalai Lama. China is uniquely positioned to impact and affect our world. Certainly the leaders of China know this or they would not have bid for the Olympics. Killing, imprisonment and torture are not a sport: the innocents must be released and given free and fair trials.

-March 25th, via the ICFT website

Rice urges China to listen to Dalai Lama on Tibet

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday urged the Chinese government to pursue a more "sustainable" policy toward Tibet and said the only way to do this was for it to talk to the Dalai Lama.

"We believe that the answer for Tibet is to have a more sustainable policy for the Chinese government concerning Tibet." Rice told reporters at a news conference with India's external affairs minister.

"We are going to continue to encourage that dialogue because ultimately that is going to be the only policy that is sustainable in Tibet," she said.

-March 25th, via Reuters

Clinton says U.S. should be forceful on Tibet

GREENSBURG, Penn., (Reuters) - The United States should be more forceful in speaking out against the violence in Tibet, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday, while declining to call for a boycott of the Olympic Games in China.
"I think that what's happening in Tibet is deeply troubling, and this is a pattern of the Chinese government with respect to their treatment of Tibet," she told reporters after a campaign event in Pennsylvania.
"I don't think we should wait until the Olympics to make sure that our views are known," Clinton said...

-March 25th, via Reuters/The Guardian

Sarkozy Could Skip Olympics Opening
By JENNY BARCHFIELD

PARIS (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested Tuesday that a boycott of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was a possibility — the first world leader to raise the prospect of punishing China over its ongoing crackdown in Tibet.

The United States, Britain and Germany all condemned China for using force against Tibetan protesters, but they stopped short of threatening to boycott the games or the Aug. 8 opening ceremony.

China, meanwhile, showed no sign of letting up on its crackdown. At least two people were killed in a clash between protesters and police in an area of western China that borders on Tibet, state media and human rights groups reported Tuesday.

The clashes were the latest in most sustained uprising against Chinese rule in almost two decades...

-March 25th, via the Associated Press

Are Tibetans the new Jews?
By IRA RIFKIN

In 1990, the Dalai Lama hosted a delegation of American Jews in Dharamsala, his home in exile in the hill country of northern India. His agenda was clear. Tibetans had lost sovereignty over their homeland and were scattering around the globe. How, he asked, had Jews preserved their cultural and religious identities during their own 2,000-year exile, and what might Tibetans do to preserve theirs?

Some 18 years later, the parallel between Tibet's unfolding and increasingly bleak prospects and the Jewish historical experience seems all the more relevant.

Just as after the failed first century Jewish uprising against Rome, Tibetans are becoming a minority in their homeland thanks to Beijing's strategy of drastically and irreversibly altering Tibet's population by flooding the territory with Han Chinese, China's dominant ethnic group.

Already, two out of every three residents of Lhasa, Tibet's capital, is Han Chinese. In 2006, Beijing hastened the process considerably by opening a high-speed rail link between Lhasa and Beijing. Saffron-robe clad Tibetan Buddhist monks have been replaced by Chinese-run brothels, karaoke bars and a sprawling amusement park that now surround the Portola Palace, the Dalai Lama's former residence and Tibet's equivalent of Jerusalem's ancient Temple.

But saving the palace does absolutely nothing to offset the greatest threats to Tibet's future as a political entity run by and for Tibetans: the passing of time and humanity's cruelly short memory...

How long will it be before Tibetans are viewed as a relic, and perhaps bothersome, minority in their homeland similar to the condition of Native Americans in the United States, Formosans in Taiwan, or Serbs in Kosovo?

How long must Beijing hold on to Tibet before the world comes to think of Tibet as Chinese territory and favors the claims of the descendants of Chinese settlers over Tibetans seeking to reestablish their historical national rights? Another 30 years? A century or two? Two thousand years?

-March 25th, via The Jerusalem Post

How the Communist Party Leaders and the state-run Chinese media see the situation in Tibet...

Chinese media silent on Tibet

China's official news agency Xinhua on Friday filed two short English-language reports on what it called "violence" in the Tibetan city of Lhasa.

The first report said shops had been set on fire, with the second adding that some vehicles had been set alight and that there had been some injuries.

But the domestic media, including Xinhua's Chinese-language service, has not been observed to mention today's protests.

The focus of all Chinese news media continues to be on the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Other media silent

As of 1200GMT, neither Xinhua's English nor Chinese websites have been observed to carry any reports on the protests in Tibet.

The Tibet page of the Xinhua website still carries Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang's remarks at yesterday's routine news conference, at which he said: "Recently a small number of monks in Lhasa city have continuously stirred up trouble in an attempt to create social unrest.


"This is a political plot carefully orchestrated by the Dalai clique to bring about Tibet's secession and to ruin the Tibetan people's normal, harmonious, and peaceful lives..."

-March 14th, via the BBC

Dalai Lama 'clique' responsible: China

BEIJING: Groups allied to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama masterminded violent protests in Lhasa, China's official Xinhua news agency quoted the region's government as saying.

"There has been enough evidence to prove that the recent sabotage in Lhasa was organised, premeditated and masterminded' by the Dalai clique," Xinhua said, citing the Tibet government.

"The violence, involving beating, smashing, looting and burning, has disrupted the public order, jeopardised people's lives and property," Xinhua said, citing an unnamed Tibetan official.

"The sabotage has aroused indignation of and is strongly condemned by the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet," Xinhua said, quoting the official.

-March 15th, via The Times of India

Wen puts blame on Dalai Lama for Tibet riots
By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing and Amy Yee in Dharamsala

Wen Jiabao, China's premier, yesterday blamed the Dalai Lama for the worst unrest in Tibet in nearly two decades, and characterised the protests as a plot to sabotage the Olympic Games in Beijing this year.

The incident "has all the more revealed that the assertions by the Dalai clique that they desire peaceful negotiation are nothing but lies", Mr Wen said in his annual press conference yesterday. "Their hypocritical lies cannot cover the iron-clad facts..."

The protests started in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, as peaceful demonstrations led by Buddhist monks last Monday, the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. They turned into widespread -violence on Friday following reports of a Chinese crackdown.

Mr Wen said government and security officials had exercised "extreme restraint" in dealing with protesters, despite claims from Tibetan groups that scores and possibly hundreds of Tibetans had been killed and security forces had opened fire on crowds...

Mr Wen said he appreciated the steps taken by India to limit the independence activities of the "Dalai clique" and hoped the country would stick to agreements with China concerning anti-Chinese demonstrations on Indian soil.

-March 19th, via the Financial Times

China state media slams West over Tibet coverage

BEIJING, March 20 (Reuters) - Chinese official media condemned Western news coverage of unrest in Tibet on Thursday, in a commentary that accused the reports of being "hostile" towards China ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

China says the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, masterminded a wave of protests that were capped by a riot in Tibet's capital Lhasa last week and were followed by anti-government demonstrations in ethnic Tibetan parts of China.
"While we highly appreciate the efforts of the global media in seeking facts and providing accurate, objective and timely reporting, we are somewhat disappointed to find, from time to time, rather biased news coverage," the official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.

-March 20th, via Reuters

China accuses Dalai Lama of taking Olympics "hostage"
By Chris Buckley, Reuters

BEIJING: China has accused the Dalai Lama of planning bloodshed in Tibet and colluding with Uighur terrorists in Xinjiang as it pushes a security and propaganda drive to stifle anti-Chinese unrest in its remote west...

The ruling Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper, the People's Daily, said on Sunday that the Dalai -- winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize -- had never abandoned violence since fleeing China in 1959, after a failed revolt against Beijing.

"This incident again demonstrates that the so-called 'peaceful non-violence' of the Dalai clique is an outright lie from start to end," the paper stated.

"In 2008, the Beijing Olympic Games, eagerly awaited by the people of the whole world, will arrive. But the Dalai Lama is scheming to take the Beijing Olympics hostage to force the Chinese government to make concessions to Tibet independence."

The paper earlier also accused the Dalai Lama of planning terrorist attacks with the aid of Uighur separatists seeking an independent East Turkestan for their largely Muslim people in northwest China's Xinjiang region.

"The Dalai clique has also strengthened collusion with 'East Turkestan' terror organizations, and planned terror activities in Tibet in a bid to turn the attention of the international community towards Tibet," the paper said on Saturday.

China's efforts to denounce the Dalai Lama has drawn applause from many Han Chinese citizens, who have said Western critics fail to appreciate their government's efforts to develop Tibet and have treated the violence in Lhasa as legitimate protest.

-March 23rd, via The International Herald Tribune

China to boost "patriotic education" of Tibetans

China is planning to step up what it calls its "patriotic education" of Tibet's Buddist monks. in the wake of deadly separatist riots there. Chinese authorities have blamed the violence on the influence of the Dalai Lama on pro-independence activists. The exiled Tibetan spiritual has denied the claim and called for an end to the rioting.

Professor Dramdul of the China Tibetology Research Centre said: "Patriotic education is neccessary because the Dalai clique has been trying hard to disrupt Tibet's development and Tibetan Buddhism. We've been educating the monks to counter the influence of a small group of separatists from abroad."

Protests against the Beijing government continue.

-March 26th, via EuroNews

How His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama sees this situation in Tibet...

Statement by the Dalai Lama on protests in Tibet

I am deeply concerned over the situation that has been developing in Tibet following peaceful protests in many parts of Tibet, including Lhasa, in recent days. These protests are a manifestation of the deep-rooted resentment of the Tibetan people under the present governance.

As I have always said, unity and stability under brute force is at best a temporary solution. It is unrealistic to expect unity and stability under such a rule and would therefore not be conducive to finding a peaceful and lasting solution.

I therefore appeal to the Chinese leadership to stop using force and address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue with the Tibetan people. I also urge my fellow Tibetans not to resort to violence.

THE DALAI LAMA

-March 15th, via the ICTB website

Allow Olympics despite Tibet: Dalai Lama

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama says the Beijing Olympics should go ahead despite the Chinese crackdown on protests in his homeland.

"I want the Games," he said, refusing to call for a boycott, as many Tibetan exiles have been demanding.

"The Olympics should not be called off," he told reporters in Dharamsala in northern India, the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Dalai Lama's home in exile.

But he said Beijing needed to be "reminded to be a good host of the Olympic Games".

"The Chinese people ... need to feel proud of it. China deserves to be a host of the Olympic Games," he added, saying Beijing needed to be "reminded to be a good host of the Olympic Games".

-March 16th, via The Age

Dalai Lama Threatens to Resign

DHARAMSALA, India — The Dalai Lama on Tuesday invited international observers, including Chinese officials, to scour his offices here and investigate whether he had any role in inciting the latest anti-Chinese violence in Tibet. He also threatened to resign as leader of Tibet’s government-in-exile in the event of spiraling bloodshed in his homeland.

He said he remained committed to only nonviolent agitation and greater autonomy for Tibetans, not independence. He condemned the burning of Chinese flags and attacks on Chinese property and called violence “suicidal” for the Tibetan cause...

The Dalai Lama’s remarks to reporters on Tuesday, here in the seat of the Tibetan exile movement, also revealed that he has been unnerved by the violence across the border in Tibet and by the increasingly radical calls from Tibetan exiles in this country.

The 72-year-old spiritual leader of Lama Buddhism said he would step down from his political post if things “get out of control”...

The Dalai Lama said he remained open to resuming peace talks with Chinese officials, and in an impish reference to the criticisms by Chinese leaders, said a solution could be reached swiftly if there were “mutual respect” and a willingness to take Tibetan grievances seriously.

There was no direct criticism of either Mr. Hu or China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, only of local officials whom the Dalai Lama accused of creating “artificial facts.” “Prime Minister,” he said, addressing Mr. Wen, “Come here and investigate thoroughly.”

-March 19th, via The New York Times

Dalai Lama willing to meet Chinese president

DHARMSALA, India (AP) - The Dalai Lama says he's willing to meet Chinese leaders, including President Hu Jintao, for talks on the unrest over Tibet.

He repeated that he's not seeking independence for Tibet, but only autonomy under China's control.

China says Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader must stop what it calls separatist activities, and recognize Tibet and Taiwan as parts of China.

Chinese officials and media are confirming today that unrest had spread from Tibet to neighboring provinces in recent days. Tibetan officials in exile say at least 80 people have died. Chinese officials say 16 were killed.

Violence followed protests in Tibet that began March 10th, the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising.

-March 20th, via CBS affiliates

Beijing Olympics should go on: Dalai Lama
Press Trust of India (New Delhi)

The Dalai Lama on Sunday firmly backed the Beijing Olympics despite the Chinese crackdown on Tibetan protesters that prompted demands for boycott of the games.

"I have always supported that Olympic Games should take place in China," he told reporters in Delhi, terming as "baseless" the communist giant's charge that he was trying to "sabotage" the premier sporting event slated for August.

"They are the hosts. The Olympics should take place in Beijing," the 72-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader, who heads the Tibetan government in exile and was in Delhi in connection with a religious workshop, said.

March 23rd, via NDTV

How many Tibetans and pro-Tibet demonstrators are reacting to the situation...


Protesting and rioting in Tibet...

Protesting and demonstrating in India...

Protesting and demonstrating in Nepal...

Protesting and demonstrating in Germany...

Protesting and demonstrating in Belgium...

Protesting and demonstrating in the United States...

Can (or should) we speak of a universal religion of love?

I found this in my INBOX recently from Beliefnet...

Forming a new world religion is difficult and not particularly desirable. However, in that love is essential to all religions, one could speak of the universal religion of love.

-His Holiness the Dalai Lama
From "The Pocket Dalai Lama," edited by Mary Craig, 2002.

I have no interest at all in trying to force my own interpretation onto what the Dalai Lama is saying, but I think the reason this makes sense to me is something I have written about before - my belief that the concept of divine Love as referred to in 1 Corinthians 13 (a.k.a. "agape" or "caritas") is the same as the heart that embraces the Four Immeasurables (compassion, loving-kindness, equanimity, sympathetic joy) expressed in Buddhism. I suspect this has equivalents in other major and minor religions and spiritual traditions. What do you think?

A day in the life of the Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso (14th Dalai Lama) 2008, 2005 & 2004 (Finalist in 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems like if you are famous and people like you, your daily routine is a subject of public interest. I am not a celebrity watcher, I don't read magazine or websites about what famous people do in their spare time, etc. Yet I did find it interesting to see a generalized version of the 14th Dalai Lama's routine - just how does a world-famous spiritual leader and self-proclaimed "simple monk" spend his day? From a story in the Summit Daily News via The Buddhist Channel...

When at home, he:

- Wakes up at 3:30 a.m., beginning the day with prayers, meditations and prostrations until 5 a.m.

- 5 a.m., walks (if it's raining, he uses a treadmill).

- 5:30 a.m., eats a breakfast of hot porridge, barley powder, bread and tea, while listening to the BBC World News.

- 6-8:30 a.m., continues morning meditation and prayers.

- 9-11:30 a.m., studies various Buddhist texts.

- 11:30 a.m., eats lunch (while at home, he eats vegetarian; outside of Dharamsala, he doesn't always eat vegetarian).

- 12:30-4:30 p.m., discusses work with his staff or holds interviews

- 6 p.m., drinks evening tea (as an ordained Buddhist monk, he does not have dinner).

- 6:30-8:30 p.m., evening prayers and meditation.

- 8:30 p.m., bedtime.

Just don't ask how I spend *my* typical day... ;o)

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyuatso, turns 70 years old

New York, USA -- As he turns 70 on July 6, the Dalai Lama has grown far larger than his cause and become a global conscience keeper. Although Tibet remains the centrepiece of the Dalai Lama's life, his influence transcends beyond some six million Tibetans and a geographical entity, which is one fourth of China. It is a serious struggle for him to confine himself to just Tibet any longer, considering that he has built up an ever-growing following internationally. In 1978, when he first came to the US, his supporters could not muster up a couple of hundred people. "They did not understand whether the Dalai Lama was human or animal," the Dalai Lama said with his trademark belly-shaking laughter. Now his lectures routinely attract thousands of people. According to Jeffery Paine, author of the celebrated book "Re-enchantment: Tibetan Buddhism Comes To The West", the number of Buddhist followers has doubled faster than any other religion or philosophy. Yet, for the Dalai Lama, it has never been about expanding his flock. "I want no one to become Buddhist because I am a Buddhist. I just want them to be compassionate and decent in whatever faith they practise. Buddhism is not about conversion," he said... Full article

Your chance to express your support--

On Wednesday 6 July 2005, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will turn 70. Recognized at the age of two as the 14th incarnation of Tibet's Dalai Lama, he has become a global symbol of peace, understanding and compassion. In 1949, at the young age of 15, the Dalai Lama was required to take on the heavy burden of leading his country during the invasion and occupation of Tibet by Chinese Communist forces and was eventually forced to flee Tibet in 1959. Since then he has led Tibetans from exile in Northern India. In 1989 the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize and today he is respected around the world for his consistent non-violent struggle for Tibet. We would like you to wish the Dalai Lama a peaceful and happy 70th year and the fulfillment of his peaceful vision for Tibet and the wider world. To send a birthday wish to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, fill out the fields below. Please provide us with your first and last names and the country you are from. We will compile all the messages we collect here and present them to Send a message

Splinters and beams

"We must love them both - those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
--St. Thomas Aquinas
In today's mainstream Western News, Benedict XVI was formally inaugurated as the new Pope, there were more deadly car bombings in Iraq, and there is ongoing criticism of reports clearing top level officials in recent scandals: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in culpability in the "oil-for-food" scandal and Donald Rumsfeld in the Abu Ghraib scandal.
Right now: Outside it overcast and blustery with snow flakes falling. Yes, the date is correct, and there is snow. The rat terries are looking for some kind of mischief in which to involve themselves.
I find open worldwide communication, as provided on the internet through blogs, message boards, and chat rooms, to be very interesting and to possess great potential for increasing awareness and understanding (in spite of the misinformation and distraction they also sometimes generate). In observing the interaction of some dialogue between (primarily Western-based) religious and non-religious people, I find there are some underlying assumptions each group tends to have about the other. These are not universal, nor are they always overtly expressed. They primarily apply to people who (whether they admit it to themselves or not) tend to look down on "the other side" of the debate:

Non-religious people...

Tend to see religion as (one or more of the following)--

• being theistic, or primarily theistic, and so talk about theism and religion interchangeably
• a collection of outdated explanatory models for things like the movement of the sun, moon and stars or mental illness
• a means of 'coping' with existence from an ego-centric point of view, giving 'unwarranted' special meaning or importance to individual human existence and alleviating the fear of non-existence at the point of death
• a institutionalized means of controlling ideas, feelings, and societal norms
• a scam to take money and power from the gullible

Tend to see religious people as (one or more of the following)--

• uneducated or poorly informed about science
• emotionally weak or damaged people who need the 'crutch' of religion/who can't face 'naked' reality or truth
• moralistic schemers and their sheepish followers who want to use their faith to push a particular (anti-progressive) social/religious agenda
• snake oil salespeople and suckers

Religious people...

Tend to see non-religious philosophies as (one or more of the following)--

• unrooted in any kind of foundation outside of individual whim or passing fad
• hostile and prejudicial toward religion and anything associated with religion
• as a means to justify a hedonistic, immoral, or "non-traditional" lifestyle
• as a form of intellectual elitism

Tend to see non-religious people as (one or more of the following)--

• opponents of religious liberty
• arrogant and condescending towards religious people
• deluded or willingly ignorant about spiritual matters
• hypocritical in claiming to be open-minded about everything but religion

These beliefs can be deceptive as they mix truth and innaccuracy. It is true, for example, that many religions incorporate explanations of things such as illness in terms of supernatural agents, but it is also true that this is not the core or substance of religion. It is true that some non-religious folks do see their non-belief as a form of intellectual superiority, but that is not the defining quality of non-religious philosophy. The profiles of the religious and non-religious people are equally problematic, but what is more unfortunate than these prejudices is the fact that all too often they appear to be accurate. Of course, internet forums seem to have a higher percentage more opininated and confrontational people than the general population, but even the more popular broadcast and print media tend to emphasize such polarizing perspectives. I recall on one program someone suggesting that religious moderates were the "true problem" in having a dialogue about religion!

I recently discussed this issue when I interjected myself into an online debate over whether Buddhism should be considered a religion:

I have observed that people raised in societies dominated by Judeo-Christian cultures tend to look at the current forms of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and use them for the basis of "what religion is". I do not find that to be unreasonable given their circumstances, but I also find it to be short-sighted. Moreover, many beliefs are which are not separately institutionalized in some small-scale (and even some large scale) societies involve concepts and rituals which would otherwise be called "religious" by this type of methodology. It's basically taking things that are vaguely similar in different cultures and forcing them under the same label for comparative purposes. For example:

• If it has to do with meaning or purpose, it might be religious.
• If it has to do with explanations or truths best described in parables or myths, it might be religious.
• If it involves unseen supernatural agencies or powers, it might be religious.
• If it involves some concept of transcendence, it might be religious.
• If it has organized rituals and ceremonies dealing with liminal periods in cultural life (birth, becoming an adult, marriage, death), it might be religious
• If it involves dogma, it might be religious

The “degree of religiosity” required to be considered “like a religion” as opposed to being considered “an actual religion” is not really fixed, and while the cultural components for all of the above are universal they are not always found packaged together the same way. This has prompted philosophers (professional and amateur) as well as (typically liberal) religious leaders to speculate on what is really important and distinctive about religion. In a brief article in The Humanist on the original Humanist Manifesto, author Jack Sechrest points out that “The manifesto generation saw religion as that system of beliefs, attitudes, and practices that assist us in our attempt to become our best selves. Spirituality was seen as that personal quality of being aware, connected, and committed to a life of wellbeing for others as well as ourselves." This type of thinking has had a profound affect on the Universalist Unitarian Association which states that “religion is an ongoing search for meaning, purpose, value and spiritual depth in one's life.”
Bringing it back to Buddhism, the current Dalai Lama on religion:

“I believe there is an important distinction to be made between religion and spirituality. Religion I take to be concerned with belief in the claims to salvation of one faith tradition or another--an aspect of which is acceptance of some form of meta-physical or philosophical reality, including perhaps an idea of heaven or hell. Connected with this are religious teachings or dogma, ritual, prayers and so on. Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit--such as love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony, which bring happiness to both self and others.” (from Ethics for the New Millennium)

And on another occasion he wrote:

“There is real value in finding the spiritual resources you need in your home religion. Even secular humanism has great spiritual resources; it is almost like a religion to me. All religions try to benefit people, with the same basic message of the need for love and compassion, for justice and honesty, for contentment.” (from interview in "Mother Jones", available online here)

Now obviously HH the Dalai Lama does not speak for all Buddhists or all forms of Buddhism, but I think it nicely brings the issue back around to the question of whether or not Buddhism is a religion. And the answer must be—it all depends on how you define a religion. There are rituals and ceremonies and teachings about transcendence. It encompasses a “system of beliefs, attitudes, and practices that assist us in our attempt to become our best selves”. It certainly is centered on benefiting people by promoting the cultivation of love and compassion. Yet it has no required role for a sentient Creator God. It’s concepts of Heavens and Hells aren’t event permanent conditions, and what’s more, there is no eternal soul to go to an eternal damnation or paradise anyway. It doesn’t even have an “official” wedding ceremony (though Buddhist monks or priests will certainly offer their blessings). Buddhist leaders and authors, both the ordained and laypeople, have at times said that Buddhism is a religion, a philosophy, both a religion and a philosophy, and neither a religion nor a philosophy. I would submit though that understanding and appreciating the variety of Buddhist teachings and practices, however, is independent of the label it is given and that it cannot be properly assessed by any form of gross characterization.

What assumptions to do you carry around about religious or non-religous people? What do you imagine such people think about you? How important are such labels to you personally? Do you think Buddhism is a religion? Why? Does it matter?

An Expression from the Heart Sutra

To see a world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.
--William Blake

The Heart Sutra is one of the Prajna Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom) Sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. It has been studied for centuries with many fine commentaries produced on its meaning. This is not one of them. This essay just reflects one of the initial lessons I found on my own through meditating on the Heart Sutra.

(Incidentally it was written in January of this year in case someone detects something incongruous with something else I may have written in this blog.)

•••

Emptiness refers to the fact that things do not possess their form because of some essential quality or spirit inherent in that form or which gives rise to that form. Together with the teaching of impermanence they make a lesson about depedent origination, which in contemporary terms is best captured by the idea of cause and effect. To clarify my usage of these concepts consider the following: If everything is an interaction, an ongoing set of processes, then technically nothing exists inherently, only as a part of constant ever-shifting relationships. Objects are created and sustained by their relationships, and relationships are created and sustained by objects. To explore the substance of one is to reveal the other. These are the principles commonly known as emptiness and impermanence as explained by dependent origination. I have been considering some common thinking that appears from my reading to be present in the more visible aspects of Buddhism in the English speaking world. It seems that there is a lot of emphasis on the idea that emptiness of form, which in turn has been used in some cases to suggest detachment from caring about people or things rather than non-attachment to them. Letting go of an attachment doesn't diminish an experience, it enhances it.

By not grasping or clinging to unrealistic or unhealthy ideas about our relationships to other people and things we should be able to more fully appreciate other people or things, rather than strip them of any value just because they, like all things, are composed of the same basic essence and their form is temporary. That brings me to the Heart Sutra. Here is a relevant execert:

"O, Sariputra, form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form; form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form, the same is true of feeling, perception, mental formations and consciousness."

If form and emptiness are the same then the only reason for the saying "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form" is to give voice to the error itself, that of splitting the two and considering them separately ("If I want to understand form I better try to comprehend empitness" or "If I want to understand emptiness I better learn about form"). It occurs to me that that's part of the significance of the phrase, rather than simply saying "Form and empitness are the same thing--they are both just concepts to be transcended." In one incorrect view, you come to see "form" as "something" or "the answer", in the other you come to see "empitness" as "something" or "the answer".

When you begin to forget that form is emptiness, you run the risk of being lured in by some belief in eternalism. That is, you believe that there is some component inside you that makes you who you are, a basic essence which is commonly referred to as a soul. Belief that this soul is an actual transferable object which can only be created or destroyed by God, and which is fundamentally distinct from all other forms of matter and energy, is the basis for "eternal life" in many religions.

When you forget empitness is form, you are in danger of adopting a nihilistic point of view. Even if you don't have the error of thinking that "emptiness=nothing" or oblivion, you can still focus overly much on the notion of emptiness and arrive at conclusions about the nature and worth of things which can rightly be called a form of nihilism. This can result, the same as eternalism, from attachment to the ego. However, instead of believing that the ego last forever (eternalism), you believe that if you aren't "special" then nothing is, and so if you are no longer "essentially you/set apart", then you don't matter and therefore nothing matters. That is where I found the second half of the teaching to be useful.

To elaborate on that last point brings up an issue common to both Buddhism and secular humanism. It is precisely because each person is ephemeral and because there will never be another person like you, or me, that their life should be valued. For the Buddhist, though, it goes deeper than this. Each form is a distinct manifestation of our common root of being to be valued as a unique treasure. Obviously sentient beings are especially important because they have the capacity to suffer, and Buddhism is about using clarity to remove suffering, but each tree is also unique. Each sunset. Each star. Each dung beetle. This is how and why Buddhism can be so blunt about emptiness and impermanence, the birth of form and the death of form, and yet pronounce a view which generates boundless compassion and appreciation for all forms, whether they are deemed to be grand or common, fair or foul. And this can be captured in such a simple and elegant phrase: Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.

***Addendum***

A couple months after I wrote this I ran across a book on the Heart Sutra and took it home to read. I was delighted to come across the following passage:

One commentarial tradition--perhaps stemming from the Myingma master Ju Mipham--has a customary way of reading this passage of the Heart Sutra presenting the four approaches to understanding emptiness. According to this reading, the first statement, "form is emptiness," presents the emptiness of the phenomenal world, thereby countering the extreme of existential absolutism, the mistaken belief that all phenomena have absolute reality. The second statement, "emptiness is form," presents emptiness as arising as dependent origination, thereby countering the extreme of nihlism, the mistaken belief that nothing exists. The third statement, "Emptiness is not other than form," presents the union of emptiness and dependent origination, countering both extremes, nihilism and existential absolutism, at once. The fourth statement, "form too is not other than emptiness," indicates that appearance and emptiness are not incompatible, abiding instead in a state of total unanimity. Thus, these four aspects are understood as presenting total transcendence of all conceptual elaboration.

The Path and Fruition (Lamdre) tradition of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism presents a similar fourfold approach to understanding emptiness: (i) appearance is established as empty; (ii) emptiness is affirmed as dependent origination; (iii) emptiness and appearance are affirmed as a unity; and (iv) this unity is affirmed as transcending all linguistic expression and conceptual thought.

Normally, emptiness is said to be an antidote to the appearance of intrinsic existence, but this fourfold approach indicates that, if one's understanding is sufficiently deep, one will be able to use the truth of emptiness to counter nihilistic views, and use the affirmation of the world of appearance as a way to overcome absolutism. This reverse way of transcending the two extremes is a unique feature of the Prasangika Madhyamaka School.

The Essence of the Heart Sutra, by Tenzin Gyatso the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Wisdom Publications, 2002 (pp. 119-120)

I was happy to read this, but not out of vanity. It's hard sometimes to know if an insight, however small, has merit. To see that others, much smarter and more spiritually advanced than myself, have had similar ideas is nice. Not because they said it therefore it must be true, but rather because it suggest that the insight is more likely to be a sign of genuine progress than wishful thinking propped up by vanity.

The entire Heart Sutra is a page or so long and very easy to read. What does the Heart Sutra say to you?