A Little Buddhism, Part 2

Previously I wrote a little about the Buddha’s first noble truth, Dukkha. In particular I asserted that it is important for us to use our intellect to examine these foundational teachings to see if they hold up under investigation. Without examining or grappling with the thesis the Buddha is laying out, we will not be able to cultivate right understanding or what Bob Thurman calls “Realistic Worldview.”

So, having tested the most basic level of dukkha, the frailty and unreliability of this human body, we can now go on to look at the “suffering of change.” This world is made up of almost constant change.  Day turns into night and night into day. The weather changes, the seasons change. Our moods change. The people and relationships around us change. Good friends move away, or fall out of favor, or perhaps even become antagonist. The reverse is also possible.

Change can be both a source of happiness and of sorrow. However, the happinesses which we experience are fleeting. Often what we think of as pleasure is just the temporary relief or distraction from pain. Food alleviates the pain of hunger. Rest alleviates the pain of fatigue. Relationships assuage the hurts of loneliness.

The material comforts are likewise unreliable and subject to change. No matter how much wealth or fame or power we have, we still experience discontent, sorrow and suffering. As the Buddha succinctly states, “…union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering, not to get what one wants is suffering.”

Further, wealth can be stolen or lost. Fame is fickle and fleeting. Power breeds enemies. If we rely to heavily upon these things, expecting them to make us happy, we will be disappointed. Physical comfort, cannot protect us from the sorrows of loss. Neither wealth, nor fame, nor power can buy a moment of extra life for ourself, a child, a spouse, or a relative.

No pleasure remains pleasurable. We get bored with a pleasurable experience over time. Pleasurable experiences themselves can often beome a source of suffering through over indulgence. We may also suffer when we are separated from a pleasurable experince.

Look at your own life. Change is our everyday experience. The Buddha is not indicating anything new or secret here. He is just drawing our attention to the reality of our current situation, reminding us that there is nothing in this life that is a safe and lasting refuge.

Namo Amida Bu!

Peace, Paul

Dire News

This past Saturday Malu Aina hosted another successful farm day.  In addition to the regulars we were joined by 3 students from the university and a young couple on holiday from Vancouver.   It rained on and off through the morning but we still managed to plant some sweet potatoes and weed the ones planted last month.

Additionally, we transplanted our “Taro Collection”.  The collection is made up of about 22 varieties of Taro which we are cultivating to help maintain the genetic diversity of Taro.  Before the Hawaiian islands were colonized by europeans there were said to be over 200 varieties of Taro being grown.  Currently, there are only about 50 or 60 in cultivation.

Everyone was in good spirits and lingered over lunch until 3 in the afternoon.  Though this was a joyous and hopeful event, I am trouble by the many ominous signs and dark tidings from around the planet.

The paper today, as on many days, was filled with dire news.  The cost of oil continues to rise, which makes everything more expensive.  Living on an island, we feel the higher cost of fuel very quickly.  The prices we pay for food seem to rise weekly and the cost of gas moves upward on a daily basis.  There are also reports from around the world of food riots.  These have been triggered both by scarcity and the fact that staple foods are becoming unaffordable.   More and more people on the planet are lacking the necessities of food, water, shelter, and basic medical care.

As a society we should ask ourselves what role have we played in the creation of this current crisis?  What is it about our societal system that is creating such privation and suffering.  Why are we “choosing”, consciously or unconsciously, to live in,  participate in, and perpetuate a system that requires that others go without?

Dorothy Day saw the systemic nature of the evils we as a society participate in with such cold thoughtlessness.  She called it the “filthy rotten system.”  As a Catholic, she saw the “Works of Mercy” and teachings of Jesus as way out, a way to build a new system based on love and compassion.   She spent most of her adult life battling the “filthy rotten system” and trying to create something new and better.

Are we willing to do likewise and challenge and change the system?  There doesn’t seem to be much time left before things really get out of hand.  Those of us living today are the ones that must do the hard work of eliminating the many threats to humanity created in the last 50 years.  If we fail in our work, or simply do not see it as necessary, some of us may be alive to usher in the end of the human era.

The transition between yugas (cosmic aeons) is always a messy affair.  It is a point of transition, a bardo of sorts.   It is a moment in time in which change happens quickly.  However, we, collectively, must be the instruments of change.  There will be no rapture or miraculous divine intervention that saves us at the last minute.  We are on are on own and must awaken to this bardo, this time of transition.

If we are to survive then we must abandon our suicidal pursuit of greed and violence and find the resources for positive change within ourselves.  We must, as Gandhi said, “become the change we wish to see.”  It is a teaching far more profound than it appears at first glance.  It is formula for change from someone who took on, and defeated, the then most powerful nation on the planet. 

The possibilities of the future lie within us .  Will we choose the path of gods, and create and protect life, or the path of demons, who love death and slavery?

Peace, Paul