Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Tibet - Liberation or Invasion?

With the current crisis in Tibet, John Powers’ book, Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism – Revised Edition offers a timely chronicle of Tibetan history, geography, culture, religion, politics and Buddhist Orders. Powers admits in the preface “the scope of this book is broad … it still only scratches the surface of this ancient and rich culture.” Yes, its hefty 591 pages encompass a broad scope, including beautiful descriptions and details on the uniqueness of the Tibetan people with four appendices and indexes.

Not solely a religious discourse, Powers explains how Tibetan’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has also served as their political leader in a “priest-patron” relationship ongoing since the fifth Dalai Lama united the country in the 17th century. Although rich in peaceful traditions, the Tibetans lacked defensive arms and strategy against the superior weaponry that the post-World War II Chinese brought to their borders in 1949. “On January 1, 1950, the New Year’s broadcast from Beijing announced that in the coming year the People’s Liberation Army would liberate Tibet from foreign imperialists and reintegrate it with the motherland,” even though it had never been “integrated” in the past.

According to Powers, “It soon became clear that the foreign invaders and their ideology were incompatible with Tibetan culture.” The Dalai Lama tried negotiation with the Chinese but “[b]y 1955, the process of collectivization was underway…Chinese troops began confiscating arms, property, livestock, and possessions, and then they created communes. The people who were being forced into the new system resisted these moves. The Chinese answer was to use violence to force Tibetans into the golden age that awaited them….By 1959 the situation in Tibet was grim….At four o’clock on March 17, the Chinese began lobbing mortar shells in the area around [the Dalai Lama’s summer palace] with the stated purpose of ‘freeing’ the Dalai Lama” from the people surrounding his residence who were trying to protect him. “Late that night he and his party … slipped out undetected and began the long journey in exile to India.”

But before relating these tragic events, Powers provides well-documented research showing why Tibetans exemplify values of nonviolence, peace, compassion, and love for their enemies based on their religious and cultural traditions. Much like the black South Africans, these gentle people suffer at the hands of invaders, and much like boycotts of companies doing business in South Africa, this reader plans to boycott companies doing business in China and lobby Congress to disinvest in Chinese businesses until China agrees to cease its aggressive actions toward Tibet.

John Powers received an M.A. in Indian Philosophy from McMaster University and a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University of Virginia. A specialist in Indo-Tibetan philosophy and meditation theory, he has published widely on Buddhist thought and practice. He teaches at the Center for Asian Societies and Histories at the Australian National University.

Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism – Revised edition
by John Powers
Snow Lion Publications
PO Box 6483
Ithaca, NY 14851
ISBN-13: 978-1-55939-282-2
$22.95

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Change of life changes almost everything

A review:

Although an idyllic setting encompasses the Menopause Ranch, life is less than idyllic for the characters who have been transported there by their spirit guides, Belladonna Morose and her associate, Mea Culpeppa. The guides’ mission is to help each well-drawn character, accompanied by some baggage from her past, recognize how to change herself in order to regain her Zest, the goal she had before she entered adolescence. I identified easily with the characters as they become acquainted with each other and learned about themselves through spirit guides taken from Greek mythology. Vaughn draws her characterizations from real life and they could just as easily be our neighbors, family or friends as she shows their quirky natures and vulnerabilities.

Kimberly, the main character, narrates her experience as a forty-five year old just starting pre-menopause. She is sarcastic, creative, compassionate, and capable of cleaning up other people’s messes. She meets Norma, a child of alcoholic parents, former nun, who runs an antique store near Las Vegas. And Toby, an African-American dancer who gives it to you straight, adding humor to the events of each day at the ranch. They also encounter Beth, a counselor at a mental health center who glides right past a nervous breakdown because there’s too much work for her to stop and take time to care for herself. A little more negativity comes from Jean, a rigid, judgmental business woman and born-again Christian who, while she finds the revelations at Menopause Ranch distressing, can’t wait to get back to her business.

The only confusing element in the book was the way Vaughn changed the point of view from Kimberly telling her story in the first person, to Belladonna and Mea who engaged in conversations about the characters when they weren’t present, but this was a minor distraction that seemed as if it might have been intentional to show that the spirit guides were aware of everything at once, while the guests at the ranch could only see the events from their own perspective.

In their experiences at Menopause Ranch, the women are challenged to transform a life-interfering experience like menopause into a life-challenging opportunity for growth. Included are well-researched facts about drugs, remedies, and attitudes toward menopause. As I read “In Search of Menopause Ranch,” I laughed, I cried, I felt angry, and I felt inspired. I identified with the characters and thought about what I am doing with the rest of my life. Not just for women, even men should read this novel; mid-life crises happen to us all.

The book:
In Search of the Menopause Ranch
Deborah Vaughn
Pisquale Productions
2006
PO Box 3080
Sedona, AZ 86340
ISBN-13: 978-0-97872-330-9
$17.95

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Nonviolent solutions

I'm still thinking about China's treatment of the people in Tibet. How does a nonviolent response create a solution? How can unarmed or poorly armed people resist through nonviolence? By creating a counterforce to greed, anger and foolishness. By boycotting goods, stores, commodities produced by the invading force, greed can be swayed nonviolently. By responding with respect, seeing the Buddha nature in others, anger has nothing to retaliate against. By educating people and providing them with science, technology, food, medicine, and shelter - these actions cause the oppressor to appear foolish. What did the Dalai Lama do to earn a Nobel peace prize?

He offered a compromise by suggesting concessions to the Chinese and asking for some concessions for the Tibetans. Most importantly, rather than harboring feelings of animosity, he showed compassion toward the Chinese because of the causes they were making that would impact their lives for many lifetimes to come. Unfortunately the Chinese rejected the offer and no compromise was reached. Being a peace-loving people, the Tibetans have few resources to defend themselves except nonviolent solutions.

The key to nonviolent solutions is to replace anger with compassion, emphasize the reality of the situation to expose foolishness, and offer concessions to satisfy the hungry nature. “A Force More Powerful” a DVD on how nonviolent approaches to conflict result in peaceful solutions can be ordered online. In addition the video game, “A Force More Powerful” teaches players how to outsmart the opposition in ten real-life conflicts.

Nonviolence solutions require wisdom, creativity, and patience, but the outcome means less anger and resentment and a greater likelihood of the participants using nonviolent solutions in the future.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Wake up to reality

I guess it’s not surprising that I’m reading Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism by John Powers at the same time as the ongoing turmoil between Tibet and China. My life seems to attract that kind of synchronicity. There seems to be a similarity between China’s invasion of Tibet and the United States’ invasion of Iraq. Both stem from anger, greed, and foolishness.

In John Powers’ book he relates a tale attributed to Shakyamuni Buddha in which he is asked to explain poverty in the context of his teaching. Shakyamuni states that generosity frees the world of poverty. He explains using a metaphor of a hungry ghost that sees the ocean as dry. It’s not the ocean’s fault; it’s the hungry ghost’s perception that is faulty.

When an invading country, motivated by anger, greed, and foolishness finds itself embroiled in an endless cycle of failure and censure, its perception of its actions is faulty and so it continues to make poor decisions causing harm to its own citizens and the other country’s people. When its leaders gain wisdom, their perception clears, they recognize the reality of the situation, and the conflict ends (Vietnam). My prayer is that both the United States and China wake up to the reality of their actions.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Maintaining unbiased views

I attended a meeting last night where there were two very opposing views. The question under discussion involved whether the media portrays the Muslim Arabs and the Palestinians negatively and the Israelis positively. Does it matter? Why is it important that we treat differing views equally?

Along the same vein, I read that Obama is getting more media attention than Clinton. Why does it matter? It matters only if we trust the media to give us unbiased information.

It could be said that bias is a strategy – a method to plan to get the most out of an opportunity. What is the right move to make in Scrabble? The one that gets the most points now or the one that might get more points later? In the same way, why do we do a cost analysis? To make sure we are making the right investment of time and money.

How important is the media? Do they seriously take the responsibility to report the news without bias? I don’t think so. I’m suspicious that the media reflects the prevailing majority’s attitudes or the prevailing government’s attitudes. Or maybe reflecting the CEO’s beliefs. What about the fifth estate? Do bloggers represent the views of the minority, the dispossessed, the disenfranchised, or their own narrow views?

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Why do we listen to Point-Counterpoint? Amy Goodman? Rush Limbaugh? Why do some approve of President Bush and some don’t?

Why do some think we should spank and some think we should discipline by depriving children of privileges? Why do some think having a plasma TV is the bomb and others want to bomb plasma TV? Because we all have different views.

What would happen if we all had the same views? We would agree on something that might be way off base – like the world is flat or the earth is the center of the universe. The reason why we have differing views is because no one knows absolutely which view is correct so we must examine all sides of an issue and decide for ourselves.

There are two keys to making a decision. One is allowing dialogue so that all sides can be examined. Only dialogue can expose erroneous views. And the other is allowing free will so that each person can make up his or her own mind. That’s what allows democracies to work. But it also allows people to have wrong or misguided views that may lead democracy in the wrong direction. So the key is to be aware of what the views are and make an informed decision as to which side of an issue one wishes to support.

Theoretically, we hope that the media gives us an unbiased view so that we can see all sides of an issue. But if we acknowledge that the media may be biased, we must choose our media outlets carefully in order to clearly see all sides of an issue.

If we choose a biased media outlet, we choose to adopt a biased view, thus jeopardizing our ability to defend our views on an issue making us vulnerable to misguided beliefs that may be erroneous. Erroneous views corrupt our minds and damage society as we can see by the way TV and movies portray Muslim Arabs or Palestinians as evil and Israelis as good. So if we choose a biased media outlet, then we must also choose one that is biased in the opposite direction and treat the news from each with a clear mind.

If we choose balanced media exposure and view it with an open mind, we may still choose an erroneous view, but at least we have opened up the possibility of seeing the world as it really is with humanity suffering on both sides of the conflict and learning to consider all views as having the potential for truth.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Many in body, one in mind

The Japanese term itai doshin translates to many in body, one in mind. This means that although we are different (many in body) in order to succeed we must be of one mind.

We all look different. We have different facial characteristics, skin colors, body types, cultural cues, and mannerisms - even physical or handicapping conditions. This makes life interesting. This makes us want to get to know another person. If everyone looked exactly the same, we would have to have some other characteristic to tell us apart – maybe scent or feces color. Just think of it – my best friend makes purple poop! My acquaintances create yellow poop! That’s pretty silly and shows how the concept many in body allows us to recognize each other easily.

Now, let’s look at the other side of the equation – one in mind. When we are of one mind with someone, our lives are peaceful. We agree on our goals and work together to achieve them. That’s how we raise healthy children. If both parents agree on the rules and procedures for following the rules, their household is much more peaceful than when the parents are at odds with each other.

Think about people with whom you share one mind – you agree on how things are to be done and accomplish your goals in harmony. List the “rules” you use to communicate, operate, and achieve success. Maybe you have a family conference. Maybe you get together for lunch and discuss your ideas. Most likely you have differences of opinion, but you learn to listen to each other and try to find the best path to move forward.

Now think about people with whom you clash. Your mind is different than theirs. When a plan is made, the other person objects. When the objection is raised, the other person pouts. While the pouting persists, the other person does his or her own thing. When the pouter gets angry, the other person becomes defensive, and on and on. Nothing of substance is accomplished and the ongoing friction rubs people the wrong way on a merry-go-round of unhappiness.

How can we go from different minds to one mind? Using dialogue. When a plan is made, discuss the different factors in the plan. Is this the best location? What if someone is in a wheelchair? How will we accommodate different people? What is our goal? To make sure everyone is comfortable and informed. How can we accomplish that goal? By choosing the right time, the right place and the right people to invite. Once everyone involved in the planning has an opportunity to express their ideas and concerns, the plan becomes one that all can support.

That sounds really nice for planning an event. But what about a really serious issue like divorce, abuse, or suicide? That’s when people’s minds experience real conflict.

I read a book once titled “Can You Wait Until Friday?” about how to respond to someone who is considering suicide. The premise was that when something looks really hopeless, waiting a few days, allows the environment or situation to change demonstrating that the hopelessness is a feeling that is flexible and bound to change in a few hours or a few days. In the meantime, using dialogue to uncover the source of the hopelessness strengthens both people in the discussion and allows them to find unity in a mind dedicated to accomplishing a goal as partners rather than pulling against each other by trying to control or feeling despair.

Remembering the concept “many in body, one in mind” helps us to use dialogue with others in order to maintain harmony and accomplish our goals.