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.