Thank you, Brad... I agree completely. I was raised as a Southern Baptist and one of the reasons I left the church was that I felt surrounded by self-righteousness, judgmentalness, and hypocrisy. I've been practicing Zen for over 30 years and love the teachings of this tradition but in recent years feel I've come full circle and am now often surrounded by self-righteousness, judgmentalness, and hypocrisy in the American Zen Community. This is one of the reasons I stepped out of the SFZC lineage many years ago. I now facilitate a small urban Zen group and we have a small rural retreat center, and we are keeping it absolutely nonpolitical -- the sole focus is the practice and study of the BuddhaDharma.
I remember Ram Dass used to say he had G.W. Bush on his altar because he was “difficult to love”, and I believe he added Donald Trump in 2016, for the same reason.
Not really, politics is about defining rules of governance, e.g. buddhist politics would be agreeing precepts for the group to uphold. identity politics is the rules of differentiation between people based on personal traits
@@kakamarioluigithat's not how politics works. Politics involves systems of people with competing interests trying to govern, and people form alliances based on common interests to advance those interests. The strongest interest that binds people is identity. Buddhism would literally be another identity in the context of politics.
@@dukebanerjee4710 you don't want to let this go do you, its gone from me saying identity politics has no place in zen to a philosophical discussion on the meaning of the word politics and its application. Wish you the best I'm out.
Paul Stanley also said, "I know life sometimes can get tough, and I know life sometimes can be a drag, but people, we have been given a gift! We have been given a road, and that road's name is Rock and Rolllllllll!!!!"
He’s coming from the same place as them. He’s no different, hence the stupid voices and the inability to stay non-political despite claiming to be non-political.
At the intersection of Zen and Christianity is the idea that salvation is not to be found in men, or even in the World. If we are free of attachments (in Christian parlance, "in the Kingdom") we are past anger, frustration, and worry, and a new President is no more or less impactful than encountering a new bagboy or meeting a new coworker. We should be unreachable by any potential suffering. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
@@whoisthegaucho Haha! It takes indeed the detachment of a great sage, bodhisattva, or saint (St. Kolbe in Auschwitz the comes to mind) who can remain beyond the reach of torture and imprisonment.
I've spoken to quite a few anonymous Buddhists on social media, and there is definitely a hunger for Buddha-dharma that lacks this kind of obsessive political baggage. These people you're discussing are driving some of the smartest people away with this stuff and don't realize it (or maybe they just don't care).
This is happening because "American" Buddhism is becoming a religion (again). Think about it this way: the San Francisco Zen Center used to be a Zen temple serving the immigrant Japanese community, who were responsible for bringing Shunryu Suzuki to the United States as abbot to serve their community. Then Americans starting coming and Suzuki found an audience of people who were serious about meditation and Zen philosophy, which ended up driving away the original Japanese people who just wanted a community center. Just like these same Americans who left their traditional Christian churches out of hunger for a more "authentic spirituality", they are being driven out of these new Buddhist "churches". It's the cycle of life (with a dash of irony).
I myself have been more or less ignoring western Buddhists and have been just trying to learn on my own because many western Buddhists seem more like agnostic new age hippies (to put it bluntly). I have also seen a similar example with Christians of many of them joining the Orthodox church because many Christians are tired of churches trying too hard to be modern and relatable
For me, the most depressing thing about this topic is that Zen practice doesn't seem to be effective at preventing brainwashing. Or maybe it is not these individuals' practice at fault but simply participation in a corrupted sangha? Or is it simply human susceptibility to groupthink that can not be avoided?
All the Japanese zen schools went in for the empire during WW2. The only thing that prevents brainwashing is access to multiple sources information and critical thinking. Zen doesn't do that.
The only thing that will prevent brainwashing is access to multiple sources of information and critical thinking. Zen is not a source of information and does not teach critical thinking. The groupthink of American Buddhist teachers has nothing to do with their practice except being another view to be seen through.
Sure that's true but then again does Zen need to be some magic cure to all the world's ills? Brainwashing is worth preventing, but maybe the tools exist outside of your Zen practice
“Even though someone may be a fool, be warm and compassionate toward him. If by any chance he should turn against us, and become a sworn enemy, and abuse and persecute us, we should sincerely bow down with humble language in reverent belief that he is the merciful avatar of Buddha who uses devices to emancipate us from sinful karma that has been produced and accumulated upon ourselves by our own egoistic delusion and attachment through countless cycles of time.” Torei Zenji 18c Zen Master. Even Barry Madget?
I was not happy with what happened, but instead of letting it influence my Buddhist path, I'm using my Buddhist path to move through it. I wrote this to my friends... Whatever happened, happened, and couldn't have happened any other way. Why? Because it already happened, and as soon as any moment happens, it ends. If you got what you wanted, just move along to the next moment, without arrogance, without gloating. If you didn't get what you wanted, just move along to the next moment, without animosity, without grievance.
Very very briefly is that a horrible answer to slavery? ChatGPT: Yes, it would be a problematic response to slavery. Slavery is a profound moral injustice that requires action, accountability, and reparation. Simply “moving along” without addressing the harm caused would dismiss the suffering of enslaved people and fail to confront the structural oppression involved.
@@evoshroom I cannot disagree with you or the AI gods about that. What I can say is this, as a disabled Veteran with serious mental health issues, this is how I have to deal with this right now. When something else happens, I'll deal with it however I need to if it happens. If and when I have to go all Thich Quang Duc, I'm down for it, but not now, not for this.
@@Ronallenish Okay. I just wanted to point out that even though I've heard words like that in Buddhist circles on multiple occasions for many problems the "letting go," "moving along" concept doesn't work at all and could make things worse or entrap people in systems that expect them to let go of things to steal from them. Even if I spill a cup of coffee my response is not letting go, but cleaning up.
@@evoshroom We don't really disagree on this. To borrow from your spilling the coffee analogy, and I do spill coffee, if my focus is too centered on my having already spilled the coffee, which I cannot change, to the point of distress, perhaps I inhibit my ability to clean it up.
Those quotes from "leading" Buddhists make me want to leave Buddhism. Is that what will happen to me if I keep practicing? I will become LESS calm, LESS wise, MORE upset about the state of the world? No thank you. 😂
Such an important message, Brad. And that’s from me a 60 year old stunted adolescent. I’ve seen enough of the world that I know clinging to the manufactured political rage is unhealthy.
Hey Brad, I think you misunderstood what a lot of those people said. The thing is: they are not making up those feelings. Instead, this is the way a lot of people feel already and they are simply addressing it. I for example woke up with a feeling of anxiety - before I had even read about the results. Shozan Jack Haubner also says in his video that he "woke up with a sunken heart" the day after the election... What I hear most people in the article say is simply: "feel what there is to feel. it's okay."
The Anti-Trump Democrat's literally arrested him on totally BS charges! Their feelings are a manifestation delusional beliefs. It turns out, even very wise spiritual teachers can believe the wrong political thing. Ask them if they have challenged their own feelings, they very likely haven't. Have you challenged your political preconceptions? If you haven't, that is unacceptable.
I get your argument here, people are expressing what they're feeling and that's ok, but for me there's something performative and pandering about this, and a very extreme interpretation of what is happening. I'm not a fan of trump but I don't in any way see how the over the top reactions people are having fit with what he's actually going to do, along with the fact we're talking about such a major win that you're probably talking about the majority of people in the country. It really just doesn't sit righ for me to have those extreme reactions because the person you wanted to win actually lost. What it comes down to is, the world isn't the way I think it shoudl be so I'm going to cry, and that's the antithesis of Buddhism to my mind. I think this is a bit fo an issue witht he link between Western Buddhism and our therapeutic culture where feeling are indulged rather than challenged. Plus what I think is a bad interpretation of the idea of compassion which seems to be taken again as enabling self indulgence and self identity rather than challenging it.
@@WaterReflection my question would be, would he have woken up with a sunken heart if the VP of an administration who has been supporting and funding a genocide, had won. If a person wants to engage with politics from a perspective of Buddhist ethics, opposing genocide seems to make sense, in which case, opposing both right wing genocidal parties in this country would make sense.
I’m not so sure he did misunderstand, seems to me he hit the nail on the head! Also - Hate isn’t a feeling, it inspires feelings/emotions, maybe engenders them. But i feel as though it is more of an absence of love, as corny as that sounds. And no one is asking anyone to love trump, i don’t think, but to love the world, and maybe yourself, enough to accept the reality we are currently living in and try to make the best of it, instead of only lamenting and complaining about the way it is. Feel your feelings, denying them would be violence, but don’t dwell or over indulge in them, or react to them. Rather, suspend in yourself the fact that you feel this way, acknowledge it, then let it be. Let it live and then die, without piling it on with more of the same etc. i could be wrong, but i feel as though that was the gist of Brad’s point. It is what it is, now how can we make things a little better for someone else? For the world? How can i not be a jerk today; not tomorrow or when things are the way i want them to be, but right now?
The main problem is, I can’t think of a single character trait that Trump shares with Ryokan, Han-Shan, Thich Nhat Han, Shohaku Okumura, and other Buddhists I actually admire. He seems to be one of the least “Buddhist” persons I can think of….
Stuff like this is why I stopped visiting sanghas, and after essentially being told I’m “not a Buddhist” for not voting Democrat (yes that happened) I’ve gravitated towards a more pagan practice although still think of myself as Buddhist.
It's not about hating Trump, and that's not what these people are talking about. Trump is bringing back a kind of politics to the White House which the authors of those articles fear will bring harm to the communities that they represent. Brad is absolutely right though, that taking sides will alienate people with different politics who also inhabit those communities. Kind of makes me wonder what left wing Christians are feeling right now...
Brad, You using a smarmy voice while reading quotes of those you disagree with? Undermines the whole point you were making. Left or Right, the condescension is exhausting!!
Attachment to thoughts, to the body, ego, etc.. Seems like the main focus of Buddhism got lost with all those Buddhists you quoted. I fail to see what politics, fear and hate has to do with Buddhism. Brad, you're still above all that shit and, I must say, you are a model of right nature and right behavior. Those others "have a right to be incorrect"...LOL
Buddhism is both a philosophy and a religion. Buddhists are using Buddhist centers as "second spaces", because of disagreement with traditional religion (aka Christianity). As Christian churches have gone right, many Buddhist centers are going left. This is in fact Buddhist, arising from causes and conditions (and the behavior of many Christians isn't exactly what Jesus taught either).
@@dukebanerjee4710 In response to your comments on Christianity, it's because of authoritarian problems within Christianity that overlap with the authoritarian issues in government. The authoritarian issues in Christianity cause conveyance of incorrect teachings and incorrect interpretations of Jesus from authorities as a form of perpetuating their own views in place of the actual views of Jesus. The Quakers have known about this for a few hundred years now. The Quakers also believe in beginner's mind, conceptualized as non-authoritarianism or anti-authoritarianism, and a form of personal meditation on Inner Light.
"There is no future and there is no past...there is only the now." This teaching isnt found in any Mahayana Sutra or the original Suttas. So where does it come from? There used to be a book published in Japan that was found in hotel rooms just like the Gideon Bible. It was called 'The Teaching of Buddha' and it contained a lot of mis-info. In one section it states: "Do not dwell in the past nor dream of the future. Concentrate the mind on the present moment." This is a mis-translation of a line from the Dhammapada 348 where it actually states: "Let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of the present."
"Timebeing classic history of virtuous being, / Named today still tomorrow classic be, / Today out of yesterday flows history, / Yesterday still today classic be. / Today out of today flows history, / Tomorrow still tomorrow classic be. / Classic history is this virtuous being of time." ー Eihei Dogen, Yuji, Ryan Solomon Davis translation.
Yes it's total nonsense, also repeating awakening is just liking being absorbed into something (like running or playing guitar) is nowhere found in any traditional buddhist teachings, it's the lazy path promoted by some lazy Zen "Masters"
@@Teller3448 It's not a word salad at all. It's about the future emerging from the present and the present emerging from the past. It also agrees with your post, because it supports the notion that Dogen is thinking about more than only the now. Yet, Trump's refering to Kamala's speech as "word salad" (and anyone imitating that behavior) is involved in a form of psychological projection where because Trump can't cope with the negative traits of his own speech acts he attempts to put those negative traits on others. The same thing happened with "fake news" actually where the concept was originally coined by Clinton about Trump's lies and then Trump psychologically projected it onto others as a symptom of his mental condition.
It's disappointing seeing how politically minded many western buddhists are. Not because I'm super right wing (I consider myself more libertarian) but because it seems like these people are more devout to their political party rather than their religion. I understand that ones philosophical and/or religious beliefs will in all do likelihood affect their politics but in these cases it seems like they're letting their political beliefs affect their religious beliefs with how they're putting division out into the world rather than a message of unity
If someone was not politically minded, they probably would not care one way or the other. They would leave the disapointment to the politically minded.
If politics is taking care of common good, caring for people, society and their well-being (not to mention the environment), how can one be compassionate and NOT care about politics? We have just heard the president elect say US must acquire Greenland and the use of military force is not off the table. Quite a lot of people in Europe are wondering if sanity has completely left the USA. I quess ZEN is about not caring for that either?
@@lohikaarmeherra-1753 Respectfully, The original residents of Greenland were native North Americans. Even today, 90% of Greenland is populated by American Inuit. The idea of a European-Inuit is a political construction. They are North Americans. So there is that.
This is the type of "spiritual blabla" I see in all kind of centers and teachers and the like in buddhist and zen circles (and probably other schools too). They are taking a moral stance for their own being it seems. What anything of this has to do with the real world I don't know. Meanwhile choises in the real world have consequenses in the real world for people in the real world. I heard someone on dutch (which I am) TV say the first thing he thought about when hearing the outcome of the US elections was about the people he befriended in Ukraine some of them fighting at the frontline, him being a reporter there. Those are real worries and not just socalled superior moral spiritual gibberish talks. Same goes for the Gaza situation or the actions needed to prevent climate change or the tendency for countries all over the world (including my country) to become myopic and nationalistic. This is what should be kept in mind when making your choices IMO and not some rambling to others about grieve and fear etc in your heart.
That Tulsi Gabbard aside revealed a very naive person and if he thinks we are going to be fine Trump just picked a Fox News host to be the Secretary of Defense
"Something contacts the senses; like or dislike arises; and right there is delusion. Yet with mindfullness, wisdom can arise in the same experience." Ajahn Chah
Didn’t you read a solemn letter doing the exact same kind of shaming to everyone who went to BLM protests in 2020? It seems like you were doing the same thing you critique these authors of. Also, ask any local Hawaiian if they think Tulsi would be a good President, they’d have a very different takeaway.
I was wrong when I read that letter in 2020, and I am ashamed of myself for it. At the time, I did not know that we were being lied to on an epic scale about the supposed "health emergency." It's now undeniably clear that we were. I don't know anyone in Hawaii. But I imagine there is a wide variety of opinions there about Ms. Gabbard, rather than one singular opinion shared by everyone in the State.
Nah, she is a grifter, and also pretty racist against Muslims and pro war, as long as it’s against Muslims. No politicians are our friends. Our system rewards sociopaths and narcissists to rise to the top of power.
Then you have fallen for a Russian plant. Her positions are all aligned with Putin's and she runs to undermine democratic candidates. Obvious to anyone with a shred of critical thinking skills.
Brad, I am a huge fan of yours. Read most of your books, and even have a few quotes of yours printed out and hung on the walls. Hearing you read out those peoples' quotes in a silly voice really bums me out. It seems like jerk type behaviour to me. There actually isn't much that I disagree with you about in this video, but I think the tone you are adopting lately is creating needless division. What would it cost you to speak in such a way that shows compassion for these people with whom you disagree? You are in a position to be a voice of equanimity on these issues, and yet I often find myself finishing these videos feeling like you're just dunking on overly sensitive souls, venting and stirring stuff up. If these people you're going on about need to calm down, then shouldn't you be calm? Everybody is just doing their best, man. It's not an us vs them thing, right? Don't be a jerk.
You aren’t alone. I feel similar things about Brad. He’s a great teacher! His criticisms, however, show how he’s still working on the sixth grave precept.
I agree completely what you are saying, Brad. All these people try "virtue signaling" where there is no virtue in it at all (at least from a buddhist point of view) ...
This isn't "virtue signaling" any more than Evangelical Christians doing the same kind of "virtue signaling" to advance their communities interests (throughout the Biden presidency and the constant trans panic in the Republican campaign ads). It has nothing to do with Buddhism any more than what the stuff put out by Pastor Greg Locke has anything to do with Jesus. "American" Buddhism is a religion now, and like Evangelicals are "virtual signaling" to the right, these guys are "virtual signaling" to the left. I have some idea of what left wing Christians who feel alienated by where American Christianity is going must be feeling right now...
Seems like the I Hate Donald Trump talk was more a confession of the talker’s fear and personal weakness and a reflection on how to respond generously to-let’s not shit ourselves-an extremely unpleasant and poisonous human with undue power and influence on the relative world, and how not to wage war on those who love the fella. It does not seem to be an endorsement of hatred or a spirited defense of further political warfare. It’s an annoying title, but effective for clicks (not unlike the title of this video, I imagine you’d be the first to admit). I mean, yeah-how does one respond skilfully to such an odious and otiose public figure? That strawman aside, I think you pretty much nail it. This is a wonderful moment for the left to figure itself out; shift from self-defeating attack-rhetoric; refrain from inflicting inscrutable postmodern lingo on the general public; and start leading by wholesome example rather than scaremongering fiat. Cue Abraham Lincoln and the better angels of our nature
May not be the best time for me to find a sangha online to re-start meditating with a group -- I am closer to Paul Stanley and Brad than Halifax by far.
I don't think you actually listened to the 'I Hate Donald Trump' talk that the old woman gave. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt because If you did listen, you are misrepresenting it. It was mostly about dealing with her fear and negative feelings. I'm sure 82 year old Joan Halifax is having similar problems. My advice to you is that you should probably just leave the old women alone and move on to other, younger targets.
This would be completely understandable and unproblematic if it were not mixed up with Buddhist teachings. I am not particularly familiar with Buddhism in the US and what goes on in your zen centers and such, but a sangha is not a place to vent about the outcome of a political election and engage in identity politics, a Buddhist community is not a place for emotional outbursts and to wallow in entrenched personal views. I am from Germany and therefore do not know whether I should even comment on this or not. Here, the general rejection of Trump is even more of a consensus and there is a similar amount of political division elsewhere in society, but I do not see such a strong mixing of identity politics and personal views with Buddhist teachings and practice. I don't know the exact context, but if these people are giving their speeches in the middle of a sangha, I find it out of place, but if they are just expressing their worries and fears as private individuals via social media and the like outside of their sangha, I see nothing wrong with that.
@HardcoreZen I'm not. You're dismissing the harm that he absolutely will do. You're either willfully ignoring how bad things got last time or you're glad for the way it went down. I don't know what happened to you, but, somewhere along the line you lost your good sense and it's really disappointing. I know this won't make a dent in your day to day, but, I can't imagine being so detached that I would ignore all of the past evidence and LITERALLY WHAT THEY ARE SAYING and pretend that this is going to be ok.
I’m coming at this from a Taoist perspective, but there’s plenty in the Tao Te Ching about corrupt leaders with swords by their sides, and also “even if he is not good, why should he be abandoned?”. Lao Tzu is a different entity to the Buddha, so he comes at the problem of a Trump figure from a unique perspective that might cross over into Zen a bit.
Hi Brad. The "Law of Attraction" that you mentioned is actually a watered-down version of a genuine teaching in Western esotericism, which is known as the "Law of Mentalism". This teaching is explained quite clearly in The Kybalion which is one of the classic texts of 20th century Western esotericism. Similar to the views of Yogachara school of Buddhism, this view expounds that the universe itself is a single/united conscious being (like a Universal Mind), and everything in the universe (living or nonliving) has some degree of consciousness. Furthermore, according to this view, every being can alter their reality to some limited degree, by using their mental faculties (like concentration, visualization, willpower etc.), and the effect of these faculties are proportional to the current evolutionary development level of these beings. I'm sure that you will find this view interesting :)
This is not a Dem or Republican thing. For crying out loud, there were Republicans who spent the last four years denying that Biden was even the legitimate president. And lest I forget, "Let's go Brandon"? Politics since at least the first Obama administration has grown increasingly polarized. Ironically, the Dems did the opposite of dividing us. Kamala Harris literally brought Liz Cheney on the campaign trail in a misguided attempt at "unity" with the right which alienated the left. Dems have lost their way, but not because of division, but because Dems have not embraced "left-wing" populism (aka Bernie Sanders), essentially abandoning the working class.
sure and the GOP has not lost any way? it's a cult. It's fine to blame the Dems for their flaws, but holding them to a different standards than the other party that's high on hate is a bit on the nose 😉
Two thoughts. First, I agree that being smug or superior is not helpful. Second, I hope that people can differentiate between smug commentary and commentary that is meant to be supportive. There is a lot of valid fear based on the here and now. My thoughts aren't meant to come across as a criticism of your video. Instead, I'd implore people to consider why minority groups are afraid. Especially as we have started to see cabinet choices and policy confirmation. During times of fear, knowing where a person can turn is important, and if they have a community to go to. For me, I'd like to believe that the community I turn towards will not support homophobia or racism, among several other basic human rights.
@@borsdobhran3557 Please consider your political preconceptions. You haven't at all in years. I guarantee it. That's one way to help dissolve that pesky human ego.🙏
It’s crazy how people who follow the Buddha’s teachings actually think that voting for Trump just came down to blind, base evil. 😂 I guess zazen really is good for nothing! 😂🤣
These are people who are unable to be objective let alone consciously compartmentalize or organize their minds. Some call them "hylics"... I just think of them as permanently hysterical body forms who are subservient to their biology and make no efforts to step outside themselves for reference or perspective. This is the result of the "mainstreaming" of practices and concepts like Zen. Much like yoga without prana teachings and interest in spiritual insights... it just becomes chicks in yoga pants vainly posting on Instagram with a very thin veneer of branded market level spirituality. All package, no product. Problem is, these modern "Zen" people seem to even get the package wrong. At least the posers in the Yoga pants usually understand basic aesthetics.
I still recall a post Brad wrote on his old Hardcore Zen blog...'I am George W. Bush.' One of my fav essays. I was kinda hoping for I am Donald Trump, but this one's close. I live in the American south. Nearly all of my family and neighbors are avid Trump supporters. My wife and I are not fans, yet our family never stopped getting together for holidays or cookouts. We mostly just avoid sensitive topics like religion or politics. This used to be common for polite society. It was considered rude to discuss such topics in 'mixed' company. The idea of dis-owning or going no contact with your children or parents due to who they vote for is bizarre to my sensibilities. All the division we see out there begins right here, in our thinking. Trying to solve division via more division does not work.
“I drive she walks.” is technically a run on sentence 😂 length is irrelevant. Two or more clauses not separated by a coma, semi colon or conjunction. Just wanted to add to and clarify your brilliant statement. Most people don’t know that fact, and i appreciate people who teach for free!
Another thing that is revealed from the ranting and hate posts by dharma teachers and practitioners is that they have no problem lying and grossly so. They fail to understand that all their hating and upset based on the lies they choose to believe is delusion and negative emotional poisons of their own mind. That thing right there reveals a lot about the kind of practitioners and ”bodhisattvas” they are. Nishijima Roshi’s advice to study hated information is like the dawn. Beautiful 👌
I felt comfortable enough at my Zen Center to say out loud that it didn’t matter who won, I’d still have been disappointed on Wednesday morning. That’s the kinda sangha I love.
Very very briefly is koan practice a method of being aware of contradictions? ChatGPT: Yes, koan practice often involves contemplating paradoxes or contradictions to break habitual thinking and cultivate deeper awareness. Very very briefly is koan practice therefore a helpful tool that may have been originally intended to prevent psychological projections, which are inherently contradictory. ChatGPT: Yes, koan practice could be seen as a tool to prevent psychological projections by confronting contradictions and disrupting habitual, illusory thinking. Very very briefly does Trump have the exact symptoms that the koans seem intended to prevent? ChatGPT: Yes, Trump’s behavior, marked by contradictions and projections, may exhibit symptoms that koan practice seeks to prevent.
I think the roots of American zen are deeply intertwined with activism (particularly in the Bernie Glassman lineage), due to the integration of Buddhist principles with social engagement. I remain more drawn to the 'not always so' school of dharma.
It's telling how you quote the statements from Lion's Roar with a mocking tone and can't even be bothered to finish a longer sentence. You simply can't wait to present your own opinion on the topic and get these likes from your target audience. And of course: please donate!
What makes me tired is that these teachers and roshis overtly mix politics, compassion, and dharma. This leads to people who are not practitioners holding zen people in contempt and derision. Instead, they should have focused on emotions and behavior without political overtones or direct naming of individuals. To me, it now seems that centers, teachers, and roshis take political stances in their dharma talks/teishos. This could backfire in many ways. Exhausting. Viva Ziggy!
I didn't vote for him. I cast my ballot. I did my part but alas, here we are. I am here today and I will be here tomorrow. It would be a waste of my time to hate Trump and Republicans. Anger is a poison. Also, you cannot control the winds but you can adjust your sails. The next four years will come. Grief, sorrow etc. seem like a waste. This is my take on it anyways. Good video Brad. Thanks.
If you think it is zen to support trump you should seriously reconsider your position and faith and maybe gain a little understanding of what it is all about.
We all want criminals to face justice. We all want the system to apply its rules and laws equally to everyone. When that doesn't happen it is an outrage. So what's the difference between hate and outrage? Hate can be directed at the system, and outrage can be directed at its citizens whose morals and principles are compromised. Much hate is the result of Trump having so much wealth. We see that as some ultimate reward, but I see it as a nightmare. Who would want his life? I'm moving towards compassion for the guy now. He is a gift from the Grand Creator to wake us up. Take everything he represents and reverse it. Anti-Christ? Yup. But like Mr. T once said, "I pity the fool!"
you are being reasonable, compassionate and understanding in what you are saying and I congratulate you for being courageous enough to say them knowing it could effect you negatively in the pocket book! (if i were to say these reasonable things to my "liberal" inner circle I would be ... disregarded at least... if not tar and feathered and taken out of town on a rail )
you're right brad! imo buddism and politics are two things that should never mix. politics are an expression of impermanence. i don't understand how so many teachers can get so wrapped up in their sense of self over it. on the flip, trump has a tendency to tailor his words to his audience, so he might criticize racists if the people he's speaking to would like that, and lean more heavily into his "criminals are pouring into this country" rhetoric when interacting with a (to put in bluntly and save space) racist audience. so you really can't take the guy at his word, you have to look at the actual policies he supports, which....yeesh.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU so much, Brad, for staying true and staying punk. I write to you regularly, brother, and I would say your are 100% right. No pun intended. In the words of Great Master Dōgen, “… people who practice virtue improve; those who produce unwholesomeness degenerate; practice the cause and experience the results…” Dōgen’s Eihei Kōroku, Vol 3; 251 Thanks again for all you do. Love you, bro❤
Nailed it, Brad. Much respect. The Zen protest against Trump sounds a lot of ignorance and aversion masquerading as "spirituality." Paul Stanley was right. As is often the case, we have to rely on burnt out rock and rollers, not gurus, to inject lucidity into the obscurantism of our current political landscape.
Well if America wants women dieing because they can't get an abortion, immigrant children split from their families put in cages I can't help thinking it is a sad sick world over there. Krishnamurti once said the right choice is always compassion, he never said never ever make a choice though he wasn't keen on making a chooser.
Compassion for who? People were making a choice on whom they wanted to be compassionate for (or perhaps punish. It's not totally out of the question that the Democrats think evil misogynist racists should be punished for their views and actions.) It keeps getting lost from the conversation that a lot of people are against abortion because they think it harms unborn babies. Besides, abortion is not now illegal in the US, it just got handed back to the states to decide. Congress could get their act together to change that instead on a national level instead of depending on legal fiat decided by unelected judges. And thirdly, Trump keeps saying he is not anti-abortion. No political party has the corner on compassion and we need to stop painting it that way.
it is obvious the right choice would be to save the woman, and also to not put children in cages to any sane person devoid of any political affiliiation.
I am not hugely familiar with ancient Buddhist lore but didn't the first Buddhist monks teach warlords and brigands and tyrants not just people who agreed with them?
Hey Brad, Long time no watch! I wrote you a few years back about why you didn't talk about trump and this is what you said: "I don't speak about Trump not because Buddha said not to get political. I never do something just because some authority said to do it. It matters more to me WHY he said it. I feel that there's nothing I could say about Trump that you couldn't hear from 1,000 other people. But there is a lot I could say about Zen that very few (if any) people are saying. That's where I want to focus my energy. " At the time I wrote you, I was a kid full of piss and vinegar. I'm still a kid, but no longer full of piss and vinegar. I think I understand your perspective (and Buddha's) more. I gotta get back on the zafu.
It is pretty hard to deny that Donald Trump said some really awful things, Brad. He engaged in profanity, the basest name-calling, and many outright lies. But I guess being civil in our civil society isn't much of an option anymore. I believe that Buddhism calls us to be compassionate and understanding, none of which I saw in the Trump camp, from J.D. Vance to Tony Hinchcliffe (sp?).
Would have thought that good and bad were ultimately indeterminate. Its hard to judge without a birds eye view of events and we tend not to have that. I find it perplexing that these people can know with certainty that something is bad or good... on what basis. Surely Its only due to personal preferences. I think its fine to have biases and preferences (we mostly all have them) . as long as they aren't taken as The Truth and arent productive of further division and enmity. I think there are flaws on both sides of politics and virtues too, but when one completely glosses over those flaws and shortcomings and demonizes the opposition.. It doesn't make for a very understanding or nuanced view of things.
Braid, I’ve been listening to you for years now and I am extremely grateful for your perspective. It is extremely similar to mine, and it seems like the spiritual world has turned into a place to control the narrative. Thank you for being real Homie.
I can't say that I'm able to listen with "an open mind", because I come to this talk from a place of bias. I already know that I "don't like" DT based on what I have personally observed from him over the last almost 10 years (before that he wasn't really on my radar). What I take the most exception with in this talk, is the accusation that so many of us base our distaste for DT on misrepresentation, when it's primarily (for me and those I tend to communicate with) based almost completely on what we have observed coming directly from DT... unless it's all deep faked and that's a layer I'm not going to concern myself with. My only other exception is that you didn't really offer guidance as to how we really should approach this situation. For me, I've certainly been pushed and pulled by my emotions. There is certainly a tendency to be "angry" at those who support DT, an a basic inability to comprehend *GOOD* reasons, like... healthy reasons why anyone would actually support him. In fact, I cannot justify it. I cannot generate good feelings towards people who would choose to support such an obviously "bad" person. I can't say that I'm completely without compassion for them, but compassion doesn't necessarily involve accepting harmful people into your life, in fact it shouldn't. So that leaves us again with "how to react". The only solid place I've found for this situation is to yes, ground myself in the present. Accept reality as it is and also, look for ways to change things I see as harmful to myself and those I love, which I will continue to do as much as possible and whatever that means moving forward. All of that being said.... as much as I dislike his behavior, I can't say that HATE DT either. I'm not sure that I HATE anyone anymore. Hate is such a... controlling emotion. It's toxic to the person who holds it. Just knowing that doesn't fix it of course, but I think it's something that is slowly melted away through practice. I don't hate him, but I certainly wouldn't invite him over for dinner and frankly, I'd much prefer to see him facing the prison time he truly deserves.
Politics for Buddhists: protect freedom of expression and religion. Ensure stability of politics and economy. Then we can continue practicing, no matter who is in charge.
People vote for all sorts of reasons, mostly in my experience because they think it's what their friends or family want. I'm from sunny England where I sell my vote to a friend every election for the price of one pint of English lager. It makes him happy if I vote Labour, and we get to engage in a bit of theatre and have a laugh about the whole thing Other anarchists I know don't vote at all, and (rightly) get quite irate when people who turn out once every 4 years to engage in a bit of politics accuse those who do politics every day of being "apathetic"
I'm not sure if this video is about how politics should(n't) be a part of budhist communities or about the politics themselves. Community leaders seem to be channeling the sentiment they see around them and aligning themselves with it, which can create a kind of bubble. On the other hand, Brad doesn't seem to be standing for much of anything besides radical centrism, which is a strong dedication to creating a false equivalence between two sides when there is none. Unless you tolerate violence from one side and give none of the same affordances to the other.
Way too many Buddhist teachers here in the West use Buddhism as a soapbox from which to publicly air their personal political opinions. You know what? I'm interested in BUDDHISM, not your personal political biases. I really wish these people would keep Buddhism bias-free. I really don't care what your politics are as far as Buddhism is concerned. Please do everyone a favor and keep your personal political biases to yourselves.
I get that. But the actual talk is really good. She says that all MAGA supporters should always feel welcome in the zendo. How she admits to hating Trump and how she deals with that. It’s actually a good talk. I’m not trying to stir anything up here or cause any problems. Just ma 2 pennys worth!
@@gojuglen Maybe I should listen. She accused me of being "Trump-ian" (probably the highest insult in her vocabulary) which makes me really not interested in anything she has to say.
@ ahh right. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to listen. I think she’s kind of saying she admits to letting her hate for Trump get the best of her and how she’s trying to work with that. I guess we all make mistakes and say things about folks we later look back on with some elements of cringe and embarrassment! I certainly do !
I was coming back from Valencia after the terrible floods in Spain. Anyway with 12 hours over night in Barcelona airport I had the BBC election coverage on in the US. Anyway I was sat in an area where many Americans were coming, waiting for the shuttles to take them around, to their plane gates. I was surprised how many didn't appear to be following the election or ask me who was winning. A friend who was in the US before the election about two months ago said she could just tell seeing Trump posters everywhere. I think Musk is tricky, he's a worry.Trump is basically about making more money for himself and is lazy but Musk has the ideas, the change agenda. Also I just bet Musk will go for the presidency after Trump. I'm sure that's part of his interest in it. Trump is a big worry for Europe on Ukraine since a shitty deal with Putin would be a huge win for Putin.
Now imagine how the rest of the world (e.g. Europeans) feel with all those feelings pushed toward us, all we read is Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump... it's trumping our zen, maaan. :D
In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Sid expounds on the qualities of a good king. Donald Trump is not a good king. However, one must stay detached about what happens in the world. In the scheme of things, the election of Donald Trump is a minor thing, compared to many of the disasters that happen all the time. I must say I did not find Brad's talk to be in the right spirit. Ridiculing the people who ridicule other people is not the right way to make a point.
To me these whining "representatives" heard from in these left-leaning publications appear as the poorest quality of a practitioner. If you've written books, given teachings, lead Dharma groups and in general advertise yourself to be a person befit to be called a guru/lama/roshi/etc., but you can't handle a simple disappointment with samsara, your practice isn't worth the digital "ink" on our screens. If my teachers lost their cool, their nerve or their mind over such a thing, I'd distance myself from them, and seek someone who can embody what they claim to teach.
I began practicing in bloomington IN and everything I've learned comes from the teachers there. Moving to the west coast(i wont say where) i was rlly sad to see my local zen center talk more about politics(which we probably almost all agree on) then anything to do with practice! If I came to our zendo and was someone politically right i would instantly leave, why push away a potential sangha member. It made no sense to me.
Strange how meditation teachers that I learned from can believe totally insane ideology. It's as if they forgot that the Buddha was not about cultivating identity.
'donald trump' is a fictional character.. for some 'the good guy' for others 'the bad guy' but nonetheless a 'fictional character' 🤔 a 'strange attractor' of emotions and thoughts of 'desirous hope' or 'fearful anger' me thunks
Thank you, Brad... I agree completely. I was raised as a Southern Baptist and one of the reasons I left the church was that I felt surrounded by self-righteousness, judgmentalness, and hypocrisy. I've been practicing Zen for over 30 years and love the teachings of this tradition but in recent years feel I've come full circle and am now often surrounded by self-righteousness, judgmentalness, and hypocrisy in the American Zen Community. This is one of the reasons I stepped out of the SFZC lineage many years ago. I now facilitate a small urban Zen group and we have a small rural retreat center, and we are keeping it absolutely nonpolitical -- the sole focus is the practice and study of the BuddhaDharma.
I remember Ram Dass used to say he had G.W. Bush on his altar because he was “difficult to love”, and I believe he added Donald Trump in 2016, for the same reason.
And he probably had no problem with a murderous war criminal like Obama. Amazing what the corporate media can do to a mind.
@HillcrestMonk Yeah he had more than one "hate object" on his alter,you can here the bush lecture on youtube
@@daviddeida that’s not a hate object, he was trying to work on keeping his heart open, even to a guy responsible for murdering over 1,000,000 Iraqis.
@@BullyMaguire4ever Thats why I put it in inverted commas....factually 300,000 not one 1 mil !!!!
Ram Dass was nothing but a grifter
Zen identity politics is an oxymoron
Then again, all politics is identity politics.
Not really, politics is about defining rules of governance, e.g. buddhist politics would be agreeing precepts for the group to uphold. identity politics is the rules of differentiation between people based on personal traits
@@kakamarioluigithat's not how politics works. Politics involves systems of people with competing interests trying to govern, and people form alliances based on common interests to advance those interests. The strongest interest that binds people is identity. Buddhism would literally be another identity in the context of politics.
@@dukebanerjee4710 you don't want to let this go do you, its gone from me saying identity politics has no place in zen to a philosophical discussion on the meaning of the word politics and its application. Wish you the best I'm out.
It's a koan.
Paul Stanley also said, "I know life sometimes can get tough, and I know life sometimes can be a drag,
but people, we have been given a gift! We have been given a road,
and that road's name is Rock and Rolllllllll!!!!"
What's his real name?
Could you imagine acting like Trump as an everyday person and having people defending you? What a dream!
Before enlightenment resist fascism, after enlightenment resist fascism
During enlightenment resist fascism.
Definitely. Now if these Trump hating Buddhists could see through the lie that the guy is going to bring actual fascism, that would go a long way.
Fascism is a leftist ideology.
When reading stuff that you are criticizing, it would be a good idea not to put on the stupid voices. Just read it and then criticize it.
He’s coming from the same place as them. He’s no different, hence the stupid voices and the inability to stay non-political despite claiming to be non-political.
Completely agree.
At the intersection of Zen and Christianity is the idea that salvation is not to be found in men, or even in the World. If we are free of attachments (in Christian parlance, "in the Kingdom") we are past anger, frustration, and worry, and a new President is no more or less impactful than encountering a new bagboy or meeting a new coworker. We should be unreachable by any potential suffering. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
Yes, less impactful than a new bagboy! Unless the new president is Pol Pot.
@@whoisthegaucho Haha! It takes indeed the detachment of a great sage, bodhisattva, or saint (St. Kolbe in Auschwitz the comes to mind) who can remain beyond the reach of torture and imprisonment.
I've spoken to quite a few anonymous Buddhists on social media, and there is definitely a hunger for Buddha-dharma that lacks this kind of obsessive political baggage. These people you're discussing are driving some of the smartest people away with this stuff and don't realize it (or maybe they just don't care).
I think so, too.
This is happening because "American" Buddhism is becoming a religion (again). Think about it this way: the San Francisco Zen Center used to be a Zen temple serving the immigrant Japanese community, who were responsible for bringing Shunryu Suzuki to the United States as abbot to serve their community. Then Americans starting coming and Suzuki found an audience of people who were serious about meditation and Zen philosophy, which ended up driving away the original Japanese people who just wanted a community center.
Just like these same Americans who left their traditional Christian churches out of hunger for a more "authentic spirituality", they are being driven out of these new Buddhist "churches". It's the cycle of life (with a dash of irony).
They seem to project an ironic mix of egotism and ignorance.
Where?
I myself have been more or less ignoring western Buddhists and have been just trying to learn on my own because many western Buddhists seem more like agnostic new age hippies (to put it bluntly).
I have also seen a similar example with Christians of many of them joining the Orthodox church because many Christians are tired of churches trying too hard to be modern and relatable
For me, the most depressing thing about this topic is that Zen practice doesn't seem to be effective at preventing brainwashing. Or maybe it is not these individuals' practice at fault but simply participation in a corrupted sangha? Or is it simply human susceptibility to groupthink that can not be avoided?
All the Japanese zen schools went in for the empire during WW2. The only thing that prevents brainwashing is access to multiple sources information and critical thinking. Zen doesn't do that.
Kodo Sawaki often warned of groupthink, I love his books
The only thing that will prevent brainwashing is access to multiple sources of information and critical thinking. Zen is not a source of information and does not teach critical thinking. The groupthink of American Buddhist teachers has nothing to do with their practice except being another view to be seen through.
Sure that's true but then again does Zen need to be some magic cure to all the world's ills? Brainwashing is worth preventing, but maybe the tools exist outside of your Zen practice
Why would it be effective for preventing brainwashing? It could be that the opposite is true.
“Even though someone may be a fool, be warm and compassionate toward him. If by any chance he should turn against us, and become a sworn enemy, and abuse and persecute us, we should sincerely bow down with humble language in reverent belief that he is the merciful avatar of Buddha who uses devices to emancipate us from sinful karma that has been produced and accumulated upon ourselves by our own egoistic delusion and attachment through countless cycles of time.” Torei Zenji 18c Zen Master.
Even Barry Madget?
Long time appreciator of that text.
It continues to be useful for my practice.
I was not happy with what happened, but instead of letting it influence my Buddhist path, I'm using my Buddhist path to move through it. I wrote this to my friends...
Whatever happened, happened, and couldn't have happened any other way. Why?
Because it already happened, and as soon as any moment happens, it ends.
If you got what you wanted, just move along to the next moment, without arrogance, without gloating.
If you didn't get what you wanted, just move along to the next moment, without animosity, without grievance.
Very very briefly is that a horrible answer to slavery? ChatGPT: Yes, it would be a problematic response to slavery. Slavery is a profound moral injustice that requires action, accountability, and reparation. Simply “moving along” without addressing the harm caused would dismiss the suffering of enslaved people and fail to confront the structural oppression involved.
@@evoshroom I cannot disagree with you or the AI gods about that. What I can say is this, as a disabled Veteran with serious mental health issues, this is how I have to deal with this right now. When something else happens, I'll deal with it however I need to if it happens. If and when I have to go all Thich Quang Duc, I'm down for it, but not now, not for this.
@@Ronallenish Okay. I just wanted to point out that even though I've heard words like that in Buddhist circles on multiple occasions for many problems the "letting go," "moving along" concept doesn't work at all and could make things worse or entrap people in systems that expect them to let go of things to steal from them. Even if I spill a cup of coffee my response is not letting go, but cleaning up.
@@evoshroom We don't really disagree on this. To borrow from your spilling the coffee analogy, and I do spill coffee, if my focus is too centered on my having already spilled the coffee, which I cannot change, to the point of distress, perhaps I inhibit my ability to clean it up.
Those quotes from "leading" Buddhists make me want to leave Buddhism. Is that what will happen to me if I keep practicing? I will become LESS calm, LESS wise, MORE upset about the state of the world? No thank you. 😂
Great comment. I've been practising Buddhism for years and these guys' statements are are just a cringe....
Such an important message, Brad. And that’s from me a 60 year old stunted adolescent. I’ve seen enough of the world that I know clinging to the manufactured political rage is unhealthy.
Most people's problems come from their own life choices rather than whoever happens to be president.
@@elzoog It depends...that's true in some cases, but in other cases, not at all. We don't have as much free will in life as we think. Peace.
@@elzoogMost people don't have something to say unless they say something.
I don’t hate anyone. What I would like is not for Trump to die or whatever, what I would like is for Trump to not be the president.
Then suffer in your dislike.Argue with reality you suffer.
@ wut
@@adamJKpunk Reality is, hes elected president for 4 years,no like ,then suffer your dislike
@@daviddeida what weirdo point are you trying to make?
@@adamJKpunk Wut ? Ask a 5 year old,they will explain it too you.
Hey Brad, I think you misunderstood what a lot of those people said.
The thing is: they are not making up those feelings. Instead, this is the way a lot of people feel already and they are simply addressing it. I for example woke up with a feeling of anxiety - before I had even read about the results. Shozan Jack Haubner also says in his video that he "woke up with a sunken heart" the day after the election...
What I hear most people in the article say is simply: "feel what there is to feel. it's okay."
The Anti-Trump Democrat's literally arrested him on totally BS charges! Their feelings are a manifestation delusional beliefs. It turns out, even very wise spiritual teachers can believe the wrong political thing. Ask them if they have challenged their own feelings, they very likely haven't. Have you challenged your political preconceptions? If you haven't, that is unacceptable.
I get your argument here, people are expressing what they're feeling and that's ok, but for me there's something performative and pandering about this, and a very extreme interpretation of what is happening. I'm not a fan of trump but I don't in any way see how the over the top reactions people are having fit with what he's actually going to do, along with the fact we're talking about such a major win that you're probably talking about the majority of people in the country. It really just doesn't sit righ for me to have those extreme reactions because the person you wanted to win actually lost. What it comes down to is, the world isn't the way I think it shoudl be so I'm going to cry, and that's the antithesis of Buddhism to my mind.
I think this is a bit fo an issue witht he link between Western Buddhism and our therapeutic culture where feeling are indulged rather than challenged. Plus what I think is a bad interpretation of the idea of compassion which seems to be taken again as enabling self indulgence and self identity rather than challenging it.
@@WaterReflection my question would be, would he have woken up with a sunken heart if the VP of an administration who has been supporting and funding a genocide, had won.
If a person wants to engage with politics from a perspective of Buddhist ethics, opposing genocide seems to make sense, in which case, opposing both right wing genocidal parties in this country would make sense.
I’m not so sure he did misunderstand, seems to me he hit the nail on the head! Also -
Hate isn’t a feeling, it inspires feelings/emotions, maybe engenders them. But i feel as though it is more of an absence of love, as corny as that sounds. And no one is asking anyone to love trump, i don’t think, but to love the world, and maybe yourself, enough to accept the reality we are currently living in and try to make the best of it, instead of only lamenting and complaining about the way it is. Feel your feelings, denying them would be violence, but don’t dwell or over indulge in them, or react to them. Rather, suspend in yourself the fact that you feel this way, acknowledge it, then let it be. Let it live and then die, without piling it on with more of the same etc. i could be wrong, but i feel as though that was the gist of Brad’s point. It is what it is, now how can we make things a little better for someone else? For the world? How can i not be a jerk today; not tomorrow or when things are the way i want them to be, but right now?
The main problem is, I can’t think of a single character trait that Trump shares with Ryokan, Han-Shan, Thich Nhat Han, Shohaku Okumura, and other Buddhists I actually admire. He seems to be one of the least “Buddhist” persons I can think of….
Stuff like this is why I stopped visiting sanghas, and after essentially being told I’m “not a Buddhist” for not voting Democrat (yes that happened) I’ve gravitated towards a more pagan practice although still think of myself as Buddhist.
Equanimity. Core Buddhist teaching. They need to brush up on it if they hate Trump.
It's not about hating Trump, and that's not what these people are talking about. Trump is bringing back a kind of politics to the White House which the authors of those articles fear will bring harm to the communities that they represent. Brad is absolutely right though, that taking sides will alienate people with different politics who also inhabit those communities.
Kind of makes me wonder what left wing Christians are feeling right now...
Brad, You using a smarmy voice while reading quotes of those you disagree with? Undermines the whole point you were making. Left or Right, the condescension is exhausting!!
Brad is just silly at times. I just don't agree with him on many things. Take care. Peace.
for anyone else who finds this part tedious, 5:32 is when he gets to the point
@@didierlason6453brad is silly? Says whom?
Attachment to thoughts, to the body, ego, etc.. Seems like the main focus of Buddhism got lost with all those Buddhists you quoted. I fail to see what politics, fear and hate has to do with Buddhism. Brad, you're still above all that shit and, I must say, you are a model of right nature and right behavior. Those others "have a right to be incorrect"...LOL
Buddhism is both a philosophy and a religion. Buddhists are using Buddhist centers as "second spaces", because of disagreement with traditional religion (aka Christianity). As Christian churches have gone right, many Buddhist centers are going left. This is in fact Buddhist, arising from causes and conditions (and the behavior of many Christians isn't exactly what Jesus taught either).
@@dukebanerjee4710
Yeah, the whole guns and Jesus thing never made any sense to me.
Well, they simply believe the narrative that is obviously phony for 8 years but especially in the last 4 years.
@@dukebanerjee4710 In response to your comments on Christianity, it's because of authoritarian problems within Christianity that overlap with the authoritarian issues in government. The authoritarian issues in Christianity cause conveyance of incorrect teachings and incorrect interpretations of Jesus from authorities as a form of perpetuating their own views in place of the actual views of Jesus. The Quakers have known about this for a few hundred years now. The Quakers also believe in beginner's mind, conceptualized as non-authoritarianism or anti-authoritarianism, and a form of personal meditation on Inner Light.
"There is no future and there is no past...there is only the now."
This teaching isnt found in any Mahayana Sutra or the original Suttas.
So where does it come from?
There used to be a book published in Japan that was found in hotel rooms just like the Gideon Bible. It was called 'The Teaching of Buddha' and it contained a lot of mis-info.
In one section it states:
"Do not dwell in the past nor dream of the future. Concentrate the mind on the present moment."
This is a mis-translation of a line from the Dhammapada 348 where it actually states:
"Let go of the past, let go of the future, let go of the present."
"Timebeing classic history of virtuous being, / Named today still tomorrow classic be, / Today out of yesterday flows history, / Yesterday still today classic be. / Today out of today flows history, / Tomorrow still tomorrow classic be. / Classic history is this virtuous being of time." ー Eihei Dogen, Yuji, Ryan Solomon Davis translation.
Forget about the past, you can't change it
Forget about the future, you can't predict it
Forget about the present, I didn't get you one.
@@evoshroom That sounds like something Kamala Harris might say...its just a word-salad.
Yes it's total nonsense, also repeating awakening is just liking being absorbed into something (like running or playing guitar) is nowhere found in any traditional buddhist teachings, it's the lazy path promoted by some lazy Zen "Masters"
@@Teller3448 It's not a word salad at all. It's about the future emerging from the present and the present emerging from the past. It also agrees with your post, because it supports the notion that Dogen is thinking about more than only the now. Yet, Trump's refering to Kamala's speech as "word salad" (and anyone imitating that behavior) is involved in a form of psychological projection where because Trump can't cope with the negative traits of his own speech acts he attempts to put those negative traits on others. The same thing happened with "fake news" actually where the concept was originally coined by Clinton about Trump's lies and then Trump psychologically projected it onto others as a symptom of his mental condition.
It's disappointing seeing how politically minded many western buddhists are. Not because I'm super right wing (I consider myself more libertarian) but because it seems like these people are more devout to their political party rather than their religion. I understand that ones philosophical and/or religious beliefs will in all do likelihood affect their politics but in these cases it seems like they're letting their political beliefs affect their religious beliefs with how they're putting division out into the world rather than a message of unity
I got the same impression. I'm actually quite shocked at the level of open partisanism on display.
If someone was not politically minded, they probably would not care one way or the other. They would leave the disapointment to the politically minded.
If politics is taking care of common good, caring for people, society and their well-being (not to mention the environment), how can one be compassionate and NOT care about politics?
We have just heard the president elect say US must acquire Greenland and the use of military force is not off the table. Quite a lot of people in Europe are wondering if sanity has completely left the USA. I quess ZEN is about not caring for that either?
@@lohikaarmeherra-1753 Respectfully, The original residents of Greenland were native North Americans.
Even today, 90% of Greenland is populated by American Inuit.
The idea of a European-Inuit is a political construction.
They are North Americans.
So there is that.
@@whoisthegaucho I find your statement very confusing on multiple levels.
This is the type of "spiritual blabla" I see in all kind of centers and teachers and the like in buddhist and zen circles (and probably other schools too). They are taking a moral stance for their own being it seems. What anything of this has to do with the real world I don't know.
Meanwhile choises in the real world have consequenses in the real world for people in the real world. I heard someone on dutch (which I am) TV say the first thing he thought about when hearing the outcome of the US elections was about the people he befriended in Ukraine some of them fighting at the frontline, him being a reporter there. Those are real worries and not just socalled superior moral spiritual gibberish talks.
Same goes for the Gaza situation or the actions needed to prevent climate change or the tendency for countries all over the world (including my country) to become myopic and nationalistic. This is what should be kept in mind when making your choices IMO and not some rambling to others about grieve and fear etc in your heart.
Tulsi Gabbard? Oh, my.
yeah.... Brad seems to be one of those free thinkers who thinks Trump is not great but you know... we'll be fine, like it was in 2016....
That Tulsi Gabbard aside revealed a very naive person and if he thinks we are going to be fine Trump just picked a Fox News host to be the Secretary of Defense
Tulsi Gabbard is a darling of Russian state media. Maybe Brad hasn't done much research on her.
@NicholasKlacsanzkyICM we should try to make use of critical thinking before making such statements....
@@daruman8265 My statement or Brad's statement? I have studied Russian politics in depth, as I studied the language and its media for many years.
"Something contacts the senses; like or dislike arises; and right there is delusion. Yet with mindfullness, wisdom can arise in the same experience."
Ajahn Chah
Didn’t you read a solemn letter doing the exact same kind of shaming to everyone who went to BLM protests in 2020? It seems like you were doing the same thing you critique these authors of.
Also, ask any local Hawaiian if they think Tulsi would be a good President, they’d have a very different takeaway.
I was wrong when I read that letter in 2020, and I am ashamed of myself for it. At the time, I did not know that we were being lied to on an epic scale about the supposed "health emergency." It's now undeniably clear that we were. I don't know anyone in Hawaii. But I imagine there is a wide variety of opinions there about Ms. Gabbard, rather than one singular opinion shared by everyone in the State.
@ No doubt she has her supporters, but it’s very safe to say the majority of folks there lost favor with her, for good reason in my opinion.
@@HardcoreZen If you didn't know that we were being lied to on an epic scale then, how do you know now? You don't.
@@whoisthegaucho I assume we are still being lied to.
You're not wrong about Tulsi being an AMAZING potential POTUS. I lean right, she leans left, but I'd vote for her in a heartbeat.
She is a warrior who doesn't like war. That speaks volumes about her.
Nah, she is a grifter, and also pretty racist against Muslims and pro war, as long as it’s against Muslims.
No politicians are our friends.
Our system rewards sociopaths and narcissists to rise to the top of power.
Ive heard shes a modi plant, very strange history, very anti muslim
She absolutely does not lean left. You're just two right-wingers.
Then you have fallen for a Russian plant. Her positions are all aligned with Putin's and she runs to undermine democratic candidates. Obvious to anyone with a shred of critical thinking skills.
Brad, I am a huge fan of yours. Read most of your books, and even have a few quotes of yours printed out and hung on the walls. Hearing you read out those peoples' quotes in a silly voice really bums me out. It seems like jerk type behaviour to me. There actually isn't much that I disagree with you about in this video, but I think the tone you are adopting lately is creating needless division. What would it cost you to speak in such a way that shows compassion for these people with whom you disagree? You are in a position to be a voice of equanimity on these issues, and yet I often find myself finishing these videos feeling like you're just dunking on overly sensitive souls, venting and stirring stuff up. If these people you're going on about need to calm down, then shouldn't you be calm? Everybody is just doing their best, man. It's not an us vs them thing, right? Don't be a jerk.
You aren’t alone. I feel similar things about Brad. He’s a great teacher! His criticisms, however, show how he’s still working on the sixth grave precept.
I agree completely what you are saying, Brad. All these people try "virtue signaling" where there is no virtue in it at all (at least from a buddhist point of view) ...
This isn't "virtue signaling" any more than Evangelical Christians doing the same kind of "virtue signaling" to advance their communities interests (throughout the Biden presidency and the constant trans panic in the Republican campaign ads). It has nothing to do with Buddhism any more than what the stuff put out by Pastor Greg Locke has anything to do with Jesus.
"American" Buddhism is a religion now, and like Evangelicals are "virtual signaling" to the right, these guys are "virtual signaling" to the left. I have some idea of what left wing Christians who feel alienated by where American Christianity is going must be feeling right now...
Seems like the I Hate Donald Trump talk was more a confession of the talker’s fear and personal weakness and a reflection on how to respond generously to-let’s not shit ourselves-an extremely unpleasant and poisonous human with undue power and influence on the relative world, and how not to wage war on those who love the fella. It does not seem to be an endorsement of hatred or a spirited defense of further political warfare. It’s an annoying title, but effective for clicks (not unlike the title of this video, I imagine you’d be the first to admit).
I mean, yeah-how does one respond skilfully to such an odious and otiose public figure? That strawman aside, I think you pretty much nail it. This is a wonderful moment for the left to figure itself out; shift from self-defeating attack-rhetoric; refrain from inflicting inscrutable postmodern lingo on the general public; and start leading by wholesome example rather than scaremongering fiat. Cue Abraham Lincoln and the better angels of our nature
"I'm not going to kill you. But I don't have to save you"! Batman from Batman Begins.
May not be the best time for me to find a sangha online to re-start meditating with a group -- I am closer to Paul Stanley and Brad than Halifax by far.
I don't think you actually listened to the 'I Hate Donald Trump' talk that the old woman gave.
I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt because If you did listen, you are misrepresenting it.
It was mostly about dealing with her fear and negative feelings.
I'm sure 82 year old Joan Halifax is having similar problems.
My advice to you is that you should probably just leave the old women alone and move on to other, younger targets.
The right-wingers in his audience wouldn’t approve.
She is nothing but fear, anger and contempt for her fellow citizens. She's a delusional disgrace posing as a spiritual teacher.
@@StreetzWalker It's not a good look for Brad to be badgering old people because they're afraid. IMO
This would be completely understandable and unproblematic if it were not mixed up with Buddhist teachings. I am not particularly familiar with Buddhism in the US and what goes on in your zen centers and such, but a sangha is not a place to vent about the outcome of a political election and engage in identity politics, a Buddhist community is not a place for emotional outbursts and to wallow in entrenched personal views. I am from Germany and therefore do not know whether I should even comment on this or not. Here, the general rejection of Trump is even more of a consensus and there is a similar amount of political division elsewhere in society, but I do not see such a strong mixing of identity politics and personal views with Buddhist teachings and practice. I don't know the exact context, but if these people are giving their speeches in the middle of a sangha, I find it out of place, but if they are just expressing their worries and fears as private individuals via social media and the like outside of their sangha, I see nothing wrong with that.
13:39 sounds like youre quite a fan of his. You must be pretty excited for project 2025.
@@Ope_itsadam I hope you’re joking.
@HardcoreZen I'm not. You're dismissing the harm that he absolutely will do. You're either willfully ignoring how bad things got last time or you're glad for the way it went down. I don't know what happened to you, but, somewhere along the line you lost your good sense and it's really disappointing. I know this won't make a dent in your day to day, but, I can't imagine being so detached that I would ignore all of the past evidence and LITERALLY WHAT THEY ARE SAYING and pretend that this is going to be ok.
@@Ope_itsadam Ok. Thanks for your input.
I’m coming at this from a Taoist perspective, but there’s plenty in the Tao Te Ching about corrupt leaders with swords by their sides, and also “even if he is not good, why should he be abandoned?”. Lao Tzu is a different entity to the Buddha, so he comes at the problem of a Trump figure from a unique perspective that might cross over into Zen a bit.
Hi Brad. The "Law of Attraction" that you mentioned is actually a watered-down version of a genuine teaching in Western esotericism, which is known as the "Law of Mentalism". This teaching is explained quite clearly in The Kybalion which is one of the classic texts of 20th century Western esotericism. Similar to the views of Yogachara school of Buddhism, this view expounds that the universe itself is a single/united conscious being (like a Universal Mind), and everything in the universe (living or nonliving) has some degree of consciousness. Furthermore, according to this view, every being can alter their reality to some limited degree, by using their mental faculties (like concentration, visualization, willpower etc.), and the effect of these faculties are proportional to the current evolutionary development level of these beings. I'm sure that you will find this view interesting :)
Right on Brad -- no fan of Trump, but Dems have lost their way. Dividing us further is certainly not the answer
This is not a Dem or Republican thing. For crying out loud, there were Republicans who spent the last four years denying that Biden was even the legitimate president. And lest I forget, "Let's go Brandon"? Politics since at least the first Obama administration has grown increasingly polarized.
Ironically, the Dems did the opposite of dividing us. Kamala Harris literally brought Liz Cheney on the campaign trail in a misguided attempt at "unity" with the right which alienated the left. Dems have lost their way, but not because of division, but because Dems have not embraced "left-wing" populism (aka Bernie Sanders), essentially abandoning the working class.
sure and the GOP has not lost any way? it's a cult. It's fine to blame the Dems for their flaws, but holding them to a different standards than the other party that's high on hate is a bit on the nose 😉
Do you have a link for that SFZC dharma talk that says they hate Trump? I can't find it. Thanks.
i hate this man i never met... seems realy zen..
Can we talk less about Tulsi Gabbard but talk more about Dogen?
"If voting changed anything they'd make it illegal"
Get out there and do some good old direct action my American friends
Two thoughts. First, I agree that being smug or superior is not helpful. Second, I hope that people can differentiate between smug commentary and commentary that is meant to be supportive. There is a lot of valid fear based on the here and now. My thoughts aren't meant to come across as a criticism of your video. Instead, I'd implore people to consider why minority groups are afraid. Especially as we have started to see cabinet choices and policy confirmation.
During times of fear, knowing where a person can turn is important, and if they have a community to go to. For me, I'd like to believe that the community I turn towards will not support homophobia or racism, among several other basic human rights.
Well spoken
I am Canadian and I would gladly trade justin trudeau for Trump
justin trudeau is what you call "delulu"
You have a deal.
@@borsdobhran3557 Please consider your political preconceptions. You haven't at all in years. I guarantee it. That's one way to help dissolve that pesky human ego.🙏
It’s crazy how people who follow the Buddha’s teachings actually think that voting for Trump just came down to blind, base evil. 😂 I guess zazen really is good for nothing! 😂🤣
It is a big mistake not to realize that. It is, in reality, good for nothing.. You just have to place great value on that thought.
These are people who are unable to be objective let alone consciously compartmentalize or organize their minds. Some call them "hylics"... I just think of them as permanently hysterical body forms who are subservient to their biology and make no efforts to step outside themselves for reference or perspective.
This is the result of the "mainstreaming" of practices and concepts like Zen. Much like yoga without prana teachings and interest in spiritual insights... it just becomes chicks in yoga pants vainly posting on Instagram with a very thin veneer of branded market level spirituality.
All package, no product.
Problem is, these modern "Zen" people seem to even get the package wrong. At least the posers in the Yoga pants usually understand basic aesthetics.
I still recall a post Brad wrote on his old Hardcore Zen blog...'I am George W. Bush.' One of my fav essays. I was kinda hoping for I am Donald Trump, but this one's close. I live in the American south. Nearly all of my family and neighbors are avid Trump supporters. My wife and I are not fans, yet our family never stopped getting together for holidays or cookouts. We mostly just avoid sensitive topics like religion or politics. This used to be common for polite society. It was considered rude to discuss such topics in 'mixed' company. The idea of dis-owning or going no contact with your children or parents due to who they vote for is bizarre to my sensibilities. All the division we see out there begins right here, in our thinking. Trying to solve division via more division does not work.
Thanks, Brad. The amount of wokery in Western Buddhism is shocking.
edit: Oh, and a run-on sentence isn't one that seems to go on too long.
“I drive she walks.” is technically a run on sentence 😂 length is irrelevant. Two or more clauses not separated by a coma, semi colon or conjunction. Just wanted to add to and clarify your brilliant statement. Most people don’t know that fact, and i appreciate people who teach for free!
Another thing that is revealed from the ranting and hate posts by dharma teachers and practitioners is that they have no problem lying and grossly so. They fail to understand that all their hating and upset based on the lies they choose to believe is delusion and negative emotional poisons of their own mind. That thing right there reveals a lot about the kind of practitioners and ”bodhisattvas” they are. Nishijima Roshi’s advice to study hated information is like the dawn. Beautiful 👌
I felt comfortable enough at my Zen Center to say out loud that it didn’t matter who won, I’d still have been disappointed on Wednesday morning. That’s the kinda sangha I love.
Very very briefly is koan practice a method of being aware of contradictions?
ChatGPT: Yes, koan practice often involves contemplating paradoxes or contradictions to break habitual thinking and cultivate deeper awareness.
Very very briefly is koan practice therefore a helpful tool that may have been originally intended to prevent psychological projections, which are inherently contradictory.
ChatGPT: Yes, koan practice could be seen as a tool to prevent psychological projections by confronting contradictions and disrupting habitual, illusory thinking.
Very very briefly does Trump have the exact symptoms that the koans seem intended to prevent?
ChatGPT: Yes, Trump’s behavior, marked by contradictions and projections, may exhibit symptoms that koan practice seeks to prevent.
USians who voted for either party voted for Jen O Side which doesn't seem to be congruent with not being a jerk, or so it seems to this simpleton
I think the roots of American zen are deeply intertwined with activism (particularly in the Bernie Glassman lineage), due to the integration of Buddhist principles with social engagement. I remain more drawn to the 'not always so' school of dharma.
It's folly to let someone like Trump or anyone or anything to disrupt one's inner equanimity.
This video is such a breath of fresh air. Keeping it bookmarked to share when we Canadians head to the polls next year.👃
Please bring the music intros back. I liked them.
I will! Thanks!
It's telling how you quote the statements from Lion's Roar with a mocking tone and can't even be bothered to finish a longer sentence. You simply can't wait to present your own opinion on the topic and get these likes from your target audience. And of course: please donate!
What makes me tired is that these teachers and roshis overtly mix politics, compassion, and dharma. This leads to people who are not practitioners holding zen people in contempt and derision. Instead, they should have focused on emotions and behavior without political overtones or direct naming of individuals. To me, it now seems that centers, teachers, and roshis take political stances in their dharma talks/teishos. This could backfire in many ways. Exhausting. Viva Ziggy!
Thanks Brad for not hating and calling out the haters which doesn't sound like what the Buddha would recommend.
I didn't vote for him. I cast my ballot. I did my part but alas, here we are. I am here today and I will be here tomorrow. It would be a waste of my time to hate Trump and Republicans. Anger is a poison. Also, you cannot control the winds but you can adjust your sails. The next four years will come. Grief, sorrow etc. seem like a waste. This is my take on it anyways. Good video Brad. Thanks.
What would be the zen equivalent of the God Bless the USA Bible? The Buddha Bless America Heart Sutra? The possibilities of zen MAGA are endless...
If you think it is zen to support trump you should seriously reconsider your position and faith and maybe gain a little understanding of what it is all about.
"the enemy is those who would seek to divide us". Aka Mr Putin.
Who says everyone is supposed to be united?
Making everyone think the same and act the same is what happens in leftist nations.
Lol, not the zionist neocons then?
Shitlib
We all want criminals to face justice. We all want the system to apply its rules and laws equally to everyone. When that doesn't happen it is an outrage. So what's the difference between hate and outrage? Hate can be directed at the system, and outrage can be directed at its citizens whose morals and principles are compromised. Much hate is the result of Trump having so much wealth. We see that as some ultimate reward, but I see it as a nightmare. Who would want his life? I'm moving towards compassion for the guy now. He is a gift from the Grand Creator to wake us up. Take everything he represents and reverse it. Anti-Christ? Yup. But like Mr. T once said, "I pity the fool!"
Hey Brad, how do you have a good time all the time
Finally, we can also start complaining that the way of Zen has degenerated, just as the ancients did.
Thanks for speaking up, Brad!
you are being reasonable, compassionate and understanding in what you are saying and I congratulate you for being courageous enough to say them knowing it could effect you negatively in the pocket book! (if i were to say these reasonable things to my "liberal" inner circle I would be ... disregarded at least... if not tar and feathered and taken out of town on a rail )
you're right brad! imo buddism and politics are two things that should never mix. politics are an expression of impermanence. i don't understand how so many teachers can get so wrapped up in their sense of self over it. on the flip, trump has a tendency to tailor his words to his audience, so he might criticize racists if the people he's speaking to would like that, and lean more heavily into his "criminals are pouring into this country" rhetoric when interacting with a (to put in bluntly and save space) racist audience. so you really can't take the guy at his word, you have to look at the actual policies he supports, which....yeesh.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU so much, Brad, for staying true and staying punk. I write to you regularly, brother, and I would say your are 100% right. No pun intended. In the words of Great Master Dōgen,
“… people who practice virtue improve; those who produce unwholesomeness degenerate; practice the cause and experience the results…”
Dōgen’s Eihei Kōroku, Vol 3; 251
Thanks again for all you do. Love you, bro❤
Nailed it, Brad. Much respect. The Zen protest against Trump sounds a lot of ignorance and aversion masquerading as "spirituality." Paul Stanley was right. As is often the case, we have to rely on burnt out rock and rollers, not gurus, to inject lucidity into the obscurantism of our current political landscape.
Well if America wants women dieing because they can't get an abortion, immigrant children split from their families put in cages I can't help thinking it is a sad sick world over there. Krishnamurti once said the right choice is always compassion, he never said never ever make a choice though he wasn't keen on making a chooser.
Compassion for who? People were making a choice on whom they wanted to be compassionate for (or perhaps punish. It's not totally out of the question that the Democrats think evil misogynist racists should be punished for their views and actions.) It keeps getting lost from the conversation that a lot of people are against abortion because they think it harms unborn babies. Besides, abortion is not now illegal in the US, it just got handed back to the states to decide. Congress could get their act together to change that instead on a national level instead of depending on legal fiat decided by unelected judges. And thirdly, Trump keeps saying he is not anti-abortion.
No political party has the corner on compassion and we need to stop painting it that way.
it is obvious the right choice would be to save the woman, and also to not put children in cages to any sane person devoid of any political affiliiation.
@@markbrad123 how do you know the adults they are with are members of their family and not people who are trafficking them?
I am not hugely familiar with ancient Buddhist lore but didn't the first Buddhist monks teach warlords and brigands and tyrants not just people who agreed with them?
They would have had to deal with them especially in ancient Asia.
Hey Brad,
Long time no watch! I wrote you a few years back about why you didn't talk about trump and this is what you said:
"I don't speak about Trump not because Buddha said not to get political. I never do something just because some authority said to do it. It matters more to me WHY he said it.
I feel that there's nothing I could say about Trump that you couldn't hear from 1,000 other people. But there is a lot I could say about Zen that very few (if any) people are saying. That's where I want to focus my energy. "
At the time I wrote you, I was a kid full of piss and vinegar. I'm still a kid, but no longer full of piss and vinegar. I think I understand your perspective (and Buddha's) more. I gotta get back on the zafu.
Do any of these ding-dongs you quoted actually _practice_ zazen? Doesn't look like it.
Great insight in this one.
I absolutely agree! Thanks for this video! Makes me feel less alone!
It is pretty hard to deny that Donald Trump said some really awful things, Brad. He engaged in profanity, the basest name-calling, and many outright lies. But I guess being civil in our civil society isn't much of an option anymore. I believe that Buddhism calls us to be compassionate and understanding, none of which I saw in the Trump camp, from J.D. Vance to Tony Hinchcliffe (sp?).
Would have thought that good and bad were ultimately indeterminate. Its hard to judge without a birds eye view of events and we tend not to have that. I find it perplexing that these people can know with certainty that something is bad or good... on what basis. Surely Its only due to personal preferences. I think its fine to have biases and preferences (we mostly all have them) . as long as they aren't taken as The Truth and arent productive of further division and enmity. I think there are flaws on both sides of politics and virtues too, but when one completely glosses over those flaws and shortcomings and demonizes the opposition.. It doesn't make for a very understanding or nuanced view of things.
Thank you Brad!! Insightful and practical as always!
Sing and jump for Donald Trump! For he too possess the Buddha-nature.
Well done Brad. You made some good points on a sensitive subject.
Braid, I’ve been listening to you for years now and I am extremely grateful for your perspective. It is extremely similar to mine, and it seems like the spiritual world has turned into a place to control the narrative. Thank you for being real Homie.
Don't shit all over the now.
I can't say that I'm able to listen with "an open mind", because I come to this talk from a place of bias. I already know that I "don't like" DT based on what I have personally observed from him over the last almost 10 years (before that he wasn't really on my radar). What I take the most exception with in this talk, is the accusation that so many of us base our distaste for DT on misrepresentation, when it's primarily (for me and those I tend to communicate with) based almost completely on what we have observed coming directly from DT... unless it's all deep faked and that's a layer I'm not going to concern myself with. My only other exception is that you didn't really offer guidance as to how we really should approach this situation.
For me, I've certainly been pushed and pulled by my emotions. There is certainly a tendency to be "angry" at those who support DT, an a basic inability to comprehend *GOOD* reasons, like... healthy reasons why anyone would actually support him. In fact, I cannot justify it. I cannot generate good feelings towards people who would choose to support such an obviously "bad" person. I can't say that I'm completely without compassion for them, but compassion doesn't necessarily involve accepting harmful people into your life, in fact it shouldn't.
So that leaves us again with "how to react". The only solid place I've found for this situation is to yes, ground myself in the present. Accept reality as it is and also, look for ways to change things I see as harmful to myself and those I love, which I will continue to do as much as possible and whatever that means moving forward.
All of that being said.... as much as I dislike his behavior, I can't say that HATE DT either. I'm not sure that I HATE anyone anymore. Hate is such a... controlling emotion. It's toxic to the person who holds it. Just knowing that doesn't fix it of course, but I think it's something that is slowly melted away through practice. I don't hate him, but I certainly wouldn't invite him over for dinner and frankly, I'd much prefer to see him facing the prison time he truly deserves.
Politics for Buddhists: protect freedom of expression and religion. Ensure stability of politics and economy. Then we can continue practicing, no matter who is in charge.
People vote for all sorts of reasons, mostly in my experience because they think it's what their friends or family want. I'm from sunny England where I sell my vote to a friend every election for the price of one pint of English lager. It makes him happy if I vote Labour, and we get to engage in a bit of theatre and have a laugh about the whole thing
Other anarchists I know don't vote at all, and (rightly) get quite irate when people who turn out once every 4 years to engage in a bit of politics accuse those who do politics every day of being "apathetic"
I'm not sure if this video is about how politics should(n't) be a part of budhist communities or about the politics themselves. Community leaders seem to be channeling the sentiment they see around them and aligning themselves with it, which can create a kind of bubble. On the other hand, Brad doesn't seem to be standing for much of anything besides radical centrism, which is a strong dedication to creating a false equivalence between two sides when there is none. Unless you tolerate violence from one side and give none of the same affordances to the other.
Has anyone called the SF Zen Center to check on them?
Hope they didn't go Heavens Gate.
Lmao Gabbard is part of the Trump team.
Gotta please the Fox republicans.
Way too many Buddhist teachers here in the West use Buddhism as a soapbox from which to publicly air their personal political opinions.
You know what? I'm interested in BUDDHISM, not your personal political biases.
I really wish these people would keep Buddhism bias-free.
I really don't care what your politics are as far as Buddhism is concerned.
Please do everyone a favor and keep your personal political biases to yourselves.
You’re not wrong
Did anyone check out the I hate Donald Trump dharma talk at SFZC? It’s actually really good and honest talk.
I didn't listen. The title alone is a big, big, big problem. A very big problem.
I get that. But the actual talk is really good. She says that all MAGA supporters should always feel welcome in the zendo. How she admits to hating Trump and how she deals with that. It’s actually a good talk. I’m not trying to stir anything up here or cause any problems. Just ma 2 pennys worth!
@@gojuglen Maybe I should listen. She accused me of being "Trump-ian" (probably the highest insult in her vocabulary) which makes me really not interested in anything she has to say.
@ ahh right. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to listen. I think she’s kind of saying she admits to letting her hate for Trump get the best of her and how she’s trying to work with that. I guess we all make mistakes and say things about folks we later look back on with some elements of cringe and embarrassment! I certainly do !
I was coming back from Valencia after the terrible floods in Spain. Anyway with 12 hours over night in Barcelona airport I had the BBC election coverage on in the US. Anyway I was sat in an area where many Americans were coming, waiting for the shuttles to take them around, to their plane gates. I was surprised how many didn't appear to be following the election or ask me who was winning. A friend who was in the US before the election about two months ago said she could just tell seeing Trump posters everywhere. I think Musk is tricky, he's a worry.Trump is basically about making more money for himself and is lazy but Musk has the ideas, the change agenda. Also I just bet Musk will go for the presidency after Trump. I'm sure that's part of his interest in it. Trump is a big worry for Europe on Ukraine since a shitty deal with Putin would be a huge win for Putin.
Musk is not eligible to be president.
Go eff yourself, limey. Fight your own damn wars and stop trying to get the US to always do it for you.
Now imagine how the rest of the world (e.g. Europeans) feel with all those feelings pushed toward us, all we read is Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump... it's trumping our zen, maaan. :D
In the Mahaparinibbana Sutta, Sid expounds on the qualities of a good king. Donald Trump is not a good king. However, one must stay detached about what happens in the world. In the scheme of things, the election of Donald Trump is a minor thing, compared to many of the disasters that happen all the time. I must say I did not find Brad's talk to be in the right spirit. Ridiculing the people who ridicule other people is not the right way to make a point.
To me these whining "representatives" heard from in these left-leaning publications appear as the poorest quality of a practitioner. If you've written books, given teachings, lead Dharma groups and in general advertise yourself to be a person befit to be called a guru/lama/roshi/etc., but you can't handle a simple disappointment with samsara, your practice isn't worth the digital "ink" on our screens. If my teachers lost their cool, their nerve or their mind over such a thing, I'd distance myself from them, and seek someone who can embody what they claim to teach.
I began practicing in bloomington IN and everything I've learned comes from the teachers there. Moving to the west coast(i wont say where) i was rlly sad to see my local zen center talk more about politics(which we probably almost all agree on) then anything to do with practice! If I came to our zendo and was someone politically right i would instantly leave, why push away a potential sangha member. It made no sense to me.
Strange how meditation teachers that I learned from can believe totally insane ideology. It's as if they forgot that the Buddha was not about cultivating identity.
"I don't want to defend the guy" while straight up defending the guy. Liked some of what you had to say though, which is new for me.
Could you imagine acting like Trump as an everyday person and having people defending you? What a dream!
Are you guys stuck in a cycle?
Stuck on spin-cycle at the laundomat sounds like a narcissists wet dream. Enjoy!
It’s entertaining to see how divided some of these comments are.
Keep livin’ the dream y’all✌️
'donald trump' is a fictional character..
for some 'the good guy'
for others 'the bad guy' but
nonetheless
a 'fictional character'
🤔
a 'strange attractor' of
emotions
and
thoughts
of 'desirous hope'
or 'fearful anger'
me thunks
even if you're not interested in politics, politics is interested in you.
I think you're fairly right on this onw