On Feb 27, 2009, at 4:10 PM, claudiouk wrote:
One aspect of MMY's teachings that seems hopelessly "unenlightened" to me was his take on democracy, which he saw as socially devisive and irresponsible. For instance he talked disparangely about the Labour Party in the UK, believing that mere "labourers", totally uneducated, were running the country. Yet some of his key political ideas seem oddly "democratic", eg: (1) Government = reflection of collective consciousness of the people (2) Ideal Society = self-governing individuals, attuned to Natural Law I saw a video today where MMY again attacked democracy and praised the Vedic division of society into four groups on the basis of birth - albeit in terms of Jyotish rather than socio-economic class. The whole thing just grates with me - also the gender divisions increasingly apparent in the Movement. Just wondering what FFL participants make of all this (sorry if it's been discussed before..)! Is it possible to argue the case for a VEDIC Democracy?
In regards to the gender divisions, I'll share a post from another list, it's about not being able to express negativity, and being institutionally pathological about not even acknowledging the shadow. I have much more respect for someone who can embrace their shadow and the collective shadow. Those gurus who refuse to acknowledge a shadow and present themselves as "shadowless" are always the ones we have to worry the most about. Of course if you're ignoring the marginalization of the feminine in your org, that's a real dead canary in the coal mine for me:
It's interesting, because I have much more respect for those who can share their triumphs...and their failings, with at least some approach towards equanimity and then towards action. Avoidance of parts of life as "negativity" that cannot be spoken just seems so counterintuitive to me now.
Jack Kornfield tells the story of meetings he helps convene yearly which are meetings of various Buddhist teachers, from all the great schools. On one particular year, it was held at the residence of Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, India. The topic was Buddhism in the modern world, and the difficulties they encountered. The room was filled with teachers whose teachings and actions had given benefits to thousands and thousands of people. They spoke of their great successes and their joy in being part of them.
But then it came time to speak of their problems, their failures and shortcomings. It became clear that spiritual life is not entirely harmonious. There were individual struggles and there were individual neuroses. There were areas of prejudice and areas of blindness.
One woman in particular pointed out how difficult it was to simply be female or to express feminine wisdom in the Buddhist community. She pointed to all the beautiful statues and paintings that filled the room they were in...and how they were all....male.
Then she asked all those in the room to close their eyes to meditate with her and to imagine they were entering the room anew, but that they instead bowed to the 14th female Dalai Lama. With her were advisors who had always been female. Surrounding them were statues and paintings of beings, all in women's bodies. Of course it was never taught in the teachings that there was anything lesser about being a man. Despite that the men hung out on the periphery and when everything was over, it was their job to clean and cook.
At the end of her meditation, all the men opened their eyes, somewhat astonished. Then, Ani Tenzin Palmo, a Tibetan Buddhist nun who was raised as the daughter of an English fishmonger and who had trained for 20 years--12 of them in caves on the Tibetan border--spoke. In her gentle voice, she described the spiritual longing and the incredible hardships of women who can only remain on the edge of the monasteries happenings, often without teachings, food or support.
When she finished, the Dalai Lama put his head, in his hands...and wept. He pledged his foremost support to revise the place of women in his community to one of more equality.
There was no sense I got from Jack's story that these experiences needed to be shunted or avoided somehow. Instead they were embraced in such a way that they could move forward. That's not to say that everything somehow miraculously changed, but at least the fuller reality was acknowledged as much as possible.
In my current way of seeing things, it's hard for me to imagine any real evolution taking place without such earned equanimity. It would be impossible for me to respect a teacher who could not also embrace this everyday paradox that is our condition.
