Always Hungry For Another Animal's Meat

You need to know something. I’m on the verge of a relationship, but nervous as a gazelle. I still bear the scars of previous wounds, you know? Disappointment, to the point of loathing even, if I’m to be honest. Forces greater breaking the bond, tarnishing my admittedly starry-eyed vision. And yet, here we are, and I can’t just suppress my feelings. Is this the one? Finally? Is it?

Image: "Obama," by Alex Grey

What? What did you think I was on about? Get outta here. I don’t wear this funny skirt for nothin’.

For a couple weeks, I’ve been pondering (relatively) enlightened leadership and wondering if it’s even possible in these times. The undercurrent of my thinking was neatly summed up by the first sentence of a very peculiar book I just read (culled, naturally, from Brother Don's scriptorium), 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl by Daniel Pinchbeck, which reads, "Our civilization is on a path of ever-increasing acceleration, but what are we rushing toward?" 

Besides obsessively watching the evolution of America’s latest national elections, other thoughts, such as they are, were triggered by a column published in The Guardian by Burmese monk blogger Ashin Mettacara. Lamenting the atrocious conditions created by the current crew of demons in his country, he says this:

“My advice to the world's leaders is that all leaders should have kindness, without kindness the leaders are useless. So all leaders should consider how to heal ‘Burma disease’ or how to cure the suffering of Burmese people. However, most world leaders are forgetting even the suffering of their own people. In fact, leaders are like lions and tigers, who are always hungry for another animal's meat.”

This led me to think about Nagarjuna (c. 150-250 CE), the extraordinary Indian progenitor of one lineage of Mahayana Buddhism. His “Letter to a Friend,” written to an aspiring bodhisattva-king in south India, Nagarjuna offers one of the pithiest, yet comprehensive, expressions of the Mahayana (Alexander Berzin has posted his translation online, while an excellent translation with commentary was published in 2006). This bit jumped out at me as echoing the quote above:

“View as enemies stinginess, guile, pretense, 
Attachment, lethargy, false pride, 
Lust, hatred, and conceit over greatness of caste, 
Physique, education, youth, or power. 

“The Sage has proclaimed that caring is the (mental) stand for the nectar (of immortality), 
While not caring is the stand for death. 
Therefore, to boost your constructive Dharma measures, 
You need to have a caring attitude, always, through being appreciative. 

“Anyone who previously didn’t care, 
And later develops a caring attitude, 
Becomes as beautiful as the moon when parted from clouds...”

Considering the situation in Burma, I also recalled the Mahayana precepts revealed and expounded by Nagarjuna. There are 18 root vows one must observe, the first five of which, as presented in Ngari Panchen’s Perfect Conduct, “are closely related to rulers.” In Dudjom Rinpoche’s commentary, he explains:

“The third root downfall is, out of anger and aggression, to disrobe, expel, strike, punish, or imprison a monk, whether he is a pure upholder of morality or not. To cause the monk to be reduced to lay status, or to instigate others to do this, constitutes the downfall.”

Widening our view, two other ancient examples of attempts at enlightened leadership are India’s King Ashoka (c. 304-232 BCE) and Tibet’s Songtsen Gampo (617-698 CE). The former became repulsed by the wholesale slaughter and destruction his army inflicted during war with the Kalinga country. He turned to the Buddhist path and became arguably one of the world’s most righteous emperors ever. He instructed his subjects in wholesome living through a host of “dharma ambassadors,” but also through the medium of edicts carved into rocks and pillars throughout his vast empire. The extant ones are translated here (they’re all great – look how he also pays close attention to the care of animals and the environment, as well as making strong statements about respecting all religious traditions within his realm), and this one caught my eye:

“Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, does not consider glory and fame to be of great account unless they are achieved through having my subjects respect Dhamma and practice Dhamma, both now and in the future. For this alone does Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, desire glory and fame. And whatever efforts Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, is making, all of that is only for the welfare of the people in the next world, and that they will have little evil. And being without merit is evil. This is difficult for either a humble person or a great person to do except with great effort, and by giving up other interests. In fact, it may be even more difficult for a great person to do.”

And, as a corollary:

“Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, speaks thus: To do good is difficult. One who does good first does something hard to do. I have done many good deeds, and, if my sons, grandsons and their descendants up to the end of the world act in like manner, they too will do much good. But whoever amongst them neglects this, they will do evil. Truly, it is easy to do evil.”

King Songtsen Gampo was the first of the Three Dharma Kings of Tibet, who also ruled over a vast empire. Once his rule was stabilized, he established a legal system based on the “Sixteen Pure Human Laws” and avoiding the ten non-virtues.

{Want a really intense read? Dig how the arhat Nagasena brilliantly converts the second century BCE King of the Greeks with flawless answers to The Questions of King Milinda.}

In our contemporary world, we have the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan instituting means to cultivate Gross National Happiness. From a recent article at the Buddhist Channel, I just love this:

“‘Happiness is very serious business,’ Bhutan Prime Minister Jigme Thinley said. ‘The dogma of limitless productivity and growth in a finite world is unsustainable and unfair for future generations.’”

And this:

“‘People are shy to use the word happiness,’ said Dasho Karma Ura, president of the Center for Bhutan Studies in the capital Thimphu, which launched the informational Web site grossnationalhappiness.com last week. ‘Defining happiness is not what is important. What is important is providing the conditions through which people can achieve happiness as they understand it.’”

Part of me seriously wants to move to Bhutan...

Anyway, President-elect Obama. I’ve got this unbearable tension between hope and apprehension as he assembles his administration. I love the folks he’s putting into health care and energy, and Hillary as SOS, but the war rhetoric? Not so much. In any case, over at beliefnet I just found an older interview with Obama that delves quite thoroughly into his spiritual attitudes. Here’s a taste:

"FALSANI: So you got yourself born again?

OBAMA: Yeah, although I don't, I retain from my childhood and my experiences growing up a suspicion of dogma. And I'm not somebody who is always comfortable with language that implies I've got a monopoly on the truth, or that my faith is automatically transferable to others.

I'm a big believer in tolerance. I think that religion at it's best comes with a big dose of doubt. I'm suspicious of too much certainty in the pursuit of understanding just because I think people are limited in their understanding.

I think that, particularly as somebody who's now in the public realm and is a student of what brings people together and what drives them apart, there's an enormous amount of damage done around the world in the name of religion and certainty."

...

"FALSANI: Do you pray often?

OBAMA: Uh, yeah, I guess I do.

It’s not formal, me getting on my knees. I think I have an ongoing conversation with God. I think throughout the day, I'm constantly asking myself questions about what I'm doing, why am I doing it.

One of the interesting things about being in public life is there are constantly these pressures being placed on you from different sides. To be effective, you have to be able to listen to a variety of points of view, synthesize viewpoints. You also have to know when to be just a strong advocate, and push back against certain people or views that you think aren't right or don't serve your constituents.

And so, the biggest challenge, I think, is always maintaining your moral compass. Those are the conversations I'm having internally. I'm measuring my actions against that inner voice that for me at least is audible, is active, it tells me where I think I'm on track and where I think I'm off track.

It's interesting particularly now after this election, comes with it a lot of celebrity. And I always think of politics as having two sides. There's a vanity aspect to politics, and then there's a substantive part of politics. Now you need some sizzle with the steak to be effective, but I think it's easy to get swept up in the vanity side of it, the desire to be liked and recognized and important. It's important for me throughout the day to measure and to take stock and to say, now, am I doing this because I think it's advantageous to me politically, or because I think it's the right thing to do? Am I doing this to get my name in the papers or am I doing this because it's necessary to accomplish my motives.

FALSANI: Checking for altruism?

OBAMA: Yeah. I mean, something like it.

Looking for...it's interesting, the most powerful political moments for me come when I feel like my actions are aligned with a certain truth. I can feel it. When I'm talking to a group and I'm saying something truthful, I can feel a power that comes out of those statements that is different than when I'm just being glib or clever."

So, this is all just a jumping off point for a conversation, if you like. I’m wondering, do you see the potential for more enlightened leadership with Obama? What would that look like to you in the 21^st century? What are your hopes and fears in this turbulent time? Do you think he at least won’t get shoes thrown at him at the end of his run?

Comments

[Sangye]

I've been an Obama supporter since his 2004 DNC speech. I think he's living up to his promises to do business a new way.

I remember during the campaign, he was asked how (or if) he could be inclusive of pro-lifers as president. His answer was something like "If someone believes in the sanctity of life and carries it all the way through to the end, I can't find fault with that. We may not all agree with abortion, but we can all agree that we must prevent unwanted pregnancies."

Obama not only knows how to find common ground between people, he honors it. There's an openness and willingness there that isn't contrived.

[Christian]

The part of me which wants to move to Bhutan is getting pretty impatient these days. It seems that things go slowly in that country... which, no doubt, contributes to the overall happiness of the bhutaneses!

I was pondering the same kind of questions as the Prime Minister, the other day.
Many accounts I read about economic prospects are like this: "Make more children or else the economy will diminish."

Then where is people supposed to stack their children in an overpopulated world? How long is going to be possible, in a finite world?

These thoughts are at the core of an ideological movement in France, called "decroissance". Too soon to know if it is going to be some sort of return of the hippies or not.

The picture of Mr. Obama is seriously funny! Thanks.

My fears in this turbulent time is that the USA try to do some good abroad again, like spreading democracy, or be a world leader in finance.

My other concern is that France keeps to present herself as a world model in human rights, considering the staggering amount of violations according to the European Court of Human Rights, and the pathetic bows to China's aggressive policies.

[Sarah]

My kid has somehow begun to equate Barak Obama with Santa Claus. For example:

Q: "Can Santa make it snow?"

A: "Uh, sure, maybe."

Q: "Can Barak Obama make it snow?"

A: "Damn straight he can, son!"

He's such a little sponge I have to assume he's picked up some of this starry-eyed admiration of The Big O from his folks. His formerly perpetually cranky, disengaged, politically dispirited folks.

My hope is that Obama's ability to inspire and to lead actually will inspire Americans to lose the cynicism and engage on behalf of what's great about our country. My fear is that same shiny sparkle will soothe us into figuring that Obama Claus will just take care of it for us.

[Northmoon]

Given that most human beings on the planet worship the material over the spiritual, my theory is we get the leadership we want/deserve. Our democratic systems are largely controlled by the corporations that fund them, with help from the media propaganda paid for by corporate ownership and advertising. I wish Obama well, but there's only so much even a good leader can do to change things.

“‘Happiness is very serious business,’ Bhutan Prime Minister Jigme Thinley said. ‘The dogma of limitless productivity and growth in a finite world is unsustainable and unfair for future generations.’”

I love this quote. What a refreshing attitude. How rare that someone in power is considering the intangeable benefits, instead of only measuring success on economic (material) growth.

[Palzang]

I certainly hope and pray that President Obama carries on with what he's talked about. What a blessed relief that would be, to have a President that commands respect and devotion rather than someone to throw shoes at!

[susan opihory]

how can anyone consider
barack obama an enlightened
man. he sat in the pews
of a church run by a man
(rev. wright) who spewed
hate and rascism every
sunday. obama considered
rev wright to be "enlightened" as well. obama
comes out of the chicago political
environment that is a cesspool of corruption yet
people think he is the only
one who is not tainted by
it. take the rose colored
glasses off and see
him for what he is. he
got sweetheart real estate
deals and is now on vacation
in a 30 million dollar home
in hawaii while thousands
of people lose their jobs
every week. stop following
false prophets people. this
cult of personality is scary.