I recently found the following post by Dhamma81 to pretty much reflect my views on Buddhism and Politics, so figured I'd give it some attention.
Personally I've grown weary of political leaders, engaged Buddhists, economic systems and ideas that try to change the outer world into a better place. In my opinion trying to make the world a better place is a noble ideal but nothing more then that. It doesn't mean that we ought to shirk our responsibility for acting in accordance with the principles of morality in our day to day life but I think it's a waste to try to make the outside world a better place.
I wouldn't go so far as to call it a waste, but some people out there do seem focused on external things to the detriment of themselves. My philosophy is, do what I can when the opportunity arises but don't get obsessed with how everything is the fault of a certain politician, or buy into the delusion that if we just elect so-in-so then everything will be great.
I think it's also important to see the good and bad in everything. In other words, try to see the Tibet situation, for example, as it actually is. Is one side really all good and the other side really all bad? This is pretty much never the case. Often in many of these conflicts the more you look at it, the more it looks like two bad guys fighting rather than a good guy fighting a bad guy.
1 comments:
Robert-
Perhaps the word "waste" was a little strong in my post. I think you have elaborated on what I said in a skillful manner. You do what you can and let go what you can't do anything about.
You are right, people tend to fall for the fantasy that political hopefuls spin about how everything would be great if they are in office. You and I and others know that it's never really more then a fantasy. We have it pretty good here compared to people in some other countries, but to think a utopian society exists on the outside and that it comes from well elected public officials is sure to lead to dissapointment. After all I think a lot of what you wrote about in your last post "Buddhism and Politics" was dead on. The greed hatred and delusion of individuals is responsible for the way things are and not a leader or an economic system.
You bring up an interesting point about Tibet and at looking at things from different angles. I think Ajahn Thanisarro references Ajahn Lee as sometimes saying to "look at things with two eyes instead of one" which pretty much means taking a more detailed look at things. I notice sometimes on the Buddhistchannel news site that there is a lot of anger, blaming and general ill will on some of the articles, especially when it relates to Burma or Tibet. I think that one sided ill will is part of what brought about my own wish to seperate myself from the masses in matter of opinion. After all, the Buddha warned us that ill will is never a skillful or useful way at looking at things. Be well in your practice.
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