Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Informally and Possibly ... - The Fiscal Cliff 2012 - 2013.

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P.B.S. Special (rerun) of Late, And The Buddhas of Bamiyan.

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At least part of the reason for the military conflict in Afghanistan is the archeological terrorism that took place there at Bamiyan some time ago, on or about 2001.  The holy talisman from the large, 175 – foot tall relic destroyed by the Taliban has been recovered and the site is being rebuilt, though this rebuilding will probably take some time given the conditions under which restoration is taking place.  P.B.S. has recently re – run a special on Buddhism that I viewed on my computer and the content of that television program as spoken about by a number of featured experts explains primarily that Buddhism itself is a respectable world religion at this point and gives some points about why and what for.  While one need not pay attention to the primordial Buddhist creation stories in this show that one might cite as even more symbolic than Western ones, it does seem important the number of followers this belief system has in important parts of the world at this point, especially in South and Eastern Asia for a long time where there are many people who are devout practitioners of it. 
 
People like me are surprised about how much of this religion has been revealed by this simple television feature program, and without considering myself even a novice at looking into these things, and without a fundamental knowledge of its geography, four truths, five desires, the symbolism of its scriptures as related to the royals, warriors, servants, and untouchables; and its emotions in greed, anger, and ignorance and their opposites among other symbols, there does seem to be something to it with respect to the culture and humanity that are integral in Eastern culture.  When looking at this program and the popularity of Buddhist ideas, even in the West at this time, it is easy to find why many people became angry when the Bamiyan relics were attacked and a war ensued.  The program itself, sponsored by numerous associations including the Asia Society of New York, does explain in understandable fashion the merits of this religion without having to meet the Dalai Lama, for example (people like me, without having met his holiness, do believe the Dalai Lama’s meeting the President was a good idea and I have a picture of their meeting together on my computer somewhere.)  As well, the show I saw as published by P.B.S. carries forward the work of what many scholars in the last century, including Henri Maspero, were silently working on over the years.  There are rumors the Buddhist faith in a modern context does rely on indeed dangerous Marxist ideas and practices, and this might have an element of truth to it, and is something that might be relatively easy to investigate and evaluate by anyone for themselves.  Travel to places like Buddhist shrines in South Asia and other locations has become more easy these days and travelers who have been at the shrines in their holy places can probably reasonably talk on this without disclosing anything that’s extremely charged.  I have not been there, to those places, yet have read Maspero who allows for the influences of Eastern culture everywhere with the kind of inclusiveness that is reasonable appropriate for some of the ideas in these places that can even seem a little out of place for Westerners out of their own surrounding. 
 
The thing many Buddhist ideas appear to focus on with respect to what is presented in this public television special, and this special was not perfect as to go into a thorough explanation of what much of it is about would take hours at least, and then one would have to follow up with one’s own homework including validating and verifying through study the representations made by experts (i.e., Ms. Jane Hirshfield, W.S. Merwin; Mark Epstein, M.D., His Holiness The Dalai Lama, D. Max Moerman, Robert Tenzin Thurman, Mettaya
Sukayaputta, Salyenda Kundar Partek, Kevin Trainor, Tranh Xuan Thuanh, Rakesh Pandi, Bakopuri Shainkapur, and Bhaddamanika, … .)  All this just makes for getting into lots of things that could carry one away, though the show does deliver the message that Buddhism is an important religion and is worth some familiarity by everyone concerned with issues of knowing about the world and belief systems outside Western Christianity with which Eastern religions coincidentally have many parallels.  It does appear part of the explanation for this religion is its interpretation, in fact as many do, of realities and universalities that are present in every culture.  Buddhism is a caring and peaceful set of ideas that can be easily practiced, but is difficult in all events to be a good practitioner or an expert in it (as some are) due to its sometimes severe dogma and discipline.  The emphasis on the nearest celestial body to the earth (the Moon) is obviously in its importance vital and unique to this religion that centers a good amount of content on the Moon itself and its features and details.  While these ideas have moral and spiritual imperatives and practices that are very humanistic and attractive ideologically – part of what many people are about these days – the ideas themselves are very respectable in that they allow one to live one’s life while pursuing one’s own goals; and even though a Buddhist master might pick one out of a crowd or some event, one is not compelled nor forcibly asked to pass through Buddhism and its teachings in addition to Western ideals.  This proposed a challenge to anyone who sees a temple related to these ideas and, or meets a follower of the Buddha; and these are everyday occurrences.  There are issues with Eastern religions in and of themselves as they do not in principle, while holding out gestures of acceptance, allow for the teachings of Saint Paul, and things like de Chardin are probably out as well, and others.  There are probably other obvious points of contention between common sense ideas from South Asia or China themselves that can be respectably and reasonably discussed between individuals – this might make for good, peaceable conversation in this increasingly global neighborhood we are all in at this point.  Remember when you begin with it this year, if ever, upon reading this column that another lunar new year is now just a few days away.