Calm

I have been pondering for some time what, if anything, to write about Buddhism and politics.

Then came the riot of 2021.

We talked some time ago about the Engaged Buddhism of Thih Nhat Hanh, whom I and every thinking person hold in very high regard. I suspect I am more engaged than Hanh is because my immersion in Buddhism is significantly less than his, and I was far more engaged before becoming Buddhist than he was. The invasion of Vietnam was a huge, hideous mistake that cost Lyndon Johnson his political career, as it should have, but I have the luxury of noticing the good things Johnson did, such as get major civil rights legislation passed. I can’t criticize anyone from Vietnam who has trouble seeing any virtue in Johnson at all, although Hanh may be more charitable because he is Buddhist. I don’t know.

Politics is a conundrum for Buddhists. At its best, politics is the effort to improve everyone’s situation, and try to get everyone to cooperate, which Buddhists should applaud and contribute to. But the Buddha was very clear — it’s not going to get better on this side. The only improvement comes with complete awakening, which includes making the shift from seeing disappointment in human life to seeing disappointment as the defining characteristic of human life and inescapable except through awakening.

I have audaciously (absurdly?) articulated the project of awakening everyone, which no Buddhist teacher I know of has suggested, perhaps because they consider it impossible and pointless, I don’t know. It sort of is the…