Donald Trump

Politics as a spiritual practice

November 6, 2024

I don’t normally post about politics here, but I feel I have to today, because a lot of people are distressed, shocked, and fearful. Even though the results of yesterday’s US election are not yet fully in, it’s clear that Donald Trump will be our next president.

I did not know what to expect with the US election. I thought it was possible that Trump might scrape to a narrow victory. I hoped, though, that Harris would would win, narrowly or (I scarcely dared dream it) by a landslide. I feared that if Harris did win, that the election would be disputed and that some Republican-controlled states might attempt to overturn the election results.

I had not expected Trump to win resoundingly, with a majority of the votes. [Later edit: not a majority! Slightly less than 50% of the votes cast.] (In 2016 Hillary Clinton got five million more votes than he did.) I think we’re fortunate that the election was not disputed, and that there was no attempt to overturn the vote.

At the moment I feel quite calm. My poor partner did not sleep a wink.

I am for once grateful that in the US system the victor does not take power immediately (unlike in the UK where the Prime Minister moves out of Downing Street the day after the election). So there’s a sense of normality at present. That won’t last, though.

It’s impossible to know what’s coming. Trump himself is just one part of things. He’s vindictive, petty, vain, and impulsive. He’s easily manipulated by those around him. Last time he was in office he was surrounded by people who, although not saints, were at least better than he was. With a small number of exceptions, those people have repudiated him and said he’s unfit for office. Two of them described him as a fascist. He’s now likely to be surrounded by people who are much worse than he is. It’s likely they’ll encourage his worst instincts and that we’ll see some very bad things happening.

Normally you prepare to ride out four difficult years until the next election. This time we’re facing potentially catastrophic demolition of the mechanisms that preserve democracy, a collapsed economy, the partial restoration of the Soviet Union, and an acceleration of climate change.

There may not be another totally free and fair election for a long time, and even if decent people are elected in the future, what they inherit may not be fixable. But they’ll have to do what they can with what’s left. It’s possible that there may be a re-founding of the United States, if there is a United States in the future. A catastrophic collapse gives the opportunity to learn from the past and to avoid its mistakes. The US constitution and its laws have been manifestly “unfit for purpose” as they say in the UK. The fact that Donald Trump is heading for the White House rather than prison is just one illustration of that.

I find it important to remember that many of those who voted for Trump did not know what they were voting for. Many are struggling in an economy that favors the ultra-rich and largely ignores ordinary people. They wanted a change. Right wing channel news networks manipulate and dis-inform. They think inflation is at an all-time high when it’s not. They think crime is rampant, when it’s falling. They think their way of life is under threat from immigrants, when they are themselves the children of immigrants and depend on immigrants to do basic tasks that keep the economy running.

Many of those people did not know they were voting for a man who says he wants his generals to be like Hitler’s generals, and that he wants to use the US military against the civilian population. Or they’d heard this and thought it was propaganda. Or they thought it was just Trump trolling the libs. But many of the people working for Trump do not think it’s just Trump trolling. Some of them want violent oppression of all opposition.

Some people showed up to vote yesterday not knowing that Biden had dropped out of the race. A study showed that a mild Covid infection reduces a person’s IQ by three points. A more severe case with lingering symptoms causes a six-point drop. If hospitalization is required, the drop is nine points. That’s from a single infection. Presumably repeated infections cause further cognitive damage.

The population has literally been been dumbed down. I say this not as an insult (I’ve had Covid and an not immune to its cognitive effects). I say this because it may well be part of how we got to where we are.

In short, many people who voted for a man who has been called a “fascist” by people who worked closely with him have no idea what they’ve just done. They are not our enemy, and they deserve our compassion. (Others are enemies in the sense that they want to harm us, but we need not hate them in return. It’s a myth that you can’t oppose someone without also hating them.)

I find it important to remember that there are many people in the US (and elsewhere, of course) who believe in kindness, generosity, tolerance, compassion, democracy, standing up to autocrats, and protecting the world that sustains us. That’s much more than half of the population.

We are the majority.

I find it important to remember that fascist regimes (and it looks like that’s what we’ll end up with) always collapse. The “strong man” is emotionally fragile and cannot stand contradiction. So he doesn’t listen to critics on his own side, and his actions eventually bring things crashing down.

It’s likely that there will be a series of brutal moves following the transfer of power. These will be designed to intimidate, demoralize, and traumatize anyone who opposes the Trump administration.

We’re going to need to find ways to hold onto our faith when this happens.

We’re going to need to find ways to sustain that faith, and to sustain our kindness, compassion, tolerance, and belief in democracy for much longer than four years.

The best way to do that is to be actively involved in some organization that represents your values. Being engaged with like-minded people helps us feel strong. Doing something that makes a difference helps us feel strong.

I suggest we all start looking for ways to get involved, if we’re not already.

In the meantime, I highly recommend reading Timothy Snyder’s “On Tyranny.” Snyder is a history professor who studies autocracy. On Tyranny is a small book, easy to read, and simply written. It’s a guide-book to surviving fascism, and on keeping alive positive values through dark times.

I strongly suggest that you do NOT buy this book from Amazon, which is owned by a billionaire. People like Jeff Bezos have a lot to gain (in the short term) from an illiberal regime. (The day Bezos announced that the Washington Post would not endorse either candidate, he was reportedly in negotiations with Trump about the government using his rockets.) These people are not your friends. Don’t support them.

Instead, support a local book shop. Support ordinary people. Support your neighbors. Live your values.

If you don’t have a local bookshop or can’t get to one, try bookshop.org in the US, Hive in the UK, or look for some other independent outlet where you live.

If everything gets reduced to what’s most convenient (“one click purchasing”) you’re not living your values. The essence of ethics is doing things that are less convenient. It’s slightly harder in the short term. But it feels good in the long term.

We are the majority. It’s imperative that we stick together.

A couple of years ago I taught an online course called “Politics as a Spiritual Practice,” which is where the graphic above comes from. I do think it’s vital that we don’t just “do politics” but that we see our engagement with politics as a vehicle for developing patience, courage, compassion, and wisdom. The next four or more years are going to test us. Those tests can potentially make us better people. And we’re going to need better people to rebuild whatever we’re left with.

Donald Trump as a Buddha

January 25, 2023

Bodhipaksa

news

So this is one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in a while.

I stumbled across a story from two years ago about a Trump Buddha statue that was on sale in China. A 5-foot tall ceramic statue of Trump as the Buddha was being sold on Chinese shopping platform Taobao for $153. There also seem to have been plans for a 14-foot tall version that would cost buyers $613, although I’m unclear whether that actually came to fruition.

The seller said that the idea of the Trump Buddha statue reminded him of Trump’s slogan of “Make American Great Again” and the former US president often claimed he knew things better than anyone. So the seller adapted the idea into something auspicious for Chinese companies: “make your company great again.”

Some Buddhist teachings say that all beings have the potential for enlightenment, and in my own struggles to find a spirit of kindness and compassion for Donald Trump (let’s just say he’s not one of my favorite people) I sometimes did imagine him as a Buddha. To be clear, I wasn’t visualizing him as he is now but appearing as a Buddha: I imagined him having connected with and developed his own potential for wisdom and compassion.

This wasn’t the only practice I did involving the former president. I hope to share another article with you at some point, but I’m hoping it’ll be published outside of this blog.

If $153 to $613 is a bit steep for you, you might be interested in another of Taobao’s top sellers: a Trump toilet brush. It’s more modestly priced, coming in a pack of three for just $2.

A Forest Monk’s Lesson in the New York Jungle (New York Times)

March 31, 2004

Wildmind Meditation News

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The stolen bag did not contain much in the way of material value. But its sudden absence greatly distressed the Buddhist monk who had been victimized, and so the police were summoned to the scene of the crime: a Starbucks at the opulent Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue.

A police officer in a softball jacket sat down to take the statement of the tall man in a brown robe, whose decaffeinated coffee, no milk, was turning cold. Routine questions elicited complicated answers. For example, the victim’s name was Venerable Kassapa, but Venerable is a term of respect, not a first name.

”I’m a Buddhist monk,” the robed man confided. ”In case you’re wondering.”

”I knew,” the police officer said gently. ”I’ve been around.”

This is a simple tale that is not so simple, about a monk, a theft and New-York style redemption….

Venerable Kassapa, 41, is a forest monk in Sri Lanka. He usually lives alone or with a few other monks in rock-shelter huts, where he depends on the charity of villagers. He eats one proper meal a day, does not carry money, and devotes much of his celibate life to meditation, contemplation and the study of Buddhist texts. People often bow before him.

He sometimes travels to other countries and often speaks to very small groups about Buddhism. For the last few weeks he has been in the New York area, his trip sponsored by the New York Society of United Sri Lankans.

On Monday afternoon he sat on a stone bench in front of the Plaza Hotel and recalled how, as a young boy in London, he became disillusioned with the world. ”I wanted to find a way out of discomfort and uneasiness,” he said. ”A way out of suffering.”

His mother’s struggle with an illness may have prompted his brooding; he is not sure. But he is certain that the factors leading him to a Buddhist temple at the age of 13 included these: his mother’s interest in transcendental meditation, and his own interest in a popular television program of the time, ”Kung Fu.”

When he asked one of the temple’s monks whether they taught martial arts as well as Buddhism, he recalled, the monk laughed. ”Here we don’t tend to the body,” the monk told the boy. ”We tend to the mind.”

At 14, he became a novice monk and moved to Sri Lanka; at 20, he was ordained. ”And I’ve never, ever, regretted making this move,” he said.

With the sun slipping behind the Plaza, Venerable Kassapa agreed to take a stroll for a cup of coffee at the Starbucks in Trump Tower. Walking down Fifth Avenue in his simple cloth robe, a simple cloth bag clutched in his hand, he was a character out of context: a six-foot-four study in self-denial, ambling along the boulevard of acquisition.

”I am a beast out of its habitat,” he said.

He passed under the ”You’re Fired” advertisement that adorns Trump Tower and moved through the marble lobby, seemingly unaware of the effect his presence had on others. As an escalator raised him up to a floor redolent of coffee, he was asked whether he knew the name of Trump. ”I’ve heard of him,” he said. ”He’s a very wealthy man.”

Venerable Kassapa sat at a small table and accepted a cup of decaffeinated coffee. Soon he was sharing what he described as his ”vision” for the United States: that this great country, filled with energy and potential, would one day lead the world into a brave new era of truth and harmony.

Shortly after suggesting that American power ”can be harnessed for harm or for good,” he noticed that his cloth bag was missing from the chair beside him. He felt no anger when he realized that the bag had been stolen, he said later. Only shock, because such things do not happen to contemplative monks.

”This is very bizarre,” he kept saying. ”Nothing like this has ever happened to me before.”

Security officers were summoned, and then two police officers from the Midtown North precinct. They glided up the escalator and walked directly toward the monk. He was easy to pick out.

One officer went off to check garbage cans, while the other interviewed the monk. Finally, the time came to detail what was in the bag. No money, of course (”I don’t use money,” the monk said), but an eclectic list of items duly recorded by the officer.

Among the articles inside the cloth bag: a white plastic bag, a cellphone that someone had lent to him for his New York visit, a bottle of water, some white thread that he gives to people as a blessing and many pieces of paper. On these were written the names and telephone numbers of his supporters around the world.

”I would really appreciate it if you could do as much as you can,” the monk said to the officer. But the officer leveled with the monk. ”A lot of times, with nothing of value, they just throw it in the trash,” he said. ”It could be in Brooklyn, it could be in the Bronx.”

The officers left Venerable Kassapa to contemplate his loss, especially the bits of paper bearing the names and phone numbers of all those friends. ”This is a raw lesson in life,” he said, the kind of thing that ”I first became a monk to overcome.”

He descended the escalator, peered briefly into a garbage can — just in case — and then paused to study Donald Trump, who was standing at the elevator bank, talking on a cell phone. ”I’ve never seen a billionaire before,” he said.

Outside, on Fifth Avenue, the forest monk expressed a keen desire to go to that Manhattan forest called Central Park. ”I need a little bit of a breath of fresh air,” he said, and then he was gone.

That could have been the conclusion to the monk’s New York tale. But destiny would not allow it.

Late Monday afternoon, Riccardo Maggiore found a white plastic bag at the entrance to his hair salon on West 56th Street, just off Fifth Avenue. Yesterday morning, his wife, Eileen, did some sleuthing. And before noon, plans were under way to return the plastic bag — though not the cloth bag — to its owner, a forest monk.

There wasn’t much inside the bag. A cellphone. Some white thread. And what Ms. Maggiore described as ”a million pieces of paper.”

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