Buddha Finds a Home in Babylon

:::cross-cultural pollinations in curious times:::

Good morning. Good evening. Good day.

This week my family was visited by dear friends from Korea. They are here in The States now to attend a Buddhist Dhamma retreat. It has been lovely to share our mountains with them, good conversation and lots of kimchi. It has not been lost to us the curious nature of this exchange. Such interesting times we live in, when because of various institutional corruptions, uninspired leaders and organizations incapable of revitalizing core teachings with creative effectiveness, etc. the Big Stories, like seeds, have drifted far from their homes.

The U.S.A of course is not a Buddhist country. I, like so many of my countrymen, was raised in a Christian home. There has never been a POTUS who was not Christian. Upon our money it is printed, “In God we Trust.” Although we claim to be a culturally diverse nation we are in practice rather conservative in our proclaimed views and it is curious indeed how this plays out. A rather exciting family down the road from us has hung a flag in front of their home that reads, “Trump is my president! Jesus is my savior!”. This nations underlying views have interestingly been shaped by a Man from Jerusalem, woven tightly into a strange politically charged plot line. Yet now, as my visiting friends and I observed together, this young, predominantly Christian nation seems to be yearning again for lessons from afar and has managed to attract some of the most sincere Buddhist teachers to be found anywhere in the world.

Back in Thailand, Buddhism is often viewed as “grandmas religion”. It is increasingly unpopular among youth. This is not unlike the way Christianity is now viewed within The States. It seems common for humans to grow bored with routine and overtime forget the deeper meanings of practices that have become habitual. How many amongst us, for example, can say with certainty what the true meaning of Halloween is? Or for that matter the origin stories from whence popular tales like Cinderella were birthed from? The same holds true for the deeper teachings of Buddha in countries where The World Conquerors teachings have, over time become religious doctrine and even means by which to attain political power (sound familiar?).

Because of this, in order to find the true essence of The Buddhas teachings, my friends, though they live in a Buddhist country, were inspired to fly halfway around the world to find teachers untainted by societal pressures to conform core teachings into conservative boxes that cater to mainstream thought. It is interesting to consider how Buddha, like Christ, was a rebel who, if anything, was anti-establishment. Yet over time, Christs followers turned His teachings into “Christianity” and made Christian States that conform to modern views. And the followers of Buddha have, over time, done the same.

Yet the core teachings of Great Teachers transcend convention. They move freely and find a home in seemingly unlikely places. I recall a time in China, years ago when I was teaching there in a small town along the Tibetan border. It was Christmas and my students wanted to make me feel less homesick. They invited me to join them for dinner and to attend a service at a Christian church there. It was the first church I had ever seen in China. It was simple. It had a lovingly carved crucifix on the back wall, stained glass windows and several other ascetics that I took for granted growing up in a church in Illinois. The songs there were sung with gusto. The spirit moved me. And did so in a way I had never known when singing the same songs in the west. They were not just singing songs, they were invoking the living essence of Christs core teachings of love. No one tried to convert me. No message was twisted into political propaganda. No effort was made to condemn anyone based on sexual preference or any other superficial expression of self. The only message, was one of love.

I too have found it difficult to find true dhamma being shared in Thailand. In that countries noble effort to preserve ancient methods, over time, the teachings, like seeds that are not properly moved around and ritually integrated skillfully into living traditions that match moving time but are instead merely stashed away in seedbank-ish doomsday vaults like artifacts in a museum, atrophy. But life nonetheless finds a way. Seeds eventually find new lands. Stories that need to live, surely will.

Hidden among us all in plain view are many ancient seeds.

Listen, and you can hear truth being sung at dawn each day.

All blessings…