05.02.10
Newsweek, on the Karmapa
One of the holiest men in Tibetan Buddhism explains how his flock should straddle tradition and modernity
.Just at the point when Buddhism could be a potential source or religious clarification, the question of Tibetan lamaism, and its related issues, viz. the Karmapas, enter to confuse the picture with the occult obscurantism of the Tibetan ‘ghostocracy’, a unique form of cultural and religious theocratic politics.
More discussion of this, perhaps, at The Gurdjieff Con.
But the question of Tibet has introduced a host of supercomplicated red herrings that jeopardize the simplicity and effective help of real Buddhism
Please note that if we take the claims of the Lamas seriously, then the entire culture of Tibet has revolved around a small number of reincarnates, to the exclusion of the vast majority. That’s not Buddhism. More on this later.
But I remember the previous Karmapa from the seventies, a very intelligent man and near-post Buddhist with a sense of what’s what. This new character should reflect on the nature of his situation, and try to grasp why (Tibetan) Buddhism is going down the tubes while Christian stupidity is long-enduring.
Tibetan lamaism is, or should be, finished as the distraction it is. Who can figure the ultra confusing disinformation system of the Dalai Lamas???
The Gurdjieff Con » Newsweek: the Karmapa said,
May 2, 2010 at 11:48 am
[...] Article on the Karmapa [...]
mybrainisafleamarket said,
May 7, 2010 at 11:31 am
Suggestion for a research project:
Get a first edition of Harrers Seven Years in Tibet. Study the photos. (That early edition had 40 pages of photographs–stunning, btw)
The first edition had an amazing photo of cavalry in ancient armor in a ceremonial parade, carrying war trophies captured long ago from Muslim invaders.
And that 1955 book shows the young 14th Dalai Lama inside an ornate
pavilion on horseback, with a splendid retinue. Those photos are evocative of a lost world–and a very, very hierarchical world.
And that world was brutal. This early edition of Harrers book gives a photo of monks who served as police officers, armed with heavy staves.
And a photo of two persons in rags with begging bowls and shackles on their ankles had the caption that on Buddhas Birthday in Lhasa, prisoners were allowed out on the streets to beg.
A later edition, printed for larger circulation had fewer photos, but included one that the 1954/44 edition did not have–a photo of a tomb of an earlier Dalai Lama with an estimated ton of gold used to decorate it–says so in the caption.
Pre-1949 Lhasa was a brutal place. It wasnt a Shangrila paradise of chirping birds and rainbows for all.
That gold adorning the tomb came from heavy taxes on the serfs. And Harrer wrote that among the tasks he did in Lhasa was to correspond on behalf of wealthy locals with dealers in Europe. The Tibetans wanted Harrers help in arrangings shipments from Europe of….amber, pearls, furs.
It all reminds me of life in and around the Romanov court just before the Bolshevik Revolution.
I attended a couple of days lecture by the DL and appreciated it. But I never forget that he is in the situation of a Romanov in exile.
The way to gain an empire or regain one that is lost is first to colonize people’s imaginations–that is to establish the legitimacy of one’s claim.
Its one thing to do this in the realm of secular power politics.
But when religious practice gets entangled in power politics…then it his hard to hold a priest/king to account if he is also a politician.
I am horrified to see what cover ups the Vatican has perpetrated. But at least a reigning pontiff faces some accountability from the media and there are venues where reform minded Roman Catholics can discuss their concerns and speak out.
We do not yet have that in relation to the exiled monarchs and barons of the Tibetan Diaspora.
If one must practice Buddhadharma, I personally advise selecting a dharma center that 1) doesnt court media attention and whose teachers find ways to be accessible but avoid the celebrity marketing circuit 2) remains mindful of the Buddhist ethical precepts and 3) whose funds remain local and 4) hierarchy justifies its existence by supporting a practice environment accessible to all, and where no special favor is given to the rich or famous.
And where those who are weighed down by adversity, who are older or who struggle with chronic ailments get as much care from the practice teachers as those who happen to be young and beautiful, famous or rich..or all the above.
nemo said,
May 7, 2010 at 3:05 pm
Fascinating comment, i will upgrade it to post level, but here is an Amazon link to what I suspect is the first edition you refer to, for anyone with $129!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0874779030/sr=/qid=/ref=olp_pg_collectible?ie=UTF8&coliid=&startIndex=0&me=&qid=&sr=&seller=&colid=&condition=collectible
signed by the author.
Darwiniana » MBFM comment on Karmapa said,
May 7, 2010 at 3:12 pm
[...] Comment on Karmapa article in Newsweek mybrainisafleamarket is our invaluable researcher and commenter at The Gurdjieff Con blog, and you can read his many posts/comments be entering MBFM, or the longer ‘mybrainisafleamarket’. He has uncovered a whole bunch of stuff. My interest in Karmapa is direct, despire my suspicious wariness here, because I vividly remembre the old Karmapa from the seventies. I don’t buy into this game of reincarnates one way or the other, but there is no doubt something strange is at work here. In any case, this new Karmapa is almost grown, and has a hard act to follow. mybrainisafleamarket said, [...]