Why Buddhism has Failed
It may surprise some of you to hear that it has failed – after all, Buddhism is not something you have been very interested in. You just considered it a nice thing – and let it go at that.
I will say it, and mince no words – Buddhism has failed at its most essential task – keeping itself alive. In China, the heartland of Northern Buddhism, it was destroyed completely. In Tibet it is as good as dead. And much the same could be said of Vietnam. As far as I know, it is still alive in Thailand but that country is a good as dead.
In the South it has been a failure in Burma and Cambodia – which had been as Buddhist as they could be. And in Sri Lanka the story is much the same – the religion still exists, but the country itself is dying.
Those of you who are Western Buddhists will insist that Buddhism has moved to the West – and is thriving there. I will not argue with you – after all, you have a right to your beliefs. But when I was into Insight Meditation I could not help but notice that its adepts had no solution for the world’s problems – only for individual problems.
While this is extremely valuable for individuals – the world needs solutions too. And Buddhism is not much good for that.
I will now proceed to explain why.
I am now reading The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity by Slavoj Zizek. He makes some very good points – some of which I was aware of before.
I remember when I was on a long car ride with my guru – and to pass the time he decided to discuss philosophy. He asked me for what insights I had. I eagerly replied that there was “Inside and Outside.” Two different ways of being, it seemed to me at the time (this was back in the Seventies) and he was then a Gestalt guru. This ended the conversation immediately – somewhat to my surprise.
I still think that was a valuable insight – and explained why Buddhism was a failure. It concentrated in the Inside – when what was needed was concentration on the Outside. The direction most (but not all) Christian mystics concentrated on.
And not only that, but the Industrial Revolution as well – as Max Weber said.
We had concentrated on our Outside to the detriment of all else. And now we are stuck there – we need an anti-toxin to rid ourselves of it. In my opinion, we need to be much better aware of our technologies (our Outside) – and their effect on us.
The first step is awareness of where we are – where Slavoj Zizek is of some help – if of a perverse kind.
Please do not ask me to clarify my thoughts. I prefer leaving them muddled. If you want to be enlightened, you will have to do your own work.
Cause and Effect
This simple idea was one of the foundations of the Modern world. And one of the most important events in the formation of that World was the Reformation – and the Protestantism that resulted from it.
We cannot now imagine the fervor and violence of the civil and religious wars that followed. And how Science was formed by them. You heard me right – religion, politics, and science were formed from the same mold. From the same world-view. From Wikipedia:
In my mind’s eye I can see my Grandfather repeating ”Cause and Effect!” over and over in Prayer Meeting, back in the Fifties, while he rocked himself up on his toes to make himself taller. He knew how important it was – it was the foundation of his world – although he could not have explained it in the least. His was a world of powerful beliefs – and that was enough for him.
As it turned out, this particular belief had reached its peak, and would decline during my lifetime (long after he was dead) – but of course he did not know that. Few people have recognized this decline since then – and most absolutely refuse to recognize it.
In fact, I am having a hard time formulating the nature of what I am trying to say. How we came to believe in a world of separate chains of events. The key word here is separate. The belief that things could happen in one part of the world without effecting the rest of the world. The model is the billiard-table – where the original mover (a man holding a cue-stick) sets in motion a series of independent events on a perfectly level surface.
In remote parts of Latin America, where people can afford very little. You will find the people (men only, please) playing billiards – and playing it passionately.
The basic idea behind all this was a divide-and-conquer strategy – as Caesar clearly enunciated. And which was the downfall of the Roman Empire. It seemed to be the road to unlimited power – but in reality, it was the path to total collapse. A collapse we are also seeing in our own time – as Colonialism is collapsing.
The reason for this is simple enough. The world is not complicated (composed of many independent separate events) that can be broken apart and analyzed separately. It is complex (where everything effects everything else).
I am tempted to go into Complexity Theory (a very important discovery) but that would be too much of a digression. Take it from me – it is a big deal, and represents a break from the past. Just as the Computer represents a break with the past. But in both cases unacknowledged breaks.
It is possible to find things that can be analyzed and exploited separately (in the manner of a laboratory experiment). And this kind of exploitation is what made the Industrial Revolution such a success. The discovery of oil – and seemingly unlimited power – drove people completely crazy.
But, as we are finding out, there is no free lunch. And everything is linked to everything else.
I have relatives (distant relatives, it is true) who are in the oil business in Texas. All of their oil wells were running dry – until fracking was discovered. Now they are ecstatic - they are rich! A mad scramble is on to frack as much and as fast as possible.
No one – and I mean no one – is saying “What do we do when the oil runs out?” The answer seems to be “Who cares? We will solve that problem when we get to it!”
This assumes that the problem can be solved – and solved easily. When every indication is to the contrary. There are plenty of situations where there is no way out – and we seem to be in one of those.
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