NEWS: Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen: Myanmar? Didn't Even KNOW Her!

CULTURE: Brad Warner's Hardcore Zen: Myanmar? Didn't Even KNOW Her!

I'm writing you this missive from a wooden bench in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park. Today they're running both a big Indian festival and a big vegetarian festival here. All the curry you can possibly stand all in one place. My idea of Heaven.



I'm in Tokyo because we just finished our annual Dogen Sangha Zazen retreat in Shizuoka. Which is down where Mount Fuji is, about two hours by bullet train from Tokyo. I'm also having many meetings with the company I work for who just got bought out by another company. The good news is they're still speaking to me. The bad news is that it seems no matter how this thing works out I'll probably end up unemployed.



So I'm walking around here today thinking how incredibly weird it is to be in this place. When I was a teenager I fantasized about Tokyo. But I knew I'd never get there. It was too far away, too expensive to travel to, I knew no one there, couldn't speak the language, there was obviously no way I could ever reach such a place. Yet Tokyo has gone from being unimaginably far away to being a place so familiar I've even shown Japanese people from other cities around the town. Shee-oot, my boss (now former boss apparently) was born and raised here and still didn't know how to get from Shinjuku to Akihabara in a sensible way till I told him.



The world continues to shrink. The events in places once unimaginably far away sometimes seem frighteningly close to home now that we can travel there in mere hours or better yet watch with rapt fascination as they unfold before us in high def right in our bedrooms. But I'll tell you something that will probably cause every card carrying Buddhist out there to gasp. I know almost nothing about the events unfolding right now with those Buddhist monks in Myanmar or Burma or whatever it's hip to call it. I don't even know that much. I mean, I thought Myanmar was the name of a convenience store.



All's I know is that some Buddhist monks are protesting against the government, who are apparently really bad people, and that their non-violent forms of protest are drawing a very violent reaction. More power to the monks, I say. I hope this does some good. But beyond that I have to say that the whole thing doesn't hold a great deal of interest to me (insert giant gasp of Buddhist disbelief here).



It's not that I don't care. It's just not the most important thing going on right now.



I've been inundated with e-mails over the past week or so from Buddhists all over the place who want me to know their position on the matter and want me to join them in supporting the monks. Well, it's not me in particular they want to join them. These are all bulk e-mails being sent out to hundreds of people. In the absence of any real concrete information, a lot of these folks turn to rumors and speculation. One guy's been sending me a series of increasingly lurid horror film-like accounts of the supposed atrocities. These may or may not turn out to be factual. But in the absence of confirmed facts, the only real result of reading such things is precisely the same kind of deviant kick you can get watching one of those torture porn flicks they make these days. It's very thrilling. But not very useful. Like all bulk e-mails I find them annoying as Hell and hit the delete button as soon as I see what they are.



Maybe that seems incredibly callous and lacking in compassion. But I don't really think it is. Here's why.



In terms of Buddhist compassionate action the most urgent problems we need to attend to are the ones right in front of us. But we get confused these days because so much stuff is put right in front of us through our ever-increasing array of amazing high-tech communications paraphernalia. Yet when things are too far away from us, there's really not a whole lot we can do about them. Yes, you may be able to do a little to help the monks in Myanmar. Maybe you can send a donation -- though I hear they're refusing them. Maybe you can voice your support -- as I just have (see above). You can send a petition to the Myanmar government asking them to stop busting monk heads. If you're really gung-ho you can get on a plane and go join the fun. But apart from that, there really aren't a whole lot of ways to get involved.



Yet our concern for these kinds of problems often seems to far outweigh both our capacity to do anything about them and our interest in dealing with stuff right under our noses. Look. There's trouble everywhere. One of these days we'll establish communications with creatures on other planets. Once we get over the initial Big Wow of that it won't be too long before there are folks here on Earth who are wringing their hands over the unfair treatment of the Glophnar miners on Nebulous VII in the Zeta Reticuli system. In the same way as the events in Myanmar, once utterly unknowable to anyone living in North America, seem urgent and pressing, problems on worlds we now don't even imagine exist will someday seem just as vital.



Were I to speak to one of the guys who keep sending me these bulk e-mails, I might say, "Turn off your TV. Close your newpaper. Disconnect your internet for a few hours." What you read in newspapers and blogs and what you see on TV is not reality. It's third hand reports of confused misunderstandings of situations you can never truly grasp because they are forever beyond your capacity to know them. A photo or video only shows you what went on in front of the camera -- if it truly shows even that -- and ignores the universe that contributes to and influences the events you're seeing. It's a lie. Those things are not real. But your reaction to them is. Be very careful.



Which is not to trivialize what's going on right now in Myanmar or to say we shouldn't do what we can. We should do everything we can to make this world better for everyone. We need to let the assholes beating up those monks know we're watching and we do not approve. It's just that all but a very small amount of the concern now being lavished on the monks in Myanmar by these well-meaning Buddhists who put me on their bulk mail lists seems misplaced. Sure it's important and sure it's your duty as a human being to help however you can. But once you've done the little bit you're able to, you're finished.



All too often, though, I see people using their supposed humanitarian concern for people undergoing great suffering in tragic situations in far away places as a means to avoid working on much more urgent problems very, very close to home. It's as if very big, very colorful problems in exotic and remote places are much more important than the far smaller and more mundane stuff right here. Yet dealing with the small mundane stuff right here is your real duty.



All of the problems in the world, from Myanmar to Iraq to Iran and wherever else start from exactly the same place. You. I'm not trying to be poetic here either. It's really, literally all your fault. One of the hardest ideas in Buddhism for most folks to wrap their craniums around is the idea that even problems that seem to be absolutely positively beyond any shadow of a doubt out there -- like the nasty shit going down in Myanmar -- are, in fact, very much internal problems. The connection between you and all of humanity and the rest of the universe is incredibly intimate. It's so close you can't see it anymore than you can look directly into your own eyeballs. Yet it's even more real than your own eyeballs.



When I talk about this stuff sometimes people think I'm advocating complacency. Like I'm saying, "Myanmar is way far away dude. Don't sweat it." But that's not it at all. The real Myanmar is right here. You just think it's out there. And by imagining it to be far, far away you've placed it in the realm of things you can't possibly really deal with and you avoid taking the action that's truly necessary.



That may sound like a contradiction of what I said right at the outset of this piece. But it's not. See, cuz the ways we supposedly deal with stuff far, far away is mostly kind of bullshit. It's stuff we can hold up to our friends and say, "Look at me! I'm being like totally compassionate! I care about the problems of the world!!! Don't you see this button I'm wearing on my shirt that says so?" But it doesn't really help all that much. Maybe a little tiny weensy bit … maybe. But not much.



The most truly compassionate thing you can do for the world is to work on yourself. That is your interface with everything. That's where it all begins. This is how you start to fix what's wrong with the world. The ripples you send out never dissipate completely. They'll be felt all the way to Nebulous VII in the Zeta Reticuli system and a zillion miles beyond.



If you're in the Cleveland area be sure and catch my movie Cleveland's Screaming! at the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque on Saturday October 6th at 9:15 PM.



I'll be speaking at the Akron Public Library on November 7th (Wednesday) at 7 PM



And if you miss Cleveland's Screaming! in October or you just want to see it again, you can catch it on November 9th at the Beachland Tavern in Cleveland along with a live performance by the band I'm in 0DFx as well as CD Truth, Cheap Tragedies and special guests TBA!



Brad Warner is the author of Hardcore Zen and Sit Down and Shut Up!. He maintains a blog about Buddhist stuff. If you're in Southern California and you want to try some Zazen for yourself, he has a group that meets every Saturday in Santa Monica.

I think you deserve an award for writing twenty times as many words as you needed to make your point. Which was what, exactly? Self-absorbtion as a method to save the world? Perhaps if you bothered to spend a iota of time studying anything about the situation in Myanmar you might realise that it has very little to do with Bhuddism, let alone anything to do with Bhuddists outside of that country. For a little bit of info to get you up to speed New York Times Please note I'm not commenting on Bhuddism or it's practice; I don't pretend to know enough to do that.

If you had actually read the article that you linked, you would know that it is BuddHism, not BHuddusm. The situation in Myanmar has a lot to do with Buddhism, which is why it is such a shocking thing. BUDDHIST monks are protesting in a country where over 90% of the people are Buddhist. The members of the Junta that they are protesting against are Buddhist, making it even worse that they are allowing Buddhist troops to beat monks. The Junta is responding harshly because it is the clergy of their religion and country that are excommunicating the members of government. The monks are effectively saying that the Junta is not valid. "It was a shocking image in the devoutly Buddhist nation. The monks were refusing to receive alms from the military rulers and their families --- -effectively excommunicating them from the religion that is at the core of Burmese culture." Are you still going to sit there and say it has very little to do with Buddhists or Buddhism? That is ignorant.
The point is not self-absorption; it is improving the self so that you do not lead to problems, so you are a better human being. Fix the problems around you and inside yourself. If you are a good and compassionate person who performs good deeds, you will not create situations like what is happening in Myanmar. Your actions will lead to greater peace and stability. It is evident that your internal problem is ignorance, so you should look into yourself and fix that.

Ah yes, it's always good to have misspelling corrected. I feel that the situation in Burma is more about political reform vs. the status quo. The recent protests in Burma started over oil prices, but have been used as a vehicle to remobilise the anti-junta movement in a very oppressive regime. I thought that the article pressed the point that this was a political phenomenom; the phenomenom of Buddhist monks protesting is important in Burma as they are a powerful political counterweight to the military. I actually think it is ignorant to say that it IS about Buddhism, as a religion, though not neccessarily as an organisation/movement etc. The image of Buddhist monks protesting enmasse is a powerful message in a Buddhist country, of course.

I am well aware of the status of my ignorance (and arrogance too) it keeps me awake on long winter nights. Personally I'm not inspired by a desire for mere peace and stability. Sounds like an unatainable and boring un-life to me. Hail Eris

I think the point was that lots of people say lots of things, but it is rare to find anybody actually doing anything significant and usefull to remedy any given situation. Brad's point is that the best way to 1)avoid and 2)correct situations similar to the Burma thing, is to start with oneself.

The current situation began with the government, and continued and was subsequently publicized by the involvement of the monks who are protesting. It does, in fact, have quite a bit to do with Buddhism, as was noted, Burma is almost entirely Buddhist. Saying such a widespread religion in their country is not involved is like saying that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with Allah.

Good point Short, However i have agree with your assessment of Brad's piece. I don't think Iraq has much to do with Allah (i'm assuming you mean Islam, not God). People use religion for political ends, especially to justify war. I don't believe that the crusades had much to do with Christianity, more a land grab and securing tolling rights over pilgrims and trade routes to the east.

I didn't state that the situation in Burma has nothing to do with Buddhism, just very little, and I believe that it has more to do with popular sentiment within that country and a desire for self-determination, versus a junta tacitly supported externally because of the country's resource wealth.

good article.

Great article.

I often find myself feeling inadequate because I'm not one of those people that devotes themselves to a cause, or volunteers their time to help the needy. Last week I was sitting in a doctor's office, reading a magazine and it had a quote by Mother Teresa:

It really struck me as such a profound statement.

Since then I have been doing a little more to comfort the people around me, like calling my Dad and my Grandmother more often, teaching and playing with my kids a little more and being a better friend. Small things, but they add up.

Ok. What's the bottom line here: Burma or Myanmar?

"The most truly compassionate thing you can do for the world is to work on yourself. "
WERD.

No, i can't say i liked the article.

"Take a simple truth and,
Twist it all around...
Make it seem important,
Make it seem profound..."
- Shirley Manson


In this case, the notion that you should take care of the things you can actually affect, and not worry about the ones you can't. Except in this case, in twisting the truth, the truth has become twisted.

Because, simply, the people that change the world are always the ones who don't know they can't affect the things they're trying to change - and that's how they're able to change them. Time and again it's been shown that all you need to achieve the 'impossible' is just to not know it's impossible.

You'll never know if you can make change. But if you *think* you can't, you probably won't try.

In reading about the revolution, I've learned more about Myanmar and south east asian politics than I've ever known before. Can I do anything to help? Not as such. I'd be happy to not watch a single second of the Chinese Olympics 2008 now, however*. And if a LOT of people did that, who knows. Maybe chinese goods would be next on the list.

The fundamental premise of the article - it's all your fault - seems completely backwards. There is a human interconnectedness, sure, but it works the other way. We're not at fault (usually) for other people's suffering - but there's often a link, some very small way, that we can help. And if a lot of people do all a very small thing - well, that's a revolution right there.

For that to work, though, you need to believe it.


* Quite aside from the Olympics being a steroid fueled jingoistic corporate joke at the expense of the international sporting community.

Yoyogi park? You're a hop+skip+jump away from some amazing Cambodian food. Ask the nearest koban officer where to find the Angkor Wat, and let your waiter be creative with what s/he brings you. So good.

Become the change you wish to see in the world.

I do support your view Brad that we have to start with ourselves when it comes to the pressing problems.
The world's a big place and it's always going to have shit in it.
Our mind's quite a big place, but it's possible for us to clear that shit out, or at least accept it.

But herein lies the age-old Buddhist problem of action vs. inaction.
At what point should a person stop sitting, get up and do or say something?
Ideally, this would be when one is enlightended, but since the world is going on now, if we didn't interact with it, Buddhism would become some kind of semi-pompous quietism with little real value to the community.
It's sad that significant international events are not covered as well as they should be by the world's media- and I will say it; especially in America, because problems like Myanmar have been this way for a very long time, shit's been going on, nobody's speaking up against it.

I don't think this is a buddhist issue; it's a buddhist country (of course buddhists are going to be involved) but it's a significant one as it's about oppressive regimes being stood up to by peaceful protesters.
Both sides in this are buddhist, so it's not about Buddhism, unlike other situations like Tibet, where its very much about eradicating buddhism.
So I can see why this doesn't have to be a significant question to a buddhist.

I believe Burma was the name the country had when it gained independence, wheras Myanmar is the name the military regime has given it since.
So in countries which don't particularly like the regime (such as the UK) its generally referred to as 'Burma'.

Yeek, evil double post.

Aw, beat me to it. I prefer "Be the change", but I'll wait for the rest of the world to calm down before I start a war over it.

Actually, best to start a war now, while everyone's occupied and looking the other way.

Gotcha. I first heard about the protests on the BBC and they kept referring to Burma, and I thought, "Burma? When the hell did they change it back?"

Exactly.

Just by simply reading people's responses you can tell who read it with some sort of critical thinking skills, as opposed to those that just looked at it but didn't let anything sink in.

Some posts on here ponder whether or not this particular situation is a 'Buddhist issue'. IMHO if it appears to someones' mind to be a 'Buddhist issue' then it is a Buddhist issue to the beholder, if it doesn't then it is not. If I wanted to sound all mystical & 'Japanese Zen' about it, I gues I 'd say that nothing is an inheranty Buddhist issue & that everything is an inherantly Buddhist issue. Either way, it doesn't help the Burmese very much.

The article reminds me of something that happened in my own life recently. A girl I know sent me an obviously fake viral email with a picture of a baby in some sort of hospital scanny machine thing. The email said that this baby has had heart problems from birth & that AOL are tracking how many people get this email (impossible) & will donte $x towards its medical costs for each person it gets sent to.

I did a quick Google search, found an webpage confirming this email was a fake & sent it to the girl who sent me the baby pic. Her reaction was to shout at me for 'spoiling it'. She had enjoyed thinking she had helped a poor helpless baby & told me that it 'didn't matter' that it wasn't real.

I'm sure the residents of the Kadampa place near me will have a good time praying & chanting for the Burmese. But in my view, this will only serve to make themselves feel better & a little less helpless about tragic events thousands of miles away which they are almost powerless to prevent or solve. It won't help the Burmese one jot.