More Alan Watts

Here he takes a somewhat Ram Dass-ian Hindu perspective of life as a game of hide and seek, or the divine disguised as oneself and the world.  This perspective is all fine and dandy but without an efficient technique of cultivating and making this realization an inner experience, it is likely to fade away during the daily grind of existence.  

I think what can remedy this is the daily discipline of sitting meditation.  All skills are acquired through disciplined practice of a proper technique, and the skill of becoming fully awake and staying that way is no exception.

Tara mantra

Tara is a female Buddha that comes in many forms, most common white or green.  White Tara represents compassion, long life, healing and serenity, while Green Tara is enlightened activity that removes obstacles, fears and worries.  All in all there are 21 emanations.  As John Blofeld points out, the Chinese Kuan Yin is not a female version of the male Avalokiteshvara but rather a Chinese version of the Tibetan Tara figure.

 

21 emanations of Tara above.

This Russian video about Tara certainly pulls out all the stops.

Alan Watts on Buddhism

One of the great popularizers of Buddhism in the West, a man who like Allen Ginsberg created his own career out of his following his Muse. 

Padma Sambhava

Padma Sambhava, or Guru Rinpoche, is the all-around culture hero of Tibet, coming from the south in the 8th century.  He is famous for the introduction of tantric teachings which later became the foundation of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism.  Many stories are told of his overcoming the opposition of the native shamanistic Bon religion, and at the end of his life, took his leave of his disciples and walked off into the mountains never to be seen again. 

The first video is so quirky I had to include it.  The second has great visual representations of Guru Rinpoche.  The third has his 7 line supplication in Tibetan.  In English it goes like this:

Hum
In the northwest of the land of Uddiyana
On a blooming lotus flower
You have attained supreme, wondrous siddhi
You are renowned as Padmakara
Surrounded by your retinue of many dakinis
We practice following your example
Please approach and grant your blessing
Guru Padma Siddhi Hum

The mantra that many Western Buddhists learn is: Om Ah Hum Vajra Guru Padma Siddhi Hum, sometimes followed by Vajra Samaja Siddhi Phalam Hum Phat!  With a gesture of the hands folded together chest high, facing forward and shooting outwards on Phat!  An alternative is a snap of the fingers.  Or so I learned from one devotee.

Shopping Cart Etiquette at the Market

If you look this subject up in an online search engine you will find quite a few entries from people in the form of blog entries, discussion groups, videos and so forth.  Obviously it is a hot topic, although a minor one from the point of view of the Big Issues of Life. Here is one site that analyzes all this in a practical manner.  But given the intensity of these entries or rants, it is an issue that doesn't go away, and unless one is wealthy enough to send others to do one's shopping, it is an irritation one has to always deal with. 

There are two subdivisions of this issue, that of parking lot problems with shopping carts, and that of maneuvering a cart within the store aisles.  I want to deal just with the latter issue.  Naturally there are the obvious problems of people blocking aisles with their cart and themselves while they wander away or stand staring at the shelves, or rolling along too fast through aisle intersections without slowing down.  One issue that I find appalling that isn't mentioned much is how shoppers stop their carts in front of the meat section or the cold foods compartments, preventing  anyone else from having access to about eight feet of that section, or being able to open the glass doors the compartment area.  

One of the things Buddhist meditation practice aims at is to cultivate mindfulness in what is termed the post-meditation experience, when we are finished with our formal sitting practice and we return to the world of our daily affairs.  If we can't avoid being a nuisance to others in the simple act of grocery shopping, then we haven't practiced properly.  The idea is to allow us to better see the play of our mind, its fickleness jumping from one thought to another, and to realize how heavy and compulsive much of this thought process actually is.  We would like our meditation practice to open us up a little, bringing a sense of lightness and upliftedness to our mind. In this way we can apply what we learn from meditation, the cultivation of a sense of spaciousness and egolessness, to the nuts and bolts of our daily routine.

Balinese Masks

Balinese art was influenced by Hinduism and Javanese art, it is often forgotten Java was Buddhist at one point, and the Borobudur monument was created there in the shape of a huge mandala:

Walking Meditation

Many people are afraid of trying the sitting practice of meditation because they think prolonged sitting will be physically painful, not to mention boring.  They should be relieved to know that Buddhist practice sessions are punctuated with what is termed walking meditation, in which one walks slowly at a steady pace around the sitting cushions of the room.  This helps us stretch our legs obviously, but also provides a different mental perspective, in which, instead of focusing on the breath while sitting, we instead feel our feet lifting and stepping, first the heel comes down, then the foot is flat on the ground, then the toes come in contact with the earth as we take another step.  

During this process we keep our hands together usually with the left in a fist covered by the right held against our waist, and as we walk we just observe the space around us in a sort of neutral way, not analyzing it or relishing it, just pure observation.  One can take a break from the sitting position every twenty minutes or so, walking five to ten minutes, then returning to the cushion to sit in a cross-legged fashion.  We don't have to attempt what is called a full or half lotus position with our feet pulled up on top of each thigh, just a simple "Indian" style of crossing our legs in front of us, while sitting up on some sort of hard cushion, will be comfortable.  

It is curious to know that the Stoics got their name from the place where they walked up and down during their teaching, at the Stoa Poikile or painted porch in Athens.  Aristotle also had taught while walking about the Lyceum, thus his school became known as the peripatetic philosophers.   While it is true and also unfortunate that the Stoics never developed a sitting meditation tradition, they did practice recollection of past actions at the end of the day, in order to evaluate and see clearly how much they were really adhering to their lofty Stoic ideals.  

Tibetan Ritual Music and Dancing

If you get bored, just jump ahead to the next act.  I always liked the deep sound of the long horns.

Water Snake Year

Today the Tibetan New Year or Losar begins as well as the Chinese New Year.  In both systems it is called the Water Snake year.  The two new years usually only coincide about a third of the time, for the Tibetans use some different lunar calendar calculations.  The Chinese system is easy to grasp: the second new moon after the winter solstice.  To make matters even more complicated, however, Chinese astrologers insist the actual new year begins a few days before the New Years Day celebration, this year February 4.  But most people don't seem to pay attention to that.  In Japan they get real sloppy and just consider the Western year to coincide with the Chinese year.  

The system of 12 animals and 5 elements gives a 60 year cycle before any animal/element combination is repeated.  In the Buddhist tradition, the sequence of animals is based on a legend of the order of the animals arriving to see the dying Buddha.  In Taoist tradition it is the animals showing up to meet the Jade Emperor for some reason.  The Tibetans view the last 5 or so days of the year to be full of the accumulated trouble and obstacles of that year and some kind of ritual mantra practice is done to pacify and transmute that negative energy into positive.  This is done often by practicing the Vajrakilaya ceremony, or in the Shambhala tradition, pacifying the turmoil of the mamos, wrathful female forces, using the Vajrasattva mantra. 

The "common people" often treat the Losar celebrations as a time to get pretty rowdy at times, a practice common to agricultural societies who wish to invoke the fertility of the soil and stimulate the new year's productivity and energy through their own high-jinks.  

This year being a snake year should have something to do with mysticism, reflection, and introversion, all snake characteristics.  This combined with the water element signifying travel, communication and networking.  The snake year represents a pause between the highly charged energy of the Dragon and Horse years, as it lies in between them.  It is perhaps a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. 

Art of Worldly Wisdom - more

98. Write your intentions in cipher.
The passions are the gates of the soul. The most practical knowledge consists in disguising them. He that plays with cards exposed runs a risk of losing the stakes. The reserve of caution should combat the curiosity of inquirers: adopt the policy of the cuttlefish. Do not even let your tastes be known, lest others utilize them either by running counter to them or by flattering them.

141. Do not listen to yourself.
It is no use pleasing yourself if you do not please others, and as a rule general contempt is the punishment for self-satisfaction. The attention you pay to yourself you probably owe to others. To speak and at the same time listen to yourself cannot turn out well. If to talk to oneself when alone is folly, it must be doubly unwise to listen to oneself in the presence of others. It is a weakness of the great to talk with a recurrent "as I was saying" and "eh?" which bewilders their hearers. At every sentence they look for applause or flattery, taxing the patience of the wise. So too the pompous speak with an echo, and as their talk can only totter on with the aid of stilts, at every word they need the support of a stupid "bravo!"

158.  Make use of your friends.
This requires all the art of discretion. Some are good afar off, some when near. Many are no good at conversation but excellent as correspondents, for distance removes some failings which are unbearable in close proximity to them. Friends are for use even more than for pleasure, for they have the three qualities of the Good, or, as some say, of Being in general: unity, goodness, and truth. For a friend is all in all. Few are worthy to be good friends, and even these become fewer because men do not know how to pick them out. To keep is more important than to make friends. Select those that will wear well; if they are new at first, it is some consolation they will become old. Absolutely the best are those well salted, though they may require soaking in the testing. There is no desert like living without friends. Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil. ’Tis the sole remedy against misfortune, the very ventilation of the soul.

Number 98 sounds cynical but it can also be an exercise in limiting the ego in that we do not indulge ourselves with bothering everyone with our opinions, thoughts and tastes.  Chogyam Trungpa urges the adaptation of "inscrutability" as one of the traits of what he calls a warrior.

Number 141 also tends to undermine the ego, we don't try to double check ourselves when it is only necessary to be natural and at ease.

Number 158 starts off sounding cynical but then turns rather cuddly for Gracian.  He recognizes man as a social creature who needs the give and take of true friendship.

Walking the Eightfold Path

The Eightfold Path is the 4th of the Four Noble Truths, which are 1.  the truth of suffering, 2. the origin of suffering in craving, 3. the cessation of craving will eliminate suffering, and the way to accomplish this is 4. the Eightfold Path.  This path consists of Right View, Intention, Speech, Action, Livelihood, Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration or Meditation.   The Japanese Zen and Tibetan Kagyu schools place great importance on the 8th stage of the path, the sitting practice of meditation.  They believe this is the most effective way to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha, who also practiced meditation for many years before coming to his realization and beginning of his teaching career.  They also balance this with study of Buddhist teachings to provide the proper context for their meditation experiences.  It is said we are producing the seeds of karma all the time, which good or bad will ripen and create future constraints upon us, except when we meditate, when no karma is being produced. 

To stop producing karmic seeds creates a gap in our compulsive thought process and its tight ego and allows fresh air into the dank recesses of the cocoon of personality.  We begin to see the insubstantial nature of our self-created ego boundaries and sense of separation from the world.  This is considered a good thing, a relaxing thing, a ray of sunshine into the dark dungeon where our ego has fortified itself through innumerable lives.  Meditation creates chinks in this ego wall, stopping momentarily our compulsive subconscious gossiping mind and allowing what lies underneath, pure consciousness, to shine forth. 

Like any other skill or habit, meditation needs to be practiced regularly to become effective.  We do not go into our place of practice with towering expectations that we will immediately gain something from it.  We just sit, in an upright position, lowered eyes, watching our breath, and get up and stretch our muscles doing walking meditation from time to time.  An attitude of cool boredom, as Chogyam Trungpa puts it, is beneficial.  We sit when we sit and we try to cultivate an attitude of mindfulness practice in our ordinary life (the 7th of the Eightfold Path).  There can be said to be an air of regal ease in this practice.  We sit in great dignity and in the post-meditation experience delight in experiencing the chaos and clamor of the phenomenal world without aversion or enticement. 

Eightfold Path

I was reading some online message board entries concerning the responses of the Roman and Chinese Empires to barbarian incursions and came across one that was a little strange.  It went on from the topic under discussion to proposing that while Christian belief in God became the hallmark of Western civilization, the Chinese were stuck with the Buddhist belief in the Eightfold Path, and wham! then they became vulnerable to Communism in the 20th century. Of course one could retort where did this Communism start from, but a solid Christian nation called Russia...

But the basic point of the guy is that non-theistic Buddhism does not provide the moral strength to resist the totalitarian viciousness of Marxism-Leninism.  That is to say, as with Dostoyevsky, if God did not exist, all things are permitted, and moral relativism and actual chaos will be the result.  If this were true, then the history of Buddhism should be strewn with colossal persecutions, wars and cultural degradation.   But that is not the case.  Dostoyevsky's mistake is like many theists, Christian, Jewish or Islamic, that they have the corner on the Absolute and non-believers or infidels are incapable of decent behavior because they have disconnected themselves from ultimate Being or the Godhead.  Of course the Communists use the same argument, substituting History for God.  

This is taking belief itself as the marker of morality, rather than evaluating action in the real world.  It also generates the dangerous proposition that  as long as we firmly believe in God we are unlikely to commit evil deeds, and encourages the smug feeling we don't have to do anything to change our life, no matter how many bad habits we have.  I think a more reasonable theistic approach would be to accept the proposition that the sacred can be experienced in many ways and manifest itself in many forms, and there are possibly many paths to heaven, enlightenment, or union with God.  Just because they are not familiar with other paths does not mean they are dead ends.  The history of fanaticism is, by the way, pretty much a theistic phenomenon, not non-theistic. The Eightfold Path, which we have entirely overlooked in this post, is a path of moderation, tolerance and sanity. 

Chenrezig or Avalokitesvara

This is the bodhisattva of compassion, in Tibetan and Sanskrit.  While usually a male figure who is considered a worldly manifestation of the celestial buddha Amitabha, in China this bodhisattva is the female Kuan Yin.  His name is translated as Lord who looks down, or who hears the cries of those who suffer on earth, and decides to help all overcome suffering.  As a product of the mahayana buddhist movement which seemed to originate somewhere between 100 B.C. and 100 A.D. in India, he is first mentioned in the Lotus Sutra at that time.  Gee, something seemed to happen west of India about the same time, I wonder what it could be.

Here are a few examples of his iconography:

Chenrezig is this case is 4 armed, two arms are folded holding the jewel of enlightenment through the teachings of Amitabha, and the second left hand holds a white lotus and second right a crystal mala or string of beads.  The white lotus is symbolic of many things, such as rising above the muck of impure thoughts and deeds to achieve the sanity and clarity of enlightenment.  Conflicting emotions are transmuted into the expression of sanity through the discipline of sitting meditation.  The mala represents the cycle of reincarnation and the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum which is said to invoke the benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig. 

Moody Blues

I always liked the Moody Blues, and bought their albums in the heyday of psychedelic rock.  I was astonished when a hippie salesman at the local record store where I was buying an album said he didn't care for the Moody Blues...the idea never occurred to me.  Anyway, here are a couple of youtube graphics versions of one of their more mystical spacey songs: Om - In Search of the Lost Chord:

This one seems to have a more buddhist flavor:

And this one has some nice visuals:

Stoicism and Buddhism

There is a book that came out a few years ago that seems fairly popular, called A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy, (here) by William Irvine.  He has succeeded in capturing the true spirit of the Greek and Roman philosophers who espoused this way of life.  He notes that even Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor who wrote about his Stoic views , ignored the Stoic teachings on logic and cosmology, and focused on the ethical core of the Stoic tradition.  

This is also what Irvine does, looking at how Stoicism can be applied to our 21st century lives.  He does this in an even-handed manner, trying to produce the best arguments against each Stoic principle and practice as he outlines them, and then attempting to come up with a valid response to these objections.  Not every writer does this. 

As far as Buddhism is concerned, by comparison, Irvine is honest in his personal reaction, that it is too different or oriental for him, and that its meditation practice too time consuming.  I think both of these objections are wrong, but I won’t go into that here.  He does note many similarities between Stoic and Buddhist teachings, especially regarding compassion and  living a life of simplicity and integrity. 

The one thing Buddhism has in its favor compared to Stoicism is the combined physical and mental practice of sitting meditation.  Stoicism has various mental practices as recalling the events of the day before going to bed and evaluating them.  This of course is not meditation but contemplation, of which the Buddhists also have many varieties.  But I think one of the reasons why Buddhism survived in a continuous lineage for so long compared to the Stoic tradition dissipating in late Roman times, is its foundation on the integration of body and mind in the formal practice of sitting meditation. 

My favorite crazy video

A video with Cave Dwellers' song "Meditation" is pretty hypnotic.

Why meditation works

Many think meditation is some kind of spacey out-of-this-world experience suited only for eccentrics and people who want to avoid reality. This is obviously an outcome of our Faustian outgoing pragmatic cash on the barreled cultural bias, suspicious of non-productive activity, or worse yet, non-activity. Why sit motionless when you could be doing something? Something quirky or subversive must be going on here.

Yet sitting practice is not some sort of lackadaisical lazy lounging around, it is hard work. First of all, one must maintain a strict but relaxed posture, back straight, not leaning against anything, eyes open, legs crossed in some fashion, usually sitting on a cushion, maintaining silence, watching one's breathing and mentally observing the chaos the mindstream produces without following its seductive come hithers. One of the hardest things to get used to is to realize just how chaotic our subconscious gossiping mind is, and still sit quietly observing it. In this way we become familiar with our neurotic patterns, and they lose their grip on us. We become so acquainted with our games we no longer take them seriously. This is called cutting ego. Ego here means belief in a solid unchanging ME. Does this mean we lose our sense of identity and become vegetables or simpletons easily swayed by the most persuasive propagandists? No, it means we can relax and be who we really are, free of uptight defense mechanisms, and confident in our ability to think for ourself and defend our point of view.

We will not notice any improvement in our life while we meditate, only afterwards. Subtle changes will occur in our environment if we take the time to do sitting practice on a daily schedule. Problems that never get resolved will work themselves out without our input, favorable coincidences will present themselves, we won't take ourselves so seriously anymore, and people will respond favorably to this opening up. Gaps of fresh air occur in our solid suffocating cocoon-like world, and we can see clearly where before we were blinded by our own point of view. Meditation helps us become ourselves, what we really are, and there is no reason to be afraid of this.

My buddhist bio, ready or not

I became interested in buddhism during my college years at UC Santa Barbara. During that hippie era, I lived in Isla Vista, next to campus, which was one of the hotbeds of the radical/anarchist movement as well as being a psychedelic New Age hippie haven. The local psychic would read your palm at the coffee house and the nude beach was only a short walk away.

I was on the SDS hit list because in my newspaper column I poked fun at their leader's efforts to whip up the crowd to close down the university. When there were no riots in the streets there was quite an interest in Eastern spirituality, but there were no organized groups except for the Yogi Maharishi's organization, which actually bought one of the larger apartment buildings for a year. They used to burn incense sticks taped to the swimming pool fence and Hindu chanting could be heard as you walked through the courtyard. This was rather humorous to me as the football team lived there the year before, drinking beer and listening to rock and roll.

I also was invited to a Religious Studies class one day by the professor at which the head honchos of Nichiren Shoshu (the so-called buddhist guys who chant for Cadillacs) were supposed to give an explanation of their beliefs. But instead they went right into their heavy-handed conversion rap. Since the lackadaisical RS students did not raise any serious questions, I took it upon myself to argue with the Nichirens about their obnoxious brainwashing techniques as well as expose their political ultra-nationalism in Japan, which was not well known here, and was informed by the chain-smoking Japanese leader that I was going to hell....I considered this a victory. Also later their group did not catch on locally, which did not bother me a bit.

I attended a few discussions about Zen led by a libertarian grad student, (who proposed the strange idea that beer was preferable to pot,) but found the sitting posture nearly impossible, so badly out of shape I was, both physically and mentally. I would sit in a corner of my apartment living room but get embarrassed when my girlfriend walked by and stared at me. I really had no idea what I was trying to do, I have to admit. This is what happens when you don't have a meditation instructor. But through my reading of Eastern spirituality vs. Western philosophy I determined that the buddhist path was more grounded in practical experience and I wanted to try that out myself. I really wanted to know what enlightenment was and thought I could find out pretty soon.

A few years later Chogyam Trungpa gave a talk at a house in Santa Barbara, but I heard about it a week too late. After all, why would anyone living in the Isla Vista god realm bother to drive a few miles to Santa Barbara, where real working people lived?? I had recently read his book Born in Tibet so I had some idea of who he was. I later went to this house and met some of his students and there seemed something genuine about them. In fact a guy I knew who came with me, a New Age charlatan of the worst sort, declared that the vibes in the house were definitely bumming him out and he was leaving and not coming back. This impressed me, because if Trungpa Rinpoche's vibes got to this nut case then Rinpoche must be a great teacher. I became determined to hook up with his group in LA when I returned there.

Subsequently, I joined the Los Angeles Dharmadhatu, and took the opportunity to attend Trungpa Rinpoche's seminars in Rocky Mountain Dharma Center, and later in Berkeley/Santa Cruz. I also lived one year in Boulder to be close to the source and another year in Denver for the same reason. I returned to LA and kept in touch with Trungpa's students.

I also became registered as a religious volunteer with the state corrections system. At first one of the Zen students and I used to make the long haul to the prison once in a while. This was in response to a request by the chaplain who said some of his guys were interested in Buddhism and wanted to meet with any Buddhist group on the outside. We were so ignorant we did not realize we could not enter the prison wearing blue jeans, as that is the standard prisoner issue, and in case of a riot the guards want to know who to shoot. So we had to drive over to the local mall and buy other clothes and change into them before we were allowed into the prison. As my companion was female I was suddenly stuck by the avid attention her words and presence received compared to mine, but upon reflection I realized we could convert the whole prison yard to the buddhadharma or any other religion if we brought in enough women volunteers to talk to the guys. One day driving home I made the comment, "It seems we are all in prison, not just the cons at the joint, but all of us imprison ourselves somehow with our ego."

Later I carried a big bag full of zafus (meditation cushions) to the prison twice a month to a meditation group I started there. The prisoners were quite sincere and were grateful someone on the outside cared enough to meet with them. Some of them had access to a great number of buddhist books donated to and purchased by the prison library. Therefore some of the guys there were better read in buddhism than I was, and this made the discussion groups very lively. I kept this group going by myself for about three years.

I propose buddhism and meditation are certainly compatible with Republican politics, but I will admit I am in the minority about this. I think some sort of contemplative practice is at the heart of every religion, and such practice does not have a political label or bias. I believe we should not be content to believe in the faith created by the founder of whatever our religion is, but actively attempt to practice the contemplative techniques these founders used to reach their insights into spirituality. Only then can we truly think for ourselves, and become what we really are.

Samsara and Nirvana are One

One of my old favorite dharma texts is the Zen Teachings of Huang Po, translated by John Blofeld. It is the type of book one takes on hiking trips in the Sierras, for it contains very heady thoughts such as this which need solitude in nature to properly absorb:

"The Master said to me: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One-Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind...is all that you see before you--begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error...The One Mind alone is the Buddha, and there is no distinction between the Buddha and sentient beings, but that sentient beings are attached to forms and so seek externally for Buddhahood. By their very seeking they lose it, for that is using the Buddha to seek for the Buddha and using mind to grasp Mind."

Of course this kind of speculation can lead to misty Theosophy or Transcendentalism, cute romantic offshoots. But the main point Huang Po alludes to is skepticism about the nature of duality itself. While duality is a necessary component of conceptual thinking, that does not make it real. In all mystical traditions, duality is overcome by some sort of integrated sense of oneness, or, as Chogyam Trungpa preferred, zero-ness. In our practical day to day life, if we can overcome the rigidity and concreteness of our dualistic thinking habits, we can perhaps gain an insight into the "wholeness" or "interdependence" of situations, and act appropriately. As is often said in Chinese buddhist texts, all things are interconnected in the Net of Indra.

Buddhist fireworks

Someone on the buddhist chat line posted a moderately funny joke circulating among conservative blogs recently, concerning bin Laden's rough reception in the afterlife by various dead American heroes and Presidents, and this was one buddhist's response:

"The absolute violence of the aggression imbedded in this post exploded with the precision of colour coded smart bomb of bloodymindedness that dripped with slimy hatred, rotting smelly revenge and poisonous spitefulness so as to engender this response that though positively motivated somehow feels equally infected with aversion and washed with its glorious display of karma...I had to stop to double check that this was indeed being propagated by a member of the Buddhist Organisation and practicing Buddhist....May this be of benefit."

If this sort of purple prose isn't over the top, I don't know what is. If I were the writer, I would save this sort of pulling-out-all-the-stops response to a real event, rather than a harmless joke. When the UN is closed down as the morally bankrupt organization it is and demoed, then go ahead, scream and shout like crazy if you're a liberal. But unfortunately this hysterical style of argument is the norm rather than the exception...many liberals just can't get used to the idea of being contradicted, especially in their safe havens as the universities, major media, foundations and in this case, buddhism.

Being a conservative buddhist is not an easy position -- one's fellow buddhists are all liberal and can't believe you are quite sane, and one's fellow conservatives are doubtful of non-traditional religion, which might be pagan. But I maintain buddhism is inherently politically conservative in its karmically-based attitute that where and what we are is the direct result of our own actions -- no whining allowed. It also embodies the conservative values of justice and freedom for all in its emphasis on compassionate action in the world. The willingness of American soldiers to sacrifice their lives so that foreigner peoples are freed from oppression and tyranny is the highest example of bodhisattva activity.