Monstaville Book I. Chapter 10

10

“The one law I would like to introduce would be difficult to achieve, but it would be to nip bullying in the bud. It should be dealt with very early on. It makes people’s lives a misery. Bullies tend to succeed because they scare the living daylights out of people.”

- Jo Brand (Interview by Heather Nicholson, The Times, 7 June 2005).

The Dhammapada. Path of Truth - Wisdom of the Buddha. Translated from Pali by F. Max Muller.

Chapter 17. Anger

221. Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing his own. 222. He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver; other people are but holding the reins.

223. Let a man overcome anger by love [or gentleness], let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth! 224. Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods. 225. The sages who injure nobody, and who always control their body, they will go to the unchangeable place (Nirvana), where, if they have gone, they will suffer no more. 226. Those who are ever watchful, who study day and night, and who strive after Nirvana, their passions will come to an end.

231. Beware of bodily anger, and control thy body! Leave the sins of the body, and with thy body practise virtue! 232. Beware of the anger of the tongue, and control thy tongue! Leave the sins of the tongue, and practise virtue with thy tongue! 233. Beware of the anger of the mind, and control thy mind! Leave the sins of the mind, and practise virtue with thy mind! 234. The wise who control their body, who control their tongue, the wise who control their mind, are indeed well controlled.

The Actor Factor

Conceal your power, skills and talents.

Employ them only when necessary. People will latch on to anything, seeking to confront the power and will within you. They will find any excuse and shun responsibility for their actions. Avoid persecution. Learn from the Pigsy situation to hide behind a mask of gentleness and yielding. The external is all an illusion. The personality is but a mask when you no longer identify with it. Wear personas (form) but do not involve or identify yourself with them. More gifts will come and you must resist the temptation to explore and display them. Transcend ALL. Any trace you leave, any tracks, and the dogs will sniff and hunt you down. Keep a very low profile. Any arts/skills/strength you have will reflect the power within you to others and be associated with ego, for that is all they know - and they will attack you!

You need to learn to pretend; acting is only the expression of latent personalities, alternative approaches/masks/personas/methods/mediums to use to relate to others, to the world. You perhaps need to play roles. Learn to express infinite love and flow with life all around you (play!). Not surrendering to the flow so much as adopting flexible personas and concealing your true self as it shines subtly and mysteriously through the external medium of gentleness, humility and patience; i.e. adopt a passive, smiling, kind persona and conceal all of your power and strength. Take things as they come and don’t fear or worry, and don’t react (outwardly). 

 

Divine Love

And, then, there is the deepest level of compassion and expression of Divine Love where you do not fear for your own needs but love others, continue to love others even with love that increases and deepens as they revel their weaknesses and human/animal failings, their ignorance, their malice. The more they behave as animals the more divine you become, the divine responding within you, evoked by the troubles around you and accepted/embraced by you.

When there is menace below yet no support above, one must transcend Heaven and Hell, God and the Devil, and just be. Close every door to everywhere. Switch off all thoughts. Sit flickering like a candle flame in a dark room, at peace, either enlivened nor dying, forgetting all.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (Bible, Corinthians 13:4-8).

"LOVE is our steady guide on this road full of hardships." - Rumi.

Retrospective inserts.

Raynor C. Johnson says it wise to regard those who hinder progress, and the collective good, as “spiritual children, even though some of them seem to behave in a most violent manner.” They behave this way, he adds, “because they are frightened and ignorant and need your compassion as much as those who are suffering loss in another way. That is the more difficult task, is it not, to send compassion to those who are actually being aggressive? Your natural response is to want to punish them. They will be punished, but in God’s time, and they are punished by the fact that they are not aware of love, are filled with fear and anger and do not know how to get out of their situations other than by fighting.” (In Touch with Raynor C. Johnson by Sheila Gwillam, Light Publishing, London, U.K., 1996, p.145).

“All beings tremble before violence. All fear death. All love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?” - Buddha.

“First, live a compassionate life. Then you will know.” - Buddha.

Caine (David Carradine): They laugh at me Master.

Master Po (Keye Luke): Good. To bring joy to other honours the giver.

Caine: But their laughter is not joyful, for it derides me.

Master Po: Are you hurt by it?

Caine: Yes.

Master Po: Because you gave comfort here comfort is needed?

Caine: Was this not unmanly?

Master Po: There is a strength in us that can shatter an invisible object with a hand which comes from a strong and disciplined body. There is another strength that allows us to feel the pain of others and give comfort where comfort is needed. This comes from a compassionate heart. True strength must combine both for that is in harmony with the duality of our natures. For what you have done, you may indeed take comfort in their laughter.

                - Kung Fu (Season 2, Episode 15, ‘The Way of Violence Has No Mind,’ 1974).

Tibet

The genocide in Tibet has included decades of violence, destruction and torture which continues today. “How does on maintain compassion in the face of raw cruelty?” asks the presenter of the film Yogis of Tibet (directed by Jeffrey M. Pill, 2002). The Dalai Lama says that an ancient text states that one’s own enemy is the best teacher. So, one example. An old monk…who spent almost 18 years in a Chinese gulag after ‘59. So, after he was released, eventually he joined me here. So, one day, I casually asked about his experience in the gulag. Then he told me on a few occasions he faced some danger. And I asked, ‘What kind of danger?’ I thought danger of his life or something. Then he answered me, “Danger of losing compassion towards the Chinese.” So, as a practitioner, we deliberately, you see, try to keep a compassionate attitude towards one’s own enemy – is very essential.”

Tibet was once filled with evil spirits and renowned for its perpetual wars. It was the darkest place on Earth. It changed dramatically, however, when a Tantric master named Guru Rinpoché arrived from India. He battled with the demons and won control of Tibet in the eighth century AD. The Tibetan people, if I recall correctly, agreed to take on all evil and transform it through Guru Rinpoché’s oath to protect both humanity and Buddhism in the future. According to Drunvalo Melchizedek, the Earth’s kundalini energy followed the Dalai Lama out of Tibet to journey to its new location in the Andes Mountains (which are said to have once been part of Lemuria). If this is true, perhaps the energy there had caused extremes of light and dark for 6,000 years or something. Anyway, I have included this vague, speculative comment about Tibetan history because I am reminded of it whenever I pick up Chögyam Trungpa’s book Training the Mind, with its radical argument for overcoming negativity in the world.

Chapter 10 of The Art of Happiness, which is titled ‘Shifting perspective,’ begins with an anecdote about the disciple of a Greek philosopher in the fourth-century AD who was told to give money to everyone who insulted him. The story was taught by an assortment of eccentric characters to “illustrate the value of suffering and hardship” by learning to view situations from a different vantage point. (The Art of Happiness. A Handbook for Loving by His Holiness The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, Riverhead Books, New York, U.S., 1998, p.1.72). The ancient Greeks used to practice a rite in which they would collectively hurl insults at someone as they crossed a bridge to enter the village as a general initiatory experience to help them to transcend their egos. Back then, people recognised the personal and societal benefits of crossing over the bridge from the separate ego to the whole Self. One could find peace, joy and greater contentment as well as join others on a higher level of consciousness as though travelling from a miniature island back to the vast motherland where everyone enjoyed themselves in the Light without the lower vibrations of fear and pride to divide them.

A post by a Republican lady on the Internet (www.freerepublic.com) reads: ‘How's that whole Buddhism thing doing for Tibet?’ Hmmmm...The world has changed. More nations and more individuals have power than ever before. It is now more apparent than ever that we are all interdependent. As His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, himself points out: “All People and things are interdependent. The world has become so small that no nation can solve its problems alone, in isolation from others. That is why I believe we must all cultivate a sense of responsibility based on love and compassion for each other.” Power is here to stay and that, to me, means that power alone is no longer the advantage it once was. It must now be applied with intelligence and it needs to be balanced with wisdom and compassion. Increased awareness must surely bring about this recognition. The bull-in-a-china-shop approach can only do so much...(damage).

Once the essence and deeper understanding of a spiritual discipline has been lost it becomes less effective. Chinese oppression in Tibet has perhaps robbed the nation of its potency as a spiritual force. The principle of non-violence in the existential world probably needs internal power, faith and conviction behind it to succeed. Furthermore, it may require certain conditions too. In a changing world, no region is safe from the encroachment of global forces. The wild tiger’s jaws have snapped shut on this beautiful, gentle people, causing terrible fear which only the most enlightened beings could withstand, I expect. It is heart-breaking to observe persecution in ‘Tibet Autonomous Region,’ which includes beatings, killings and imprisonment without trial. China’s bullying also includes the sterilisation of Tibetan women and forcing them to abort. One can appreciate that the March 2008 riots are the result of decades of repression, with anti-Chinese feeling escalating through day-to-day suffering. The rioters attacked Chinese shops and people who profit from running businesses under Chinese rule while the Tibetan people are increasingly marginalised and struggle in their own land.

In 1959, the Dalai Lama himself staged an uprising against Communist rule and was forced to flee when it failed. In an interview on Newsnight in 1992, the Chinese Foreign Minister told Jeremy Paxman:

“In 1988, in Stasbourg [addressing the European Parliament], the Dalai Lama proposed to make Tibet a democratic political entity, governed by itself, which maintains relations of alliance with China…the Dalai Lama advocates independence. And, we have repeatedly said that China’s sovereignty over Tibet can never be denied. Neither independence, nor semi-independence or disguised independence will be tolerated.” In March 1989, some Tibetans again sought independence through violent protest. When ‘resistance is futile,’ superhuman humility is required in order to preserve the spirit and maintain a connection to divine power: to that which is real as opposed to that which is illusory and transient. Once that connection is lost, there can be no hope of influencing the oppressor. Perhaps it is preferable to accept the external conditions that are being imposed whilst, at the same time, fortifying the awareness of Pure Being within us. After all, it is spiritual identity that endures, not cultural or national identity. Indeed, the Dalai Lama seems to understand this: “...my main concern for Tibet is preservation of Tibetan culture, preservation of Tibetan spirituality,” he told Hana Gartner in an interview, “I'm not much concerned about political field, whatever political status, OK, so long the preservation of Tibetan culture, preservation of Tibetan spirituality and environment fulfilled, then political status doesn't matter. Not much important. Personally, I have no interest in the political status of these things. I made it very clear, I think in '92, I made it very clear, when time comes for our return with certainty of freedom, then I will hand it over, all my religious authority to the local government. I have nothing to ask about myself." (www.cbc.ca/news/background/dalailama/interview.html).

Gartner tells the ‘simple Buddhist monk,’ “There are a lot of young Tibetans who are now asking themselves, can you really fight force with faith? Can you overcome hate with hope? They've been trying that for half a century, and they say maybe it's not working. Maybe the middle way doesn't work. They would like freedom in this lifetime.” (ibid.). She goes on to point out that Tibetans have now become a minority in their own country. The Dalai Lama replies: “So things are serious. So these other people, now more frustrations. So their patience now becomes thin like that. But I always used to telling them, more patience, more patience, and now, you see, here I am not fooling these people. I really feel, look global level. The later part of 20th century, much positive things changed. Much positive things happened. The totalitarian sort of systems, including Soviet Union, have changed. Now democratic society, although a lot of difficulties there. Now China, People's Republic of China, today's China, compare 30 years ago or 20 years ago, much changed. There are awareness about outside world and other values, including spirituality and individual freedom. Now these also begin in their mind. So these are some kind of peaceful evolution. Evolution gradually changes. This definitely will come. On the other hand, due to too much impatience, what we'll do, what could do? Fight?...Us? Fight? Self-destruction. Suicide. And whether we like it or not, in Tibet, they have to live side by side with our Chinese brothers and sisters. Now, in order to live harmoniously, happily, friendly, with mutual respect, we must carry our struggle through non-violence and try to achieve mutually agreeable solution. If we use common sense, I think that is the only way.” (ibid.).

Had Tibet embraced the notion of being part of China all along on the outside, its endearing ways might have shone from within to affect the grumpy beast, injecting its cold heart with some love and light. This ought perhaps to have become Tibet’s new dream and goal since change was inevitable. It is easy to reflect on these things, of course, especially in hindsight. However, we can learn from such events for the future in which society could be much more individual-centred. It is harder to maintain solidarity as a community centred in a religion but Tibet exemplified this principle in an age when such collective mastery was achievable. Now, we must work on ourselves and make collective progress as we each attain a degree of self-mastery resulting in a new kind of social unity.

Why is the Dalai Lama revered the whole world over (outside China, of course!)? Because he is very much a man of our time. His concerns are justice and truth, freedom and awareness, and friendliness to all. And, I believe, these are the very seeds which future civilisation will spring from. “The Dalai Lama lost his entire country,” says Sonia Choquette, “yet must serve as the spiritual light for hundreds of thousands of displaced souls – this is very difficult stuff. However, he is filled with absolute joy…Living your Spirit allows you to see beyond life’s immediate drama and points you toward solutions. Self-love helps you access your creativity and solve problems. It reduces conflict and eases fear. Your Spirit is your best ally when facing pain of any sort. It gets you past, through or over your ‘stuff’ more quickly." (The Answer Is Simple…love yourself, live your spirit, Hay House, Inc., Carlsbad, CA., U.S., 2008, p.140). 

“Basically, universal responsibility is the feeling for other people´s suffering just as we feel our own. It is the realisation that even our own enemy is motivated by the quest for happiness. We must recognise that all beings want the same thing we want. This is the way to achieve a true understanding, unfettered by artificial consideration.” - The Dalai Lama.

“Tibet will know its liberation around 2010-2011, and hopefully sooner. Those who rule China are not necessarily the compassionate ones. Those who make the decisions are ruthless and have absolutely no conscious understanding of what Tibet stands for and the spiritual treasures this small country hold. On a conscious human level, they perceive all this spiritual ‘stuff’ a waste of time and a mind distortion. They see absolutely no value in it. At soul level, they have a dark agenda of stopping the Light at all cost, no matter the amount of suffering inflicted and the level of destruction they have to initiate. They do not think and feel like you do. Those who hold so much Light and Wisdom in their hearts and auric field represent a threat to them; persecuting and getting rid of them is perceived as an easy and acceptable solution.

                Soon, there will be much devastation in China and the leadership will be in so much trouble, that they will no longer have any interest in dominating Tibet. Then Tibet will finally be Free, and eventually, will be able to share the treasures of her knowledge and wisdom to the world.” 
                - Adama (channelled through Aurelia Louise Jones. Posted on 1 November 2006 on www.2012.tribe.net/thread/a30c4cea-1419-4048-9bf9-1cf52f905d96. This article on Expected Changes in 2007 includes some interesting information on China).

Uncle Ben (Cliff Robertson): Remember, with great power comes great responsibility. - Spider-Man (directed by Sam Raimi, 2002).

“Laughter is an explosion of psychic energy.” - Ken Dodd.