The Vajra Parrot Squawks!

As most people will have gathered, I am now once more in India, and shall be here for some time.

I was having a relaxed conversation with a fellow Western monk a week or so back when 'the incident' happened. We were in a grimy little shack outside the Tibetan colony sipping very sweet, milky tea from suspiciously cloudy shot glasses and our topic of conversation somehow ventured - rather carelessly - onto that most dangerous of terrains: the no-man's land of religion.

I must have made some comment about some Western Buddhists I'd met being no different than fundamentalist Christians, believing literally in stories of people miraculously appearing on self-arisen lotuses, which we have to agree is not the usual order of things, when my co-religionist's expression metamorphosed from sweet and amiable to something altogether less serene.

... How dare I question and undermine his faith?! He exclaimed, incredulous that a Buddhist (and a monk!) should dare ask questions or not accept at face value every innovation and cultural accretion that has ever been dreamt into existence in the six realms. In fact, throughout the amusing little tirade which ensued 'faith' was repeated in a manner more fitting, I thought, to a Billy Graham rally, which did nothing more than push me in the opposite direction, out of devilment, perhaps.

Where is the middle ground with these people? Where is the common sense? Where is the rationality? Why do we hear so much gushy parroting of other peoples' fairy stories, or whispers of teachers' namthars by cow-eyed students, but no evidence of their own insights in their own daily life and understanding of Dharma? One would expect that any serious student should have some insight.

It seems, sadly enough, that you can take the man out of Christianity, but sometimes you just can't take Christianity out of the man. Someone who slavishly obeyed the bellowing of the eternal judge in his youth is bound to have a defective understanding of what precepts, vows and samayas actually mean in later life. The same with many other parallels between the two systems.

Incidentally, the Dalai Lama saved the day when I remembered his quote: when science and religious doctrine are at odds, then the latter must be dispensed with*. Something like that, anyway. My sutra-thumping friend couldn't really respond to that without making himself look bad, though I know it still angered him. But does it really even have to come to this? Isn't there something of the Middle Ages here, with people debating how many angels can dance on a pin head?

For the record, I neither believe, nor disbelieve, things like this. To me they're just not important - simple as. They're not necessary to me, nor to my understanding of Dharma; I'm not on a Dawkins-esque mission to rip the magic carpet of eastern mystery from the feet of anyone - if it is helpful then it is helpful, and if it is in accordance with Dharma then it is Dharma. There has to be room for those who believe 'everything' to peacefully coexist with those who are not, shall we say, so credulous by nature.

Buddhism is like a huge supermarket, chock-full of all manner of weird and wonderful nutritive product ranges... but we don't have to try to buy the whole shop's contents at once as soon as we pass inside its portals.

In regular supermarkets there are the items necessary to daily existence, water, bread, etc., things we really have to buy if we are to continue on this Earth as nourished human beings. In the Dharma superstore it's also the same: there are only a few things we actually need to buy to *be* Buddhist - all the other wonderful things on the endless shelves may be of more use to others, or to one's self at a later date, or maybe just not be to one's individual taste at all. It doesn't matter.. as long as you know what products you need to survive and you keep them faithfully on your shopping list, understanding why they're necessary to your health and wellbeing. This is, of course, until you reach that state when you have no more need of supermarkets, nor of shopping lists... but this is a long way off for most of us.

Festina lente, as it's said, lest you become like a starving person who, on being given the free run of the shop, get distracted by the expensive spices and fancy olive oils and still die of starvation.



*there are caveats here, which many will obviously understand.