Something that grabs my imagination, entering Western academia after having immersed myself in Tibetan Buddhism for the first segment of my adult life is Western academia�s almost naively limited scope of time. While Buddhism deals with characteristics of reality that are assumed to be endlessly enduring over countless eons Western economic theory attempts to draw similarly sweeping conclusions by analyzing patterns that have gone on for no more than mere centuries. Take for instants the assumption that prices will perpetually rise. This assumption is taken to the ludicrous extreme when exponential growth is considered to be a sustainable state of the economy. While theories based on patterns of GDP, recession and inflation may be useful in the short term to prevent large scale human suffering we must be reminded of the uniqueness in Universal history of our global situation and even the brevity of the life span of the entire human race. On the other hand the question arises of the utility of focusing on subjects as broad in scope as the life cycle of the universe and our own relationship in a string of incarnations when it has no tangible utility on a day to day basis.
The jury is still out on the superiority of either field of study, perhaps the followers of Bachus had it right and the best pursuit is sensual gratification. But is it not the frustrating adolescent disutility of directly pursuing a hedonistic agenda that leads us to circumvent it with the seemingly more clever means of religion and academia which we alternatively utilize in the hope of attaining our original most base of objectives?
When I was a teenager in the late 1980’s I was having a conversation with one of leading Jazz musicians in Toronto at the time, B3 Organ master John T. Davis. He made a comment that has stuck with me to this day “All those big banks downtown are the new temples, people go into those lobbies and I see them making their offerings”. Later, studying Tantric Buddhism in the Himalayas I learned, while reciting the Karling Shitro of Karma Lingpa, that all appearances are manifestations of the array of peaceful and wrathful deities which are the expression of the true nature of mind. Years later while listening to the lecture of lawyer and professor Adam Sulkowski in the University of Massachusetts MBA program I learned that Corporations in the eye of the law are “Immortal citizens with the legal mandate to behave as psychotics”. As my study of business continued coupled with my own employment in the corporate world I repeatedly asked myself: what are these amorphous beings to which we offer our lives, for whose wealth and glory we toil and labor? The companies, the corporations, on what plain do they exist? They are not corporal entities that we can touch or smell but rather they dwell in the realms of our imaginations quite like the local Gods and Demons of other much maligned “primitive” societies and cultures. Are Exxon Mobile and Bank of America no more real than Rumplstiltskin or the gory deities of the Aztecs and Incas. Are their human components from entry level clerk to CEO only fleshy sacrifices to be chewed and consumed for the ultimate glory and power of the immortal business creature? Do the business’s spar and flirt like Athena and Zeus, Apollo and Bacchus from the scriptural pages of our Wall Street Journals to the ethereal panacea of our collective imagination? Are they a superstitious entity only upheld by our collective faith? Or are they the impure expression of the peaceful and wrathful dancing Buddhas of our unrecognized enlightened mind?
Thank you blog readers! As you can see from the new pictures posted in the gallery, we just went to India and Nepal. After a day long layover in London we continued on to Delhi and then to Bagdogra, West Bengal. I hadn't been to the area since 2006. Despite the looming economic storm clouds of the international financial crisis the signs of development and growth were very apparent in the Siliguri area in general and in the Salbari area in particular. Most salient were the numerous new housing developments mushrooming in what had been rice fields only two and three years ago. There were also several new auto dealerships and noticeably more new small cars on the roads (primarily Sazuki Marutis and Tatas). My former home, the Salbari Gompa was sparsely populated by a few young monks and a Kenpo I had known from years earlier. Unfortunately H.H.Chatral Rinpoche was not in Salbari so we elected to venture into Nepal to find him. It had been almost ten years since I had been back to Nepal and it was a strange experience. Signs of instability and poverty were clearly visible in the Terrai region with a new military presence and a marked lack of upkeep in the roads. There was a blatant contrast to the obvious economic blossoming going on in neighboring West Bengal. While the prevelance of new cars caught ones eye in Siliguri the almost exclusive prevalence of the man powered cycle rickshaw caught my attention in the lowland Nepali metropolis of Bharatnagar. The tourist ghetto of Tamel in Kathmandu seemed to be largely flourishing although it's inhabitants reported otherwise. We continued our journey to Pharping and to the residence of H.H.Chatral Rinpoche. I had been warned in advance that due to his age those peritted to meet the master were very few. Indeed we turned out not to be members of that fortunate group. Nevertheless we made our offerings to H.H.Chatral Rinpoche and his daughter, Semo Saraswati, via an old friend, now serving as Rinpoche's attendant, who we used to call Gomchen. Also in the entourage of H.H. was the now grownup and still electrically outgoing, Nau Babu. We were also fortunate enough to meet H.H.'s Consort in the courtyard who by all appearances seems to be in great form. Finally after all these years being on the outside of the magical mandala, the entourage of H.H.Chatral Rinpoche, was sad and yet significant. It signifies to me the turning of a chapter in this life that has proved to be and with the kindness of the Three Jewels still proves to be blessed with magic, good fortune and happiness. Homage to H.H.Chatral Rinpoche and may he live endlessly, spreading his blessing of peace, love and joy!
