what people step in on their way along the Short Path
Back in my first attempt at college a friend told me,
"Machiavelli said it was all right to lie and steal."
No, says I, he said that a Prince owes his people and
his country everything and he cannot afford luxuries
like personal honour when defending the lives of others.
You are not a Prince. "But he said it was all right!"
Did i say it was a friend? Not after that, he wasn't.
It's an intellectual crime when people take fragments of
good philosophy out of context to not only justify but to
praise their own bad behavior. Capitalism is not about
greed, amazon mysticism is not all about drugs,
epicurian philosophy was not about hedonism: and yet a
fat, lazy, coke-addled inside-trader will misquote
Ayn Rand, Socrates and Carlos Castanada to support his
claim to spiritual superiority.
Two eastern principles are misused like this. The first
is Taoist acceptance of natural misfortune summed up by
the phrase "**** Happens". It does, it always will, and
we deal with the unforseeable as it happens. No human
mind can comprehend and predict the whole of the world
and luck swings either good or ill, outside of our control.
Wildfires may burn down your house, but failing to clear
a firebreak around it for ten years is your fault, not
just something that "happened". (Depending on local
environmental ordinances actual fault may vary.)
Incidentaly, it is equivelent to the words that end so
many declaritive statements uttered in the arab world.
"**** Happens" is always stated after the fact of some
lout's failure to act. "Inshallah" is always said before
one is going to ignore responsibilaty. The former means
"It's not my fault" and the latter "It's not going to
be my fault." Sure, blame it on god, but don't expect
me to accept it with taoist patience. (A genuine wish
for Allah's blessing on success is "Bismillah".)
The second principle constantly misused is the Short Path.
Vajrayanists feel that the best way to achieve the goal of
overcoming desire, and to work towards enlightenment, may
be to experience desire and fullfillment until one is sick
of it. Like that first day at Baskin-&-Robbins when you
get to eat all the ice-cream you want until you never
(ever!) want to eat it again, the time of vajrayanist
indulgence is meant to remove any remnent of mystery or
curiosity about all earthly pleasures real or imagined.
Then you can concentrate on fasting and yoga.
Most of the Short Path Buddhists ever seen in the Western
world seem to be garden variety hedonists who use the
buddhist school as an excuse for their self-indulgent lives.
On behalf of Vajrayani scripture, taoism, castanada,
neizchie, ayn rand, epicurius, machiavelli, einstin,
heisenburg, thomas jefferson, decartes and even baskin-&-
robbins: hippies smell, not bathing will not stop the war,
and no one buys those long rambling explainations that
by not holding a job you are creating world peace.
You are also not attaining Enlightenment.