Programmed and manipulated by nefarious powers

Buddhism and those who practice it in its various forms such as Zen, in general, would like to believe that they live pretty much outside of the current social environment; that they don’t have a political or ideological bone in their body.

Truth be told, not only has Buddhism been reformulated to be what it is not, but those who practice it in Europe and North America have been, to a certain extent, programmed and manipulated by nefarious powers through the educational system and social networks, to find it almost incomprehensible.  Said again, it is difficult if not impossible for people to understand Buddhism and Zen Buddhism the way it was meant to be understood. 

Just recently, Chamath Palihapitiya who was a former Facebook top executive said that the social media is “eroding human interaction.”  He then dropped this bomb on his audience at the Stanford Graduate School of Business:

“The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth.” (Emphasis is mine.)

The bold section of Chamath’s words describes the symptoms individuals suffer from who have been infected by these nefarious powers through the educational system and the social networks.  We see this, especially, in the political discourse which is non-existent.  People now are learning what the word ‘hatred’ means and the inability to control it. This is not going to get better.

But the worst thing in Chamath’s words is misinformation and mistruth.  I hate to keep bringing this up but a primary example of misinformation and mistruth in Buddhism is to be found in what Stephen Batchelor publishes most notably his book, Buddhism Without Beliefs.

Before the rise of the Internet, the symptoms of “No civil discourse, no cooperation, misinformation, mistruth” (hereafter, the “four evils”) was occurring at a much slower rate.  One really, in fact, didn’t notice it.  But with the assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963 the nefarious cabal grew in power having decided to seize the day, so to speak.  You could feel the change in the pit of your stomach.  And not long after that was the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968.

What during the 1960s seemed like a movement heralding a new utopian vision, as I saw it having lived through it, was really announcing our future doom.  And now we see this doom more clearly.  With the speed of the Internet and the use of smart phones, half the world is infected, bent on destroying everything and starting anew while the other half is pushing back trying to maintain what is good in the past, wary of utopian dreamers, having lived through Communism.

Beginning in 1965, Zen Buddhism became for me a wonderful path by which to see what the Buddha saw under the Bodhi-tree.  But its practice in the West, gradually over time, became a microcosm of this doom and the four evils.  It was like the canary in the mine. 

Western Buddhists seem to be defending the dark, nefarious powers.  Today, this is manifested in a general unease with the notion of nirvana, an afterlife, karma, immortality, even the ātman, and aryan values all of which the Buddha taught.  Few Buddhists were willing to come forth and declare that modern Buddhism is not faithful to the Buddha’s teachings. 

Modern Buddhism, without a doubt, has turned into nihilism couched in the language of Buddhism—but still nihilism.  In addition, there is nothing systematic in modern Buddhism because the very awakening required to make it systematic is lacking in Buddhism’s practitioners, nor is it sought for by them.

Buddhism like Judaism, Christianity and Islam is turning into a hodgepodge.  I know this sounds pessimistic and it will be for anyone who thinks that Buddhism is not spiritual and does not aim at the gnosis of the absolute.  But for those of you like me, there is an adventure waiting for you.  Just don’t follow the herd and their values. They are about to fall into the abyss.

Comments

[Phobos]

Amen. If only we had more Peter Masefield types ("Divine Revelation in Pali Buddhism") and fewer Batchelor a-gnostics...

Incidentally, the JFK assassination happened long before I was born, but I suspect the zeitgeist moodshift post-9/11 felt similar. Same cabal, same evil spread across the earth. It's a dark time. But the Eternal One will be here shining as always when the clouds dissipate.