Buddhism: in the news

Two stories and a song have recently caught my eye. The first story chronicles recent developments down in Arizona with Geshe Michael Roach, his students, and other Buddhist groups in and around Tucson. It tells of John Brady, a student of Geshe Michael who I had the pleasure of meeting in Ireland back in 2005 (which spurred a chain of events bringing me to Tucson to see H.H. the Dalai Lama that September), who has been working to preserve ancient Asian texts, many existing in just a few volumes hidden deep in the Himalayas. Also interviewed was Jim Dey, who I met very briefly at one of the Dalai Lama’s private talks, who has devoted himself fully to Tibetan Buddhism under Geshe Michael.

Dey says Buddhism is “not as mystical as one might think. Buddhism gives you 100 percent responsibility for what happens to you, for your own happiness. If you and the world around you don’t feel significantly better, if you’re not happier and more sane, then you’re missing something. That should be true for any path and/or religion that you’re on.”

“Would Neo want to be plugged back into the Matrix?” Dey asks. “Once you’ve seen for yourself that most of what you’ve been taught about finding happiness is false, you can’t go back and pretend everything will be OK.”

Another man discussed was Roshi Pat Hawk of the Zen Desert Sangha.

The “Roshi” or “old master” at ZDS is a small, gray-haired man wearing black slacks with Birkenstocks and oversized glasses. You’d never guess that Roshi Pat Hawk was both a Zen master and a Roman Catholic priest.

It reminds me of a story I read recently covering Catholic perspectives on Buddhism, ranging from acceptance and exploration to rejection and denial.

The second story comes from Germany, where a recent poll suggests that Deutschlanders “prefer the Dalai Lama to Pope Benedict.”

A study carried out for the news magazine Der Spiegel showed that 44 per cent of those questioned saw the Tibetan spiritual and secular leader as a role model, while only 42 per cent attributed the same qualities to the pope.

The Dalai Lama enjoyed a particularly high popularity rating among the young and better educated, according to the survey by the TNS research organization.

I’ve long seen Ratzinger as a crotchety and unkind old man (as long as I’ve known about him at least). Shortly after his election I read a 1997 interview of him calling Buddhism an “auto-erotic spirituality” and suggesting that it was more dangerous than Marxism. YIKES! Buddhism? His gaffe with Muslims last year and more recent slight against Protestants (slightly irreverent commentary: Sorry, Pope, but this ‘proper church’ declaration is surreal nonsense) have not helped his image in most people’s eyes. On the plus side, the Dalai Lama continues to spread his simple message of peace and global justice.

Finally, the song: Kindness. This was sent to me by a friend. It comes from Michelle Chappel, composed this year as a birthday present for His Holiness the Dalai Lama (who turned 72 on July 6th). It’s due to be released soon on her latest CD called “Shine.”