They say the oldest profession in the book is\u2026 Well, you know. But if you had to put a bet on what the second oldest is, you would do well to guess that the title would be something like \u201csmooth talkin\u2019 salesman.\u201d<\/strong> (or perhaps pretty-talkin\u2019 product pimps)<\/p>\n And salesmen aren\u2019t always selling stuff<\/em>. They\u2019re often peddling views and spiritualities and hopes of this sort or that. <\/strong>Their particular manifestations are many: some are showy, some are cunning, some are charming, and some have a bit of each of these traits. I would guess that psychologically speaking, they are amongst the most narcissistic people out there: they know <\/em>that what they have is good and it will solve your problem.<\/p>\n If you ask them a question and they don\u2019t know the answer, they\u2019ll simply answer another question. \u00a0If they\u2019re good at what you do, and you\u2019re not on the ball, you might not even notice their clever change of subject.<\/strong> If they\u2019re not so good, as we\u2019ve seen in a couple instances in the political arena of late (that\u2019s just \u2018gotcha\u2019 reporter questions\u2026 you ask the questions you want, and I get to answer the questions I want\u2026), they look look like exactly what they are.<\/p>\n The Buddha labeled such people \u201cEel wrigglers\u201d in the Brahmajala Sutta (DN 1). There he identifies four types of Eel wrigglers. The first does not know whether something is good or bad. But when asked he doesn\u2019t want to seem ignorant, and he doesn\u2019t want to lie \u2013 for fear of the distress it would cause (so at least he has a conscience), so \u201che resorts to evasive statements and wriggles like an eel: I don\u2019t say this. I don\u2019t say that. I don\u2019t say it is otherwise. I don\u2019t say it is not. I don\u2019t not say it is not.\u201d<\/p>\n It sounds a bit cartoonish \u2013 but I\u2019ve encountered such people. I\u2019m sure you have too.<\/p>\n The next is likewise ignorant and wriggles like an eel in just the same way. But this time his motivation is fear of the underlying feelings that might arise should he admit as much or lie: namely lust or aversion. He perhaps has experienced the joys of equanimity and doesn\u2019t want to upset them, but he still hasn\u2019t gotten anywhere in terms of knowledge and thus wriggles around when asked about good and bad.<\/p>\n Sounds a bit like certain \u201cblissed out\u201d practitioners I\u2019ve heard about and met. You?<\/p>\n The third is likewise ignorant but in this case he fears the distress of perhaps encountering a better debater and losing. So he wriggles too.<\/p>\n And the fourth is the Buddha being about as blunt as I can recall: \u201cHere an ascetic or Brahmin is dull and stupid. Because of his dullness and stupidity\u201d he wriggles as well.<\/p>\n All of this because they were a) ignorant of right and wrong and b) unwilling to simply say so.<\/p>\n Now, as a practitioner and scholar, I certainly don\u2019t know much. But I can say I know some of the simpler points of what is beneficial or good: generosity, patience, moral restraint and so on and that their opposites are bad. On particular questions all I can do is appeal to these basic traits \u2013 perhaps thinking of the Buddha\u2019s discourse to the Kalamas: does the action give rise to greed, hatred, and aversion? If so, it is bad. If an act dissipates these qualities, it is good. It\u2019s perhaps painfully simple, but when applied it means a lot<\/strong>. It means that a lot of what we justify in our lives: excessive consumption, rudeness to strangers, lack of care for those far away, cannot go on. And it means that we must<\/em> actively cultivate attitudes that simplify our lives, maintain mindfulness in daily life, and open up to the whole world of suffering out there.<\/p>\n Christopher Titmus, one contemporary and well-respected Dharma<\/a> teacher, writes in an article subtitled \u201ckeeping your eye on the goal\u201d:<\/p>\n The eel wrigglers have little faith in complete enlightenment, in total realisation of the Non-Dual and a pervasive seeing of the emptiness of all ego-making activities. Eel wrigglers usually experience inner doubts, if not angst, and assume it is the same for everybody else. \u2018It could be like this or it could be like that\u2019 is one of their common views. They replace Right View, the first link in the Noble Eightfold Path<\/a>, with Right Unconducive View. (link<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u200eAs a philosopher, literally a lover of wisdom, I know I fall into my fair share of eel wriggling over particular matters. But, as a practitioner, or simply as a human being trying to do good in the world, I hope my particular <\/em>instances of eel wriggling are always within faith or trust or confidence in complete enlightenment and the rest that Christopher Titmus mentioned and not<\/em> out of angst. Perhaps a youthful angst helped drive me toward philosophy and religion (and sociology, politics, and anthropology) as topics of study, but for now and at least the last several years, I can confidently say that I\u2019ve outgrown that particular emotion or motivation.<\/p>\n But I do read plenty of \u2018angsty\u2019 people\u2019s blogs, see them on other social media and in real life. And I often see that they can draw quite an audience (misery loves company?). I wonder if or to what extent this kind of attitude might come to dominate Western Buddhism. <\/strong>Might Western Buddhism begin to shed its \u2018lovey-dovey\u2019 peaceful image in favor of something more like an angry flame-war of name-calling and finger-pointing? Might the most popular Buddhist teachers of the next generation be the angriest and the loudest, or simply the most argumentative? And where will questions of practice, or simple good and bad fit in to all of this?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They say the oldest profession in the book is\u2026 Well, you know. But if you had to put a bet on what the second oldest is, you would do well to guess that the title would be something like \u201csmooth talkin\u2019 salesman.\u201d (or perhaps pretty-talkin\u2019 product pimps) And salesmen aren\u2019t always selling stuff. They\u2019re often […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n