Yesterday on Facebook in response to the killing of Osama bin Ladin, I made a statement about our radical interdependence and at the same time the sadness of our human condition.
I prefaced that with an observation that Mr bin Ladin was a bad man. And that I experienced a lifting of my heart at hearing of his death. I used the word “glad.” Some people objected to these two things. One commentator suggested I should no longer teach the Buddhadharma.
I made a half-hearted attempt at response, but eventually had to turn to other things.
This morning I’d like to reflect at a tiny bit more length on my two controversial statements.
First, the bad man thing. There is some hope among many of us that we are not who we are. That buried deep within us there is some pure place untouched by the world. So, things may happen. We may do things. But they do not define us.
In my experience no one has such a place. We are a complex mix of many things. So, normally one action, a dozen don’t define us. Too many things combine to make us into the people we are to be so reductive. Usually. And the karmic mess is gigantic. No doubt our culture had a hand in setting Mr bin Ladin on his course of action. But, ultimately, he is responsible. As we all are. And he is what he does. As we all are.
We also can do things so horrific that they become the lead of who we are.
As I said in the FB post, no pass.
I made a passing reference to the famous Zen koan, Baizhaing’s Fox, which turns on the observation that the awakened person is at one with the law of cause and effect. For some reflection on this case, you might go here. The subtlety and complexity of its pointing makes this one of the abiding koan of my heart…
Which leads to the statement about being glad Osama bin Ladin was killed.
This was an admission, not an exultation.
It grieves me that my first reaction was being glad another person had died.
And, I suspected that it could be of use to some of my friends who wish otherwise but had similar feelings to acknowledge this. Many expressed gratitude. Some did not. One commentator suggested that he does not allow such feelings. I’m not sure if that is a good thing, or not, although I’m suspicious. Personally I’d rather experience what is and then deal with it.
As the great Shunryu Suzuki observed, We’re all perfect as we are. And we could use a little improvement…
Some more than others, no doubt…
That’s all I have on those two points.
So, what’s the take away?
Well, again, as I hoped to point to originally, these are examples of how we are all caught up in the great mess together. We are one body, you and I, in all our separateness. Both and. The mysterious manifestation of the real. For good and for ill we’re tied up together, woven out of each other. Mr bin Laden is part of us, part of me, part of you. Even as each of us is responsible.
And, all the feelings and thoughts we have, are part of the deal too…
If we hope to take any action that shifts the karma, it would be wise to start by looking into our own hearts and owning what it is we feel and think. That’s just as much us, you and me, as will be the action taken…
As the late Kurt Vonnegut observed, so it goes…
Or, as Leonard Cohen observed about that crack in everything…
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