Tibetan Buddhism: Kindness through extraordinary courage

📔(10/n in 2021) I picked up "Fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism" at a homestay in Harsil Valley (Uttarakhand) on my recent vacation. Found it an insightful read about the history, philosophy and practices of the people of Tibet.

The philosophy was familiar to me, as I am aware of Buddhist Sunyavada doctrines and Nagarjuna's works. The book expanded my understanding of the history of Tibetan Buddhism, and the concept of Vajrayana (which amalgamates Mahayana Suttas with Tantric practices to accelerate one's transformation into a Buddha in one lifetime).

A few takeaways among many:

1️⃣ I'm sure this has been a quiz question before: How was the institution of the Dalai Lama created, and what does "Dalai Lama" mean? A: The youngest and currently dominant Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism gained prominence in the 1570s as the Lama Sonam Gyatso formed an alliance with the Mongol chieftain Atlan Khan. The word "Dalai" comes from the Mongol word for Ocean. And Dalai Lama means a teacher who has the depths of an ocean.

2️⃣ Another piece of trivia: Buddhism became the state religion of Mongolia under Kublai Khan. Ghenghiz Khan subjugated Tibet in the 1200s, and later the Khan's grandson Godan took Sakya Pandita Gyeltsen as his guru and adopted Buddhism. The teacher's nephew Chogyal Phagpa became Kublai Khan's guru. At this time, Buddhism became the state religion of Mongolia (53% of Mongolia's population were Buddhists as of 2010).

3️⃣ It is believed that all the three paths (1) Doctrine of emptiness, (2) Infinite Compassion, and (3) Karmic law of cause and effect (including "Dependent Origination") lead to realization of the same whole - that is Enlightenment. I personally found the interconnectedness of these routes fascinating.

4️⃣ A Buddha is said to operate in three planes of existence simultaneously: the universal (dharmakaya), the ideal (sambhogakaya) - or pure land, and the individual (nirmanakaya). Dharmakaya or Truth Body relates to the realization of emptiness in the phenomenological world. Sambhogakaya or Bliss Body relates to what I think is a (Vijnanavadin/Brahmanic) concept of a pure non-material plane of existence without defilement. Nirmanakaya or Form Body relates to the expression of purity in the phenomenal world.

5️⃣ Bodhicitta (heart of an enlightened mind) is an incredibly brave concept. It means the engagement of one's enlightened mind for the well-being of all other sentient beings. One concept I loved is the idea that everyone else in a previous janma could have been our mother or dearest friends; so when we see these "mother sentient beings" suffering, we spontaneously desire to release them from their torment.

Having read this book, I feel worse about what happened to the people of Tibet in the 1950s when the Chinese Communists invade their land "to liberate them". It takes extraordinary courage to build philosophy that is so kind.

Understanding Why "Time Flies" In 2020

Saturday morning coffee is a mental marker. Like post-it notes stuck on the Calendar, at equal intervals, every week on Saturday - at approximately 10.30 am each day. Every time I sip this coffee, I'm reminded of the events of the week that went by. So I count weeks like this, coffee to coffee, every Saturday.

Ever since the lock-down began, I realize I'm sipping Saturday coffees in quick succession. And since Saturday coffees can be had only on Saturdays, I can only conclude that Saturdays are coming and going faster than they used to in the past.

I've asked family and friends if they feel this way too, to identify if this is a feeling that is solely mine or if it is shared by members of the community. I've been told that many people share this feeling: time flies in 2020.

I don't love this year any more than the last, but it hasn't given me any reason to dislike it either. So, I don't particularly wish to alter my perception of the speed of time now; I wouldn't really care if it moved any faster or slower. I do, however, wish to understand why our shared experience tells us now that time is flying past.

One significant shift in our behaviour during the pandemic is the abandonment or lack of focused, time-bound pursuit of medium-term goals. Most immediate goals (eating, sleeping, tomorrow's deadline for work, shopping for groceries, etc) haven't changed, and they are repetitive; neither have the long-term goals (career progress goals, family goals, monetary goals, etc).

But the medium term is hazier than before. When is our next vacation? Do we plan to buy a new house in the next 4-6 months? A new car? Can we go out for a movie this month? Many of these goals fall into the "want" bucket, as opposed to the "need" bucket. And in the face of ambiguity created by COVID-19, we have sacrificed these goals.

The presence of immediate, repetitive, short-term goals and absence of medium-term objectives present us with a strange situation: the present seems to be in a loop, and there are fewer things to look-forward to. We can no longer get through a monotonous week eagerly anticipating a weekend movie, or work through the month while planning the upcoming international trip. We are relegated to working on what is important here and now, in this present moment; future-plans are a lot less tangible than they used to be before the pandemic.

Therefore, we are limited to counting time by our Saturday morning coffees. The anticipation and longing for a future to come sooner was possibly what made us think time wasn't moving fast enough. Today, that longing for a medium-term future is less intense, and the clock is ticking on faster than we would "expect".

The writing of this post sufficiently slowed down time for me. I realize that variety of experience and  a stubborn belief in a definite medium-term future is important to balance my perception of time.