Let Go of The Need to Save The Planet by Thich Nhat Hahn

[Nordic]

But I have a couple friends who met him while they were working at Omega Institute, and said he was a total elitist asshole.

Hm, I have a friend whose brother's friend woke up one morning packed in ice, with a kidney missing.

It's true, I swear!

[brekin]

wordspeak wrote:

I don't know what I think of Thich Nhat Hahn exactly. He's definitely done some good things. But I have a couple friends who met him while they were working at Omega Institute, and said he was a total elitist asshole. Not particularly surprising to me. Buddhism's all right, but it's not as great as a mushroom trip, and I'm skeptical of anyone who tells me not to "take any drugs."

This does cry out for at least an anecdote or two. Is he like a Grey Poupon level total elitist asshole? Or does he ride around the Omega Institute's grounds at night in a golf cart playing a invitation only version of The Most Dangerous Game?

[Simulist]

I don't know what I think of Thich Nhat Hahn exactly. He's definitely done some good things. But I have a couple friends who met him while they were working at Omega Institute, and said he was a total elitist asshole. Not particularly surprising to me. Buddhism's all right, but it's not as great as a mushroom trip, and I'm skeptical of anyone who tells me not to "take any drugs."

Somewhere somebody can be found who will think somebody else is a "total elitist asshole."

It doesn't necessarily mean that the observed person is that, it might mean that the observer was just having a bad day — or maybe is an asshole himself.

[Wombaticus Rex]

"I just wanted 20 minutes of his time to ask him the same questions everyone else has been asking him for the past 50 years and he wouldn't even give me the time of day."

[matrixdutch]

"I just wanted 20 minutes of his time to ask him the same questions everyone else has been asking him for the past 50 years and he wouldn't even give me the time of day."

Gee, just 20 minutes?

[undead]

I don't know what I think of Thich Nhat Hahn exactly. He's definitely done some good things. But I have a couple friends who met him while they were working at Omega Institute, and said he was a total elitist asshole. Not particularly surprising to me. Buddhism's all right, but it's not as great as a mushroom trip, and I'm skeptical of anyone who tells me not to "take any drugs."

Somewhere somebody can be found who will think somebody else is a "total elitist asshole."

It doesn't necessarily mean that the observed person is that, it might mean that the observer was just having a bad day — or maybe is an asshole himself.

There is a serious contradiction in considering a Buddhist monk to be a Very Important Person. By definition his practice would involve recognizing that he himself is not important. The teaching is important. Guru-worship is a main obstacle to collective awakening because it is a shortcut to realizing one's own Buddha nature. I think that this man has a very positive effect on the world in general. I'd love to read his books, but I wouldn't want to meet him because I would have to wade through a crowd of clueless people to get to him. Because, you know, if they had a clue they would not have to keep following him around all the time. If you had people like that pestering you with questions all the time, eventually you would start to assume that everyone you met was clueless and treat them accordingly.

I find Buddhism to be very interesting and therapeutic to study, particularly the meditation techniques. There are a lot of different kinds and it would be a mistake to make judgments on Buddhism as a whole without knowing the particulars (there are very many). One thing I will say, though, is that like any other spiritual discipline it will become contradictory and hypocritical when dogma becomes a factor.

[undead]

"I just wanted 20 minutes of his time to ask him the same questions everyone else has been asking him for the past 50 years and he wouldn't even give me the time of day."

I'll bet 90% of the time he talks to people the answer to their questions is written down in one of his books.

[matrixdutch]

"I just wanted 20 minutes of his time to ask him the same questions everyone else has been asking him for the past 50 years and he wouldn't even give me the time of day."

I'll bet 90% of the time he talks to people the answer to their questions is written down in one of his books.

I agree.

On top of that, he may have been wary of being alone for 20 minutes with a complete stranger....a stranger that ended calling him an elitist asshole on an internet forum when denied his 20 minutes.

[justdrew]

When I had mentioned (to this same person, years ago) that there were discarnate beings that hang around fishing for energy, he agreed saying his guru indicated that there were up to 600 ghosts attached to the average person.

is/was this a Tibetan guru? Sounds more like Bon than Buddhism. Or perhaps Shinto/Shingon...
or scientology.

[Sounder]

Yes justdrew, Tibetian.

Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumptionIn it, he writes: "The situation the Earth is in today has been created by unmindful production and unmindful consumption. We consume to forget our worries and our anxieties. Tranquilising ourselves with over-consumption is not the way."

So true

In his only interview in the UK, Thay calls on journalists to play their part in preventing the destruction of our civilisation and calls on corporations to move away from their focus on profits to the wellbeing of society.

Good luck on that one.

He says that it is an ill-conceived idea that the solution to global warming lies in technological advances.

Actually AGWers are counting on shuffling of paper to ‘save the world’ rather than counting on tech, being most alarmists do not conceive that getting beyond the oil burning model is even possible.

While science is important, even more so is dealing with the root cause of our destructive behaviour: "The spiritual crisis of the West is the cause for the many sufferings we encounter. Because of our dualistic thinking that god and the kingdom of god is outside of us and in the future - we don't know that god's true nature is in every one of us. So we need to put god back into the right place, within ourselves. It is like when the wave knows that water is not outside of her.

The spiritual crisis is a product of cognitive dissonance resulting from conscious acceptance of dualism even though subconsciously we know that the physical and the spiritual play off of and create each other. The dualistic model that (intentionally) put God off in the distance is the same thinking that drives our tech. Whereas ‘tech’ that is holistic will extend the chain of causation into more subtle realms and may indeed help to encourage adoption of fresh thinking patterns. We need a whole new package, with science and consciousness wrapped up together into one package.

"Everything we touch in our daily lives, including our body, is a miracle. By putting the kingdom of god in the right place, it shows us it is possible to live happily right here, right now. If we wake up to this, we do not have to run after the things we believe are crucial to our happiness like fame, power and sex. If we stop creating despair and anger, we make the atmosphere healthy again.

These words read well, but I do not see how a union of middle class neurotics will accomplish this.

"Maybe we have enough technology to save the planet but it is not enough because the people are not ready.

This sentence is dumb on several levels. Its not about ‘enough tech’, instead it’s about tech that is based on incorrect assumptions of reality that can only take us so far. ‘People’ are never ready, yet we slog forward anyway.

This is why we need to focus on the other side of the problem, the pollution of the environment not in terms of carbon dioxide but the toxic atmosphere in which we live; so many people getting sick, many children facing violence and despair and committing suicide.

This reads like a subtle dig at the presumptions of secular materialists. cool

Vanlose Kid wrote…

In a capitalist society "saving the planet" is a commodity.

Commodities function on the creation of needs, on feeding the ego.

Within that cognitive/economic framework, "saving the planet" is brought to market to sate yet one more need waiting to be fed.

It's the framework that needs changing. So, how does one do this?

That's the question being answered in the OP, as far as I can tell.

This is a fair assessment of the article, although you see more than I do if you see this question being answered.

[Hammer of Los]

I also am glad the Consul is here.

My heart is absolutely overjoyed that you are all here, my dearest ones.

Phew, I'm glad I'm not in charge of the planet!

Hang on, didn't I already say that? Do I really repeat myself like some mad idiot?

But the time to put will into action is now. Each must decide for himself what his action will be, unique to him and his particular history and circumstance, in just the same manner that his conception of the Truth will be unique to him and his particular history and circumstance.

[Hammer of Los]

What is a ghost?

They mean memories, impressions, passions, hungers, desires, attachments and so on. Some of these can leave a lot of energies in their wake, chaotic energies. I know my mind can impress others, we are all under the influence of other Mind(s) all the time. I would suppose they refer to subtle energies in our environment.

Ghosts indeed!

Some of these gurus have been watching too much Scooby Doo.

But that Tibetan Bon stuff is crazy. Only really historically and contingently related to Buddhism proper. They are actually an older and less wide spread religious tradition. Me, I like a nice bit of good clean pure Hinayana myself. I feel that all that florid Mahayana stuff can obscure the forest with all of its interesting trees, although I am reconsidering the relevance of the Boddhisatva ideal.

[Harvey]

But the time to put will into action is now.

Haven't we seen where the will to act leads us throughout history? If we act at all, it should be to abolish our own wilfulness. When it is alligned with fear, our own will is the greatest enemy not just to ourselves.

Fear may even look like courage some of the time, but it is not and it never will be. Mastery over fear is courage. We will feel fear and we will be afraid, but we will not let it rule our actions. And then our wilfulness will seem what is, an expression of fear.

[Hammer of Los]

God bless you Harvey!

You are so right!

The word "Will" is an unfortunate one, very slippy.

Words are awkward things you know, but, like Humpty Dumpty, one needs to be master of the words, and not the other way around.

I know the will is responsible for all the horrors of the World.

It is also responsible for all the beauty.

Will is thought put into action which leads to change in the material world. It is the only thing that does, and it is the only thing that can.

A thought inspires the trees and flowers to grow. A thought lies behind them, the integrative thought of the Tree of Life.

The will is Life itself, full of contradictions, of violences and tendernesses.

My will, your will our will. Whose will?

Who are we, that have this will?

In whose service shall we place this will? In the service of our limited selves, knowing our folly and ignorance will lead us astray?

Or humbly, in the service of the greater self, the greater good, the higher more integrated understanding, the Intelligence that arises despite yourself, despite your contingent existence, despite the peculiarities and particularities of your history and circumstances, despite your limited, narrow understanding; the Common Mind of Man.

Call it conscience, call it higher self, call it christ, but within you is a connection to higher levels of integration and understanding.

Soren Kierkegaard wrote that purity of heart is to will one thing.

What shall you will?

I will to work for the benefit of all humbly, to work on my vices for the improvement of myself and mankind, and to express my thought with others, gathered in the name of Our Comman Humanity, in pursuit of a common clear understanding which we need to guide our action.

I will to live and love and learn and act to create, not destroy, to nurture, not exploit. Yes I know these are dualisms. All words are slippy.

The thoughts join and integrate.

There is Mind, there are Minds, all one connected separate differentiated in a thousand rainbow colours each unique.

We shall agree in his name Harvey. I love ya man.

First and foremost I am seeking to improve myself.

But since myself and the world are one, its all good.

But the confusion and error in the world at large have grown too immense for me to just sit and be a hermit like I want to be.

So I must act, aware of my ignorance, folly and limitations.

So I must seek that my intentions are good, that my actions will bear good fruit.

First purify your intent, then act.

[Harvey]

Patience first, last and always. Perhaps will is itself a thing of matter. Perhaps spirit is beyond will. Perhaps the god inside us all will enlighten.