'Buddha' gives Rush Limbaugh lesson on being nice

WorldNetDaily ^ | February 4, 2011 | Kathy Shaidle

[BuffaloJack]

Strange?
I know several hundred Buddhists and they’re almost all devout Rush fans.

[TigersEye]

Shoot! I'm late to this thread.

You know hundreds of Buddhists? Wow! I only know a few. My teacher, his handful of students and a few others. My teacher, myself and all of his students are very conservative. I've listened to Rush since about '93 and my teacher has since at least '98 that I know of. I know that many of the other Buddhists we have contact with through receiving teachings from traveling Tibetan lamas are very liberal. That's too bad. Mostly for them.

To quote my teacher word for word; "It isn't possible to be a liberal and practice the Dharma." That is not hyperbole or humor and there are no caveats to append to it. The reason is very simple and absolutely fundamental to Buddhism.

If you really believe in karma, that what you experience, good and bad, is the result of your own actions, you can't consider yourself or anyone else as being a victim of your circumstances in life. In order to effectively practice the Dharma you have to believe in karma and not by faith in it. You have to see for yourself that actions have consequences and know, by observation, that that applies to everything you do that has intention behind it.

To quote him again; "You can't be a victim and practice Dharma." Every aspect of being a liberal hinges on a mentality of being a victim of others and of your circumstances. I doubt that that needs explanation on FR. The liberal mindset is literally antithetical to the Buddhist POV.

Does that sound right to you, Candor7?

[BuffaloJack]

> Shoot! I’m late to this thread.
> You know hundreds of Buddhists? Wow! I only know a few.

I know a few hundred, because my wife is on the board of directors for the local buddhist temple.

Most of the Buddhists that I know have escaped from communism and are keenly aware of the supressive ways of a communist/socialist government. They also recognize it rooted in the liberal and socialist and democratic politics and most want no part of it.
I suppose that if you’ve lived under a totalitarian regime you get a better appreciation of tyranny than the average citizen experiences.

[TigersEye]

That is something. My sangha is about five or six people including my teacher. Pretty small. Of course it is part of a much bigger sangha with groups all over the country as well as a monastery in India but I have only met a half dozen or so teachers and maybe 150 other students. Briefly.

The lamas from Tibet certainly do have an appreciation of tyranny. They are not that familiar with our politics and don't say much about politics even when they do have an opinion. Their goal in life is to teach Dharma and their expectation is that students who do serious practice will ultimately see the contradictions in their thinking and correct them. It seems to be pretty slow for some but I guess that's just how I look at it.