WHAT THE BLEEP PART TWO

After I put up my review of the movie What The Bleep Do We Know, a reader named David Guy directed me to an article about the film on salon.com. The article alleges that the movie is far less objective than it purports to be. Some of the scientists interviewed on screen, they say, had their statements edited in such a way as to make it seem they believe in ideas they very much oppose. What’s more, according to salon.com, the whole movie was concocted by students of a supposedly trance-channeled 35,000 year old spirit being named Ramtha who once ruled over the lost continent of Atlantis and is, his followers say, “an Enlightened Being much like the Buddha.” Or something. Check out his website http://ramtha.com/ and good luck understanding it. I sure couldn’t!

While I’m a bit reluctant to take everything in the salon.com article at face value, it does explain a lot of things. The very fact the filmmakers chose to include a trance channeled spirit being at all is a very big red flag that their agenda isn’t exactly what’s stated.

I don’t really care that there may be a propaganda film by a weirdo religious cult out there purporting to be a serious examination of the relationship between science and religion. What bothers me is the fact that the American Buddhist community seems to be falling for the thing hook line and sinker. This is evidence of the pitiful state of Buddhism in America at the dawn of the 21st century. And just so you know, one of the guys I saw endorse the movie wasn’t just any old Zen Master. He was one of the top people in one of the most famous Zen centers in America, published many times over, and well respected in the field.

Why can’t Buddhist Masters in America tell the difference between Buddhism and the philosophy of Ramtha? It’s not as if it was cleverly disguised or anything. If even a low grade moron like me could spot it out -- I wrote my original review before I read the salon.com piece and even then I knew something was fishy -- what does this say for our supposed Zen Masters in this country? Can someone who thinks the philosophy of Ramtha has anything in common with Buddhism be trusted to teach Buddhism? Or is it that American Buddhists are so eager to be seen as one big happy family that they are terrified of speaking out against the dipshits out there who invoke the name Buddha to justify their idiocy

If only that were the worst of it. Remember a little while back when I made fun of that ad that said you could slip on a pair of headphones and be meditating deeper than a Zen monk in mere minutes? Well, now there’s a supposedly real Zen Master hawking pretty much the same idea. One Gempo Roshi, whose real name is Dennis, has invented a brand new meditative process about which he claims, “The Big Mind technique is a very simple yet powerful and rapid way to help a person shift perspective and realize the wisdom that may take a meditator more than 15 or 20 years to accomplish.” He calls his trademarked cocktail of new age foolishness, plush toy level pop psychology and Buddhist buzzwords Big Mind™. In his seminars, Gempo claims – and I am not exaggerating – that folks can have the experience of Awakening before lunchtime on the first day.

No you can’t.

There are no easy answers. None. The “expedient means” snake oil salesmen like Mr. Gempo promise will get you on the fast track to Enlightenment are nothing but a waste of time. And worse. They are extremely dangerous. Please don't mess with this stuff.

Ken Wilber likes Big Mind™, which is no surprise. Yet Big Mind™ is also endorsed by some of the most highly respected Buddhist leaders in America. None other than John Daido Loori calls it an “excellent” method. I cannot even imagine why anyone who had the slightest inkling what Buddhism was about would say such a thing.

Puh-leeeze. If that’s Buddhism you can keep it! I do not want to be associated in any way shape or form with that kind of candy-ass fake Buddhism.

Now I want to be clear here. There are, in fact, a number of good teachers and sincere Buddhists in these here United States. And I don’t even limit these good teachers and students to any particular sect or even to Buddhism alone. These folks remain largely unknown even to the mass of cult followers and trendies who proudly label themselves Buddhists. Unfortunately there is also a nebulous thing which we can call American Buddhism promoted by a loosely connected group of scholars, entrepreneurs, Buddhist chat room posters and dubious Zen Masters which seeks to snuff out whatever flashes of the Buddha’s true Dharma that have managed to make their way to our shores.

Thanks to the efforts of these fine people Buddhism in American is in real danger of becoming just a slightly more benevolent new age cult with no connection to real Buddhism save for a preference for statues of Buddha over paintings of Ramtha brandishing his scimitar over the gleaming spires of Atlantis. Buddhism in the USA is drowning in a stew of bad pop psychology, silly mysticism and trendy left wing politics.

Buddhism is not a set of ideas or views. You’re not a Buddhist when you can quote Dogen off the top of your head, rattle off a hundred and eight koans and their answers, recite the Heart Sutra by heart or even when you can espouse just the right opinions at the weekly meeting of your local sangha. And, by the way here, you are especially not a Buddhist when you can parrot the stuff I say.

Buddhism is a way of walking, a way of eating your Reece’s Pieces™, a way of wiping your ass after you take a dump. It has nothing whatsoever to do with any of the trappings of a usual religion or philosophy. The moment Buddhism begins to resemble anything like any other religion in the world Buddhism loses all value.

Some folks might think I’m cutting down all these other guys to build myself up and attract more followers. Believe me, I have no desire to attract any followers at all. Don’t follow me. Don’t contribute to me. Don’t buy my book. Don’t read my web page. Seriously. As Michael Stipe sang in one of the last really good R.E.M. records, “I’m talking here to me alone.” I’m not trying to convince anyone of my opinions. It really does not matter to me a bit whether you accept what I say or not, or if you think I am obviously not a Buddhist myself because I have broken the precept of not criticizing fellow Buddhists. The doofuses that promote sugar frosted meditative Hoo-hah™ will be way more popular than me for a very long time. I’m not trying to convince any of you of anything. I’m saying stuff your great-great-great grandkids will wonder how anyone could have missed long after every word I’ve said has faded into dust.


THIS JUST IN: I've noticed that Big Mind™ is sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation. For more about ol' Fred cheeck out this page.


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