Reflections on Election Day

I left Seattle on Election Day early in the morning for Sravasti Abbey for a 5 day meditation retreat.  To break up the long drive, I stopped at Frenchman Coulee next to the Columbia River for a hike in the desert. I had no idea who the American people had chosen as their next President until the following morning when a Buddhist nun at the breakfast table said “shall we talk about the elephant in the room? Trump won.”  My heart sank in disbelief….for a few minutes. Then I carried on with the task at hand, Dharma practice, observing the (false) conceptual appearance of a solid, separate, independently and inherently existent person (I, ME), mentally pushing away whatever it disagrees with, and clinging to pleasant experiences unrealistically as if they will last forever.  By seeing the distorted appearance clearly, even only for a moment, the light of inner freedom begins to dawn.

If you are a Trump supporter and reading this, I am sincerely happy for your happiness. Although I disagree with Trump’s policies, he won the election and I can either choose to move on, responding skillfully with purpose and enthusiasm, or I can wallow in despair. May people at opposite ends of the political spectrum learn to listen to each other with genuine respect and care.  Although we may seem like different people, living in a divided nation, we are actually very much alike in wanting happiness and avoiding suffering.

If, like me, you voted for Kamala, then my heart goes out to you.  Buddhism reminds us that we live in samsara.  Samsara is primarily a mental realm, but is also a physical world to the extent that our thoughts and the actions which follow create our world. Samsara is roughly translated from Sanskrit as “the cycle of unelightened existence”: Our happiness is basically out of our control . We are forever meeting with circumstances which aren’t quite perfect and in some cases quite disagreeable and all of this is due to our perpetual (countless lifetimes) immersion in avidya (ignorance) and the seeds of karma in our minds which cause us to act out our confusion, anger, greed, etc.   Due to our misperception of the nature of the self as solid, independent, and separate from life, we set ourselves up for dukkha (disappointment, dissatisfaction, emotional pain and anguish, etc.)

The problems of American society and our world will never be completely solved until everyone purifies their mind of this fundamental ignorance of how the self actually exists in relationship to the world. This is quite subtle and difficult to realize, even after years of intensive meditation. Even to accept it conceptually requires a leap of faith in our America-first culture that over emphasizes the importance of individualism to the detriment of the larger community of life.

Yes, there is a self, just not in the solid, separate, independent way that we perceive it to exist. Yes, it is important to cherish oneself. The problem is that we cherish ourselves above and beyond everyone else, as if Me, I, Mine were the most important ones in the world.

Purifying the mind and learning to see the world through the lens of the wisdom directly knowing reality (i.e. not personal fantasy/delusion) is not easy work, but it is possible because the mind’s basic nature is pure. The defilements are adventitious or temporary – like clouds that temporarily obscure the sky, or dirt suspended in water. Once the sun like wisdom awakens, the clouds of delusion are obliterated. With patience and practice, the dirt of the mind settles to the bottom of the glass, leaving only the purity of the water.

Freeing ourselves from samsara – the cycle of confusion dominated by delusions and karma – requires that we begin to believe in our possibility, that we can change and develop our positive qualities endlessly, while restraining and eventually eliminating negative states of mind.  We probably won’t fix the world in our lifetimes, but we can certainly make it a better place for others, regardless of the outcome of elections, with more love, compassion, kindness and wisdom.