Comments on “Three percent of the Dharma”

Gosh, that is dedication!  Thank you.

DiG! was a remarkable documentary...  After seeing it, I got a couple of Brian Jonestown Massacre records and tried to like them, but couldn't quite get what they were doing.  The Dandys, on the other hand, are easy to like, superficially; they were mostly recycling Exile on Main Street-era Stones.  They refuse to take themselves seriously; most of the songs are jokes, so it would be easy to dismiss them.  But they sneak some philosophy in there; and, well, if you are going to recycle something, you can't do better than Exile on Main Street, and they do a grand job of it.

I was on retreat for the winter and not writing.  But I hope that, since you have caught up, I will be producing more material soon.  The eternalism and nihilism book is coming along nicely, as is the Tantric Buddhist vampire romance.  The collection of absurd Buddhist songs is back-burnered for now, unfortunately; two major projects at once is already a lot.  I hope something will be visible in April.

Cheers,

David

Hi, Kate,

Yes, certainly, I will do my best to publicize my new projects here (and elsewhere).  Actually I plan to have each of the sites show a list of recent pages from all the other sites.  I hope that people interested in "Buddhism for Vampires" will go on to be interested in the nihilism and eternalism book, for example.  Actually, that is a main reason for writing it (besides that it is fun).  I originally characterized "Buddhism for Vampires" as a "gimmick", to trick people into reading boring philosophical tracts.  That's mostly a joke, but in fact my hope is that some readers who enjoy reading a Tantric Buddhist vampire romance will want to understand more about its philosophical subtext.

One of its chapters is titled "Eating an entire epistemologist", which might give you some sense of the flavor.  So to speak.

David

Hi, Ricardo,

Sure . . . The short answer is that Aro apprentices are required to eat a tiny amount of meat (about half a teaspoon) at tsok. Otherwise, Aro has no position on vegetarianism, for or against.

There is an interesting explanation for why eating a little meat is important. It's not just a tradition; it's a practice with a specific, important function. A complete answer could go on forever; but here is a start.

One of the key principles of Inner Tantra is to break down the dualistic opposition of purity and impurity. In India, meat was considered impure and contaminating. In ganapuja (tsok), participants practiced regarding all phenomena as sacred. As part of that, they did all the things that their society considered impure, including eating meat.

Different societies consider different things impure. In Tibet, meat was not impure, so the form of the tsok ritual no longer functioned in the same way. That's a pity, really. It is actually useful to occasionally challenge yourself to do things you find repugnant.

Few Tibetans were vegetarians before 1959, although it was considered theoretically virtuous. In exile, some Tibetans, in India and the West, have converted to vegetarianism, out of compassion for food animals. Mostly, they continue to eat token amounts of meat at tsok. Some practice tsok with a symbolic substitute for the meat, however.

One could be vegetarian for many different reasons. Compassion for animals is surely a good one. Another motivation might be 'political correctness', the idea that 'I am completely justified because I do the right thing, and you don't'. Political correctness sometimes works like a system of religious taboos; it can have more to do with ideas of personal purity than authentic compassion. This is not compatible with Inner Tantra. So, the reason Aro celebrates tsok with actual meat is to be quite clear that no one present can believe they are morally superior.

Vegetarianism in Buddhism is connected with the First Precept (of not killing). The Aro Sutra of the Owl-Headed Dakini interprets the Five Precepts in terms of Dzogchen. The Sutra observes that it is actually impossible to entirely avoid killing, so any pretense of moral perfection based on vegetarianism is just self-righteousness. It is merely an excuse to negatively judge others. Having said that, we do our best to avoid harm and to engage in active compassion. That may or may not include vegetarianism.

Vegetarians are a minority among Aro students. At some tsoks, you might be the only one, and if you were sensitive about being the "odd man out", you might find that uncomfortable. However, the Aro Lamas have also explained forcefully that no one should feel superior because they do eat meat, and that vegetarians are thoroughly welcome in the Aro Sangha.

I hope this is helpful . . . There is a question I can't answer, which is "if you wish to minimize harm, why would you not be vegetarian?" That is left to the individual judgement of Aro students. Other questions, I probably can!

David

Hi, Kate,

No, I didn't know about him . . . I'll read the page you linked when I get a chance. Thanks for the recommendation!

There is an extensive tradition of epistemology within Buddhism. Dignaga and Dharmakirti are the epistemologists most respected in the Tibetan tradition. Their work is interestingly similar to Ancient Greek and early modern Western epistemology. Which is to say that they are not very useful, unfortunately . . . "How do we know what we know" is the essential question of epistemology, and there seems to be no good general answer. But that doesn't mean it is not an important question; and it does not mean that there are not useful specific answers for particular domains.

URLs turn into links by magic here. Software is wonderful -- when it works! If only it worked more often . . .

David