Creating an Auspicious Environment for Biochemical Research

This is the 12th floor of the "Adulyadejwikrom" Building at Sirirat Hospital in Bangkok. Serious research is conducted here in the areas of dengue, thallasemia, and other maladies, making this scene a bit incongruous from my perspective.

Make no mistake, the goal here is to increase the level of good luck in the research facilities for the next year. The ceremony ends with the abbot touring the lab, sprinkling holy water on everyone and everything.

I gently questioned the lab director who organized the affair. Isn't this mix of science and superstition a tad odd? I didn't get a satisfactory answer, though he points out he's also organizing a weeklong meditation retreat that will be entirely devoid of superstition. He refers to meditation as a science of the self. I don't have a big problem with that, though I'm aware of various objections (e.g. in what sense are your "research" findings reproducible/falsifiable?) and would be interested to hear Acharn Pa-Thai's responses.

In fairness, if superstition is ever warranted in a science lab, this might be the place. Floors 3-6 of the building are a morgue. Students report seeing ghosts on the elevator. And floor 2 is a museum where, amongst pickled fetuses, you find the mummified remains of "See Uey", the legendary, cannibalistic, liver-eating, psycho-killer of 1940's Thailand.

Obamasattva

Hey, I voted for the guy. But read the following editorial commentary from the Bangkok Post:

Looking at Obama's historic campaign, what strikes us most is how consistently mindful this candidate has been. By mindfulness, Buddhism refers to the ability to be totally aware of the nature of things as they are, in the present moment, without pre-formed judgment or emotional partiality...

...From a Buddhist point of view, it is because Obama has a firm grasp on the fundamentals of dhamma, the nature of things, as well as karma, the law of cause and effect of action. Obama himself stressed throughout his campaign that he himself was not perfect and that he expected to make mistakes as president. This is a fundamental understanding of human nature and of dhamma...

...Want to be like Obama? It's not beyond our human capacity. To be able to achieve this level of maha sati, Great Mindfulness, Buddhism prescribes vipassana practice with a detailed step-by-step guidance for anyone who cares to learn.

The entire article is here.

On one hand, I can't say I'm entirely bothered by the Obamasattva perspective. McCain and Obama debated thrice, with neither side gaining a huge advantage in the process. McCain is no ninny, but even his strongest supporters must concede that Obama offered something McCain couldn't...a fresh start with the rest of the world. Does anyone imagine for one moment that the above superlatives would be flowing from Thai pens if McCain had been elected?

On the other hand, the author might want to step back from the whirlwind of recent events, gather up his own mindfulness, and put things in historical, emotional, and spiritual perspective. Jimmy Carter may have been a saint, but he won't go down as a great president. Oil prices and nefarious actions in Iran conspired against him, but it doesn't look like Obama will have it any easier. For every leader who cuts Obama some initial slack, there will be another trying to push the boundaries.



Above: Profound absorption or ordinary languor?

I just hope the world's expectations for Obama aren't too high.

More over-the-top gushing is found here.

A Tibetan Buddhist Scolding

The above video was taken in May of 2007. The kid had just killed a bird with his slingshot, and was now getting an earful from the monk. I believe the monk's name was Rinchen, so we'll call him that.

My porter and I met Rinchen in an obscure, dusty Himalayan town by the name of "Turke Bajar". The ambience of the place was more Hindu than Buddhist, and Rinchen certainly received no special deference from the townspeople. He seemed a bit out of place in his robes. In a nook that could generously be called an apartment, we joined him in his puja, which was otherwise attended only by a handful of children.

Rinchen was enthused about showing us a fledgling monastery being built a couple day's walk from Turke. Having no serious itinerary to abide by, we agreed to the diversion.

Somewhere along the way, the above encounter took place. Rinchen, at perhaps 19 years old, took his monkhood quite earnestly, as you can see. In fact, to my eyes, he played the role to the hilt. He spoke with great excitement about the hardships he would endure in his upcoming three year retreat in the mountains (no human contact, no exiting the meditation hut except at night, etc.), and made sure I photographed him in various meditative postures.

An hour or so after the above exchange, Rinchen produced the slingshot and made sure I witnessed him tossing it into the forest. I'm not mocking his zeal, not at all. Young Americans might model their personalities after sports heroes or celebrities, and it seems that Rinchen wasn't so different. His heroes were the various Buddhist Lamas whose photographs adorned his shrine.

My porter, Janu, did the translating.

Thai Teens Talking Thamma

Here are Thai teenagers talking about their Buddhist beliefs. The aim isn't so much to entertain by catching them in contradictions, or revealing nonsensical beliefs, but to counter a number of silly Western conceptions about what ordinary Buddhists in a Buddhist country do and don't believe. I won't pretend to be entirely scientific here…the students live in Bangkok, speak English fairly well, and their families are affluent enough to afford a $2,000/year tuition fee at a private school. You could probably accuse me of asking some "leading questions"…so be it. To get some kind of consensus view, I've got to ask the same questions to more than a couple students…these may not be the most entertaining clips you'll see on myspace. The subjects are cute, however, and if you're interested in "what do Thai Buddhists really believe?", you might get some insight.

Thai Teens Talk Thamma I

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Thai Teens Talk Thamma II

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Thai Teens Talk Thamma III

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There's a debate amongst certain eggheads about whether Buddhism is a religion or not. It's a philosophy, not a religion, some (college freshmen, mostly) say. This is not a debate amongst the vast majority of Thais, however…it's a religion. It's "sasana poot", Buddhist religion. You'd be a fool to witness pilgrims circumambulating Mt. Kailash on their knees (!) and then conclude Buddhism is a mere philosophy.

There's also the question of whether Buddhism falls into the category of monotheism, polytheism, atheism, or agnosticism. You'll see that the teenagers don't hesitate to say "atheism". Some Western intellectuals argue that "polytheism" would be a better description of Buddhism, since these folks typically do hold a hefty array of supernatural beliefs in angels, ghosts, gods, and demons. These intellectuals, however, are hugely biased by their upbringing in a Christian culture. Here's what I mean: Abrahamic religion is very exclusive. God is jealous. So you don't see Christians or Muslims who entertain two or three other supernatural belief systems. The assumption is then made that ALL religions are equally exclusive. But Buddhism doesn't claim to encompass all of reality, and leaves plenty of room for streams of Hinduism (e.g. the ubiquitous spirit houses of Thailand, and the lingams you see here and there), animism, Chinese folk religion, ancestor worship, etc. However, the Thais are quick to identify what is and isn't Buddhism…it's not at all as if these beliefs are unidentifiably jumbled into a single belief-stream that might as well be called "Buddhism".

Listening to the teenagers, it's pretty obvious that "Buddha is the God of Buddhism" is a bit weak. You've got to look at Buddhism on its own terms, instead of trying to squeeze it into an Abrahamic reference frame.

There's the notion that every religion has some sort of creation story. There might even be an innate need to formulate some sort of mythology of origins. That's false. OK, if you dug deep enough in the tantras or sutras or commentaries thereof, you might find something. If such a story exists, though, Thais don't seem indoctrinated in it. They tell you to look at science if you want a story of origins.

Karma is essential to these Thais. There are Western intellectuals who see it as mere baggage left over from Buddhism's Hindu origins, but that seems lame. The teenagers are quick to answer that Karma is not governed by some overlord who doles out punishment and reward…it's more like a natural law. One student even claims that "semati" (meditation) is really not important compared to Karma.


There's another Western intellectual view of Karma, that it applies to the whole of humanity. If I commit a violent crime, all of humanity suffers, and the resulting tears and lessons ripple down through generations, and this is supposed to be the deeper meaning of reincarnation. To me, this view is just schmeered onto Buddhism to make it seem more logical and less supernatural, however…it's not something ordinary Thais speak of.

Some teenagers also claim that the ultimate decider of good/bad Karma is the holder of Karma himself (you). The question then is: if I killed you in the belief that I was doing good, would that result in good Karma? The answer seems to be: deep down inside, everyone knows when a wrong has been committed.

If I worked harder, I could probably shoot some holes in these beliefs about Karma (what exactly are the physical mechanisms that lead from a breakage of a vow to reincarnation as a street dog?). But again, shooting holes in Bangkok Buddhism isn't my goal. I just want to show you what ordinary Buddhists believe, and don't believe.

Some Westerners and a few Asians as well, think they can identify "real Buddhism". They think they can intuitively recognize the essential features, and toss out the cultural garbage. This is arrogant, I think. If you're a scientist, and your task is to find "real Buddhism", is it really correct to toss out the views of 99.99% of folks born into Buddhism? Another problem is that all these "intuitive Buddhists" inevitably wind up with conflicting notions of Buddhism.

On the other hand, a good chunk of Buddhism relates to the experience of meditation. You might compare it to Christian prayer, but face it: Buddhists have gobs more background in practicing myriad forms of meditation than Christians. To the extent that it's a skill like football or piano playing, the elites who are particularly skilled in this department may well have some important words on the subject of "true Buddhism". If I want to know about "true soccer", it makes sense to confer with an elite instead of a schmuck on the street. Again, the Abrahamic baggage can confound: meditators are simply engaging in superstition and wishful thinking, so meditation isn't analogous as a "talent". But you've got to be clueless to think like that. So I'm not ready to go to the extreme of tossing the elites out the window when searching for "true Buddhism". At the very least, their words should be given a little extra weight.