November 11 - Happily Diving into Hippiedom

A friend of mine made a comment that she was bothered by the fact that Buddhists believe that life is suffering, because she thoroughly enjoys living.
I definitely appreciate that perspective, but we just spent a day learning about Buddhism at a local Tibetan retreat center, and I was exposed to a whole new way of thinking about suffering.
According to the man who spoke to us for the majority of the day (whom I really respected for his thoughtfulness, attentive listening and willingness to be challenged ideologically) life is suffering according to the Buddha (which means “enlightened one”, much like Christ means Messiah) but the definition of suffering is not necessarily pain and misery. The way I understand it, the Buddhist version of “suffering” can almost be equated with change (I’m new to these ancient ideas, so I apologize if I’m a little off). Buddhists believe that all humans are looking for lasting happiness (or peace, joy, contentment). They believe that we search for this lasting happiness (or even consciously for temporary happiness) through means outside of ourselves, such as a partner, money, possessions, food, drink – anything a human can desire and/or revile. They believe that life is a cycle of desiring something, receiving or not receiving it and reacting to getting/not getting what one wants, which leads to more desiring and reacting – like waves that come in and go out unceasingly. It is “suffering” that there is no constant – even the strongest love will change over the years. Wanting more of what we believe is good based on experience is suffering, because we can never have enough and too much is unhealthy or just makes us miserable, so we constantly try to change things in our lives to balance ourselves out. We are subject to the law of cause and effect; so that no action we take exists in a vacuum – we are constantly experiencing consequences of actions previously taken and helping to create our own future through our present actions. Buddhists believe this cycle can be stopped when the waves are calmed (sorry, I adore metaphors) and the water is still. When water is still, it far more accurately reflects what is in front of it, so Buddhists believe that through meditation and (in Tibetan Buddhism) public debates one can get to know oneself enough to recognize and therefore have greater control over the waves and can see life more clearly, like in a still pond.
I really admire some of the concepts in Buddhism. I’m not shaving my head and donning orange just yet, but I think there are some very valuable ways of looking at the world to be explored. I’m sure that’s true of most worldviews/religions, but I’m especially intrigued by this one, because it advocates greater self-awareness and deep thoughtfulness about morality.

Speaking of extremes (such as orange robes and hairless heads), I’ve recently decided to be vegan. The way animals are raised and processed in industrial agriculture is pretty disturbing – unhealthy for them, us, and disgustingly so for the environment. Since I’m in a community that supports that sort of decision, they always have vegan options at meals - even if I’m the only one who’ll take advantage of that option. It’s a choice that reminds me daily that there’s something I can do (or in this case, not do / eat) that will decrease harm to the environment, and I’m in a place that makes it ridiculously easy – how could I not try it out? It will be more difficult when I start traveling, but I researched and asked around about keeping myself healthy, and I’m taking vitamins and Omega-3 oils daily and eating plenty of soy and nuts for protein, and I’ll just keep paying attention to how my body reacts and play this more-or-less by ear. To be honest, my mood has improved greatly, and I have plenty of energy – I got headaches for the first few days, but that tends to happen when I give anything up. And the great news is, most dark chocolate doesn’t have any animal products in it.

When I get back to Oregon, I’m considering being a “Freegan” – that is, only monetarily supporting non-animal products, but allowing more flexibility when it comes to free food. The idea (for me) is to remove my support from the industry (which excludes local, small scale farms; they’re really struggling and often produce animal products in a healthy/humane/sustainable way). I’m looking at my spending money as a way to vote on how & where I want my food to be grown. And on the even brighter side, I make a mean vegan oatmeal raisin cookie. Let me know if you’re interested.