Alex Wright

Political dharma

October 30, 2004

Chogyam Trungpa, from "A Buddhist Approach to Politics," 1976:

I think the Buddhist idea of a politician is not so much one of a con man or of a businessman who wins favor with everybody, but someone who simply does what is necessary....I think in this country [the United States], politics are based on a kind of bad-mouthing and trying to speak out, which is all right, but which usually amounts to not knowing what to say; one is just copying someone else's aggression. Then aggression starts to snowball.

From a Buddhist point of view, there is some sense of taking an interest, we could say for the sake of all sentient beings. This means we should take part. This does not mean to say you have to take part in riots or blowing up banks or anything like that. But it means to undertake some kind of process whereby you try as much as possible to at least eliminate the byproducts that you inherit. When you begin to do that, then you begin to have a feeling that a fresh start is taking place. > from the Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa

File under: Dharma

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