Electing Samsara

This morning, the sun arose in a cloudless sky—turquoise blue from horizon to horizon. Birds are flapping and preening while taking a drink at our water offering. The now bare trees, having shed their annual coif, allow full unshaded sunlight to fall on the yard. A breeze barely moves our prayer flags but still breathes prayers into air. A lovely day in so many respects but for the pall of an election.

Although I know it is my own conditioned perspective, I have to admit being a bit confounded at the outcome. More than 16 billion dollars were spent casting opposing words into the world, not prayers for all beings to be free from suffering. This is obscene. And a convicted felon, a twice impeached president, and a person who insists on demonizing almost everyone, is elected. Samsara on steroids.

My root teacher in the tradition that inspires me was once asked the definition of samsara. He simply said, “Samsara is where we are right now.” This word saṃsāra is a Sanskrit word that means “wandering” as well as “world,” and the term connotes “cyclic change” or, less formally, “running around in circles.” It seems an apt description for this election as well as anything we experience that seems like repetition. 

Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result is often called the definition of insanity. It is also another definition of samsara. The only way to break the cycle is to fundamentally change the habitual perspectives locked in our minds. When Buddha attained his awaking, he recognized the trap of thoughts, and then experienced them self-liberating. In the openness of unconditioned awareness, thoughts naturally dissolve, and the self, ensnared by them, is liberated. 

So, whatever we do, the first thing is to settle our minds and watch how thoughts have no real solid existence. I notice folks who have practiced in the Buddhist tradition for years, myself included, still insist on holding their point of view even when it is no longer helpful. No wonder we have elections like this. As long the dualistic mind runs the show we will have two perspectives and two results. As the Kuntuzanpo Prayer observes:

All that appears and exists—all of samsara and nirvana—has one
ground, two paths, and two results. It is a miraculous display of
knowing and not knowing.