Bhutan yet to become GNH kingdom

Monday, March 5th, 2012

Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche Although Bhutan claims to be a GNH and Buddhist country, she has all the problems and ills countries that do not boast of such claims. Where we are going wrong and why? Goal is always a problem, because the goal creates expectations, competition, sleeplessness. And I dare say GNH is also a goal and many times we Bhutanese may be suffering because we are trying to live up to this GNH. One thing that is sure is that, we are alienating ourselves too much and probably this is something that we could do, especially a country such as Bhutan, which supposedly have this tradition and culture of contemplation. Alienation has always been a problem to human kind, but I think its faster now. I think there are subtler alienations that we go through. I have to say, I am a member of the Bhutanese elite and we the elites have a responsibility. I dont know whether we should be really driving big SUV, because it could be cause of a big alienation. You never know, it could be this hidden cause for the drugs, and stabbing and gangs. The wealth, as much as we cherish and put so much emphasis in acquiring wealth, really alienates. It may be about 50 years now that the definition of wealth has changed. Now, for us, wealth means ample amount of money in the bank, a car, and a flat, a flat screen TV. When you read the ancient wisdom texts, the real wealth is when you know how to say this is enough. What I am trying to say is that, Bhutan is such an insignificant country. We Bhutanese think its amazing and Shangri-La, but its insignificant. No body listens to Bhutanese and Bhutan. Its so small. And this insignificant, backward, third world country, I think are blessings. We should really learn to realise this insignificant aspect. Its such a gift. We should never be noticed and therefore people will not ignore us, so that we can live happily and content. But its a bit too late though, because we Bhutanese try to tell others, hey we exist, and people are beginning to notice and spend what 1,000 USD a night. I dont know. Is it a good thing? Bureaucrats think compassion is detrimental to getting a strong, effective and accountable civil service. Is it so? Thats easy and I am trained to answer this. Compassion at the end of the day is putting your feet into someone elses shoes. Period.

Is there a Buddhist model of democracy and economy? Do you know Buddha, dharma and sangha? Its almost safe to tell you that probably Buddhism is the first religion that promoted the concept of democracy, because in Sanskrit, sang is the community. But of course, Buddhism also realised like many intellectuals that democracy is not always, is never the best, its just happened to be better than many other worst ones. Buddhism has never ever been interested in the affairs of state. If Buddhism is interested in politics and governance, Siddhartha would have never left the palace. The Buddhist concept of democracy has to be based on two things the classic term is wisdom and method. So the wisdom aspect of understanding democracy in Buddhism, based on the concept of sangha, is we put so much value on what we call dependent arising. Everything is dependent and this wisdom is so important to develop Buddhist democracy, if there is one. From method side, its compassion. And Buddhist economy is a very tricky one. The purpose of life is to have fun, and in order to have fun you need money and in order to have money, you need to have discipline, which is very important. None of these ultimately works. You have to have that realisation and when you know that, you are a sound Buddhist economist. Its because of the lack of this understanding that all the credit crunch, economic crisis happened. How do you reconcile the phenomenon of reincarnation and continuity with the fundamental Buddhist principal of impermanence? The one who is asking this kind of question seem to insinuate that reincarnation and Impermanence are contradictions. But its not because reincarnation is the very essence of impermanence. In order to understand reincarnation, you have to appreciate law of time. Do you believe in time? Might as well believe in reincarnation. As a Buddhist, if you ask me if I believe in reincarnation and impermanence, I would say, ultimately no, relatively yes. A scientist who kind of raise their eyebrows on reincarnation and just blindly says, see you tomorrow, is stupid. If reincarnation is stupid, time is stupid. Thats why they are relative. But stupid does not mean they are useless. Many stupid things are useful. Is the procedure that monks are subjected to from an early age, inappropriate considering the Buddha only abdicated his normal life in pursuit of the truth at 26? Should we think of encouraging the pursuit of truth only after realising the sufferings? I will tend to agree with this. Actually, I have been asked by some mindless people and monasteries to look after their trulkus and Rinpoches. And my thinking is, they should work in MacDonalds, fall in love, and they should be rejected bitterly. Then only theyll know the first noble truth, the truth of suffering. Bhutan being a Buddhist country, has banned tobacco. Is tobacco sin in Buddhist religion and did Bhutan take the right decision?

I know, this is going to upset a few people. I am always so puzzled on why ban tobacco and why not alcohol also? They are both destructive. But of course, ara with eggs, ginger and butter-how can we even think of banning it because thats our tradition, where as this tobacco is a foreign thing. Probably its this. I always have to tell my monks that the there is not even one word in the Vinaya that says monks should not smoke. As a Mahayana Buddhist, we should not be eating meat. In many , meat is a no. But Ill still advocate in banning just for health sake, but even alcohol is very dodgy. I dont know. Personally I just dont want Buddhism to become a culture or a ritual. As a Buddhist, and as a Rinpoche who is supposedly the caretaker of Buddhism, one of my biggest fears is that Buddhism in Bhutan will end up becoming a ritual, or a culture or some kind of a narrow code of conduct. That if you do that, you think you are offering service when you are doing the opposite because Buddhism is much greater than no tobacco and no meat. Buddhism is science; its life; its study of life; its study of yourself, of illusion and so it should not be hijacked by some narrow issues like tobacco. Because what will happen is somebody will say, oh you must be a good Buddhist because you dont smoke. Thats so dangerous because many non-smokers are vey dangerous people. From a Buddhist perspective, who is better, a person with a good heart but not being able to do much for society or a corrupt person who does a lot for the benefit of the society? This is a tricky question so Ill give a tricky answer. So there is a third person. There is you. I would say the third person to butter up this bad guy and make friends with the good guy.