Trump is Buddha

Trump is Buddha
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All beings are Buddhas,
But this is concealed by adventitious stains.
When their stains are purified, their Buddhahood is revealed
. -Hevajra Tantra

I've never seen so much despair over an election. Low voter turnout. Apathy. Rage. Fear. Disappointment. All I see on my Facebook feed is negativity--even from my Buddhist friends. The teachings of the Buddha are the opposite of what I'm seeing in people.

I try not to get too worked up about elections. I grew up with distrust in the Nixon years and somehow made it through all of the Reagan and Bush terms. I enjoyed Bill Clinton and often got emotional at his amazing speeches. Obama hasn't inspired me much but I still like him. I really thought it was a given that Hillary would be elected. The shock and awe of this Trump victory is as bad as watching bombs on CNN during the Iraq invasion. But it feels like they're going off inside our heads. In a sense, the election has brought about a PTSD effect on millions of people nationwide.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is like that. It's a reliving of traumatic effects. PTSD isn't just something that war veterans experience, nor is it always due to a singular event. It occurs most often as an ongoing sense of fear, lack of safety and an inability to get our physical and emotional needs met.

To those who voted for him, Trump is some kind of symbol of hope to restore a sense of safety and security in a value system that makes sense to those people. This view causes happiness. To those traumatized by the election, Trump is a demon who threatens all that is good and pure and fair. This view causes suffering. Suffering or happiness is caused not by external circumstances, but by the views that we find ourselves having.

There have always been conditions of suffering for beings. Bad leaders, abuse of power, love, sex, money, birth, sickness, old age, death. The particular individuals of our current political cycle are just new faces on ancient problems. And the sages have given us instruction on how to deal with the problems that are old as time. The instruction begins with the view. If the view we have isn't working for us, we can adopt a new one. If you're suffering from the view that Trump is the devil, then you might try to change that view to Trump is Buddha.

In order for us to understand the basis of these different approaches on the path to liberation of all suffering for all beings, we need to know that The Teacher has infinite ways to initiate understanding in the minds of beings. What if you saw Trump as your teacher? What if you knew he was really Buddha in a $10k suit and that you refused to be misled by appearances or, more importantly, your own attachments and delusions? How would your energy, attitude, and behavior shift if you practiced seeing Trump as Buddha? There's only one way to find out. Change your view. Alternately, beings are free to cling to erroneous views, that is, those that cause suffering.

In the conventional, relative sense, everyone is different and unique. We're all separate beings who see ourselves as more important than the other beings. But in what Tibetans call the Vajra (indestructible) essence, all conscious beings--unenlightened or Buddhas--have the same nature. This nature is real. Everything else is a narrative that we tell ourselves.

All that is has me-universal creativity, pure and total presence--as its root.

How things appear is my beng.
How things arise is my manifestation.
Sounds and words heard are my messages expressed in sounds and words.
All the capacities, forms and pristine awareness of the buddhas;
The bodies of sentient beings, their habituations, and so forth;
All environments and their inhabitants, life forms and experiences;
Are the primordial state of pure and total presence
. -Longchen Rabjam

The ordinary way of looking at things says that this one is good, this other one is a jerk. But in Buddhist teaching, this is an illusion and is the very root of our suffering. When we see ourselves as separate, it's called a dualistic view. A non-dual view would say something like, "Trump and I are the same. No difference." Me, you, Trump, all suffering beings and all Buddhas--same. No difference. With training, meditation and practice, the sages have seen-and taught-that there is no separation. It's all a dream, a projection of our own minds. And the more we fight that reality, the harder we fall into despair.

Within Buddhist thought there are many--some opposing--views. For those of lower capacity and intelligence, the first way to view suffering is that it is bad. The solution is that we renounce the behaviors, thoughts, emotions that cause suffering. We can do this practice to relieve our own suffering, or take it to a higher level by setting our intention to practice for the relief of all beings, or even just a few beyond ourselves alone.

The next level view for those of higher capacity, interest and intelligence is really broken up into at least six levels. But the main point is that our view of suffering is not that it's bad. The viewpoint from the Vajrayana perspective is that suffering is one side of a non-dual continuum.

Not to understand the unsurpassable continuum of being,
Yet to contend that one is making it one's practice,
Is like trying to follow a path that forks.
-the tantra Heaped Jewels

On one end is an afflictive emotion, on the other end is a Buddha paradise. If we can adopt this view, we can transform our emotions and our suffering into something else, a deeper wisdom. This deeper wisdom is one of absolute compassion and boundlessness, or emptiness.

In the tantric, Vajrayana view of Tibetan Buddhism, the way to practice transforming our suffering is to see all beings as Buddha. All manifestations as the pure realm of bliss. There are many specific techniques to accomplish this, ranging from prayers and purifications to conceptualizations and visualizations. I've written about these extensively. Please offer your comments below and I'll try to address them. Note: I won't engage in a political or ideological battle. But I will share the teachings with you.

The way I practice with Trump is this. I see Trump as a manifestation of Buddha energy. He's made of light. His heart emanates countless rays of infinite compassion and wisdom. His mindstream is pure. He sends and receives innumerable blessings from all enlightened beings. I send Trump light rays of compassion. I know that there is no difference between us. May all beings, all beings without exception, be free of suffering and the causes of suffering.

This practice is a fantasy. But when we do it, we know it's a fantasy and we know that the power of the mind is immense. With the empowerment of practice such as this, we can change our view, we can change the energy of other beings and we can change our situation. Worst case scenario: Trump gets some blessings to be a better human and you feel better. But again, we're free to choose. We can sit in our misery or we can change our attitude. Liberation, Buddhists say, is in the palm of our hands. And nowhere else.

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