Friday, March 02, 2012

Horrified Anxiety

Horrified Anxiety is the near enemy of compassion.  I think that's why people turn off to the suffering in the world.  I know it does it for me.  Reading In the Shadow of the Buddha: Secret Journeys, Sacred Histories, and Spiritual Discovery in Tibet
by Matteo Pistono, I am horrified by what has gone on in Tibet fairly recently--the torture and oppression continue.  In one small example, the Drapchi 14 were tortured for singing a hymn to the Dali Lama. I've also read the horrible account of Palden Gyatso:  The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk

Pistono's book is a  swashbuckling adventure, a mixture of spiritual practice and political activism, which confronts my idealist hopes and disillusionment.  He chronicles the ups and downs of his efforts to bring more justice to Tibet.  I find it hard to read it straight through, I get filled with horrified anxiety about what is being done to the political prisoners of Tibet.

And sure enough, Pistono gets depressed, and has a bit of a crisis.  But he gets out of it by going to visit a friend in Costa Rica and tending to it.

Here is a video about the book In The Shadow of the Buddha:




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