I must admit I was somewhat shocked to encounter Bill Wineke’s column in the Coulee News via Buddhistchannel.tv. I was shocked not because of his “flippant and arrogant” dismissal of the importance of the Dalai Lama’s teachings and message but because of the lack of depth and understanding shown by someone who claims to “preach at a rescue mission.” As someone who should have deep and abiding faith in and understanding of their religion (a necessary requirement if one is to “preach”) I would think he would try to have a deep understanding of Buddhist thought and philosophy before offering a critique.

Surely the Dalai Lama has religious “trappings of [his] position.” Just as a Catholic Priest or Deacon typically has religious “trappings.” These sort of trappings can be found in every religious tradition from the particular dress of Christian Baptist ministers to the whirling Dervishes found in Sufi and continuing on to the required headdress and ritual ‘knife’ of the Sikh. In fact you will find numerous Catholics today bemoaning the changes of Vatican II because of the changes in ceremony. Many believe that the change from Latin to English and less formal ceremonies lack the effect of setting one’s mind in a holy space that the older ceremonies had. Religious “trappings” are common across all traditions and the fact that Mr. Wineke finds the Dalai Lama’s to be “exotic” (tinged with some negative implication) is more a comment upon Mr. Wineke’s world view than anything else.

Bringing up Deer Park is somewhat of a red herring. The majority of Tibetan ‘temples’ I have personally attended tend to be whatever is the most affordable building in town n often plain cinderblock buildings or monolithic concrete. It is only on the inside that one finds the “exotic” decoration. Decoration that I must mention is entirely symbolic. Every color, every window, every drawing or representation no matter how lifelike or abstract represents a key teaching or understanding of Buddhism. Much like you will find in any Cathedral or Church, from the most simple Quaker meeting house to the most complex Baroque Cathedral. Much like you will find in most Mosques, Hindu Temples or Jewish Temples. All fairly ‘exotic’ depending upon which culture you are viewing them from if you are stuck in your worldview.

I must admit I was shocked in Mr. Wineke’s choice of language describing a few of the fundamental principals of Buddhism as “unremarkable.” Perhaps he is lacking in the faith or deeper understandings of compassion, non-attachment in general and non-attachment to the material in specificity, trying to ‘think well of all beings’ and remaining mindful in every moment. Even if you just brush the surface of these tenets, you will do good in the world, have a positive influence for those around you and have a positive influence on your own life. Oddly enough these are some of the very basic tenets espoused by Jesus Christ in the beatitudes and set by His example as shown in the Gospels. Somehow I don’t think Mr. Wineke would dismiss Christ’s teachings as “unremarkable.”

This brings me to another point that Mr. Wineke seemed to miss. It is not the spectacle of the Dalai Lama that so many Madisonians, indeed so many Americans (indeed so many people in the world) are enraptured by. It is the guidance of his example of living in everyday life the very basic tenets of Buddhism along with the more complex deeper understandings. He does not “preach” compassion, non-attachment, mindfulness, and deeper interconnectedness; he lives it. Every moment of every day.

It is apparent throughout his opinion piece that Mr. Wineke is trapped in his own criticism. He offers a critique of the surface of Buddhism, the surface of Deer Park and the surface of the Dalai Lama because he himself cannot see beyond the surface of anything he has set his mind towards. This is apparent when he speaks of doubt regarding whether or not the basic or deeper tenets of Buddhism leads to “social justice” or when he posits that all it might do is “encourage those who suffer to be content with their lot in life.”

One of the Four Noble Truths is that there is a cessation to this suffering. Another of the Four Noble Truths sets out the path to that cessation in the form of the Noble Eightfold Path. Considering that these are the basic tenets and guides to life understood by even the newest Buddhist who has entered the stream, I wonder just what kind of research and understanding Mr. Wineke did before pronouncing Buddhism lacking in social justice. In addition I wonder just what news reports regarding the actions of Buddhists and Monks in Myanmar and Tibet Mr. Wineke has watched.

Furthermore I wonder if his criticism might be misplaced when there are hundreds of thousands of preachers and Priests from the Christian tradition silent upon matters such as poverty, inequality in the world and silent especially upon the Iraq war n a war which is not considered a “just war” as outlined by Christian Just War theory.

In fact I wonder if Mr. Wineke’s faith tradition follows the basic tenet of Buddhist understanding that all people (indeed all things) are fundamentally connected, thus making it integral to our lives that we care for “the other” because there really is no “other.”

We are all possessed of inherent Buddha-nature. We are all made in the image of God. We are all a part of the One. We are all a part of the Way. While I am not a panentheist or a pantheist, I am at least aware that every major faith tradition holds this to be Truth.

I think Mr. Wineke’s voice comes in loud and clear in his ‘joking’ statements and things not said:

“Perhaps I’m just jealous.” Certainly that is the case. It is hard not to be jealous of someone who lives their faith and understanding completely and deeply when you yourself do not. It is hard not to be jealous of someone with whom few people argue (though I will point out that while the Dalai Lama doesn’t have to deal with someone arguing with him the way someone might argue with a “theologian wearing a three-piece business suit he does have to argue with the Chinese government and face daily threats from them). Though again perhaps that is due to his living the tenets of his faith to the hilt. Instead of being jealous (a ‘feeling’ addressed both by Buddhism and Christianity, by the way) Mr. Wineke should take this as a learning opportunity.

“People don’t tend to hold my views in awe.” Perhaps this is something to examine as well. There is awe in the faces of those that behold the Dalai Lama because there are very few leaders in this world who hold solidly true to the basic tenets of their faith tradition, not to mention their moral compass. This is apparent when you look at a majority of the leaders of the larger nations of the world and distinctly obvious when you look at the ‘leaders’ of the United States. Perhaps more people would hold your ‘views’ in awe if your ‘views’ were not your views, but the fundamental expression of the teachings from your faith tradition.

When you skim the surface of a pond, especially these days in the polluted nature of the world, you’ll often come up with pond scum. While there is beauty in that pond scum (though sometimes hard to find), to say that this pond scum represents the whole of the pond is ludicrous at best, intentionally misleading at worst.

It is comforting that Mr. Wineke’s opinion ends upon a basic tenet of Buddhism and a positive note in general: “I think we ought to judge them on their merits and not just defer to them because of spectacle.” I hope that Mr. Wineke and indeed everyone else in this great world of ours will look beyond the spectacle, look beyond the surface, of every tradition to the deeper, more complex and ultimately more beautiful and meaningful understandings and merits their tradition has to teach. Beyond that I hope that people will more deeply examine the merits and understandings of traditions not their own for not only a wider understanding of the world around them but in a way that helps strengthen and deepen their own faith tradition.