Senator Chuck Hagel and Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche

Yesterday I went to an intern talk in the Senate building by Chuck Hagel. After work I went to the Shambhala center and Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche, a Tibetan guru living in a refugee camp in India, came and gave a talk about his "eco-dharma". Both shared the basic message of "make the world a better place" and "everyone has good intentions." They differed mainly in implementation.

Hagel's talk was rather what I expected. He denounced deluded views, such as that the United Nations infringed on our sovereignty, or that global warming was a hoax. He encouraged us to recognize our own ideologies and biases, consider the facts objectively, and reach out to people with different viewpoints and consider their inherent worth. He saw the room, packed full of interns, as an ambitious group: not just prospective Congresspeople, but also "five or six Presidents." A young man asked him whether he supported McCain or Obama, and of course, he refrained from judgment, saying they were both Presidential material and we should ignore slander of either one in the mass media. He denounced the MSM as "entertainment," saying the only true news sources today are PBS and NPR.

Hagel thought poverty was the cause of terrorism. I wondered whether I should ask him about American interventionism, but I thought maybe other interns would have better questions. They didn't-- one of them asked him for advice on running for Senate.

Gyetrul Jigme Rinpoche was late from the airport but, being good Buddhists, we sat quietly in the meditation room for an hour and did not complain. His "eco-dharma" was not high philosophy but some examples of where we were being extravagant and could size down to, say, Indian levels of consumption. For example, Jigme was once very hungry and ordered a three-course meal at an American restaurant. When the appetizer arrived, it was so large he could not finish it! Then, no longer being hungry, he noticed the people around him were devouring all three courses. "I couldn't help but wonder: Where does it all go?" he asked us, grinning. He was also surprised at all our gadgets-- remote controls, Segways-- which he said served primarily to make us lazy.

His other suggestions were based on his Indian experience: using less water with toilet flushes, or not washing our clothes so often, or bringing our own chopsticks to an Asian restaurant. He talked about how in his little town, people strung up prayer flags on young trees torn from the ground once a year, uprooting thousands of trees. He got them to put the flags on aluminum poles instead; soon, the entire Tibetan refugee community was doing it. His message was that we shouldn't stick fastidiously to tradition but fit our practice to suit the environment. A working practice is always suited to the here and now.

I asked him if eco-consciousness was more than just "saving the environment," but recognizing that you are part of your environment, and part of Nature. His answer began with a lengthy definition of what he called "sameness" or "equalness" and I enjoyed it more than the dharma talk itself. He warned that if your definition of compassion is pity for those less fortunate than you, then you'll become jealous of people who are just as fortunate as you are, and angry at those who are better off. True compassion recognizes the dignity and need of all people.

So, that poor, scruffy guy at the change machine who needs 50 cents to get off the Metro? I gave him my last 50 cents.