I think you are right about Tibetan Buddhism being its own brand. Earlier in my life I was more drawn to Zen Buddhism and took my first meditation class from a Zen monk. But here where I live (on a small Island) there is a wonderful Tibetan Buddhist center. After years of attending different retreats and teachings (not always but mostly in the Tibetan Tradition) I took refuge with a Tibetan Lama in 2002. The more I learn the more I love it though I still feel I am just scratching the surface. At first I tried to separate the “practice” from the “culture” (probably my Protestant upbring wanting to clear away all that “fancy stuff”) but I’m drinking the Kool-Aid now (hence my perspective).

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The problem is that someone once labeled this stuff “Eastern Philosophy”. And so, for several decades now, philosophically inclined people have written and read lots of books and accrued plenty of “knowledge”. Lots of people out there can explain, with great superiority, all about the trap of ego!

(Awareness of pride leads to pride of awareness).

T’ain’t philosophy. It’s religion…the best kind of religion, in that it allows you to experience it all for yourself (rather than “take on faith”). Yes, you can use your ego to read stuff written by other people’s egos on the non-existence of ego (thus stoking your ego), or you can avoid the trap of feeding your mind with the philosophy of no-mind…and simply meditate. And then you’ll see it for yourself.

I’d prefer not to proselytize meditation methods here (man, we’re off topic enough at this point!), but if anyone wants to email me at big-dog (at) chowhound.com I’ll be happy to point you to a real good one.

I’m halfway through a play written by one of my favorite authors Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian. The play is called a href=” http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/catalog/data/962996/9629960680.HTM”>“Snow in August” it’s based on the life of Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism and founder of the Sudden Enlightenment School. I don’t know what any of that really means (I just copied it out ot the introduction) but it’s my first exposure to Buddhism (since Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums”) and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.

It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing”

Thanks for your reply!

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“My perspective is that he needed to love Rita more than he needed to be loved. You might respond that it’s a moot point; he’s still clouded by his ego.”

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I agree on both counts: 1. Phil needed to love more than be loved (I expressed it poorly), and 2. yup, it’s a moot point, as he’s still clouded by his ego!

Not to devalue love. Whether it manifests at any given moment in a specific/local way or more universal/cosmic way, love is the fundament of the universe, so Phil’s on his way. Some rays of light are peaking through what was previously overcast. But that’s not even a Buddhist appetizer. An hors d’oeuvre at best!

Peggysue, Groundhog Day and The Graduate are my two favorite movies! (While I’m inclined to like the former better, I agree with Ramis’ self-criticism that the “get the girl” happy ending was a bit of a cop-out…especially in comparison to the Graduate, whose happy ending was so sublimely – and subtly! – subverted to serve creative purpose). As for Phil getting a clue, yep, I’m with you. Opening up to what is is a gradual process. But, again, that’s no more than a Buddhist hors d’oeuvre….in a fantastic movie.

You might want to be a little cautious about using the Tibetan stuff as a yardstick on Buddhism in general. It’s a unique, idiosyncratic tradition, equal parts Tantra and Buddhism, developed for centuries in isolation. While it’s beautiful, it’s real distinct from other flavors of Buddhism.

As for the next song on the clock radio, that’s easy! Marlene Dietrich singing “Is That All There Is?”!

Thanks for your thought provoking post.

I need to see the Groundhog’s Day movie again and now that you mention it I’d like to see The Graduate again, another great movie. I had to go look up bodichitta so I thank you for getting me to do that. It seems like we are comparing the difference between relative bodichitta (“The bodhisattva who practices this way gradualy eliminates every self cherishing attitute and cultivates a state of mind truly oriented toward others”) and ultimate bodichitta (“our conceptual versions of things have no actual reality”). So, maybe instead of saying Phil gets enlightened I should just say he gets a clue. (I refer to Reginald Ray’s Indestructible Truth: Living Spirituality of Tibetan Buddhism for my definition of bodichitta).

For most of us westerners Buddhist notions of loving-kindness and compassion are much easier to grasp than the Buddhist notion of emptiness. So while Phil may have many lives to go…. like a kalapinka bird dropping mustard seeds into the grand canyon one at a time… in a movie that might get pretty tedious. We’d rather watch him get the girl! Yet, that is a good point about taking the end of the movie just a little further… what song will the clock radio play next?

I will say though that my perspective differs on one point in particular, your sentence-

“Needing Rita to love him in order for him to feel complete is just more attachment.”

My perspective is that he needed to love Rita more than he needed to be loved. You might respond that it’s a moot point; he’s still clouded by his ego.

I can see where I have to contemplate this more, but something tells me deep down that our different perspectives on that sentence means a lot.